Prologue

There is a book, a red one, which has on it the most peculiar stitching.

“But why does this book have stitching on it?” One may ask. Well, there are a great many things that even I do not know, so I suppose that a book, one used for a very special reason, could very possibly have stitching on the cover.

This book however, is a very unique one, for it holds the history of an extraordinary place called Everlindé. Of course, one might think that a history should be in a very large book deep in a library somewhere under high security, especially one from a land that doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

Perhaps I should explain. An Elf, by the name of Narcissus, had the history sewn into the cover of a book; the very same red one I talked about. Now, one might also think that a whole world’s history could never fit on the cover of one small book. One would, of course, be right. Then again, this was only an island. It was one of three; Everlindé, Dassania, and Cabiri. Still, just because it’s an island doesn’t mean its history could fit on the cover of a book. That’s just not probable.

But… This is a special book and very special thread, woven from the tail feathers of a Phoenix and the hair of a Bootsi, a creature you will no doubt meet later. If one were to open this rather unusual book, one would find nothing in it; not a word or a picture. If one were to try and write in this book, however, one would find that instead of writing what one wanted, one would be writing out the history of the island.

It’s really a very strange thing to experience. To save you the time it would take trying to find this book, I will tell you what others experienced.

First, though, I should tell you the history of Everlindé, Cabiri, and Dassania. Where to begin…?

In the beginning, for that is usually the best place to start.

In the beginning, there was nothing. No light. No sound. No smells. Then, a Voice began to Speak. He Spoke of mountains and trees and rivers, of seas and stars. As each word was Spoken, the object itself grew from the ground or from the sky. The mountains reached up high and the waterfalls roared as they began to flow excitedly.

But there was no Life, nothing with which the Voice could relate. He Spoke, and each creature came into the world. The lions and bears, followed by mice and giants. Sprites, Nymphs, and Pixies walked out of the woods rubbing their eyes as though they had been in a deep sleep. The world was now bursting with Life and He was very pleased.

When the Voice had begun the creation of the world, he had a certain amount of words to be used. The Voice had originally intended that all the words be used, but after the creation of most of the planet, there were many words left over. These words were not truly evil, but many of the words were of a violent, destructive and hurtful nature. Seeing the beauty of the world, the Voice decided not to tarnish it with the remaining words. He placed them inside of the world, in a land of Helios.

But the words, knowing their own uses in the world, were sure that they, along with the magic used to create the meanings, merely had to wait their turn. The years grew on. Longer and longer the words waited. The words decided to join as one, to become one being, so as to ask the Voice why he had not used them.

The being was formed from all the words that were abandoned and he took the name of the land he resided in. Helios tried to speak to the Voice, but He was unable to listen. Resting in the Land he called Cabiri, he simply could not hear Helios’ voice. Time grew on and Helios became angered and saddened, not understanding why the Voice would not listen. Helios then began to see.

It saw what the world around it was doing, it saw the doings of the people in Everlindé and it saw the lives that they had. Helios longed to be a part of them, but the hurtful words and the Dark magic on which it was constructed only gave it the ability that it needed to control those people’s lives. Then maybe, it thought, it could have one life of its own. Helios stayed for a time, resting in the land from which he took his name. And as he rested, the First Age of Everlindé began.

With the start of the First Age, the Voice appointed the Quintet, or the Five Sages. The First Age was their time. Tanaoa; sage of darkness, and Uriel his twin sister; the sage of light. There were also Elpis; hope, Indra; strength, and Thoth; wisdom. Few know very much about the Five Siblings. Some say that they were the Voice's children, some say that were beings that He created to help Him, others tell that they were some of many who had been with the Voice since the beginning. Whatever the Five Sages were, the Voice left the running of Everlindé to them.

The Voice had left the other two islands devoid of humanoid life. Dassania was simply a paradise of plants and gorgeous terrain. Cabiri was the same. The Voice, after creating the islands, was tired. He decided to leave Everlindé to the Quintet, and take a time to rest in Cabiri.

The Mountains of Selice separated the island of Everlindé into east and west sections. East Everlindé was harsh and nearly uninhabitable. Only the Centaurs dwelt there, but they were unhappy, and were quickly destroying the only part of east Everlindé that was livable.

The Quintet, who had avoided dealing with this problem in the east, finally took it upon themselves to relocate the irate Centaurs. The Quintet placed them in the forest that bordered the mountains on the west side of Everlindé. This forest later became known as the ‘Banned Forest’, because the Centaurs were selfish and controlling. They believed it was their forest and forbade anyone to enter.

The sages then began to wander, exploring the countries of west Everlindé. They met the Fairies and water Nymphs of Ornytion; the Pixies of Meistceus; the Nymphs of Iares; Sprites of Lirope; the Men of Dardanus, and the Elves who resided in the land of Lycaon.

The Quintet then traveled to the land of Helios, far to the north. Upon entering, however, they realized that Helios was not simply an empty country. An entity also lived there. Helios stole Tanaoa from them, using his weakness of darkness to its advantage. Tanaoa was ensnared by Helios and became the fearsome Lord Warc. So captivated was he with the Evil, that Tanaoa, now Lord Warc, forsook all relationships from his past life.

With the aid of Lord Warc, Helios began its mission. So began its quest for a life, by the only way it knew how; to control the lives of others.

The other siblings, though they had been told to protect each other at all costs, fled. They did nothing to help Tanaoa, despite what the legendary poems and stories say.

The Voice, learning of this event, returned to Everlindé. He was furious with what had taken place. He punished the four remaining siblings. Afterward, whatever they tried to do to help Everlindé would make everything turn out worse then it had been when it began.

Havoc reigned over Everlindé for the next seven thousand years.

There are many views on when the First Age passed and the three islands entered the Second Age. Some say that it began when Narcissus was born. Some say it was when he found the Stars. Others say it was when the first rebellion attack was issued. Whenever it really did begin, the Second Age was the time of Narcissus.

Narcissus led the people many years, through many a horrible and bloody battle. The Elf was strong, clever, handsome, and extremely charismatic. With every battle he led Everlindé closer to victory and freedom.

However; this was only what the people saw of him. In truth, he was conceited, vain, and power-hungry. Narcissus would have sacrificed any one hundred of the people he claimed to protect, if only to take him one-step closer to his self-serving goals. But the Elf did this with a grace and eloquence that deceived the public. It was many, many, thousands of years before anyone suspected the so-called ‘hero’ of being what he really was.

Narcissus secretly met with the dark Lord Warc and Uriel, the Sage of Light, to discuss bringing the war to an end. Uriel, having been punished by the Voice, could do little. She did, however, manage to keep Warc and Narcissus from killing each other, and made sure that no treachery took place. During one of these meetings, when Uriel was not present, Narcissus finally made a deal with the former Sage. If Warc would give the power he had taken from Everlindé to Narcissus, the Elf would sacrifice his entire race to the evil Lord. Warc accepted, but being so much cleverer then the selfish Narcissus, tricked him into being with Elves at the time of their demise.

But, something happened.

Narcissus would not accept defeat. He managed to do something to Warc, none know exactly what it was that he did, but he drained all of the Dark Lord’s power.

But Lord Warc was stubborn and would not let the Elf win either. He summoned up whatever strength he had left and banished all Elves, including Narcissus, to the island of Dassania with their memories erased. Dassania cannot now be reached by any normal means. One may enter it only if sent there by the sea gods, Áelinfälas and Gáerfin. After the Elves had been exiled, Lord Warc went into a dormant state, but was thought to be defeated.

None knew what Narcissus had done. They still considered him a hero, and thought that the Elves had given their lives freely to save Everlindé.

Peace reigned over Everlindé for the next twenty thousand years.

Now we come to the Third Age. This is when Warc had gathered enough strength to start his control over Everlindé again.

One of his first attacks was on Meistceus, where the Pixies dwelt. Since Warc’s attack, a small piece of Meistceus has often been called the Dwons. No one really knows what happen in the Dwons, but whatever he did, the Pixies who lived there were never heard of again. The Dwons was also covered by an unmovable mist. Those who go in almost never find there way out, but those few who do are completely mad.

Lord Warc also did something to the land of Dardanus, where the Men of Everlindé lived. He created a long stretch of desert, called the Nitherlind. It split the country in two, as a strange parallel to the state of the royal family. For years ago, the Queen and younger son, after having some quarrel with the King and older son, moved themselves across Dardanus to rule a place called Mallanor. The King and elder brother still ruled Rhea, which was on the right side of Dardanus. The Nitherlind was created directly in the middle of the two provinces. The Nitherlind is not possible to go around, for the desert is too large, but to travel through takes great strength and endurance.

Less then a century after these attacks, a baby boy was born on another island, not Everlindé, but Dassania. A baby boy, isolated from the troubling times plaguing Everlindé might seem insignificant, but this boy was different… in some way, unique. He was a decedent of Narcissus, and the only one who could help the Four Sages rid Everlindé of Helios. He was soon thrown into a harrowing time, one that would test his every ability.

This boy brought great changes to Everlindé. Within years of his coming, the Third Age became only history, and the Fourth Age came to be. But, I shall let you read the detailed passing of Everlindé’s Third Age.