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There was a thunderous clap and a flash of brilliant light, but it gained no audience in the long forgotten complex of caverns, hidden far beneath the mountain. The low rumble rolled down the vacant corridors, sweeping spider webs and tons of dust from their century-long resting places. It shook the stone walls, loosening blocks from their mortars, and bringing debris down from the ceiling. The roar of a thousand lions poured down every hallway and into every room of the vastness, finally dying out in a giant chamber. Its bottomless floors too empty for even this wave of sound and fury to fill.

  Then, there was silence. Silence -- but not emptiness. A pile of bones lay at the site of the explosion that had splintered the very stone. As if carelessly dumped through the cosmic doorway which opened for just that split second. Dusty, dry bones. Lacking the ligaments to join them, the tissues of organs, muscles or skin, dry, rotting and mostly broken and splintered, crumbling into dust, they were nothing but bones. An elven skull, still delicately featured even in this naked form, sat on top of this scattered semblance, and served as the only indication that this was once an intelligent creature. But, while even the soft brain tissue had long since dried and blown away as dust, this skull was not empty. Hiding under the protective bone, red lights peered through hollow sockets. This was a spirit -- the spirit of one who refused to die.

  It took all the power, all the concentration, all the will she had in her being, but Rai'dley refused to die. She fought the battle constantly, against the persistent, nagging forces of nature. And even though she had lost the great and slender, beautifully sculpted body of her elven heritage centuries ago, she would not admit defeat. She had too much hatred to avenge, too much evil to rejoice in, to allow her mortal time on this plane to end -- ever.

  She had waited so long; an entire lifetime and more. She had lived a full life of evil splendor. She had mastered the arts of dark magic as none before, and ruled an entire world, but that was not enough; it wasn't the right world, her world. This world. She still had a vengeance to pay. She had waited and waited until the one day, as it had been promised to her so very long ago; when she would be allowed, no, called upon, to reclaim the glory of her once proud and arrogant people. She would champion their long-forgotten cause, and prove their righteousness. She would not only see their ancient visions of ruling this world fulfilled, but would surpass them to become the one and only god!

  It was so promised to her.

  It had been the hope of this great promise that she had held onto, even past death. It was in anticipation of fulfilling this completely evil desire, which gave her the foothold she needed to stand against time, against fate, against all reason. This was her foothold in insanity.

  And so now, so much later that she could have no way to measure, the promise was fulfilled. Rai'dley had returned.

  Even though she had nothing left to her but bones, they were enough. Rai'dley knew the powers of magic better than anyone. With nothing but her unbelievably strong will, she reached into that which was magic, and pulled directly from there what she needed. With the forces of magic, she reclaimed that which she had lost. Rai'dley reclaimed a youthful, beautiful body, much like the one she possessed in her former life. She didn't know where the thin elven body had come from, but neither did she care, as her will exploded into the emptiness of the new frame. She would learn the price for this material body in time; but for now, it was hers to experience once more.

  She opened eyes she had not had in so very long, and stretched out into arms and hands long lost. "This is good," she spoke through lips regained, shocked at the sound of her thoughts being spoken aloud and echoed back to her through ears. She only paused a moment to examine her new body, young and virile, for she had much to do. She had not wasted that millennium of nothingness -- she had been scheming the whole time, so that now she had an exacting plan all worked out.

  She looked around with eyes that saw for the first time in a very long time. "Ah, the corridor," she remembered, getting her bearings quickly. It was as if she never left. As she turned around full circle, she examined the wall behind her. There, etched in black soot and covered with settled dust, was the outline of her ancient body. So very long ago. With nervous instincts, she spun around and ducked to the floor, remembering her opponent from a war now forgotten. A wry grin spread across her face as she studied her would-be foe. Little of her nemesis remained but a shattered skull, melted into the stonework behind him. Rai'dley's last spell, cast in defense so long ago, blew him apart. Looking down at her new, slender elven body, she considered herself the winner. Her maniacal laughter filled the corridor. Finally, victory was hers.

  "So long ago," she reminded herself. "What ever may have happened since then?" Last she knew, the other elves shunned her people, an elite group of elves known as the drow, and entered a long, hard war. At their peak of power, the drow had commanded waves of dragons to fall upon the elven land of Midkemia, to raze that land with their terrible magic and fire. But then the allied forces of the elves and the other races of Carrona, had taken back the Orb of the Righteous that had fed the drow their power. All but beaten, the last of the drow sought the shelter of this cavern complex, deep beneath Bellow's Mountain. But the enemy found them here and through their attack, drove the drow down deeper and deeper into the crevices of the complex. They had lost, that was certain; but by her return, they would be victorious. She looked again at the crumpled remains of her ancient adversary, and again her laughter filled the corridor. At last, victory would be theirs.

  "Ah, yes," she smiled, "The Orb of the Righteous. That would be the key. Regain that, and the world would have little choice but to bow to my feet."

  She once again heard that voice from long ago, the voice of the promise, and its return soothed her. She was not crazy, she decided. The voice had given her the plan, and she grinned at its deviousness and evil aspirations. The voice reminded her. She had much to do.

  From memories of her youth, a lifetime ago, Rai'dley made her way through the still familiar, complex maze of caverns and long lost ruins. Despite the centuries that had passed, the complex had changed little, she noticed. Her memories of that time, which replayed still in her mind, were so clear that it was as if she had never left. These chambers held so many memories for her, unfortunately most of them bad. "No place like home," she smiled as she crossed the great stone archway that bridged across the cavern without a floor. "There's no place like home."

  Rai'dley had returned.

  Chapter 1

  No Complications