Chapter Twelve
by Sarcastro

Alex Dugan sat on a large rock out in the flat land not far from the nearby pillar forests. His matted black hair was wet with the sweat of hours of long walking across the barren landscape. He saw the rock as a gleaming holy cathedral out here in the wilderness. It offered a place to sit and rest and think. He was only twenty miles or so from Worldgate, and he was tuckered out. As he saw the blood red sun dip slowly over the horizon he pulled out the shiny silver harmonica his granddad had given him on his 12th birthday. It still shone with the same gleam as when he received it ten years ago. As he held it up to the dissipating light he could vaguely make out the emblem of that odd symbol he had come to call "The Flag". As he flipped it over he read out loud, "United States of America. Made in Tennessee."

He examined the instrument as if it were the first time and slowly brought it to his mouth and started to play as his granddad taught him. The slow, sullen sounds of the harmonica echoed across the desert and through the pillar groves. It bounced off the ears of a small rock lizard and caught the attention of a soaring eagle. Alex played a little longer and finally put the harmonica away in his belt pouch for safe keeping. He started foraging for sticks and kindling for a fire when the air around him started swirling around creating a small breeze, which gradually developed into a powerful gale. Alex looked around in fear and apprehension. Above his head a paper thin line of blue light shot down from the sky and grounded itself at his feet. It widened to reveal a ring of blinding whiteness which forced Alex to cover his eyes and step back. The doorway between dimensions started sparking magical energy in the air that made the hair on Alex's head stand on end and the ground beneath his feet to rumble with ancient power. Just when things couldn't get any odder the doorway spewed forth two people.