January?, 1100

ÒThe cosmos too does think and sense, being occupied completely in the making of all things, and then dissolving them again into itself.Ó

Thus it was written by Hermes Trismegistus, whose works contain the most ancient wisdom of Thoth. And thus have I, Caine the Conjurer, seen with my own two eyes wonders both frightening and exalted!

There is magick in the frescoes. They transmute time itself into the gold of other realms. 

The changing colours are the proof of passage. I shall endure the blackening in stygian Nocturno; shall rejoice in the beauty of iridescent Eternum; shall seek the blinding brilliant coalescence of Inferno.

Only then shall the last transmutation Ñ the reddening Ñ come to be. 
And in that final fire will these three realms and our world be dissolved, to be reborn as one! By my calculations a century has passed since I last gazed upon these frescoes. Exactly as predicted the gateway has opened once again. 

Briefly I am returned to the chamber to continue the work that must be done while time permits. 

I confess to my own weakness. I have ventured first to Eternum, the most precious and lovely of the elemental realms. 

In its beauty I did find a measure of peace and happiness.

But though time is meaningless in Eternum, it is quite fleeting here on earth. I must use these few weeks to keep the chamber from falling into ruin. And before the gateway closes once again I must face the bleak darkness of Nocturno.

The last century has been bitter and violent. Ravenshim castle lies in ruins above me. Happily, the chambers, though sealed, are seemingly intact. 

What torment now constrains Nathaniel I cannot imagine. The fool should never have attempted to follow me.

Enough. I have left the skull Azrael to serve as my prothonotary here on earth. Nothing escapes his unblinking gaze. I will be kept informed.

It is the quest of the alchemist Ñ his great work Ñ to transform the gross elements to the perfect, indestructible essence.

I have studied the lessons of the most ancient masters. 

I have unlocked their secrets. 

The sequence of colour proves that the magick is working and the transformation is 
taking place. 

First the blackening, then the iridescence, then the whitening, and finally 
the reddening. 

But instead of turning lead into gold, it is entire worlds that will yield up their essence to me.

There are but four worlds Ñ this earth and three others Ñ one for each of the four elements. Each will play a part in one stage of the process. 

I have discovered the gateway that opens to the three other worlds. In each of them the impurities must be destroyed. Through them the final distillation will be made. 
In the final reddening will the earth and the three realms be joined!

I alone know this to be possible.

With fair Ciaran I have seen Eternum, the iridescent realm. It is not for me to love. It is not for her to hate. She alone among its people interests me. As for the rest, they are marooned, adrift in a timeless purgatory.

We have begun the work there. She does not suspect the true meaning of it all. 

She is a wise child, an innocent sage. She is the beauty I must forego in search of the miraculous. But not yet.

With these last words, 
again I go...

Caine