| Truth and the End of an Age of Darkness Being the first, authentic account of how the Avatar confronted the fiend Exodus and ended the reign of the Triad of Evil. --As recorded by Erethian, Scholar of Truth
Far too many tales are told of the Avatar's final encounter with Exodus, the progeny of the wizards Mondain and Minax, and the last of the three Dark Lords to reign over Lord British's realm. Truth be told, no one is certain who--or what--Exodus was or how the Avatar defeated the being. Suffice to say, all that is known is little, and most of it nonsense. Of all the stories I have heard in taverns and streets and on stage, not one got it right. Yes, the Avatar bypassed the Great Earth Serpent, but not by slaying it. Yes, the Avatar was aided by the mystical Time Lord, but not in the final battle. Yes, the Avatar utilized four cards to defeat Exodus, though no one knows what those cards were. Here, then, is my account. The true account, for my information stems from the Dark Core, the very mind of Exodus itself. I have seen the Avatar defeat Exodus, just as I saw him destroy Mondain's accursed gem and slay Minax with the Quicksword. First, though the Earth Serpent impeded the Avatar's passage to the Isle of Fire, 'twas not by choice. Exodus had somehow entrapped the Earth Serpent and, by doing so, imposed upon it an unwilling guardianship. Only by speaking a mystical word, "Evocare", was the Avatar able to bypass the Serpent and thus cross into Exodus's fortress. Within the fortress, all manner of fiery beasts assailed the Avatar and Companions, and the very floors rose against them until, at last, they confronted Exodus, or rather, the interface that connected the two parts that comprised Exodus: its psyche and the Dark Core. Here again, the tales of drunken bards fail. For although the Time Lord's assistance proved essential to the Avatar's quest, 'twas not by physical intervention that he saved the Avatar. The Time Lord who had given the Avatar the proper order in which to insert the Cards of Love, Sol, Moons, and Death into the interface. Had the Avatar inserted the Cards in the improper order or, for that matter, the improper place, the Avatar and Companions certainly would have been slain. On that note, 'tis erroneous to refer to Exodus as "slain" or "dead." The insertion of the four Cards merely disabled the interface between the psyche and the Dark Core, thus "disabling" Exodus. Both parts are alive and well--the psyche ensnared in the gargoyle's Shrine of Diligence, the Dark Core still here on the Isle of Fire. In essence, never trust a bard or drunken townsmen for insights to history. For that matter, never trust a historian who relies on purely on ancient texts and folk stories. No, the dedicated historian seeks out Truth; he does not wait for Truth to seek him. . .