**A bold tenor voice, filled with sorrow, echos down the tunnel from far within the darkness
ahead.**
This hall once lead to great caverns, their magnificence of size and appearance rivaled only by
their inhabitants. What you see now is only a remnant, a pale imitation of former glory. Time
has worn away at memories. Memories which kept this place alive. Tales are no longer told and
songs no longer sung. People have forgotten, and so the caverns suffer. With each story untold
and each memory forgotten the caverns crumble, the hall darkens, and the dragons
disappear...
**The echo dies away in the gloom behind. A few eerily silent moments pass.**
You are welcome here, Traveler, if you are of kind heart and free of cruel intent. It has been so
long...
**A speck light appears ahead in the tunnel and begins to grow in size. Rapidly the light
approaches and suddenly blinds as it passes. Left behind on the walls is a soft, pulsing glow. It
is enough to see that the tunnel is in fact a long, high hall. Seemingly natural in creation, but for
the glowing light and old tapestries, torches, and other things lying on the ground, there is an
impression of a magnificence long since passed.**
**One piece of fabric still clings to a wall. Tattered, faded, and unraveling, it feels as if there is
a stubbornness within, refusing to let go of its fragile place in the hall. Light flickers from inside
the picture, a fire of rage and passion.**
**The eyes seem to watch, to observe as intently as they are being observed.**
That is Xavier's Dragon.       **The voice says, as if that explained
all**
Xavier, A man so peaceful, he would not kill any creatures of nature, even if they attacked him.
He used no weapons, instead he was very skilled in fighting and defending with his bare hands.
His kindness won him many friends. His abilities won him a knighthood. His strength of heart,
will, and mind won him respect. But it was his soul which won him this place in the hall, for he
was a dragon trapped within a man. His story has been lost. All that remains is his soul's rage
for things long forgotten and passion for life, all life.
**An archway leads off into darkness from one side of the hall. A rock slide, as if a cave fell in
on itself behind the wall of the hall, lies a little ways off. Further along, a door stands in the
other
wall. As far down as can be seen there holes, doors, archways and cave-ins. There are many
more cave-ins than functional entrances.**
**Etched in the floor before one of the rock slides a picture. It is worn almost away, yet an
expression of pain or sadness can still be seen.**
So lost is this one's story that not even a name is known. The image is all that exists,
somewhere, in someone's mind or in a record.
Look around more, Traveler. Visit those who still reside
here. All have tales. This is the Dragons' Hall of Memories. Here they come to be
remembered after life is done. Hear their stories or songs, and share them with others. The
more you learn and pass on...
**The voice trails off, a note of hope dying away down the hall.**
This hall and its inhabitants survive only as long as memories do. They are only as strong as
how well the tales are known. The more stories and songs are shared and remembered, the more
the hall will regain its former glory.
The hall also strengthens with new additions. Do you have a story, song, or memory of a
Dragon, Traveler? Share it with others, share it
with me and let the dragon come to live here, to help rebuild the hall and man's
memories....
**One archway standing in the left side of the wall looks as if it was newly built. You move to
get a better look inside, but all you can see are books and papers lying on shelves, tables, and
even the floor. Then there is a flash of blue and orange among the piles, and then it is gone.**
The library is growing, **The voice explains** since the first
traveler came to visit, we have been getting more stories and dragons in the Hall. So the library
was built to keep a record of where they came from. It also
contains information on where you can find more dragons and their stories.