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Shortly after the beginning of time, the peoples were unsettled and dislocated; and there was much chaos in the land. Savage tribes roamed and plundered, and the multitudes began to concentrate for the safety they found in their larger numbers. Evil powers arose and captured many people to advance their evil designs. As the peoples concentrated in numbers, the evil powers concentrated themselves and organized their followers to obey them with selfless, blind submission. Heroes arose to combat the forces of evil, and magical powers were used by both the good and the evil.
During the "third period" of the "Great Arising", a notoriously evil ruler enslaved multitudinous concentrations of the peoples; and the glimmer of any hope was fading beyond reach. The ruler's true name was known only to his familiars, but the people knew him as Daemon.
In desperation, the people called for their "Great Magicians" to summon a champion to free them from their tyranny.
At this same time, a girl was born.
Kaolin, as she was called, had a rather normal childhood, as childhoods go. Kaolin had a secret, though. While playing with some friends as a child, Kaolin found a very special stone. Whether this stone had fallen from space or whether some Magician had lost it, we don't know for sure; but this stone conferred on her the power to look into the future and to see distant places.
Kaolin knew very early how important this stone was when she observed an event in the future, an event which would have affected her as personally as it would have affected all the other women at that time, an event observed by her on a hillside overlooking a meadow while gazing over the treetops at the distant sky, an event which came to her personally only through the power of the stone, which she was holding in her hand.
She held the stone at arms length in front of her and gazed toward the horizon. The stone seemed to have a slight glow, which grew brighter the more she gazed at it. Her mind traveled into the light and into a scene, where she saw the evil ruler, Daemon. At first, he had the appearance of a partially decomposed horse's head with stained, moss covered teeth. The moss was stringy and thin, and had the appearance of hairs; and the horse's head was saying, "MY RICHES!", again and again.
Kaolin woke from the trance with a start and dropped the stone as she opened her eyes. She sat down on the ground and picked up the stone that was laying in front of her and looked at the sky. Then, she slowly raised the stone back up to her line of sight and bravely went back into the dream. This time, when she saw the horse's head, she bravely said, "What riches do you have, O decaying one?"
The horse's head stopped talking, and Kaolin's mind traveled through the horse's head, and she saw inside the chambers of the condemned prisoners in the subterranean dungeons of Daemon. She passed through the images of naked women chained to walls into a meeting between Daemon and a slave trader. Then, she overheard them talking...
"I NEED MORE WOMEN!" Daemon Roared.
Kaolin had heard enough and slowly lowered the
stone.
