What great tragedy had befallen her! The beleaguered faerie hung in the air for a time, mentally stunned at what her powers had wrought. Below her, the mages spoke amongst themselves, applauding their success, despite the fall of one of their own. Faemydi listened to their speech idly, the various levels of excitement, amazement. She noted the differing accents and dialects of their language, indicating that there were magicians present from all parts of the nation. This realization met with Faemydi as very unusual. Never in the entire mortal's history had members of all regions congregated in a peaceful assembly. She looked closely at the minds of everyone in the chamber. As her knowledge of this group grew, Faemydi came to realize how such a powerful organization of illicit magic users could have arisen. Through centuries of dutiful guidance and manipulations towards peaceful co-existence, the faerie dominion had engineered their own worst enemy, allowing previously hostile parties to unite with a new stronger power. The faerie dominion had been destroyed by that which it had created.

Faemydi tried to concentrate on a way to exorcise this creature, but anguish clouded her mind. The spell she had cast was the most powerful in her repertoire. She knew that every faerie save herself would spend the rest of their horrific lives scattered throughout the astral planes. The beast within had a fearful mastery of her talents and she dreaded another attempt to rid herself of it. A faire gestalt would have been powerful enough to banish any evil force, but they were gone now. The wizards below her clearly had great powers, but uncontrolled. In the destruction of one of their members she saw the potential for greater harm should she enlist their aid. With regret, she realized that there was only one ally powerful and trustworthy enough: the Pimi-Mele. With the Mrough's malicious designs set upon them, it should be no trouble to create a portal to their realm. Once there, she would have to completely abstain from using her magic lest an entire race pay for her mistake.

With unsettling ease, Faemydi opened a portal to the serene land of the Pimi-Mele. She targeted it for the principal village of their land. A stream of colourful lights formed a swirling tunnel before her. With regret, she entered the portal. Cheerful sparkling lights danced about her, not knowing of the dark curse that she carried. She was saddened to see such innocent mirth, for it reminded her of the realm she had destroyed so completely. A tear formed in one eye, swelled with pain and anguish, then ran down her cheek and landed upon the soil of wise youth. She had arrived in the realm of the Pimi-Mele.

Four small creatures had gathered around her portal, expecting her arrival. Each was of a different hue, soft and untarnished. Their eyes were a glassy black, without pupil. Despite this, she knew they were gazing upon her form, in awe of her nature. A somewhat larger but still petite figure approached from a forested path. This was Nii, the guardian of these people. Her portal had delivered her to the most important person in this realm. She had not made that thought upon conjuring the portal. The Mrough must have exerted its influence. Fear gripped her, the fear that she may lose control of herself and slay these fair people. She was ready to flee the approaching royalty, but the being carried a staff that restrained her. Nii greeted her and explained that it knew she was bound for their world. The Vortex staff had felt the vibrations caused by her portal. Upon questioning, Nii explained more of the Pimi-Mele.

They were a highly magical people, but they did not use this power for malignant purposes. Their spells were focussed on the arts, agriculture, and exploration. Knowledge and experience was what the Pimi-Mele craved most. For many centuries that had delved into every aspect of their world, learning about every plant, animal, and mineral. There were some powerful Pimi-Mele, however, that felt there were worlds beyond their own. The possibility of entire cultures beyond theirs was too compelling to ignore. For many years, magical experts gathered from across the land were brought together to create a spell that would allow a being to enter another world. Progress was made, but never success. Not until a strange being joined the effort. None had ever seen its species before and its language was bizarre. It called itself Blzzzrt. It had webbed arms and one finger. Its nose was large and it had feathery antennae above its large eyes. On its back grew a very large inflated sac with a beak on the back. From within this beak came a number of fibrous growths. All over its body were large purple spots. Its legs had no knee, thus its walking seemed awkward.

Blzzzrt possessed knowledge far beyond what the local and foreign masters knew. All marveled at the ease with which the travel spell was completed. The spell had been completed, after so long a time. But it could only be used when all the mages worked together. Worse, to return, their effort was again needed. But only one being could be transported and the mages needed to be in the realm of the traveler. They could not pull something from another realm, only send. Thus, there needed to be a way to send the power of the spell with the traveler. Thus was the Vortex staff created. Guardian Nii supervised the creation of a staff that would have the Vortex spell bound to it. In order to ensure the safety of the traveler, however, additional spells were added to the staff, such as food and light spells. When the staff was ready, three Pimi-Mele were sent through. After half a day, they returned, much affrighted by what they had experienced. Apparently, the beings in the other world were gravely afraid of them, thinking them to be monsters. Faemydi knew this story, for it was that of the daemons and the mortals. She apologized to Nii for causing the fear felt by its travelers. Nii was thankful that the fear was magical, and not through the poor selection of travel candidates. Faemydi asked if they had ventured into any other realms. Nii continued its narrative.

The first test had been successful, for a new world was visited and, though hostile, none were hurt or killed. Even so, Nii felt a small group would perform better as a first scout. A member of the Clease race, similar in physiology to the Pimi-Mele, but having a soft shell, was selected. This being was well controlled of mind, though young. Its name was Key. Lacking the skills of the aged, Nii spent time training Key in the use of the Vortex staff. All of its spells would be necessary to survive the unknown dangers of other worlds. After a short time, for Key's race was more adept at magic than the Pimi-Mele, the trip was prepared. Key was to attempt to reach a more hospitable world, though it was unknown whether or not such control of the spell was possible. Blzzzrt, the bizarre mage, would not answer.

Key summoned a great portal, entered, and vanished from the land. Nii waited many days for Key's return, but the portal did not form. Guilt permeated its being for many weeks, believing Key to have suffered a grave ill at the hands of other worldly monsters. A call to the mages of the realm was issued with the goal of creating another Vortex staff. Unfortunately, Blzzzrt had left and none knew from where it originated. The remaining mages attempted to create the spell, but there was a component missing that Blzzzrt had neglected to mention. Nii was left to wait and worry.

When Nii had finished his story, Faemydi felt pity for the little leader. Sadness also affected her, since she knew she could not use her magic to determine Key's fate, lest the Mrough bend the enchantment to its own evil purposes. Nii directed her to walk with it. Floating, she followed to the modest village. All around her she saw small Pimi-Mele tending to gardens, shaping rock, and playing with toys. Yet, whatever they did was beautiful for they did it with magic. Even the act of picking a vegetable was accomplished with sparkling blue light. The food would snap off the branch and floating into their stubby awaiting arms. Then the broken branch would flash with a small green light and a bloom would replace the end.

They entered what must have been the throne room, though it was more of a home. Only one servant seemed to attend Nii, and even then it was doing little more than performing greetings. Crouching upon a pillow, Nii told Faemydi to now tell it her story. Thus did she relate her terrible tale.