Introduction

     Centuries ago there was a lush and beautiful land named Telios. In the center of this kingdom stood the gleaming city of Lux ruled by a wise and loving king. The citizens of Telios wanted for nothing and their hearts were full of joy. The king walked among the people taking delight in their lives, and the people loved him dearly. One day, a dark force known as Tenebris arose from the deep places of the earth and touched a single man. Tenebris flattered the man with lies, twisting his mind with false dreams of greatness. The man spent his days living proudly among his fellowmen, but each night he lay awake plotting and scheming. With a honeyed tongue, this one man swayed the thoughts of those around him and the darkness spread. Soon, bitterness and jealousy welled up in the hearts of the people and they became discontent.

     Tenebris grew and festered until the people of Telios succumbed to darkness. Out of this darkness, the people rose up in defiance to their king. They gathered from all corners of Telios uniting under a banner of darkness. They made for themselves weapons of war and steeled themselves with hatred. The very first army the world had ever known assembled in the fields of Lux and prepared to strike down their king. The king looked out over his people and wept, for even still he loved them. With a heavy heart, he uttered unknown words of power and there was a great cataclysm. The city of Lux rose from the ground and ascended into the sky. Mighty earthquakes shook the land and tore it to pieces. Great fires erupted from the center of the earth pushing up mountains where fertile plains used to be. Massive storms raged across the earth’s surface stripping the land bare and scattering the once grand army. People all over Telios cried out in despair until finally, everything was still.

     The world was changed. Great chasms had formed separating the land into seven continents. All that remained in the heart of Telios where the city of Lux once stood was a great void. The king was gone. His absence could be felt by everyone as a sudden and unexplainable loss. Without a king to unite them and reeling in despair, seven kingdoms arose from the newly formed continents and turned their hatred upon each other.

     Thousands of years passed and the world knew only war. Grievance was heaped upon grievance until the shared history of the seven kingdoms was all but forgotten. It was an age of darkness and brutality. The land was sapped of its bounty and the people were sapped of their strength. They no longer remembered why they fought nor did they care. They were ruled by hatred, bitterness, and death. Despair hung like a pall in the air mocking the pitiful creatures clawing upon the surface of Telios.

When humanity was on the brink of ruin and all seemed lost, hope broke through.

    It started with a whisper, a nearly imperceptible voice carried on the wind echoing through canyons, sweeping over fields, and  flowing into the cities. The first people to hear the voice could make no sense of it. It seemed a trick of the ear, teasing those who could hear it as the memory of a dream teases one upon waking. The words spoke of a long lost king and a magnificent race of people. It spoke of light shattering the darkness and it spoke of the king returning! These words settled on the land and were absorbed like a fresh spring rain until the very stones of the Telios hummed and pulsed with their power. These stones soon became known as speaking stones, as they were able to speak into the very souls of the people, granting them the power to push back  Tenebris. The king also gave a warning through the stones; Tenebris, the great darkness which had consumed Telios, was gathering its forces for one final battle.

“If no one speaks of His name; even the rocks will cry out.”