“Stop!”

The Guardian of the Sanctuary holds out one enormous hand, covered in greenery. You stop slicing at the vine constricting your leg as it withdraws back into the ground.

“You have proven yourself a mighty warrior. You are worthy, and may pass into the Ancient Sanctuary unhindered.”

Before you can say “Thanks,” the Guardian sinks back into the earth, leaving the courtyard as pristine as it was when you first entered – with a few more leaves scattered about. You breathe a sigh of exhaustion and turn to enter the Sanctuary again – a little more carefully this time.

​​The ruins of the Ancient Sanctuary are thick with moss. Strange creepers climb its crumbled skeleton and twist upwards as if in prayer. The air is damp and pungent, heavy with silence.

You step forward, twisted roots of long-dead trees cracking under foot and plunging into the soft soil underfoot. You are drawn to the strange, shapeless carvings that adorn the outer corridor of the Sanctuary – not quite recognisable figures crawl and dance across the entryway. They’re certainly not Vorloran, but they’re not quite anything else either. Unsettling, yes – but not entirely unfamiliar. You duck through the narrow archway and inside the Sanctuary itself.

The remains of a huge hallway stand before you. Ravaged by exposure to the elements and wildly overgrown though it may be, you breathe in and close your eyes, trying to get a sense of its past. You can sense the grandeur of it – this has been a place of great action, intrigue, worship, magic and destruction. There is much to explore.

Lining the walls are huge carvings of yet more strange figures – some of them appearing in acts of worship, others simply staring out at you with expressionless eyes. You stumble a little and look down into the rubble, where you spy a half-buried relic. But you’re not here for treasure.

You continue further in. Smashed mirrors adorn the walls, and the floor is scattered with broken glass. A long table – perhaps an altar – is broken in two against the far wall, each half gripped by ivy as if torn in some long-forgotten quarrel.

Your eyes return to the figures above – one very large figure towers over the place where the altar once stood. You look a little closer. Can it be? No – surely not…

You move closer. A large and powerful figure. Imposing of stance and commanding of eye. But there’s more.

Its eyes are two purple gems.

You look back at the other carvings. Smaller figures, worshippers – are these the people of the Gods? Is this Sanctuary theirs?

It all makes sense now – the sense of great power emanating from the place. Did they use this power, was this its source? Or did they grant it with their power, and were their worshippers harnessing it for their own world-altering purposes? What happened to them all?

There is an almost-hidden alcove to the west of the hall. You breathe in deeply and slide through a gap between crumbled walls. Bursting through, you stumble over an enormous frame. Leaning it against a stone pillar, you dust it down and fix it with a studying eye.

It seems to depict the sanctuary itself, not in the lush green of its current overgrown state, but in blotches of blood red and steely grey. A battle – or perhaps the battle was already won, and this is the aftermath. Bodies everywhere – some weeping and running. Most of them are crumpled and lifeless. You back away from the visceral horror of it, stumbling over relics and sending a rusted chalice rolling across the floor. You push back through the gap and stagger into the main hall – dizzy, you look up to the eastern wall. Suddenly, you see it in full.

The sheer size of the carving meant its meaning eluded you when you first entered, but now you can see all of it – huge stretched out wings reach to each end of the hall, framing terrifying claws and a gigantic, malevolent head, filled with teeth. It’s an enormous dragon. Streaks of lightning are depicted in great electric slashes, and in the distance, a tower.

Not just any tower – the Millennium Tower. Perhaps this carving is a clue to its location. You step back and scan the far walls of the Sanctuary. A broader picture begins to form. The tower seems to be protected by the great dragon, which resides in a place blasted by storms. You have heard tell of such a place before – a whole region besieged by lightning. Stories told of a great beast who guarded the realms beyond.

Before the dragon is a lake of blood red. The primitive daubings seem to suggest great heat. It’s well known – and much warned about – that there is a great flow of lava coming down from the mountains to the west of Melvor, pooling into lakes of fire. Perhaps the tundra beyond might lead to the land of storms.

You turn to leave the Sanctuary, filled with new purpose. Before you exit, you look back at the figure above the altar. Its purple eyes seem to glow.