The Stone Of Prophecy

ings that walked long before men built cities or crowned kings. Trees towered like p

trail through the Vale was faint now, barely more than a suggestion between the trunks, but the small stone he carried etched with the spiral flame grew

had warned o

d in shadow. Only those marked may enter, for the A

ething watched from the trees, not a creature, but an e

e the light barely touched the earth. A ring of stone pillars stood ther

pocket pulsed o

was

of the Fi

remain

ounds of the forest vanished. Even his breath seemed muted. He knelt beside

ral. And an ey

een in his vision on

a voic

un, heart

here. The shadows had deepened, gatheri

he demanded,

. A humanoid figure, tall and shrouded in shifti

d not in the air but within his mind. "You wal

came seeking the first shard.

t

center of the circle, where the earth sloped d

ace the memory. The Ancients left truth behind buri

o I hav

asin. The stone

had begun to glow again, faintly golden this time.

lared around him. The pillars lit with ghostly

ld fell

it sh

replaced by a vision not like his fir

emo

e same temple but

filled with chants in a language he did not recognize. Hooded figures wal

rophecy. Whole. Radiant. It pulsed with

no longer obeyed fully. He was not in

through him. She pulled back her hood, revealin

n from h

ockets, glowing faint

aelen did not know the

it shall awaken in the Seer's blood. A

n c

e trees. Fire streaked across the sky as something f

nks ran. The stone flar

psed in a thunde

temple, gasping for breath. The lig

f newly cleared earth, sat a shard of crystal. It puls

proached

dge swept through him. Images. Symbols. Words. He saw cities he'd never known. Faces both kind and crue

They snapped together with a faint spark, form

stood

ncient. Older than the kin

t was par

a raven watched with intelligent eye

f glass and bone, a figure cl

ed, placing a hand upon a black mir

ror shi

blinked withi

hispered. "The past is not yet burie