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by StoneDog There was nothing left. Nothing, except madness. He used to think that it was the fear of the unknown that kept them honest. He knew different, now. He could see how ambition and pride could hide the fear, make it seem less than it was. The city burned. There was a wall that used to flank the street, taller than any Ogier. It had been blasted to pieces, rubble scattered like rose petals to the wind. He sat down on one of the smoother, larger chunks and sighed. His head pulsed to the rhythm of his heartbeat. There were people running, small cabals dashing to and fro, with no real idea of direction or purpose. He watched a veiled Aiel stand in a doorway, his face a picture of torment and confusion, before the building collapsed around him. The flames, always the flames. She had assured him that the experiment would not fail. How he had been blinded by beauty, tripped by desire into proving his worth to her. She wanted another, but when did that ever matter? Imagine, she had said, imagine working the same flows, tapping the same Source. Imagine what we could accomplish. That was what had kept him there. It was always 'we'. Was it pure fantasy to believe that she meant to include him in her future plans? The earth shook for a few moments, and a dull booming sound reverberated from the south. Screams followed. He could feel the flows of saidin all around him, and he sensed that it would be better to move on down the street, perhaps down to the river. He staggered away from the rubble, his walking impaired by the throbbing pain in his head. A minute or so later, a sho-wing crashed down almost exactly where he had been sitting, but he didn't notice. Her laugh was so infectious, the most beautiful of sounds. Countless hours of experimenting, testing and creating ter'angreals, but her spirit never flagged. Unless someone mentioned Lews Therin, of course. Then her mood would swing to anger and despair, and he would have to find some way to bring her out of it. Always, she would look at him with those piercing eyes, and even as his heart melted, she would tell him how Lews Therin would someday be hers. He thought Ilyena would have something to say about that. The scene at the river's edge was no better than the city's center. Buildings burned as people tried valiantly to douse the flames, carrying buckets of water in human chains. It was no use, but he felt no desire to tell them so. Ogier soldiers had joined the efforts, but he could see the slumped shoulders, the hesitant movements. They were also ready to give up and flee the city. She had found something, a crack in the Pattern that seemed to invite her saidar-enhanced touch. She had wanted to link with him, so they could probe it together. He had thought that they should wait, let the group discuss the possibilities before going further. But, oh, how her eyes had danced with excitement, and his heart had known he could not deny her any longer. The closest bridge to him had been destroyed, so he channeled a platform of Air that he could use to cross the river. Travelling or Skimming was out of the question; he had heard stories of people not making it back from the ether since this all began. The Pattern was not stable, and threads were snapping like dry twigs everywhere you looked. The citizens on the shore stopped to stare at him, and he wondered whether they would try to kill him. He then wondered whether or not he would care if they did. She had taken control of the link, used it to probe something, and to him it had seemed... slippery and foul, like a rotten egg that had been dropped on the floor. He had begged her to stop, it all felt wrong and dangerous, but she was too anxious, too focused to listen, and when the crack started to give way, she had cried out with joy. That was when the world became darkness. He was at the outskirts of the city, the headache abating somewhat now that he had some distance between himself and all the corrupted weaves of saidin. The road was packed with caravans of refugees heading out of the disaster area, but they were too busy fleeing to notice a man stumbling along. The crack in the Pattern had become a hole, a dot of blackness that had quickly expanded, and their link had shattered, knocking them across the room. He had taken her in his arms, trying to wake her up, babbling something about how she could not die now, not when he loved her with all his heart. The floor seemed to drop from beneath them, and he had realized that the Collam Daan was falling, the hoverjets failing. A voice had come from the hole, full of power and awesomely commanding, and it said: FREEDOM. They had continued to fall, and he had woven a cushioning sphere of Air to protect them from the landing even as he shook the woman he loved to bring her around. Please, he had said, I need you to live. He reached a high point in the land, and he turned to look at the city that had held so many of his hopes and dreams. The shining towers and proud buildings were reduced to ruins, and even as lightning bolts and fireballs rained down on the shattered remains, he could see in his mind's eye how the city had looked less than two days ago. Then, it had been a model of order, a haven of sanity. Now, madness reigned. A madness of human beings who had been friendly, law-abiding citizens, but were now an uncontrollable mob of lunacy and evil. The war had begun, and Light knew how it would end. She had woken in his arms, disoriented, calling him 'Lews Therin' before realizing who he was. His heart had sank, and he had closed his eyes to stop the tears from flowing. Around them, the wreckage of the Collam Daan, and above them, the pit of darkness. The screams had already begun, but there was a new light in Mierin's eyes as she looked at him and said, the dreams were true, Beidomon, and the promises will be fulfilled. She had laughed then, but there was no beauty in that sound. His heart had turned to stone. He watched the hordes stream out of the city, fanning out in all directions, finding little resistance but many victims. Oh, Mierin, he thought, why could you not find a place in your heart for me? A group of blood-thirsty bandits rushed up the hill towards him, but he made no move to run away or hide. Instead, he thought, you doomed us all. His eyes were closed when the brigand's sword plunged into his heart. Return to the main page! |
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