Illana remembers when the sky was blue.

Back before Markaven climbed Tershicore and stole Chaos from Evereck, clouds used to cover the sky, and at night it would turn black and provide a backdrop for the stars. Occasionally it would be blotted out by the water that fell from the sky—rain and snow and ice and sleet, and where it fell it would stay or melt or run away. But during the day when the clouds did not obscure it, the sky would be blue, a safe haven for the sun and sometimes her sister, the moon.

Illana remembers when the sun was yellow.

Back before the ages turned over and her kind died and was replaced by more who died, the sun used to be yellow. It would be a pale, wan thing at times, easily covered by the tenuous clouds that drifted across the sky. But eternities passed and the sun grew old and bright and red and Illana knew that the Earth should have died as well, but Markat shielded the world and so all that happened was that the sky was no longer blue.

Illana remembers when the trees were green.

Back before the WorldShield when the light shone down upon their glistening branches and enabled them to produce the strange chemical that turned the leaves green—and when that chemical wasn't there, they were all the colours other than green—the plants glimmered in the morning sun, and cast a refreshing glow upon the Earth. They would whisper and dance to themselves, casting their healing magic into the air, and the Scions of Cthren would gather and worship it where it fell upon the ground. But trees of bubbly rock grew up from the ground, first over the plants and then under them, until the only trees left were ugly grey creatures of stone.

Illana remembers when the moon was white.

Back when the burning heat of the sun was diminished and the cool light of the distant stars shone through—for there was no WorldShield to block them, then—the moon's quicksilver rays had shone through as well, and they were a gleaming pearly white that was too beautiful for any mortal to truly comprehend. Moonlight lit the secret rituals in the earthen glades, and looked upon trees both green and grey with the same kindly benevolence. But the sun grew and the sky turned red and Caren died and somehow the moon was swallowed up and never seen again.

Illana remembers when the night was black.

Back before the ever-lights gleamed from the grey trees the night had been black, lit only by the stars and moon and when the clouds covered the sky, not even that. It was utter shadow, impenetrable and unfathomable, and there were rare denizens of darkness that could enchant the nighttime and grant wishes to those who dared to seek them out. But Isren feared them and created light to take into the darkness, and the shadows fled, and when the sun burned away and the ever-lights lingered beneath the WorldShield the creatures were all slain.

Illana remembers when the Earth was brown.

Back before the stone trees had grown up from the ground, stretching their tendrils towards the then-blue sky, the rusty covering of the Earth had been many hues, although black and grey and brown had been predominant among them. And even when the stone trees grew roots of granite the ground remained grey and black and white and all the natural colours of the Earth. But the WorldShield cast strange reflections upon the face of that which it protected, and Hevehcat caused strange rain to fall from the sky, and soon after everything was dyed a bright orange and between the sky and the ground all that Illana could see was the bright colour of flame.