Silas Meridian stepped through the portal. He stood tall in Arthur’s little library, with his sword in hand, and armour covering his broad shoulders. His leather boots and greaves were soiled with mud, and water dripped off of him onto the hardwood floor. He was a new father—Vesper’s father—but there were strange things happening in Noominia pulling him away from his family duties.

   Silas looked mighty and regal, like the great trees of the Noominian forests he protected as a leader of the Elven Guard. The sharp elven features of his face, worn prominently in his brown eyes, high cheekbones, and pointed chin, also made his heritage obvious—to a Noominian, at least. Silas’s mane of wavy, black hair fell across his forehead, half stuck by the sweat beading there.

   “Arthur! I have terrible news,” said Silas as he dried his sword on the sleeve of his tunic and sheathed it, then reached his massive arm to shake Arthur’s hand. “Uh, sorry for the mess.”

   Arthur, taken a bit off guard, got to his feet from his chair, reaching for Silas’s firm grip to steady him.

   “Don’t worry about the mud. Silas, it’s good to see you! Is everything alright? Is Aina safe? And Vesper?”

   “Aina and Vesper are safe. They are both here, not with me in Noominia. Aina doesn’t want to risk bringing Vesper there until the raids have calmed down, but they have only increased, and I can now say it is truly dangerous,” Silas’s voice lowered. “Arthur, I see a war coming. The kobalins are quickly multiplying, swamping the forests from the North Ridge.”

   As the news began to sink in, Arthur sat back down in his chair. There were few things more repellant to Arthur than the thought of those misformed creatures wandering through the peaceful forests of Noominia causing destruction.

   “The noc owls tell my Guards that the attacks and ambushes happen nightly, mostly in the northern communities. They have been making flights each night along our borders to keep the kobalins at bay during the dark hours. Honestly, we would be lost without them. The kobalin army usually moves at night, and those nocs really seem to enjoy a good fight. Most strange, though, is that the North Ridge has darkened.”

   “What do you mean darkened? How much more terrible and repellant can it be?” Arthur asked wryly.

   “A darkness has fallen over the mountains—it’s hard to explain—it’s like they’re covered with a permanent blanket of smoke,” Silas reported. “No one knows why this is happening, or where it comes from. The nocs say the fog covers most of the mountains and hangs like a wet rug on the hills and trees to the south. It stops in a wall of mist in the forest just south of the pass.”

   Arthur looked down at Silas’s boots soaking his floor with muddy water.

   “Yes, that does sound problematic. This should have been foretold, but there has been nothing in the Trismegistus lately, except for an all-too-detailed paragraph on the mating rituals of hippogriffs—must be the season.” Arthur cleared his throat, “Leave it with me and I will see what I can find. Whether I find anything or not, we will need to fortify the defenses of the noc owl’s parliament and the elven guard’s fortresses. Also, the Order of the Silence Keepers must be warned. . .”

   Arthur paused, considering the consequences of officially sounding the alarm and bringing so much attention to a problem that he hasn’t even seen yet in the Trismegistus.

   “On second thought,” Arthur continued, “perhaps an informal meeting first is best, with just the family—and the Greens. Let's plan to meet tonight—I will call the others with details.”

   With a nod, Silas drew his sword and vanished through the portal as quickly as he came, ready to face whatever he met on the other side.

   Arthur read more furiously than he had ever read before. He was frustrated that the Trismegistus was not foretelling future events as it normally did. Perhaps some dark magic was blocking it, but Arthur knew of no magic powerful enough to do so. He became determined, spurred on by the ominous changes Silas described—the strange darkening happening in Noominia.

   Arthur gathered together some glass viles from his cupboard. One by one he mixed drops of each together into an potion he hoped would unlock the Trimegistus, and reveal what was behind the strange events happening in Noominia. He opened the book and let three drops fall onto the pages. After just a few minutes, his heart skipped a beat when a new prophecy appeared—it was named ‘the unicorn princess.’ What most concerned Arthur about it was, within its mysterious lines, his granddaughter, Vesper, had been named, and her fate magically sealed in prophecy.

   With the help of his potion, several pages of new prophecies were inscribed into the Trismegistus, and Arthur read of many things to come all throughout the day and into the evening, considering their meaning, sipping no more than luke-warm ginger tea for hours, and wrapped in the smoke of his pipe.

When he was done reading, Arthur slid his book back onto its special shelf, locked it, and then picked up his phone to call his daughter.

   “Hi, Aina,” said Arthur. “How’s everyone? How’s my little Vesper?”

   “We’re doing fine, Papa. How about you?” said Aina.

   “I’ve been better, to be honest. Silas just dropped in with some news from Noominia, and we have something important we need to discuss. Are you able to meet tonight?”

   “Of course. Was Silas okay?”

   “Yes, he seemed fine, just a bit worried. He reported some strange things happening in Noominia I’d like to discuss tonight.”

   “Okay. Are you calling an official meeting?” asked Aina.

   “No, an official meeting of the Order would bring too much attention right now.”

   “Yes, that’s true. Should I bring Vesper? Or should I get a sitter?”

   “Of course! Bring her, please! She is always welcome, anytime. We’ll meet with Silas, and the Greens. I don’t trust anyone else yet with this information.”