The Ring Оf Fire. The Wolf Bell

Part Two: The Runestone

From the Book of Fire, Cloffi.

In the beginning there was order upon the land and men were obedient. But mortals grew covetous: they lusted after the powers of the gods, and their blasphemy spread to infect many. They rose in violence against the gods; and they laid siege to the holy city Owdneet and all was evil upon Ere.

So the Luff’Eresi made the earth to tremble. They made fires to spew from the mountains and rivers of fire to cover the land.

Few men survived the Fire Scourge, and those few went in fear to the south. This was a time of shadow when cinders fell from the sky, and the sun shone only dimly, and the minds of men were dark. There were few flocks and few seed and few women to husband. But still men made further evil; men sinned, and in sin the women conceived Children of Ynell; and these changelings could speak with closed mouths, and they could see visions invisible to men. The gods’ powers were usurped; and the gods were sore angered. And to appease the gods, men burned the Children of Ynell in sacrifice.

Then on the Eve of Harvest, when men were standing in their cut fields, one black cloud came covering the sky. And a voice cried out, “You have sinned. Kneel down.” And the men knelt in their fields. And the voice said, “You have taken what is ours. You have incurred the wrath of the Luff’Eresi. Your fields will die, and you will be hungry. You must bring a tithing of your crops: and you must burn your fields after harvest to propitiate the Fire: and nevermore will you sacrifice what is ours to sacrifice. Henceforth you will bring the Children of Ynell to the Death Stone, for the Luff’Eresi to kill as we see fit.”