Tale of the Five

The Tale of the Five is a book found in the Private Suite next to the players bed on a table.

Page 1
''Once there was a world without time. The world was nothing but white light, inhabitated by on people and five dragons.''

In that world, there was only eternity, and a sun that burned without beginning or end.

And because there was only timeless eternity, nothing was ever lost...yet nothing was ever gained.

Page 2
One day, the people began to wonder why their world had no beginning or end, so they asked the dragons.

''The dragons opened their mouths as if to answer, but from their mouths poured water instead of words. It rushed out in streams to create the sky and the oceans, and the dragons swam away.''

Page 3
The dragons swam to the center of the ocean, and there they began to transform into an island.

One dragon sank into the sea and became the land.

One dragon lifted its gaze to the sky and became the mountains.

One dragon stooped low and became the lakes, and scattered its scales to create the rain.

One dragon fell into a deep slumber and became the forests.

The last dragon climbed far into the sky to become a star of sapphire blue, shining brightly above the island.

Page 4
The people could not understand why the dragons had left, or why they had transformed.

Eventually, a lone youth decided to go to the island to seek the answers from the dragons themselves. He donned a simple cloak, climbed into a simple boat, and cast off alone into the murky seas.

At last, guided by the sapphire star, he reached the Island of the Five.

Page 5
Some time passed, and the youth returned.

"Did you speak with the dragons?" the people asked.

"Yes, I spoke with them," he replied.

"Then tell us, why did they create the island?"

But the youth did not answer. Instead, he reached into his cloak and pulled out five dragons scales, which he gave to the people.

And then, before anyone realized, the youth disappeared.

Page 6
The people left their white world and sailed across the ocean.

Using the five scales, they created their own lands, their own mountains, their own lakes, and their own forests.

Last of all they created a bright moon, so that the sapphire star, which guided the youth during his voyage to seek the dragons, would no longer shine alone in the sky.

Page 7
The land grew large enough to obscure the sun, and day and night were born.

The mountains, lakes, and forests breathed together, and the seasons were born.

The moon casts its light on the ocean, and waves were born.

And thus time was also born.

Swept up in the almighty current of time, the people came to know death. But the people also came to know life.

Page 8
Countles days and countless nights have passed since people first came to live on the lands they had created.

As time passed, they lost their memory of the Five Dragons, and even the memory of how time itself had been born.

But deep inside their hearts there dwelt a quiet knowledge of the Island of the five, the most sacred place in the world, which to this day sleeps in the middle of the ocean, uninhabited by people, and unchanged even by the relentless flow of time.