The Power of the Heart
Prologue
My name is Deckard Cain the Elder. I know of many myths and legends most of them grim and dismal but, there is but one though not easy to believe that tells of hope and love; of conflict and triumph though it may seem rather gloomy. My story begins quite some time ago in the small village of Tridosios. Tridosios was once part of a great and mighty kingdom called Khanduras located near the small village of Tristram, but the forces of evil had changed all that. My story is part of an even greater story, a long eternal story of good against evil. There is an ever-raging war between the burning hells and the high heavens. This dark war wages in the immortal plane; when this war falls on mortal ground it is called a "Sin War".
The burning hells were ruled by three prime evils known to mortal men as Baal, Lord of Destruction, Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, and Diablo, Lord of Terror. So there came to be a great revolution within the burning hells of which the Lesser Evils banished the three Prime Evils to the Mortal Realm. During the absence of the three brothers, Belial, the Lord of Lies and Azmodan the Lord of Sin, fought to claim ruler ship, all factions of Hell polarized between Belial and Azmodan while the forces of the High Heavens continually battered upon the very Gates of Hell.
The three Prime Evils roamed the Mortal Realm wreaking havoc among the Sands of the East. The Angels of the High Heavens allied themselves with a secretive group of Mortal Magi who called themselves the Horadrim. They quickly became adept at hunting demons. After decades of chaos, the Horadrim managed to trap the spirits of Mephisto and Baal in soul stones that would contain them for eternity, while Diablo escaped to the West. Baal was buried within a tomb in the Sands of the East, while Mephisto was trapped within the Eastern Jungles. The Horadrim eventually trapped Diablo within a soul stone as well and buried him deep within an abandoned cathedral.
There he bides his time till he can be released to free his captive brothers and once again raise the flames of the Sin War to wreak terror upon the land once more.
The angels knew that Diablo might escape, so they gave the powers of Love, Friendship and Peace to three mortals who would be powerful enough to defeat Diablo should he escape. These three mortals were named "The Three Messiahs". The Horadrim then used their powers of the four elements to find five mortals who would be assigned to find the three Messiahs. Four would have the power of one element of their own; the powers of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The other mortal would have the powers of all four elements.
This is where I come in. I often travel between the two villages of Tridosios and Tristram for the ancient cathedral was located between the two towns and I was currently staying in Tridosios and I realized that something horrible was happening to the Kingdom.
Perhaps now I should reveal who I really am. I am one of the last descendents of the ancient Horadrim, so naturally when the Evil began to escalate I began to realize that Diablo might have been released. Shortly after I came to this conclusion, a fierce warrior with the power to battle the monsters of Hell and guarding a mysterious past arrived. And this, my friends is where my story begins...