Prologue

Tera had set his trap. Lightning laced with Fire and Light, forming a cage and a funnel. The mouth opened onto an Edge, almost touching a nearby realm, the realm of life, Lor-Neron Alarast. He waited for the right moment, his mind raging with impatience, body racked with the agony of the Drawing. How many others had he pulled into himself? Taken them in, melded their power with his own and crushed their souls? This was his first target from a different realm. The pain distracted him, but his target was close. He reached out along the sides of his net, further and further before carefully grasping the Edge with the corners of his trap, pushing it against the nearby world. A tunnel formed, sending a ray of fire down his spine. The tunnel was a domain in its own right – his own domain – but it would be snuffed out when he was done. The joining was complete in seconds. He felt his world flowing into the other, the unfamiliar Lightning taking root, displacing... something. Fire and Light could no take root; this place must have some similar property. He didn't mind, the Lightning had already pulled him through. Shuddering again with the agony of holding the two worlds together, Tera closed the his net around his prey; a wide soft hold to avoid detection, he knotted it quickly, jumping back across the border. He would not be able to maintain this connection much longer; wave after wave of nausea flowed through him in response to the pain. Energy crackled from him as his body was slowly torn apart between the two realms. Focussing, Tera pulled his missing energy back across the gap, forcing it to reassemble. He rested for a moment. Merely holding power hurt, but it was nothing compared to using it. Having caught his breath and having reached a state of relative comafort again, he yanked on his trap. The net pulled tight around his target, a being of modest power, and became more of a chain, Light solidifying with Fire to create unbreakable bonds. Surprisingly, his quarry did not struggle. It was almost across the border now – once it was over, Tera could draw less power, and this ordeal would become less taxing. Suddenly, the victim was gone. No, it wasn't gone. It was moving towards him, no longer pushing against the net. Closing in on him. Tera panicked, letting go of the chain and ceasing to draw power. The trap should have vanished, but it didn't. The tunnel remained open.
Tera's target pushed through and latched onto him. It used no net, no trap. No tool. It bound itself to Tera and pulled him back through. Forcing him to draw power again. Pain lanced through his body again, unbearable. He felt his body dissolving, being replaced by something new. The familiar being displaced by the strange. Puking, expecting the normal explusion of multihued light, he saw brown liquid pump out. New senses swamped him. The cold, unfamiliar odours, and a strange constriction around him. He screamed. Both from the pain and the realisation he was trapped.
He realised his mistake; this was not some being of modest power, not some young Drawer. This was something more. Something dangerous. This was Avan Nerovast, the Shield of the Living Realm, Benighted of Sorrow, and Tera was an intruder.
He would be bound here, unable to move, unable to die. His power leaking into this realm, fuelling it. He could feel it flowing in waves from him already, dim echoes bouncing back, forming pockets of lightning, which raced around the room, only to disperse within seconds.
Avan Nerovast stood before him, a dark, unmoving statue, soaking up the light. Bursts of sorrow came from it, rising and falling, penetrating his consciousness.

Avan Nerovast regarded Tera quiuetly. Maintaining the connection to Vinidian Same was painful at first, but he had shifted that onto Tera. Vinis Saram would not be happy about what he had done here, but Avan was unhappy with it himself. Still, there was nothing to be done. What this creature of lightning and fire had done would not be quick to heal, and he couldn't do it himself; that would force the Living Realm to join with the Lightning Realm permanently, and that would cause problems.

Avan carved away the rock, creating a chamber around Tera. Encasing him in steel and imbuing it to prevent decay. Tera's screaming began to bother him, so he left, hewing a tunnel and steps out to create a rough temple. It would take a while to fix up this mess. A long while. Vinis would just have to wait this one out.

On the surface he observed the new field of lightning gradually progressing outwards. Smaller creatures – bacteria and plankton were quick to adapt, doing so before his eyes. Larger species were unlikely to do so. Sighing, he set about saving what he could.

He did not know it then, but someday people would visit the temple to pay homage to the one they would name the Eternal Screamer, the god of pain and suffering.