Introduction: Of Books and a Meteor

The Books of Prophecy are the well guarded treasure of the mages of the Tower of the Heavens. Those few who know of the ageless tomes speak of them with the hushed reverence commonly afforded to the ostentatious might of swords or wands.

The books are closed to the eyes of ordinary men since they deal not with the transient forces of arms or might but with destiny itself.

Each page is crammed with cryptic references to the fates of the great and the famous, written in an obscure script. In all the world there is but one who can read the pages of close-written symbols; only one man who can fathom the weirdly-coded prophecies.

This man is Engel, Elder Mage of the Tower of the Heavens, who inherited the unique power to read the books from the line of Elder Mages who came before him. For generations this line has been unbroken and, as is traditional, Engel has gathered a small college of lesser mages from whom to select his own successor.

The origin of the Books of Prophecy has never been established. Some claim they were written by a seer in ancient times while others claim they were inscribed in the distant future and sent into the past by powerful magics. Whatever the truth, recent events have shown the books to be not only the bearers but the instruments of destiny – the destiny of a certain falling star known as Taire…