250

The flickering patterns draw into focus and you see before you a panoply of strange scenes, and the faces of many unknown creatures, some human, some bestial, and some that defy description.

‘Many of the events which have befallen your world are mirrored here in the Daziarn,’ says Serocca, as you watch, with growing fascination, the image of a battle taking place between men and beasts. ‘We too are threatened by the forces of darkness. Many ages ago we triumphed over evil, but our victory was incomplete. Now our nemesis has come in the guise of the Chaos-master. Everywhere his seething corruptions encroach upon the goodly realms of the Daziarn, twisting and consuming all they touch.’

The vision of the battle fades and is replaced by a living map, similar to the light-picture you were shown by the Beholder of Yanis. ‘Here are the realms that lie between the elemental strongholds of Earth and Water. Once this region was rich and populous with the creatures of light, but now it lies ravaged by the cancerous Realm of Paradox. Only Vhozada and Meledor continue to resist; the others have either disappeared into the Neverness or been transformed into desolate wastelands. Here … ’ she says, pointing to the middle of the table, ‘is the Nahgoth Forest, once the most fertile of the great timberlands; now the scourge of chaos splits it asunder. And here, the Plain of Guakor, the mightiest realm the Daziarn has ever known, reduced to dust by a plague of fire-breathing Zhengha.’

Tears well up in her eyes and you sense that the vision of Guakor has stirred painful memories.

If you wish to ask what troubles her, turn to 288.

If you choose not to intrude on her grief, turn to 345.