This world was but an intangible speck, a grain in the vast, boundless expanses of the Universe. Bright and dim stars shimmered in azure light somewhere deep within the cosmos, scarlet and silver beside them, while green and golden-violet ones resisted the dark nearby. All of them were visible from here, from this lonely world, whose name had long been forgotten, lost in the mysterious past. It was somewhere in this Universe, and the faint, dying sun cast its farewell rays upon it. Many knew of it, yet more did not. It was a world whose beauty was both stunning and unique. It was here that everything began.

  Here, somewhere in the north, on a cold and dark night, two tall humanoid figures stood ominously. Silence reigned. The sky was clear, full of stars: they illuminated the night, shining brightly, sending their cold rays through the infinite darkness of the Cosmos.

  These figures stood between two waterfalls, waterfalls from which no sound emanated. In the night, their silvery, shimmering waters cascaded down into cold rivers, flowing somewhere westward, somewhere into the dark distance of this world. Strange trees grew along their grassy banks: tall and gloomy, their trunks were azure-red, their vast, sparkling green leaves shimmered with a silvery-azure light, flowing through the air and into the rivers like droplets of water.

  To the right of the figures rose four trees, whose trunks could not be imagined, just as the endless edge of all existence could not be imagined. Their canopies pierced the dark heavens, lost in the intangible vastness, their branches hung high above the unknown figures, as though shielding them from some unknown threat. Their leaves constantly glowed with a crystalline-green light, piercing the darkness.

  The two figures were fully clothed in dark garments, their faces hidden beneath black hoods. They stood on the ground, covered in crystal-azure grass. One of them wore black and crimson attire, faintly glowing with dim red light. The other wore black and gray, shining with a dull gray glow. They were taller than any mortal, and a strange, incomprehensible, mysterious, and powerful force emanated from them in invisible streams, absorbing every fabric of Reality. The rivers of water grew dark, as though poisoned, the air became strange and unpleasant, as though defiled by their presence. And suddenly, one of them began to speak, and his voice had a power that made the earth and the very space of this world tremble with a pitiful shiver, as if Chaos and horror were arising by the will of nature:

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  "What are we doing here? Why have we come here?"

  "You don't know?" — asked the other, and his voice was even mightier. — "I called you here because you know something I don't. Tell me, are we still hidden from all eyes? Has anyone discovered us yet?"

  "No, no one" — replied the first speaker. — "Our presence remains a secret, and no race knows we are here."

  "Good" — said the second, and the waters of the rivers began to foam. — "Our power is growing. Soon our fury will be unleashed, and all will feel it as never before. The fulfillment of the Ancient Prophecy is near. You know what I am talking about. Our time is coming. We will return in full strength. All have forgotten us, forgotten our power, believing we are dead, that we were destroyed once and for all, thinking that we will never return, thinking that all is saved and our strength will never be reborn... Fools. All that happened in the past, in that old war, is nothing. We will make them all kneel before us. Those who dare oppose us will be destroyed. Our rule must be perfect, flawless, just, and eternal. We must gather armies from all worlds. Dead or alive, burned or annihilated — life exists everywhere, it is all around us. Thousands and millions of beings who once served us must acknowledge us again and resume their service. We will begin a new war, we must fulfill our goals, all our plans. You know this. We have not yet freed Him, and we must do so at any cost. We will begin in Alamiria, the world where we were defeated. I remember its beauty: we will burn everything in it, dry up the rivers and cut down the forests, eradicate all the races living there, erase them forever, so they can never rise again. This time we return with our full, unprecedented power. But our return must remain hidden until the Prophecy is fulfilled. We will prepare for the greatest war and fulfill our goals. Gather all the mighty armies, gather all under our banner. What we have planned will come to pass, and nothing can stop it."

  "But is it really so important to wait for the fulfillment of the Prophecy before we act?" — asked the first speaker.

  "Yes" — replied the second. — "If we are to succeed, we must wait for it to be fulfilled, and it will come to pass very soon. The events that will follow will shake everything. Prepare yourself, we are about to start the greatest game, which I have no doubt we will win. It will all begin where we were defeated. Focus all your attention on that world, watch it closely, for it will begin there — in Alamiria."