"When Valen described the wizard he saw, the staff he bore, and the city he died defending, I was much perplexed, for this was not prophesy, to see far into the past. But I knew there was truth to his visions, for I knew of Bellandor and his staff. Valen remembered bits of conversation from his dreams as well, and they were in a tongue that hasn't been spoken in a thousand years of men.
"But why wasn't I the one to hear the voice of Bellandor calling out from his ancient grave? Why would he speak to the son of an elven King who has no use, either for such knowledge, or for the crown of the staff of Bellandor? I could hear truth, but the truth made little or no sense to me.
"Until I found out on my own, quite by accident, or so it seemed, that the dreams of Valen began when he accompanied a patrol of men from Brand across the Wide Plain. They made camp near the ruins of an ancient city, a place that disturbed Valen greatly. For despite that he had never been there before, the place seemed familiar to him. `What has happened to this place?' he asked the captain from Brand, as though it were newly ruined. That same night, in his dreams, he saw that city whole and vital, and under siege from a vast army that surrounded it on all sides for as far as