Light of the Dark

by N. Saraven

  That was the first time she came face-to-face with the concept of their subjects’ ‘evil’. What they called ‘bad’ or ‘dark’. She already knew, of course, what it meant to be Bad, as in the opposite of doing something Good, just as Light had Dark as its counter. But Lexénia was utterly stunned when she discovered the primitive way of thinking with which the subjects described Evil. Especially when she learned that they associated it with the concepts of ‘dark’ and ‘black’.

  Lexénia found this truly insulting. Even more so when she finally understood through many years of observing why they thought that way.

  The subjects proved to be afraid of the Night, of the dark, in which they could not see with their poorly constructed eyes. So they could hardly know from where and when something lethal would jump on them or in what they could fall, or stumble, or hit something, hurting themselves. So Night became associated with the unknown, which was feared, so as a result, Night became feared as well. Not to mention that when somebody lost their consciousness, they saw nothing but pitch-black.

  Lexénia could not understand, nor relate to this kind of thinking. She found it in every single species, although in different forms. In her eyes, the humans were the worst, who also made the gorgeous black the colour of Death. She felt deeply insulted by it. Just because they feared Death, they immediately connected it to another feared thing—the Night. Putting them together, coming up with this ridiculous result, when they wore black during mourning.

  Lexénia also did not like the fact that whoever became ‘bad’, or ‘evil’ often wore only dark clothes. Regardless, she became very pleased with the dark mages themselves, who firstly thought about themselves and their goals in life. Who searched new methods to gain more powers, who seemed to constantly challenge their limits. And who could still care if they had a special someone, or more than one person. They could promise eternal loyalty to these people and would do anything for them.

  So the Goddess forgave their love for the colour black. Especially since they usually worked during the Night, so black seemed much more useful than anything else.

  Lexénia chided herself for wandering off from the present like that. She glanced at the water, but Neila still slept soundly. She sighed again, then mused further.

  Because of her nature, she always liked to meddle in everybody else’s business. Especially in the mortals’, despite the fact that they must not appear personally in their world. Yet she always found a way to tamper with their lives.

  Nothing could have made her happier than turning a good person into something else. She had her fun with Indrek also, but when he failed, as mortals often do, he lost her interest for a while. She even locked him into human form, just because, so he could not do anything fun for a while.

  Then a new toy came along, which made the Goddess very happy for the time being. Namely, trying to turn an elven to the ‘dark side’. Playing with one of Arisha’s creatures gave her huge pleasure.

  Back in the time at the Creation, both Arisha and Setal took humans as the base specimen for their experiments, but neither of them could put up with them for long. So they made changes to them. From Arisha’s love of nature and kindness were born the elvens. Setal’s stinging arrogance and longing for perfection made the kobolds.

  The latter lost Lexénia’s interest fast. They somehow accepted both sides; everybody could choose either without judgement. Although they punished if one harmed another kobold, nobody really cared about anybody who chose to be dark. On the other hand, amidst the elvens the love of the Dark was considered unimaginable. They adored the Night, the stars and the Moon, albeit they distanced themselves from the evil which was attached to it.

  So what could have been better for Lexénia than showing one of these creatures how evil one could be?

  She knew immediately that she had found a rare gem in Halgor. She followed his life carefully, helping him when needed, nudging him gently in the right direction. She even gave a little something from her powers, making him greater than he ever wanted. He was perfect for her, so Lexénia made him her Chosen One.

  Although she was not especially fond of his relationship with Neila, Setal’s Chosen One, she never really disapproved of it either. Somehow it was not surprising that the Good and Evil had found themselves this way.

  At this point, Lexénia had to cease her walking down memory lane, since Neila moaned as she was slowly waking up. She took her place at the rim of the fountain, watching. She became very curious what the mage would do next, how she would process everything that she told her.

  Lexénia smiled when the Master sent Veilon out of the room, then tried to convince Enargit to leave at once for Indrek. She wanted to close this whole matter herself, resolving it between themselves. The mage had just accused them, the Gods, with why they could not leave others out of their business. She must have taken that too seriously, hence she was convinced that the existing problems lay between two, maybe three of them—herself, Indrek, and perhaps Cameron. Nobody else. So why would they raise armies, sending innocent bystanders to their deaths, when they should solve the problems themselves …?

  The Goddess almost burst into laughter when the companions actually headed out to the city. She did not like the breaking-Halgor’s-heart part, however; she immediately formed new plans to turn this around. She even made up a new, much better way to have a little fun, which made her smile. She only needed to stop Halgor from fighting for his loved one. Lexénia did not want them to be together again, since she had bigger plans for Neila.

  She would swim in endless happiness when her plans succeeded. She just realised that she needed a new approach than trying to make the Dark more and more powerful. After all, why should she do such a thing, when she could turn the Light against itself …?

  Lexénia gave a wry laugh.

  35. Shades of the past

  Veilon stared at the empty place where Halgor had stood a moment ago, as did Agony and Talek. The elven left with no further information whatsoever; he dived into the situation blindly. It was obvious as daylight what he intended to do.

  “Fool …” hissed the paragon.

  “Because he tries to hold back his mate from doing something harmful? Yes, you’re right …” murmured Agony, mocking. Veilon glanced at him angrily.

  “At the moment we can do nothing. We must let Neila do whatever she wants. If there was another way, believe me, I would have tried to talk her out of it,” replied the mage with a similar tone, which made the warrior roll his eyes.

  “Because you know her better than her own partner,” argued Agony. Talek growled something as agreement.

  Veilon sighed when he saw that he got no respect at all, which he should have as a Ruler. Yet he had to swallow his pride in this, especially since not even Talek would come to his side. He did not try to win the soldier over, even if he could have used his authority to do so. However, he would gain only problems—Talek’s loyalty belonged to Veilon’s mother, the late queen, and when she passed, to his friends. And Veilon was never part of this group, not truly. So he was not considered as ‘one of them’, nor accepted like Halgor.

  He ought to try a different way to form an alliance with the friends. Which, he guessed, could start at honesty. So he clenched his jaws, then tried his best to sell his good intentions.

  “At the moment, most probably I do, yes, however insane that sounds. After all, it was not the elven who listened to her when Neila wanted to ease her soul. It was not him who gave her comfort when she fell apart, nor tried to distract her from the problems. Although Enargit did a great job, some issues he couldn’t deal with, like physical comforting.”

  “You don’t say that you and Neila …” asked Talek, grimacing, as if he were grossed out.

  His gaze showed nothing but disbelief and contempt. He obviously could never believe such a thing, that Veilon truly chose Neila, wanting a real life with her rather than having fun. The companions never hid their distrust, even hatred, towards the paragon. A
s they saw him, he was nothing more than a terribly selfish being, who could never, ever care for anybody else than himself. His every act served this sole purpose and seemingly when he got something that he wanted, he immediately lost any further interest in it.

  Talek mentioned several times, even to Veilon himself, that in his eyes, the Ruler did not care about his subjects at all, nor about the almost-united Kobold Empire. Probably this whole thing was just another check on the paragon’s list of things he wanted to achieve before dying. Nobody saw him actually doing something for others, only ordering everybody else around as he pleased.

  Although usually whenever this came up, Agony always cut in with the question of why Talek never went home because, according to the warrior, he would love it there. He behaved the same as the Ruler, so they should be good friends, he teased. Of course, Talek’s face reddened in anger at this, and he almost jumped on the other. When this happened, Kira or Rita had to step in to maintain the peace.

  Regardless, everybody knew that this whole thing was only a façade, that Talek would do anything for any of them without a question. As would they do for him. So no wonder, when the soldier heard something that horrified him about one of his friends, he immediately jumped to defend them. Even against Veilon, who technically was his ruler.

  On the other hand, Talek had never showed any true intentions about leaving the kobold nation, with all its complications. He could have resigned from being part of the Empire, which would have freed him from any obligations. Yet he never did, just always pushed the limits.

  And the Ruler’s patience …

  “Not that it would be any of your concern!” hissed Veilon angrily, staring deep into the other’s eyes. “But since it came up, no, nothing happened. I only gave comfort, nothing more. I would never do anything to hurt her—”

  “Yeah, ’cause once was enough, wasn’t it?” snorted Agony, with which he earned the paragon’s flaring eyes. Not that it would scare him.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Talek.

  “So you don’t know? Veilon studied in Varomor in the past. Of course, he couldn’t stay out of trouble. So one night, when Halgor was not here, he broke the rune protecting Neila’s room and … well … paid her a little visit …”

  “WHAAAT?!” shouted the soldier.

  He obviously loathed the mage even more, if that could have been possible. He wanted to skin him alive. He never hid it, that he would not mind if Neila would choose a kobold as her spouse at the end. Even a nomad, he would not care much.

  But not Veilon. Never Veilon! he decided, furious.

  “But this is nothing,” continued the warrior, dismissing the mage’s piercing gaze completely. “After this, he fled with his tail between his legs. He didn’t even accept the punishment. Why do you think Halgor wanted to break his neck when he reappeared in the Dragonwars? Or since Lexénia’s fortress?”

  The situation almost turned to the worst, when the door opened. Kira and Rita stood at the entrance, baffled by the men staring at each other like wild animals.

  “Oh … shall we come back later?” asked Kira innocently, shyly stepping back.

  “No,” growled Veilon through his teeth. “It’s best if you hear it too, what I have to say.”

  He turned his gaze away first, breaking the tension in the room somewhat.

  “Come in, and listen,” he ordered the girls, who quickly obeyed. When he had everybody’s attention, he continued, looking at them one by one. “I don’t ask that you like me. But we must work together, if you don’t wish to see the world in ruins.”

  The mage’s ominous tone made the tension disappear from the room, replacing it with worry. The friends exchanged uneasy looks. As Veilon looked around, his eyes caught something—one of the brought-back maps, stretched out on the one table at the window. He stepped to it, pushing through Agony and Talek, who growled at him in return.

  “Perfect, the elven had a little common sense and brought that here. I assume you haven’t heard it yet.” He motioned backwards with his head towards the girls, but he never even glanced at them. He gestured them to the map, but they stayed put. Both of them looked at Agony and Talek, wanting reassurance from them. After the men nodded, the girls stepped by the mage.

  “What is this?” asked Rita, eyeing the map, which seemed to be a huge piece of leather with some kind of ink on it.

  “This is a map of our world, one world,” started the Ruler, pointing around on the map. “We are here at the moment, on Caracen as it turned out. This is the Anaca-lake, and this Nimron. All parts of one, huge world.”

  The girls said nothing. Kira left her mouth open, although it was not certain why exactly. Rita regarded the map intently, following the lines with her eyes. But the more she watched the strange curves, the more she seemed confused. She frowned at the map, drawing even Veilon’s attention with her reaction. Suddenly the girl cried out in utter surprise, almost backing away from the table.

  “Oh, my Lord! Earth!” she gasped, not even looking at the others. Her eyes were fixed on the map.

  “What did you say?” Veilon turned to her, narrowing his eyes.

  But Rita did not even hear him, apparently. She stammered something that nobody could understand, becoming more and more pale, as if she would faint. She was obviously shocked.

  “Jesus, this is unbelievable! Alright, calm down, calm down,” she gasped, holding her stomach as if she wanted to throw up. “Okay, not really the Earth because it is an inverse map, but still … oh, my God …”

  Veilon grabbed her arms firmly at this point, turning her, so she would look at him. Rita seemed a little bit calmer, although she still looked very pale. Some kind of fear shone in her eyes. However, it soon became exchanged by pain, which made the mage ease up his grasp.

  “Pull yourself together, girl, and start from the beginning!” the Ruler barked at her, which made Talek growl disapprovingly in the background. Veilon released Rita immediately, albeit his eyes still demanded answers.

  “I …” started the girl, massaging her upper arms. “I know this world. This is Earth, where I came from. I mean, not Earth exactly, because this world is its reverse. I mean, here where the oceans are, there were the lands, and vice versa, where there were the oceans, here are the lands. The Anaca-lake called Honduras, or whatever is there. Oh, my God, this is huge!” She took a deep breath. “The Nimron is the Caribbean, the Caracen called Pacific Ocean … Unbelievable! I’ve never seen inverse Earth before!”

  “Hmm … interesting,” mused Veilon with narrow eyes, as he obviously tried to work out this mystery.

  “Not really,” pointed out Agony. “What does this mean for us?”

  “You’re probably right. It answers some questions about the Creation. But now it is irrelevant. Right now, the important thing is that Neila paid a little visit to Indrek, with Enargit.” The mage turned to the others again, leaning against the table. Kira gave a soft cry in surprise.

  “If Halgor was unsuccessful stopping her,” argued Agony.

  “Why would she go on a suicidal mission like this?” Talek wanted to know, overlapping with the warrior, so it was difficult to tell which of them said what.

  “He was, believe me. I am sure about that. And because she wanted to make a truce with him. At least, that would be my guess,” replied the kobold softly.

  “I agree. Knowing Neila, she must take control. I hope they will be okay,” said Rita worriedly. Talek and Agony glanced at her, then at each other. However, in the end they stayed silent, believing Veilon.

  Rita, despite the fact that she was new in this world, had very good insights about everybody around her. Especially about the companions, whom she seemed to know better than they thought. She only knew what was written in her books, as she said, still she could deduct things better than some of the friends, or made more precise observations about them.

  So if she said the paragon could be right, he probably was. Even if the men loathed the idea.

&nbs
p; “I would think so,” continued Veilon. “Indrek is not a fool. He could gain a lot from this. Furthermore, he would not come out on top from a fight like this, believe me.”

  “All of this is just chiselled and shiny, but what do you need us for?” snapped Talek, who obviously became more and more annoyed by the Ruler’s presence.

  Veilon opened his mouth, when the door slammed open. Halgor stood at the entrance, drawing all attention. He looked so terrible, which made even the paragon close his mouth without a sound. Talek and Agony stared with widened eyes, wondering what could have done this to the dark elven.

  Turmoil could not even begin to describe him. Something utterly shattered him emotionally, making him seem as if he just lived through Indrek’s and Lexénia’s deepest, darkest tortures.

  As Halgor looked up and caught the Ruler standing at the table, he lost his temper immediately, launching forwards. He surprised the others just enough to act late.

  “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!” he shouted. He grabbed the kobold by the collar, then pinned him to the ground. The elven’s hands then slid to his neck, trying to suffocate him.

  Veilon was completely caught by surprise, and then he hit his head on the ground when he fell. The air was pressed out from his lungs, leaving him breathless, as the attacker sat on his chest. The paragon grabbed the elven’s hands on his neck, desperately trying to remove them, or at least make them loosen up. He fought back as good as he could, but he was extremely tired both physically and mentally, so nothing worked. The lack of air started to get to him, preventing any magic or spell.

  “Get him off him!” cried out Rita, but Agony and Talek were already on the move.

  They tried to jerk the elven off, grabbing him everywhere they could. They managed to break his concentration enough to stop the spell he was chanting, leaving him focusing on the strangling only. Somehow the friends had a truly difficult time pulling him off; they could try to move a mountain and be more successful. It seemed that a few moments more and the paragon would be dead.