The field of battle was crimson with corpses, and many were of his
friends and companions. Many, many more were of the strange creatures
that had began the attack, seemingly without reason, from nowhere.
Already the questions were being asked back in Gaudiguch, but the grim
truth was already known - many of those on the field of battle had
perished, and something of great importance had been lost. The creatures
- terrible monstrosities, huge beings with pallid, bulging skin and a
single, bloodshot eye that glowed red in the darkness - had disappeared
back into the rift they had came from. Hallifax, the cause of the rift,
had already began attempting to repair it. Yet, to the shock of those
who witnessed it, a lone knight plunged through the rift, giving chase.

This knight was later found to be Hardari Ghan, a templar from the early
days of the Celestine Empire who explained that the Matrix had caused a
temporal rift in his timeline wherein the Dominators had originally came
through. It was believed then that the Dominators were creatures out of
the past, some sort of shock troops used by the Soulless Gods. When the
Dominators attacked the dracnari priests at Mount Zoaka, the Templars
rose to their defense, but not before the Dominators defeated the
Templar Lord General and stole a sacred artifact. Before Hallifax was
able to close the temporal rift, the Dominators escaped. There was
nothing but duty on the mind of Hardari Ghan when he charged through the
rift, only to find himself thrust into the current timeline. This
Templar, of no great rank nor of great importance, had done the
remarkable, travelled far into the future to claim a sacred artifact of
the Templars.

No sooner than Hardari left the rift, he found himself thrust into the
throng of battle, joined by those of Hallifax who were cutting through
the malicious Dominators upon the Emerald Road, though many more had
already passed through, spilling towards Mount Zoaka far to the west.
The field cleared, Hardari made his way towards his homeland, giving
little thought to how different things had become - his mind was focused
upon a single task.

Soon joined by the forces of Gaudiguch and Magnagora, many of the
Dominators were cut down, though more had found their way into the
temple underneath. The rush of battle still in him, Hardari spared
little time for comment - indeed, something that drove Ruiku of
Magnagora to murder him in cold blood. Incensed that their sole
protector had been murdered, Masayo and Sinoro the Watcher feared there
was little hope for them - it was only with the awakening of Harasaki,
Tender of the Cradle, was a way found to restore the fallen Templar.
Using the latent essence of Dracnoris and the spirits of the fiery
kajiyuurei, he restored Hardari to life.

Explaining the fate that had become him, the Templar urged those
gathered to hunt down the Dominators while he tended his own wounds,
slowly recovering in the nurturing heat of Mount Zoaka. Yet as Ixchilgal
and his companions came to discover, it would not be so easy - many of
the creatures had come together, forming a hideous aberration many times
the size of its companions. A great fight ensued, though after several
attempts the day was won - and Ixchilgal claimed the Burning Rod of
Temple Mysteries and returned it to Hardari Ghan, Knight of the Hidden
Temple. With the rod in hand, the Templar sought to return home - yet,
to his dismay, he had come to find the rift had been closed. Exhausted,
he retired to the Pyramid of the Templar.

With each passing moment Hardari found his memories of his life were
harder to focus upon - and in time, he knew he would come forget much of
his life in the past. Hadari Ghan emerged from the Pyramid to the
Templar to announce that he would not find his way home, and that he had
come to accept this. With this, he announced his intention to protect
the city of Gaudiguch - and the forbidden secrets that they have long
kept - as he had in the past. Though he was no longer in the Imperial
Empire, he knew where his duties lie - where the Templar's duties have
always lied. Yet it was a heavy burden, the Secrets of the Ages, the
Truth of Enlightenment, and it was not one he could bear alone.

And so the Templars were founded once more, Guardians of the Hidden
Temple, the powerful, militant arm dedicated to the protection of the
secrets of the Illuminati and the city they had come to call their home.
As the days pass, those few selected as founders in this modern era
begin to elect their first leaders. Who shall lead the Templar to their
rightful place - the well-organized knights of chaos, masters of
shifting paradigms, devotees of secretive cults and enigmatic orders?
Time, alone, shall tell. And Hardari Ghan has seen much of it.

Penned by My hand on the 2nd of Tzarin, in the year 261 CE.