The Threshold

The tale begins at a door: the threshold, as Aurelius calls it, between the stranger's own world and the Realm of Meliora. Beyond it, he promises, lie a heroic adventure and shining victories for anyone willing to take magic into their hands. The stranger steps through.

On the other side waits a pocket dimension, a place out of time where nothing done has any effect on the world beyond. There a disembodied voice introduces itself as Aurelius, time traveller and master spellcaster. He teaches the newcomer the Fireball, the Frost Bow and the art of teleporting, with exasperation at the first misses and grudging praise once the target crystals begin to shatter.

From the pocket dimension the stranger is brought to the Sanctum, a wizard's hideout that Aurelius says was built by another wizard long ago. He hands over his spellbook, which from then on records the stranger's progress in magic, and shows them the great map of Meliora, its figurines marking the places they will travel to. The Sanctum, he declares, now belongs to the stranger, though he would rather the books stayed on their shelves.

The journeys run on Aurelius's time-travel platform, which he has attuned to erase its last voyage from the streams of time should its rider be struck down or let slip events that would change the future. By the fireplace he explains why he needs help: his rewriting of history went wrong in places, and now the past itself must be defended. If the invaders win, he warns, the grim reality he worked so hard to avert will return.

"Your future might be brighter than I thought." — Aurelius