Tour point of interest 1:

  The Ray Chronicles

  Kr’ilsgor is a secluded world within vast reaches of the multiverse. In it’s own galaxy, it is one of only a small number of known habited planets. It has an extensive and rich history dating back hundreds of thousands of years. By cosmic standards, it is a relatively young planet, however, its people have seen tremendous growth. In fact, this world was first integrated as a grade one planet only eight thousand years after the earliest record-

  “Come on already! I want a hero story! This isn’t social studies class!”

  The tour guide was nonplussed by the outburst of a young lion kin boy. The child’s parents quickly pulled their child aside and issued a choked whisper of the threat in an attempt to instill some decency and patience. The few adult attendees on this museum tour gave a low chuckle, and a nearby elven woman joined the discussion.

  “Yeah! Kel’s right! This isn’t school- it’s a field trip! FIELD TRIP EQUALLS FUN. It’s not like this is social studies class-” she stopped abruptly mid-sentence and perked up exaggeratedly as if something just occurred to her. “Oh wait just a moment- this IS a social studies field trip. I’m sure Kel isn’t the only one excited for tales of valor, but do keep in mind that you will be submitting reports on Kr’ilsgor next week, and if you aren’t paying attention and taking notes, you won’t have much to write about, will you? Apologies sir, please continue with your tour. Oh, Kel, do you have a question?”.

  The child had his hand raised confidently. Upon being addressed, he placed both hands flat against his sides and looked to the floor. “Teacher, class, tour guide. I apologize for my rude outburst. I will do my best to not be a disturbance and be a better attendee.” After his apology, he looked up to each party he offended in the eyes with sincerity and resolution.

  Two proud parents and one proud teacher looked at the child and smiled. The rest of the young students nodded to him while a few rolled their eyes, knowing their classmate too well. The tour guide locked eyes with the child and thought to himself.

  Seems like a good kid. He needs to think through his actions more, but he seems passionate and pure. None of the kids seem to dislike him, and not even the teacher considering this is probably an hourly occurrence in her class.

  He smiled briefly at the kid. Then all eyes swiveled back to him. He quickly schooled his expression and put on a nonplussed expression before anyone else could take notice. The teacher turned to face him so her students wouldn’t take much notice and let loose a huge smile she had been holding back. It seemed to be about twenty percent hilarity and eighty percent pride in her upright students. She gave him a large nod to continue.

  “Hm. Well you know, I kind of agree.” With a flourish, he flicked his hand over his shoulder and pulled it back in front of him, a thick packet of papers materializing in his hands. He began quickly flipping through the pages. “I mean, there’s like fifty pages of facts and dates and blah blah blah.” He looked around and over both shoulders not so subtly and then leaned in towards his crowd conspiratorially. In a whisper he rasped, “If my manager asks, I followed the script. Just tell him: let Ray’s light shine upon you”. With a quick wink, he quickly drew back and cleanly tore the packet in two, casting each half backwards over his shoulders where they ignited and disappeared as if they were made of flash paper. They were. It was a large stack of stapled flash paper. Oh Great Astrals, he loved this bit.

  Taking on a rich and booming voice that seemed to surround the touring party. “Let’s begin again”. He was about to lose himself in the storytelling again, but he spared a quick glance at young Kel. His previously stern and focused demeanor disappeared with the flash paper. His eyes were alight with wonder as he jumped up and down excitedly. Then the story took him.

  Kr’ilsgor is a secluded world within vast reaches of the multiverse. The largest continent, Sh’andras, exists far away from the other landmasses. At the eastern edge of Sh’andras is a large port city. Now that we know where our story takes place, lets settle the matter of when. It’s taken on many names over the thousands of years it’s stood, but the tale takes place when it was known simply as West Port.

  West Port is a humble trade city, nestled into a crook of the land where a large transcontinental river bisecting the continent along its equator meets the sea. It adopted this name once it expanded from a disconnected coastal town into a trade hub, connecting the inner continent to the outer coasts. Roads existed before, but with the lands many severe mountain ridges, extensive deserts and rolling tundra, the roads were always risky and slow going. This fully discounts any highway robbers and monsters which only increased the costs of traveling by land. Magically powered boats could quickly carry passengers or cargo with room to spare for hired protection and mounted weapons that carts and caravans can’t compete with.

  Here in West port, large sea fairing ships could offload shipments onto smaller river fairing barges that would complete the delivery of people and goods. With its crucial role in the world and its booming economy, it had experienced a population boom, and like most developing societies, there was a disparity in the distribution of wealth. Nobles had recently seized power and governance. Enforced law hadn’t been present previously, and businessmen have a knack for sniffing out opportunity. They banded together to form a council, enlisting guards and writing laws. At a glance, it may have seemed like a semi-democratic city-state, but the governance wasn’t in place to protect the people, it protected profits. The quaint beginnings of the Hero’s Guild was the only entity that occasionally operated for the sake of the greater populace.

  The Hero’s Guild dispatched skilled fighters, mages and craftspeople to deal with external threats or rebuild after engaging with said threats. The Guild wasn’t antagonized by the Council, but they were a separate and unsupported institution. It could almost be summed up as a community service that operated barely above cost. Only a few dozen parties operated full time, and while they were loved and respected, they weren’t powerful or wealthy.

  Then Ray was born. A dirty orphan child that slept in gutters and scrubbed ships as they docked in order to afford off-cuts of cheese and burnt bread each day. He chose to leave the orphanage at eight years old. It was hard to stretch each coin so that every child would be fed and he chose to lessen the burden. That was his goal though, to lessen the burden. While waiting on ships to pull into the docks, he helped the elderly with their chores, cleaned up messes, and played with the despondent kids who were being robbed of their childhood.

  For four years, he kept on. Soon, the town learned of him. He never noticed when, but eventually, he saw that he was earning more money for the same work. He began receiving whole portions of food: fresh, nicely cut cheeses, fresh bread and even sausages. The restaurant owner wouldn’t accept anything more than the fee he previously charged. The local kids would brighten and wave at him as soon as he turned the corner, showering him with dolls and toys made of frayed twine and splintered wood.

  He was happy that people were being nice, but never understood why. Suddenly he had too much food and too much money. He bought some paint and gave the restaurant sign a touch up. He began “forgetting” coins on the dining tables. He shared his meals and allowance with the orphanage and bought them proper sown dolls and wooden swords for playfighting. He saved up and got a stack of wool blankets for the elderly just in time for the winter season.

  This cycle would continue. The community would scold him for giving away all he was given, but Ray could only smile. To him, the more he was given, the more he could give.

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  At thirteen, he was summoned by the hero’s guild. Standing outside the door, he tried patting the dust and grime off of himself. His ragged clothes barely held together, let alone fit him, but he straightened his outfit anyways, hoping to look proper for the guild. He raised his hand to knock as the door swung wide open to reveal a large bearded man. He glared down at Ray.

  “Are you that child Ray?”

  A smile stretched across his face as he stared up at the man. “Yes sir. The dock steward told me to come here instead today.”

  The man grunted and stepped aside. “Come in.”

  Ray looked away abashedly, “Apologies sir, but I’d better not, I’m not clean.”

  Pain rushed into the man, unlike any monster’s tooth or claw. His jaw set and fury filled his eyes. Ray would never come to realize what occurred or learn the mans thoughts at this moment, but these words entered is mind:

  A child should not live like this. A child should have a family. A child should be in school or playing sunrise to sunset. A child should eat full meals. A child should not work harder than every adult in this city- in this WORLD. They shouldn’t be toiling to feed others, starving in the cold gutters at night and through the winters, giving the gifts and payment he earns to other kids. How could this city have wronged him so, and how can he still be so caring and full of life?

  Tears threatened the fire in his stare. His fists clenched so hard that his knuckles were popping, nails dug into his palms. He looked up towards the heavens for an answer, and failing to find one in the rafters, he exhaled a long slow breath.

  “Boy, you are the cleanest soul in this city. Your footsteps will grace this rotting building, not tarnish its floors. Come in. Have a seat at the table, please.”

  Ray was oblivious, but he always was. Right up to the end. Confusion plastered across his face, he obliged and took a seat at the indicated table. A woman came by and set food on the table in front of him. A large wooden bowl, spilling a thick, meaty stew because it was filled to the brim. A large plate piled with bread and sausages and cheese. A tankard also overfull with milk spilled as it was set down.

  He looked up to see the woman’s face, red eyed, wet and sniffling.

  “I’m so sorry! Don’t be upset, I’ll clean up the spill. Please don’t be sad Miss!”.

  That same pain struck the man once more, and the woman as well. He passed a handkerchief across the table to her and she quickly wiped away the tears and smiled at him.

  “Listen little mister, I’m not crying because I’m upset or sad. I’m very happy that you’re here is all.” She ruffled his greasy mop of hair and gave him a tight hug. She quickly pulled away and disappeared into the guild halls kitchen.

  “Eat boy, eat everything in front of you.”

  Ray gawked and looked from the man to the food. Quickly he dipped the smallest piece of bread into the stew and pulled a small chunk of cheese apart and placed it on top of the bread. “This is more than plenty for me, is there any chance I can share the rest with my friends?”.

  A third pain would be unbearable, before it could set in the man quickly counter attacked. “No! You’re a growing boy. You’ll never grow big and strong if you aren’t feeding yourself plenty. We made more than we can eat in the back and we can all go take the rest over to whoever you’d like- after you eat every morsel of food in front of you, I can see your spine through the front of your shirt!”.

  Ray was astonished. So was the man. This was not the way to do this, he just yelled at a child. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. He took a deep breath, and without looking up, “I’m sorry for yelling. I need help. Marry’s cooking is too good to waste and I need help eating it all. Please eat your fill.” Slowly he raised his head and opened his eyes. He was blinded. Ray was beaming at him. He saw the eyes of a child unburdened by circumstance. A child elated to help someone and incapable of thinking to help himself.

  “Yes sir, I’d be happy to help. But first, can I know your name, mister?”

  He reflected the smile right back at the boy. “Yes, you can kid. I’m Talon. An honor to properly meet you.”

  “Talon, Marry, thank you for the food!” and without another word, the child ravenously devoured every speck of food at the table.

  Henceforth, he lived at the Hero’s Guild. He received training in the mornings, played with the orphans in the afternoon, and spent the evenings cleaning and repairing the Guild Hall. They tried to tell him his room, board and training were free of charge, but then Ray told them that no one else was doing the tasks he was undertaking. Through it all, he still managed to help around the neighborhood like before and shared all his meals with the orphanage, on the condition that he would train hard and eat everything they served him.

  By sixteen, Ray had become a clean, lithe boy. He wasn’t a body builder by any means, but he was fit, and for the first time in all his life, his bones were shrouded by colorful skin and a layer of muscle.

  At eighteen he was well muscled. He’d grown to be unrecognizable from the gaunt child who was afraid of getting mud on the floorboards. He was as devout in his training as he was to the community. He began his career with the hero’s guild and quickly rocketed through the ranks. The entire city knew him, and for years he would be a bastion against the dangers of the wild and corrupt robbers that passed through the port. From time to time, he was contracted across the land to deal with exceedingly dangerous monsters. By twenty-five, he wasn’t world famous, but his name floated around every city on the continent at one time or another. Fables of his exploits as a Hero began to grow and spread. By 30, he was world famous. Or, continent famous.

  Not long after becoming the greatest hero in the land, his name would become legend; his story would end. He would challenge Drakthir, the dark wizard.

  “Whoops! Got a head of myself, haha! I guess I should probably stick to the script after all?” The tour guide began turning in circles. He stopped suddenly, rotating sharply to the touring party. “Did anyone see where I left my script?”

  They erupted in laughter.

  “Alright then, lets continue on to the first exhibit, shall we?” he began to turn towards the statue of a skeleton shrouded in moss and roots when a child shouted at him.

  “Wait a minute!”

  The tour guide grinned to himself and to face Kel.

  Suddenly realizing he was doing it again he quickly controlled himself and raised his hand, looking at the ground in shame.

  “Yes, Kel?”

  “Sir, you didn’t finish the story yet, and I was hoping you would.”

  The guide smiled and waited until the child raised his head.

  The scene became almost a still frame. Nobody moved or said anything. The children looked around in confusion. The tour guide started feeling like he was hung out to dry- this was a failed tender moment.

  Gods damn this kid is so regimented when he isn’t completely unregimented.

  He motioned to Kel’s parents to tap him on the shoulder so this awkward moment would finally end. Hopefully to Kell it would feel like the moment was an eternity and he wouldn’t be aware it was an entire series of moments. The quietly laughed and obliged, each placing a hand on their lion kin son.

  Slowly Kel opened his eyes and raised his gaze to meet that of the tour guide.

  “Don’t worry Kel, I’ll finish my story soon.” And he gave the child a huge grin.

  “Wait, did you say ‘my story’!? Are you Ray!?”

  The tour guide was shocked, jaw agape. Everyone burst out laughing.

  The teacher wiped her eyes and recovered from her laughing fit. Tenderly, she answered on behalf of the statuesque guide. “Kel, dear, Ray was alive over one million years ago. The planet didn’t fully integrate into the system and the greater multiverse for a few thousand years after his birth. Sure, we know that in this day and age, individuals can level and ascend to immortality, but that’s not possible on a tier one planet. Perhaps if we were patient and had the scripted tour, we would have learned that?”

  Despite being laughed at by all present, Kel stayed the course. “You didn’t answer though! Ahem, sir. Can you tell me honestly that you aren’t Ray?”

  The tour guide smiled at him genuinely and turned toward the rear of the museum where a statue depicted the hero, Ray. “I’m not. But every day that passes I hope I could become more and more like him.”

  A somber moment passed as the parents and students fell deep in thought.

  The guide turned back. “Don’t worry Kel, you aren’t leaving here today until that story is finished. But it will be the finale, so hang in there, champ.” He smiled wide at the gathered patrons. “Let’s continue on, shall we?