<em>The fact is, the universe works, and against all odds.<br/><br/>It goes on working, but sometimes it is hard to distinguish the Tao from coincidence. Statistically it is unlikely that a certain group of heroes should be in just the right place at the right moment to take their first steps into legend, and yet there they were.</em><br/><br/>The streets of the better parts of the city of Dailiang in the country of Wei had been bight with lights and thronged with people for the Feast of the Lanterns. Fireworks had lit the skies, and everywhere had been the sounds of merriment. Now, the crowds had mostly retired in search of sleep, the streetlights burned dim, and sounds were muted by the fog that had rolled in off the river to bathe the city in an eerie blanket.<br/><br/>Dawn was not far off, though the sky had yet to begin to lighten, and few were still out in the streets. Few were in a position to hear a woman's scream cut through the fog, and fewer still of a will to investigate such an occurrence.<br/><br/>But our story concerns only a few ...