The Cathedral of Light is a hexagonal tower of pure light in Ardis Vala, born from the fusion of the six crystals of the Castle of the Prism. At its center lay the crystal coffin of Masracht, whose release was priced at one million souls.
| Type | Place |
| Chronicle | AV |
| Occupant | Masracht |
| Spanish entry | La Catedral de Luz (Ardis Vala) |
Origin
When the last crystal was set in the niche of the pedestal, everything went dark. The six stones (yellow, red, orange, purple, blue, green) each burned in its color and fused into a single white gem of diamond intensity. Lightning fell; storms gathered at the breach in the sky where the constellation of the chromatic lady had vanished; and behind the Castle of the Prism a broad, almost cross-shaped shadow moved slowly, like something approaching a launch platform. From the emanations of the white gem a hexagonal cathedral made only of light materialized.
Description
At the center stood a block of crystal three meters on a side, holding a crystal coffin. Inside lay an ancient elf: aged but not old, with full hair, white robes, a serene sleeping air, and a black stone. The Seekers found themselves shut in with him, one at each vertex of the hexagon. Outside, translucent against the walls, a dozen knights and their servants knelt as in a rite.
The awakening
The sleeper woke, smiled and spoke telepathically: Gracias, amigos míos (“Thank you, my friends”). He asked them to touch the glass with the skull and its crystal to free him, warning that another guardian stood in their way and that there should be no violence.
He was Masracht: Prince Mazraj, first Khan of the elves, father of Arian and, by the bloodline, grandfather of Caladan, who recognized him inside the crystal. He said his son rescued the artifact and held it for a thousand years so the worlds could prosper, that he gave everything for his son instead of sacrificing him, and that he cursed himself with an evil immortality so his son might live. Asked whether he had become a vampire, he answered: No me he vuelto un (“I have not become a”). Gods who no longer exist had imprisoned him and set guardians over him.
He named the price: one million souls. The group’s paladin refused, coming from a tradition in which a million souls are not negotiated. The figure matches the one the skull-herald claimed, and compares with the ark’s 1,200,000 souls asleep inside the crystal that is this world: the release would cost nearly all of them.
The guardians
Six maruts entered, entities of a death deity and its justice, especially against kings; the light let them in and no one else. The knights beat on the glass with solar lances, demanding the elf-lord’s release. Caladan touched the coffer and the crystal opened.
The last guardian was then revealed: a fat man in white sprouted eyes and became Balantru, the beholder, surviving villain of the Caldero, entombed at the center of this land. The maruts surrounded him and burst him; one blow pierced his main eye. They then turned on the elf, who answered with prismatic rays in every direction, including at his liberators, and sealed himself in a sphere of rays, claiming telepathically that he alone could save them.
Aftermath
The cathedral went dark. Afterward the knights repeated a single phrase: the master was dispelled and could not get out. Behind them, in the hall of the ancient gardens, a ship had moved.
Open questions
- What happened between the elf’s sphere of rays and the cathedral going dark is not recorded.