The Legend of Kilkassie.

There once was a town. But it was more than that - it was a town of giants. All of the people were as high as the sky.

One day, a woman came to the town. She went to see the king. She asked the king for entrace to the mountains, which the giants had sworn to protect. The king, mighty and tall, said that none may enter but the gods of the earth. Not even he could see inside of the mountain.

The woman, perterbed, asked once more, warning the king of his greed. The king, in earnest said he could not let her enter.

She asked one last time, but the king said no once more.

So the woman, beautiful and powerful, walked from the palace and into the centre of town. And she did the most wonderous thing.

She began to sing.

And the children of the town ran to her, sitting all around her in the centre of town. She sang the most beautiful song, never stopping for 2 whole days.

And then she began to walk. She walked all over town, the children following her everywhere she went.

She left town, still singing all the while. And the children went with her.

Now, for a giant to have children is a wonderous event - since giants can live for hundreds of years. A giant can only have children once in their whole life. This is the way the gods of the earth made them.

All the children had gone from the town. And their parents were all very sad. Their humongous tears swept through the town like wild rivers, never ending.

That is how we came to know the Razorback River.

It came to pass, that hundreds of years later, a man came to the giant's sorrow.

He went to the king, ancient and mighty, and asked why the giants lament so.

The king told their story, promising anything they could give him if they found their children.

So the man agreed. And he went into the world.

He went to the furthest point of the world and consulted the Scrier of Damedly as to where he should go. The Scrier told him he did not know, as it was beyond his time. He did tell him were he could find out though.

And so, the man went where he was told to go. He went to the other end of the world, to Coralok, where the Dark Mage Yassirus lived in his Coral tower. He climbed the walls of the citadel, and fought off the forces within. His body, beaten and broken, managed to reach the window of the tower. The Mage saw the bravery of the young man, and took pity on him.

The Mage told him that the woman does indeed still live, as do the children of the giants, and that they were under the world as they spoke.

The man thanked the dark one, and took his leave, jumping into the dark ocean below.

The man reached his final destination, the world's cape - the vast cliff that separates the world from the darkness. From the top of the cape, he heard the winds of change from below him. On the wind were notes of a song.

This is how we came to know the World Song.

The man climbed down the face of the cliffs, touching the vastness of eternity. He reached a cave, and the song was coming from within. So the man entered the world.

It was dark inside the world. There is no light within the world, so he was forced to walk, trusting his senses for direction. The song became louder, and stronger, and began to sap his will. He began to feel tired, and could not control his body. He reached the light at the end of the tunnel, and before him stood the woman, beautiful and ever young. He passed into the world of sleep.

Within his dreams he fell forever. The god of sleep, Kanastus, appeared before him in all of his magnificence. He shone like the stars themselves and was as vast as the night sky. He told the man his time was over, but had enough power left to give him a gift, for he saw his cause was good. The god, merciful and proud, caught the man in his hands and threw him back up to the waking world.

This is how we came to know the godmarked.

When he awoke, the man found he was a prisoner of the woman. He lay in her bed, nude as the day he was born. The woman stood before him and took him into her bosom. They experienced the throes of life and death within and without each other.

The man, resisting her siren spell, reached out from his prison and clutched for his weapon. He plunged his weapon deeply into her spasming chest, splitting her breast in two. The dark blood flowed from within her, and from their union and her fluid came the monsters we know today.

The woman dead, he took himself from her bed and saw the children of the giants. They were free from her spell as well. They asked the man where they were and if he could take them home. The man agreed and set off. And the children went with him.

The forced their way out of the world itself, their desire empowering their blows to the crust.

And this is how we came to know the Nest of Evils, so close to the edge of eternity.

The man brought his quarry back to their city, the rivers stopping for the briefest moment.

The king, bountiful and joyous, told the man the could have whatever his heart desired that they could give.

The man asked to enter the mountain.

The king, shocked, asked him if he could want anything else, for even that is beyond their power.

The man asked again, and the king refused.

The man asked one last time, and the king saw the mark of the god upon his hand. He had no choice but to give him what he desired, but drew no ill will towards him.

And so the man entered the mountain.

And that is the last time the world ever saw him.

And that, is how we came to know Kilkassie, Wandering traveller, Slayer of the siren Vinnoria, Conqueror of Corolok, and true King of the Gods.

But there is another story... A story of a princess. A princess from a frozen kingdom. A princess with a destiny beyond her own imagining.

But that is for another day.