Severed Souls

by Terry Goodkind

  “Look, Zedd, I’m not arguing that the man can do what he wants, and neither was Naja. The point is that by the things he has done—creating the half people, animating the dead, and pulling spirits out of the world of the dead into this world—Naja’s people were sure that he has the wherewithal to rip the veil. That’s all that really matters.”

  “I still say it’s delusional.”

  “It may be delusional to think you can steal a man’s thoughts by breaking his head open with a rock to have a look at them, but the man with the head full of thoughts is dead either way.”

  Zedd grunted unhappily. “I suppose you’re right. Did she offer any solution, any answers?”

  “She said that Sulachan’s scheme could only be stopped by the bringer of death.”

  Zedd shot Richard a sharp look. “What is the bringer of death supposed to do to stop such powers?”

  Richard’s gaze wandered across the dark woods. The low clouds had drifted silently back overhead and blanketed the heat of the day, so that it wasn’t as cold as Kahlan said it had been the night before, when he had been at death’s door.

  “Have you ever heard of something called ‘the Twilight Count’?” he finally asked his waiting grandfather.

  “No, I can’t say that I have. What is it?”

  “I don’t know. The way Naja talked about it makes me think it might have something to do with the chronology of prophecy, like a calendar of prophecy, or something. It involved some kind of formal calculation, but she didn’t explain it—I guess because people in her time knew all about it. She did say that they were able to determine from this Twilight Count that prophecy holds the key to stopping the threat.”

  “Prophecy.” Zedd’s face twisted with a sour expression. “It would have to be prophecy.”

  “Actually, you may be surprised to hear that she said the threat can only be ended by ending prophecy.”

  Zedd’s frown deepened. “Ending prophecy? How in the world are we supposed to end prophecy?”

  Richard looked over at his grandfather. “We? Naja said that according to the Twilight Count, prophecy can only be ended by the bringer of death. That means it can only be ended by me.”

  “Samantha called you ‘the one.’ What’s that about?”

  Richard shrugged. “In many different ways, books of prophecy have all identified me as the bringer of death. In the same way they say I’m the one who is supposed to stop Sulachan by ending prophecy. I think that’s why Samantha and the sorceresses of Stroyza have always expected ‘the one’ to come along and solve the problem they are there to watch over. It could be that they have been taught that the right person would come along at the right time.”

  “Or it could be something as simple as them knowing that the barrier would eventually fail, and they assume that when it did someone would come along and set things right.”

  “That makes sense, too,” Richard said. “People are always looking for a simple answer, looking for ‘the one’ who will solve their problems.”

  Zedd clasped his hands behind his back. “Sounds simple enough.”

  It was Richard’s turn to frown. “Simple?”

  “Certainly. The barrier comes down, as Naja’s people knew it would. The people of Stroyza were meant to watch for that event. Even if over the centuries they lost the ability to read Naja’s message, they probably continued to pass the general concept down from generation to generation, teaching their children that when the barrier failed they had to report it and someone would stop the threat. Over time, the gifted of Stroyza might have simply come to think of that person as ‘the one.’”

  Richard shot his grandfather an unhappy look. “It may sound simple, but the problem is I’m the one named in prophecy and I don’t have any idea how to end prophecy.”

  Zedd’s sour expression returned. “Yes, that part does sound tricky.”

  “That isn’t all,” Richard said as he showed Zedd his ring with the Grace on it. “Magda Searus and Merritt left it for me.”

  Zedd frowned. “The first Confessor herself?”

  “That would be the one.”

  “How do you know it’s for you? Was there a message with it?”

  Richard nodded. “There were three emblems written in the language of Creation hidden in a shielded door along with this ring. They have been hidden there, undisturbed and undiscovered, for three thousand years.

  “The first of the three emblems said, If you are reading this it is because you are the bringer of death and the barrier has been breached. What we could not stop you now face. War is upon you.”

  “Well that certainly seems to confirm the business with you being ‘the one.’ What about the other two emblems?”

  Richard squinted in thought, making sure he got the words right. “The second said, Know that you are the only chance life has, now. Know, too, that you are balanced between life and death. You have the potential to be the one to save the world of life or end it. You are not destined for anything. You make your own destiny.”

  “That sounds like it’s referring to the poison in you,” Zedd said. “That touch of death you carry means you are balanced between the world of life and the world of the dead.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Richard said. “But the problem is that the combinations of cause and effect that result in me being the one to save life, or to end it, are so complex, and there are so many variables, that I don’t know how what she said is supposed to do me any good.”

  Zedd made a sound of agreement deep in his throat. “What about the third part? Did that shed any light on it?”

  “Not really. The third emblem said, Know that you have within you what you need to survive. Use it. Seek the truth. Know that our hearts are with you. Make your own destiny and make it true, for life hangs in the balance. We leave you a reminder to keep with you, of all that is important.

  “Magda Searus and Wizard Merritt wanted me to have this ring as a reminder of what we all fight for.”

  Zedd considered the words in silence.

  “Do you have any idea what I should do?” Richard finally asked.

  Zedd’s face turned away to stare off into the darkness. “As a matter of fact, my boy, I do.”

  CHAPTER

  47

  Richard frowned over at his grandfather, his face shadowed by the light of the campfire. “Really? You know what I need to do?”

  Zedd grunted with a nod. “I do. As a matter of fact, that is what I wanted to talk to you about. It’s why I came out here to speak with you alone. The message from Magda and Merritt only confirms my thoughts.”

  Richard rubbed the creases in his forehead. He stopped when he realized that he was trying to rub away the distant sounds of screams deep in his own mind. He focused instead on the buzz and chirp of night insects. Silhouetted against the faint light of the sky, he could see bats from time to time as they silently swooped by on erratic courses to catch flying bugs.

  “I could use some advice about now, Zedd,” Richard said in a quiet voice. “I’m about at my wits’ end. Everyone is depending on me.”

  Zedd looked over at him. In the hard angles of the old man’s face, Richard could see that it was one of those troubled looks that told him this was as serious as Zedd got.

  “My boy, after we get to the citadel and remove that poison from you, I think that you should quit.”

  Richard stared for a moment, not sure he had heard correctly. “What are you talking about, quit? What do you mean?”

  “Just what I said. Quit. Give it all up.”

  Richard frowned, trying to understand. “Give what up?”

  “Everything and everyone. It’s time you and Kahlan lived your lives for each other. You’ve both sacrificed your lives together and given up everything you could have with each other in order to fight on behalf of everyone else. I think the time has come for you both to give up everything else and go live for yourselves, for your own happiness. You have done enough, Richard. You have done more
than enough.”

  Richard was stunned. Richard knew by his grandfather’s tone of voice that he was deadly serious.

  “I don’t understand, Zedd. How can I possibly do such a thing when everyone is depending on me?”

  Zedd let out a sigh. “Richard, the world was getting by for a very long time before you ever came along. How many times throughout history has disaster been right around the corner? How many times has the world of life been threatened and on the brink? Such things have been going on since long before you ever came along to save the day.”

  “Yes, but this is one of those threats that even the people back in the great war warned about, and they identified me as the only one who would have a chance to stop it. This is the time when I’m the one meant to step in and act.”

  Zedd thought about his answer for a moment. “Since the dawn of man, there have always been people bent on harming others. There have been periods of peace and enlightenment, and there have been dark times, but through it all, mankind survived. That cycle has repeated itself over and over. It wasn’t always easy, and despite those who would have it otherwise, life went on.”

  Richard let out a sigh of his own. “It seems like people would learn from that, and let others live their lives.”

  Zedd shrugged. “I personally believe that it’s a basic flaw in mankind’s makeup.”

  “What do you mean? What sort of flaw?”

  “Hate. I believe it is a fundamental defect in mankind. While other creatures live to nurture and live their lives, only some of mankind lives that way.”

  “Sure, there are both good and bad people. I don’t understand what you mean by a flaw, though.”

  “Well, revulsion—hate—is a fundamental function of nature. Hate is a judgment, and judgment is necessary to life. Mice hate owls, so they hide. Rabbits hate wolves. That judgment makes them always ready to run.

  “It’s necessary and natural to be repelled by things that are harmful to life. It’s a built-in natural protective mechanism. We don’t have to think it through each time because the judgment is automatic.

  “We hate the smell of corpses, for example. We hate it when thieves steal what belongs to us. We hate murderers. It’s natural to hate those things, the same way it is natural for birds to hate cats and make a racket in protest whenever one roams by.”

  Some of Richard’s earliest memories were of Zedd speaking in this role, passing along lessons, so he simply listened as his grandfather went on.

  “Hatred of the smell of corpses make us bury or burn the dead which keeps us from getting diseases. Hatred of thieves prompts us to guard against those who would sneak in and steal the food from our children’s mouths. We hate murderers because they steal our lives. That kind of hatred breeds caution and causes us to take measures to protect ourselves. We lock doors, we carry weapons, we take a variety of measures to protect our loved ones from those who would cause them harm.

  “In animals that hatred stops there. A rabbit does not hate sheep, for example. You will see rabbits and sheep eating grass side by side. Animals will protect their own territory so that they can provide for themselves and their young, but they don’t take more territory simply to possess it.

  “In humans, we communicate, enabling us to pass our judgment on to others. We might say ‘I hated traveling that route because it’s so steep that I almost fell and broke my neck.’ That judgment, framed in the emotion of hate, is so basic to our nature that it is easily transferred to others.

  “But in many people that capacity for hatred loses its natural, rational motive. The emotion runs wild and becomes their dominant trait. They are no longer able to appreciate the good in anything. Having lost the link to rational purpose, they react purely on the emotion. Because of the power of that emotion, their minds become set in that single direction. It becomes so all-consuming that many of those people lose even their capacity to love life. They can only hate.

  “The good in life is what quenches hatred in normal people, the way a smile can calm a quarrel. But in those people who carry this flaw, their hatred burns so hot they come to hate what is good in life specifically because they don’t want to stop hating. Hatred becomes the driving purpose of their lives. They live to hate.

  “That flaw twists nature in on itself. In order to preserve their state of hatred, they must attack the good, wipe away that smile, so to speak.

  “That single-minded emotion of hate has been a fundamental, inherent flaw in mankind’s nature since the dawn of time. It drives people to fight, to conquer, to dominate, to destroy. Hatred has such powerful emotions attached to it that others take it up out of fear. In that way, hate spreads like a panic in a crowd.

  “Expanded beyond its rational bounds, hate exists entirely in the realm of raw emotion, where it ceases to serve a useful purpose, and instead becomes a powerful corrosive that eats away at the fabric of civilization itself, at the very ability of people to interact peacefully. It spawns fights among children and among neighbors, it spawns wars, it spawns genocide and slaughter. It’s present in every great land and every tiny village. It creates bullies and tyrants. That unquenchable, passionate, rampant flaw is universal throughout mankind.

  “One of the wizard’s rules, actually: There have always been those who hate, and there always will be.

  “You can’t change it. You can only try to keep such people from harming you, for if they can they will. In many ways, fighting them only reinforces that emotion of hate. Even protecting yourself from them only makes them more determined to cause you harm.

  “People born with that inherent, tragic defect are like an animal born without eyes. They can only perceive things through the prism of hate. Since they have in a way lost their ability to see, lost that compassionate, tolerant connection to the rest of humanity, they have in a way lost their souls.

  “The half people are driven by their nature of being born without a soul, so that trait drives them to behave the way they do. It is a fundamental flaw in their nature that they cannot change. Everything they do is driven by that flaw.

  “In much the same way, those driven by hate are like the half people, and in a fundamental way they, too, are alive but without a soul. Both are driven by their inherent defect to destroy life that is complete and wholesome.

  “That hatred is so all-consuming in some that they would even deliberately destroy themselves if it enabled them to destroy others along with them. Hatred provides them with the justification for every sort of evil.

  “People who carry this inherent trait have been around long before you ever came along, Richard, and they will be around long after you are gone. It’s a constant struggle for balance in mankind itself—those who create and those who want only to destroy.”

  “But we can’t let them win,” Richard insisted.

  Zedd smiled sadly. “Even if you win this battle, the next day someone else will rise up. This is the basic struggle for mankind’s destiny—the struggle between civilized reason and savage emotion. It is endless and will go on until it eventually destroys the human race.

  “In a perverse way, such evil is encouraged by the mere act of trying to do right by others. That good inflames their hate, drives them on, so in a way trying to do good only feeds evil.

  “Maybe the meaning of ending prophecy to stop Sulachan is that you must end life itself. Perhaps it is nature’s intent for mankind to die out because the defect disqualifies us as a viable species. Perhaps our species does not deserve to survive.

  “In the end, it’s a self-canceling flaw in mankind. After all, if those who hate win, then mankind itself is destroyed. Who are you to decide what the outcome of nature should be? That our species deserves to survive?

  “In a way, your thinking that you can decide the course of nature is just as deluded as Sulachan’s. Who are you, in the scheme of things?

  “If it is nature’s way to correct its mistakes, then mankind will die out. If that is the case, it matters little what you do. If t
he die is cast, then if not this time, if not now, then perhaps right after you have left this life, having squandered your entire existence on an ultimately hopeless struggle, the world of man will end anyway.

  “Perhaps on the day you die and are no longer in the world of life, after fighting to save the good and decent people of the world, the final man will be born who will tip the scales and have what in his hatred of life he wants most, and finally succeed in throwing mankind into the oblivion of extinction.

  “That is why I think you should choose to live your own life, Richard. Take what life you have left and live it for yourself. Leave this fight for mankind to mankind. Ease the world down off your shoulders. Take the weight off Kahlan’s shoulders. She carries that weight in part because you choose to do so. Let her live, Richard. Let yourself live.”

  “But I am the Lord Rahl—”

  “Are you doing any of this in order to rule? No. You are not fighting so that others will lift you up as an emperor. You instead want to lift others by letting them live up to their own potential. You are not struggling to rule, but to give others a chance at ruling their own lives. So stop ruling and let them live those lives.

  “It should not be up to you alone to fight on behalf of life, it should be up to everyone. That is how nature balances itself.

  “If enough people are strong enough in their love of life, then mankind will survive. If there are too many who do not value their lives, but instead hate life and those who love it, then mankind will not survive. You alone can’t tip the balance.

  “Perhaps mankind does not deserve to survive. If that is the case, then nothing you do can really change the course.

  “You have saved the day for everyone enough times, Richard, given them all another day to live. When is it time for your life, for you and Kahlan to live?

  “I think the time has come for you to go off and save yourself. Leave the world of life to work it out on its own, the way all of nature in the end must do.”