The Begining

PROLOGUE

The following was found in the archives of the Royal Library. It is an account, by the hand of Lord Prechan, our founder, of how the existence of the Veils came to be. I have copied it to a translation of Gryphonic as best I can. Sadly, it is a dead tongue, and so I do apologize for how little there is. Not all of it was translatable, nor even readable. Regardless, I pray that you find it as illuminating as I did.

7th month of 254 (This was the 254th year of the Age of Mysticism.)
Times have always been troubled. The human race is to blame. They are ever at war. They fight for anything. Be it territories, money, religion, or even love, they will wage war. But sometimes, they will put aside their differences to unite against a common enemy. However, the wars are for the same old reason. It was when all humans stopped fighting, and united because of religion, that we became troubled. My kind was not accepted by the humans and their God. The Christians, Jews, and Muslims took us as demons. Those few humans who remained in the Old Ways were often burned to death for the worship of what were thought to be false idols. But of these three brutal people, the Christians were by far the worst. It was the Catholic Pope that led the charge.

To survive, we met in secret. In what the humans called the ''Swiss Alps'' the greatest gathering took place. From the corners of the earth we came. I flew from the hills of Sicily. My dear friend Erogn came from Britannia. Candule came from the green fields of Ireland. From the depths, Davijones swam through the rivers. Fal Alacume came from Arabia, his master in tow. Baron Von Lucian brought his pack down from Prussia. Many others came, who I can no longer remember, nor pronounce the names of. But it made no difference to us then if we were the wee people of old Erin, nor the great wolves of Germany. Neither the Fire Masters of Briton nor the Lords of the Sea quarreled. I bore no ill will towards the enslaved djins of Arabia. We were, for this short time, the children of the Gods.

We met to decide our fate. We all knew if we bickered over our old grudges, the Knights of the Flame would find and destroy us in only a mater of time.

''I am the eldest of my kind, and I will not see our hatchlings hunted down and made in to boots!'' Erogn roared, his large claw creating a gash in the side of the great Swiss mountains. ''We should stand against these puny beings!''

''OI LADDY! Watch who ye be callin' punny!'' Pipped up Candule from his spot on my shoulder. For such a small leprechaun he had a large voice.

''I meant no offence, dear friend. For what you lack in height against these monsters, you make up for in great character.''

''Why not just ....convert them?'' An arrogant Romanian accent suggested.

''I agree with my night brother. Why do we not give them what they fear us for?''

''WE ARE NOT MONSTERS LUCIAN!'' I screamed, making the mountains tremble as my wings beat. ''We shall not stoop to their level! What we must decide is do we hide, or do we fight.''

''What our feathered friend says is true, comrades. I agree with the wolf as well however. I say, we fight and show them we are a force to fear.'' The dijin spoke

''What of those of us who have lived in peace with the humans until this point?'' An elf chimed in.

''Then it is an unfortunate fate they will meet.''

We argued for hours over the same thing. That we are more powerful than the humans. But what is our power, when we use it for our own gain? It makes us no better than the Christians. It was not until the sun had risen the next day, when two humans walked in to our midst, that we reached any accordance.

The oldest must have been in his twilight years, I could tell that much. He had dazzling white hair, and an accent from the isle of Britannia. His beard was neat and well kept. In his hand was a staff. When I saw his eyes I recognized him as the old druid who was there the day of my hatching.

The other human however, I had never met. He wore robes of a king, and a crown that confirmed his blue line. His build was strong, clearly a man who had been to war many times. A curtain of light brown hair hung down his back. A fine goatee that was slowly graying despite his young appearance. But none of these things mattered to us. It was the sword on his side that had the eye of the entire council. It was Excalibur. I do not know what you may know of this sword. If you know anything of it, know that it is highly regarded amongst our kind.

I greeted Merlin with open wings. "Pray you Merlin, who is the human?"

"This is Arthur. King of Briton. We have come to offer our assistance."

"Briton is Christian." Growled Von Lucian. "What makes you think we want his aid?"

"My Father was Christian, yes. But my mother was Pagan." Arthur's voice was calm, firm.

"This is Arthur Pendragon. His father was a good man. I knew him well, it was I who gave him the name. Arthur may be trusted." Erogn stated, glaring at the Germanic wolf.

Merlin spoke, before the conversation turned to a different direction and the matter forgotten. "It is another land you must go. Across the sea there is a land untouched by the hands of these Knights."

"It would do no good, druid." Spoke Candule. "They'll get across the sea one day. And nothing will be solved."

"Then, let the veil of Avalon protect you." Merlin smiled as he turned away. Arthur drew his sword and put it in the ground, and left with Merlin.

Erogn and I looked to each other knowingly. The wolf scoffed. "They leave us a sword and a blessing...damned Britons."

"Lucian, that sword has power that not even I have." Fal Alacume walked over to the sword, putting his hand on the guard, and looking at me. Knowing what he was planning, I stepped over. My talon gripped the cool gold that the hilt was made of. Together, we spoke.

"We are guardians. Protecting a master, and the land."
"The land is now in danger, I have no use to protect it any longer. It has betrayed me."
"My Master is now the danger. I have no reason to protect him any longer. He has betrayed me."

There was a shimmer. Four archways appeared in front of us. They were as ghosts, neither solid nor smoke. Eron and Davijones came towards the blade as the djin and I retreated. Their claws were placed on it's hilt.
"We are rulers, ruling the sea and the air." They said as one.
"The air has become clouded. I can no longer fly within it. I must take to land."
"The sea has become dry. I can no longer swim within it. I must take to land."

The shimmer occurred again, around the archways. They became more solid, but still unusable. Lucian stepped forth, and was joined by Candules. They did the same as the others.
"We are children of nature."
"I can no longer run within the forests, they are ceasing to exist."
"The meadows are becoming filled with homes, filling-"

I do apologize that this is incomplete. The record was burned at the end as if it was trying to be hidden. I can tell you what I have come to learn through personal experiences. The Council created what is now known as the Veil. The majority of the races that were being hunted joined in the creation of the Veil. They fled in to the Inner Veil, to escape extinction. There remain to be four gateways that the Knights of the Flame did not find. One is in Ireland, on the banks of the River Shannon. Another in Germany, in the heart of the Black Forest. The third in Greece, hidden in a maze that is still guarded by a minotaur. The forth is in the sands of Arabia.
~May God bless you,
Fintan de Marin