“Hello,” Jak said. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve lost.” She put out an arm, reaching for the young boy.
He recoiled, as if trying to bury himself deeper into the embrace of his departed parents.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” said Jak. “I’m here to help. If you stay here, you will die. Do you want to die?”
The boy hesitated, as if seriously considering it for a moment. And in a way, Jak didn’t blame him. He had just lost his parents, and there wasn’t much hope for him. What more had he to live for? There had been times after the death of her father when she’d wanted to join him. That was before finding her mother, but the memory still haunted her. That had been a dark part of her life, one that she could see playing out in the boy’s eyes.
“Listen to me,” she tried to keep her words gentle. She had to get the boy to safety, but he needed to understand something first. “You still have something to give to the world. And if you die, you won’t be able to give it. If you live, you can bless the lives of many. Perhaps even save lives. Do you understand that? Others that you haven’t even met are counting on you.” It was a lesson she herself had learned over the course of the last eighteen months.
A glint of something like resolve entered the boy’s eyes, and his tears stopped flowing. He nodded.
“Come on out of there,” Jak said, and waved him forward. “I can help you.”
Slowly, he dislodged himself from the corpses of his parents, rising to his feet and taking one tentative step forward, then another.
“That’s right,” she encouraged. Whipping off her cloak, she flung it around the boy as he emerged from underneath the blanket. Then with a flash of magic, she sent a jet of flame at the dead fire pit. It roared to life and its warmth enveloped them both.
The boy stared wide-eyed at her, then at the fire, then back at her. Clearly he’d never seen someone use a brand before. She checked his left hand. Sure enough, just like the couple she’d met earlier, he had no brand. Perhaps she could give him one or two. He would need it if he was going to survive.
“What’s your name?” she asked, continuing to check the boy’s extremities for any signs of frostbite. Thankfully he had none.
The boy didn’t respond at first, but eventually he opened his mouth. Jak gave him an encouraging nod.
“Bretton,” he said in a soft voice, so soft she almost didn’t hear him.
“Bretton. I’m Jak. What were you and your family doing here, Bretton?”
He wiped at one eye, which was still swollen from crying. “We’re from the city. But we weren’t allowed to stay. The guards drove us out and we tried to find shelter in the forest. All we had was that blanket.”
“I’m sorry,” said Jak. “I wish I could have been here sooner.”
“How did you do that?” he asked, pointing at the fire.
“It’s a little trick I have,” she said, trying hard to smile. “I can do other things too, like this.”
She activated Telekinesis and picked up some of the nearby snow with her mind. She formed it into three balls and sent them flying at nearby trees. The look of wonder on his face almost made her smile genuine.
“Do you have anywhere to go, Bretton?” she asked once she let her magic fade.
The boy’s smile at seeing her abilities vanished, and he shook his head. “No one wants me.”
The words sank deep into her soul. But just as the despair over the child’s situation surfaced, another thought rose to the forefront of her mind. Anya and Gerald!
Suddenly the solution lay in front of her, plain as day. The kindly couple wanted a child, and here was a child who needed parents. It was the perfect match.
Perhaps her test was to find this boy and bring him to Anya and Gerald. Just as she’d helped the slave in the southern kingdoms, she could help everyone she’d met in this land so far. It was the perfect solution.
“I know of some people that can help you,” she said, adjusting the cloak around Bretton. “We can go there together if you want.”
A glimmer of hope entered the boy’s eyes. He nodded eagerly.
“That is not the test,” said a voice in her ear. It was Perchel.
Jak froze. What did the Sky Fae mean it was not the test?
“The boy needs help,” she said aloud. Bretton looked at her quisically.
“You have been brought here to give him hope, but also to learn that sometimes hardship is what we need. In the future, this young boy will become a great leader among his people. He will save lives as you said he would. But if you bring him to the others, he will grow up a different man. He will become a farmer, and when Anya and Gerald die, he will take over their work. He will never become the hero he is destined to become.”
Jak stood dumbfounded, her stomach tying itself into knots. “But they can help him. He needs a warm fireplace and something to eat, not a life of hardship. If I can give that to him, isn’t it my responsibility to do so?”
“Is it not your responsibility to do that which is greater for all?”
“But…” Jak broke off, her mouth agape. “But he’s a child!”
“Excuse me,” said Bretton. “Is everything okay?”
“If you save his life now, you will condemn others to a life of misery and death. If you leave, he will learn to survive. He will learn to value the needs of others.”
“But I need to value his needs,” Jak shouted into thin air. She ignored Bretton who was beginning to look scared now that his savior was talking aloud to nobody.
“This is the burden of destiny. Those of us with a hand in the progression of history must make hard decisions, decisions that may result in temporary pain, but in everlasting betterment.”
Jak felt heat rise to her face, and it had nothing to do with the fire she had created. Finally, she said. “No, no I won’t leave this child to suffer when I can do something about it. And I will help the others if I can. If I can help it, no one will needlessly suffer. No one.”
She grabbed Bretton’s shoulders. “Come with me, Bretton. We’re going to find you a home.”
She reached for his hand, but in that instant, everything went white.
19
“No!” she screamed as she sat upright on the stone altar. “I could have helped him!”
Perchel stood next to Harglim, his eyebrows upturned in an expression of sadness while the older Sky Fae had his mouth open in shock. “You could have helped him now, but it would not have helped him later.” Perchel said.
Jak hoisted herself off the altar. They were back in the canyon, and based on the light in the sky, very little time had passed in the real world, though it had felt like much longer in the dream. She brandished a finger at the Sky Fae. “But you can’t just ask that of people. Anyone could tell you that helping that boy in that moment was the right thing to do.”
“The Pillar of Eternity and the powers that spawned it grant a measure of foreknowledge. That knowledge is a burden for many. It creates situations like these when you will have to forgo saving one person in order to save many.”
“How do you even know that you’re right? The Pillar of Eternity could be wrong, it could have misinterpreted the future. Besides, didn’t you say once that the future is not yet written? How can that be if the Pillar of Eternity knows what’s going to happen to that boy? We can’t assume that it knows everything. I may have just left that boy to die.”
“The Pillar knows,” said Harglim. “Silly girl, you have no faith. You must learn that there are powers greater than yourself, that you serve as their instrument, that we all do.”
Jak scowled. She knew better than to say that she was smarter than whatever higher powers were out there, but the thought crossed her mind. If only these higher powers would talk to her, maybe she could finally get some answers. But that didn’t seem to be happening. Unless the Pillar of Eternity counted as a higher power. It certainly seemed to have a mind of its own.
“I have to reach the top of the mountain,” Ja
k said, stooping to pick up her pack, spear, and the Pillar of Eternity. At least this Pillar was still on her side.
Perchel and Harglim glanced at each other nervously. “I’m afraid that will do you no good.” Perchel said after a moment’s hesitation.
Jak took a deep breath, feeling her anger rise. “Why is that?” she said, though she already knew the answer.
“You did not learn the lesson, you could not leave that boy to a hard but greater destiny. The test is over. You failed.”
Jak kept a hard face, feeling her blood pressure rise. She wanted to argue, to say that the test wasn’t fair, that it asked her to do things that she could not do. But there was no point in arguing. Besides, the Sky Fae only seemed to be messengers. They did not deserve to receive the brunt of her wrath.
She marched past them, back down the path that led through the cleft, towards where they had first landed. She would find Karlona, Seph, and Marek, and get out of there. She was done.
“If you want to join the rest of the Fae,” she called out behind her. “They’re headed to a valley not far from here. Go there and you will be welcome.”
But the words were hollow to her. After all this time, she’d come this far, only to be rejected by the second Pillar of Eternity. If she, the prophesied Oren, couldn’t retrieve the thing, then what hope did they have? She would just have to make do with the one Pillar of Eternity. Maybe she could find the third, wherever that lay. But with all that had gone into finding the others, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the third one had in store. If it even existed. They’d heard nothing, not so much as a rumor about where it lay.
She emerged out of the canyon to the rocky ledge where most of the Sky Fae’s stone huts lay. It didn’t take her long to spot Karlona, who looked as if she had been waiting for Jak. She rushed towards her daughter the moment Jak emerged from canyon, but drew up short when she saw the expression on Jak’s face.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I failed. The second Pillar of Eternity has rejected me. We’re leaving.” She stalked past her mother, choosing not to look her in the eye.
Karlona didn’t say anything in response, and Jak did not turn to see if she was following. Instead, she spied the nearest Sky Fae and approached him.
“Is there a way to get back on the main road from here?” she asked. The Sky Fae was about to say something when she added, “without flying?” She didn’t want any more assistance from these people, even if it was well intentioned. They would get back on their own.
“Uh, yes,” he said, somewhat taken aback by her abruptness. “Though it will be difficult.” He pointed towards where their stone outcropping met the rest of the mountain. “Follow that around this central peak, and it will take you to the ridge, which you can follow to the mountain’s peak.”
“Thank you,” said Jak. She didn’t tell him that she had no intention of going further up the mountain. But if they could make it to the ridge, they could follow that back down as well. They’d be right back where they had been before they even met the Sky Fae.
Karlona joined her, this time joined by Marek and Seph. All three had a look of concern on their faces, Marek especially.
“Your mother tells us that you failed to pass the test?” Marek said. “Please tell me that isn’t true.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” she said. “But what it demanded of me was unreasonable. We’ll find some other way to create Illadar.”
“But…” he protested.
“Are you all ready?” Jak interrupted. Karlona and Seph nodded, though Marek continued to stare at her like he had never seen her before. There was betrayal in his eyes. Seph, on the other hand, said nothing. Wise.
They set out, finding the rocky ledge that led from the stone outcropping that served as the home of the Sky Fae, back around the peak and to the ridge that led up and down Mt. Knot. She caught a glimpse of Perchel and Harglim, among the many other Sky Fae that chose to watch them go. She hoped they did eventually choose to join the rest of the Fae in the valley. As much as she did not enjoy her most recent experience, she couldn’t hold that against the Sky Fae. They weren’t the cause. And besides, they could be very useful as scouts to warn against dangers or find valuable resources.
Marek didn’t protest further, though Jak was sure he would do so once they reached the ridge and she insisted they go down, not up. But she would deal with him when the time came. Right now, she just needed to let her mind unwind.
They walked for some time covering very little ground. The path was, indeed, difficult. Probably because it was something never used by the Sky Fae, who could fly after all. Some parts required they hug the stone cliff while they travelled along it, with no more than a few inches of footing to work with. The sun was beginning to set, and they worked hard to get back to the ridge before they lost all their light.
When they finally reached the ridge, Jak turned to the left to head back down the mountain instead of up.
Just as she predicted, Marek spoke. “Jak.” he said.
She sighed, and turned to face him. “Marek, I can’t keep going. It won’t do any good anyway, the Pillar rejected me.”
“This is why I came back, Jak,” he said, his voice pleading, and his hands clasped together in front of him. “Why would someone from beyond send me back here, if it knew you were going to fail?”
“Not everyone completes their destiny, Marek.” Jak said. “If a higher power sent you back to us, then it was wrong. It’s as simple as that.”
She turned to continue on back down the mountain.
But she paused. A roaring sound like wind, but louder and deeper, was coming out of the west. She squinted in that direction. The others all stopped and stared as well.
The sun was still going down, and it shone in their faces. Jak narrowed her eyes further, trying to make anything out. The sound increased, growing clearer as it did so. There was something familiar about it.
Jak’s eyes widened as she finally realized what the sound reminded her of. In that instant, she finally caught a glimpse of something huge in the distance, flying directly into the path of the sun, its shadow passing over all of them. Even from this distance, and in the fading light of the sun, she could make out enormous wings, and a huge reptilian body.
“What is that?” said Seph. It was the first thing he had said that whole trip. He was staring at the oncoming beast with a mixture of awe and fascination on his face. The others were also staring in wonderment at what approached.
But Jak knew better, and the only thing she felt was dread. It curled into knots inside of her, and threatened to consume what remained of her resolve.
“We have to run,” she said. “Run, now!”
She did not pause to see if they would obey her, but began sprinting as fast as she could through the mixture of rock and snow, down the ridge.
“What is it?” Seph asked again, this time calling at her while he ran behind.
“That is the dragon from Mt. Harafast.” Jak shouted back. “If we don’t get away, it could kill us all.”
While she ran, she swung the Pillar of Eternity off her back. She could see no other alternative. If they did not get away fast, they would not get away at all.
But just as she was about to activate its magic, another familiar feeling crept into her bones. The dread that caused her insides to twist wasn’t just caused by the dragon. There was something else there, something she also recognized from her time in Mt. Harafast, this feeling of someone or something made of pure evil, and approaching fast.
She drew up short as the realization hit, but also as the huge form of the dragon slammed into the ridge ahead of them. Its orange and gold scales gleamed in the light of the setting sun, and it turned two glowing eyes to face them. Muscles rippled in its chest and the arms it used to steady itself as it landed. Those arms bore two powerful wings.
But Jak was no longer looking at the dragon. She was looking at the man riding atop it.
&
nbsp; In all actuality, he couldn’t really be called a man. He bore a passing resemblance to one, with a head, arms, and legs that straddled the back of the dragon where its neck met its wings. But beyond that, he looked more demon than human. His flesh was a melted mess, hanging off his bones as if by magic. He wore a small coat of skins around his waist, but nothing else. Brand lines covered his body from head to toe, some of which glowed on his approach. He was different from the last time Jak had lain eyes on him, but there was no denying that familiar feeling of dread in her stomach.
Cain had finally found them.
20
Jak braced herself, brandishing the Pillar of Eternity in front of her.
“I told you I would be here soon,” said Cain from atop the dragon. The beast regarded them with exposed teeth and hateful eyes, but it did not move while Cain spoke. Somehow, Cain had managed to subdue the dragon, bending it to his own will.
“You took one Pillar away from me, I will not let you have the second.” said Cain. “Hand over what you took, walk away, and I will let you live.”
Jak hastily ran through her options. Cain thought they were still traveling to find the second Pillar of Eternity. He didn’t know she had already planned on leaving. But she didn’t believe for a second that he would let them go if she gave him what he wanted. And he likely knew better than any of them that she could run away using the power of time that the Pillar granted. And yet, the dragon blocked the way ahead of them. She couldn’t go back down the mountain without getting around it, and there was nothing but a steep drop on either side of the ridge. There was no way they could make it, even if she could slow time.
That meant they had to go up the mountain. But if they did that, the dragon would likely pursue them, and she couldn’t keep up the magic forever. That left her with only one option.
Fight.
She activated the Pillar of Eternity. Snow kicked up by the wind hung in midair as time slowed. In her right hand she grasped her father’s spear.
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