"I have a father, but by no means does he exhibit the qualities inherent with the term, Drahin," said Jesolin allowing his eyes to drift toward a distant and undefined focus. "While he has been extremely influential in the path my life has chosen, he has not, until recently, been present."
"Well, at least he is back in your life. That is something right?" asked Drin.
"Yes, that is something indeed. But I must confess, I did not come here to discuss my rather complex relationship with my father. I would much rather discuss how you came to be in my keep, and how you evaded my guards long enough to hide in my throne room," said Jesolin as he redirected the conversation.
"What have you done to my sisters?" asked Drin ignoring Jesolin's question.
"What have I done? I have done nothing directly, Drin. Vismorda has done much though. But not exactly to them. She has done much for them. She is freeing them," he said as he slightly adjusted his posture by crossing his arms.
"Freeing them from what? How can you possibly call forcing them to fight as anything remotely close to being free?" challenged Drin.
"Did they look like they were forced? Did they look like they had no choice? Make no mistake, my young fighter, they have every opportunity to choose the life they will live. They have much more opportunity than even you. Think about it, Drin. What aspects of your life feel like they were completely of your choosing? Which of your actions has led you to more freedom?" said Jesolin sensing he was gaining a foothold within the young boy's mind. But after his question hung unanswered for several moments, he decided against further pushing him into a corner and ended their discourse by saying, "I will leave you to consider this: what if you could be offered a position in life and its accompanying power to fully decided what to do and when to do it?"
As Jesolin turned to walk away, he could feel Drin's eyes boring into his back. He knew there was still anger deep inside the young boy, and behind that anger was rage. If allowed to fuel his mind, that rage would undoubtedly lead to hate. And if that hate was allowed to bear fruit, it would birth evil. However, even without engaging his dark fountain, Jesolin was able to see that Drin's state of consciousness was balanced on the most fragile of foundations, and if he pressed too much too soon, the foundations would break like the icy surface of a lake before it has frozen solid enough to adequately support enough weight resulting in Drin becoming useless to his and his master's cause. So instead of pushing, he practiced patience, a patience that had been taught to him in the lessons of Satan. After all, it was humanity's tendency to do the work for him if he but wait and allow the seeds to grow on their own.
The transformation of The Stone Keep into The Blood Keep, as his followers had begun calling it, was progressing exceedingly well. Many were the techniques for motivation at his disposal, but he found the most effective were consequence and reputation. Such was his reputation for intolerance of imperfection and its resulting consequence, that those producing the necessary labor did so under a strict urgency. Even though it had been a little over a day since they had taken the keep, the changes were already visible throughout surrounding city instead of simply being confined to the keep itself.
Though they had built nothing and added nothing to the visual aesthetics, Jesolin's forces had created a gloom of despair within which all things began to reflect. The bright and vibrant colors of the multitude of tapestries, some ages old, had all been ripped from the walls leaving the grey black stones bare. The many statues created by the Silver Empire's greatest sculptors had been either carried away, or, in the case of those that were too large to be carried, broken and removed piece by piece. Even the Great Pillar, erected in response to the first successful defense of the keep too many years ago to count, had been broken and toppled. All signs of anything remaining of the Stone Keep signifying any attachment or belonging to the Silver Empire either had been, or was in the process of, being removed.
However, in the midst of the transformation, Jesolin had left strict and clear instructions that while all other aspects of the keep and city were to be changed completely, two were to be untouched: its people and its means of commerce. You see, unlike the popular opinion in Avendia, destruction is not the most absolute sign of dominion. For ages upon ages, each different race has held the belief that their enemies, and sometimes their friends, have sought their destruction. And while that would seem to be the very end of vengeance, Jesolin understood a depth of vengeance fueled by absolute hate that revealed the true nature of Satan's plans, a nature that was not dedicated to just the eradication of what God had create, but its domination and transformation.
How glorious would it be when the very creation of God had fallen under Satan's utter control? But more than that, how absolute would that control be when, given the choice, His children did not choose Him and all His supposed glory? But if destroyed, they would never have the opportunity to choose the rule of Evil freely and openly. Sure, admittedly there had been several times when mortals were forced to submit though his deception and power, but this is still the beginning. The time for people to choose freely would soon be upon them. But it, as all things with mortals, was a process. And a process that would begin soon.
As he was finishing his walk through the city and returning to the central courtyard, he saw that his soldiers had successfully gathered the remaining inhabitants of the Blood Keep. Yes, they had done so at the ends of their weapons, but the plans were yet in their infancy, and as such, fear was a required motivation. And while fear did serve he and his master's plans, it was required that devotion replace it. And for that to happen, he needed to speak to them, all of them together, so they could see his way was the way that would elevate them all.
He estimated the number of people gathered to be around five thousand. Certainly not as much as he had been led to believe, but then again, there was a contingency of the city that had successfully escaped, for now. As he walked to the dais constructed for this very moment almost immediately after their victory, located in the center of the main city square, the gathered throng gently, and apprehensively allowed him passage. Unlike the common lords of this age and ages past, he ordered no trumpets to blare announcing his arrival. He did not instruct his soldiers to clear a path for him as if the common people were not allowed to be within a predetermined radius of his presence. And he was accompanied by no entourage of resplendent guards illustrating his power and importance. No, he walked through the gathered people, his gathered people, singularly, and as an equal, as one of them.
Climbing the four small steps, he slowly and deliberately looked around making note of the fear he felt though his dark link. Sent as tiny ripples in a pond extending outward from the splash of a lone stone, their fear easily lapped against the shores of his enhanced awareness. Now was not the time to enhance and use their fear, now was the time to instill within them a trust that their previous rulers had never done before.
In a clear and strong voice absent of any malice or evil intent, echoing the benevolent deception necessary, he began, "It is with the greatest of apologies I stand before you today. The deaths of those you love, while abhorrent to my very soul, were necessary to avoid a greater injustice; one that I could not stand idly by and watch as its consequence was inflicted upon you and your generations any longer."
I can see your words lingering on their hopes. Show them more, insisted Satan.
"If there was sufficient time, I would visit each one of you in your homes and beg for your forgiveness, but as our mission is urgently driven by a need to right the wrongs that have existed for long past their time of tolerance, you were gathered here. So, it is with a collective empathy for your suffering that I beg all of you for your forgiveness, for the continuance of our mission necessitates that it be granted."
Oh, very good! Now expose the truth, continued Satan.
"For those of you who cannot grant such a request now, I harbor no ill intent, for I know your suffering is great and will take time to adjust. I will not force
your agreement nor will I require your participation in anything except that which will ensure a greater life for you and those of your legacy. For that is what we all seek; a modicum of greatness, even if only fleeting. We all long to be seen as equals. We all desire our separate conditions of life to be elevated. But more importantly, we are all weary, so weary of the struggle just to be seen. We toil and strive each day, through the weariness of our endeavors, and for what? To promote those who need no promotion?"
Show them who, he said again.
Turning toward the Stone Keep, he continued, "Today, I make this pledge: no longer will you repress these people, who work so diligently for your frivolities and inconsequential edicts. Long have you used your superior might and gold to hold them down, making them believe it is your birthright to rule. Long have they suffered at your feet just so your hands can enjoy the finery of lavishly gemmed jewels and your necks can be adorned with precious metals mined by the blood of their hands. Today I make this pledge, Lords of the Land, your reign of false divinity ends. And it ends now!"
Excellent. Now galvanize them to you
Turning toward the people who were intently watching and hanging on every word from their new empathetic lord, he addressed them directly again, "But I did not come before you today to issue only a singular pledge to the privileged few. No. I came to issue a pledge to you, my brothers and sisters. Not long ago, I came from the humblest of beginnings with no more in my hands than what I hold now, nothing. But through that nothingness I found myself, and in that, I found I possessed a greater power than I had ever realized. A power great enough to not just change the path of my future, but to change the paths of yours. So, it is that I have come to stand before you now to make this pledge: I will use every portion of that power to promote your lives, to free you from the binds that hold you back, and to ensure the legacy of your generations will live the lives you have always wanted."
You have done well, my Son. As always.
As he stepped down off the dais to the applause of those gathered, he was met quickly by Mordin, "My Lord, there is someone here to see you. I would like to introduce Esthinor, the Grand Wizard of the High Council and High Wizard of The University of Knowledge."
Walking out from behind Mordin was a thin man dressed in all black, his face partially hidden behind a shadowy veil created from his hood. To his sides were two other men, both robbed like the Grand Wizard, but whose robes were a dark shade of dried blood instead of jet black. Their heads were equally shaded as their leader's.
"Lord Jesolin Kahl, it is with all humility I stand in your presence and offer you my humble greetings," said Esthinor as he bowed low, his two fellow wizards mimicking him. "Yours was a grand achievement today."
"It was but a sum of a much greater influence in my life," he said as he bid the wizards to rise. "But, given that you are the Grand Wizard, I am quite certain you knew that already."
"I must confess, when I saw the effects of your legions, and the unconventional methods you employed to seize The Stone Keep, I was rather intrigued. Indeed, there is something at work within you that is different than all others I have studied in my years at the University. One day, I hope to include that power within the scope of my knowledge, for the betterment of magic of course," stated Esthinor.
"You are not entirely what I expected from The University. Long has their reputation been to aid the realm of Avendia. I would be lying if I did not admit I half expected the intervention of The University at the behest of the Silver Empire," said Jesolin.
"True, we have fallen into the quims of the common, but that was a residue from Grand Wizards past. Now, with my leadership, we will again return to the sole propagation of our initial endeavor, that of knowledge; specifically, its comprehension and proliferation," said Esthinor.
"I am glad to hear that, Grand Wizard," returned Jesolin, "For that is also my endeavor, though on less of an esoteric and arcane level than yours."
"How do you mean?"
"If you would not mind accompanying me inside my new castle, I would more than welcome the continuation of our discussion. There is much to be done, and I must be about it immediately,” responded Jesolin as he bid Esthinor and his entourage to follow.
“Of course, Lord Kahl. It would be our pleasure,” said Esthinor as he fell in stride next to Jesolin. Mordin and the two other wizards silently following.
“Now to your question, what was it again?” asked Jesolin.
“To what knowledge was your referral regarding your mission of its comprehension and proliferation?” he stated.
“Ah yes!” Jesolin answered humbly, “I seek to disseminate a singularly focused knowledge. One that is essential to the growth of Avendia into what will be its shining age. I seek to provide all of its inhabitants with the knowledge that all power and worthiness is internal and is the result of a strict self-dedication."
"Do you not believe that could lead to a state of chaos? Should we all believe we are worthy of all things, then are not all things transcendent from privilege to right? Would not the condition of mortals then degenerate into a simple survival of the fittest wherein all things are accepted as long as it is won, through any means and any methods?" Asked the Grand Wizard.
"My dear Grand Wizard," spoke Jesolin, "what you speak is true, but only so far as differing perceptions exist. Yes, chaos would ensue if every living mortal, of which we are included, followed no greater perception except that which we reasoned ourselves. Indeed, the selfish nature of mortality would govern causing emotions such as jealousy and envy to rule without a standard of perception upon which all of our individual perceptions were measured against. These unchecked emotions would naturally devolve the condition of life into a maddened grasp for anything and everything we desired.”
“It sounds like you are propositioning the centralization of perception? How can that be done? It is the very condition of life that we are all different, and as such, have the capacity for differing perceptions. What you are eluding to, my Lord, is impossible,” said Esthinor.
“Yes, on the surface, without a greater understanding derived from already having experienced it, it would be impossible to understand. But I can tell you that perception is the root of all evil, and its eradication must be of paramount pursuit,” said the new Lord of the Blood Keep.
“Forgive my apprehension, but I do not see where this is possible,” answered Esthinor.
"Choice, my dear Grand Wizard. Choice is the key,” said Jesolin with a small smile.
“How so?”
“Though the differing of perceptions is the problem, it is but the manifestation of our ability to have differing perceptions. So, to eliminate differing perceptions, we must eliminate our ability to do so. All differences, those that are meaningful at least, come from choice. Look at that woman’s hair, the one standing by the post with her two children,” he said as he pointed. “It is long and brown, and I do find it attractive, but perhaps you do not. Or look at that rocking chair on the porch of that tavern. It offers no comfort or cushion to sit on. And while it may benefit some, I find it much less attractive to sit upon. Who is right and who is wrong? Now consider your students and their choice of magical knowledge and application. In your years of wizarding and teaching, have you not witnessed a multitude of arguments, no doubt some turning to violence?”
“Indeed, I have,” answered Esthinor.
“And were not all of those arguments rooted in the differing of perceptions based on the freedom of choice?” asked Jesolin again.
“Indeed, they were,” answered Esthinor again.
“Now ask yourself this: how much conflict could have and would have been avoided if the main condition of life was not the freedom of choice, but rather, the obligation to obey?”
Unperceptively grinning, Esthinor responded, “The new Lord of the Stone Keep sees much. So, it is your goal to eliminate our ability to choose,” he said as more of a statement than a question.
“Yes,” he resp
onded.
“Though I do not know how you will accomplish this, or if it even can be accomplished, there is something about you suggesting it just might be possible,” said the Grand Wizard with a small nod.
“All things are possible, Grand Wizard, to those who believe,” answered Jesolin.
“I would like to speak further on this, but I must confess, I have not come here with only an introduction as my intent. I do have a sort of," Esthinor paused as if searching for the correct word, "proposition for you, as it were."
"Go on," instructed Jesolin.
"I can see that your propelling doctrine is greater than simply the Stone Keep, and quite possibly greater than the Silver Empire. If that be so, sooner or later, you will find yourself standing against the Elves. And theirs is no such trivial existence to suggest you will be able to take the Throne of Light by invading the Starlit Castle," said Esthinor. Their walk had taken them down the central street leading to the great doors of the stone keep.
“Please excuse the rubble. As I am sure you are aware of, the condition of the city was nothing but a necessity,” Jesolin said apologetically.
“I took no notice. In fact, I should say the relative structural damage to the keep and its surrounding structures is remarkably low. Quite an accomplishment and testament to your military planning,” acknowledge the Grand Wizard.
"Thank you, Grand Wizard. Now, what is this proposition?" asked Jesolin.
"My Lord, if you would allow me to approach the elves now, while your threat has not been cemented in their minds, I am sure my effects will be a benefit to you and your governing cause," he said with a small grin.
"Answer me this, Grand Wizard. What concern is my cause to you?"
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