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You are Imathan Talviel.
You watch over your people. They are free and happy in the Vethuil forest. The early morning sun dapples the clearing where the children run and play. You smile gently, bestowing blessings of the Arch heart to those who come to seek your guidance.
A middle aged elven woman approaches you She presents her son. A boy with shoulder length pale blonde hair, right in the cusp of adolescence. She explains that he’s been complaining of nightmares. Visions of fire, of ruin, of a light from above destroying everything in sight. The child won’t meet your eyes.
You bend down to meet him at his height. Finally the boy meets your gaze. Deep blue eyes full of apprehension and fear.
“Do not worry, little one. Some dreams are just dreams.”
The boy scowls and looks away. “They feel real.”
“Well, yes. There are some dreams that may be true. Explain to me these dreams of yours.”
You sense an air of wariness from him. You suspect that his mother brought him here to quell the notion of these dreams entirely. You doubt the boy is receiving any messages from Corellon themself, but you are not one to dispel the vivid imagination of one so young.
The boy explains everything to you and a small part of you does feel concerned at what he is describing. In the end however, they are just dreams. You tell him you will consult the Arch Heart on the matter and you do mean it. His mother thanks you and pulls the boy away. But for a brief moment, you swear that his eyes were no longer that of a scared boy, but something older and wiser.
****
You are Imathan Talviel.
By now you know that boy’s name well. Ludinus Da’leth. Magical prodigy is what the scholars call him. However, those scholars don’t see the days where you find the young elf having a panic attack in the temple of Corellon because “he doesn’t know where the Primal Artifact is and Master Ayoshadaf needs a report by sundown.” You have no idea who or what he is speaking of and at the end of it, neither does he
They don’t know about the sleepless nights in which you open your doors to Ludinus as he explains again and again these dreams of fire and ruin. Each time more vivid than the last. Each time lasting longer. Slowly, you notice the light behind his eyes is fading. Whatever this is, it’s consuming the otherwise bright and brilliant young mage.
You reach to your contacts around Exandria for answers, for anything. Finally, you get word from a scholar in the Dwendalian Empire, in Rexxentrum. They didn’t specify exactly what is happening to the boy, but they seem to have dealt with a similar phenomenon. They’ve invited you to send Ludinus to them for a while to study and help him with this predicament.
When you inform him of the invitation, his eyes light up with a joy that you haven’t seen a long time. As you send him off to the Empire, you whisper a small prayer to the Arch Heart that you are sending him on a path of good. That this will finally bring that boy peace.
****
You are Imathan Talviel.
You no longer know if you made the right choice. When Ludinus returned from the Empire, you almost couldn’t recognize him. Older, yes. But his hair now a pure silver white at such a young age for an elf. A darkness lingered behind his eyes and you sense that something had irrevocably changed about him.
You don’t see him very much after his homecoming. In fact Ludinus all together stops showing up at the temple. You hear that he is working on something. A big project with the other mages who have been scavenging the depths of Aeor. Once more, you just sit with the hope that you did the right thing.
****
You are Imathan Talviel.
Molaesmyr is gone. Screams of terror and agony still ring in your ears as you lead your people away from the now cursed forest. You do not know how many are lost, how many will survive this journey.
****
You are Imathan Talviel.
A great number of your people have settled in Uthodurn. The kindness of the dwarves is something you will never forget. Others have made a new home in Bysaes Tyl. But one elf sticks out in your mind.
Word of Ludinus Da’leth absconding to the Dwendlian Empire reaches you. The Cerberus Assembly they call it. You tell no one but in the deep well of your memory, you know whose tower the cursed fog originated from. You cannot know for sure, but you suspect. Any care you once had for that young boy died in the fall of your once great city. Or perhaps he died the moment you sent him away.
****
You are Imathan Talviel.
A group of strange misfit adventurers come to your city. They are looking for answers about the solstice and information on Ludinus Da’leth. You welcome them into your court and start from the beginning.