===== Chapter 4 - The Choice of Ra =====
While Furthar was still at loose in Emer, the lich Xanathar broke free of his prison shortly before the end of the second year of Destruction. His host was one of the strongest and he first turned his sights to the north to the people of the plains. There he was met in battle by the forces of Ra and Ulane and soon the plains themselves were covered with the blood of the dieing and the corpses of those finally put to rest. For many weeks the battles raged back and forth, neither side able to gain an advantage over the other.

At the same time other dire happenings occurred further to the west. From the north, the armies of the empire were invading the central kingdom, but unlike in ages past, this time the armies of Vermol, weakened by constant elven attacks were not able to hold them back. The imperial hosts, led into war by fearsome orcs of the ancient Uruk-Hai clan, swept over the kingdom’s defences and laid siege to the great city of Vermol itself. During this campaign, about which more may be told another time, companies of orcs scoured the surroundings of Vermol, the woods of Vermoli and even ventured deep into the glass plains.

This caused a dire predicament for Ra himself, for known to only few, in the midst of the glass plains there lay an ancient temple dedicated to Ra, and as we know today, this temple guarded a very powerful artefact very important to the god.

Ra was faced with a choice: He could leave Ulane and their followers to face Xanathar on their own, almost certainly dooming them to defeat and leaving Xanathar free reign of all the plains, or he could stand by them, risking the fall of his temple. There was only one choice he could make.

Finally, after weeks of campaigning Ulane and Ra were finally able to challenge Xanathar’s army to battle, and after the battle had raged for most of the day and victory for the forces of good seemed a real possibility, Xanathar himself came forth and challenged Ra to single combat.

None who witnessed the battle will ever forget the sight: On one side Ra, in the form of a huge fire-giant in golden armour carrying an enormous flaming greatsword. On the other side Xanathar, not much smaller than Ra in height, but swathed in dark robes and carrying a black crown on his head and a magical staff glowing an evil red in his left hand.

From the beginning it was obvious that Ra was the stronger, though. The crimson lightning flowing from Xanathar’s staff did little more than scorch Ra’s armour and though some of Xanathar’s spells staggered the god for a moment he was always quick to recover.

Xanathar himself seemed wary of the god’s sword, trying to avoid it, and though he seemed to recover from his wounds at a rapid pace, each blow Ra landed seemed to leave him weaker than before.

The disaster happened about half an hour into the duel. Ra had obviously gained the upper hand and the end seemed only a matter of time when suddenly Ra hesitated in his attack. After a few seconds he resumed his attack, but everybody looking on could tell the difference: Gone was the godlike grace that had marked his attacks so far, replaced by a frantic urgency, as if his time was running out. The next blast from Xanathar’s staff sent Ra crashing to the ground, and when he got up and swung his sword against the lich in retaliation, his blow only glanced at the spell shields that had hardly hindered it before. Smiling Xanathar raised his staff and plunged it into the heart of the god…

What ensued was chaos itself. The amassed armies of light lost their courage after seeing their god and leader fall and turned to flee. Ulane along with a few of her and Ra’s bravest followers, most well known among them the famous Neda Loxley, stayed behind to allow the rest of the army to flee the field of battle. Of those who stayed behind, none were ever seen in Myaasia again.

In the aftermath of the Great Battle of the Plains, while the survivors were scattered to all directions and Xanathar’s army – though severely decimated – had free reign of the area, many sought to explain what had happened. When scouting parties reported Ra’s temple in the Glass Plains razed to the ground, all his priests there slain and the artefact gone, most sages agreed, that this artefact must have been one primary source of power for Ra, and when it was destroyed he was weakened to the point where he could no longer pose a threat to Xanathar.

As Ulane had not been seen after the battle, it was generally assumed that she had died at the hands of the lich as well.