much bigger and rarer, acted as mounts for the Commanders. Another species that was very significant was the harpy. Harpies were animals with four legs, similar to those of hawks—clawed, and as hairless as their heads. Their wings were equipped with sturdy feathers and their skeletally gaunt bodies were covered with bristly hair. Their beaks, reminiscent of eagles’, were curved, pointed, and hefty, and they were lined with small teeth. After the First Invasion, they also spread across Elantion. The prairie harpies were small in size, about as tall as a dwarf, while the mountain harpies were as big as horses and mounted as steeds, but they were later abandoned in favor of the hedgots because of their wild and untamable disposition.
The already considerable might of the tulvars was rendered even more formidable by the use of the crystals that they discovered in the subsoil Alceas, and watched over in countless mines. They came to know that if each of them carried a fragment with them, they could both bolster their physical capabilities and greatly enhance their magic. The mine tunnels were teeming with uggars that mined and transported heavy crates, always watched by strict guards armed with whips and rods.
The Priestesses were determined to find out how much power the crystals concealed. Soon, with their accumulation in the Temple on the Goddess’s Isle, the High Priestess noticed strange flashes that appeared on Th’ta’s grave and connected the three prongs of rock that marked it boundaries. She began to visit the place assiduously, and her Sight observed a luminous fissure floating in midair at the Grave’s exact center. Over time, more crystals were brought to the Temple, and the fissure expanded. When one of the seers apprised the High Priestess that the Veil had never been weaker, she once again took notice of the fissure, seeing a green plain on the other side, belonging to another world. The portal would allow them to avenge Th’ta’s death by conquering and pillaging. Thus began the preparations that led to the First Tulvaren Invasion of Elantion. Fortunately for the inhabitants of Elantion, elven magic was still so strong that the invaders were sent back to their world within a few hours. Th’ta’s wrath was irrepressible, and she conferred even more power upon her priestesses before she returned to her slumber.
A long time passed, during which the tulvars became increasingly powerful and resistant to elven magic. The Second Invasion’s impact on Elantion was devastating; the power of the High Priestess and the knowledge of the Necromancers opened secondary portals, one in the south of Vestur and two in Austur, which forced the elves, humans, and dwarves of all Elantion to unite against the invaders. They did unite, and after they neutralized the portals, only the cunning of the Monarchs of the time managed to close the main portal and defeat the invaders by means of a spell, driving the whole army back to Alceas. After the Second Invasion ended in yet another defeat, the Goddess chose a new High Priestess, consecrated via a spectacular and terrible ritual that made her much stronger than all her predecessors. Below is an excerpt from a manuscript which recounted the solemnity of the moment:
“…When the fissure closed, the Goddess’s Grave began to tremble. Never-before-seen symbols shone bright and red upon the three rocks, and the High Priestess came forward. When she crossed the edge of the grave, a spiral of black earth lifted her into the air, suspending her at the center of the three rocks amidst flashes of light all around. The Priestess passed out, and a violent wave of shadows came out of the Grave, entering her body. The priestess woke up, and her red eyes throbbed with a bright light, turning white and opaque. The same three symbols as on the rocks appeared on her back, enclosed in a cartouche. Her veins turned black. Her mind now swirled with the knowledge of all of Nemnairil. She gained untold power; no longer did she interpret the will of the Goddess. Instead, she was part Goddess herself, and represented her in all respects.”
From that point on, tulvaren society was transformed. The High Priestess crowned new Kings, and it was she who possessed the power to preside over all matters magical and spiritual.
I
Summer was at hand, bringing with it clear skies and the heat that had been yearned for all throughout the lengthy winter. The warm winds carried a thousand floral fragrances to every corner of Draelia, while the orchards of the Savorfruit Plains offered bountiful cherries and plums prime for the picking. The fields were plowed to be sown, and the wheat was growing hearty and strong, to reach full maturity at summer’s end, when it would be harvested.
The cattle were freed in their pastures, and in their daily lives; following a strangely cold spring, they were grazing with a vengeance. The woods and forests were filled with the cheerful chirping of birds, along with an abundance of rodents and other small creatures. In the highlands, ibexes and roe deer climbed up onto unbelievably precarious rocky walls in search of the tastiest sprout. Winter’s all too ample snowfall continued to adorn the tallest peaks, whipped by the winds that blew through the mountain valleys. These gales were still quite cold, owing precisely to that mantle of pure white.
Spur Valley, a mountain valley characteristic of the Rugged Range, was crossed by a stream, and by the road that followed the stream’s course. The spruce woods made the area a favorite destination of the lumberjacks residing in the villages scattered throughout the valley, as well as of those who hailed from nearby regions. The relatively light wood of those spruces dried easily, and released a great deal of heat when burned, making it ideal kindling for warming up houses.
At the bottom of the valley, the road that ran along the mountain wall forked, and that last tract led to a hidden plateau. On the way down, one could lay their eyes on a building covered by a large dome, which was an unusual sight for such a place. Its stone construction clashed with its surroundings, and a sinister atmosphere suffused it. It served as the refuge of a substantial group of mages who had broken away from Draelia’s High Order of Magic and Alchemy, and proclaimed themselves the Fellowship of the Veil, several years after the Great Reconciliation.
More than two centuries had passed since the discovery of a mine full of peculiar never-before-seen green crystals. Disputes arose between the High Order of Magic and Alchemy, and the Symeris Order of Arcane Scholars, as both wanted to take credit for discovering their qualities. The crystals were carefully extracted in small quantities, and the mages devoted themselves to their study. Yet they soon encountered serious difficulties, and at a certain point, all of the mages who had busied themselves examining these crystalline formations began to exhibit madness and paranoia, prompting the High Order to suspend their investigations. The Archmages limited access to the extraction chamber by casting an illusion spell, and by stationing a guardian golem that would take form from the rock and dust should anyone tread upon the magic glyphs.
That being said, some stubborn mages of noteworthy talent managed to avoid the glyphs and sneak into the mine, so as to continue extracting the crystals. They started gathering in secret to study the stones’ bizarre properties. Many succumbed to madness and death, but through their sacrifices, the mages came to understand how the crystals worked. The Fellowship of the Veil was formed in that period, and remained hidden and forgotten for a long time. Not even the Archmages of Olennon remembered them.
The mages of the Fellowship discovered that the crystals had to be stabilized before they could be used, feeding each of them with a person’s life essence. A large quantity of stabilized crystals, when gathered in the same place, would begin to form small temporal distortions. Before long, the mages realized that those small, floating rifts of light were slowly growing, and that strange whispers were coming from the other side. The voices became more and more substantial, and echoed in the minds of the mages, addicting and enslaving them to the whispers. They became unable to perform the simplest of tasks without receiving their instructions. The Priestesses, guided by the potent Sight of the seers and the High Priestess, directed those mages to commit heinous acts, including atrocious murders. They taught the mages the perfect ritual to feed the crystals, and helped them choose the perfect victims. Quite often, these poor unfortunate souls ended up being children up to fifteen years old, as they were considered the purest fuel.
After more than a century, the ever-increasing number of crystals had transformed those rifts into a huge portal, beyond which Fellowship mages could view an arid, foggy world of grey.
At the same time, on Alceas (the other side of the portal), the tulvaren legions were ready to cross the threshold into Elantion