The battles had been raging across the continent for months.

Long ago the factions of Light versus Dark had splintered into countless shards, pitting Aiel against Aiel, Borderlander against Borderlander, in a breach of alliances that had lasted centuries; even the stainless Tower had broken, and not only with the rebels in Salidar. The dark influence of the Forsaken hidden in the Tower brought the much-rumored Black Ajah to the forefront of the Dark One's forces, and soon, fighting ranged all the way up to the very Shining Walls of Tar Valon. Every group had a hand in the fighting: Aes Sedai, Sea Folk, the Kin, Asha'men, Aiel, the various national armies, and everyone else who could muster up a force. Part of the time they didn't know who was the real evil, the Dark One's forces or the Seanchan's foreign armies that ravaged the land. Whatever the fight, though, the world of the Wheel was coming apart at the seams.

It was on the night before a major holiday of remembrance that the Amyrlin Seat of the White Tower and the M'hael of the Black Tower conducted a secret meeting. The two towers had sat in opposition to each other for a long time, but desperate times called for desperate measures. They recognized the need for the two strong forces to unite; the White Tower was under siege, and the farm on which the Black Tower was situated had since been razed. Out of necessity, on the morning of High Chasaline, the Aes Sedai and the Asha'men took an Oath Rod in hand and swore new oaths uniting the two towers forever. With their combined force they beat back the invaders and defended Tar Valon, buying the forces of the Light more time to plan their victory. Soon enough, the pact made out of desperation became one between allies, and the Aes Sedai were once more as they had been in the Age of Legends.