Time passes differently in Acadia - or perhaps rather, time passes differently when one is dead. Lumubella could not be exactly sure, having no comparison. The strange moons had circled over Acadia's sky countless times, but there was no telling what such circles meant in Serin time. Not interested in losing her wits in a constant state of bemusement, Lumubella decided to ignore looking up or thinking about time at all and focus on the tasks at hand.
She found a warmly satisfying sense of fulfillment in working with the pixies to identify their strategic weaknesses and train them into better formations and cooperative group combat, as well as teaching them how to identify when they had best retreat to fight another day. With her aid, the pixie defenders had grown more confident, and Lumubella felt a sense of pride in seeing them flourish under her tutelage. It was during one of their training sessions that the news arrived by breathless messenger: a new rift had opened up on the other side of Acadia, and their reinforcements were needed.
There was a second messenger, too. Some strange parchment sent by a wisp. The words on it were a bit garbled and it had evidently been written in some haste, but the underlying tone was one of desperation. Something terrible was happening in Serin. A goblin witch had been playing with magic she shouldn't have, tearing a window between worlds of her own. Unlike the demons, this goblin's rift was a small one, contained within a scrying crystal. But the method in which she opened the rift was exceedingly powerful, and created detectable spikes in the magical fabric of Acadia during each scrying attempt. This obvious anomaly was drawing the attention of the native fey of Acadia, who could sense disturbances in their environment. Unfortunately, it also drew the attention of the demons.
Lumubella sighed. The Consortium was always meddling with things out of their control. One of these days their lack of caution would be their downfall, and it seemed this might be sooner rather than later...
***
The new rift carved a jagged gash over the mountain ridge. Dark forces streamed through it, blighting the lush forest into embers and ash as they advanced. Deep in the valley to the west, a small village sat helplessly, its occupants paralyzed by fear and indecision. There had been too many reports of demons flowing in, and they were woefully ill-prepared. The messenger they had sent for help had never returned.
A crackling boom was heard, shuddering the entire mountain as a sheet of purple lightning illuminated the sky. The mountain face nearest to the village suddenly began to crumble. A vanguard of ash and dust poured down the slope, blanketing the fertile valley basin with rubble and debris. A terrible, impossibly loud laugh echoed from the dark silhouette framed in the flash of lightning.
A band of defenders suddenly emerged from the forests to the south, dispatching the last few demons that dogged their tail. They paused at the forest edge, gaping in disbelief at the sight of the devastation before them. There had been just enough distance between the village and the mountain that the avalanche's floe had not reached its borders - but the scree slope had created an easy path for the invaders. There seemed to be a pause in the demons' advance, however - perhaps consulting or preparing for their next onslaught.
Lumubella led her band of pixies to set up a defensive position as close to the base of the mountain as she dared. The further away from the village, the better. Just as she finished checking the fortifications, a fizzing sound was heard nearby and a curious flame appeared in the air. The pixies around her startled and pointed and whispered fearfully to each other.
"Dear heart, do you hear me?"
The words sent a shiver down Lumubella's spine. What sorcery was this? She glanced at the flame. No. It was not possible.
"Who..."
The familiar voice continued, as if it had not heard her. "My love, I do not wish to disturb your peace long. We were never one to ask forgiveness for each other..."
Lumubella blanched and smacked the nearest pixies to continue their preparations. "This is not the time or place, Serra! We are under attack." Her eyes flickered between the flame and the dark mass at the top of the mountain. As Serra continued to speak, the mass started shifting, no, *flowing*, down the slope toward them, gaining in speed. The pixies raised their weapons and Lumubella cast auras upon them all. The rest of Serra's words were swept away by the thunderous clash as the demons fell upon the band. The last glimpse Lumubella had of the strange fire was a claw tearing through the air as it dissipated.
***
It turned out that Lumubella was quite a fine battle leader, for the pixies held their own admirably. Lumubella found that somehow her wisp form contained a deeper well of magic than she had expected, enabling her to continue healing far longer than her dwarven form might. Still, she could not fight physically the way she once had. Instead she restored her allies calmed the enemies that came within reach. She was patient, and used to wars of attrition with long, exhausting battles against her Serin foes. It seemed, she mused in a temporary lull between attacks, that her battles with Dogran had been excellent training for this.
Waves upon waves of demons broke upon the little band. The demon at the top of the mountain kept capering as the waves were defeated, calling still more down the mountain. The pixies were resolute in their desperation, but even so their energy was beginning to wane. Lumubella drew aside two of the bards. "Can ye do anything? Call more aid?" They darted behind some cover began to sing, tracing a portal in the air. A flame arrow pierced through the air, slaying one of the pixies, and edges of the portal began to flicker. Lumubella peered through it hastily.
A wintry expanse, with only two figures below. Two storm giants. Britus... And Serra. But what was she doing here?
Serra's body suddenly seized as white light poured from her eyes, forming a wisp above the fallen form. Lumubella's mind filled with questions. Was this what true death looked like? Why had she come here... Again? But she needed aid, and here it was. She steeled herself and darted through the portal.
"The door bein' open," she said, gently coaxing Serra-the-wisp away from the corpse below. They needed to return to Acadia now, before the unstable portal closed. "Be wipin' yer feet and comin' in." To her relief, Serra turned and floated towards her.
