I may as well begin where I left off.
Aionius returned and began telling us of what he’d learned. Apparently, being spirited away to that dismal place by mists had ripped our threads free from the weft of destiny… meaning that we were now like free radicals in the experiment of time. It was all very complicated but the gist of the thing is that whichever way he looked at the events waiting to unfold over the next few months, we all meet our ends in one way or another and that everything was going bad. It somewhat explains why the fortune teller in Ravenloft couldn’t quite read our cards right.

Then this guy Murlynd shows up. He reminded me of the dreams of old west cowboys. Kenari had actually heard of him and seemed quite impressed. I, for one, liked his odd way of speaking and his mannerly charm. Apparently, we left Sigil just in time for the Lady to lock the place down—every portal refusing to work, no one in or out—and then proceed with the slaughter. It seems she likes to have to step in and fix things even less than the Magistrates do back on Bral and everyone involved in the fiasco is in for a world of hurt. No wonder they call her the Lady of Pain. Seeing Mindflayers flayed alive in the middle of the street convinced me of that. Apparently, she likes creative and fitting punishments.

After Murlynd made his report of the events in the real world to Aionius, the two of them turned their attention to our presence and the meanings behind it. We spoke about the Spelljammer and everything we learned about the Tenth Pit and their doings in regard to the Dream Stone and the Dream Mage. Aionius mentioned the phenomenon of someone being born in or having a bloodline from a plane and displaying interesting and sometimes terrifying abilities related to that plane, like Lenata is an Asimar and Sapphira was known as a Tiefling. I’m like that, too, and more like the Dream Mage we’ve been so curious about, being Dream-Born myself. Once that came out, Ef-Utan immediately began asking me questions; apparently he hadn’t known about it. Kenari didn’t seem surprised. Maybe I’d told her about it during one of our girls’ nights. Still, I felt it was an odd connection and bears further consideration while we keep looking for this guy and what he means to the hunt for the Spelljammer.

It seems interesting that Aionius and Ef-Utan came from the same place, too. Same planet (now asteroids), too, only Aionius had left while the cataclysm that destroyed the planet was happening and Ef was born in the one city left standing on its lonely rock. Ayrun came from there, too, so maybe there’s something to that place that just breeds wizards and sorcerers… so who knows what we may be capable of if we manage to survive.

Aionius has a plan that he hopes will keep us from dying in the coming conflicts. Here’s where Kenari’s vision comes in. With the right preparations and spells and the right timing, we’re to plot our ship directly into the maelstrom and emerge back in the primes in twenty years’ time. That is, if we survive the plunge into it. After that, our chances are about a little over half of actually succeeding at stopping the Spelljammer from being dreamed into existence by the Tenth Pit’s plot. So, I’m thinking it’s like time being a river and there’s this spinning, blade-covered log stretched right across where we’re heading. Aionius plans to pick us up out of the river and plop us back down on the other side of certain death. I’m all for that, though in twenty years, everyone I’ve ever known out there could be dead or moved away. How long do Beholders live, anyway?

Their preparations will take about an hour. Kenari approached Murlynd about sending those of the crew home that didn’t want to lose twenty years of their lives to five minutes and wanted to send a letter to Dassam. Apparently, those two grew quite close. I can’t imagine having to leave something like that behind. The only ones who would miss me back home are my coworkers and of course, Luigi. I sent a letter of my own to him, letting him know he should go ahead and let out my apartment because I wouldn’t be back any time soon. I had already cleared the place out, anyway, and I really don’t want to return having to pay twenty years’ back rent. Murlynd smiled and said he’d get everyone home who wanted to go and take our letters. I was so proud of Kenari for her thoughtfulness and ashamed of myself for not thinking of the crew when it came down to it. I have to remember that everyone isn’t able to just pick up and go at a moment’s notice. And now, I feel incredibly lonely, though Kenari has it much worse than I do. She had love and now she has to leave it.

I guess that’s why when Ef said “We have an hour…” in that suggestive voice of his, I took him up on it. I really didn’t want to die without experiencing the acts of love one more time, and I like him well enough despite our sometimes antagonistic relationship. Lenata joined us and, though it was a little awkward at first, in the end I think we took what comfort we could in each other and our friendship will survive. If we do.

Our hour is up and Lenata’s at the helm. I hope, whatever happens, that if this journal has survived and we do not, it will inspire somebody to finish what we started and keep the Tenth Pit from terrorizing the multiverse with the Spelljammer in their control.