Kamar-Taj: Return to the Material Universe
The shadows smelled of rain-soaked feathers. Flocks of drenched ravens lingered at the edge of the storm as he gripped the ball of thread and stepped toward the palace standing on an isolated island in the sea. The ravens cried out. He looked up at the lead-gray clouds trailing behind him, where several broad shafts of light faintly shone through from above before being swallowed by thick, swelling clouds. Gloomy thoughts beat their wings, carrying the scent of the storm into his nostrils. Violent emotions crackled like thunder, spreading the ozone scent of psionic power across the sea. He softly spoke the names of the two Witches, trusting the ravens to carry his gratitude to their ears. Tremors ran through the taut crimson yarn, and the anxious emotion at the other end traveled along the thread into his tightly clenched palm.
"Don't panic. I just dove too deep. I know I'm right. If I hadn't done this, I wouldn't have found the Sorcerer Supreme." A bolt of lightning crashed down near his heel, exploding across the sea into red and blue electrical sparks. Thunder slammed into his body through nonexistent air. It felt like an impatient warning. Too many people—or nonhuman races, even beings Behind the Curtain—were watching this place, because every one of his actions could affect the future of the Milky Way. Even the dullest prophet could predict this turbulent future from a shell washed ashore from the Sea of Aether.
"All right, I understand. I'm sorry," he said with forced optimism. "They definitely don't want me dead just yet. I'm still safe. I firmly believe that. You may ask why I was willing to cross Kamar-Taj's bottom line and actively interfere with human society... I do owe you an answer, a