Editing World on Fire (section)

=== Timed events ===
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{{TErow| 1 | [[Night of Shooting Stars]] - Part I| It seemed as if that night would never end. Standing dazed on the bare hilltop above the village, I couldn't take my eyes off the streaks of fire as they cut across [[Eeofol]]'s sky; they were too blistering to notice some of them go out and others light up. Then I realized they weren't going out at all, even after I lowered my eyelids. The day was about to break, yet I could still only see a mishmash of dark and light strokes. [[Frederick]] told me never to look directly at the sun so as not to harm my eyesight, but he had never mentioned that searing light just like that could pour down from the sky by night as well. I pressed my palms to my face and darted almost blindly down the slope toward the creek. I think I screamed. I was scared.}}
{{TErow| 1 | [[Night of Shooting Stars]] - Part II| The water and the coolness helped. My eyesight was coming back to me, but the fear didn't go away—it felt as though that blinding flame kept scorching me inside. While I could still see, I noticed that the stars whose tails blazed so brightly in the night sky were not burning up in midair. They were making it all the way to the ground, like huge smoldering rocks, strangely slowly, and seemingly not far from here, just beyond those hills. Then the wind brought a faint odor of smoke—not like the morning smell of stoves in the houses.<p>Over the past few years, I had gotten used to asking questions, then unlearned to do it, and eventually mastered this art again. When I met a man who knew far more about the world than I could imagine, I wanted to ask and ask and ask without end—I was curious about everything. Then I suddenly realized I was asking too much nonsense. [[Frederick]] tried not to show it, but his displeasure sometimes got the best of him and he sent me away. There was no punishment worse than coming back from a lab with all the wonders to a barn filled with broken rakes and dirty burlap bags. I began to think before opening my mouth—and I guess I slowly learned to ask the right questions. One such question was boiling inside my head right now: Can rocks so much like the sun fall from the sky?</p>}}
{{TErow| 2 | [[Frederick]]| Find [[Frederick]]. I had to find [[Frederick]]. Nothing could be more important now. Not even because of his telescope—whatever could fall from the sky had already done it anyway... It was just my heart telling me it’d be better to be by his side now. Any knowledge he had, even the very lore that made him so feared by my fellow villagers, could be useful today.<p>For as long as I could remember, I had always been alone, living in the barn owned by [[Grampa Haye]]. He was not my real grandfather—that much I knew somehow, but he still fed me, gave me clothing, and let me sleep by the stove in his house in winter. The rest of the time, I preferred to be on my own. [[Frederick]] came into my life when I was... hmm, well, I don't even know how old I am now. Doesn't matter—that was the first time I ventured into the hills behind our grove. There, I saw a big new house, and next to it, one disturbingly tall man and two smaller ones, like [[halfling|halflings]], but different, grey-skinned. Later on, I would learn that those little people were called "[[gremlin|gremlins]]," and that they were not really human, but [[Frederick]] refused to answer my further questions, and I never saw the [[gremlin|gremlins]] again. And back at that moment, perhaps out of fear of the unknown, I froze and let myself be caught—though I could've hidden in the woods from anyone. [[Frederick]] realized I wasn't the kind of person that chased him off to this neck of the woods, and he allowed me to come see him sometimes. I guess he needed some live ears to listen to his crazy hypotheses—and he didn't care that I was nothing more than a silly little girl who couldn't even count her fingers.<br>I would stay in the lab for weeks on end, for no one missed me in the village anyway. My thin hands were often just what Frederick needed. Sometimes he'd ask me to crawl inside a sophisticated machine to find a burst hose or check the wear on a gear. Such joy it gave me when I was able to help and the assembled mechanism began to hiss and spin—even though I hadn’t the faintest idea what was going on. He, however, always knew what was about to happen and why it should work.<p>Find [[Frederick]]. There was hardly anyone who could deal with the unusual around here.</p>}}
{{TErow| 3 | [[Halfling|Halflings]] and [[Demon|Demons]]| Many who had not believed in the danger opened their eyes now, but there were also many who shrugged off the trouble, even though it was knocking at their door. The difference? The former had already seen what the celestial guests did to living beings, while the latter yet had to. It was too late for them to get wiser, though; I could watch from the hills as the creatures were flooding the farms we had left behind.<p>For the first time in the decade passed since the last bad harvest, something bigger than a new turnip dish recipe had happened in the halflings’ lives... And I never imagined it’d carry this much sorrow. [[Frederick]], where are you?</p>}}
{{TErow| 4 | [[Uncle Kett]]| The nightmare came in the light of day. It was like if you wanted to wake up, you just couldn't because you were already awake. Wide awake and incredulous. Things that felt so important just a few days ago, seemed to be just gone, shrouded by fog. In the course of these days, the imaginary danger grew into a very real horror. Several villages in the north were gone, as if they had never existed—the news was brought by the lucky survivors. The stench of fires and sulfur was now everywhere, and any stirring in the bushes caused consternation.<p>At dawn we ran into some refugees. The [[halfling|halflings]]—one I recognized as the elder of a village half a day's journey away—were looking around in a daze, unsure of what to do.<p>“[[Uncle Kett]]! How did you make it here?” I called out to him. “Don’t tell me you ran here through the woods all night, straight from your farm... or did you?”<p>“Well, when someone starts ramming down your door, you’ll get not only out of bed, but out of your pants too! So yeah, we ran off... We need to gather people, that's what I think!”<p>“Who chased you off? Were those [[goblin|goblins]], like five years ago?”<p>I already knew the answer, but somehow I hoped [[Kett]] would say something else.<p>“[[Devil|Devils]]… with some big old horns. I don’t really know what they were," the elder said sheepishly. "They killed my dog right away... he whined so horribly. Then they kicked in the door. And I jumped out the window; no time to get dressed that was. They stood in a circle around the farm. I don't even remember how I got past them. I met someone else in the forest later. I'm afraid that's all of us, though, and we’ll never see the rest...”</p>}}
{{TErow| 6 | [[Frederick]] and [[Henrietta]] - Part I| I'd often been berated and branded an adventure-seeker. But what are adventures? Stories of glorious heroes and dragon slayers sung in taverns by traveling bards? Sure, I liked to listen to them—but they never mentioned the fatigue, the bloody feet, the stench of dead bodies, or the screams of people eaten alive that echoed through the forest all night. The [[Demon|Demons]] were on the prowl. Villages were not enough for them—those who had taken shelter in the woods were now in danger too. Frederick and I spent the night sitting by the fire looking in the flames, regurgitating the same slow, meaningless remarks. We were so exhausted we couldn't even bring ourselves to sleep. If that was adventure, then I can assure you I never wanted adventure.<p>By morning we were in agreement: nothing left to do here for us. We must leave the Valley immediately.</p>}}
{{TErow| 6 | [[Frederick]] and [[Henrietta]] - Part II| As the sun was getting high, the numbness we had fallen into the previous night had finally subsided. At least [[Frederick]] spoke as quickly and vigorously as before, and his eye was keenly aware of the smallest details in the chaos.<p>“[[Henrietta]], I want to thank you again. Perfect timing to get me out; it seems our aliens know more about demonology than the entire [[Bracadan Academy]]. They're already summoning some pretty powerful creatures from the [[Elemental Plane of Fire]], and I don't see them needing months of rituals, rare reagents, or the favorable position of celestial bodies to do it. If we delay any longer… I wouldn't love to see [[Eeofol]] being turned into a nice balmy place like the ones where those things are coming from, through their portals and gates. You know, some of them prefer to live in active volcanoes, and this land is full of fire-breathing mountains that once became dormant but can be brought back to life.”</p>}}
{{TErow| 7 | Last day| All night long something rustled, whooshed and muttered around the camp. It was the little servants of the horned creatures—[[imp|imps]] and [[familiar|familiars]]. We tried to scare them off by launching exploding projectiles into the darkness, but to no avail.... By morning, the vile creatures were snooping around almost in plain sight, unafraid of anything. In a few more hours, this horde would overrun the last corners of our part of [[Eeofol]]. It was as clear as day: if we did not leave the Valley today, all would be lost.}}
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