Inside a vast, vaulted chamber, a man named Bors waits patiently. The chamber is filled with a hundred others who have been summoned, all masked and cloaked like him. Bors, stooped to disguise his true stature, scans the crowd, probing for weaknesses. Among the various nobles, merchants, and warriors, he spies two “Aes Sedai,” a mysterious and reviled sisterhood possessing magical powers.

A door opens, and two Trollocs, half-man, half-beast creatures, enter followed by a “Myrddraal,” their commander and an eyeless creature of the “Dark One.” It orders all the attendees to grovel before the Dark One and swear fealty to him. As one, the crowd chants an oath of loyalty, and then they are bidden to rise by a red-masked figure floating in the air. He identifies himself as “Ba’alzamon” (Heart of the Dark). He prophesies the breaking of the Wheel of Time and the death of the Great Serpent, at which time he will “remake the world in his own image for this Age and for all Ages to come” (xxii). Then, the image of three young men appears, all seemingly country folk but one with yellow eyes and two bearing great weapons. One of these, declares Ba’alzamon, is the “Dragon” reborn who must be turned to the Dark One’s service.