Taken aback, Niles looked about. There wasn't a soul to be seen across the plain in any direction, save he, his men, and the mysterious figure.
"I seek only Morlock!" Niles said to the figure. "One lone, solitary soul, wandering across the Narrow Plain, is of no concern to me."
At once, the figure cast off its robes. It appeared to be a Wizard, much like Belloc and Darrow, and Niles' men were full of fear, for in the mind the figure seemed suddenly to possess greater than mortal stature, though its apparent proportions remained the same to the naked eye. A shadow fell across their hearts, then, for in their hearts they knew that the slaying of such a being was beyond them.
"I am your destiny, Niles of Astargoth," the evil Wizard told him.
"That is untrue," Niles shot back, though a terrible, nameless fear gripped his heart. "My destiny is of my own choosing."
"In that you are mistaken!" the Wizard rejoined contemptuously. "For good or ill, the world turns upon a pin, with Good and Ill left to hang precariously in the Balance! And it is no secret that your heart contains more ill than good, and that you have done likewise during the course of your short, mortal life.
"Your feeble attempts at self-will are as nothing in the scheme of things, little Man of Astargoth! Every act, every word spoken by yourself today, was written in stone for you, many a long age ago, by your fallen forebears."