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and groaned and heaved as the sea swallowed them. And
we knew that this would come to pass, for our seers had
warned us that it would be so. We went our way,
therefore, and found safety before the world was cracked and
the sea first rushed away and then rushed back and never
departed more.
And it was in the Second Age that we saw the coming
of the chosen ones who had been selected by the Seven
Gods. And we studied them to determine if there were yet
some mark upon them to distinguish them from the rest
of mankind, but we found no such mark or sign. And our
seers communed with the minds of the seers of our
brothers who had gone into the west before the seas came in to
divide the lands of men. And our brothers in the west also
studied the chosen ones of other Gods, and their seers
spake unto the minds of our seers, and they said that they
- even as we - could find no mark or sign. And our
brothers in the west looked at the chosen of the Bear God and
the Lion God and the Bull God and the Bat God and the
Serpent God and found no mark or sign, and we looked at
the children of the Dragon God, and it was the same, even
though the Dragon God's people warred with the people
of the other Gods.
Yet was there another God, and some men thought that
this God dwelling in solitude might indeed be the God
who would in time take up all of the unchosen people.
And our brethren in the west went up to the Vale in which
he dwelt with his disciples and prostrated themselves
before hhnhim and besought him that he disclose to them the
secrets locked in the future. And the God Aldur spake
kindly unto them and counseled them, saying: 'Abide
against the coming of the Beloved One, and know that my
brothers and I, and our people as well, strive to insure his
coming - and our striving and our sacrifice is for ye, who
are destined to become the Chosen of Him who is yet to
come.'
And one of our brethren spake, asking the God thus:
'And what of the Dragon God, Lord, that is Thine enemy?
Doth he also strive for the coming of the Beloved One?'
And the face of Aldur grew troubled, and he spake,
saying: 'My brother Torak doth indeed strive, though he
knoweth not the end toward which he moves. I counsel ye
to dwell in peace with the children of the Dragon God, for
ye dwell in lands which shall be theirs, and they will be
Lords over ye. Should ye resist them, they will cause ye
great suffering. Endure that which they lay upon ye and
abide in patience as ye continue the tasks which have been
given ye.'
And the Seers of the West disclosed what Aldur had
told them unto the minds of the seers who dwelt among
us, and we took counsel with the seers and considered
how we might least offend the children of the Dragon God
so that they would not interrupt our studies. In the end
we concluded that the warlike children of Angarak would
be least apprehensive about simple tillers of the soil living
in rude communities on the land, and we so ordered our