One fine day during the early years of the war against the Brethren of the Nine Hells, where the allies seemed unable to fully utilize each other's aid, the Avatar Joja visited the ranger guild in Glyndane, a not unusual thing for her to do. It had not been that long since she had been a ghostly figure haunting Castle Balkra, but now solid, she felt safe to visit her fellow guildmates. As she stood there talking to some, the maggot lord Ilphrynn appeared, and proceeded to pick a fight with her. Insult turned to physical violence, and the fight moved from within the guild to the park outside, and then out to Bridge Street. At first it seemed that the Avatar Joja would defeat the Avatar Ilphrynn, but the maggoty one had a trick up his sleeve, and he skewered Joja's throat with a demon-powered blade, renewing her memory of her death from mortal life, and rendering her powerless. Her sons Kalkyr and Trevyr, and some other Crusaders, brought her back to Balkra, and set her within the spring in the Green Room, where she very slowly regained her immortal life and power, under the healing watch of her sons and other branded of Lord Darkwood.

Meanwhile, a battle brewed in the Forest of Unending Light, where long before, Lord Adorno had planted a second Tree of Life from a seed donated by the first. A gate to the Nine Hells opened up there, sending forth brimstone and fire, and the beautiful Tree of Life was swallowed whole into the Hells as those who loved it best watched on in helpless agony. The demon summoners of the Brethren took pleasure in the destruction of the Tree. They proceeded to call forth demons and slaughter the good folk of the House of Life. Brave men and women from the Houses of Valor and Enforcer, as well as many who had no House membership, came to the Forest, which was ablaze in Hellfire, to attempt to fight the evil which had risen up in victory. The Steel Clan sent all but one, Trevyr and Kalkyr taking turns watching Joja and nursing her back to health or aiding the good folk. Xurinos, The Eye of Evil and Great Lord of the Void, joined the battle against the forces of light. Dielantha Darshiva, the Silver Dragonlord, rose against him in one of the most violent battles ever witnessed by mortals. The battle was very close, but in the end, Lord Dielantha sent Lord Xurinos far into the Void, and he has not emerged from the Void since that time.

Heartened, the forces for good fought extra hard. Lord Dielantha, in his anger against the forces of darkness for destroying the beloved Tree of Life, summoned his power and brought forth a dome made of pure crystal, within which was a crystalline representation of the Tree of Life. This he made just beyond the burnt wreckage of the Forest of Unending Light, and he called forth those who had given their lives for the preservation of the Tree, and imbued them with power to fight darkness with renewed vigor and wrath. With light they blasted the dark ones, who cried out to the heavens in fear and loathing for their sudden weakness in the face of righteous wrath. The darkness was driven back, and the battle was given to those good heroes who stood battle against all odds. But the Tree of Life was irretrievably gone, sent to the Hells, and the Forest of Unending Light was burnt to a crisp. Avatar Joja regained her strength, but mourned the passing of the Tree, as did all the good folk of Thera. With an ever-growing anger at the forces of darkness and evil, the Warriors of the Light, who took the Crystaline Dome as their new home, rose up to take vengeance upon them.