By the late 1880s, among the descendants of those first Muscogee settlers, one man came to prominence, He Who's Name Is Never Spoken. He was not just a medicine man; he was feared for his connection to the "dark side." To say his name was said to conjour the spirits. Stories circulated about his ability to control the elements, to whisper to the spirits, and to bend others to his will. Some called him a seer; others, a sorcerer. His eyes, it was said, could pierce through the veil that separated this world from the next, and those who met his gaze felt as though they had been touched by something ancient and unfathomable. His influence extended far beyond his own generation. As the Muscogee intermarried with European settlers, their bloodlines mingled, but the old ways did not disappear. They simply went underground, embedded in the genes that were passed down through generations. Traits and powers, dormant in some, flourished in others. His dark abilities, if they were more than legend, lay waiting in the blood of his descendants, waiting for the right moment to reemerge.