Chapter 2: The Meeting
The years had been long and productive for the migrants; fifteen years was almost a full generation for many of the races, and there were now teenagers who'd been born on Genesis itself, as well as numerous younger children; the populations had been booming over such a short time. As the years went by, old skills began to come back to life, though many were lost. New skills were learned, both from hard work and by teachings of the natives. Later on, the races began to connect with each other once again, and different settlements made roads to each other.
Leaders emerged and a sense of normalcy began to creep into the lives of those who'd only known war. Magic that was lost, for all even the most attuned and adept of those who survived Lampros' Migration were but youths and half-trained acolytes, was rediscovered, though that barely scratched the surface of what was lost. Still, among those rediscovered were spells of traveling, and the leaders were finally able to meet.
Messages were sent, amplified and sped by more magic and plans made. Within five years of their arrival, the first meeting of the leaders was planned, a year later it was realized. Ork, elf, human, ogre, dwarf and gnome all met, with reservations and hesitancy, old tensions suppressed by war resurfacing and rearing the ugly heads of bigotry. Still, they met, and each year after a formal council was held, though fewer and fewer attended each year.
This year, only a handful of representatives were found at the council, a handful of ogres, a dwarf, a gnome, and an orc, the elves seemed to have withdrawn entirely into their forests. A young human boy was present as well, curious in that he seemed to be young enough to have been born on Genesis, and arrived on his own. He bore only a long bow made of willow wood and had a mess of almost leafy year, as well as unnaturally brilliant green eyes.
Finally convinced no one else was coming, the boy turned to address the rest of those present. "My father, Elric, sends his apologies at being unable to attend himself, but he is attending to a daemonic incursion that recently burst out near our home." He gestured around at the others in the stone temple, now aging nicely, and a chair for each grew out of the ground for each, sized appropriately and arranged in a circle. "The extraplanar threat is growing, slowly, according to my mother, but soon may hit a crescendo. We fear that a large-scale invasion may once again be headed our way, and have a plan to seal off Genesis permanently from this crisis."
He looks directly at each for a moment before continuing. "Before I continue, yes, I realize I am younger than you all, by a fair deal too. Do not let this disturb you. I need to know, before continuing, are you willing to risk utter annihilation to seal this world from that which slew our old home?"
Leaders emerged and a sense of normalcy began to creep into the lives of those who'd only known war. Magic that was lost, for all even the most attuned and adept of those who survived Lampros' Migration were but youths and half-trained acolytes, was rediscovered, though that barely scratched the surface of what was lost. Still, among those rediscovered were spells of traveling, and the leaders were finally able to meet.
Messages were sent, amplified and sped by more magic and plans made. Within five years of their arrival, the first meeting of the leaders was planned, a year later it was realized. Ork, elf, human, ogre, dwarf and gnome all met, with reservations and hesitancy, old tensions suppressed by war resurfacing and rearing the ugly heads of bigotry. Still, they met, and each year after a formal council was held, though fewer and fewer attended each year.
This year, only a handful of representatives were found at the council, a handful of ogres, a dwarf, a gnome, and an orc, the elves seemed to have withdrawn entirely into their forests. A young human boy was present as well, curious in that he seemed to be young enough to have been born on Genesis, and arrived on his own. He bore only a long bow made of willow wood and had a mess of almost leafy year, as well as unnaturally brilliant green eyes.
Finally convinced no one else was coming, the boy turned to address the rest of those present. "My father, Elric, sends his apologies at being unable to attend himself, but he is attending to a daemonic incursion that recently burst out near our home." He gestured around at the others in the stone temple, now aging nicely, and a chair for each grew out of the ground for each, sized appropriately and arranged in a circle. "The extraplanar threat is growing, slowly, according to my mother, but soon may hit a crescendo. We fear that a large-scale invasion may once again be headed our way, and have a plan to seal off Genesis permanently from this crisis."
He looks directly at each for a moment before continuing. "Before I continue, yes, I realize I am younger than you all, by a fair deal too. Do not let this disturb you. I need to know, before continuing, are you willing to risk utter annihilation to seal this world from that which slew our old home?"
