Jim Farris Mage 3 The Arc of Time

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kingdom, where I will be nothing more than a footnote in history. Morgar's
dream is a Kingdom of Darkness, an empire of terror and chaos... Ruled by you,
a living horror. All this... Everything we have done... Everyone who has
died... The death of our civilization in the Great War of Destruction...
Everything... I thought it was a vast chatto game between the two of them,
with some gods on Yorindar's side, and perhaps even others on Morgar's. It was
not, my old friend..."
"They were simply setting up the board," Cordo replied, his voice a series of
bubbling burbles and plops from within his body. "The real game has yet to
begin."
"Exactly," I whispered, and felt a chill as the word fell from my lips.
I bowed my head, and sobbed.
"He whispers to me, now, Eddas... Just as Yorindar spoke through you a moment
ago, Morgar whispers to me now... I am perfect, he says... My form, my mind...
So close to his reality, his truth, he can now whisper to me freely... A part
of me feels joy, Eddas... Joy beyond measure, at being so close to my god..."
Cordo bubbled, a mouth rising on a tentacle of twisted, writhing gobbets of
flesh and broken bone. The eye which had gazed at me lifted also, held aloft
by a similar grotesquerie of flesh. "And yet... Part of me... Just... Wants...
To... Scream."
And for several moments, he did.
Finally, Cordo fell silent. Eventually, my own weeping fell to silence, as
well. I lifted my head, my cheeks damp with tears, and gazed at Cordo.
"Your army here is defeated - but you still have reinforcements coming."
"No... They are dead... Morgar whispers to me, Eddas... He is happy...
Ecstatic... He speaks freely... He speaks of things which have happened, and
things which have not yet happened, but will... He is mad, even as I am...
Even as you said we both were... Yorindar's plan has come together, as Morgar
knew it would... The armies of the elves and dwarves joined forces, and
crushed my reinforcements two days ago... You are an Elf Friend, and a Dwarf
Friend... And for the first time in history... The dwarves and elves have put
aside their ancient animosities, to come to the aid of a common friend...
You... They were guided by their gods, allied with yours... Just as the
goblins were guided by their gods, allied with mine... Victory is yours, this
day, and the game board is set... If we choose, Eddas, then the real battle...
If we choose... The real battle is in perhaps another millennium or two...
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After the lines have been clearly drawn for all the races of our world... The
lines between Light and Dark... Chaos and Order... You and me... If we
choose..."
I nodded in understanding, my mind numb with the implications of it.
"It will be a different world, Eddas... When that final conflict between us
comes... A world of techno-magic... Dwarven science... Elven sorcery... The
power of steam... Machines that fly... And all the while... The lines being
drawn between us... The kingdoms... The empires... Each taking sides... For
the final battle..."
For a long moment, we stared at each other in silence. Around us, the world
trembled. It was like an earthquake, but more subtle... More terrifying... And
utterly silent.
"Can you feel it, Eddas...? It is the Arc of Time... It is paradox... Event
must always follow cause... And yet, I speak of events before the cause... Not
guessing... Not prophecy, that may or may not come true... But *Events*... And
the Arc of Time trembles... Perhaps... Perhaps it will crack... If I but speak
more..."
Finally, I found my voice again, somehow - and I knew what I had to say.
Somehow, I had the feeling that these were the words I had been born to say,
almost two thousand years ago. All my existence had been building up to this
moment. I took a deep breath, and looked to what remained of a man I once
called my friend.
"Break your staff."
Cordo paused, his eye gazing at me unblinkingly. "What?"
"Do not destroy the world to end the horror of your existence, my old friend.
Break your staff."
"Fool! That will do nothing! The blast will not harm me, such is the nature of
the enchantment!" Cordo spat, his staff lifting from within his body on
another gory tentacle of bone and flesh. "We are doomed, fool! You are doomed
to spend the rest of eternity like that, and I am doomed to spend the rest of
eternity... LIKE THIS!"
"No, Cordo. Your staff fused with your flesh, twenty years ago. It is a part
of your body, and your body is a part of it. Break it - and you will be
consumed in its detonation. Your soul is still tied to your animuary, and I
myself sealed your tomb eternally. Break your staff. End your misery, and
return to the Dreamless Sleep."
"You mean..."
I smiled slightly. "Yes, my old friend. They made a mistake. The game can be
ended before it even begins. As you said... We choose. And we do not have to
choose life."
Cordo was silent for a long moment before he spoke again. When he finally did,
his voice was soft, trembling. "Will you stay with me?"
"Yes. And I hope and pray that the blast kills me, as well. Perhaps then, I
will finally see my beloved Dyarzi, in the afterlife..."
"While I sleep eternally in my tomb..." Cordo replied, then his voice took on
a horrid hiss of madness. "No! Either way, I die, you die, but you still win!
Even if I shatter the Arc of Time and destroy the world, you still win! No,
Eddas Ayar! You shall NOT die and enjoy a pleasant afterlife! You shall
SUFFER! Just once, just ONCE, Eddas Ayar, I WILL WIN! I have never beaten you
at anything! You beat me at chatto every time we played, you beat me in love
by finding the woman of your dreams while I found no one, and now you have
beaten me in war, twice, both now and twenty years ago! Just once, Eddas Ayar,
JUST ONCE, I WILL WIN!"
The strike of the spell of the Elemental Blast of Air caught me off-guard, and
tossed me a dozen paces to slam into the earth, stunned. A heartbeat later,
there was a flash and a thunderous detonation.
Chapter Thirty-Three
"How can one conceive of tens of thousands of undead rising from the ground at
a gesture and yet not see the true heart of their summoner? Such is the true
nature of the Ancient One - a cold, emotionless thing of the grave, twisted to
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Yorindar's will to serve the needs of prophecy. What matters it that the
blasted wastelands of Hyperborea are populated by giants, dragons, fell beasts
and hideous monsters that can warp one's sanity and steal one's life with a
single glance? That the Ancient One can be found there should be enough of a
shadow over those foul wastelands for anyone."
- Lord Caladis, The Eddasine Chronicles, 1817 NCC
I knew not where I was, save that I was in a smooth, featureless room of
white, interspersed with blue. Golden light, diffuse and sourceless, filled
the room. A low table sat in the center of the room, and at the table, two
familiar figures sat, gazing at a chatto-board which lay between them. The
first hand had been dealt, and the pawns were in position. Yet, as I gazed at
the board, it seemed... So much more. More than merely a two-dimensional
thing, it seemed to stretch into four dimensions... [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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