It was a dark, stormy night. It was also a very special
night. It was the first night after the salvation came,
after the Dark Tides had finally fallen before the newly
arranged Revelan troops and fled back. It was the first
battle that favored the Rebellion. A sign perhaps, for the
about to come. But Milara forced all of those thoughts out
of her mind. That wasn't why she was here, in this dark,
filthy house, which its dweller called home. She was here
now to serve a higher goal. She was here to take a
prophecy.
Jacobs, the ''Prophet'', was a very old man who lived almost
like an animal. His only belonging, which he guarded as if
his life depended upon it, was a strange symbol in the form
of an eye, encircled with a white line. He was in a chamber
near her, in case he'll have the Trance that will give the
world its prophecy. She didn't tell him why she was really
there. She told him something about guarding him from a
danger and that he was an important man. She didn't answer
his further questions.
She knew he'd have it tonight, for it was related in other
prophecies. In them, it was called the Blind Prophecy. Why,
she didn't know. She almost didn't care, because it was
nearly impossible to comprehend a prophecy completely, and
it required years of study. Almost. However, she knew for
sure that this was the day that the prophecy shall be given.
She knew also that its subject would bear the fate of the
world.
Yet, even with all of those thoughts and this strange and
important duty, she still couldn't stop thinking about the
salvation of her people, the Revelans. They had done the
impossible - the won the battle for freedom against the Dark
Tides - the raiding forces of Grong, the leader of the
fierce empire of Krol. And they were about to reunion their
ancient homeland - Revela, for it was separated after the
Krolian forces - the Dark Tides - conquered them before five
hundred years.
The formal declaration of the country that was reborn will
be announced tomorrow by midday, but already everyone knew
about it, and celebrated. Only Milara had to stay out of
those celebrations because of her duty. But, she tried to
cheer herself, there will be still tomorrow's celebrations,
and those were intended to be larger than the ones that were
held now. She thought with pride at her wonderful land - it
was the first one yet to get rid of the dark reign of Grong,
and, hopefully, won't be the last. For she knew that some
contacts were made between their leader and the bordering
countries, and from what she heard, there was a chance for
another few lands to join in the rebellion.
She thought of the history she knew of her land, back to the
time that Revela was in its ancient borders, before the
commencing of the Dark Age - the rule of Krol. Those were
the days of the Treaty, which proclaimed that no land was
allowed to grow too powerful, and should one does grow in
power and hunger for more, all of the other lands would join
forces and crush that land out of existence. And there were
several cases at the beginning of the Treaty that it was
tested. There was no mercy. The army of those lands was
crushed, and if the people of the land were good and it was
only a greedy emperor or king, the people will be spared.
But, if it was also because of the people, then that land
was removed from existence, including the people. The
strongest lands got some of those lands' territory and the
weaker lands just aided in the battle.
But then was the beginning of the Dark Age. The Krolians
became too greedy. They wanted more land. They became to
raise army. And the strangest thing was that no land
suspected, even not the neighboring lands of Krol. And so
Krol was becoming a powerful nation. By a few years, Krol
had its army out of the agreed limitations by the Treaty.
And they began to conquer.
The Krolian army was well trained, and larger than other
countries', and so they whipped out land by land, with
patience. After that, suddenly the other countries
''discovered'' Krol and its growing army and territory. But
they were too late. The Krolians had already a standing army
that was on the front door of each land within months, and
so Krol became an empire.
After they conquered all of the lands in the known world,
they started to reorganize the judgment and rules of all of
the lands and bringing detachments to every land to enforce
order, including Revela, which was now separated into
Armela, Renen and Grale. Her land was separated into a few
lands because of its size, as with other lands that were of
same size and that represented danger to Krol.
The rules they've brought weren't compromising - they
determined that the Krolians were now the rulers of all of
the lands, and Grong, their ruler at that time, the emperor
of any one of those lands. Peace was kept, but only in
matters that involve Krol. Rebellion was defined as anything
between not paying the tax to Krol or to whisper some bad
gossip against the Emperor, to armed rebellion. Only
Krolians were permitted to be judges, and if anyone else
tried he was declared as a betrayer. Any crime against the
crown was sentenced to death, and no protest was allowed.
Other countries' people were treated as slaves, and anyone
of them was bound to pay a large yearly tax to the Emperor.
After all of the changes took place, the Dark Age began. All
countries began to suffer under the dark reign of Krol. No
land's economy grew; to the contrary, the entire economy had
started to deteriorate. The people suffered from pure
injustice, except those few whose greed and desire to power
overcame their ethics, if they had any. Those people enjoyed
the luxury, money and power over their fellow neighbors
given to them. In return they aided the Krolians in search
for rebellions, aid in policing the local inhabitants. Those
people's identity weren't publicly known - they were the
secret police of Krol. In every country there were couple of
dozens of those agents, and they were feared, because they
were faceless.
Until now, Milara thought, trying to get herself out of the
grim mood she got herself into. Krol's reign of terror was
about to end, now that the lands were able to repel their
army. Her land won't stay alone. Other lands soon will join
to them, and together they shall bring Krol to its knees!
Satisfied about succeeding in raising up her mood, Milara
started to read a book she had brought with her when,
suddenly, from the other chamber came sounds of furniture
breaking and glass shattering. She immediately sped into
that room and saw Jacobs twisting with pain on the floor,
glasses shattered all around him. She tried to think what to
do, but her mind was frozen with panic. Suddenly, the spasms
stopped. Fearing the worst, Milara walked carefully between
the shards of the glasses toward Jacobs, but suddenly he
started to speak in a strange voice, a voice that was his,
yet in the same time wasn't...
''There shall come a day when the dead shall be reborn. The
world will fall into darkness, and demons shall walk free
upon Earth. The sign of hope will then appear in the Rhion
who is blind to the truth. The Rhion's future depends on the
Ageless One. The chosen one must seek those who are blind
yet can see and he who is mute yet can talk, for only they
can alter the voices. Redemption is in the Globe.''
When Jacobs finished the Prophecy, he dropped on the floor
and lay there. Milara approached to him and checked what was
wrong. She soon found out.
He was dead.

Years have past since the Prophecy was given, and Krol was
slowly pushed back by the rebellions, until it was finally
beaten, and every soldier was sentenced to death. Their
leader, Grong, had run to a hideout, and was never seen
again. Krol was wiped out from the land and no trace was
left of it. The most powerful nations, in the leadership of
Revela, got their share in the former land's territory, and
peace returned to the land.

The world of Ergoth was not a big planet, but with more
land-cover percentage than Earth. Its people learned over
the course of time to use magic, the natural energy that
surrounds us and that is inside us too, if we will only
understand what it is. It was connected by a magical link to
Earth. No one ever knew how it had been created, or for what
purpose. If one should wander around and accidentally take a
peek at the link he would see a weird structure, a structure
so black that it would appear to be a hole in the landscape.
But no one did wander around on Earth, for the Earth-side
link was on the top of the Everest, where neither animal nor
human ever ventured at that time. Moreover, the link between
Earth and Ergoth was surrounded by a magical dome, to
protect it from physical damage.
Millions of years can pass on Earth while only a century
will pass on Ergoth. So it came to pass, that in the time of
when the Prophecy was given in Ergoth, dinosaurs walked on
Earth. And after only several hundred years had passed in
Ergoth, the meteor had struck Earth, and that was the thing
that had changed the balance.
Until then, magical energy had kept Ergoth and Earth apart,
despite the link, with no special occurrences, had kept the
link safe, but the meteor had created a ''hole'' in the
magical weaves, and the magic started dripping out from the
delicate weave. Ergoth started suffering from earthquakes on
a large scale, and terrible hurricanes began to sweep the
land. Only a few hundred years after the hole in the magical
dome was made, Ergoth had collapsed. The land was torn apart
by earthquakes so powerful that magma began to flow out of
them. Most people had died from those fierce earthquakes,
and only the strongest sorcerers and warriors, those with
the strongest will, had succeeded to survive the earthquakes
and escape from the dying world.
They escaped from the gap between the worlds, and watched as
the Gate between the Worlds collapsed, to their utmost
horror, for it signaled the fragility of magic, but it also
signified for them that there is no turning back. They
destroyed any evidence to the existence of the gate, and
then tended to their wounded. They were a group of three
hundred people, a very small group for the only survivors
from a world. They were mostly magi - both men and women -
but there were also Shae'Nar - those who are not of Nar, the
god of magic. A few blacksmiths with a talent of surviving,
a few other tradesmen, a couple of dozens of warriors, and
the three most highly ranked Maeli, the keepers of the
prophecies and the most powerful artifacts. Those three were
the most respected of their order, as well the most
powerful, and they were the only ones to survive an
earthquake that collapsed their monastery. They were on a
mission faraway when the monastery collapse, an act of Nar.
The surviving Maeli possessed a few prophecies and a few of
the more powerful artifacts, but they dared not to use any
of them, because they did not possess the complete knowledge
of them. Risking usage of unknown artifacts can be suicide.
Research will have to be done from scratch to be able to use
them again.
One of the prophecies they had was the Blind Prophecy. The
dark reign it foretold had not yet come and those last
surviving Maeli were afraid, for what could be more terrible
than what they had just suffered - what could be worse than
the destruction of their home world?
And then, the survivors started the long journey down Mt.
Everest to its base.
In the start, at the top of the Everest, the amount of magic
that was needed to survive in that height with the
troublesome air was tremendous. Many magi were weakened and
were worn down by trying to keep them and the Shae'Nar
alive. Most of them survived thanks to the Maeli and their
power, but a few of the weaker magi had died from lack of
energy. They were buried but were granted only thoughts, no
ceremonies. The others could spare no more time at the
burial, and were forced to leave before they fell dead from
exhaustion, too.
But sometimes the survivors thought the price was worth it.
The view at some places was breathtaking - the virgin soil,
unspoiled by neither man nor beast. High, majestic peaks of
snow cascading over the passes that shone like Heaven, with
the rays of the sun to illuminate them. There were valleys
that were filled with mountains of snow inside them. Sweet,
clean air, so sweet that when someone breathed it, he would
want only to settle down at the beautiful place for the rest
of his life, living only on the pure air of the mountains.

Only two days were left to descend Mount Everest. They were
in good condition, if almost no food but abundant water were
considered so, mostly because they were lower now and almost
never had to use the help of magic for surviving.
Siriyo sighed. As the youngest of the surviving Maeli, he
was respected but not as much as the older two. That was how
he saw it. He was the youngest Maelar to ever reach to the
Trio - the most powerful three Maeli who decide about the
guild and about its interests. At age of only thirty-eight,
Siriyo wasn't supposed to be an Al'Rond even, not to talk
about being Al'Jo - One of the Trio. Siriyo sighed. It
wasn't only because of his talents, but also because of a
strange death of the eldest of the Trio - Jhonav of Tirlast.
He died one night at his bed with a smile on his face.
Although he was almost eighty-five, he was in perfect
health, and was expected to live at least another thirty or
so years. The Maeli - Diviners in the old language - were
blessed with incredible life force that allowed them to
research the Old Records and the other important scrolls and
artifacts. There was a rumor going for a while back in the
guild that Siriyo wanted to be in the Trio and couldn't wait
any more. He was a Al'Jo at that time, and although there
were Al'Jae much more experienced than he was, he was the
only one with the Gift strong enough in him to survive the
next test. So it came to pass that at the previous year
only, Siriyo became one of the Al'Jae. He almost died in the
test from lack of training, but he passed it nevertheless,
and became One of the Trio. The other two Al'Jae were Vantor
and Collozen.
Suddenly, something rumbled faraway. It disturbed him in his
thoughts. Siriyo looked around him, and when he saw nothing,
he centered his forces within him. He expanded his spirit
and awareness to the surrounding area and surveyed it. The
''magic'' of the Maeli was not as that of the magi - it was
based on the strength of the spirit, not as in some magical
spell, where one uses his spirit only partially in
influencing his environment. Siriyo felt another two
presences alongside with him and guessed that they were the
other two Al'Jae. He searched around the camp, and when he
found nothing, he started to search upward. After only a
kilometer above the camp, he saw the thing that made the
rumble - a snow slide.
Siriyo sent a mental warning to the other two Al'Jae and
then sped back into his body to warn the others. As soon as
he was back again in his body, he ran to the gathering of
the camp - around the campfire and waiting to dinner.
Although a few of the magi had the look in their eyes that
they were using their gifts, the other didn't notice the low
rumble. He marched to the center near the campfire to claim
their attention and also used some mental force to bring
back to them the wandering magi and all of the other
survivors of Ergoth. He also sent some of the people to
start packing. As he came back into his body, he noticed
that the other Al'Jae had come to the gathering. He signaled
them that he would take care of this situation.
''Survivors of Ergoth,'' some of the people noted the
packing of tents by other people informed before. ''At this
very time, a snow slide is coming at our base. We need all
magi to protect the camp while all of the others will pack
the camp and then we will live as soon as possible. Everyone
must work as fast as possible. Take only what you must. This
may be our last hour. Good luck.''
While some of the magi left as soon as he stated they were
needed, the rest went to the various necessary missions,
each by his own ability. He, Vantor and Collozen aided the
wizards in their work of assimilating the dome by enhancing
their power by adding theirs. It was a dangerous task, for
if the mage died while someone was connected to him like
that, the other one almost always dies also.
As the rumbling grew stronger every second, the magi
constructed a protective dome from the fabrics of magic. It
needed great amounts of power to construct a dome of the
required size and strength, even though there were a few
dozens of magi working on it. That was why Siriyo and the
other Al'Jae, as the only Maelar available, supplied the
additional and required power.
The magi hurried on the task of constructing the dome and
Siriyo hoped it wouldn't take much longer. His wish came to
pass, as the snow slide hit the dome only a few seconds
after the fast construction. It was hard to keep the dome
intact with all of that weight on it, but for their luck the
dome wasn't very high, he guessed that it could be the
intention, and the snow slide went right over them. It was a
beautiful view - all of that snow from above - but
terrifying too, and Siriyo refocused his attention again on
helping the magi on their work.
After the snow slide was gone from view, but still not from
hearing, Siriyo relaxed and shifted his attention to the
daily and, right now, more pressing matters. But although he
knew he should prepare his tent and stuff again to the daily
march, he couldn't stop thinking. After those long days of
work without decent sleep, he wished nothing but the end of
this journey. Oh yes, the Everest was very beautiful,
breath-taking sights of snow, but he needed rest. He knew he
was getting near physical and mental exhaustion. He needed
rest, peaceful one.
They left the area after the packing was finished and
continued the tiring journey. Only because of the knowledge
that this journey was about to be finished in only two days,
Siriyo could keep going. He was so fatigued from that
journey. He just wasn't used to these things. He could be
used to it if forced to, but he couldn't enjoy it.
Two days indeed they had to go, and after these last days,
he felt overwhelming joy at the sight of no more slopes
needed to be walked down, no more nights without sleeping
and days full of walking. But where were they now? They were
now in a totally unfamiliar territory, and had to guess were
to go. After a council conceived of all of the remaining
survivors, they had decided to go west, and west, and west,
until they would arrive to a suited place. And what was
that? Siriyo had no idea at all...