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Prologue

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The silent wind rustled the leaves among the great hidden tree wherein the Goddess of the land of Fa'Diel dwelt in anger and sorrow. The vast trunk reached far beyond what anyone could see, touching the heavens itself. Enormous leaves covered each immense branch, each leaf large enough to house several cities. Blossoms lovelier than any other flowers found in the land bloomed, each one as perfect as the Goddess Herself.

But the Goddess saw none of the beauty. All She saw was the errors, the flaws. She scowled at the single bead of water in Her perfect palm. This dewdrop was more special than any could realize, for it showed Her the world outside her abode. She glared at what She saw in this wondrous drop of water.

"Lifelings," She hissed, the venom in Her voice so strong that it was almost tangible. "May the Mana be your downfall." She laughed softly, Her voice so melodious that even the purest siren would sound like an old crow compared to Hers.

Now there was an idea. Mana. That which those pathetic Lifelings so long coveted and manipulated to their own evil ends would be the cause of their destruction. But how to do it?

Lounging in Her magnificent leafy throne, the Goddess thought deeply. It would have to be a gradual intervention, for if the fools actually noticed a mobilization of the Dead, they would be sure to raise armies of their own. Yet the thrust would have to be quick and lethal, but in effect: lingering. Delicious. Quick so that they would be too stunned to regroup and lethal so that it would be the end of them. There would be vices rising in every direction to plague each mind that lived.

Yes. The plan was beginning to form in the Mana Goddess's corrupted mind. She would have to take time, but time meant nothing to one who lives forever. And to make it complete, the initial attack would come from one of their own. The killing blow. Surprise was elemental.

She rose from Her throne and strode to the Room of All.

The Room of All was a vast cavern in the hollow trunk of the Great Tree. There was no need for light, for the Her eyes saw all with great clarity and in several places, light from the living world filtered in. There were many holes in the cavern, and each one displayed something different within the column of light emanating from the hole.

At the ceiling of the cavern were the brilliant burning stars, a strange thing to see in the middle of a tree. More than millions of them sped by, each following the course laid out to them by the universe. Distance meant nothing in this phenomenal tree. The entire universe spun in the ceiling of the Room of All.

The Room of All was in the Tree of Life long before She came into existence. There was much that She knew, but there was also many that She did not. When She first laid eyes on the room, there was light, yet nothing to see within the columns. She had been such a fool…so eager to fill it up with Life and Mana.

A mistake.

She looked up and called to one of the Stars. The Star of the Beginning. It was a star She had grown to hate, as much as She was fond of those burning balls of Mana. Stars were silent observers, disinterested in life. She admired them for their indifference. Yet this star had everything to do with life and evoked even more pain than the Star of the End.

As a younger Goddess, back when the light was empty, She had loved the Star more than She thought possible, spending every eternal moment with it as She began to populate the barren land of the world Fa'Diel. She had no idea of who put the land there, perhaps it was there all along, or perhaps it formed the way She did.

Soon, Her creations through love became wearying and hateful as they discovered weapons and means of attacking other Lifelings. They had begun their self-annihilation, destroying Lifelings who were, in their eyes, of lesser importance and of no great consequence. In almost no time, battles were fought between clans and territorial masters. More of Her creations died.

Her love for Her creations began to dwindle as time went on, as time always will. She saw that all that She created for love only brought pain and suffering. Creation brought life, one of the most precious gifts, but the life was brought into a world of anguish and the gift of Life forgotten amidst vices of all sorts.

It was something that She could not continue to do.

Slowly, she withdrew from Life and returned to the Tree to find that more columns of light had grown in the cavern and each contained windows to Life. She cast the Star of Beginning far into the ends of the universe, but it seemed that the Star would continue living, continue making more life on its own, making new creatures, which lived only to begin dying as they emerged from their mother's womb..

She grew to hate it as with each passing second, a new life was created and carried into a torturous world.

This time, though, it would be different. She would love the single Lifeling as the Mother She always was that She would draw from the star and spare it from the extermination of the rest, taking it into Her care. She and this individual would be thus until the end of time and beyond, free from the pain of life.

This Lifeling would be her tool. Her masterful weapon against the fools who invented weapons only to slaughter each other for selfish and pointless needs. And it would be one of them, indeed. There would speak of the betrayal so prominent in the stories Men wrote to entertain themselves. Yet never had they felt the true feeling of betrayal.

So in a ritual She had almost forgotten how to perform, She took the Star in Her divine hands and closed Her eyes. She began to set the course of history which would lead to the birth of Life's death. Certain events would have to occur prior to that in order to shape the world into one which Her tool would grow to hate, as did She.

All She would have to do now was wait.

Time passed by, Time which She spent all Her time tending to history. She shaped events as a master clay potter would turn a clod of dirt into a masterpiece. The Star of the Beginning watched silently, unknown to the Goddess that it had also tampered with the events. Yet as time passed by, She began to see something wrong. Something She had missed.

It all lay in the events around the special seed She had planted. She had underestimated the foolish woman who was to bear the child. The idiot Lifeling had turned the other from his murdering ways. Then they had gone off and lived their lives in seclusion, casting spells that would isolate them from the world. There, they raised a Tree with their magic and caused it to be as a house, thus there they lived the rest of their days.

How could it be possible? How could the woman Lifeling have done something so momentous? To turn a killer from his ways? The dark Goddess scowled and turned to another column of light.

There…She saw it now. What a fool She had been to overlook so small yet so important things! How could She have ignored this? Berating Herself, She turned back to the light of the present and watched.

No…everything had gone completely wrong!

It appeared that the Star of the Beginning had meddled in Her plans. The star was the one which had nudged the events to thwart Her! Enraged, She turned upon the star when suddenly, behind Her came the sound of Birth.

Eagerly, She turned back to the light, deciding that She would deal with the star later, and peered in. There were the Lifelings and their silly pot of enchanted dirt. They had done something to the seed within, though what it was, She did not know.

Another reason to obliterate the Star of the Beginning.

There was a cry; the child was born! And the Goddess smiled, Her immaculate beauty marred by the evil look in Her colorless eyes. She watched as the Lifeling father took the child in his once blood-stained hands and named the child in the ceremony of birth. The Goddess exulted as She heard the name.

Everything was going according to plan.

All of a sudden, there was another cry. What was this? Another baby??? And to Her horror, She watched as another child entered the stream of Life, not shedding a single tear. Its eyes were solemn as it gazed at its once barbaric father.

Two offspring? How could this be?

She cast a quick glance at the star She had scorned. It was glowing brighter than usual. Uttering an inhuman roar of fury, She cast destructing Mana at it. Yet, as it always had, Her fire merely disappeared into its flaming abyss. She scowled angrily at it and pointedly ignored it as She turned back to contemplating the course of actions.

She peered at the new Lifelings. There was something strange about each of them. Something about their Auras that hummed differently from the rest…there was a new sound to them, a diverse shade hanging around the edges.

Once these thoughts circulated through Her immense mind, the Goddess knew that they were special. True, they were already extraordinary, for the Goddess had labored for so long to bring them to life (granted, She only expected one), but they were made more unique  because of their peculiar breed:

They were Sprites.

They would be able to do Her bidding, She decided, and granted them abilities far more complex and superior to the likes of other mortal Lifelings. Even some which were more enhanced than that of immortal Lifelings.

Yet as Time went on on its stately pace, the Sprite children were taught that Life was precious and they should strive to maintain it. That would not do. Furious that the Star of Beginning would go as far as to erase the sire's hatred toward all Life, She punished them by sending the mother a sickness which would eventually ebb away her life as each day passed. Stricken by the mother's death, the sire which had once been the scourge of Fa'Diel fell upon his sword, leaving the two children behind.

But the twins steadfastly refused to change and even set out to break the spells which hid the rest of the world from them.

She had been waiting for the moment when they would have the urge to wander. Although they weren't the Life-haters their father was, She realized that all She needed to do was show them the world and how horrible Life really was.

Unfortunately, what She hadn't expected was the mother's meddling urge to breed into them. Thus, they spread through the known world and righted wrongs. She threw as many obstacles as She could in their way, but Her gifts to them enabled them to conquer each and emerge triumphant.

Somehow, She had a sneaking suspicion that the Star had input the officious strain into their blood. It was a sure way for them not to be overlooked when the Goddess would take them from the world. They had become famous for helping out justice.

But there was something that the Star hadn't counted on, an immediate advantage for the Goddess. One of them was unsure and disliked crowds, thus had given its share of fame to the other. The world knew not of the twin, just the adventurer who seemed to be everywhere at the same time, saving lost Guardians or simply helping out two lovers.

She could take one away and no one would know the difference. The Star silently objected to Her, trying in vain to stop Her from Her diabolical plot. But nothing could deter Her now.

She would win, no matter what.