Arad - First Vision
Aradhelon's sleep is broken and frequently disturbed by the same recurring dream images. It always starts with Jeannette in the seemingly endless branches of the tree where she took him from his encounter in the forest after escaping Andivas' cursed legion. Her words echo in his mind...
"Help the little one Archarnion, bringer of justice." the authority in her voice is unmistakable and compelling to the point of being irresistible. "Avenge his people and relight Karmana's Forge with the power of the creator. Only that way can you hope to save those you love."
The image of the tree fades, to be replaced by an active volcano, fire and smoke belching from the crater, rivers of molten rock flowing down all sides, and the all-pervading stench of sulphur filling the air. Awestruck by the forces emanating from the heart of the volcano, Aradhelon can feel more than see, smell or hear the raw power radiating from within, accustomed as he is to the mental exchange of thoughts and emotions. Even as liquid fire, the element his people fear more than any other, rains down from the constantly erupting crater, he feels at peace, cradled in loving warmth, comforted not afraid. Unable to resist, he is drawn closer to the fiery destruction, his dream sight swooping in towards the heart of the volcano as though borne on mighty wings that can ride the fierce thermals undamaged by the intense heat.
Crashing joyfully into the bubbling mass of molten rock spewing forth from the volcano, his vision fades again, and he finds himself walking the surface of a lush volcanic island. The island is teeming with life of all kinds, although it is clear from the pure white smoke emanating from the mouth of the crater that the volcano is still active. Aradhelon immediately recognises the mighty oaks of the Elvrabor and witnesses a seemingly endless cycle of new births as, wherever he looks, infants are stepping from their trees for the first time. Moving from point to point across the island as though thinking and moving occur instantaneously, he watches fascinated as the rocks, the soil and even the seas around the island teem with new life as infant Elvrakarmana of all species emerge from their birth elements. He has only ever witnessed new life emerging once before and that was one of his own people. Now, every aspect of the world around was producing new life, each perfectly matched to their element.
As he blinks from point to point across the sandy shores of the island, Aradhelon can just discern a chain of islands, on the distant horizon, fully encircling the volcanic paradise. Dark clouds and violent storms rise up from the horizon, first engulfing the surrounding islands before rolling into the sea and oozing across the calm tropical seas like a toxic fog, darker than the deepest shade of a moonless night. In their wake, violent waves batter the distant shores. Terrified of the rapidly approaching storm, Aradhelon flees towards the centre of the island, watching in horror as the approaching fog kills everything that it touches, first the seabirds, too slow to climb away to safety, then the fish deep in the once-blue waters below. Trees crumble to ash and children die screaming, choking for their last breath, clutching at now barren surface of the island that gave them life.
Running for his life now, he scrambles rapidly up the sharp rocks of the central volcano, no longer able to move by thought alone as his fear threatens to overwhelm him. Feet barely escaping the grasping tendrils of fog that would bring instant death, he races higher and higher. Reaching the top of the crater mere seconds before the approaching clouds of smoke, he leaps from the edge and is carried aloft by the intense heat rising from the bubbling magma below, mighty wings once again riding the life-giving heat. Now able to see clearly into the centre of crater he watches intently as the smoke crests the crater lip and fills the void below, the magma instantly solidifying wherever the two opposing forces make contact, until all that is left is a stone plug and a lifeless volcano in the centre of a dead rock surrounded by a storm-lashed sea.
The fog instantly recedes, racing back towards the ocean, separating into six separate storm clouds, lightning arcing down to batter the scarred surface below. By the time the storms reach the shore they are already distinctly individual, fire crackling at the heart of one as blue lightning dominates another; toxic green mist descending from a third just as pure energy pulses like a weak sun in the middle of another. As they race out to sea, the storms continue to shrink, coalescing into humanoid form; six shadow figures that are distinct and all too familiar. Now fully separate entities, the six recede back to the encircling islands from where the storm clouds had first appeared, leaving Aredhelon drifting numbly over a now lifeless rock, trapped in the midst of a dead grey sea.
He wakes with Jeannette's voice fading into silence, "Destroy the evil that holds us trapped, then relight the Forge of Life."