Prologue

Kar-Tur sat on the hard stone watching the flames. He did not note the sting of smoke in his nostrils, or the black soot darkening his rough dwelling. Although he hadn't moved for nearly two days, his back and legs rested comfortably from long practice at stillness. He gazed patiently, waiting for the understanding he knew must come. He didn't look at the fire, but into it, searching, as he had yesterday and the day before, and last year and the year before. As he would continue to do until at last he understood.

Or until his tribe lost patience and would no longer share food and water or repair his house and clothes.

This was a good year, better than many. Meat was plentiful. His tribe didn't resent his absence on the hunt as they had in some years.

They didn't truly understand his quest. But his former quests, and things he'd done for them after those long vigils, made them trust in the value of this one. Especially in times of plenty. Even now, meat from the great hairy elephants rotted by the cliff, a wastefulness he would have cautioned against had he not been so focused on his task.

The fire danced. He could see it had Power. When he looked deep, he could sense its Material. Power and Material made up all things. But there must be more to this magical essence that lived and died so differently from human or animal. With a mere twenty-six cycles of seasons behind him, and being among the pampered of his tribe, he surely had much time yet to search.

Seasons passed, and, one day, insight came to him. His inner eye found a new and deeper character to the flames, a deeper essence to Power and Material. As understanding expanded, he realized that this deeper essence was found not only in the flame, but in the great sloths and beetles of the forest. It was in the spirit that moved the grasses of the prairie in great sweeping waves and in the stones that lay unpresuming on the slopes of the hills. It was even in his own mind.

It was so clear, so complete! All things were possible. The wonder of the new understanding took his breath away and he moved his eyes at last from the familiar flames where they'd rested for so long. The blue images burned onto his eyes by the comforting fire left him almost blind in his dark room, and he felt a moment of fear brush through his thoughts.

With the fear came a new realization. All things were possible, but that meant bad as well as good. Evil could come. Evil from the stars. Evil from the past. Evil from himself or his tribe. It could overwhelm them.

He must warn them. Tell them of both the wonder and the terror, of potential and danger.

He rose to leave his fire at last, casting a glance back at this glowing companion who had taught him the secrets of existence, of truth, of knowledge and faith. His vigil had once again born fruit. And he must tell his tribe. But would they bless him or curse him? Would they even understand?

He left his dwelling, immersed suddenly in the less familiar world with its green woods by the stream and the sweeping expanse of grass stretching forever out to where the empty rock and cold ice began. He cast his eye upward at the sky, nervous at what might be there, or who, and whether they saw him or cared. He looked inward again, dwelling on the wonderful, but also testing the terrible, feeling it for what it was, realizing that it would even be possible to...

In that moment, silently and without moving the gentle grass or casting an image that any eye of his tribe could have seen were one looking, Kar-Tur unexpectedly winked from existence.