the chamber. He returns to the Nexus and hands Xar the seal piece. Xar then sends Haplo to Pryan, the realm of Fire. Haplo transfers Pryan's symbol from the book onto the steering stone and ventures through the Death Gate. Pryan Haplo lands near a huge citadel but can't enter. In the forest he encounters giant creatures called . Being stuck he sets sail to a city he had seen. He encounters elves. He meets a group of elven and human children, including the elven prince. They take him to one of their secret meetings with a wizard called Zifnab. Haplo follows Zifnab. He meets Zifnab and his dragon. Zifnab seems to be a crazy wizard but Haplo learns that Zifnab is a Sartan. Zifnab senses that Haplo is very important even though he is a Patryn. He tells Haplo that the Citadel is supposed to generate power for the other realms and that the are supposed to operate it. Inside the Citadel is the seal piece of Pryan. But the Citadel is closed and can only be opened by the mensch with three specific objects, a golden staff, a golden sword and a golden hammer. The golden sword is carried by the human leader and is currently in hands of the human princess. The golden staff had been given to the elves but one king tossed it into a giant crevice known as the 'Maw'. The golden hammer is in possession of the dwarves. Haplo needs the humans, elves and dwarves to use their golden items to open the citadel. But he also needs to distract the who seem to worship a crystal fragment and have forgotten about their tasks for the citadel. Zifnab also tells Haplo of the Wave, the balance of the universe and that his dragon was created by the Wave trying to restore the balance, in response to something very evil that happened a long time ago. He gives Haplo a stone that will glow when he will encounter this evil and tells Haplo to crush the stone when that happens. Haplo retrieves the golden staff and convinces the human princess and the elven prince to accompany him to the Citadel. In the forest they free a dwarven girl from the . The girls tells him that the hammer is stashed in the vault and that the vault is only opened when the dwarves go