Prelude To The Quest
On the land, before the feet of the first man walked this particular, small portion of dirt in a newly emerging world, there was an island rising; slowly revealing its hills and valleys as the all encompassing seas receded. Before the first man called this island home, the land became a sheet of ice, locking it in place to other land masses.
The planet moved in orbit around its sun for another 4,000 years. Over time, this sun would warm the moist, primordial forests and the mists would cling to the earth, making that which could be seen, mystically shrouded in uncertainty. Again, the raging seas would recede. Although many animals would cross the land bridge from Alba, upon this land there would be no snakes and the land would be blessed.
Such it was when the great wizard made his first appearance. Through the hundreds of centuries that followed, he would be known by many names, seer, sorcerer, wizard, soothsayer, prophet, medicine man, storyteller and interpreter of dreams. Yet, he would be one and the same, impervious to the ravages of age, different to each creature that encountered him, ever changing but immortal.
His first appearance would be at Ceide Fields in the place that would later be known as County Mayo, Ireland; a vision that emerged from the dense woods, shrouded by the mists.
To the early Stone Age hunters who shared the forest with him, such an apparition was magical as well as terrifying.
This was of course, to his distinct advantage . . .
