DUALITY: The World of Lies (41 page)

“Perhaps you should not speak disparagingly of
your master, child.”

“Pffff. Don't give me that, and just hear what
I'm telling you.”

“That he keeps the world stable and at
relative peace? I fail to see where your critical tone fits into
that.”

“No, dark stranger, there is no peace, not
really. It's just the illusion of peace they hold to now. You came
seeking truth in The World of Lies, but I'm telling you it’s far
more insidious on this side of the wall.”

“Peace is peace. When there is no fighting,
that is peace. It cannot be an illusion, whatever foundation it
rests upon. Even be it one of some deceit.”

“That's where you are blindly wrong. The time
frame has already been set by Logos, that in 20 years hence there
will be a reckoning in the Taiji. In these centuries of peace, the
Arathian population has grown and so too the realms of Rubeli. And
once again, they grow hungry! This great heartland of agriculture
you see before you, it is no longer enough provide for the Taiji.
This deficit worsens incrementally year by year. In two decades,
dark stranger, war or worse will come. And the Old Order is not
preparing for it, only holding to their old ways and the status
quo.”

“Another war between the stars? Over what
exactly? It sounds like Occitania has fed them for centuries
now.”

“Over this very wall! They would tear it down
and develop the lands of the eco-zone, beyond the boundaries of
this wall and the shore of The Muting Blanket. That history Uncle
spun for you would sound very different if a Rubelian did the
telling. The Arathian council would never allow it; not in a
thousand years would they allow it. We have given enough of our
inestimable world over the Rubelians, and they will not encroach
another inch on our precious Pangea! That is a certitude, dark
stranger. So war or worse, it is inevitable.”

“And you, a mere child, have a solution to
this quandary that Indulu and his governments cannot
see?”

“Yes! We, you and I, we are the new order. So
what if you find that ancient relic in the mountains, if he even
exists? What can he do for us in the world, hiding away from it as
does on those lofty heights? No, it is up to us to do for ourselves
without the old ones and their paralyzing prudence. Join me, dark
stranger, east of this wall. I will teach you our ways, and
together we will usurp the old order, expel the Rubelians from this
world, and prepare a proper defense against what's to come. We need
one such as you, who knows Truth. It is far worse here, Pangean,
than what you likely think. It is an indescribable torment. I would
take that knife of yours and scar my face beyond recognition if it
meant I could enter your Pangea. And once there, I would seek to
rid myself of all Forbidden Knowledge, by way of a hammer to my
head if necessary, until it was fully erased from my mind, and I
might live a natural human life. Intrigue upon intrigue, conspiracy
upon conspiracy, layer upon layer, lie upon lie. It is Hell this
place! There is not one mind which is not enslaved by it. And there
is no one here who sees beyond that veil of deception. But you, you
dark stranger, you have the raw will to face illusion and dispel it
without fear. O' I would follow thee, dark stranger, to
eternity!”

“Child, are you wicked? You propose for me to
conspire with you against your master, a man who has twice saved my
life?” Gahre at once felt regret for uttering this hasty rebuke.
Her very soul seemed to pleading for his aid by the end of it, but
he just could not reconcile how this technological world of
splendor and luxury could be all that terrible. He was still young
enough to recall how adolescent girls were prone to overdramatizing
matters. In any case, her demeanor toward him shifted sharply in
reaction to it.

“What other point is there to having a master
except to best him? That's just the way of things,” she stated
curtly. “You call me a child, yet I'm not but a handful of years
younger than you. And certainly won't be when 20 years have come to
pass. So listen to me, and listen well, because you face a crux in
your destiny on this day. There are three ways for a Pangean-born
like you to enter Arath. First, he may be chosen and initiated in
The Order. Secondly, a man may, through grandmastery of his craft
or academic research, arrive at scientific truths suppressed in the
Pangea, or as you know it “Forbidden Knowledge.” As a consequence,
that man may choose or even be forced to relocate to Arath with his
family. That's how I got here, from my grandfather's alchemical
research. Then there is a third way so rare that an instance of it
has never occurred until now. That is someone, who through sheer
will and determination, physically arrives here. He then shall
either be granted special status within The Order to remain in the
Pangea or be registered into the machine networks as an Arathian
citizen. This is the Law. Do you understand, dark
stranger?”

“It means I am no longer a fugitive from The
Order?”

“No, caveman. It means you must choose which
side of this wall you will descend, never again to see the
other.”

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