Chapter 3

With the ability to fly freely, you decide to drift over to a mountainside in the not-so-far-off distance. You look up at the peak and you see what looks like dozens of changing traffic lights. You fly up there, testing your newfound power once more.

Upon arrival, you discover that the colored lights are not traffic lights at all, but the glowing Helvers of other Drifters. Many of them have frantic, lost expressions on their faces, newcomers, just like you. However, it isn’t long before a stern-looking Drifter approaches you.

“Greetings,” speaks the young Drifter. He appears not much older than you.

“Hello,” you reply, uncertain.

“Welcome to Eeventide,” he says, sounding confident. “This is where your journey begins. I see you have obtained your first card forged from stardust.”

“Where am I?” you ask, oblivious to what you’d just been told.

“You are on Eeventide, of course! You are one of the lucky ones who have been chosen, just like me, to embark on the great Exodus and become an elite Drifter.”

At that moment, you gaze out, past the boy in elaborate robes speaking to you. Beyond him and beyond the small crowd of other Drifters on the mountaintop, you see a nearly incomprehensible sight; volcanoes, glaciers, white-sand plains, floating islands with drooping roots, and glowing forests with trees and mushrooms as tall as skyscrapers all blending and merging together.

To top it all off, you see the most fascinating sight of all: a magical river in the sky that seemed to touch the horizon like a rainbow and then wander away into the distance. You even see part of the colorful stream coiled around the moon.

“What is that?” you ask the Drifter standing in front of you.

The young boy with a Helver of his own tells you that the sky river is called the Thoughtstream. He informs you that it is the great mystery of Eeventide, but that it can be found and even approached at multiple locations across the planet where it touches the ground.

“No one has been able to enter the Thoughtstream, let alone touch it. There seems to be some sort of force field protecting it. It’s a phenomenon we haven’t been able to figure out,” explains the cloaked Drifter.

“What does the Thoughtstream do?” you ask curiously. “It kind of looks like the Northern Lights.”

“Look,” says the boy, pointing almost vertically to the sky. “It connects Eeventide with Eeventide’s 12 moons and all of the other nearby planets. And it’s about twenty times brighter than the Northern Lights, kind of like how Eeventide itself is two hundred times the size of Earth.”

Astonished by the captivating sight, you follow the boy’s finger along the skyline and you realize what he says is true. It was middle of the day, but the stars and moon appeared as bright as they would at night. Eeventide was a freshly born planet, free of any air pollution that would clog up the atmosphere. 

“Some Drifters helplessly attempt to enter the Thoughtstream, to ride it to the other planets. But the fact remains that most of this planet is still completely undiscovered,” speaks the Drifter to your right.

You glance to your right and discover that this was not the boy who greeted you, but another Drifter who was covered in opposite-colored robes. She was standing next to you and the male Drifter, peering up into the sky. At a second glance, you notice that the color of their robes match the glow of their Helvers. Their dark cloaks nearly reach the ground, and it makes you feel slightly out of place in jeans and a t-shirt.

“There isn’t even a complete map of the world, yet,” the boy adds, looking at you. “Eeventide’s portals are constantly moving, so using them as shortcuts to jump from one side of the planet to the other isn’t viable for some of us. You can get lost too easily.”

“But that’s why we need new Drifters, like you, to join our guild,” finishes the girl.

“Join your guild?” you inquire.

“Yes,” reply the Drifters at once. “Two guilds have risen here on Eeventide.”

“I represent the Skyborn Guild,” says the boy in blue and green robes.

“And I represent the Dragonis Guild,” says the girl in a burgundy cape-cloak.

“If you join my guild,” says the boy, going on, “you’ll get guild robes of your own. We’ll also give you your own deck of cards to fill up those slots in your Helver. You’ll receive cards that will give you the power to summon valiant angels!”

You look down at the mechanical contraption stuck to your arm, at the lonesome card sitting in one of the two card slots, and at the jagged icicles protruding from the metal covering your forearm.

“You must have a beautiful ice creature,” notes the girl in auburn and dark red. Sharp talons were jutting out from her Helver. “Oceano Dragon would be my guess.”

The boy Drifter gives the tall girl a mean look, a hard expression forming on his face.

“Oceano Dragon?” you say, quoting the Dragonis representative.

“Yeah, Oceano Dragon is a powerful creature from Eeventide’s oceans. Well, it’s as powerful as the Drifter who summons it,” replies the girl. “The Dragonis Guild specializes in dragons. If you join my guild, we’ll not only give you a complete dragon deck of your own, we’ll teach you how to duel.”

Rendered speechless, you allow the female Drifter to keep talking.

“On Eeventide, nobody is safe. That is, nobody except for those who choose to remain within the boundaries of the guild cities.”

The Dragonis Drifter points at two fairly large clusters of spires and buildings on opposite horizons. You can tell they’re definitely huge cities given the distance and yet they still tower over some of the forests and mountain crags that lie between them.

You notice that the mountain peak you’re standing on is actually a mini plateau. About a dozen other Skyborn and Dragonis Drifters were standing, talking to newcomers in small groups and individually. Silence was beginning to loom harshly over your own small group of 3, the two guild Drifters standing before you, glaring violently at each other.

“This is the Vendetta Plateau, where representatives from both guilds come to recruit new Drifters to join their ranks,” says the girl at last. “It’s the most consistent area where the portals spit people out.”

“But the portals are one-way doors around here,” the boy cloaked in blue points out. “You could travel from Earth to Eeventide through one of these, but not the other way around.”

“It’s like I said before,” says the female. “Nobody is safe on Eeventide. But we have strength in numbers.”

“Yep,” agrees the boy. “You don’t want to be like solo Sally over there, setting out on her own. Of course, that is one of your options.”

Almost in unison, the three of you turn your heads as the Skyborn Drifter points at an even younger girl setting out on her own down the mountain, drifting shakily in the air, still learning the ropes of flying. She was moving toward a sea of color that was not in the direction of either guild’s headquarters.

The sound of a monstrous landscape appearing to move on the cliffs below begins ringing out in your ears.

As the ringing subsides, you ask, “So, I can join a guild or go it alone?”

Both of the other Drifters nod affirmatively.

“As a Dragonis guild member, you’ll also be able to talk to our cardsmiths anytime you wish. Learning from them is much easier than trying to figure out how to forge cards from stardust on your own. But another major advantage to joining a guild is the fact that you’ll get to train directly under the guild leader,” says the Dragonis Drifter, trying to reel you in further.

You consider the choices. “What is so special about your guild leaders?”

“They’re considered the most powerful Drifters on Eeventide! Aside from being masters at dueling, they are the only Drifters who have ever harnessed the power of the Thoughtstream. Their Helvers glow with unmatched light.”

“I thought you said no one has ever touched the Thoughtstream before,” you say, turning to the Skyborn Drifter.

“They haven’t,” replies the boy. “The Thoughtstream touched them.”

You ponder many different thoughts, and come to the conclusion that every Drifter must make the decision you are about to make.

“In addition to everything the Dragonis Guild would give you, the Skyborn Guild leader, Skyriss Delcastle, would teach you everything you need to know. She’d teach you everything from how to win the epic battles we call duels to what she knows about the short history of this very world,” says the boy in a final effort to persuade you. “Skyriss, although she’s only a teenager, was one of the elite Drifters who first learned how to control wild creatures through cards, and restored harmony to the planet.”

“Hal Sinogard, the Dragonis Guild leader, was also one of the pioneers of Eeventide’s way of life. He’ll be happy to tell you all about how to win duels, and how to piece your cards back together if they return to stardust when you lose,” argues the Dragonis Drifter. “Together, we can control Eeventide.”

And so you stand at a crossroads. Each guild, the Skyborn and the Dragonis, extend an invitation to you. The uncertainty of Eeventide’s vast lands also beckons you with open arms. Which will you choose? The Exodus begins.