by Philip Blood
"If this Ragol was so strong, and he was a NexLord, how come he didn't destroy the Dreadmaster?" demanded Gandarel.
"I don't know. I'm sorry, it isn't a very satisfying answer, but that is the truth. No one knows how or why you can do something that Ragol could not, but so it is written. You have been predicted right to this moment, Gandarel; we know you are the one."
"What do you mean, right to this moment?"
"Depending on which prophecy you read you will find different details, but one verse from the Dark Prophecies mentions this very moment," Mara explained.
"Let me hear it," Gandarel demanded.
Mara considered Gandarel for a moment. Then she motioned to Tocor, who brought out the wooden box from his pack. It was the one Gandarel had seen in her room a long time ago.
Mara looked through some pages and finally lifted one out, Aerin stood behind her holding a torch so she could read aloud.
Mara cleared her voice, and then read out in a loud voice, "I saw darkness surrounding the heir to the Seat of Stone. They stood in a place where passages split, and so did the future. He argued against his destiny, and in the end, though his friends needed him, though the world's fate rode in the balance, he refused to complete his destiny. All was lost as their enemies found them unprepared. The walls shook with the power of the Dreadmaster in the hallowed halls of the Nexus. For the first time in the history of the world, a viper had slipped within and called to them the terror of the earth, a Dreadbeast. Death came, and their group was sundered, and destruction rained down upon them.”
"This is ridiculous," Niler complained.
Gandarel eyes were large and fearful, "It says I didn't go..."
"Yes, Gandarel, this is one of the Dark Prophecies. They tell of the horrors that will come, not of the ways to avoid them. In essence, I try to read how to change from this path and avoid these dark visions. You MUST go into the Chamber of Stone and take the test," Mara said, taking him by the shoulders and looking into his face.
Gandarel looked at Aerin over Mara's shoulder. "I can't, Mara," and his voice held true anguish.
The walls shook and dust settled, falling down from the ceiling of the cave above.
"It starts," Mara said, simply.
Niler looked suddenly afraid. "You can't expect us to believe some document written years ago..."
"Some three hundred years ago," Mara noted.
"...to be a prediction of this moment, that is ridiculous!"
Mara looked at the paper again. “I quote, "...and the walls shook with the power of the Dreadmaster in the hallowed halls of the Nexus for the first time in the history of the world, for a viper had slipped within and called to them the terror of the earth, a Dreadbeast."
Yearl came running up to their group at that moment and pushed his way through the soldiers to get to Mara. "Mara, we must move, and quickly, the Togs have arrived and there is something with them."
"Speak plain, for all to understand, Yearl, what comes?" Mara asked her friend.
Yearl looked around and found everyone waiting for his statement. "It is the soul eater."
"Tell them what that is," Mara requested.
Yearl took a deep breath, "It is the Dreadbeast known as Death."
“Death came and their group was sundered and destruction rained down upon them.” Mara quoted to the group, but added quietly to herself, "and we have untrained people with us for him to feed on. Mara faced Gandarel again, "Choose, for if you do not make your choice it will be made for you within minutes. Is it the path of the Dark Prophecy or do we roll the dice, Gandarel?"
Sweat stood out on his brow and the others heard him mutter, "Forgive me," but he straightened up and said: "Lead me to the Nexus."
Mara gave him a grim smile and then nodded. She took her torch from Aerin’s hand to light the darkness and led Gandarel to his destiny.
Chapter Fifteen
"...and inside the Chamber of Stone, he will know that his failure has killed his best friend. From this day forth, the world will shed tears of blood, for Logan's legacy will claim a new face and Death will be his messenger."
- From the Dark Prophecies
The final set of passages was truly a maze, but Mara knew the way. They came out of a thin passage, that Aerin would have ignored in favor of two larger choices, and entered an extremely large cavern. Aerin remembered Mara's story of the creation of the Nexus, if her story was accurate, this chamber was where the multitudes had once gathered and believed in freedom from fear, with one heart and mind. The ceiling arched high above and was only dimly lit by their six torches.
Where Aerin had felt protected among his companions in the small hallways, here in the dark reaches and echoes of this massive chamber the entire group seemed insignificant. He remembered the horror of the Dreadbeast that had come over the wall in Strakhelm and wondered about the form of this Dreadbeast.
The darkness loomed menacingly because Aerin knew that the Risen known as Death stalked them.
Across the chamber, their torchlight dimly lit a large arched opening. As they got closer they could see words carved deep into the stone arching along the top edge. The group stopped and Mara read them aloud.
"This is the Chamber of the Nexus, where we choose to live without hate or fear, bonded in the strength of friendship."
The group was quiet for a moment, as Mara's words echoed to silence in the vast entrance chamber.
Gandarel broke the silence. "So this is it?"
"Yes, Gandarel, this is the Chamber of Stone, also known as the Nexus. There is nothing to fear," Mara explained.
"Oh sure, that's easy for you to say. What of these Dark Prophecies? You know the one of which I speak," he said, finally voicing his fear.
"I may know of which you speak, but remember, the prophecies are only one possible outcome, be forewarned and forearmed. All paths to your future lie through this chamber, and both prophecies speak of this moment. Be strong and choose the wise path. I will prepare you for what you need to know within. Once you feel comfortable, you can enter and get passed this test," Mara assured the young man.
"Well, let's get on with it then," Gandarel decided, trying to bolster his own confidence.
Mara placed a hand on the young man’s shoulder and led Gandarel into the chamber and the waiting Nexus.
Compared to the vast entrance cavern the Chamber of Stone was small. It was about fifty feet across and roughly round. Once everyone was inside the chamber the torches lit the area. It was unremarkable, except for one section of vertical wall at the back of the chamber, where the stone was so smooth it was glossy. The area was approximately the size of a large doorway, doublewide. Smaller words, than the ones that graced the arch at the entranceway, were inscribed to the side of the glossy area. This time, Aerin read the inscribed words.
"This is the testing wall of the Nexus. Be warned, to enter here you must be ready to face your fears, sacrifice your life for the good of others and take nothing for yourself. If you wish to shoulder this burden then approach and enter the wall of stone with friends in waiting. They must be present, but you must enter alone so that you will never be alone again. Take care before you touch the stone for once started, this test cannot be stopped. Take this last warning before you choose, those seeking personal power must not, cannot and will not survive. Once inside, no evil can enter but that with which you harbor in your mind. Enter the Nexus only if you are ready to place your life in the hands of your fellowship. Herein is the power of the Nexus, yours to serve and protect if you emerge a NexLord."
Below that were written words of the Bondsman's Pledge and the last verse stated: ‘The NexLord’s Pledge’.
"I don't understand the meaning of these pledges. Isn't it time you told us what it means to be a NexLord?" Gandarel asked Mara.
Mara nodded. "Indeed, Gandarel, I would have given you this knowledge sooner had your lessons continued. A NexLord is a conduit for the power encased within these walls." She explained, touching the ro
ugh wall to the side of the smooth area.
"It was put here hundreds of years ago by all the free people believing in a fellowship of friendship over hate and fear. This power of the Nexus is strong; it is the greatest power in this world. Those who sacrificed to create this place could not allow this awesome power to fall into the hands of someone who would abuse it. To ensure that only a good and true person could wield the power of a Nexlord, a test was created to keep the ambitious and self-serving from becoming a NexLord. And even after passing this test, any NexLord who gives into the temptation to abuse this power will die. There is a saying passed down from our ancestors, 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely,' and so we have protected the power of the Nexus against that possibility."
"If that is true, then what could they possibly do to guarantee this power was not abused?" Gandarel inquired.
Mara turned to the young Nexlord candidate and answered, "Simply put, they took the control of the power from the NexLord and put it into the hands of his bonded friends. When you become a NexLord you will initially have only one power, the ability to bond a friend to you forever. Other than that you will be unchanged."
"What possible good is that then? I already have friends, I don't need any further proof of their commitment," Gandarel stated.
Aerin nodded. He agreed with his friend wholeheartedly, but he knew there was more to the NexLord's power from things he had learned from his father and later from Mara.
Mara smiled. "You are correct, your friends are true and don't need to commit to you to prove it, but here is what you don't understand; it is they who hold the chains to your soul, not the other way around. When a Nexlord bonds to a friend, they unlock the power of the Nexus, but should they betray that power, if their bonded friend denounces the bond they share, the Nexlord will die."
"What... if Aerin was my bonded friend and he got mad at me, I die?" Gandarel said in disbelief.
"No, I'm sure he will get mad at you," Mara said with a quick knowing smile, "but he would have to denounce his friendship from the heart, and that would not happen if he was still your friend."
"Gedin save me, I don't know if I would trust anyone with the ability to kill me with a thought!" Gandarel exclaimed.
"You must if you would use the power of the Nexus, and without that the Dreadmaster will surely destroy us all. I know you will become a NexLord, Gandarel, but there is more you need to know, much more."
Whatever it was that Mara was going to tell him was suddenly interrupted by the sound of bone chilling laughter echoing in the hall. It came from outside the Chamber of Stone.
The sound grated on Aerin, like the sound of fingernails being dragged across a blackboard, it was evil in ways that words cannot describe. He felt evil down in the marrow of his bones welling up from instinctual fears from a million years of evolution. Here was Death come for his soul.
"Dreadbeast!" Yearl hissed and spun to face the opening, with his two wooden sticks in his hands.
"Gedin, not now," Mara whispered in a tired voice and then clenched her hands and eyes shut in an effort to regain control. When she opened her eyes she was in control, and spoke quickly and concisely, just as she had taught her students for times of crises.
"Somehow a Dreadbeast has passed the protections and has tracked us here. I thought the power of the Chamber was too much for the Dreadmaster's evil to seek us out, but somehow I was wrong. I must go forth and drive it off, or it will take you all."
"Can we help fight it?" a brave Guardsman asked.
From out in the cavern the voice of Death called, "Come to me, I feel your fear."
Mara grabbed Gandarel. "You must go into the Nexus or all will be lost! Your instruction will have to wait until after you succeed. If this Dreadbeast cannot be defeated, you must be finished here before it gets past us. I don't want to tell you what the Dark Prophecies say about this time if you have not entered the chamber when Death enters!"
"What do I do?" Gandarel cried. The voice of the Dreadbeast was nearly driving his fear over the edge, and he was already tottering on the edge of control, long before its arrival.
Aerin stepped up next to his friend and took him by the upper arms. "Gather yourself Gandarel; do not allow it to make you fear. That is how it feeds and where it gets its strength."
"He is right, Gandarel, trust your friend. Now listen quickly, all you have to do is step up to the stone and walk within. Only you may enter the wall. Within the chamber, you will be tested… and I can't tell you what form that test will take; it comes from within your own mind. Be strong, Gandarel, come back to us a NexLord!"
Mara reached up and touched his cheek with the back of her fingers in such a caring gesture that Aerin swallowed hard. It was as if Mara was fixing his features in her mind, in case she never again saw her young friend, but then the moment was over and the old woman turned to go face the Dreadbeast, so she could buy Gandarel time. Without a word Yearl and Tocor followed Mara.
She paused at the opening and faced the soldiers. "Do not allow anything to enter this room, be strong and don't fear, we will handle the Dreadbeast, but some Togs might get past. Once Gandarel is free of the Wall, make your way into the cavern maze. There you should be able to avoid the Togs until we find you. If we don't show up, wait until the Togs depart, and then head for the west... farewell."
Mara turned and disappeared into the dark.
Gandarel faced the Wall.
Up to now his two councilmen had been quiet, but Enolive stepped forward and spoke softly to Gandarel.
"You don't have to go in there, Gandarel. Do you understand that you could die in this test? You might never come out."
Gandarel shook with fear; the smooth stone face of the Wall terrified him. The thought of what might happen, of the prophesy’s words about him killing Aerin, of the Dreadbeast Death, coming, of the test that could kill him... each was like a large boulder of mounting fear, each of them weighing down on his mind, as he tried not to collapse.
Aerin approached his trembling friend. "It's all right, Gandarel, this is your destiny. My father believed you were the one, and I believe in you."
Gandarel did not want to step forward, but in the face of Aerin’s calm he could not let his friend down, and so, somehow, he moved forward one step. He stopped when he was just in front of the stone. "Tell me that the others that have gone in here have come out."
"Mara said almost all of them have, she only mentioned one that didn't return," Aerin answered truthfully.
The sweat was pouring from Gandarel's face and soaking down into his shirt.
"I can't do it," he almost moaned, as his mind rebelled at the thought of the solid stone that would be around his body if he stepped into that smooth surface.
"Then don't go in, Gandarel, it is death to enter that stone," Enolive replied. "We can just leave this place! You aren't ready, and that woman shouldn't have asked you to do this yet."
Aerin scowled at the bony councilman, “You aren’t helping!”
The doubt that Enolive's words caused in Gandarel was obvious in his face, yet with a shaking hand, he reached forward to touch the smooth stone. Instead of a hard surface, his fingers entered the stone as if it was no harder than water, but there was no ripple in the smooth rock. Instantly an invisible force was pulling him forward. He tried to stop, but once started he was pulled into the stone, body and soul. He turned and stretched his free hand out in supplication; the young boy’s face a mask of terror.
"Help me!" Gandarel cried, terrified more than at any other time in his life.
Enolive was nearest, but he did nothing.
“Please, Aerin, help me!” Gandarel pleaded desperately as he turned, trying to keep his head out of the stone, but he was still moving into the wall.
Aerin saw his friend's anguish and leaped to grab his hand. When Gandarel felt Aerin's hand, he latched onto his friend with a dying man's grip, but the pull was too strong and Gandarel's scream was cut off as his head went into the stone. His h
and clutched Aerin's, and though Aerin tried to stop, Gandarel's death grip on his hand pulled his friend’s hand into the smooth stone surface.
Lor leaped for Aerin and grabbed his shoulder, as she tried to stop him from entering the Wall after Gandarel.
Aerin felt his right hand go into the stone, and now he too felt the pull. He looked back into Lor's desperate gaze and he was calm. Mara’s teachings in fear washed his mind of panic and his thoughts were clear. He spoke to Lor calmly, "As you love me, Lor, let me go, now!"
Lor saw the clarity in his face; it wasn't a look of panic, but one of decision. Trusting her friend, she let loose.
Lor stood and watched as Aerin stepped into the Wall, no longer resisting. His hand was still clasped in Gandarel’s tight grip. In a moment, all traces of both friends were gone.
Chapter Sixteen
"I saw the boy return and his face was the mask of despair, his soul empty and his future destroyed. In that moment, he was lost to us forever."
- From the Dark Prophecies
"Something tells me that wasn't supposed to happen," Katek stated into the shocked silence.
Dono read the words written on the side of the Wall again, aloud, "…you must enter alone so that you will never be alone again. Take care before you touch the stone, for once started, this test cannot be stopped."
"What should we do?" Lor demanded.
"Well, I doubt it will do any good to send more people in," Enolive said, entering the discussion.
"You should have stopped him from going in there in the first place!" Niler snarled at his fellow councilman.
"How dare you!"
"Shut up, both of you!” the Corporal of the Bluecoats commanded. "I can't hear a thing with you two bellowing."
He and his soldiers were clustered around the edges of the chamber's entrance, with drawn weapons. Gandarel's Guardsmen were arranged in the center of the chamber, guarding the path to the Wall, where Gandarel had entered.
