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The people of Krynn
had become evil, corrupted, and bloodthirsty. Evil spread like
a plague throughout the land, infecting all, destroying hope and
twisting the souls of those who had once been good. Times were
dark. Most were blind to the evil and it thus consumed them.
But some saw through the darkness and remembered the light.
Some even resisted the evil, and wished for it to leave the land.
These people, some men, some elves, banded together and sought to end
the reign of darkness. But it could not be undone. Their
hope all but spent, they decided to leave Ansalon and form a new
world on a far-off island, a world where only good survived.
They established their homeland there and named it Havenost, setting
up laws that encouraged the happiness of all. Centuries passed,
and goodness returned to Ansalon. But the Havenesti stayed in
their land, for Ansalon was not as full of goodness as Havenost.
By now Havenost had grown and become a huge nation, and no one had
entered it for five hundred years. No one even believed it
existed. It had become a myth, a bedtime story for toddlers,
that somewhere on Krynn was a land of only beauty and happiness, and
if you were good you could find it. . . .
But on Krynn lived a power-hungry lord, a lord who had realized
as a child that every myth began as a true tale. He swore to
find the land, and bring it under his control. Too long had it
stood against the rest of Krynn. Too long had there been a land
so pure and untainted. The time had come. Lord Amali was
going to conquer.
Amber
Italya walked through the sun-filled wood of Havenost. She had
journeyed all day from the capital city, and was eager to return to
her woodland lair: a beautiful glen through which a stream ran,
ending in a cascading waterfall which covered the entrance to a
cave. The sun was setting as Amber entered the glen, and as she
stepped onto the mossy floor, her sharp green-gold eyes immediately
detected that something was not right. Baskets of food had been
moved, and the thick cotton tapestry that lay over a chest had been
ruffled. Amber's eyes narrowed, scanning the room for an
intruder. But the cave was empty. Her first thought was
that an animal had entered the cave, but as soon as she thought
this, she knew it was untrue. No animal could unscrew the top
of preserve jars, remove food, and put the top on again. For
food was definitely missing from the jars. Thoughts flooded
Amber's mind, none of them making any sense. No Havenesti would
invade another's home without permission, and no Havenesti could
mistake this as an abandoned home. Only one thought was
plausible: a non- Havenesti had entered the land. Amber knew it
was nearly impossible, but could think of no explanation. She
turned to head back toward the city, to report this to the queen.
As she turned around, however, something glinting caught her eye.
She picked up a heavily tooled ring off the floor, a ring that had
definitely not been made in Havenost. Amber put the ring in the
pouch on her belt, planning to bring it as proof that an intruder had
entered, and then headed for the door.
Suddenly, she felt
cold steel at her back. Amber tried to turn around, but the
metal bit into her flesh, and she winced in pain.
"That's
mine," a deep voice said. "And if you take it, it's
stealing. And stealing is not very nice, is it? Of
course, kidnapping sweet-looking half-elves isn't nice either, but I
can do it 'cause I 'm not Havenesti."
That was the last thing
Amber heard before everything went black.