Holt Haliern was built before the Great Sundering, in the
youth of the world even before the dragons had first appeared. In the centre of
the great continent was a large mound of stone and it was this that the Airus
took and shaped into a great hall with many rooms and floors. Large caverns and
passages were opened to where a great river flowed underground. The stonework
was so intricate that nothing of the like has been made since by any living in
Airtha. This sanctuary – Haliern – stood as a beacon of light on the plains of
the Midlands. At this time the woodland around it was sparse and the Great Wood
had not come into being to hide it from the world.
All kinds of valuables and artifacts were brought to Haliern
from all over the continent, but the greatest treasures were the books. The
earliest of the manuscripts told the stories of the creation of Airtha and how
the world came to look as it is. Others were academic treatises, written by the
old masters and delivered, bound in great jeweled covers, by messengers.
Soon the library at Haliern became the greatest in all of
Airtha and the people who the Airus had chosen to take care of the great halls
saw that this would be the greatest goal of this sanctuary – that it would not
only be a place of learning, but also a place of memory. They saw that dark
clouds had gathered on the horizon and knew that the Light would not always
shine so resiliently in the world. They also knew that there would have to be a
place where they would be able to keep the knowledge and memory of the Light
alive.
Many of the messengers who carried the books over the whole
of the continent were asked to give their services to Haliern alone. These
Knowledge Seekers searched the length and breadth of Airtha for books and
knowledge and had strong ties to the Seekers of the south; those who had turned
against the Lewjan and left the Shadow behind to search of truth. Of one of
these Knowledge Seekers, a great lay is still told of in the Midlands and
Western Lands. Filled with sorrow, but also hope, it became one of the great
legends still known in the later days when much sadness and shadow had covered
the lands and hope was all but lost.
Yet Holt Haliern remained throughout the long ages of the
world. The books in the libraries were written, copied, and kept safe from
those who wished to destroy it. It served again as a sanctuary during the Time
of Tears when the Second Sundering ripped the Continent apart. But, by the time
of the Third Sundering of the lands of Airtha, the glory of Holt Haliern had
faded. It still stood within the great forest of Brenoth, but was all but
forgotten by the people of Airtha. Most who remembered the name Holt Haliern
believed it to be nothing more than an old legend. The scholars of Holt Haliern
rarely ventured from the confines of their halls and the Knowledge Seekers
travelled in secrecy; seen as thieves and dark magicians by most who
encountered them. This was the darkest time for Holt Haliern and would last for
many generations after the Third Sundering until the shadow from all of Airtha
started to lift.
(Stock photos from Stock .xchng)
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