"Part One"

The Magi were crumbling before her eyes, and there was nothing
Alaihandra could do to save them. Their goals and ideals had dissipated,
their purpose had long become clouded and the current Magi were no
longer the unified collective they had once been. As such, Alaihandra
was faced with little in the means of choices, and so she did the one
thing that she knew might save the future of the of the magical arts.
She left the Magi guild hall in search of a man who could perhaps start
anew the dream that was once the Magi.

That man would be Ianus, formerly of the Magi, and a once prominent
member of the disbanded Ascendril Circle. It had been a very long time
since last they had met, and Alaihandra recalled that when last they
spoke it was not on the best of terms. Yet something had to be done,
less the entirety of the Magi and the study of the elements be lost
forever. She bestowed upon Ianus the revelation of a hidden chamber
within the Needle of Balance in Ashtan, of which would contain a second
Master Crystal.

Enthused with the prospect of finally able to create a solid base of
operations for a new Magic Academy, Ianus hastened to the Needle, where
he was joined by members of the city, as well as the likes of Argo and
Paris. Once gathered at the Needle, Alaihandra revealed the access
console to the hidden chamber, and instructed those gathered that to
open the chamber, they must first scour the land for the keyshards held
by those beings that represented each of the elements.

The first, was that of the Water element, held by Morandar the Triton,
within Riparium. As the seekers came upon him, he bade them fetch him
seventy-five pearls and he would give up the watershard in his
possession. Their quest in hand, the seekers spread across the land,
scouring the bodies of water for oysters filled with the pearls they
would need.

It was a mundane process, but finally they had gathered the pearls,
returning them to Morandar and exchanging them for the keyshard. As they
returned to Ashtan and placed the shard into the console, a shaft of
aquamarine line erupted from the Needle, showering the heavens with its
life. One shard in place, the seekers quickly took off in search of the
next, held by the durdalis Guardian, Gonhon, within the Duiran
Heartwood.

Gonhon gave a peculiar request, a hundred piles of sand for his
earthshard, to which the members of Duiran were none to happy to have
handed over under their noses. Tensions were expanded when Paris refused
to await the consent of the Duiran councilmen, and instead continued to
give Gonhon the sand he had requested. The heated situation managed to
cool finally, and Ianus and the other seekers were allowed to depart
with the keyshard.

Once placed in the console, the same eruption of light came forth,
though this time of a saffron hue. Two shards in place with three to go,
the seekers set out on a long spree of similar quests. From the Ogre
Mage of duns request for large amounts of coal, to Aamiran, the Satrap
of the Aeres want for the bodies of Tengu, to finally the two hundred
spirits requested by Marhisa in the temple of Lleis. With these trials
completed, the seekers, lead by Ianus, were free to place the final
shard.

Yet all was not as it seemed, with the insertion of the spiritshard,
Alaihandra made a cryptic revelation that there was a missing piece. She
was confused, as were all the seekers, that the console had not opened
the chamber as she had thought it would.

With much speculation and debate it was determined that perhaps there
existed a sixth element, that of Shadow. Yet Alaihandra could offer no
explanations as to where the shard for shadow would be found. The
seekers dispersed, following possible trails pointing towards Dhar, or
maybe even Severn. Yet all of their searches seemed to lead them
nowhere.

The shard would turn up in the unlikely hands of the warrior-priestess
Sailaan, whose conclave held residence within the ruins of Farsai. A
shouting match took place between both Sailaan, and the Priest of Ati,
Dachvrel. The seekers, along with a number of other Ashtanti game to the
aide of Sailaan, who offered to give them the shard if they would
protect the village of Saluria, and defeat Atis Priest.

After a grueling battle, the seekers came out victorious, and with the
prayer of goodwill from Sailaan, set off to Ashtan with the final shard.
When they placed it within the console, this time all was assembled, and
the chamber within the Needle was opened, revealing that there was
indeed the presence of a Master Crystal.

Alaihandra warned Ianus and the seekers that for the time being, they
were to avoid attempts at folding or refining as the Crystal was
unstable, and could not handle prolonged use. It was then that she let
it be known how the Magis Crystal was the result of a human sacrifice,
and as such there would need to be the same for this one to be of use.
Yet who was to give their life for the Master Crystal? It remained to be
seen.

"To be Continued"

Penned by my hand on the 1st of Arios, in the year 292 MA.