The Book of Gorin

The book of Gorin is supposedly an ancient text from the days of Old Enshalla. Originally known as a religious text, it was part of the prophecies of the Companions of Light. Today it is widely accepted to be a mostly accurate accounting of some of the events surrounding the Companions, but there is much disagreement on whether it truly dates from Old Enshalla, or was written after the fact. The text of the book is below:

1. He stood among the people and he rejoiced with them. A man of the cloth stood before them and made a proclamation about the woman in white. One of you will have a dream. I wept that evening, for I had seen her. She was the vision that prophecy foretold, and there was nothing I could do to stop her. She drifted before my bed, and motioned for me to follow. Silently, swiftly she floated from the room, and even if had chosen not to follow, my feet would not obey me and I too drifted after her. Quickly we floated through the halls of the palace, and down corridors that I knew did not exist yet or anymore, until we came to a balcony on top of a high tower. There was a looking glass mounted there, the kind wizards and sorcerers use to chart the stars. The woman in white bade me to look through it. I trembled in fear, knowing that it was not merely pointing at the stars, would reveal to me something of wonder, things no mortal man should ever know. I hesitated and she frowned, reaching for the white sword on her belt. I swallowed my fear and gazed through the glass and gasped. I saw a city, my city, over run with great worms, those creatures of myth we call Dragons. I saw the great chaos void opening up and hordes of foul creatures rushing out to enslave all Enshalla. I saw the last king take and shatter his castle so that they could not possess it. He wept as I did. I saw a young girl go mad because of lost love, and she tried to save the city, but none would listen to her, and so she ran, chained and helpless from those who threw stones. I wept, because she held salvation, and there were none who would listen. I cried out to her and she heard me across the gulf of time and space but her out- stretched hand could not reach mine. From the east strode a great warrior, dressed in black, and his face was ever changing, as though he was not one, but many people. He hunted men of the cloth, and as they began to die, so did our god. Soon the people forgot about our god, and only the hearts of eleven mighty warriors held his vision anymore. Even they had gone corrupt and followed a path marked with gold. I glanced up from the looking glass, and the woman wasn't there, she was floating out over the land, motioning for me to follow. The balcony dissolved from underneath my feet and I followed, not wanting to fall. We drifted across the land and stood in an empty field and listened to the bells ring. We stood at the base of a gigantic waterfall, and let the mists drench us, yet when we left I was dry as a bone. We perched on the edge of a great precipice and a watched a bird of fire soar below us, a rider on his back. We stood on this precipice for a long time. Below us, the land changed, as castles and cities faded from site, and a great darkness swept the land. Spring did not return, and many starved. A young boy wept as he buried his parents, for they had starved to feed him. Even the mighty warriors of our god could not be found, they too had perished from the earth. I felt the weight of despair settle upon me, and knew that all this was to pass, there was nothing I could do. Then the lady in white turned to me, and a tear streamed down her cheek. Bright eyes smiled at me and she took my cheeks in her hands and kissed my forehead. A great searing pain appeared where her lips pressed, and despite my screams, I passed out. When I awoke she was gone, but her tears were on my face.

2. He stood among the people and looked up with them. His hood barely masked the mark upon his forehead, and though he sought to hide it, all knew it was there. A man in white robes motioned and he moved timidly forward. The man in white spoke to him, and the crowd fell silent, straining to hear. You have had a dream. I awoke this morning in cold sweat, but I was not awake, I was dreaming. For I was drowning in great inland sea, beyond a path of many mysteries. This was not an ordinary dream, but my second one of prophecy, of vision. I know this, because she was there, the woman in white. I could not help but stretch my hand out to her and she slowly pulled me from the water until we stood upon it's surface. I began to speak, but she pressed her finger to my lips and bade me to follow. Even had I been willing to, I could not disobey, for my feet were already following her, and we walked across the water for what seemed like days, but took no time at all. We strode upon the beach at a small town, once inhabitied by humans, but now over run by foul Orcs, their defecation filling the town with their foul stench. We passed through the town with hardly a look back, and came upon a tiny castle on a bluff above a riverbank. Hordes of green skinned Orcs surrounded the tiny fortress, but they could not breach it's defenses. We watched for years, and always did the tiny castle repel every attempt to break it's walls, and though many inside the castle were slain, always did they seem to have more. Finally, a great warrior in black appeared, among the Orcs, and led them in a final assault upon the walls of the tiny fortress. When they breached the walls, there was nary a defender left, but not a single defender's body either. The dark prince cursed and turned his mount and rode rapidly to the east. We did not follow, but instead went to a little farmstead and helped a man there chop wood. Beside the man stood a little boy, whose eyes from time to time flashed gold. A strange diamond pendant hung from the boy's neck, and a small fox watched the boy intently. When seven cords of wood had been stacked, we bid farewell, and left. We followed a roaring river upstream, until we reached twin raging waterfalls, and saw a mighty wizard grow a castle between them. Then he tenderly planted a flower in a woman's belly and left to pursue a great evil. Then the woman in white pointed at a great mountain peak and motioned me to climb it. With great hesitation and fear I began to climb, and when I looked back, she was gone and I never saw her again, but the pain of her lips will not leave, I feel her burning mark every night as I cry myself to sleep. The mountain was long and steep and treacherous, but my feet did not stumble, and though I climbed with no rope, I did not fear falling anymore. When I reached the peak of the mountain I found myself standing upon a great precipice that overlooked the land below. And in the land below stood a great tree, taller than even the mountain I had just climbed, but from the precipice upon which I stood it was but a tiny tree. I knew that I would have to climb it.

3. He stood among the people and looked out at them and when he finally spoke, it was as if a great hush had come over them. I have had a dream. I awoke and looked out upon the mountains of the west, but I did not see the mountains. For I was dreaming, and yet I was awake, but knew that what I saw was a dream. Not a dream of fantasy or of what I would desire, but a dream of what may come to pass and the choices that we will face as a people in the future. Not only did I see the choices, but the consequences of those choices whether dark or light. These choices spread out above me like a great tree and each choice was a fork in the branches of that tree. I was able to see that many of the branches ended in death and decay, and that only a few paths led to branches that were healthy and strong. I struggled up the great tree, and at each fork in the branches I was granted a vision, and given a choice, like we will be given a choice. I saw that one before me had started the task of marking the path I should take, and marked the proper forks with gold coins. One hundred and forty four coins did I place, but I still could not see the ends of the branches and whether they ended in the bloom of spring time, or in the dark, cold clasp of winter. When I returned from the dream, I scattered these coins so that those required to make the choices will know which is the proper fork to take to avoid ending in the dark coldness of everlasting winter. In the dream I saw many wonderous things and many dark and foreboding secrets and a time of darkness so black, that not even the light of the Brotherhood of Light could illuminate the way. So great was the dark that all hope for humanity had disappeared inside a moving castle and the light seemingly vanished forever. But at the end of this branch was a small bud and it seemed the best hope for me, as it is always darkest before the dawn. I saw an angel of mercy stride from the gathering darkness with her blade held high, and all those who look upon her will love, honor and respect her. With her blade she drew forth the blood of the true heirs of Enshalla and Galea, and as their blood mingled on the blade, so their union was sealed, their souls bound forever to each other in life and in death. The strength of their union, and their love, so intertwined with hers brought forth a wonderous thing from the seeds of their sin, and light shined upon the dark. I saw a child born with golden eyes and did know him as my king, the only true heir of Enshalla. I saw this king lead hundreds and hundreds of thousands into battle, but they did not emerge triumphant, in the end only he and his eleven trusted advisors remained to fight the darkness. In the hour of their despair, they came upon a true savior, and he did bind all of them unto herself, and the struggle began anew, for in their hearts and minds they were truly warriors. I saw men in white, men of the cloth, come to a point at where they would walk though walls to save their homes and families, and yet still the darkness came. Men of war who preached that peace was the only way, that the concerns of others were not theirs and so became their own undoing. Men of peace and pacification stood upon soap boxes and shouted that the time for war had come, that only by fighting could we ever throw off the mantle of darkness that was approaching. I saw a great man of magic who wept, knowing that his spells could save his homeland and his daughter, but did not know how to cast them. I saw his daughter die, believing to the end that her father would some how save her, that she would not, could not die, and yet still her head became separated from her body, and the crowds cheered, grateful at last that the monster had been cast down from above. The people rejoiced at the death of their kind hearted queen, and welcomed the coming darkness. I saw foul beasts with four arms and blades for hands, who got stronger every time they died and lived to kill, one at a time. Their flesh hung from their bones like rotting burlap sacks, black like burnt skin. Their eyes glowed green, and they stalked their victims with nary a sound, selecting one from a group, and culling them, like a wolf culls a deer from the herd. I saw a great castle made of mist, that moved, yet was as solid as stone, and stood in one place for centuries. The castle sat inside a great black forest, and none who went there ever returned again, but all sorts of mysterious strangers appeared from there. Those who knew about the castle and went to seek it could not find it, yet those who did not seek it always told the same tale and it always stood in one location. I saw a spider's child die, and the spider take on the proportions of vengeance, forsaking all else to avenge his child's death. The spider cast an intricate web and stalked an elf of dark intentions. I saw a monkey become a man, and a man become a bird, and a women riding a horse that wasn't there. Many wonderous thigs came to me on my journey down the branches, but just as many of them were dark and foreboding and scared the wits from me, so that I trembled in my boots and found moisture running down my legs. A great warrior, a black knight, also strode these paths, and his face was ever changing, as if it wasn't the same person I was seeing, but it was, and he was a dark, dangerous man, a true prince of darkness. I shuddered to cross his path, as I saw him slay thousands, and he seemed to live forever. I cried most when he slew the child of love, but that was not the worst of his transgressions.

4. He stood above them and looked out across their smiling faces. Time had not been kind to him, and it showed upon his face. The mark, her mark upon his forehead was long since covered by the wrinkles of time. His heart sighed with heavy abandon, and he did not want to say the words he knew he must. Three rows back stood a young girl, her face full of innocence and first love, and he knew it was her, that time had finally allowed their paths to cross. He wept. One of you will have a dream.