Legend of the Nephilim

Prologue: Grave Tidings

In a forgotten time, and forgotten place,

A man dashed up a well trodden gravel road towards the base of a large mountain. Streaming past him were the small cluster of wooden hovels that made up the small hamlet sitting at the bottom of the grand spire. In the dead of night, the sound of the blade strapped to his waist slamming against his metal greaves was deafening, and many of the people living in the tiny village felt it appropriate to open their doors and windows and reprimand him for it. However their complaints fell upon deaf ears and the man bolted past them, heavily winded and clutching a missive close to his chest.

The man finally reached the base of the mountain where the home of the village elder stood, the quaint building was large by the village's standards but couldn't have been any larger than two floors. Upon reaching the doorway, he threw it open without second thought.

"What in the name of the Gods is going on!?" Shouted a dark haired man wearing the same armor the messenger wore. 'The guard captain' mentally remarked the guardsman, he put his hands on his thighs and bent over, attempting to catch his breath.

"Message....from the...Seeress...sir...for the elder...sir" Gasped the man, waving the missive in front of his face

"What could possibly be so important that it warrants you running through town like a bat out of hell? Wearing full armor no less?" The guard captain swiped the roll of parchment out of the man's hand and made to open it-

-only for an elderly man, the village elder, to deftly pluck it out of his hands. "Now, now Lional, the boy said that it was addressed for me. It's quite rude to read another's private messages, is it not?" The elder stated, a glint of humor in his eyes. He opened the message and quickly scanned it, his warm smile slowly evaporating as he reached the end. He looked at the guard, who has caught his breath and was awaiting further orders. "Son, I think it would be best if you let your captain and I speak privately, you are dismissed." 

After the guard was escorted out of the house, the elder sat at his desk reading the letter and engaging in conversation, or rather half listening to the captains rants

"That recruit woke a great many people with his little charge, the it's not even midnight and I've already received three falcons bearing complaints. Imagine the amount there will be in the morning" Groaned Lional, "I ought to be giving that man double watch for the trouble he's caused me"

"Now, now captain. The boy meant well. Don't go off shooting the messenger, it's bad form." Said the elder, waving at Lional dismissively

"Hmph. What the hell could the Seeress want that's so important that warrants a guard bolting down the main road in the middle of the night? In full armor! Full armor I say!" The elder simply waved his arm at the captain. With a grunt of acknowledgement, the Lional moved and began leaning against the wall in the elder's study. He looked at his feet. "How's the Seeress?" He asked without looking up.

"She has been dreaming again," The elder murmured. "The watchers say that she has been sleeping fitfully of late, and that whispers can be heard from her. What they are saying cannot be told at the moment. However, I fear another prophecy is in the making." The captain looked up sharply, surprise and fear evident in his eyes.

"Another prophecy? But it's only been a decade since the last one. Hell, it's only been a decade since we had that string of ten prophecies, and every last one of them ended in fire and ruin." He stopped as flashes of burning plains and bodies impaled on spikes flashed before his eyes. "All spoke of heroes, but gave us naught but monsters."

"Captain, your cynicism does you no credit."

"I lost my wife and child during the last 'prophecy'. So forgive me if I'm skeptical on hearing of yet another one." Just as he finished, a snow white falcon flew through the window, bearing a folded up piece of parchment in it's beak

"A white falcon?" Began the Elder, "But those are only sent by the watcher's when-" the captain groaned in despair "-another destiny has been foretold" The elder reached and and plucked the paper out of the bird's beak. It promptly flew out the same window it entered in.

The elder gingerly unfolded and scanned the page, his already wide eyes widening even further, mouthing out words as he read them. He slowly put the paper down and let out a huge sigh.

He looked up at the guard, who straightened under his gaze. "Lional, I'm afraid your fears may not be entirely unfounded." Lional gazed at him, eyes wide with fear, "The Seeress has seen not one, but two prophecies. One light, but the other dark." He raised his hand before the captain had the chance to interject, "Now this may not be a bad thing, it seems that there are many choices ahead, and depending on what is chosen, either prophecy may come true. But fate has awarded us a very long time to prepare." Lional nodded, "Send out letters to the nearby monasteries, the holy must be warned of this threat." The captain spun on his heel and quickly left the room.

Once alone, the elder held his head in his hands, staring at the paper laid out before him. This prophecy spoke of fire once more. Both a cleansing one, and a destroying one. It spoke of a great many events involving things the elder knew of, and others yet unknown. It spoke of heaven, the blue orb that lights the sky at night, and hell, the red orb that did the same for the day. It mentioned Gallath, the king and creator of the gods, and his champion, something quite often mentioned in scriptures. However it also spoke of how the four will become five, there are many fours throughout many different stories, that did nothing to help alleviate his confusion. But the one thing that really worried him was how it constantly referred to some kind of cycle between chaos and order, and how this 'is but the first step'. The prophecy ended with a line as cryptic as the lines before it.

And so doth the spiral unravel.