“You are truly a unique individual,” murmured the man. “I simply hope that one day, I will have the opportunity to know the whole story.”
“True, I suppose at some point, I ought to think about writing this all down.” The two smiled.
“Right, to the knife,” the man continued cheerfully. “I know exactly where we should look.”
The day was just coming to its end as the young man left the village, taking with him the gift, wrapped in a piece of fabric, since there was no proper wrapping paper. The great ball of light at the horizon reflected golden glints off of the fields surrounding him, and he never tired looking at them. He realized that the ever-shining sun would have a disturbing effect: how could he imagine celebrating Christmas in the ever-present warmth? The lack of seasons made the concept of a year less concrete in the eyes of the adolescent. By the time he reached the house, only a few rosy rays of light remained towards the west, as silent witness to the declining day. He put down his sack in the main room, then climbed the stairs to change. At the same time, he hid the knife away.
When he returned to the lower level, he saw Kezthrem standing there, his arms crossed. Behind him, and past the panels, which were slightly ajar, he could make out the form of the practice figures, already set up in the garden.
“At this time of day?” he asked himself, surprised. With a sigh, however, he resigned himself to the task. His master wanted to test him at night. He drew his sword, and stepped outside.
A new difficulty immediately came to his mind: since he hadn’t watched his master set up the figures, he hadn’t spotted the traps he’d prepared. He remained in the doorway for a moment, carefully studying the positions of his adversaries. There had to be at least fifteen, but some were further away, and the young man could barely make out their shapes. For the moment, he chose to ignore the latter figures, assuming that an enemy so far away that you could barely see them presented no great danger, unless they were archers or sorcerers, which wasn’t the case now.
The young man thought back to the lesson Kezthrem had given him: Iretane consists of avoiding attacks so that you can counterattack quickly, or even before the attacker finishes his own movement. He decided to apply that rule to the letter, and launched himself among the figures with the goal not of striking them, but of avoiding them. His idea brought much success. Each time he dodged, he found he could immediately see the best place to make his next attack, making his blows fly with incredible power. He no longer wasted his energy, since he was only making the moves that were absolutely necessary. When the eighteenth figure finally fell, sliced in two, he found that he was barely even winded.
His mortal dance continued. He held the positions of his remaining enemies perfectly in his mind. He dodged a blade pointed in his direction, piercing the figure behind him at the same time. He found as he took out his enemies, gradually, one by one, the enemies that had been hidden in the shadows appeared, just as gradually. The boy experienced the battle in a way he never had before; his concentration was perfect, and though he had to push through his fatigue, with each blow requiring more effort, he found that his blade swung about him as though it was a part of him. He couldn’t help but smile, proof of the great excitement that filled him each time he felt the blade slice through the wood, sinking deep within it, then flying out on the other side with a terrible noise, taking splinters of wood with it.
However, an anomaly of sorts appeared after a time: he was sure he’d made note of all of the figures, when he suddenly spotted one he hadn’t noticed at all before. He didn’t think too much of it, however, since it was quite far away, and instead continued to concern himself with those that were nearer. However, when he again turned towards the mysterious figure, he jumped, because the figure had disappeared, and instead, Kezthrem stood just inches away from him. The man sent his blade flying towards his disciple’s throat with a rapid flick of the wrist. The young man was taken by surprise, and as he tried to move, he tripped and fell. His master sighed, then replaced his blade in its sheath. “It seems you’ve forgotten that enemies can move, Glaide. I noticed as you were fighting that you considered your more distant enemies to be of no danger. But any of them could move during a battle.”
“You’re right, master,” Glaide responded as he got up. “That was ill-advised. I’m sure, though, that I wouldn’t have found myself trapped like that in the daytime. But at night, I can’t see anything!”
Kezthrem smiled. “True. However, voyagers are frequently attacked at night. At any rate, it seems like this evening, you’ve earned more congratulations than remonstrations, haven’t you?”
Glaide could hardly believe his ears.
“You’ve applied what you’ve learned, in the full spirit of Iretane, and that proves that you’ve come to understand what it means. Your attacks were powerful and precise, and you didn’t waste your energy.” The man looked around himself, taking in the carnage before them. “Believe me, orks or even goblins wouldn’t have stood a chance...”
At this, the adolescent couldn’t hold in his shout of joy. Finally, everything seemed to be coming together; he was finally starting to accomplish something. Everything he’d hoped for was finally starting to happen.
“And... what about the other kinds of enemies that I might encounter?” he asked timidly.
After a few moments of reflection, the other man replied, “When faced by enemies like chimeras, or trolls, it's more typical to find yourself in a duel situation. One rarely encounters groups of fifteen trolls, and if something like that were to happen, you’d have only one option: to flee.” At that, the young man chuckled.
“However,” continued Kezthrem, “Other creatures exist, that are agile, rapid, and numerous. Have you ever heard of satyrs? They’re creatures with the legs of a goat, but the upper body of a human.” Glaide shivered at that, recalling the ghosts he’d encountered near the mountains of Oclin-Fer.
“Yes, I’ve seen some. They were ghosts...”
The man looked amused. “The dead and the undead... Yet more monsters you could run into. Ghost are usually not aggressive, which is good since they would be impossible to battle. However, zombies and vampires are considerably more dangerous – vampires, especially. They have great endurance and speed, are practically immortal, and are excellent sorcerers. Truly damnable adversaries.” Kezthrem seemed to find this all perfectly amusing.
“But those sound like something straight out of a nightmare!” exclaimed Glaide.
“No worries... They live in the midst of the Desolate Plains, far from us, among the creatures they’ve created to live with them there. Their ambitions remain unknown to us, and their plans span centuries. They are preoccupied with immortal matters, so what happens in a single year matters little to them. For them, that is like a mere second in the face of eternity. They are so different that the rest of the world has even come to doubt their existence, making them out as nothing more than legends. Though if one day they become a reality in our world, they’ll bring with them death, weeping, and gnashing of teeth.”
“That must be why Ayrokkan told me that there, the hunters become prey,” murmured the young man. “He also told me that neither Aras nor Baras reign there. Is that true?”
“I don’t want to bring into doubt the words of a dragon, but I think he probably said that simply because everything there is dead, while the gods you’ve mentioned reign over the living. I believe it is those plains that will bring about the end of the world. The creatures that abide there bring nothing but destruction, and in a few centuries, or a few millennia, when everything here has changed, they will still remain.”
“And is there nothing we can do?”
“Glaide, the Destroyer is an emissary of Aras. What can he do in the face of a place where even a god himself has no power?”
The young man sighed. The forces that walked in this world left him with no words. He realized now how lucky humans were, as the danger against which they had no chance was actually th
e least menacing, or at least, the most indirectly menacing.
“But don’t put more importance on those things than they deserve,” Kezthrem declared gently. “Today, people are dying, and your friends risk death, and it is not because of vampires, but because of the disciples of Baras. The Defiled Forest separates us from the territory of the undead. One day or another, they will pass that border, but who knows what will remain of Galadria by the time that day comes.”
Glaide nodded, chasing away those dark thoughts. Perhaps one day, he would have an opportunity to destroy some of the monsters that populated the Desolate Plains. Kezthrem wasn’t finished yet, though.
“However, there is something you should know: some there could decide to ally themselves with Baras. Something of exactly that sort occurred during the time of Dzen and Novak. A necromancer joined forces with the God of Evil. He brought with him none of the undead, as we feared, but in the end, he pushed the elves and dwarves to withdraw, and stop creating their weapons. So then, even if Baras was destroyed, the plans of that sorcerer have continued to affect us to this day, since we no longer possess weapons worthy of the name.”
“Hmmm... That makes it sound as though he knew that Aras’ brother would return, and he was willing to do whatever it took to hinder future generations from defending themselves. It’s strange to think back on the centuries like that.”
“The important thing to remember is that it is still possible that a necromancer might be allied with Baras, and that it could even be the same one.”
“I’ll have to be careful when the time comes,” concluded Glaide.
The two sorted through the supplies that the boy had brought back, rustling up something for dinner. The young man found that he was always impressed by his master’s skill in the kitchen. It made him think that, in the worst case scenario, if the knife he’d bought wasn’t useful for carving shakuhachis, it might be useful instead for cutting meat! The meal that night seemed to be especially flavourful, and as he drank a glass of sake, he realized what the flavour was: it was that of victory.
Chapter 29
IT was already quite late when the master and his disciple left the table. A few minutes later, Glaide and Kezthrem could be found meditating in the dojo. After a while, they found they needed to light some candles. The man placed a few near them, though the majority of the room was left in darkness. The ambiance, and the way the light played around them was enough to break the adolescent’s concentration, so, rather than reflecting on anything in particular, he instead chose to look at his surroundings. He began to feel his fatigue, and his master must have noticed; Kezthrem shifted to a more relaxed pose and initiated a new conversation.
“I’ve spoken to you a few times about the Destroyer and about myself. I’ve answered many of your questions, and now it is my turn to ask you a few.”
Glaide was curious, and waited for what was to come, though he knew he had nothing to teach his master. “Of course,” he responded. “I’ll answer if I can.”
“Don’t worry, you can. It’s very simple actually. Can you tell me a little about your world?”
“My world?” exclaimed the young man, “But that is a vast subject, and not a terribly interesting one.”
“Oh, much to the contrary, my young disciple. It is important to me to know everything about you. You are different from the others that I’ve taught in the past, and any that I will teach in the future. There is much that I can learn from you.”
Glaide sighed. He wasn’t terribly interested in the subject, since he’d already made up his mind to forget his past. However, if Kezthrem asked something of him, he owed it to him to do his best.
“Where would you like me to start?”
“Well, I suppose you should start at the beginning. How is time counted where you’re from?”
“It’s exactly the same as it is here. I wonder sometimes if that means something, but I think it’s just chance. However, our year is divided into seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall, then back to winter. And it rains. In the end, though, it depends on what part of the world you’re talking about.”
“Because it’s vast?”
“Very. Though actually, we’ve mapped all of it. There are no ‘Known Lands’ versus ‘Unknown Lands’. We’ve visited every part of its surface. Of course, there was a time when explorers set out to discover distant lands. During those years, things were more like they are here, though we never had any ‘Desolate Plains’ or ‘Forest of the Worlds’. My world is mostly made up of ocean, with only a small amount of land. There are regions made up of deserts, some icy and some hot, and other regions that are more inhabitable. In the end, only a small part of the planet holds the entire population, which is about six billion people.”
Kezthrem’s eyes widened at that. It was the first time his disciple had ever seen him show surprise.
“Six billion,” he repeated dreamily. Glaide nodded.
“The inhabited lands are divided into countries. Some are about the same size as the Known Lands, some are much smaller, and some are a hundred times bigger.” At this, the older man looked completely astounded.
“Those are astronomical numbers... Do you think that Galadria could also contain so much life?”
“I don’t know... But then again, why not? But it is important to know that that is not necessarily a good thing. I’ll have to explain more about that later.” The young man thought for a few moments, then continued, “I think I should sum up some of the differences. Earth – that’s what we call my world – has no magic, or at least, doesn’t have any anymore. In the past, many different skills were likened unto magic, but there was nothing comparable to what I’ve seen here.
“No magic...” murmured Kezthrem. He changed positions, settling himself in more comfortably. Apparently, his disciple had captured his attention, and he was waiting for a long and interesting story. The young man was pleased to note that, and wanted to do his best to keep him at the edge of his seat, so to speak.
“Exactly,” continued the young man. “In my world, science and technology are king. The humans who live there have always wanted to understand everything around them. That has brought about some good things, but also some things that aren’t so good. Medicine, for example, is extremely developed. We can heal many illnesses and injuries that we’d thought were mortal. However, we’ve also used medicine and technology to create other things, with less laudable purposes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of our discoveries have been channeled into one military use or another, often causing the deaths of thousands of people.”
“But why? Isn’t it possible to target only your enemies, specifically?”
Glaide went to respond that that was just what happened, when he realized what his master meant: he thought that Earth also held monsters. The young man smiled sadly, and replied, “I forgot to add something else: where I come from, there are only humans. There are animals, too, of course, but no monsters like orks, goblins, or the like.”
“Really?” whispered Kezthrem.
“Like I said, there are six billion people, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. To be more clear, there are lots of wars. And dividing the land into countries simply adds to the problem. Plus, there are an incredible number of other problems, on a more or less grand scale: famines in some areas, plagues and illnesses in others...”
“Didn’t you just say that your doctors could heal just about anything?” interrupted his listener.
With that, Glaide began to realize just how different the two worlds really were. Things that seemed perfectly natural to him were incomprehensible to his master. He decided to try to explain. “Well, those doctors are only present in certain parts of the world; they exist in places that have wealth, where the people have the resources, and where they know how to exploit others.” At that, the young man realized that he wasn’t being objective, and, not wanting to expand on the subject, he added simply, “At any rate, not a
ll of the world has access to modern medicine.”
Kezthrem fell silent, deep in thought. “It’s strange,” he finally said. “I don’t understand why a few people would be helped, and others wouldn’t.”
“You’re not the only one,” sighed Glaide. “But it is also hard to imagine what we would find on Galadria, if we knew all of it. Who knows whether, far from here, there aren’t humans who experience the same inequality?”
“Mmm... Indeed.”
Glaide muffled a yawn, then continued, “But as I said, there are many wars, for more or less valid reasons, many of which are caused by religions, or generally from just being different from each other.”
“What religions does your world have?”
“Oh, there is an incredible number of them. Some believe in many gods, some in only one, and there are others that are more based on philosophies, like returning to nature, or not having an opinion at all. There isn’t really a God of Good or a God of Evil, but just gods. People worship them, following writings that are often incomprehensible, or contradictory, and that produce even more conflicts. Sometimes they can be interpreted in different ways, which is often the cause of many deaths.”
“But what drives them to be so murderous?”
The adolescent gave out a laugh, completely devoid of joy.
“What drives them? That’s the most interesting thing: love, peace, tolerance...”
The man again fell deep in thought, finally admitting that, once again, he didn’t understand. “What you’re telling me makes absolutely no sense, though I’m happy to hear more. However, I don’t think life on Earth would be very nice...”
“Well, that depends on your point of view. What I’ve told you is all at the international level, but on a more individual level, it is completely possible to have a happy life. Where I lived, I had a family, a comfortable home, and a good view.”
“A good view of what?”
“Of the countryside.”
“But you can look out any window and see the countryside. Isn’t that the same there?”
Chronicles of Galadria II - Encounters Page 21
