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The following are excerpts from the Analects of Kuryon, a cycle of poems regarding prophecy and the nature of the future. The work was composed by Kuryon, first master of the Monastery of the Precipice. The passages below are those relevant to Spellgard explorers. The rest of the work consists of abstract philosophical discourse – perhaps interesting to a sage but not otherwise useful.

Amid the ancient, weathered stones,
Below the phaerimm-haunted sky;
Above the tombs of lordly bones
From N'Arral and years gone by.

’Twas there, beneath the moonlit stair,
My future cast its shadow past
A white-robed dame with sable hair;
Transfixing stare that held me fast.

“Take heed, you seeker, bow your head,
For I am Lady Saharel.
I speak with living and with dead
And all your fates are mine to tell.

“I see the rising of the sun
On eastern seas beyond your ken;
I see that light fade into none
On western plains unwalked by men.

“The distant past is mine to see,
And future waves upon the shore
Once ripples on another sea
Might rise and fall like tides once more.”

“O palest lady! Grant me peace!
For here I am, bereft of care.
From this dark path I crave release;
From all this torment and despair.”

“Too well I know the words you seek,”
The lady whispered in my ear,
“Your tragedy is not unique,
Nor does it end in anguish here.

“For Truth itself is my sole chain,
A bond that none can ever break.
A single question born in pain
Is mine to answer for your sake.

“All Truth is mine to comprehend;
All futures and all pasts I see.
Against my truth none can forfend,
Yet first a task I crave of thee. . . .”

No looter I, no thief of tombs
For learned men have called me sage.
And yet within these madding rooms
Perplexed was I by puzzle strange.

The claw within the silver seal . . .
The squares of alabaster . . .
Many trials would reveal
The pattern I must master.

And then, enticed by crystal glow
Ascend I did the central stair
Beyond the shim’ring curtain, so
Vexed I was by things not there.

Two alabaster pillars stand
A silent watch in chamber dark.
I write these words with quiv’ring hand . . .
I know just what these pillars mark.

A timid step will bring me near
Six holes where pillars do not dwell
So hope remains, and yet I fear
I’ve seen the doom of Saharel.

I pondered long the Lady’s word;
Her vision of my truest fate.
My path, though twisted, is assured;
My search concluded, and my wait.

I set each stone into its place,
Casting back to ancient days.
The coldest radiance from her face
Illuminates me with its rays.

She hovered o’er my dusty toil,
The runes I carved into the stone.
My footsteps left within the soil
Of N'Arral left long alone.