It was just a regular night, that night in Trinsic. Tarin sat at his usual table in the Keg and Anchor. He sat across from Jared, his good friend and fellow paladin. They chatted idly over some pints of ale about the weather. All of a sudden, hoofbeats could be heard off in the distance, growing ever more in intensity. Jared looked questiongly at Tarin, he returned his look with a shrug. Then, the door burst open as William came striding quickly towards Tarin.

Tarin looked up and said,"Sir?"

William quickly spoke,"There is a darkness, growing on Ice Isle. A group of undead and necromancers have assembled in a large tower of evil proportion. We must hurry."

And with that, William spoke the words of Vas Rel Por. Suddenly, a blue gate stood shimmering before the trio. Tarin was the first go in and come out on the other side, a bit nauseous but only for a second. He could never get over that sensation when using the magical gates. William and Jared followed quickly behind, they as well looked a bit woozy but the feeling quickly passed from them. Looking about, Tarin surveyed the structures that stood above the layer of ice that covered the whole of the island. These structures gave off an evil glow.

William spoke hurrieldy and hushed,"We're at the heart of the Order's city, odd. . .no guards around, something must be going on."

Tarin and Jared simply nodded.

As they made their way around the buildings, Tarin kept out a watchful and often his right hand would rest on the hilt of his sword. Suddenly and without warning, three death knights, a necromancer, and a lich lord appeared.

The liche lord spoke in a sinister tone,"What have we here? A trio of folly paladins? How convenient, just perfect for our sacrifice for this eve's Black Mass!"

The liche lord motioned to the three death knights to advance on the paladins. Tarin felt suddenly very weak and slow, he tried to reach for his sword and get into a battle stance. By the time he reached to draw his sword, a death knight had knocked him to the ground. His head jolted to the left and he could see that had the same had befallen William and Jared, both were on sprawled out on the ground and both were unconscious. Tarin turned his head back to the sky just in time to see a blunt object smash him in the face, all went black. . .

When he awoke, he was bound by chains and laid on an altar. The liche lord stood over him and let out a maniacal cackle. He was speaking in some dark language that Tarin could not understand. As to where his other two companions where, he could only guess. As the liche lord raised a curved blade above Tarin, raising it to strike in mere seconds into Tarin's chest.

The liche lord spoke loudly,"For the Ebon Skull!"

Then. . .all went black and Tarin found himself on Ice Isle once again, outside. . . with no sign of the evil city or his fellow paladins in sight. He decided to follow the coastline until he heard sounds of battle. . .

Tarin snapped back to the present and was now staring at orc corpses and blood stains about all over the ice and snow near the small tower. Something felt different, this portion of the ice isle he had been before. He noticed the physical features of the land, but all seemed different. The buildings that he once knew, were not there. Instead, different buildings stood amongst the small tower, which he could of swore was not on "his" Ice Isle. He had heard tales of other lands, the exact copy of his, living out their destinys, known as "Shards" within the universe, but he never really paid attention to that. He was sure he hadn't crossed facets of his land too, he knew the Felucca and Trammel side quite well. Perhaps then he may have crossed shards? Only time would tell. Tarin decided to move along and find a way off the ice covered island. . .