n the time before, there was a goddess, and she was Ezra. Ezra looked down upon the world of mortals, and she saw that the world was well-tended by the gods.
But then Ezra’s eyes fell upon the hollow. She looked deep into the hollow, and saw a place abandoned by the gods, its people left to suffer alone.
Ezra asked her divine brethren, “Why has this place been forgotten? Why have you for¬saken its people?” But the gods did not answer.
Again Ezra spoke, saying, “We are the guides and guardians of mortals. Such is our role in the grand scheme. It is not right that these mortals be abandoned so.” Again the gods gave no reply.
Ezra spoke for a third time. “It is not right that these mortals be left to suffer. If you will not watch over your people, then must I.”
Thus Ezra left the realm of the gods. Her divine brethren watched her leave in silence.
Ezra descended to the hollow, but before she could enter, the Mists of Death rose up to block her path.
From the Mists came a voice, and the voice spoke, saying, “Turn back, goddess. This place is not for you. This place is for the Mists alone.”
Yet Ezra held fast, saying, “I cannot allow your people to suffer alone. It is my place to protect them.”
Again the voice spoke, warning, “Take heed, goddess. Your kind have no place in the hollow. Enter and you shall find only your destruction, nothing more.”
Yet Ezra stood firm against the Mists, say¬ing, “You cannot bid me enter, yet I cannot turn away. I cannot allow your people to suffer alone. If I must be destroyed, then that is what must be.”
Upon her fifth entreaty the voice spoke once more. “Enter the Mists if you must, goddess, but not as you are. To enter the Mists, you must become as one with the Mists. You must cease to be, your name forgotten in all other places. You shall never return to your brethren. Will you sacrifice all this for these few mortals?’
Spoke Ezra , “Such is my role in the grand scheme. So must it be.”
And with those words Ezra joined the Mists. Her name became known to those in the hollow, and lost to all others.
