It’s getting harder and harder to breathe the further I go. With every step my legs feel heavier, and the blood pulses in my eardrums and my eyes. I have to make it there; it’s not enough that I’ve gotten this far; if I don’t reach the Aerie it was all for nothing.

If I can get there, I can beg Excellus to return to us. I can implore him to return and show mercy, reunite the letters and restore order to the cosmos.

He’s been isolated at his mountain top retreat for months; no one has heard from him since he was rejected and cast out of the city. But with the Black Star approaching, we know it’s time to ask for forgiveness and I was the one sent.

Snow flurries around me; my gear is not as warm as I hope. Far off I hear a wolf howl, and I get more nervous. If there’s one out there, there’s many, many more.

Who could have anticipated how bad this world could become without men like him? We thought we would be fine without him, that his quirks and eccentricities were onerous, and that what he did could be done by anyone.

The climb finished, I made my way to the gates. Security cameras whirred over the tops of them and oriented on me. “Erik!” I called out. “We need you!”

A calm voice issued from the speakers. “That’s not what I remember you saying, Dennis.”

“Everyone is going to die if you don’t help us! The Black Star is coming!” I shouted into the echoing darkness; I thought I heard a growl and started to sweat.

“Why should I help? If I save everyone again, it will just end up with new being rejected and cast out again. There’s no reason for me to believe you.”

“Samantha asked me to tell you she needs you, Erik. She says your son should meet you. She said you need to help save your family.”

“Samantha said she never wanted to see me again. I didn’t know she was pregnant.”

“She named him Juan.”

“After my brother?”

The gate slid open and I entered, with the gate shutting right before a wolf crept out of the darkness.

The portal to the Aerie opened, and a withered, sad Erik Excellus stood before me. He opened his arms and I embraced him. “Dennis, I haven’t seen anyone in so long. Come in, let’s talk and we’ll figure out what to do.”

The portal closed and we stepped into a warm hallway with violin playing. “How do they know it’s the Black Star?”

“It’s the rocks, they’ve started to liquefy, and the black ooze is bubbling to the surface.”

“Then we don’t have much time.”