Fivetowns

Aldera arrived by ship in the fall, to Greenford. Her reasons for traveling to Fivetowns are ever unknown - perhaps some enemy from wherever she came, or a wanderlust, an urge for exploration. It is unimportant.

Greenford was the largest of the five towns; its harbour the most spacious, its arable land the largest in extent. It was similar to the rest of Fivetowns; as with Oak, Jefferson, and Crossroads, it was a town centred around agriculture, shipping food to lands worse provided for. Portal was rather different, but that is a subject from another time.

In many respects, then, Fivetowns was a simple and admirable place to live, as Aldera swiftly found. Its climate was, and is, pleasant and moderate, its arable land common, rich and fertile, its harbors spacious and numerous. But there were oddities about Fivetowns. You see, all of Fivetowns is fairly small. From the furthest fields of any Greenford, one could just see the corresponding farmland of Jefferson; the same of Oak and Jefferson, Crossroads and Portal, and so forth, arranged in a very rough pentagon. But their identities as separate towns were quite clear, because travel between any one of Fivetowns to another was only possible by ship.

The Badlands stretched between each town, connecting in the centre of Fivetowns to form a great Wasteland. Only the most bravest or foolish of men would travel through the Badlands, as they were filled with hideous beasts, of nature ferocious and hateful. That Aldera did so, not once but twice, was nothing short of remarkable. The Badlands had been kept under guard for generations - though Fivetowns was ruled by one empire or another, as nations rose and fell, always the Badlands were kept under close watch, and the men who fell defending Fivetowns from the monstrosities within are too many to count. Those who ruled Fivetowns have tried, every few generations, to purge the Badlands of the horrors within, but all attempts ended in bloody failure. And, ominously, they were ever expanding. The growth was slow - perhaps only a single foot in a year, perhaps less - but, if the expansion persisted, the people of Fivetowns would one day be pushed into the sea.

Aldera saw this, either with her own eyes or through speaking with natives of Fivetowns. And she came up with a plan. She persuaded the governor of Fivetowns to try a new scheme. Mages were hired in great numbers, engineers imported from abroad, soldiers brought in with nearly half-a-dozen troop ships. Aldera led them all into the Badlands, where her plot began to unfold. Engineers, protected by the soldiers and assisted by the magi, covered the Badlands in concrete, sealing the caverns from which the monsters emerged. Steadily and slowly, the entire Wasteland was emptied, rendered toothless. The magi enspelled the concrete, sealing it until the end of days. And Aldera led them all, slaying the worst of the beasts which emerged, and inspiring the entire force to new heights.

When the job was done, Aldera was a hero. She was offered great acclaim and much wealth from the grateful populace. Already, Fivetowns was beginning to fuse into one community, with the great obstacle of the Badlands finally removed. Aldera bowed very politely as she was given awards, accepted wealth as her right... and ever more, her eyes turned towards Portal.

Portal was the anomaly of Fivetowns. Unlike the others, surrounded by rich farmland, Portal was almost immediately surrounded with the harsh terrain of the Barrens, held at disproportionate costs in human life from the frequent attacks of monstrosities. The only reason that Portal existed at all was to service those who ventured into the great underground fortress in the centre of Portal. The fortress, the name and purpose of which were long forgotten, held great wealth deep within - as well as great danger, with strata of monsters within growing ever more powerful as one descended down the levels. It was thought to be a mile or more deep, though none had descended so far and lived.

Despite the danger, bravoes and heroes and more continually sought their fortunes within - sometimes finding it, other times finding only death. And Aldera sought that fortune. She had proven herself as a warrior in the Sealing of the Waste, and one day - knowing the danger, but seemingly unable to control herself - she walked to Portal, and entered the fortress.

She has never been seen again, to this day.

But Aldera was a warrior without par, even among the heroes who dared enter the fortress. She did the impossible - sealed the endless Badlands. Perhaps she survived.

Perhaps she won.