Shadows appeared throughout the Nexus Temple even though the whole place was bathed in light. A place like this made it hard to know what was real and what was Shadow. Training as a Temple Guardian with the monks of the material plane hadn't prepared me for anything like this. Aside from the Weeping Child there were two other people who lived in the Nexus Temple whether they were real or just shades couldn't be told but they kept an order to the Temple. The Nexus Librarian was an odd man, if a man at all. Seemingly he had the face of a child but the rest of him seemed that of someone who had seem many, many years with a long silvery white beard. I spent hours with him talking about history and lore but he'd mostly tell me that I was meddling with magic in which I shouldn't be meddling. He had a love of the lost objects of time and history. The ones no one cared about anymore. And I even got him to yield when he saw what I had brought him. There wasn't much to go on but that's when I saw it. Or did I? The Silhouette of a Shadow? What was that... How come I hadn't seen it before.
The rooms and spirits of the Temples hid him well but as I turned to last room, I saw the flicker of Shadow again. The Mask that appeared before me melted into the surroundings and yielded into the surroundings but the figure remained. His strong build and tight clothing portrayed a very skilled and nimble man. It seemed he was more a shadow than a man at this point, if ever he had been a man. His fu-manchu was visible under the black satin hood and jet black hair. After we stared at each other for a moment he broke the silence.
"I didn't think anyone would come, it's been so long." It seemed as if he were happy about this but it was very hard to tell. "Come, I'll show you the way through the Shadows." With speed I had trouble keeping up with he ran through the Temple. His movements more shadow steps than actual jumps and running.
"Wait up!" I cried as I almost lost him around a corner. And it seems he intended this because as I rounded the corner the strong arms grabbed me and halted my progress and I cried out. A quick hand gently closed my eyelids and I felt the world arou
Rain poured door on the battlefield of Shar. The Radiant Hearts were engaged with the Knights of the Temple in a clash that was awesome to behold. The warriors of Shar whose numbers were endless charged at their hastily put together fortification. A Knight with blazing white fire surrounding his scimitars cut through their ranks, circling as a dervish would and felling the Shar Warriors. Meteors fell from the heavens at the command of Red Robed Wizards and I even saw a bear twice as large as the halfling strider beside it cleave one of the warriors in half. I couldn't watch any longer, I was running out of time and I didn't want to lose a chance for the shadows to help me.
The Shadow was waiting for me by the imprisoned spirit. The Rose he held in his hand was blackened and withered and he stared at it both in admiration and in longing. As I walked closer he walked up to me and handed me the Rose, it crumbled in my hand into ash and dust. He looked up at the spirit of Karsus and nodded.
"His folly undid it all. What a fool to have thought he could save his people from fate, it doesn't take courage for a man as powerful as he once was to battle fate, he knew better." The words seemed to anger the spirit but he was powerless to do anything. Lifeless from the spell his own hands had cast. "You're different you know, you seem to want to set things right. I've shown you this part of the puzzle. It will take more than just your heart to right this wrong though. I hope you have friends."
"The ones I have are here, and the ones to come, they'll want to help to." As I spoke I heard the Temple doors burst open and the shadow that was next to me vanished. Knights and Radiant Heart soldiers and Inigo rushed into the temple and as the rooms filled and the last to enter turned, I saw the endless battlefield. The Warriors of Shar chasing down stragglers. Six knights and 4 members of the Radiant Order pushed the doors closed as the Warriors charged the door.
