passages from faradays neverending book leapt unbidden to my mind ; 'and all the lands of mercurions gate were plunged into a darkness where only the dead could see and feel ' 'a dark clad angel descended from the scorched heavens , he gathered the children of the future at ravensberg , and as one they sailed across the sea to the dead kings isle , where eternity would be met ' finally my shaking finger was calm as it pressed upon the page of the map .