by Lestores Moonhair » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:45 am
This was it then. The moment he had been waiting for. His three favourite mortals gathered around him, an impartial witness of the whole act, well in fact two, but he wouldn't really count the rat. The final act, his last trick, so that the memories would live on... perhaps forever.
He was about to start when doubt struck in for a moment. 'Can I really sacrifice myself? Shouldn't I live on, just like the other last members of my race? Am I not worth more alive than dead?' He had contemplated these problems constantly, ever since he had felt the return of the Three. Truth was, he couldn't change this feeling of fatigue. He had lived long enough, but he had lived with a purpose. 'And that purpose is not yet finished, that's why I have to do it, that's why I must continue' he reminded himself. 'No doubt, no fear, no regrets, just... this.' He spread his arms and looked down upon the three gathered in front of him, as he made himself grow a little by simple light effects.
"Dear friends... dear friends, yes that's what I call you now. You did well to come here, though we unfortunately miss one. I thank you for coming out of free will. You know that I would have able to summon you, but there was no need for that. Now that you are here, I can perform my last trick. But before I do, as you pointed out correctly, miss Dolana, I owe you some explanations. Let me see to that first."
"Daron was eager to leave our hide-out, because he picked up a signal I even hadn't noticed yet. He was the first of us to know that the old three had returned. Yes, even before you Master knew that Angelique, Leto and Barnabas had returned, the fellow had this strange feeling inside that forbode their return. But he was wrong in one thing. He had hoped to find Oleana upon his return, and she was the only one who hasn't returned. Wether this has caused him to loose his spirit as he traveled back to this realm of the world, I don't know. The fact remains that mind and body are now seperated for two days, and I am doubting that he will see the day his Lady returns, if that day ever comes."
"I could read from your faces that each one of you knows that his patron has returned. What form they will take is yet unknown to me, perhaps they will even walk the mortal grounds, shake hands with the commoners and nobility alike, perhaps they will fight eachother in the skies high above Maxim, I don't know. But I was fascinated by the idea that gods had returned here from another plane and shortly after Desiderius had left to look for Daron's lost spirit I followed him and reinstated the Court, physically that is. But it won't do, war will tear that countryside apart just as it did last year, and the year before that and ever back to the days of the first murder. No, for this Court to survive the future, it will have to be different."
"And that is where my guest comes into the pictures. Drimortantes, Desiderius, Dolana, I want you to meet Yippodocus Cornwater, son of the brewer of the best beer of... well perhaps of all the lands between here and Ran'Kur. Yip, you are the future of these lands, you have you're whole life before you. To you I give the book 'A Triad of Old'" From one stack of books on his desk, he lifted the top book and placed on the corner of his desk closest to Yip. He smiled encouragingly to the boy, but did not wait for a response.
"I'm sure the boy will let you read it, but don't worry, it's empty... for now." He placed a hand on top of the remaining books of the pile and looked to the three again, his eyes full of purpose. "These books will contain the history of the worlds we lived in. You can carry them with you and show them to people, that is your task. As soon as you open a book, the illusion of a building will appear. You can walk around the building freely and explore the rooms: each building is a library of its own, each one devoted to one era of the worlds we have known and in particular to the gods who inhabited the lands. For the gods have always been the force who drove the people onwards and they are what made this place interesting to study."
"There are four books remaining, a volume for each of you. Somewhere my numbers go wrong however, because so far everything fell right into place, but it seems Daron was somehow calculated in by fate as well, but as he's really not here... well it doesn't matter, I'm sure one of you will happily take two books with you. The fifth books will contain the stories still to come. I've tried to create a spell to do this automatically, but if Yip ever needs your guidance, I suppose you will keep an eye on him, if you can spare them? You could even give him Daron's amulet, so that he would be easy to reach, I'm sorry to say that I don't have the power to create any extra."
He tried to hide his excitement, but he already noticed that he was constantly talking. But it were his last words, he should enjoy them. "I will adress one more concern of yours, miss Dolana. The order of which you speak, has always existed. Not everyone is happy to be reminded of the past, but at those moment I'd like to quote one of our famous historians: 'Wer nicht von fumf eras/Sich weiss Rechenschaft zu geben, Bleibt im Dunkeln unerfahren/Mag von Tag zu Tage leben', though I must admit I've changed a few words to make it fit to my purpose. It is only through our knowledge of the past that we can understand what happens today, though I must stress that it doesn't necessarily mean that history repeats itself, that's quite a different thing altogether. But that order will remain, though I don't know any names or faces, but Desiderius has been keeping an eye on them for sometime, perhaps he can tell you more."
"Now there's little left for me to say. I hope you've enjoyed your time with the Court, I most certainly did. I don't release you from your service, on the contrary, now that the Court is here again, I compel you to show the world what we've done here. That is your task, till the end of your days. And with that I bid you farewell."
He knew the following part would be a bit grotesque, but he was an illusionist and would die in a way his art allowed him to. He raised his arms into the air and again the bookcases towered out of the room into the open night sky, the walls seemed to fade away and for a moment the world seemed to exist of nothing but books, scrolls, sky and stars. In the centre of it all, a gargantuan image of Lestores Moonhair floated, laughing out loud as felt the power of the ancients flowing through him for the last time. Then he made the ultimate sacrifice and everything collapsed into the pile of books on the desk. Lightning crashed dramatically, thunder rumbled in the distances as book after book crashed into the pile and disappeared with a fanciful trace of sprakling dust particles behind it. Books and scrolls swirled around the room and all of them crashed into the pile of books. Then, all was silent again. The office was empty, except for four people, a rat, a desk and five books.