He remembered so little of what had happened, it was all like a blur. He remembered the battlefield and the giant demon. He remembered the dark guardian Xoco attacking him, and he remembered the sensation that he had felt before. When the dark blast had hit him, Rothardan was killed outright, no doubt about it. Nothing could have survived a direct assault from a dark demi-god, but that had not been the end of it. No-one had noticed that Rothardan's body was missing, and that there was no trace of the fallen Paladin.

When his body had stopped moving from the blast, Rothardan was once again being forcifully transported back through dimensions. How long the journey took was a mystery, but he remembered something bringing him back to life. The pain was immense, it was like something was crushing his chest. Rothardan tried to scream as he was falling through space and time but he couldn't, he had no energy.

He heard a familiar voice coming from inside of him. 'Twas a voice he had not heard from in a long time, a voice that commanded justice and sounded deep, wise, ever-knowing.

"Rothardan, Rothardan: can you hear me?"

He knew the name of the voice, Illuminis. His Solar Infused that had been ripped from him in-between travels. When Rothardan awoke, he found himself in a very comfortable double bed with satan sheets and fluffy pillows. He reckognised this place almost immediatley: The Temple of Swords. He was back in Imythess! Rothardan whooped for joy and got out of bed, finding some clothes on the chest of drawers in the room. Changing from his mangled battle armour that was still on his body, Rothardan took a step outside the room and ran out.

He saw immediatley that he was definatley back in Imythess. But wait... what had Lothlomendil told him back in Arda? Each hour that passed would be one day and four hours more on Imythess. And he was within Arda for 6 months...
Rothardan didn't bother doing the maths, for much had changed and he didn't know what was going on. In the end, he looked up and said and called a single name:

"VERONNA!"

It was about mid-day out, and the sky was overcast and rain dropped from the sky now and then. It was a perfect day to sleep. Veronna was sprawled out on top of the covers of her bed, feeling exuasted. She did not know why she was tired, for she had not been doing a whole ton lately, but what ever it was, she decided to humor it and rest. Vaoulrah was also taking a nap in her own little bed off to the side of the room. She had closed her eyes several times, but was unable to drift off in to the land of dreams. Then, after while her eyelids started to become heavy and she was almost asleep when she sensed someone in her temple. She sat bolt upright, her eyes open and alert. She looked over at Vaoulrah who was still sleeping.

Veronna placed her bare feet on the cool of the bricked floor. She headed for the door, knowing who ever she felt was on a lower level. She passed a table and grabbed her belt with her scimitars attached to it, clasping it around her waist. She opened the door to the stairs and headed down. Her flowing green skirt just short enough not to make her trip down the stairs.

She reached to where she was going and opened another door and walked out, her eyes glaring, a hand on one of her scimitars, swearing she will kill whoever it was that disturbed her slumber. She then heard someone call out her name and she stopped. hat voice seemed very familiar. She continued and rounded one last corner, stopping suddenly when she saw who it was. She had not seen this man for a long time, so long she could not remember the last time they had met. Had she even had Vaoulrah then? She could not recall.

"Rothardan?" She asked, surprise on her face, believing she would not see this man ever again, since people disappear from Imythess every day and never return.

And there she was... the goddess who had bested Rothardan in combat, despite the fact that she was pregnant at the time. A look of relief came over Rothardan as he saw the goddess in her green flowing night-dress and, as always, armed with some sort of sword. Veronna Darkblade, the goddess of swords. She was no longer supporting the bump on her stomach which meant that, whilst he was away in another dimension, she had given birth. That was a good change to know...

Rothardan noticed that Veronna had changed a little bit, her face looked more... stern... authoritised. What had happened to her that made her look this way? Right now however, she was looking suprised more than anything. Had she known that Rothardan had left the dimension itself by some unknown magic? Had she known that he had fought and been killed by a creature that made Ranewan seem like a chairity case worker?

"Rothardan?" she asked, suprise dancing on every syllable.

Rothardan nodded, his face beginning to crack into an open smile.

"Yes, it is I," he replied, "I've returned from a dimension known as Arda, where... oh wow... so much has happened in those past six months, it's hard to believe. I would have thought it a dream if I had not been wearing my charred battle armour from that realm.

There is so much I must tell you Veronna but, my first question is most paramount. How did I travel inbetween two realms? That magic is only open to gods and, even then, it's dangerous. So how did I travel not once, but twice in between the very fabric of space and time?

Veronna saw a smile tug at Rothardan's lips, which made a small smile of her own spread on to her lips, the surprise slowly fading from her face, happy to see this man who she had sparred with two years ago. There, she finally placed the time she had seen him last, not believing it was so long ago. Right when she started to wonder where he had been for so long, he explained it to her.

Arda...She did not recognize the name, but she did not know of other dimensions. The smile disappeared from her face as she listened to him. Then he asked her a question, and she found herself frowning, not at him, but at the floor, as she tried to think. She could not find the answer. And she was suppose to be a goddess, she was suppose to know of these things.

She knew that traveling through different planes was difficult enough, though she had never tried it herself. But different realms? That was something she had not heard of people doing before, not even gods. The travel between would literally rip someone apart, no one could live through it, that is why no one did it anymore.

She looked back up at him, her expression apologetic. "I am sorry, even as a goddess, I can not answer your question. I know not much of the travels to other realms or planes, so I have no answer for you." She tried to give him a comforting smile, but failed at it, hating herself for not providing an answer.

She gestured to her left towards a bench, inviting him to sit with her as she walked over, straightening her skirts out before sitting down, realizing that she was really tired. "You said there was much to tell me, then please, tell me of your journey that has lasted for two years."

Two years? Rothardan had been gone for two years? Then everything shouldn't have changed that much surely. His friends would still be alive and everything should be exactly where he left it before going on his unwanted journey. That thought gave Rothardan a little bit of fresh air in his lungs. But the fact that not even Veronna could answer his question was worrying... that meant that there was an unknown force at work that was somehow changing the dimensional rifts and causing people to fall through them. This was very worrying and it was Rothardan's first and foremost plan... he had to find out what had happened and prevent it from happening to anyone else again. He got lucky when he landed in Arda, it could have been any other dimension... or even just space.

"Where should I begin?" Rothardan asked himself, "It is all so confusing, I suppose I should tell you what Arda is..."

And from there, Rothardan told her about how the two Lothlomendil's. Moving on from that, he told her about the gods and the plains and how everyone was at war with the Dark God Raku, who had mysteriously dissapeared. He told her off the casulties of the war and how he had toppled a large demon creature before... before he had been killed by the dark guardian of shadows Xoco. And then he told her how he had fallen through another rift and ended up back here, in Imythess, alive and well.

"...and I would have fallen for the 'it was a dream' explination, but when I awoke... I found my mangled chainmail armour and magic replescundent blade, which now has no magic within it, right near me. Whatever happened, it's real.

"And the most disturbing bit is, I was gone for six months. Time flows differently in Arda... for every hour that passed, one day and four hours passed here. So here I am after my journey, wondering how I got there in the first place.

"The fact that a goddess doesn't know the answer is worrying, it suggests there is an outside force that is meddling in things that humanity and gods were not meant to touch."

Rothardan looked to the ground and frowned... if that was true then it was very serious indeed. But he was forgetting something... two years had passed and that meant alot had changed right?

"So Veronna," he said, head raising into a smile, "What has changed within these lands? I see you no longer support a bump on your stomach which can only mean..."

Veronna listened to his story, which was an interesting one indeed. She knew there were other planes, other dimensions and realms, but she did not have much knowledge of them. This land, Arda, sounded intriguing too, and she wondered about Lothlomendil also, there were two of them?

She hated not having the answers, but she would find them. Even if she had to dig through every book at the Taras library, she would find them. When he said it was troubling that not even a goddess knew the answer, some anger flowed through her. She wanted to say something back at him, but she stopped herself. She was not that immature, and she was suppose to act like a divine being, for that was what she is. So her tongue was held, though her eyes held a bit of the anger in them. She also did not like the fact that an outside source may be involved. If someone was messing around with dimensional portals and the likes here in Imythess, that person will have hell to pay.

Before more anger could rise Rothardan said her name and asked what had changed, then stating one of the most obvious observations. She let a smile spread on to her face, the anger fading away for now, but she would let it come back later when she is not around anyone.

Veronna nodded, confirming she had her child. "She's already about two years old. Come, let me introduce you to her." She said, standing, then gesturing for him to follow. She headed for the stair case, opening the door when she got to it. She began to ascend the stairs, assuming Rothardan was following. She had sensed that Vaoulrah had woken up while she was down stairs, and was slightly upset to find her mother gone.

She opened the door that led in to her room, which was only one large room. There were a couple doors to the left of her which led to the kitchen and arena. Vaoulrah was sitting up in her crib, tears streaming down her cheeks. Veronna smiled her motherly smile, one the was warm and comforting. She walked over to her and lifted her up, while whispering soft words to the child in her native language. She turned to look at Rothardan (still assuming he followed), the child in her arms quieting down.

"Rothardan, this is my daughter Vaoulrah." She said, her smile showing a bit of pride in it. She loved her daughter, and was proud of her. Vaoulrah eyed this new man with her green eyes, much like how her mother first met someone. Vaoulrah's hair was slowly getting longer, it's black color still as strong as it was when she was an infant, the same with her black skin.

Maybe Rothardan shouldn't have talked to Veronna like that, the anger in her eyes said as much. But it was a desperate situation and Rothardan was worried that the same thing would happen to someone else. What would happen if a large place was transported, or a group of people. It was amazing that something this large scale was hidden from the gods... how could you possibly hide something like dimensional travel from anyone?

When Veronna told Rothardan of her daughter, Rothardan was eager to see her. The Paladin followed Veronna close in foot, eager to see her daughter. Veronna was a mother now, the fact seemed so amazing and Rothardan couldn't help but smile at the thought. They went down corridors and through doors until they finally reached the baby's room. Inside was a small crib, in which was a small baby dark elf that had been crying for it's mother. Rothardan smiled at the sight and stood there, watching as Veronna picked her daughter up and began to talk sweet motherly things to her in the Drow's tounge.

The small baby girl was already showing signs of her mother, for she gave the same narrowing look that Veronna had given Rothardan when the two of them met for the first time. She also had her nose and hair, and Rothardan looked at mother and daughter together with a large smile over his face.

"Rothardan, this is my daughter Vaoulrah." introduced Veronna.

Rothardan took a step forward and smiled at the young girl, not saying a word, trying to get a smile out of the young girl.

"I'm so happy for you Veronna," Rothardan said, "Congratulations..."

Veronna watched Rothardan as he took a step forward towards the child, smiling at her. Vaoulrah clutched her mothers dress tightly, looking a little nervous about this man, her green eyes staring at him. Veronna smiled at the child, stroking her dark hair then kissing her forehead.

"Thank you very much, I don't know what it would be like not to have her now..." She said, her eyes on the child, love reflected in them, along with a sadness that only she knew. She quickly hid that emotion from her eyes and gentle bounced Vaoulrah a couple times, trying to get the child's attention."Say Hello Valourah." Veronna instructed the child, though she knew that she was still young and could not speak many words, her vocabulary consisting of the drow words Ilhar and Ilharn, meaning mother and father.

The child stared at Rothardan for a little longer, then, obviously accepting him, smiled, one that showed what few small white teeth she had. "Ven" the child said, the V sounding more like an F as it come from her small mouth. Veronna looked down at the child, surprise and joy all over her face. "That's right Vaoulrah, vendui." Smiling as she looked back up at Rothardan. "She just said hello to you I believe." Veronna explained, not sure if he knew any words from the drow language or not.

"That's a new one for her. She is very smart." She said, again stroking the child's hair with her fingers. "But now I am bragging." She said, letting a slight laugh escape her lips. "What about you? Have you ever had a lover or family before?" She asked, hoping it didn't sound to personal of a question, for if she had been asked a similar question she would not have taken any offense by it.

Rothardan smiled as Veronna's daughter tried to say hello in the Drow tounge. Rothardan didn't know any drow language, but it was still cute to hear this young child say hello to him. When Vaoulrah said hello, Rothardan noticed she was clutching her mother's dress. Bless her, she was nervous of Rothardan... just like any other young child who would see a stranger. And so Rothardan decided to do something that would probably amaze the young drow. He raised his hands and clicked his fingers, muttering a celestial word that had the desired effect.

A glowing ball of light appeared in his hand, it was a simple light spell that Rothardan had learnt as a young child. He threw the ball of light in the air and watched as it popped like a balloon, spraying golden flickers of light around the room. The light wasn't hot, infact some landed on Rothardan's hair and tickled his head a little.

When Veronna asked the question about Rothardan's family, Rothardan shook his head and smiled sadly. He had no family at all...

"I'm alone, always have been. My father was a soldier, a knight for the king of his country. My mother was a baker... I don't remember much of her though. When I was young, about your daughter's age, a large scale army led by some mad baron attacked our city. There were many deaths and my father held off a large amount of attackers, telling my mother to run with me.
"She found a temple in the forest near our city, hidden away from most eyes. They were priests of light and they took my mother in. She died of wounds and exhaustion, meaning the priests raised me and taught me in the ways of Sargoth and Kuya.
"When I was about 17, I left the temple in search of what adventure I could find. I wanted to bring the word of light to the people and help those who could not be helped. I would visit the temple every now and again... until one day when I found smoke rising from it's direction.
"Bandits had come and attacked the temple, burning it to the ground and killing most of the priests. I retaliated of course, finding the bandit camp and killing the leader and his followers...
"I've been alone ever since, living in Imythess and adventuring and such. No family, no children... only my Solar to keep me company. Sometimes... I dream of retiring one day when I've done enough. One day..."

Rothardan looked into the distance, hoping there weren't tears in his eyes. He was alone indeed, but he helped others and that's all that mattered. He looked down at Veronna's daughter and smiled upon her... wondering what fatherhood must be like. What was it like to look upon this child and see what you created? What was it like to know that this young child would carry on your family name? One day, Rothardan hoped to know these answers for himself.