by BC Powell
He understands what happened to him now. Clarity has returned.
Krymzyn will soon see a different change. Change brought by the man. With the failure of the Tree of Vision to preserve balance in the ways established at The Beginning, the man will restore order. As The Origin once did, the man will dictate the future balance of Krymzyn.
A new path to righteousness will be born.
The man focuses his attention on the steel tree in front of him. His eyes slowly rise from the ground to the uppermost boughs. Now that every limb from the lower half of the trunk has been removed, the once fierce tree is harmless. The needles may be sharp, the branches strong, but the limbs that remain at the top of the tree can never reach the ground.
A thick, hollow stake embedded deep into the massive trunk will be safe from damage. Even if forcefully cast from the branches above, the needles can’t pierce the steel tube. The man’s innovations are far superior to the ways of those who dwell in the Delta and on the Mount. There’s no need to risk bodily harm from the savage trees when Darkness falls.
The steel sap from this tree will flow into a transport, and the process will begin. From the molds he’s carved, additional transports will be made. Many more steel trees on the back side of the Mount will be rendered defenseless, and new transports filled with their sap. Wheels will be shaped and steel frames attached to them, strong enough to transport huge slabs of marble across the Barrens.
In a small canyon deep in the Desert, far from watchful eyes and well away from the paths Travelers use to the Infinite Expanse, the process will continue. A “factory” will be born, to use a word he learned from the Disciples during a story of another plane. A factory of marble molds producing steel tools, shields, armor, and weapons. Weapons with names like sword, mace, crossbow, and catapult. Hundreds of Murkovin, bound to the man by the sap he provides them, will provide the labor.
The man steps behind his beautiful woman of the Barrens. After slipping his arms around her waist, he slowly runs one hand over the slight curve of her belly.
“Stay at our cavern while I’m in the Desert,” he says. “As soon as they’re trained, I’ll return.”
“Take your time,” she replies. “I’ll be safe.”
“I want to be with you to protect our child growing inside you.”
“I can protect the child,” she says. “You have much work ahead of you.”
The man knows well her ability to use a spear and the speed of her legs. And like the man, even though she’s a creature born of the wasteland, she’s acquired the mental control to harness the power that unrestricted consumption of wild sap provides.
He gazes down the slope of the Mount to the Barrens below. Such an immense plane, he thinks to himself. An enormous area lies inside the boundaries of the Infinite Expanse, with only the tiny Delta in the center. So few people to defend the Delta and the Mount—one hundred and twelve in the grace of Krymzyn, to be exact, and seven of those are children.
The extraordinary Hunter is one of those in the Delta, of course, but even she can’t defeat more than a handful of Murkovin at one time. Even fewer if those creatures are armed with weapons capable of inflicting much greater damage than spears. There’s no point in wasting any more time trying to kill her. He let his desire for retribution against her wretched ways interfere with his true path, his vision for the future of this world. She can’t stop him. No one can. One day, he knows, the people of Krymzyn will kneel before him.
Five billion square miles of the vast plane may be Desert, but that leaves over thirty billion square miles of Barrens with sustaining trees growing in every part. Based on his calculations, in every fifty thousand square miles, on average, dwells a Murkovin. Twenty sustaining trees are now restrained, providing more sap than the Murkovin have ever known, and the beasts are flocking to him. Many more trees will be put into servitude, and if only one out of ten Murkovin that live in the Barrens falls under his command, the man will have more than enough bodies for his needs. Those in the grace of Krymzyn aren’t even aware of how many Murkovin actually exist. They blindly accept that they’re safe.
Every person in the Delta could have the power of the Hunter, but they could still never withstand the onslaught he’ll prepare. What was that word he learned as a child from a story of another plane? The man digs into his memory.
Army.
That’s the word. An army of Murkovin wielding weapons never before seen in Krymzyn.
A new order—a new balance—will be established. The Tree of Vision and all of Krymzyn have failed. I will take the place of the Tree. I will determine each person’s purpose, define the balance for this world, and all in the grace of Krymzyn will serve me. Those who refuse will die, for I’ll have an army of Murkovin under my control.
I’ll educate my child, teach my child the ways of balance I’ve conceived. And then, on a distant morrow in the future, I’ll give this world to my child. For eternity, my bloodline will rule the infinite plane.
It will take time to build this army, to construct the weapons, but I have time. Patience has returned. I’ll waste no more effort trying to kill the Hunter. Let those behind the black marble walls of the Delta and the Mount forget my name, believing they’re safe and secure.
When the proper time comes, when the weapons are in hand and the beasts have been trained, a fury will be unleashed on the Delta. A fury from the army of Murkovin that will serve me—fifty thousand strong.
* * *
“A Traveler’s Fate”
by
BC Powell
book three
The Journals of Krymzyn
February, 2016
* * *
The Journals of Krymzyn
Krymzyn
The Infinite Expanse
A Traveler’s Fate (February, 2016)
Barrens Rising (October, 2016)
War of The Beginning (May, 2017)
The 8th Purpose (January, 2018)
Light of Krymyzn (August, 2018)