PROLOGUE

The Fourth Age

. . .

Dark mist wakes in mountains high

Red flames flicker in moonless sky

Eyes of shadow from sea henceforth

From east to west, from south to north

. . .

Five years have passed since Sauron's ruin, and from then on the Fourth Age of Middle-earth began. My quest to overthrow the Dark Lord has been fulfilled, and for the remains of my life I return to the Undying Lands to dwell the last of my years. Friendships across the sea back to the land I resided, for three hundred lives of men I breathed, were not broken; although parted it does not disconnect the bond held deep within our lasting souls.

I was accompanied back to the Undying Lands with the Elves and two halflings that were much dear to me: Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. How I've sent you on perilous quests and you end up becoming the heroes of such legends. May you dwell the last of your lives peacefully here in these lands. A leaf has turned; a new beginning we were to start.

. . .

Or how much I wished it could be this way. No more quests I was to carry out in this lifetime again. Save for one more...

The Elves wished this would never have occurred but we fear the worse for our world. A great cloud of black smoke has risen in the far East of Arda. It presses its way westward, and in its path lays Middle-Earth. This is no black blizzard created by weather. A supreme and powerful entity it has been since the birth of this world.

Dae - The Shadow, the Elves call it. And a shadow it is. Created by Morgoth, it slumbered in the East awaiting his downfall. Though when Sauron emerged, it thought he was to wait in vain; he'd never supplant their being, until its moment came at last. Since birth it had been residing in the east until their downfall. It watched in the distance with black lidless eyes, and smiled when the Dark Lords were defeated during the ages. It knew then that it had a chance to do what it wished. Loathing this world since the beginning, no desire is stronger for it than the destruction of Arda.

The Elves forgot of this entity, as it had been forsaken for millenniums. No Light of the Valar can cast any beam to banish the shadow, apart from its own children: six Crystal Shards. They have been scattered around Middle-Earth since the Years of the Trees. They are the only power that can counter the Shadow's.

The Elves could feel this power growing in the East of Arda. Because of their ignorance towards the evil, they fear the worse. Men, Dwarves and all the other free races know not of the malicious nebula creeping its way west, devouring the land in ash and shadow. No creature will be able to survive its destruction:

Oceans will dry, mountains will collapse, and the plains of the land will be veiled in black ruins along with towns and cities. Everything will perish. Though, the shadow moves gradually, and there is enough time to prevent the armageddon.

And so, as told by the Valar, I am the only worthy of the Istari to cast back the Shadow of the East. Let us hope that we find the six Crystal Shards before the Shadow reaches the West of Middle-Earth, and veil the world in shadow for eternity.

. . .

Shadow blackens lands of green

Creeping west to eyes unseen

Forests flame and mountains fall

Here we await the end of all

. . .