Dawn broke, brilliant streams of light flooded the devastated land, made pearl of the fallen - scions of an ancient and glorious empire. The Ylven emperor and his Isik sages stared across the silent battlefield, but they could see nothing but ruin and smoke. The exalted sons of the Ylven empire laughed in the abandoned way of crazed doomsayers. Their ancient grudge was satisfied, their mighty foe at last destroyed, and yet no warm or joy would ever reached their charred hearts. Sire and princes, fathers and sons all sang their world ringing lament, mourning the assured doom of their cherished race. Ages lapsed, and the world forgot them save in songs and tales.----------------------------This is a story of those trying to unearth that lost race's legacy, of an unsettled disciple seeking for his master, of a spoiled cripple yearning to reclaim his birthright, of a tormented mother's thirst for vengeance, and of a righteous man of God aiming to right an ancient wrong.