These excerpts are traditionally read at the beginning of Merhala
Dakor, the Living Shadow, lamented at his gloomy fate, the long ages of dwelling in the Abyss below the World. Although this was his realm and in it he had great size and strength, he longed to escape the eternal darkness and ascend to the Heavenly Realm of Ayveria, for he had once been of the Everyn race and had once known the celestial comforts and pleasures. Yet as the Living Shadow he was an enemy to the Everyn and would not be welcomed by them if ever he returned. Therefore he resolved that he would need to defeat them if Ayveria was ever to be his own.
Driven by his desire of what lay above, Dakor escaped the Abyss and climbed up to the mortal lands of the World; yet he suffered a grave consequence, for in the light of the sun he lost his size and strength and shrank down into the smallest of shadows. In this form he traveled secretly throughout the settlements of Humankind and created discord among the people, whispering of fears and sinful desires to them while they slept. Dakor collected the growing amounts of Humankind’s Sin and Fear and took the supply deep into the Forest of Kreed where he poured Sin onto a vine that in turn grew into a giant thorny knot. Out from the knot came the first dremorns.
The centuries passed, and the dremorns spread out across the world. At first they were seen as no more than vermin that stole animals away from the herds tended by Humankind, but then they became more dangerous, attacking villages and eating the people. Seeing what the dremorns had done, Humankind came to understand that the creatures were created from the evils of people.
The Fear grew and grew, and Dakor drank it in, and from it he regained the great size and strength that he had once possessed in the Abyss. Shrouded in dark thunderclouds, he roamed the lands seeking out the dremorns and gathering them up unto himself. When he revealed his sword to them, the Erthedge of Dusk, which flashed like darkened lightning, the dremorns bowed before him in fear. Having mustered his armies, Dakor prepared to make War on Ayveria and looked to the Passage, the great light that once shone from Avahorn Tower and served as the gateway between mortal lands and the Heavens.