1: The Light of No Tomorrow

Presto reaches out and...feels nothing. In the midst of the chaotic storm of arcane energy, his brow furrows. No, that's not right. Have to go farther...

"Take care, magician, using brute force to twist the threads of arcanum isn't the most elegant of methods, and there are usually drawbacks! Consequences!" The voice in his head, his Hat, sounds concerned. It's never seemed nervous before. That's worrying.

Presto reaches farther. Out past the Material Plane and into others, searching, searching, searching. He sends his thoughts out through the arcanum as a pleading command, hoping it will focus his efforts. I need to reach Kosar. I need to speak with Kosar. I need to have a conversation with Kosar. Let me thoughts reach him and let his reach me. I only need a few days to share our thoughts, to reach each other, to help us find him, to rescue him!

"Presto!" Bobby rushes to Presto's side, trying to rouse the mage. "Presto! Malchor, what's happened to him?!"

"Oh no Presto!" Hank also rushed forward, "He's passed out. Let's get him to bed quick." The ex-leader in him immediately felt an overwhelming pang of guilt for suggesting that Presto cast the last spell.

"Hank, is Presto going to be alright?" Sheila asks. "I guess we aren't going to get any closer to answers tonight, so I am going up to bed." She turns and heads toward the stairs.

"I don't know Sheila. He doesn't seem to be in any immediate external danger, and there's nothing physically wrong with him, but he's completely out. We best let him, and I guess let all of us get some rest."

"I wonder if there's a Vistani healer among the caravans who could come take a look."

"Should I carry him, or...? Terri being a nurse, Bobby knows sometimes moving an injured person makes them worse. Then again, this is magic. Either way, Bobby wants to help but doesn't know how.

"Put him to bed, Barba... Bobby," Malchor said. "I don't sense any lethal magic at play here, merely an already waning minor one. He should be fine in time, and I should return to my own tower. Presto has a sending stone in his summoning room which contacts me. He coloured it red for some reason. Contact me if anything urgent happens. Again... Urgent."

After an arcane phrase and a swirl of his fingers, a blue rift opened before the malcontent mage, and he stepped through an instant before it closed.

Diana sighs. She had accepted that they wouldn't be rushing off to rescue Kosar immediately, but it was still a heavy weight watching Malchor leave and seeing everyone else getting ready to rest. She goes over to Presto's unconscious form and squeezes his arm gently. "Thanks for trying," she says. "I hope you feel better when you wake up."

Next, Diana walks over to Lorne. "I'm not going to be getting much rest anytime soon, so I'll gladly join the first watch."

Uni trotted over to Presto and said, "He sleeps but I can sense his mind at work. I believe he has made contact with someone. I hope it is Kosar. As Malchor said, to bed with him."

Sheila continues up to the room that she has, over the years of visiting Presto and even Varla before, become very familiar with. She retires to the room and readies herself for bed.

Presto’s mind wanders, swimming through waves of twisted realities. He can…not see them, that wouldn’t be right. Sense them. Remember them? It’s all very confusing. He knows that he’s unconscious, but doesn’t know how. He saw himself fall, almost from outside his own mind. This is not a situation he’s had the pleasure of knowing before.

Fortunately, it seems temporary. The pinpricks of light representing a thousand thousand existences begin to coalesce, his mind feels less overwhelmed, less shattered than it did a moment ago, a few minutes ago, a lifetime ago. In his strange existential prison, all he can do is wait.

"As a group, the odds are good that Presto will return safely, with their efforts Varla." Sheila replies. "I can't make promises. I no longer believe in promises."

With Diana and Lorne taking first watch, Hank turned in as well, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a challenging day. He got up earlier than the rest, intending to shoulder the last watch before dawn, and busied himself to check that Uniaxia and Warm Blood also managed to pass the night comfortably.