Sacred Diamond Globe

Prologue

Which is worse; unending power or sacrificial love?

When the land of Thaer was created by the King, there were four men and women on the earth. And when many years had passed, their descendants inhabited the land, and there were hundreds of them. And the King looked down upon them, and he made council with his lords, and said to them, "It is not enough for them to have us; we must elect for them a new Ruler." So a Ruler was elected from the House of Badset, and he was a kind and gracious ruler. And years went by, and months passed, and one day, the Ruler's Descendant and his wife were riding through the forest with their twin daughters, when suddenly the three women disappeared. And the Descendant was greatly distressed. But that night, as he slept alone in his castle, his wife and daughters Appeared, and they were no longer Lost. And the first daughter told him that she had fallen into a city in the sky. The second daughter told him that she had entered a new world, similar to their own. But his wife said that she had fallen into a world below all of this, under the ground. And she began to tell of something she had found, but she suddenly could not speak, except for one verse:

"Years have passed, and Years will fade

But never will the Diamond Globe.

To the Keepers or Keeper, the end of their days

Will never arise, and has never arose.

Power unending to Keeper will be

But for now it is lost to the waves of the sea."

Then her voice returned. From then on, the Descendant passed a law that every ten years, eighteen girls and boys, known as Seekers, would pass through the Portal into the Lands, six to the Sky, six to the Earth, and six to the Underground, where they would search for the Globe for a year before gathering and searching together for one month. Then they would return to Thaer. This practice would go on for hundreds of years, until the day came when it was found. And this did continue for two thousand years, and the Globe was never found. Some years, every single Seeker returned unharmed. Sometimes, half of them returned, other times, they came back silent and bitter. Once, only six came back, wounded and battered, but they would not tell what had happened to the others.

This is their tale.