"It's hard to have known about this place in particular in advance when there are so many worlds. But it does seem like the Door might make travel between them simpler, you're right about that."

It wouldn't be right to say the concept is an old one; it was only within the past year, after all, that the ability to link material worlds with fragments of the origin stone became known outside of a few isolated groups. Word of Svala Lindgren's research spread like wildfire once she began sending her people to collect the stone shards. But each one links only to one place, and she still doesn't know fully how they work. This Door seems far more flexible - and if she can figure out how to use it, the worlds of the multiverse will crumble to Ironhold's vast armies.

"It's funny, though. If we gain control of the Door, I expect many will simply want to return home. Our captors will be left without hosts again - won't they have to try to stop us?"