Part 4 (1/2)

'I know,' said Nakor. 'I think Ralan Bek contains a tiny fragment of the Nameless One.'

Macros pondered this and then said, 'In my dealings with the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses I have come to understand a little of both their abilities and their limitations. What do you know?'

Nakor glanced at Pug.

'We believe that the G.o.ds are natural beings, defined in many ways by the form of human wors.h.i.+p. If we believe the G.o.d of fire to be a warrior with torches, he becomes that,' Pug answered.

'Just so,' said Macros. 'Yet if another nation sees that being as a woman with flames for hair, then that is what the deity becomes.' He looked from face to face. 'In ancient days, the Dasati had a G.o.d or G.o.ddess for almost every aspect of nature you can imagine. There were the obvious major G.o.ds: the G.o.d of fire, death, air, nature, and the rest of it even a G.o.d and G.o.ddess of love or at least the fundamental male and female urge to create offspring. But there were also so many minor G.o.ds it would give a scholar a throbbing head just to catalogue them.

'There was the G.o.ddess of the hearth, and the G.o.d of trees, and the G.o.d of water was served in turn by the G.o.d of the sea, and another G.o.d of rivers, a G.o.ddess of waves, and another for rain. There was a G.o.d for travel, and another for builders, yet another for those who laboured under the ground in mines. As I understand it, there were shrines at every street corner and along the roads, and votive offerings were placed upon them by a wors.h.i.+pful populace who dutifully attended the prescribed public wors.h.i.+ps, festivals, and dedications.' He took a deep breath. 'The Dasati were a race of believers who also had a sense of duty that would shame a Tsurani temple nun. They created a pantheon of thousands of G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, and every one had their appointed day of celebration, even if that consisted only of laying a flower on an altar, or hoisting a drink in a tavern in the G.o.d's name.

'It is important to remember that these G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses were as real as any you've encountered in Midkemia, even if their realms were minute. They had a spark of the divine within them, even if their mandate was only to ensure lovely flowers in the field each spring.'

Of Pug, he asked, 'What have you learned about the Chaos Wars since we last met?'

'Little. Tomas has a few more of Ashen-Shugar's memories to draw upon, and I've found an odd volume or two of myth and legend. But little substantial.'

'Then listen,' said Macros. He looked directly at Nakor. 'The truth.'

Nakor nodded once, emphatically, but said nothing.

Macros began. 'Before humanity came to Midkemia there were ancient races, several of which you know about, such as the Valheru, rulers of that world and masters of the dragons and elves. But other races existed as well, their names and nature lost before the dawn of human memory.

'There was a race of flyers who soared above the highest peaks, and a race of beings living below the oceans depths. Peaceful or warlike, we will never know, for they were destroyed by the Valheru.

'But above all others rose two beings: Rathar, Lord of Order, and Mythar, Lord of Chaos. These were the two Blind G.o.ds of the Beginning. The very fabric of the universe around them was their province, and Rathar weaved the threads of s.p.a.ce and time into order, while Mythar tore them asunder, only to have Rathar reweave them, over and over.

'Ages past, Midkemia was a world in balance, the hub of that particular region of s.p.a.ce and time, and all was well, more or less.'

Nakor grinned. 'If you were a being of incredible power.'

'Yes, it was not a good time to be weak, for it was rule by might and no hint of justice or mercy existed,' responded Macros. 'The Valheru were far more an expression of that epoch than they were evil; it can even be argued that good and evil were meaningless concepts during that time.

'But something changed. The order of the universe s.h.i.+fted. More than anything I wished to know the reason for this s.h.i.+ft, yet it is lost in time. A fundamental reordering of things took place it's impossible to say what the scale of time involved was, but to the races living on Midkemia at the time the result of that reordering seemed abrupt. Vast rifts in s.p.a.ce and time appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and suddenly beings unknown on Midkemia entered the world: humanity, dwarves, giants, goblins, trolls and others as well. And races that came but did not endure, as well.

'For years a war raged across the universe, and we mere humans...' He stopped and laughed softly. 'You mere humans could only apprehend the tiniest part of it. What we know is legend, myth, and fable. Shreds of history may be enmeshed in them, but no one will really know the truth of it.' mere humans could only apprehend the tiniest part of it. What we know is legend, myth, and fable. Shreds of history may be enmeshed in them, but no one will really know the truth of it.'

Nakor laughed. 'For a man who can travel in time, you had a simple enough means to discover that truth.'

Macros grinned. 'You would think so, wouldn't you? But the truth is I do not have the ability to travel in time, at least not in the fas.h.i.+on you'd imagine.' Looking at Pug, he said, 'I remember when you and Tomas came to find me in the Garden, at the edge of the City Forever.'

Pug remembered. It had been his first encounter with the Hall of Worlds.

'Had I the ability to travel in time, I never would have permitted the trap sprung by the Pantathian Serpent Priests to fling us backwards through time.'

'Yet you instructed me how to accelerate its unfolding many times, until we reached a point at which time was meaningless,' observed Pug.

'True, and while I lacked your your talents in that regard, I also lacked the skills to manipulate time as the Pantathians had.' talents in that regard, I also lacked the skills to manipulate time as the Pantathians had.'

'In all our encounters with the Serpent Priests,' said Pug, 'we found them clever, but hardly brilliant, dangerous in numbers, but never individually.' He mused for a moment, then added, 'I never considered that the time trap was actually a spell of majestic complexity and required skills beyond their abilities. At least one of those priests was inspired.'

'All things return to the Nameless One,' said Nakor. 'As he has touched Leso Varen, he must have so done with a Pantathian high priest. There was your inspired genius.'

Macros waved his hand. 'Yes. Had they all had that level of talent, the war would have turned out very different, but other than that one savant, they were always a nuisance at most-'

'Nuisance?' interrupted Pug. 'Tens of thousands died over the course of two wars because of that nuisance nuisance.'

'You mistake my meaning,' said Macros. 'They created chaos, but as Nakor observed, it was the Nameless One at the root of it all.'

Macros stood and walked a pace, turned and said, 'There is so much to tell, and it's difficult to know where to begin.' He glanced from face to face. 'Should a question occur to you, perhaps it were best if you leave off asking until I make this following point.' He waved his hand in the air, and a globe appeared, an illusion that Pug instantly recognized, for he had used such things to teach students at the a.s.sembly on Kelewan, the Academy at Stardock, and upon Sorcerer's Isle.

'Consider this globe to be all that can exist,' said Macros. 'Surrounded by the void, it represents all of what we comprehend.' He waved his hand and the globe was now banded with shades of grey, from a nearly black band at the bottom to an off-white one at the top. 'Each layer represents a plane of reality, with the centremost one being our own... your your own,' he corrected himself. 'As you noticed on Kosridi, it's a physical match for Midkemia, as this world is a match for Kelewan.' own,' he corrected himself. 'As you noticed on Kosridi, it's a physical match for Midkemia, as this world is a match for Kelewan.'

'Kelewan,' said Pug. 'I had no inkling.'

Macros nodded. 'You sit within a garden that is roughly in the middle of the great hall in the Emperor's palace in the Holy City of Kentosani, if I remember my Tsurani geography. There's an affinity between physical creations that I do not pretend to understand it can even be argued that there is but only one physical expression and that the planes are overlays, spiritual realms that actually exist in the same s.p.a.ce. It's all very difficult and borders on the abstract debates ordinarily suitable only for students of natural philosophy. But I can appreciate your not recognizing Omadrabar being a.n.a.logous to Kelewan, because this world has been occupied by the Dasati a great deal longer than Kelewan has been home to humanity.

'Were you to rise up to a great height, you would find that while the seas would look familiar far more of this world is covered by construction.' He paused. 'Did you know that given the manner in which the Dasati farm, they've been forced to include gigantic farming enclaves within the cities, so they can feed the populace?'

Macros shrugged. 'Enough digression. These levels or planes of reality have been stable for... well, I guess since the dawn of time and as you see them.' He waved his hand, and suddenly there appeared a distortion, as if someone had stuck a long needle through the sphere from the bottom, pus.h.i.+ng a small part of each layer upward, until it intersected the layer above. 'Then came something I can only call the Disturbance.'

Pug glanced at his companions, but said nothing.

Macros continued. 'Like the cause of the upheaval that brought humanity to Midkemia, we'll never know the cause of the Disturbance.'

Nakor grinned. 'Are they the same?'

Macros frowned like an annoyed schoolteacher. 'If you find out, please let me know. This Disturbance is an... imbalance, a pressure upwards from the lowest to the highest realm of reality. Just as the Dasati are attempting to manifest themselves into our... your your realm, so are creatures from the third realm attempting to rise up into this one.' realm, so are creatures from the third realm attempting to rise up into this one.'

'You're describing a cataclysm of unprecedented scope,' whispered Pug.

Macros nodded. 'Yes, my friend. The entire fabric of the universe is being rent apart, and we must stop it before it gets worse.'

'How?' asked Magnus quietly.

Macros sighed, a very human sound coming from a Dasati. 'I have no real knowledge, just intuition, and even that is... not compelling.' He waved his hand and the conjured sphere vanished. 'The Chaos Wars appeared to have been an attempt at reordering the balances within the entirety of reality, from the highest to the lowest plane. We can only speculate on what occurred in the other realms of reality, but I suspect balance was restored, else the crisis we face would be even more catastrophic. We've had no evidence of any interaction between your native realm, the one I used to live in as well, and the one above it, the first heaven.'

'Because the Nameless One is imprisoned?' suggested Nakor.

'Most likely,' said Macros. 'So, the chaos comes from the lower realms. His Darkness, the Dark G.o.d of the Dasati, is so powerful in his supremacy that whatever incursions from below threatened this plane have almost certainly been dealt with.'

'If I might ask a question?' inquired Magnus.

'What?' asked his grandfather, barely hiding his impatience at the interruption.

'Why here? Why Kelewan and Midkemia?'