It was not always this way. The Night Glens could once have been accounted the brightest and most glorious of all Athel Loren’s realms, and its inhabitants amongst the most welcoming. All of that changed during a dark time in Athel Loren’s history, when a darkness in Ariel’s spirit spread throughout the forest. In time, the Mage Queen restored the balance in her soul, but the Night Glens never recovered.[1a]