You can never go home

In the darkest depths of the ocean, in a city long since lost to the world, magic flared in a small casting chamber that had not seen the light of the sun for over ten thousand years. Fingers on scaly hands manipulated the energies, focusing it into a ball of power that quickly formed into an image; an image locked onto the shape of a pendant formed of three interlinked moons.Power grew in the room, vibrating the structure and the surrounding ocean around it. Ancient spells of long lost Highborne Sorcerers flared into existence as an eerie song floated through the room from the mouth of a creature that once walked upon the surface of the world.

Galadrae Moonwhisper smiled as she completed her spell-song, peering into the scrying orb she had conjured with a malicious grin. "So sister, you thought after all this time we would forget your treachery? You thought we would forgive your endless stupidity and never-ending embarrassment to our House? Did you really think we wouldn't find out? Did you think we would take no actions?"

The Naga paused, staring into the image, seeing the neck upon which the necklace rested. "Time to die Malandrae. Time to do something useful for your family for once, and die. Then I will be rewarded, and House Moonwhisper will prosper once more under Her loving gaze. Die traitor."

She snapped her fingers on three of her four limbs and magic flashed, hurtling into the scrying orb, connecting two worlds together.

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In the kitchen of Ilhedith Knox's house, Malandrae paused, leaning on the counter heavily and grasping at her chest. Before her was a knife and some vegetables that she had been preparing for an evening meal. She rested against the counter, her eyes wide and her heart racing as a feeling of ozone built in the air around her. She looked down in horror to see her pendant flashing with deadly light as a spell came from...somewhere... and homed in on the object.

Down the hall, she heart Eldre'nor shout as her own identical pendant lit up with the same deadly light, the spell unable to determine which necklace was which in such close proximity. Malandrae quickly turned and ran, rushing into the bedroom where Eldre'nor had been reading, the two elves exchanging horrified looks.

"Malandrae! It's a song curse! Can you hear it? Someone's trying to kill us!" Eldre'nor shouted as the spell began to materialize around them.

Malandrae nodded once and dashed to Eldre'nor, her back pressed against her best friend's. "Quickly! We have to ward the room! Professor Knox's spells won't hold for long and it'll break through!"

She began to sing, Eldre'nor's voice quickly taking up the song and joining hers in a harmony as the two waved their hands in the air before them. There was a groaning, straining sound as the wards that Ilhedith Knox had placed on her home were broken one by one by the powerful magic of a Naga Sorceress intent on destroying her prey.

As the two elves built a wall of wardspells around themselves, Ilhedith's warding on the house failed and the deadly song-curse materialized around the two wearing the necklaces that it was targeted on. Almost blinding power flashed into existence in the air, highborne runes flickering into being and slashing out at everything around them. In seconds the beds, dressers and other furniture in the room were slashed to pieces, the spell squeezing in against the wards that the two elves desperately tried to keep in place.

Broken pieces of wood, feathers, fluttering paper and other debris swirled in the air as the two elves were trapped within a cone of deadly power, their backs pressed tight against each other as the spell forced its way closer. An eerie song floated through the air around them, the deadly sound of the magic reaching out towards the two.

"It's Galadrae!" Eldre'nor gasped. "Malandrae! It's your sister! Your sister is ALIVE! What are we doing to DO?! We were never a match for her!"

Malandrae's eyes narrowed into slits as she recognized the voice singing the song-curse. Although filled with inarticulate hissing noises, there was no question in her mind that it was indeed her older sister Galadrae trying to kill them. Arcane power flared in the air around Malandrae as she called on all of the energy she had available, intent on fighting the Sorceress to the end.

Eldre'nor's voice shouted out again over the sound of screeching magic and deadly song, "We need to redirect her spell! You have to send it back to her Malandrae! It's the only way!"

Malandrae nodded, her face set in a grim look of determination. As Eldre'nor shouted out the words to a counterspell, pushing the magic back, she closed her eyes and stepped forward, her hands coming up before her as she chanted the words to a spell she'd known since she first took up magic, one that had not worked since she returned to the world. Energy flared in the air before her, weakly resembling the beginnings of a portal.

"Eldre'nor! I need help! The anchor point isn't where it used to be, it's not stable!" Malandrae shouted. Immediately she felt Eldre'nor shift, her hand touching Malandrae's back and feeding magic into her. The small opening before her trembled and then ripped open as a portal formed to a place that Malandrae could never ever go to again. A place she once used to open portals to on a regular basis. A place that was once home.

Zin-azshari.

Seawater surged through the opening, a deluge powerful enough to slam all of the remaining furniture to pieces. Malandrae stood in the center of the huge press of water, a fragile barrier of magic directing it around her to either side. The bedroom behind them was shattered as the pounding force of water crushed everything, but the Highborne stood untouched in the center of the horrific force, her hair flying wildly in the spray of surging current.

"ELDRE'NOR! DO IT NOW! NOW!" Malandrae shouted.

Eldre'nor sang, and magic flared as the song-curse was forced into the opening, the magic untouched by the rushing water as it passed through the opening. Malandrae felt it, like a heavy weight being pushed through a bag she was holding open, and then it was gone, sent back to the place that it originated from. At the last second, she felt a *whump* as the spell detonated, torn to pieces by the awe-inspiring force of three Highborne Sorceresses battling to control it, the destruction contained somewhere far far away.

She heard the voice of Galadrae screaming in rage, and then the portal collapsed, the energy failing.

Silence descended over the room, the only noise the drip of water from the destroyed furniture and the heavy breathing of the two highborne who had survived the deadly attack. They said nothing for a while, simply staring at the spot where the portal had been, grateful to be alive.

After a time, Eldre'nor came forward and placed her hand on Malandrae's shoulder. She attempted to soothe her friend by joking, "I guess we uh...won't be inviting your sister over for the holidays then?"

Malandrae said nothing, staring into the distance, not even hearing her friend. She didn't protest as Eldre'nor eased her down to sit on the floor, holding onto her and trying to get her to snap out of it.

Ilhedith Knox would find her two apprentices minutes later, having been summoned urgently by the failure of her wards on the house. She would enter the destroyed room to find Eldre'nor holding her weeping friend, the ozone smell of burned out magics mixed with the scent of the sea filling her senses.