As Vice’s greatsword embedded itself into the bridge, the Sentinel’s body began to glow with a pure, white light. The adventurers turned their faces away, blinded by the radiance. When the light dissipated, they found that the knight’s body was gone. In its place was a leather-bound tome.

Vice lowered herself to the ground and picked the book up. She opened it, leafing through pages filled with celestial markings. “It’s the ritual for opening the gate,” she said.

Farrah drew close to the theosian. “Could you perform it?” the half-orc asked.

“No, not likely. The boy must be the one to do it. He’s connected to the Planesrunner; I am not. If we want a chance at opening this gate, it’s more probable that she would open it for the child.”

Farrah glanced at the others nearby. “Let’s rest for a moment before we continue. Solas knows we need it,” she said. “Karina, can you tend to Aveline’s wound?”

Karina lifted herself up and nodded. She moved slowly towards the daímona, fatigue crashing into her with every step. When she reached her, both Aveline and Karina dropped down without a word. The dragonblood began to examine her patient.

Aveline winced as Karina pulled out a bottle of clear liquid from her bag and popped the cork off with her teeth. The dragonblood focused intently on the wound slashed across Aveline’s side, pouring some of the liquid on a scrap of cloth while the daímona whimpered.

“What are you groaning and twitching for?” the dragonblood asked without looking up. “I haven’t even done anything yet.”

Aveline averted her gaze as Karina examined the wound once more. She focused her eyes on the iron doors that loomed over them. They radiated a powerful, almost suffocating magic. They’re ancient, she thought. This must truly be the gateway to the planes, just like the legends say. I can't imagine what kind of power it took to create them. And the beings who made these doors…

Pain flashed across Aveline's midsection and interrupted her thoughts. She grunted in discomfort, gritting her teeth to keep from letting out a scream. Yet almost immediately, the pain died down. “There,” Karina muttered. “I’m done.”

Aveline grimaced, glancing down at the bandage. “You couldn’t have used your magic to fix it instead of going through all that?” she asked. “I mean, that *is* your job.”

Karina rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You want me to waste my magic on a scratch? I don’t think so. Besides, I’m all tapped out after that fight, especially considering I had to deal with the boy.” She jerked a clawed thumb in the direction of the small bundle behind her.

Aveline watched as Kafir’s chest rose and fell slowly. “It’s a shame,” Karina continued, “you’d think the boy had never been in a fight before.”

“He probably hadn’t been,” another voice answered. Aveline looked up to find Farrah walking towards them. The half-orc knelt down and examined the bandage on Aveline’s side. “You okay?” she asked.

At Aveline's assent, Farrah stood back up. She glanced at Kafir’s form on the ground and ran a hand across her brow in concern. “The boy is what — nine? Ten? This was most likely the biggest fight he’d been in. I’m surprised he’s not dead right now,” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense,” interrupted Vice from her seat near the boy. She studied his body, looking for any irregularity in the child’s breath.

“You think so, theosian?” asked the half-orc. “And why is that?”

“You heard the boy’s story when we were summoned,” the paladin began. “He was trying to conjure up a djinn. Do you know what kind of power that takes?”

Vice looked up at the others, searching their faces for understanding. Their eyes were blank, expectant for her reasoning. She continued: “Even summoning us — which the boy claims was a mistake — would have taken an insane amount of ability. So why is it that he could barely harm the Sentinel?"

The others were quiet, unable to answer her question. "It just doesn’t add up,” Vice finished, her voice soft and calm.

Farrah sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Maybe you’re right. But we couldn’t leave him to die, now could we? He's just a boy.”

Vice was silent for a moment, contemplating an answer. Barely above a whisper, it came: “If the Crow came to fetch him, there would be nothing we could do.”

She turned her gaze from the boy to the colossal doors that towered over them. “This is where the child told us to go,” she said. “What now?”

As Vice spoke, small coughing sounds emanated from the bundle near her. She knelt over Kafir, watching his eyelids flutter open and his eyes slowly focus on her face. He coughed once more, his body convulsing from the effort. He stumbled over his words. “Did... did I kill it?”

Farrah smiled in relief and a laugh tumbled from her lips. “I can’t say you got the killing blow, young one” — she winked, her eyes alight with mischief — “but you did most of the work for us.”

She turned to the dragonblood and gestured towards the child. “Karina, can you check him out for us?”

Karina nodded and knelt by Kafir, taking his hands in hers. After a few minutes of examining him, she rose and helped the child to his feet. “All clear and ready to get back to active duty,” she said.

Looking past the group towards the bridge they had just crossed, the boy stared at the charred remains of the guardian they had fought. “We did it,” he murmured. “I can’t believe it.”

His eyes darted to Farrah’s face. “Few people have ever defeated the Silver Sentinel,” he told her. “If you four can do that, then you can do anything! Surely you can find my master!”

The half-orc knelt down and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Breathe, child,” she told him. “We were victorious, but it was hard-won. You were nearly killed.”

She glanced at Vice, still seated where Kafir had lain. The paladin shook her head, her eyes telling Farrah to be silent. “Perhaps it would be safer for you to stay at the Academia while we go find your master,” she finished.

Kafir looked as if he was about to object, but then thought better of it. “Yes ma’am,” he replied, his face darkening. “But Captain - ”

“Farrah is fine,” she interrupted, smiling at him. Kafir met her eyes and his cheeks flushed slightly at the informality.

“But Farrah,” he began, “who’s going to protect you?”

The half-orc smiled warmly at the boy. She pulled him to her and wrapped her thick arms around him. “We’ll be fine,” she told him. “I swear to you, we will find your master and bring him back.”

After a moment, Kafir pulled away from her. He brushed his tunic off and took a small spellbook out of the sack tied around his waist. “Well, if you’re going to find him, you have to get to him,” he said. “That is why we’re here, after all.”

Farrah rose to her feet and watched as the boy leafed through his book. “Ah!” he exclaimed. “Here we are: a prayer to Eitleán. We need her to open the doors if you want to get through.”

The paladin stood and glided towards Kafir. “And where is it that we are going, child?” she asked.

Vice’s sudden closeness made Kafir visibly nervous. “To — to the incendiary plane, ma’am,” he stuttered.

“The incendiary plane?” Aveline blurted from behind Karina. The daímona pushed past the healer and stood before the boy. “Do you know exactly where we’re going there?”

“My, my, someone is testy,” Karina teased. “Let me guess — that’s home for you?”

Aveline shot a glare at the dragonblood. “It is where I was born, yes,” she replied, venom on her tongue. “Not that it’s any of your business, serpent.”

“Alright, let’s all calm down,” said Farrah, her voice commanding the attention of her companions. She turned her gaze to Kafir. “So the incendiary plane is our destination. But how are we to get there?”

Kafir gestured towards the doors next to them. “The Path of Iris, of course,” he said. “We offer up an invocation to the Keeper of the Gates and, if it pleases her, she will open the doors for us.”

Aveline looked unconvinced. “That’s it, then? We just say please and she holds the door open for us?”

The boy looked up at the sculpture of Eitleán carved into the frame of the door. “I’ve done a lot of reading on her,” he said, his eyes planted on the keeper’s visage. “From what I can tell, she’s a lot nicer than the other Keepers. More personable, I guess.”

He turned to face the daímona. “I know she’d help us if she could,” he said, his voice filled with conviction.

Aveline’s gaze softened at the sight of the boy’s determination. Kafir reminded her much of her own sister. She would be about his age now, she thought. I mean… she is about his age. She is.

“Okay, Kafir,” she sighed. Turning to the others, she asked, “Shall we, then?”

Both Farrah and Karina nodded, but Vice looked unsure. She reached under her breastplate and pulled an amulet from beneath the armor. It appeared to be stone, but it was unlike any that the other had ever seen. A blood-red ruby was encased within a cradle of obsidian and tethered to a long, black chain. Vice placed the amulet in her palm and held it out before Kafir.

“I need you to make me a promise, child,” she told him. “I want you to swear on the Crow’s Eye that you are working of your own volition and mean us no harm.”

Kafir took a small step back, his face covered in confusion. “W-why?” he stuttered.

Vice remained stoic. “Because I do not trust your story,” she said, her black eyes cemented to Kafir’s blue. “And I need to know that you are not working under another’s influence.”

He looked down at the amulet, the ruby eye seeming to look through him. “If I do it, will you find my master?” he asked.

The paladin placed her other hand over the amulet. “I swear on the eyes, wings, and heart of the Crow. We will find your master.” As she removed her hand, the others noticed that the ruby was glowing faintly. Seconds later, the light dissipated.

“The vow is binding. May the Crow fetch me if I do not keep my word to you,” Vice said.

Kafir moved close to the paladin and reached out towards the amulet. He moved slowly, almost as if he was afraid he would be whisked away if he touched it. But as his hand came to rest on the Eye, no giant crow came to fetch him. He looked up into Vice’s pupiless eyes.

“I swear on the Eye of the Crow that I mean you all no harm. I am here alone,” he said.

Crimson light radiated from the ruby and lit the child’s face with a ghostly glow. “The vow is binding,” Vice whispered. “May the Crow fetch you if you do not keep your word.”

Kafir shivered, fidgeting with his robes as Vice stepped away from him. His eyes flitted towards Farrah, who had left a hand to rest on the handle of one her throwing axes. Her gaze was cemented to Vice, who did not seem to notice the half-orc's stare. After a moment, Farrah felt Kafir's eyes and glanced at him. When she realized her subconscious movement, her hand fell away from the weapon on her side.

She cleared her throat. “Now that that’s taken care of, are we ready?”

Farrah took the others’ silence as assent. She nodded to Kafir; he opened the ritual tome and began to chant in an unfamiliar language. Even Aveline, who was something of an expert in unorthodox arcana, could only catch a few stray words here and there that she could understand. Open... gates... Eitleán… She was comforted knowing that the incantation was what Kafir said it would be.

Not that I was worried, she assured herself. Something about the boy makes me sure that we can trust him.

As Kafir chanted, a white glow began to emanate from the iron doors. The loud creaking of metal echoed throughout the canyon. Aveline looked up at the engraving of Eitleán; as she watched, it seemed as if the Keeper’s lips curved slightly into a smile.

Aveline’s eyes widened, but her attention was soon taken by the doors themselves as they began to open. Pure white light poured out from the opening as it widened, blinding her. She closed her eyes tightly and covered her face with a hand, but it did little to help. After several moments, Aveline could hear Kafir’s chanting growing louder and more intense. The boy was all but shouting by the time she realized that the groaning of the iron doors had ceased. Kafir’s voice reached its peak as he completed the incantation. The light began to subside, allowing Aveline to open her eyes.

The Path of Iris was fully open.