The Book of Magic by T. A. Barron Page B

decided to search for his father, no one could say what route Krystallus might have taken to reach the highest realms. And no one could say what might have happened to his magical torch, a gift from Merlin, which continued to burn as long as Krystallus remained alive. All that seemed certain was that somewhere on his journey to the stars, this great explorer had perished.
    Kulwych (White Hands)
    As he prowled in the dark shadows of a stone wall above Prism Gorge in High Brynchilla , this cloaked sorcerer was all but invisible. Only his pale white hands could be seen: The fingernails were perfectly clipped; the skin bore not a single callus. The rest of Kulwych, called White Hands by some, remained hidden. But his actions were more easily viewed—whether by finding the disemboweled bodies whose entrails he had read, or by seeing the enslaved creatures whose lives he had destroyed. For the sorcerer had forced those slaves to build a massive dam across the gorge, a dam whose true purpose was known only to Kulwych and his master: the warlord of the spirit realm, Rhita Gawr .
    Kulwych pulled the hood of his cloak tight around his head whenever the wind howled through the canyon, wishing he could return to his lair deep underground in Shadowroot . When, at last, Tamwyn made him remove his hood, the sorcerer's face looked more dead than alive. A jagged scar ran diagonally from the stub of what was once an ear down to his chin, taking out a chunk of his nose along the way. Where his right eye should have been, there was just a hollow pit, full of scabs and swollen veins. His mouth, burned shut on one side, was merely a lipless gash. Even so, as Elli and Tamwyn discovered, the most hideous part of Kulwych was not his face, but his mind.
    Who had caused Kulwych's disfigurement? According to the sorcerer, it was Merlin himself, at the height of the War of Storms. Kulwych's will to live helped him survive, but brought him centuries of pain. During all that time, he plotted his ultimate revenge against Merlin—and against Merlin's beloved world of Avalon .

Ever cloaked in shadow, Kulwych the sorcerer plots revenge against Merlin and the world of Avalon.

Lady of the Lake
    Revered and dreaded throughout the realms, the Lady of the Lake first appeared in the deepest forests of Woodroot in Avalon 's sixth century. Where she came from, or how she gained her vast powers, no one can say. Even her precise location has never been confirmed. Of the many brave souls who have tried to find her, none succeeded and only a few ever returned.
    Some people believe that the Lady must be a shape-shifting sorceress; others maintain that she is really the incarnation of the goddess Lorilanda . Still others claim that she is just an elderly woman who lives in a tree called New Arbassa , who surrounds herself with glowing light flyers , and who enjoys eating rivertang berries. Whatever her true identity may be, she remains shrouded in mystery as thick as the mists that swirl around her magical lair.
    For reasons known only to herself, the Lady of the Lake has long favored the Society of the Whole . Yet even High Priestess Coerria only saw the Lady once, and that was in a vision. When the Lady appeared, aglow with blue light, she began by reciting the famous Dark Prophecy:
    A year shall come when stars go dark,
And faith will fail anon—
For born shall be a child who spells
The end of Avalon.
    The only hope beneath the stars
To save that world so fair
Will be the Merlin then alive:
The wizard's own true heir.
    Then she revealed a secret—a secret about Merlin and his precious staff, Ohnyalei . Coerria told no one about this for many years. But that finally changed when she met a remarkable young apprentice priestess named Elliryanna .

The Lady of the Lake approaches, surrounded by mystery as thick as the magical mists.

Le-fen-flaith
    Among the vaporous sylphs of Airroot , Le-fen-flaith is celebrated as the realm's greatest architect. He designed many