This passage brought them at long last to Dreta Phantas—the Dreaming City, the Stolen City, and the Soul of the World. This elven creation of graceful spires and golden domes, built thousands of years ago, was the seat of power of the Dream King, the Warden of the Worldsoul. When the Elder Gods and the ancient heroes who served them long ago stopped the Galchutt from destroying the Seven Chains that held the world together, they cast the Vallis moon (which held the Seven Chains) far into the stars and gave the Soul of the World to the first of the Dream Kings. But through sorcery unimagined today, the dark elves stole Dreta Phantas and hid it away deep under the earth.
Now the line of the Dream Kings was gone. The Elder Elves within the city held off the dark elves for generations, using the magic of the Hexamon : a group of elves who had committed their own spirits into the very substance of the city, taking the form of a giant six-sided obelisk. Dreta Phantas was held in a state of eternal magical siege.
And even as the heroes arrived, the dark elves prepared for a final assault. With the help of someone called the “Architect,” the dark elves of House Urganth were using the energy of a dead god (an elvish god of light named Ardaen) to power something they called the Dayslayer, a freshly forged lance of artifact-level power. The Dayslayer would kill the sun and plunge the world into eternal night. Then, with the power it absorbed from the sun’s soul, the dark elves could break through the protections around Dreta Phantas. The Urthon Aedar were about to launch a counterassault on Sinistar, the dark elf fortress where the Architect put the finishing touches on the Dayslayer. After speaking with the Hexamon, the Runewardens offered to go as well.
Serai suggested that, to help them in their quest, they get the Eye of Ardaen, a relic of the dead god that he used with the Company of the Black Lantern against dark elves once before (plus, there was the appeal of the irony that they would use the might of Ardaen against those who would misuse the might of Ardaen). The Eye was in the possession of the Clerics of Gaen in the city. Baenarum said getting it would be no problem and left, returning shortly thereafter with the Eye. The group then realized why the Urthon Aedar had such mysterious and fearful reputations—they imagined what the people in the Temple District must have thought when an enigmatic armored figure showed up, broke into the temple, ignored any wards or safeguards, and took the artifact without a word of explanation or a bit of subterfuge.
