[CHAPTER 1] [CHAPTER 2] [CHAPTER 3] [CHAPTER 6] [ZONE 2]

"You were expected, friends."

FIRST VISIT

ORACLE: Greetings, Owyn. OWYN: Wha?!... Where am I? ORACLE: While your body is lying, safe, still and silent in a cove near Malac's Cross, your mind has journeyed elsewhere...here... Your arrival has been expected. I am pleased to have you as my honored guest, Owyn Beleforte of Tiburn. OWYN: Me? ORACLE: At journey's end you shall not be as you are nor may you turn back the way you have come. The times ahead of you will be filled with hardship and many times you will believe yourself far less significant than you truly are. In the days to come, you may stand at a critical juncture between Rythar and Mythar and if that comes to pass you should know this: A time comes for all things to die... OWYN: What does that mean? Who are Rythar and Mythar? ORACLE: I can explain in no measure more as you yet understand your world. In years and in wisdom you will come to me again and a great destiny will be upon you by then. You will be ready for the fullness of truth on that distant day. Until such time, you may consult me on other matters. OWYN: Tales say that dragons know their own destinies, but I had not heard that they knew the destinies of others. ORACLE: I am no dragon though I wear a dragon's skin. I am the Oracle of the Aal and I am the last of my race. I am ancient, older than dwarf or elf, older than dragons and older than the Valheru who were their masters. Stars that at my birth flamed with violent power have long grown cold, expired. All these things I have seen and farther yet I see into the things that might be. OWYN: You can see the future? ORACLE: I can glimpse things that may be. Such was the gift given to all those of my race.

CHAPTER 1

OWYN: A moredhel travels with us named Gorath. Is he what he says he is? Can we trust him?

ORACLE: He is not what he names himself to be, though even he may not know the lie of his heart. He will be a strong ally unto you and I believe he may even be a champion to the kin who now curse his name. A great destiny awaits him should he have the courage to renounce his pain.

OWYN: Gorath has told us of a moredhel leader, Delekhan. Will he cross the Teeth of the World and attack the Kingdom?

ORACLE: Delekhan will never cross the boundary between the Kingdom and the Northlands, but through treachery he will strike a blow against both the Kingdom and his own Nations of the North.

OWYN: Can't you be more specific? Where is he going to strike? What is the nature of this treachery?

ORACLE: I do not see futures as you imagine, but futures as they perhaps can be. I know only that Delekhan engineers a deceit with six magicians and that it concerns the fate of the Kingdom.

CHAPTER 2

OWYN: How may we put a ghost to rest? A girl nearby is being terrorized by one and I was hoping perhaps we could be of assistance to her.

ORACLE: He who has been disturbed must be laid once again to rest in Jared's grave. Seek his hand in Lyton and commend it to the earth of Sethanon's honored dead. Then shall her terrors be brought to an end.

CHAPTER 3

OWYN: A murder took place in Romney and we are seeking the murderer. We need his name.

ORACLE: Though you believe you seek a name, it is not what you truly wish to know. As you have surmised, the two objects which you discovered are clues to murders, though one indicates a murder you may not have realized has taken place.

OWYN: Which object will lead us to what we're looking for?

ORACLE: The brass spyglass will guide you in your path. Ask after it and the way to your destination will become known.

OWYN: There is a weapon we have learned of which may be of aid to us in our quests. Where may it be found?

ORACLE: The Guarda Revanche is hidden away in a place where elves and moredhel fear to tread, a place that is ancient and was once home to those known as the Valheru.

CHAPTER 6

OWYN: There is a book we need to find. It is called the Book of Macros. How may we find it?

ORACLE: You chase phantoms, for the book you name does not exist, though the spirit of it burns brightly.

OWYN: I don't understand. You mean what we are looking for is alive?

ORACLE: Go you to the Abbey of Ishap at Sarth and find the knowledge held within the vaults. Your answers lie there.

OWYN: Where has Pug gone to? What does the Book of Macros have to do with it?

ORACLE: Pug has been betrayed by one he believed to be a friend. Even now, he wanders a distant world in search of his daughter, Gamina, but he will not find her. In his search, he will reawaken forces sleeping since the Valheru waged their wars across the universe. The Book of Macros will be that instrument by which you are able to save him.

OWYN: But how can I be of any help? If he can't protect himself, there is little Gorath and I can do.

ORACLE: Where he falters, you will grow strong. The way has been prepared for you.