Fiction:The Prophet Stone

"Thus I was told: beneath the Dragon's Wings, in the Mountains from the Skies, laid the Prophet Stone. And like ten thousand suns it shone indeed, white as pure as the brilliance of the stars; and who gazed unto it would see fates of all, as clearly as if he gazed into pure waters. Whosoever could find the stone was destined indeed: but was this destiny fair or ill? No man knew that."

- A fragment from the Saga of Luntaynor

The Tropical Lands, to the south of the human kingdoms, are a land of many, many legends, myths, and sagas. It is said that if one was ever to write down every single tale that was ever told in this exotic and untamed land by wise men, every myth recanted daily by the priests of the many ancient gods of this realm, on paper, they together would fill a thousand of libraries, dwarfing all the literary works of mankind and elvenkind with their magnitude. I once believed this to be an exaggeration, nothing but empty boasting. It is only natural for people to see their home as somehow superior or unique, after all... isn't it?

When I first stepped onto the soil of the Tropical Lands, when I felt the warmth of the southern sun, when I saw the land's people working underneath that sun, relishing in its rays, I understood: I was wrong. By Pheonas, I was wrong. Everything that was said about the South's myths, everything that I first dismissed, it was true. Not only there were indeed as many legends there as I was told by my acquaintances (I would not dare to say the word "friends" - that is too lofty a title), most of them - if not all of them... were not legends after all. The stories of gigantic snakes devouring horses, men and drakes alike? I saw one with my own eyes. Tales of a burning isle of fire and brimstone where a dead god from the seas slept? I witnessed it awaken.

But there was another legend, another saga that by Pheonas's holy will I had to prove true. Shortly after the aforemented... incident with the dead god, my master issued to me and a partner of mine a mission to find out the truth behind the legendary Prophet Stone, a massive rock embedded in a mountain that according to the Freelander Saga of Luntaynor could grand one visions of things yet to come. And as always, I shall not fail the Elder-Commander. Such is the vow of Inquisitor Javina, servant to Mankind, hand of the Empire, scion of house Desertsun. ==