Lean in close, and listen well;
The Old One has a tale to tell.
Of times of peace and times of war;
Of legends, heroes, and ancient lore.

Long ago, in fortress grand,
There ruled a king over all mens' land.
King Timath ruled under all the sun.
His rule a just and peaceful one.

The land was kind, the weather fair;
Crystal waters, pristine air.
The Balance long had been maintained,
By Order Kings who justly reigned.

Wars were over, Chaos done;
Peace now reigned, and Light had won.
As seasons passed, were mem'ries lost;
Peace they knew, but at what cost?

Then, as always, good or bad,
His death drew nigh and still he had,
Not one heir to rise and reign;
The world's Balance, next, to maintain.

A winter came, Timath's last;
He died of illness, his time past.
His last dreams, his haunting visions,
Helped Timath make his last decisions.

His final words, as strength had gone,
"Chaos has a Champion.
Choose to best what Darkness brings,
Or soon it will end all things."

With this, King Timath passed away;
The whole world mourned on that dark day.
Then his advisors, as was his will,
Searched the land for men of skill.

The years of peace made pickings slim;
Chaos was mighty. No man could best him.
As winter ended, spring began,
And Chaos reigned over all the land.

The sun was dark, the moon was red.
The rivers dry, the crops all dead.
A madness spread throughout the nations,
As men felt darkness' ministrations.

The Chaos Beast, as it was known,
Conquered the nations from his dark throne.
Though men would seek, and always fail,
None could locate Chaos' vale.

Mankind was doomed, destined to die;
They turned to faith and asked God "Why?"
"Why are we lost? What have we done?"
Seekers were many, answered were none.

Then halls fell silent, men spoke no word;
A voice spoke whispers, the whole world heard.
"In times of peace you have grown bored.
You became content to prosper and hoard."

"It was not I who caused this fall.
As once before, it was mankind, all.
While Light ruled, and Order held,
Humans forgot where Chaos dwelled."

"You thought Chaos had gone away;
That Order had finally won, that day.
But Chaos dwells in hearts of men.
It bides its time to rise again."

"When Timath died, though he lived well,
Balance ended; and darkness fell.
Now you turn to me and say:
"Why did you allow this day?"

"Mankind's fault, led to this end,
But what once was, shall be again.
A hero comes, now, from the west.
My Holy Knight, Chaos' demon to best."

After these words of prophecy,
The king's advisors went to see,
Three days they traveled, by night none slept.
While Chaos grew, and the whole world wept.

At dawn, upon the fourth day's morn,
The king's advisors were forlorn.
"This hero is not to be seen.
Let us return and do as we'd been."

But as they returned, they found strange things;
In towns, on trails, near mountain springs.
Everywhere, the people'd seen,
A knight in silver of brilliant sheen.

With grand white horse he rode on west,
Neither stopped to eat or rest.
His armor glowed, his sword was light,
Taller than any man, his build held might.

He wore silvered steel from head to toe,
All his steel did softly glow.
His face had e'er remained unseen;
His helm never removed had been.

The advisors swiftly ended their quest,
Returned home, let their mounts rest.
Not one among them saw the Knight,
But all believed he'd gone to fight.

The legend, of them, says no more.
Now, we follow that Knight of yore.
Holy guidance to Chaos' lair,
Led the Knight, he journeyed there.

To the north were mountains, tall and cold;
When men first settled here, ruins old,
Were found upon these icy peaks.
Here the Knight finds what he seeks.

Through treacherous, steep mountain trails,
Through rockslides, and through windstorm gales,
The Knight and horse continued on,
To the ruins of Heredon.

Named by those who first had seen,
A work of art once, they might have been.
With towers, skypaths, and caverns deep,
A million secrets here now sleep.

Where storms and time should cause decay,
These stones had not worn away.
The Eternal City would ever stand,
The arches and tunnels, and towers grand.

To the top of the city, the Knight rode,
And stood before the Black Tower, which forbode,
His entering, but still he must.
He went inside, and walked by trust.

For in this tower, no light came,
But from the top, one windowframe.
He climbed the steps, did not once fall.
At the top, the stairs met wall.

He turned toward the empty frame,
The window shifted, a door became.
He stepped to the doorway, into the light,
Well prepared for the coming fight.

There was a staircase, and each stair,
Was a small, flat stone floating in the air.
He took one step, and then one more.
The steps moved and shifted, but his weight they bore.

The stairs were jagged, first left, then right,
Now up, now spiraling out of sight.
Higher and higher did he climb,
For an unknown amount of time.

These unnatural stairs rose higher still,
Seemingly held there by stubborn will.
Above the clouds, their pathway led,
To a realm no man had tread.

Green lightning flashed;
Winds whirled and dashed.
Hot and cold, light and dark;
Altered by Chaos on a lark.

No creatures stirred, so far below.
Plants dead or dying, they could not grow.
For life requires Order strong,
And Chaos destroys, kills life and song.

For through a doorway, the stairs had gone.
To a land Chaos had already won.
The heart of Chaos' lands, though high above;
This, Chaos would do to all we love.

Just above, and just ahead,
A diamond platform held its stead.
A near-black flat, leagues wide and long,
Though the stairs were fragile, this was strong.

Atop the staircase, the knight gave pause.
No beast was there, bearing fangs or claws.
The platform was clear, except for the knight, bare.
He stepped to the platform, into Chaos lair.

In that instant, things changed swift.
The stairs fell down, and the flat gained lift.
Spinning and rising, the platform flew,
The knight knelt down, and waited through.

Motion stopped, and darkness fell.
From nothingness, did shadow swell.
Unfolding from itself, a dark cloud spread.
Radiating a consuming dread.

One red eye glistened in the shadow;
One red eye with maleveolent glow.
An amorphous being, Chaos' beast,
For these two champions, all else ceased.

From the beast, weapons grew;
No fangs or claws, the hero knew.
For Chaos formed blades of nothing;
Sharper than steel, the dark air would sing.

The battle, then, in earnest fought,
Began the endless, final onslaught.
Atop the world was balanced fate;
Everyome else could naught but wait.

Singing steel, and flashing light!
The battle sounds carried into the night.
For each lunge, a parry, and,
A counterstrike, a lunge again.

A whirling light, the hero spun,
A block, an upstroke, a sweeping run.
Neither forth nor back he stepped,
And as he fought, the White Knight wept.

For now, this battle could not end.
His final act would be to send
Them both, until the time was right,
To where the world could survive the fight.

A brilliant flash, the heavens torn!
The arena vanished, the rift unborn.
A cloudless sky went e'er on...
Over the ruins of Heredon.

And so time passed, and shadow's veil,
Was lifted, and thus ends this tale.
Most forgot this, all but one,
What had happened, what had been done...

Centuries passed... No victor rose.
Only one, the Old One, knows...
The Chaos beast, The Order Knight;
They did not die, and still they fight.

For Chaos dwells in hearts of men,
And the fight was taken there again.
Every man, woman, child, and youth,
Bears Chaos and Order, Darkness and Truth.

In some, Chaos has a firm stronghold.
Some, Order gives the courage to be bold.
If one is seeking, in an honest way,
They can feel that battle every day.

All can choose which one they wield;
Take hold of Order, or to Chaos yield.
For Chaos' power breaks minds' wills,
And Order strengthens, rebuilds, and fills.

A dark wind sceams, my time is past.
The end of time is near, at last.
The final battle now draws near.
Where will ye stand, when it is here?

I must leave now, my life is done.
Be strong, and know that all is won.
And one more thing... This tale you heard;
Decide ye soon. It's true. Each word.
 
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