Zhered-Na

Zhered-Na was a very powerful sorceress who was active 20,000 years ago, in the Empire of Atlantis during the reign of King Kamuu and Queen Zartra. Her powers were revered and she was very respected until she prophesied the cataclysmic sinking of Atlantis into the ocean. Kamuu and Zartra considered her claims to be blasphemy and ordered Zhered-Na to retract her statements. When Zhered-Na refused they banished her from Atlantis and set her adrift on the seas. While she drifted, Zhered-Na was shown more visions of the future by her god, Valka Zhered-Na finally came to rest in a land called Thuria. This land would eventually be known as the continents of Europe, Africa, Asia, although in this period of time it was already populated with Atlantean colonists. These colonists recognized Zhered-Na's connection to the divine and formed a cult devoted to her. She taught her followers about the gods of Therea and the demons of Sominus, as well as giving them a large number of predictions, which reached up to modern times. Perhaps foreseeing her own end Zhered-Na chose a member of her cult as a disciple. The name of her chosen disciple was Dakimh. She taught Dakimh much about magic and enchanted him so that he would age very slowly.

During her time in Thiuria, Zhered-Na defended the Earth against the malevolent extradimensional entity known as the Dweller-In-Darkness, a being who drew power from the fears of others. Aided by Valka and Agamotto, Zhered-Na bested the Dweller, but found her power was insufficient to destroy the scnDalled Fear Lord. Instead she imprisoned him in a pocket dimension, placing him in a state of suspended animation.

In an effort to prevent a great cataclysm from occurring during the modern times, the hero Daimon Hellstrom (Son of Satan) returned to the time of the Great Cataclysm in order to understand the cause of the disaster. Zhered-Na was able to aid Hetlstrom in halting the destruction in the modern era, although nothing could be done to stop it during Zhered-Na's time. Zhered-Na sent Helistrom back to his era and returned to her own time, prepared to face the Cataclysm.

In her own temple the sorceress made a final prophecy, which concerned demons invading modem day Earth, just as Atlantis began to sink beneath the seas. The Dweller-In-Darkness managed to siphon off some of the great fear of the Atlanteans and used it to imbue a portion of his consciousness with independent life, creating the entity known as D'Spayre. Zhered-Na told her disciples that Atlantis was lost, but that they would be spared its fate. However, the people of the town below Zhered-Na's temple were superstitious and blamed the sorceress and her Cult for causing the tremors. They stormed the temple and attacked the unarmed Cultists. Zhered-Na told her Disciples to flee while she stayed to meet her fate. One of the villagers, under the influence of D'Spayre, slew her with his' sword. The villagers then burnt her temple.

Only Dakimh and a few other disciples escaped, bearing with them scrolls containing Zhered-Na's mystical knowledge, keeping her teachings alive over 20,000 years into the future. Illyana Kale, a descendant of the original Cultists, transcribed these scrolls into a powerful book of magic known as the Tome of Zhered-Na. Dakimh continued Zhered-Na's struggle against the great fear, battling D'Spayre over the ensuing centuries, eventually taking on a disciple of his own, Jennifer Kale, a descendant of Illyana Kale.