FLASHBACK TO 2602 - (Picking up the pieces after 9 years)

The Canabrium of the Dead has been used by three beings to create a new plane of existence; Kerri Dhwen (Mother of Ceraph), Grey (High Doman of Wan) and Shefanhow (Alondian / Dragon Guardian of the Sun Kings) have all three bound their souls to the fate and existence of this plane in a desperate bid to battle the very Source of the Living Dark and it's Three Black Kings.

Opening Scene - Gray, High Doman of Wan stands beneath a cherry blossom tree in full bloom. The landscape of the newly created plane stretches before him from horizon to horizon, blurring beneath the blazing artificial sun overhead as Shefanhow adds wave after wave of ever increasing detail to the grass, plants, earth and atmosphere.

Gray feels the energy coursing through his connection to the plane - energy provided by the combined states of Esium gathered in combined prayer - a tremendous feat organized by the once Queen, turned Holy Mother - Kitara (bearer of the Demi-God, Aslan). The Gods of Elondil are using Kitara and her unborn child Aslan as a conduit of religious power, in one last ditched attempt to rid the World of the Living Dark forever.

Outside of the plane of the Living Light and its portal to the Hill of Wan is the Keystone of Wan, Kitara, Quiverin and Hollis.
The Hill of Wan has been surrounded by the Mist of Ages (of which Hollis is Lady of and in complete control). The Mist of Ages has effectively hidden the entire Hill of Wan and the entrance to the plane of the Living Light from any detection. To an onlooker, it is as if the entire Hill of Wan has simply vanished.

Inside the Plane of the Living Light, Ceraph is still in her flesh shrouded form. Only minutes have passed since giving birth unnaturally to her daughter Harmony. Ashar, Harmony's spiritual father, has just departed with the child to safety. (Ashar has the Soul Cord of Olahdan...). Shefanhow has blessed the child. Gray has given Harmony the Ring of Weal (The Gray one) - (Alyx has Black One, Kitara the White One). Ceraph has given the Aurial of Ion. (Which was always destined for Harmony anyway.)

Shefanhow is hovering in his astral form - that of a large glowing blue astral falcon.

Gray flames (combusts his aura in soul fire) and shifts entirely astral - to see his companions. He observes pulses of energy travelling from Shefanhow into the landscape, strengthening its reality - as is an Alondian's gift.

Gray then shifts back to talk to his companions about protection.

"What will I see when I am inside the Living Dark?" Gray asks.
"Probably nothing. Just blackness," says Ceraph, a little distracted by the spirit of the freshly created grass beneath her. Crouched down, letting it fall through her fingers she tries to recompose her thoughts. "As we're all connected to the plane and therefore one another, perhaps I can give you some part of my perception. That would allow you to at least make things out inside the Kingdom." (Ceraph's name for The Living Dark Plane).

Gray concentrates and Ceraph does too. Ceraph dissolves her physical positive energy form and lets her real spirit - that of the Living Dark, expand into the surroundings. At first all Gray perceives is a growing black shape devoid of any detail or definition. But then his vision shifts slightly, like putting on a pair of prescription spectacles. He sees beyond the darkness to what lies within it - Ceraph in her Living Dark flesh form.

Taking that as a success, the next thing the Doman suggests is his Soul Fire.
Shefanhow is quick to take up the offer, but Ceraph and Kerri aren't keen. "I don't want that stuff burning around me. Something tells me that my aura and it won't mix very well."
"LET'S DO IT..." booms Shefanhow.
Gray wills it so and suddenly Shefanhow has a white fiery aura just like Gray's.
"This will protect us from Dark Fire and from Drathelmox's power drain," says Gray.
"But surely Ceraph's aura will do that anyway?" states Shefanhow, flexing his wings and admiring the fiery effect he makes.
"Yes, but we can use this Soul Fire to protect us when we're inside the Living Dark."
Shef growls in delight and then nods, sagely, like these are wise words. "I still find Darkfire, a bit beyond me..." admits Shefanhow as they continue to discuss sharing abilities.
"Where's your body gone...?" Ceraph asks Shef, repeating one of Gray's earlier questions.
"I have dissolved it."
"Could Kerri do that too?" asks the Doman, obviously seeing Kerri as their weakest link and most vulnerable target.
"I wouldn't advise it," states Shefanhow.
"It's ok," says Kerri. "If we control this plane, I should be able to will myself anywhere in it." To demonstrate, she reappears a few hundred yards away. Then she shifts again to several miles away, at the bottom of a large waterfall, freshly created by Shef's creative Alondian mind.
When she returns she is a bit wet but ecstatic. "See. I'll be ok."

"If we can share perception, we should be able to share other things as well..." suggests Ceraph.

Kerri seeks clarification from the Doman. The Doman wants to hit the Living Dark plane quickly, grab some priests and then push them out onto the Hill of Wan. As soon as Drath and Laylak enter the plane, the Keystone has to be sealed... The Doman agrees on this.

Over by lake....

Kerri gives Gray and Shefanhow the vision of the living dark....

Kerri and Ceraph then kiss and hug one another, saying a quiet goodbye.
Gray contacts Alyx via aura of the ring...
"Gray, is that you, have you possessed me?"
"Look after yourself, you've always been a true follower of the faith..." says Gray, sadly.
"Good luck Gray.... You've been the best little bald guy I've known... I will get Vengeance. On everyone. And anyone who speaks a bad word against Wan - Will be visited in the night and strung up by their testicles. And if they don't have any, by their tits. I love you Gray."
Gray cannot help but smile at the monster he has for a friend.

Preparing for the bridgehead.
Ceraph brings her hands together and opens up a Dark portal 500 feet away, just above the water at the centre of the lake.
Shef and Gray stand ready, not knowing how quickly their enemy will react.
However, as the seconds pass, Gray turns to Shefanhow, hovering above him in his Falcon form. "Shall we?"
"YES," Shefanhow replies, hammering his conviction home. 

Shef and Gray leave tremendous astral sparks in their wake as they soar into the sky above the landscape of the living dark....
*Note - There is always a chance of a Planal Fire eruption when positive energy causes friction with negative. Planal Fire is also referred to as Dark Fire (Living Dark originated) or Soul Fire (Material Plane originated).*
Gray sends out an astral summons to his priests but is disappointed and deflated when it only travels to the edge of Shefanhow's aura.
"I hate this plane..." Gray thinks to no one in particular.

A moment later and Shefanhow tears his way through the sky of the Kingdom like a blazing comet. Shef roars above the Castle of Dawn and lets his aura expand and soak through the entire structure - walls, ceilings and floors. Once everyone is caught within his giant astral net, Shefanhow decides to put an idea of his into practice. He begins the process of vibrating his aura and effecting everyone inside of it (bar Gray who is protected by his own Soul Fire).
When the vibrations reach their climax, Shefanhow's unique ability to alter alignments kicks in and all the aura's contained within his aura, switch to their opposite alignments. Sure enough his guess pays off ;- By calling on the Power of Ceraph, Kerri and the Doman, Shefanhow's aura converts the polarity of everyone's spirit from negative to positive.

Gray is delighted. Gray - "That's cool..."
The entire inhabitants of the Living Dark castle are suddenly spiritually normal again and the Castle has been erased down to its very foundations.
Shefanhow, able to get a firm and unbreakable grip on the inhabitants now that their spirits have changed, rises up into the air, gathering them about him in a cloud. An instant later, he and Gray are about to re-enter Ceraph's portal and return home. But at the last moment, Gray looks back and sees a giant dark shape wearing a spiky black crown, rising from the remnants of the castle. A pair of burning Green eyes the size of search lights sweep across the forest below them and up towards their portal - Just as they fly in and escape.

Shefanhow also observes something taking off in the Mountains to the East - something large that causes damage to the surrounding peaks with the force of its takeoff.

Once back, Gray and Shef waste no time. They speed towards the portal leading back to Darksea and the Hill of Wan. They then jettison all of the spirits they have liberated through it.

On the outside, Kitara sees and hears the spirits pouring through before her. However, the spirits are in shock and quickly vanish - drawn away to their respective afterlife's.
"Well done High Doman," she whispers.

Shefanhow hurtles towards the bitter and fierce Servant of the Living Dark, claws extended at it's head. At the last moment Gray is released (like a bomb) and sent speeding beneath Ragnahad's wings and directly into it's belly.

Gray releases a Power Strike at the Dragon's stomach, calling upon the energy of the plane to be behind him.

"WAN!!!!!!"

The power strike to Ragnahad's stomach, delivers damage equivalent to 65% of the Dragon's total - in one blow. It is so devastating that the Doman literally punches himself a tunnel into the creature's stomach.

Simultaneously to this, Shefanhow's light burns it's way through Ragnahad's wing and his claws dig deep into the Dragon's skull. Ragnahad screeches with mind staggering pain and implodes.

*Note - All Wraiths / powerful servants of the Living Dark implode upon death. This creates a vacuum of spiritual energy that power drains anyone in the immediate vicinity. On the astral plane this implosion acts as a magnet, drawing things into it to fuel it and make it bigger. Killing a Wraith is a dangerous thing.*

As Ragnahad dies and implodes, Shefanhow pushes himself away. But Gray is not confident on the astral plane and lacks Shef's experience. He makes a futile attempt to anchor himself to something but fails and is sucked into the implosion and right out the otherside.

To his shock he finds himself in Ceraph's portal tunnel - just as Ragnahad's implosion collapses the end behind him. The tunnel begins collapsing behind, propelling the Doman down it towards Laylak, Drathelmox and the 3 Kings of the Living Dark!

With the tunnel's end in sight and something big and black waiting to swallow him, the Doman reaches out to try and re-establish a link with the Plane of Light. He manages to create a side tunnel of positive energy and bounces himself down it. But an instant after he creates it, the friction between the two opposing tunnels causes both to combust in planal fire. Gray finds fire hot on his tail but reaches the safety of his home plane just in the nick of time.

"I'm back!" Gray exclaims.
"So we can hear," replies Shefanhow (sharing a private bit of humour with Ceraph at just how loud someone as small as the Doman can be), gripping the Doman and pulling him across the plane, back to the lake.

Gray quickly explains what he did. "This opens up possibilities. We could create a positive tunnel and attack them through that..."
Shefanhow ignores him, letting him calm down - especially as the only person who can contact the Living Dark plane is Ceraph and she can only create Living Dark portals.

"OPEN THE PORTAL AGAIN..." says Shefanhow to Ceraph.

This time a large sphere of Dark Matter comes bursting through. As it reaches the opening it ruptures like a bubble and releases dozens of smaller but devastating dark spheres. The resulting power drain collapses the entrance and causes thousands of sparks - all of which fail to ignite into planal fire (because of Ceraph and Kerri's unique balance between the light and dark).

Ceraph is quick to reopen another portal.

"WAN!!!" Gray sends his retaliation - another huge power strike right down the tunnel to the Kingdom. Boom.

On the Dark side, Laylak looks up when he hears the distant call.... "It's the Doman..." he says aloud. "He's like a rabid dog that just won't let go. WHY am I plagued by this morose, holier than though, grey little midget? WHY?"

Drathelmox flies up to the opening and sends a message through.

Words - "CEASE THIS FOLLY. CERAPH, RETURN TO YOUR HOME."

"WAN!!!!" Gray yells with his spirit, every ounce of Faith behind his attack. Another power strike explodes near Drathelmox, who becomes increasingly agitated by the lack of any proper response.

Words from Drathelmox - "LET US MEET IN THE TUNNEL. BETWEEN THE PLANES."

Boom - another strike goes through.

More words from Drath, echoing down the tunnel between the planes - "STOP THIS. STOP THIS NOW. OR WE WILL ATTACK AND DESTROY EASTERN DAAS AND DESTROY THE HAIMISH."

All three (Shef, Gray and the will of Kerri) send power strikes through to the Living Dark Plane...

*Note - Kerri lends her will behind the blast but not her aura. Her aura would automatically cancel out chances of a Dark Fire eruption. *

Ceraph then opens yet another portal... But no words come through this time for a few minutes.

In the plane of the Living Dark, things have escalated. The last joint (3 in one) power blast that came through caused an eruption of Dark Fire that triggered a chain reaction in the plane's atmosphere. As Drathelmox and Laylak watch, the sky is slowly consumed by the devastating effects of Dark Planal Fire, leaving nothing in its wake. Laylak shakes his head is horror. "This can't be happening. Can't you stop it?"

"I AM RELATIVELY IMMUNE TO ITS EFFECTS, BUT THIS PLANE IS NOT. IF CERAPH WERE HERE, SHE COULD NEUTRALIZE IT. WE NEED TIME."

Drathelmox sends a message through the next time a portal opens - "LET US DISCUSS TERMS OF SURRENDER.... WHAT IS IT YOU REQUIRE...."

Shef - "They're buying time. No doubt at this very moment they are attempting to locate our link to the material plane or find our friends and allies. We should continue pressing our advantage. Force them to act out of desperation for their own survival."

Gray - "I agree." With that Gray propels another blast of positive energy through Ceraph's portal tunnel and directly down the throat of Drathelmox on the otherside.

Drath has positioned itself over the portal opening to try and protect the Plane of the Living Dark... but it is already too late. The plane of the Living Dark has begun to burn up in Dark Fire. The sky is on fire and being eroded into nothingness while Laylak can only look on in horror.

"That BITCH!" he yells at the great black dragon. "She's betrayed us. Didn't I say she would. I said 'That Bitch is too twinkle twinkle little living star for what we have planned.' We should of consumed her when we had the chance. Damn her. Bitch. If we get her back here I'm going to delight in ripping her soul apart!"

Shefanhow and Gray now send a combined blast of energy down the portal tunnel. This time the tunnel destabilizes and fragments, spewing energy out of several different fissures in the atmosphere. Onlookers in Laylak's castle below see the sky illuminated by multiple explosions - like a giant firework display.

"THIS IS NOT WORKING," states Drathelmox. "WE MUST LOCATE THE SOURCE OF THEIR ENERGY. THERE MUST BE A CONDUIT FOR THIS MUCH POWER ON THE MATERIAL PLANE...." With that, the dragon rips open a Dark portal and ploughs through, leaving Laylak alone.

"Don't leave me you stupid black MAGGOT!" screams Laylak. "What if they come and get me?"

"HIDE."

"Hide! HIDE! Go and flatten the Hill of Wan! Flatten Gost Yaroch. Flatten the whole of ESIUM ! FLATTEN THE WORLD!"

Over the next 15 minutes, Gray sends 10 more immense power strikes through Ceraph's portals. As each one explodes, Laylak rushes through his castle grabbing his favourite belongings. He opens up a Dark Portal and sends a few of them through. One explosion detonates directly above the castle, blowing apart his prized statue, the one depicting him as God Emperor of Eldahar.

"WAN!!!"

"BASTARDS!" Laylak screams, visibly shaking in uncontrolled rage.

Each time a power strike detonates, Laylak hears "WAN!" The noise makes his undead spiritual skin crawl. "Wan... Wan... Wan... fucking Wan. That little bald pious God licking dwarf of a WANker. WAN WAN WAN..." Laylak does a little manic dance and hits a stone bust of one of his Kingly ancestors, obliterating it with his dark sceptre.

Suddenly the sky splits apart and in a swirl of darkness, Drathelmox reappears. "IT'S NO GOOD. I CAN'T LOCATE IT. FAITH IS BEING CHANNELLED BUT THEY HAVE MASKED ITS FOCAL POINT. THE HILL OF WAN HAS VANISHED AND ITS ASTRAL FOOTPRINT IS HIDDEN. FURTHERMORE, THE ELDAR HAVE THE ENTIRE SITE IN THEIR MIND'S EYE. I CANNOT RISK ANOTHER BLAST OF THEIR COLLECTIVE MENTAL ENERGY."

"So, now what?"

"WE HAVE NO CHOICE. WE MUST GO THROUGH AND GET CERAPH. WE MUST FORCE HER TO RETURN. ONCE HERE, I WILL TRAP HER WITHIN MY HEARTSTONE AND BRING HER BACK. SHE WILL THEN STOP THE DARK FIRE."

"I'm not going through there. No warting way," shouts Laylak, leaping onto his hovering black spiritual disk and floating up to eye level with the dragon. "I'll guard here in case another portal opens."

"SO BE IT, YOUR MAJESTY...." Drathelmox rumbles with a gush of contempt. Drath then turns to the 3 Kings of the Living Dark and addresses them. "BESTOW YOUR POWER UPON ME. I WILL BRING HER BACK TO US. WE WILL BE ONE AGAIN."

The Kings nod in unison and Drathelmox feels their power coursing through him. Swelling in size and presence, the exiled self proclaimed Dragon King waits for the next portal to open and spurs himself through. En route he encounters another blast of positive energy but it impacts harmlessly upon aura....

The portal tunnel distorts and warps to accommodate Drath's gargantuan spiritual power.

On the Light side, Ceraph feels her portal bulging and a sense of dread comes over her. She braces herself and allows herself to float for a moment in the calm emanating from her mother. "We have incoming.... This is it..." she astrally shouts.

Gray takes up an offensive astral stance before the portal opening, gazing into the expanding darkness. "Shefanhow..." he thinks....

At the entrance to the Plane of Living Light, Shefanhow watches, standing guard over Kitara, Hollis and Quiverin. He hears Ceraph and Gray behind him and knows it is time. Before turning and leaving, he gazes at Hollis and in a blinding flash of astral energy, hits Hollis' mind and spirit with his own. Quiverin is thrown backwards by the blast and even Kitara has to shield her eyes.

When Quiverin helps Hollis a few seconds later to her feet , Shefanhow has gone - back to float by Gray.

"What happened? Did he attack you?" Quiverin asks.
"I don't think so. He forced something into my mind...."
"What?" Quiverin stares at her in concern. 
"I don't know... My mind is in shock. The only thing I remember is him saying "Sorry" as he did it."
"It sounds like a mind ream of sorts. Those things are utterly illegal."
Hollis has to laugh. "You go tell him that. I don't think he realizes."

"Power up the stone," Quiverin shouts at Kitara. Unhappy with Shef's assault on Hollis, Quiverin feels the need to assert some Mount Eldahar authority.
"No. I haven't received the signal," says Kitara calmly.
"We shouldn't take any risks. Power it up now."
"Battlemaster, this is a War between the Light and the Dark. You are here to observe humanity taking care of its own. I shall do what needs to be done when and only when I am told to do so. Thus, in this matter, I do not answer to you or your kin, but to the Gods of Man."
Quiverin attempts to stare Kitara down but the Holy Mother stands her ground without showing a trace of fear or doubt. Ultimately it is Quiverin who nods, bows and backs away, flashing a private thought to Elluva as he does.
"Do you have a lock?"
"Yes. It took time to fine tune to your frequency but the beacon is now working fine," replies Elluva, distantly.
"Stand by to C.E blast this whole sector on my signal."
"Aphriel is standing by, awaiting your firing solution."
Quiverin steps alongside Hollis and takes her hand. "It's going to be ok."

Drathelmox bursts into the Plane of the Living Light and quickly expands to over 1000 feet across. The plane's newly created sun is blotted out of existence by Drath's expanding aura of darkness and a wave of absolute draconian terror manifests itself as shapes, limbs and tentacles within his darkness. As the aura expands it obliterates the lake below it and bores down over two hundred feet into the plane's earth, instantly disintegrating it.

Ceraph stands defiantly before the onslaught as Drathelmox's attention - and aura - settles directly on her. She knows Drathemox wants her.
"Come and get me then," she spits.

Then Shefanhow's comet like aura slams against that of Drathelmox. Dark tentacles are severed and the two Alondian titans go head to head.
A power struggle ensures that drives Drathelmox and Shefanhow crashes to the side, levelling trees, ploughing up the earth and spinning together in a vortex of crackling apocalyptic energy.

Ceraph calls to Gray. "Go get Laylak. He's not here!"
Sure enough, Gray cannot see the wannabe King of Esium anywhere.

Without hesitation, Gray plunges headlong back into the tunnel between the planes. He navigates the twists and turns to emerge above the landscape of the Kingdom - a Kingdom in flames.

Gray sees the sky burning in planal fire and scenes of devastation from his power strikes in every direction. His aura then fixes on Laylak, floating on a black disk some hundred yards away.

"Come on then Laylak, as it was meant to be..." says the Doman.

Laylak screams in fury and shakes his sceptre defiantly at the Doman. He then turns and speeds off, down towards his castle below.

The Doman realizes he is a Wraith in the plane of the living dark and wills himself towards his target. Normally Gray has had problems moving when astral but this time, with Laylak firmly in his sights, he knows exactly where he wants to go and goes there.

"Get away from me!!!" Laylak screams.

As Laylak frantically opens up a portal to escape, the Doman hurtles in after him and puts a firm, iron like hand around the Wraith King's wrist.
Laylak spits and snarls like a viper, unable to break free of the Doman's painful burning grip.

Gray then opens up a tunnel back to the Living Light, dragging Laylak behind him, ahead of the tunnel's exploding in planal fire.
Laylak appears as flesh within the tunnel but as he arrives at the Living Light, he becomes Wraith-like again - with all the strength, speed and power that comes with that form.

As Gray drags the screaming Laylak back into the Plane of Light, Laylak presses his face up against Gray's and screeches - "So this is how it will end... Embraced together to the death. My soul shall not rest until you are dead!!! Forever !!!"

Gray sends his spiritual signal to Kitara. "Activate the Keystone..." As soon as the Holy Mother of Daas hears the Doman's command, she channels the power of the Gods into Wan's astral prison - The Keystone of Wan - From which nothing can escape. The holy energy activates and empowers all 7 seals of the Astral winds for yet another 800 year cycle, sealing the fate of Gray and his friends with that of the Living Dark.

And into the plane - battle commences.

""Ah well Laylak, Revenge is a dish best served bald...!" shouts Gray, continuing to beat down on the Wraith King with a vicious flurry of precision astral punches.

Gray now has his chance to take out Laylak.... and he knows it. Every fibre of his being, every ounce of his faith, is focused on that purpose. It was the Living Dark that destroyed his priesthood. It was the Living Dark that took away his future and consigned him to limbo between the living and the dead. It is pay back time...

"Suck Bane Ball !" screams Gray - thrusting his secret weapon at Laylak... As he does, the Bane Ball expands and releases a tremendous burst of energy at the Wraith King.

But it isn't enough. Laylak shrieks from the burning light that surrounds him and eats at his dark aura. But ultimately, when the ball fades, Laylak lashes back with even more ferocity and venomous fury. The reservoir of dark energy Laylak can call upon to insure his continued existence is deep and seemingly endless. *Note - In reality, it is rapidly diminishing. As Dark Fire continues to consume the Plane of the Living Dark, it's 3 Kings know their time is running out. They must commit all available resources and energy or risk losing everything.*

As Laylak and Gray continue attacking one anothers aura's, the sky lights up in flashes of black and white energy that have the appearance of a strobe. Down below, Ceraph contacts her mother; "This is way out of hand. I'm going to close the dark portal. It might limit their conduit of energy." Kerri - "Be careful honey."

As Ceraph looks for an opening in the astral turbulence to shut the portal, Laylak finally spots the approaching horizon and realizes what is about to happen. "Thelmox - It's shutting down !!!" Laylak screams, becoming even more desperate to escape back to the Living Dark - despite what awaits him on the otherside.

He tries making a run for it but Gray punches him across the sky before securing a headlock around the Wraith's slippery neck.

"Help me.... HELP ME!!!!" Laylak screeches.

"How does it feel... All this torture Laylak? This is the way it should be, you squirm and squeal, you deserve nothing more...." Gray says calmly, tightening his grip into a choke hold.

Ceraph spots an opening and goes for it. With her aura fully extended she causes the portal to the Living Dark to collapse. Drathelmox and Laylak are now unable to make a last moment dash for the safety of their own plane. *Note - As all 3 "rulers" / living gateways of the Living Dark plane are still in the same place, within the shrinking Keystone of Wan, the entire Living Dark plane is also trapped. *

"Thelmox - Swallow us...." Laylak screams again, hoping that the Dragon will use its tremendous mental powers to literally suck everyone into its imagination and somehow escape.

Gray to Ceraph - "Help Shefanhow. Help stabilize us.... See if you can stop the plane collapsing..."

The ground splits asunder revealing a fiery chasm. Drathelmox and Shefanhow fall into the heat, rolling over and over until Drathelmox suddenly comes out on top. Shaken and weak from Drathelmox's superior mental strength and aura bombardment, Shefanhow floats for a few moments, stunned. Drathelmox uses this time to soar back to where Ceraph is concentrating on neutralizing dark fire eruptions. Ceraph gazes up at the monstrous visage before her and stands, hands on hips in defiance. "Do your worst."

And Drathelmox does. He envelops Ceraph with his mind and like a bottomless well, pulls her inside. She cries out and vanishes from existence, only to appear an instant later, floating within Drathelmox's nightmarish imagination. Trapped, warped and pulled apart by forces beyond her comprehension, Ceraph finds her entire life, memories and will being shredded as an image of her mother stands opposite, frozen in a silent scream.

The plane's horizon is now less than a mile away... Gray notices it and wonders to himself how they will escape - or even if escape is possible.

"Die...." Gray growls. "Just die !"

Then the horizon comes crashing down upon them and Time itself seems to stop.

The plane has collapsed and imprisoned everyone in it or connected to it.

No astral energy flows in or out of the Keystone of Wan.

"It is done," says Kitara. "They are sealed inside. Let us pray this is the end of it. Let us pray that the World will never again experience darkness like it. And let us pray for the Doman, for the Sun Dragon and Kerridhwen, who made this possible."
Hollis nods, but Quiverin is somewhat distracted.

"Elluva - The Keystone is sealed. Kitara thinks its over."
"Only time will tell Battlemaster. This isn't over until we possess that Keystone."
"Shall I take it now?"
"No. Leave it with Kitara for the time being. Let us wait until this all dies down. Then, when he Keystone has left everyone's thoughts, we shall take it, fly it up into high orbit and cast it off into space."
"Will the astral seals survive in the void?" Quiverin asks.
"They will if we put the Keystone in a Sigma shielded containment sphere. Once it is out of our atmosphere, it's someone else problem."
"Why not just destroy it. Destroying it might work."
"And it might not. This whole astral, religion, belief system foolishness is too illogical. We must act on what we understand and can measure. That is my decision. Clear up there and come home. We have other more pressing matters to attend to. These events have not gone unnoticed in the North."
Quiverin's face darkens at the prospect.

The strange immortal creature regards the black clad girl with cold, logical, purpose driven eyes. Something deep within it though compels it to speak, even though it hasn't been asked a direct question. "Our purpose is... Wan."
"You said it. And after I wipe Emonra off the face the map, I'm done. I'm done with it all. Gray made it all worthwhile. He was the best friend a person could ever have. And he will never be forgotten." She glances at the Doman's enormous scroll collection ; the sum of all of his experiences since that fateful day the Living Dark escaped. "But before anyone can learn about him, some poor sod's got to make sense of all that though." Alyx laughs and cries at the same time, hugging the Jixiliah's leg. And the Jixiliah, unsure what to do in these situations, rests one of it's enormous stone hands on top of her head in response.

Ashar turns his head, as if hearing something a long way off. He strains his abilities to sense it and cannot help but smile. "Waste not want not," he mutters to himself cryptically, before turning towards a nearby font of placid water and gazing through it at the World. "And now all eyes turn to you Moorum, precursor of the Blood Dawn."

"The World is wounded young Gray and we are all wounded along with it.
No single soul is broken but all souls, everywhere.
It must all be healed and one day soon, it will be."
ISCHANDI THE WISE to HIGH DOMAN GRAY OF WAN.

The Next Chapter - 15 years later...
T-Minus 13hrs 59 minutes.
Deep in Darksea, after navigating through hundreds of twisting maze like tunnels, lies a room. A simple rough cut chamber of indeterminable age. And in that room there are two smooth black metal obelisks of unknown origin and quite alien appearance, marked on one side by strange symbols. Between these two obelisks hangs a curtain of energy - energy only visible to the gifted few or those that are familiar with such skin crawling sensations.

A vibration begins from somewhere deep beneath the obelisks and slowly rises to fill the chamber. Small stones skitter across the floor and a sub bass hum gains intensity and volume to the point that the very air begins to distort in response. The obelisks start to glow and the curtain between them starts to bend and warp as if buffeted by a high but deathly silent wind.

Then suddenly, without noise or light, a being simply appears between the obelisks and staggers forwards.
The being is over 10 feet tall... it has multiple arms, a 4 sided black and white stone face carved with sharp angles and detailed facets.
It stands there for an instant and then doubles over, making an inhuman sound from deep within its chest.
Images flood its mind - images of a childhood. Of a black haired girl. Of a Good and Holy Queen and a an Evil Unholy King. The images come so fast that they become jumbled and burn into the being's mind in random order. The being makes no sense of them and to make matters worse, it senses more to come. Suddenly the being's mind is split between two identities. The being is Gray, High Doman of Wan. The being is also Wan, Guardian of the Arda and Jixiliah of Orthank.

A mental schism occurs that throws the being's purpose of existence and identity into turmoil. As this happens, the being's outline blurs and it slowly transforms.

A minute later, a bald headed, clean shaven young man in his mid 20's stands naked before the obelisks, staring in confusion at his hands.
"Are these my hands? Shouldn't they be smaller? Shouldn't they be made of stronger material, rather than this soft, pink skin over fragile bone?" A hundred questions and doubts flash through the being's mind until after a few more moments, everything slows down and it finds a centre of balance - a place of calm in the mental storm. There the beings realizes something - The only thing that it can be sure about. It establishes it's identity. It isn't an "It." It is a "He" and he knows his name.

"I am WAN" he says aloud.

And a new chapter begins.

His gaze is drawn to two changes that do not sit in with his memories of this place. The first is a gold casket, 7 feet long and very ornate crafted. The top of the casket shows a bald boy in bas relief while around the outside of it are 22 slots containing identical golden scroll cases. As Wan moves closer he notices only 20 out of the 22 scrolls remain.

Inscription on the Doman's casket - "High Doman Gray of Wan. Gave his life protecting and serving the Country of Daas. Preserving the sanctity of the human soul. Fighting the Darkness that sought to consume the World. May the light of his Soul Fire burn forever in the Hearts and Minds of the Daasin people. 2590 - 2602."

Wan takes hold of the casket's solid gold lid and slides it effortlessly to one side. The casket is eerily empty, but for a single woven locket of black hair.

Next Wan turns his attention to a freshly dug and braced corridor. In an instant he is at the corridor's end, standing before a thick stone door. On this side he sees a large stone wheel with square holes cut into it's rim (for blocks of wood to be inserted for leverage to help turn it). However, Wan has no wood; he grabs the wheel and spins it through his palms. Counterweights move and bolts slide back allowing the tremendous door to open outwards.

Wan steps out into the light, only to see water stretching before him.

The Holy Hill of Wan and its surrounding fields have undergone quite a spectacular change over the last 15 years.
The Hill itself is no longer occupied but is tended to by Priests of Wan every week.
Where once simple buildings housing Wan's followers stood beside low stone walls, now only overgrown foundations remain.
The hill is in colourful bloom surrounded by flooded fields as far as the eye can see (a pleasant side effect of Hethcanter's Elemental attack in 2602.)

Atop the hill is a large 100 foot high stone dome supported by 22 open to the air arches. This is the Memorial of Wan.

Wan strides to the top of the hill and surveys the tranquil landscape. He notices the original stone that led down into Darksea has now been sealed within a larger frame, rendering it immovable by normal means.

In the distance, to the northwest, Wan makes out the sun glinting off of the walls of Gost Yaroch. He decides that is where he should be.

Wan reaches, grabs and dons a simple grey smock hanging over a sellers chests. The man hears the buzzing of a nearby fly but by the time he turns to look, Wan is already inside the city and on his way to the palace gates.

The city seems strange, yet familiar. Memories of the city rise from the depths of his consciousness but quickly and elusively evaporate before he can grasp them.

A large crowd of angry people are gathered outside the Palace gates. Facing them are 9 white masked men of identical heights and builds. Wan moves through the crowd, listening to what people are saying...

"Who do they think they are?"
"What do they want?"
"Where are the Palace guards?"
"Let's rush 'em."

"This City and its surrounding lands are hereby under the jurisdiction of the Death Watch. Go on about your daily lives. We are here for your protection," orders one of the white masked men.

"Protection from what!" someone yells back. One brave man does indeed rush the leader of the identical masked men.
The leader of the Masks fluidly side steps and with a quick flick of his hand, sends the man somersaulting through the air to land unconscious several feet away. A tremor of shock passes through the crowd and a few edge backwards - especially as the masked man never actually touched his attacker.

But these events do not concern Wan. He steps through the seemingly frozen crowd and stands before the Palace gates, contemplating how to bypass them. As he "appears" there, the Death Watch to either side of the gate immediately respond. From their point of view, someone has just materialized next to them.

"Omega - We have a problem... Moving to engage... Prepare reinforcements..." says the Death Watch leader.

Wan watches with curiosity as 8 of the masked men take to the air and converge on him. Weapons seems to materialize out of thin air in their hands, surrounded for a moment by the glow of their auras. Incoming punches and kicks, precisely aimed with devastating power behind them, blur in from every direction... and then begin to slow. Wan watches each man hanging frozen in the air and begins stepping between them. He punches one in the chest, another in the stomach, kicks one up into the jaw and delivers another punch to those remaining. Finishing next to the leader of the Masks, Wan grabs the man by the throat and lifts him up off the ground, while behind him, the Masked men suddenly begin flying in different directions from Wan's hasted attacks. The Death Watch hit walls, slam into the ground and fly up into the air. Moments after being struck, each one disappears in a flash of light either unconscious or dead.

Wan removes the leaders smooth white mask. He recognizes the face underneath but realizes the truth of what he is seeing. "You are not Ashar..."

As the Death Watch begins drawing in his spirit to strike Wan, Wan hits him and watches him vanish in a flash of energy.

The crowd applaud... "Where is the Holy Mother - Kitara... Is she still alive?" Wan asks them.
A man speaks up. "The Holy Mother? She's dead."
Wan feels a wave of sadness come over him. But he knows he has to continue into the Palace. What these people say and know may not be the truth.

"Long live Daas...." he says aloud, but doesn't know why. He then pushes at the Palace gates, breaking their locks and chains before proceeding through the grounds to the main building. Once again Wan speeds passed the Death Watch inside the palace. They hear and sense a noise from the astral realm but before they can track it or even shift vision to see it, it is gone.

However, not all the Death Watch are as slow to perceive things around them. There are other weapons and devices in Ashar's spiritual arsenal.

Wan stops when he reaches the Palace's throne room. It brings back flashes of memory, especially the astral wards placed in each corner. Who put those there and why? At the end of the room, on full display, is a very familiar looking quite simple stone chair. To Wan, this holds far more significance, as he feels sure it is connected with the hill above Darksea.

A Priest, dressed in grey robes and with a shaven head approaches him. In his mid 40's, this man introduces himself as Demarn, a Doman of Wan.
"Do you have a name..." Demarn asks.
"I am Wan..."
Demarn assumes that from the stranger's peasant attire and evident lack of intelligence that somehow in the panic sweeping through the city and recent terrible events at the Temples, an imbecile has slipped through security.

"Where is Prince Aslan ?" Wan asks, relentlessly.
Demarn is about to try and placate the stranger and guide him towards some guards when to his relief he sees one appear at the entrance to the hall. At least, for a moment it looks like a guard. Demarn's demeanour changes to one of fear when he sees the man's white mask.

Wan doesn't wait to exchange words but blurs over and punches the spiritualist into the wall where he vaporizes in a flash of ethereal energy.
Demarn is shocked, unable to move and unable to believe his eyes. Stuttering he attempts to communicate with Wan, but fails.

Wan heads over to the stone chair. He now remembers it for what it is; The Throne of the Gods.
After a slight pause to examine it, he turns and lowers himself into its well worn seat. But nothing happens. "This should have transported me to Elondil," Wan contemplates silently.

Another black sphere appears in the hall, humming with energy. The voice of Ashar crackles out of it.
"Cease your aggression... let us communicate."

"This is the Voice of High Guard One - Identify yourself by order of the Deathwatch."

"Sharendayne. Taramon. They were Deathwatch...." Wan replies, talking to himself and trying to make sense of exactly what is going on.
He leaps up towards it, but as his feet leave the ground, he suddenly feels slow and vulnerable, as if his connection to the ground, to the very earth, is what gives him his speed and physical strength.

Wan decides he has had enough. There is no Aslan. There is no Kitara. He needs guidance, feels lost and seems to be attracting too many buzzing flies.

There are 22 steps leading up to the Vault, like the 22 levels of the Arda towards ultimate enlightenment; the opening before him is like a big gaping black mouth.

As his he takes his first step upwards, his surroundings melt away and he finds himself standing somewhere else.
A clear blue sky overhead with green grass underfoot. He feels different and a quick inspection proves it. He is in a different body.

Glancing around, Wan recognizes the holy hill and its surrounding land, but some details are different. Instead of a shrine at the top or the 3 temples he remembers as the High Doman, he sees one single structure with 7 towers and a main building 150'x300'. Instead of the simple low walls and scattered buildings from Gray's memories, he sees a few dozen more. More surprising than this though is the men dressed in black, gardening or building around the hill and out in the fields. Wan sees many of them performing menial tasks but a few just seem to be sat down, meditating.

"Where am I? When am I?" Something tells Wan that he is in the past. "Am I really here or is this a vision? A memory? And if it is a memory, who am I?"

A priest in his early 40's with a short grey beard, smiles as Wan stands there looking lost. He puts down his hoe. "Good morning... I was hoping for some rain. The lettuce could do with some," the man says.

Wan doesn't know what to say back. Luckily, someone else intercedes. He hears a light and sing song voice calling down towards them and looks up to see a young girl of around thirteen years running down the hill's stone paths. She has long braided black hair and is wearing a short, simple white dress.
This is Lupa - One of the 7 daughters of Altur and Aiah. "Altur... Altur..." she calls. Wan looks around, seeing if he can recognize someone as Altur, but no one looks familiar.

"Good morning Alizar." Lupa greets the man besides Wan with a sweet and vibrant smile. Then turning to Wan, "Come father, you will be late. Your time keeping is atrocious. You really should control yourself more on these long walks," the girl chides him.
"It is a very odd morning...." says Wan / Altur in response.

Wan accompanies the sprightly girl to the top of the hill and into its Temple. He sees a large chamber to the left filled with black robes and another identical chamber to the right containing three chatting women, dressed in white.

Lupa continues talking to him, without expecting a response. "You wouldn't want to be late would you? Mother is not always around so it is down to us to keep you out of trouble." She smiles and leads him into the main part of the building. He barely has time to admire its architecture or the Throne of the Gods (that hasn't changed at all) before she begins leading him down steep stone steps into the cavern beneath.

At the bottom of the steps, an old black robed man with virtually no hair waits impatiently with a torch in his hand and writing tools in the other. "Ah, good. You found him. Good morning Altur. How is your wife today? I hope she is feeling better."

"If you were to ask any man, in any world, how is your wife, he would have no idea...." replies Wan. "Who are you?"
The priest raises an eyebrow, but believe it or not, it's not that uncommon for Altur to ask such things. "I am Sanyel, Altur. Let us go."
"I'll have food waiting for you when you return," says Lupa.

Sanyel begins leading Altur through the corridors and tunnels of Darksea. Wan recognizes many of them but some seem different.
"Work down here continues at a good pace," Sanyel mutters. "We continue to unearth chambers both buried and hidden by the Suraanese Cabal. I seriously doubt we will unlock all of this place's mysteries before I am dead. Perhaps in my reincarnation.... perhaps," Sanyel muses.

Wan pays particular attention to the chamber directly beneath the Temple; during Gray's time this chamber had more entrances. It had three tombs but here and now it has none. Instead, it has seven statues carved in bas relief from the walls and ceilings; each of the statues leans inwards and looks down upon the centre of the cavern. But when Wan looks to see what is there, he sees nothing. *Note - Directly above the centre of the cavern though is the Throne of the Gods.*

Sanyel leads him on a now familiar route. The two men eventually emerge in the exact same chamber that Wan first appeared. To his surprise though, instead of just seeing the twin black obelisks and a veil of darkness between them, he sees them without the veil and standing directly in front, he sees a very inhuman looking being.

Wan (as Altur) gazes directly upon the Jixiliah Wan and feels a slight shiver up his spine.

"Wan - We are here at the appointed time.." says Sanyel, bowing deeply and reverently before his God. "What wisdom can you offer us today?" Sanyel prepares to write it all down.

Wan - "Do you know me...?"
"You are Altur, but you are also others...." the Jixiliah replies.
Wan nods in understanding.

"Do you know what will happen?" Wan asks the Jixiliah.
"You are Wan," the Jixiliah replies as all Jixiliah do - cryptically.

"Here, now, I am Wan."
"What wisdom of the Ages do you have for us today..." Sanyel asks the Jixiliah again, a little put off by Altur's forthright questions.

The Jixiliah's 6 hands come together in 3 fold prayer... "The journey of the soul is Eternal. We each lead multiple lives. For One, these lives are the Arda. For only One can achieve the Arda. Once achieved, this soul is become the Soul of Life."

"Am I connecting to souls through time?" asks Wan. "I have many thoughts and many memories. I am One and I am many. Why did you link your soul to mine... My eternal soul?"

He suddenly feels something small and warm in his hand. When he looks down, he sees the hand of a small pale dark haired girl around 10 years of age. She smiles up at him and helps lead him into the ring of the stones.

Miri and Lupa, two of Altur and Aiah's seven daughters walk alongside their father. In the sky above him, Wan witnesses the great moon Eldahar about to participate in an extremely rare conjunction. Those who possess the secrets of the Heavens, know that Eldahar has 3 moons. Only one is normally visible. The others both orbit differently. The second moon is small and passes in front of the first once every 7 years. It is normally invisible to the naked eye because of its gaseous nature. When it passes in front, it reacts to the first moon's proximity and flares. It is also outlined by the larger moon behind it. The third moon is much larger than the first but also more distant. It is a black moon with peculiar properties that also render it undetectable to the naked eye. Only during such conjunctions can it be seen, eclipsing the first moon from behind.

Wan sees a beautiful raven haired woman approach him and take him gently by the arm. It is Aiah, Altur's (his), wife. "Husband," she smiles. "Tonight we will touch the stars..." Wan / Altur cannot help but see the physical similarity between this alluring creature beside him and Alyx, the High Doman's vengeful companion. A firm believer in reincarnation, the migration of souls through Time and Astral cycles, Wan realizes that Alyx may very well be the reincarnation of Altur's soul mate, Aiah. And if he is in some way the reincarnation of Altur, it opens up a lot possibilities that Wan doesn't currently feel emotionally qualified to handle.

Aiah addresses the assembled priests and priestesses. "Welcome, brothers, sister, husband.... To this most special of eves. Let us gather, let us unite. And for this time and this time alone, let us soar and touch the heavens. Let our souls be freed of our earthly confines and our hearts and minds soar upon the winds. Time, Space, Void - all these things stand before us, but nothing stands behind."

As everyone in the circle holds hands and the three moons overlap, Aiah begins to rise from her body and Wan feels the spirit of Altur rising along with her. Together they pull the spirits of everyone in the circle with them, gently lifting them into the air and onto the Astral realm.

They begin to soar upwards, leaving the mortal coil and their bodies behind, drawn by the rare overlapping waves of energy that exist many miles above them. Soon the whole group is surrounded by crackling energy and bright swirling colours. Each and every person begins to feel waves of power coursing through them accompanied by visions of the past, present and future. For those gathered there, at that moment, it is a deeply religious and spiritual awakening - a moment of true enlightenment and a rite of passage for the soul.

Aiah swirls radiantly around Altur's aura and embraces him, for at that moment in time, the two of them are at one with the World and each other.

Then Wan snaps forward through Time back to reality, back to his silent broken empty vault in Darksea.

"Well that never happened before...." he says aloud.

Wan notes a halo of blackness around this Ashar and the lack of a white mask. It is a tangible, sickly sweet power that permeates the vault chamber like thick astral treacle.

"Why did you not keep your word?" asks Wan. "You have been touched by evil."
"Here you go with these opinions..." Ashar comments. "Like so many, you're quick to judge and see the worst in people. I advise you to not interfere with my servants. They have an important role to fulfil and my patience may wear thin if they continue to be assaulted."

"What happened here? Where is the Jixiliah?" Wan asks, gesturing at the smashed vault behind him.

Ashar decides to answer. What purpose would it serve not to say? "I killed it. It was necessary to remove such things from the World. Now, who are you? I have a lot of things going on at the moment and cannot afford to have an unaffiliated loose cannon causing me trouble. Are you a fallen Immortal of Elondil? No, evidently not. Is it so hard to give me a name? I am being polite. I'm asking nicely. Do not mistake my courtesy for weakness."

Wan - "You know who I am."
Ashar - "I assure you, I don't. I do not recognize you and frankly am losing interest by the second." Ashar appears distracted. Unbeknownst to Wan, Ashar is performing several things at the same time in different locations around Eldahar. Only a small part of him is here in Darksea and this part is still recovering from his defence against Midian and the other Underworld Pantheon Overlord's across Eldahar.

Wan sees him make a gesture and anticipates an attack. With blinding speed, Wan attempts to grab this Ashar in a hold but the moment he makes contact with Ashar's inner aura, he is overcome with nausea and a sickening taint. Forced to let go, Wan retreats back to his vault.

"Who do you think you are?" Ashar asks, surprised that anyone would be foolish enough to try and touch him. But just as quickly as he asks the question, Ashar senses that he needs to go. "It's no matter. I don't care who you are. Do not attack my Deathwatch though." On that note, Ashar sinks into darkness and out of existence, deciding to try another tact.

Wan allows the waves of sickness to pass from his spirit. After a few seconds he feels replenished and pure again. He turns his attention back to the Vault and what might lie inside... But as he once again walks up the steps, he finds himself swept up into yet another interactive vision of the past.

See Timeline entry.

He is Altur again, walking through Darksea with Sanyel and Alizar. All three of them arrive at the Dark portal chamber and stand shocked, for the Jixiliah Wan isn't there and the Obelisks appear activated with a thin veil of darkness hovering between them.

"His body has been sucked into the Pillars... He has gone," says Altur, breaking the stunned silence.
Sanyel drops to his knees in prayer. "Wan, have you forsaken us? Have we done something wrong? What can we do to help? Should we follow you or await your return?"
Alizar joins the older man on the floor. "We are alone, without guidance."

Suddenly Wan is back outside his Vault again. He takes another step and... flash, he is Altur standing in the chamber beneath the Holy Hill. The seven statues have crumbled and a hole has opened up in the centre of the floor. He experiences grief and a deep sadness as he finds himself standing over 3 shrivelled bodies on the floor.... It is Alizar, Sanyel and Ebus, three of the priests of Wan.
They appear drained, as if sucked dry by some terrible evil... Wan has seen victims like this before... victims of the Living Dark.
Sure enough, noises rise up from the hole in the floor and a terrible cold permeates the air, causing Altur's breath to freeze. He hears the cries of his three priests, in spiritual torment, screaming out from the black hole for forgiveness and aid...
"The darkness... the cold... forgive us... Wan, save us...We only wanted to find you, to help you return... so cold... so.... dark...."

In attempting to bring back their God, the three priests performed a forbidden ritual that left them helpless and open to malign infection. Wan sees the remains of the book they used on the floor and things begin to make sense. He suddenly knows that Altur forbade anyone from entering pillars of darkness after Wan until first, all other possibilities had been explored. But Alizar, Sanyel and Ebus could not wait. The evil in Darksea had seeded dark thoughts in their minds. And now that evil had claimed its sacrifices, for these three misled priests of Wan had become the three Kings of the Living Dark.

Aiah enters from nearby and for a moment stands in shock at what she can see and hear. "What evil is this? The damage above... There have been deaths."
Altur replies "It is called the Living Dark."
Aiah joins her husband and gazes into the gaping hole. She too hears the moans of the priests' tormented souls. "This is terrible. It is growing in power and unlike anything I've ever seen. We should call upon Soloman. He will know what to do."
Altur suddenly sees an image in his mind, of a Keystone with seven complex symbols carved into it. "We must make a prison for it. I know how."
Aiah stares at him and nods. "Solomon's creations have no equal. Summon him I shall." 

Flash... and Wan / Altur is ahead in Time again. He stands in the same spot, staring at the hole, listening to the whispering voices inside. This time a priest of Wan stands nearby. "See, it is still growing Altur. What can we do? The whispers reach into our very dreams and still there is no sign of the Wizard. How long must we wait? The others have voted in your absence. They still believe that the best course of action is to enter the portal, seeking Wan. But they want your support."

Wan leaps through Time for the last time. He finds himself floating disembodied in the same chamber. The bodies of the priests have now vanished and been replaced with three familiar mounds of earth.

The same priest as before enters the chamber holding a torch and places it in a wall cresset. Why is Wan now floating without a body? Wan assumes it is because he is now remembering a time when Altur wasn't around. Perhaps his perception of these events is from the Jixiliah soul, cut off and left to float around Darksea; the same half of Eternal soul that bonds with High Doman Gray at his moment of death.

Wan sees Soloman the Wizard enter the chamber from a side door. Resplendent in his white robes and gripping an incandescent white staff, Soloman apologizes for being late - several months late.
The priest, called Thalamar, though slightly older now, appears nervous and vexed by the Wizard's delayed return. "Do you have it? The whispers have driven people from the hill. So many have died already because of this evil. We have lost our greatest lights to its darkness."

Soloman confidently before the darkness and raises a hand for Thalamar to be silent. "By the might of Wizardry and the might of Prayer.... we shall consign this evil to an Eternity of imprisonment. Yes, I have it." Soloman bangs his staff upon the floor three times and conjures from thin air a spinning cube of stone engraved with seven complex sigils. Wan recognizes it as the Keystone of Wan. The whispers begin rises in volume until three distinct and malevolent alien voices can be heard spitting hatred at the Wizard. "I am Soloman. With this stone, I shall imprison you forever!"

*Note - Soloman was always a bit too confident in his abilities. By forever, he actually had a number of years in mind, but secretly hoped that his magic and skill would transcend such limitations. Of course, he wasn't about to tell Thalamar that the Keystone would probably fail after the first Astral cycle of 800 years. Or that he refused to waste time anticipating the effect negative spirit would have on the keystone. If something went wrong, he would just come back and fix it again. As he did with all of his mistakes.*

Wan snaps back to the future again and finds himself, finally, at top of the vault steps.
Inside the vault is empty. Wan feels sadness. "Why did this Ashar do this? Why would he need to destroy a Jixiliah?"

Wan realizes he needs Alyx and attempts to summon her to him. But after a few minutes, she still hasn't come.

"Very busy.." thinks Wan, commenting to himself about the amount of spiritual traffic passing by his Vault these days.

"I am the Spirit Equinox. I was travelling in the vicinity, of a few 1000 miles, when I heard a powerful summons being sent from this place."
"I too am a Spirit, of the House of Equinox. I am the Keeper of the Spirit Road."
"And you are...?" Equinox asks.
"I don't really know. I am working on it."
"The end of the World is nigh...!" exclaims Equinox.
"That is a distinct possibility... someone has opened the Primary Gate of Mount Eldahar..." says Wan.
"There is no Mnt Eldahar, Law and Chaos were wiped from the face of the World..." Equinox reveals.

"Brother Spirit, I am flesh, I am spirit, I exist..." says Wan, still cryptic and unwilling to give his name.

"I have memories of defending the Spirits on the edge of the Dark lake... In that respect, you do not worry me."
"The Spirits of Akilla are no more..." Equinox declares triumphantly, as if that news will bring shock and awe.

A 360 degree spiritual light appears above Wan's head. As it begins turning, like a lock mechanism, Wan decides to move out of its path. He makes it clear a fraction of a second later, just as the light locks down into a powerful spiritual holding cell.

"He's attacked me..." Wan thinks to himself, moving across the dividing space between him and the newcomer. Wan grabs Equinox into an unbreakable neck hold. Equinox tries to evaporate but doesn't go anywhere. "Who are you...?" Equinox squirms and shouts.
But Wan doesn't tell him. Instead, Wan starts interrogating him. Equinox doesn't reveal much. "You cannot just summon spirits and expect to be granted respect and an audience without even announcing your name or purpose. Do you not understand?" Equinox stresses. "I bow to no one I do not recognize or now of."

Wan has had enough. He turns and leaves, speeding through Darksea to the surface. Wan has remembered the golden scroll cases; perhaps they actually contain scrolls and are not mere ornaments upon his tomb.

As Wan vanishes from sight, Equinox stands up straight and dusts his robe down. "So Doman, my old friend, the World plays you as a Bishop against me. The depths that this World will go to preserve its existence is astounding. How on earth it brought you back up I can only guess. You're one annoyance I was definitely not expecting." Equinox clicks his fingers and vanishes in a warp of darkness.
T-Minus 13hrs 24 minutes.
He opens one and takes a delicately rolled sheet of vellum out. "This is the 14th Scroll of the High Doman of Wan..." it reads and Wan breathes a slight sigh of relief. Something about these scrolls seems familiar and he settles down, reading through them all at an incredible speed.

But they are edited, embellished and not the same as he remembers. They fill some holes but leave others wide open. One thing Wan does learn from the scrolls is that he needs help - someone who he can trust and help him make sense of the World... Someone like Alyx of Akilla.

"Oh, I'm really pissed off now..." she says, berating the Merlendy Resistance for several minutes.

"I hope when you get your memory back you don't become some asshole..." she adds.

"Do you think we were destined to be together?"

"At least I'll have a fiend, someone who doesn't judge me and accepts me for what I am..."

Alyx "high five's" the Doman, demonstrating to Wan, through this simple gesture, the seal of their friendship.

Wan stands before a black wooden door with a skull knocker, at the bottom of a fifty foot long earthen tunnel. At the base of the door, Wan sees a door mat saying "Unwelcome".

"Who is it?" a young woman asks from the otherside of the door.
"Someone looking for somebody," Wan replies, unsure how to proceed in such circumstances. After all, how often do you turn up, having come back from the supposed dead as the very being you once worshipped as your God.
Wan hears the woman on the otherside donning armour and unsheathing weapons. The sounds are promising, as the Alyx he remembers would definitely react like that.

The door then opens, revealing a slender but well endowed (she always was) woman in her early twenties, with jet black hair tied back and braided. She is wearing a black suit of chainmail armour of very fine design and links (Dark Fey) and grasping with white knuckles, a slender long sword.
As soon as the young woman sees Wan, she gasps and staggers backwards, her hands shaking.
"Alyx?" says Wan.
But Alyx barely hears him. Instead, she just stares at the apparition before her and panics, sending out a spiritual summons for aid.
"I need your help!" Alyx says aloud, but not to Wan, her heart thumping like a drum in her chest. Can this really be who it appears to be? Can it be Gray? The person standing before her seems real enough, but Alyx can't help pinching her side just in case.
"High five?"

Furry slippers with "Laylak" and "Ross," written on them.

"He's a slippery fish monger..." - Wan's description of Ashar.

Another object in Alyx's strange collection is the severed head / bust of a bald headed Gray, High Doman of Wan - swiped one night from a Daasin Temple so that Alyx could have it in her house. Unfortunately when Wan sees it, Alyx has been using it as a modelling dummy for her ivory hair clips.

*Note - The Dark Spirits of Akilla & Cairis used to number 336. Half were left up North, half down South. Ischandi didn't want to keep all of his "eggs" in one basket as this would increase the risk of rebellion and in-fighting. Out of the 168 Spirits of Akilla in 2602 there are now only 81 houses remaining. Alyx has been frantically trying to reestablish Houses by using Woethorn and the aid of Cantoninus but it takes time. People with the right qualifications don't grow on trees.*

"You can call me Wan..." says Wan, finally admitting to someone who he thinks he is.

"Do you mean Alyx harm...?" Cantoninus asks.
"No. I travelled 1000's of miles to find her. She is my friend. We fought a great war..."
"I have come from the pillars... someone has opened the gate. Ashar has not fulfilled his end of the bargain..." Wan continues.
"I need to prove to Alyx and myself that you are who you say you are. I can do this with my aura but you must allow it to pass through you. Will you allow this?" Cantoninus regards Wan quite seriously and stands protectively by Alyx's side. Alyx is still trembling from shock.

"I will do this, purely for my friendship of you..." Wan says to Alyx.

Cantoninus proceeds and analyses Wan's aura. Wan notices that the Spirit Lord's aura contains thousands of living spiritual organisms that briefly latch onto his own aura and spirit and come away altered by it. To Wan's recollection, he has never seen a being with spirit quite like this. After a minute, the Spirit Lord withdraws and the verdict is in. "He is one of us, He is ANU. He is one of the Great House, a branch of it I have never encountered before and cannot fathom. He can be trusted." But before Cantoninus finishes speaking, Alyx rushes forward and hugs her friend, a few tears running down her face; Tears she hasn't shed for anyone or anything in 15 years.

"You can call me Gray, or you can call me Wan. I am Wan, but Gray's thoughts and memories are mine as well... I have very sketchy memories of what finally happened with Gray, but he must have known that he had to stay... He would have stayed. But it may not be the last time that he you see him. I feel that we may be reunited again. Things are not right."

Wan thinks there may be a major problem somewhere. "Everybody seems to be having illusions of grandeur... Ashar must have managed to manipulate himself to rule over hell... I need to know what has happened over the last 15 years... Why would Ashar be destroying spirits linked to the Eternal flame?"

Wan - "Nice to meet you Cantoninus, I am WAN."
Cantoninus - "A pleasure."
Wan - "I feel I should be here, and that I should have met you. However, I am newborn, and I do not know what problems we face, or what future lies ahead. But I swear by the power of my Faith, I will protect the Arda and the Cycle of Life.