The Changing (2 page)

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Garret approached the command tent unhindered, and throwing back the tent’s flap he marched inside, directly into an argument among the fallen king's advisors and councilors, or at least those who remained. Among those yelling and shouting to be heard were the leaders of three of the four orders of magic. Still remaining were Vladmere, the leader of the red-robed battle mages, Karishtala, the leader of the white-robed healers, and the elf who led the small faction of druids, whose name Garret could not pronounce. Also contending to be heard was a Knight of Valdadore like himself, Jordin, and several other captains and generals of different factions of the army. Unable to discern what the argument was about, but assuming it was a battle for power with different parties making claims of their own to assume the throne, Garret raised his hands as a sign for silence and shouted at the top of his lungs for all to quiet. Getting their attention most did indeed fall silent, but their gazes fell upon Garret with anger in their eyes.

"Who are you to presume to give us commands?" Vladmere asked. His voice both mocking and menacing.

"I am a servant to the kingdom, as are you mage," Garret replied in a commanding and condemning tone.

"A servant like your murderous brother?" Vladmere lashed back.

"Murderous?" Garret asked. "I believe you mean heroic."

"Heroic? Pah." Vladmere spat upon the ground before he continued. "So you believe that murdering your own king is heroic?" Vladmere asked with hatred and rage plainly in his voice.

"Seth murdered your enemies and sacrificed himself to win you a victory," Garret responded, his own voice rising. He could feel the anger building within himself and fought to control it, but the mage was pushing his limits.

"Yes, your pathetic brother managed to kill many of those who fought against us when he lost control of himself and committed both suicide and murder. He alone is responsible for the death of the king!" Vladmere shouted.

With his last statement several others from inside the tent shouted either their agreement or their objections and it was then that Garret realized that his brother had been the reason for the original argument he had walked in upon.

"Let me show you something, mage," Garret growled through gritted teeth, his blood pounding loudly in his ears. Fighting to maintain control over the bloodlust that had overtaken him more than once in the past, Garret snatched the skinny mage by the cowl around his neck and dragged him bodily from the tent all the way to the edge of the precipice that the tent stood upon. Keeping the mage off balance, Garret hung the man precariously over the edge with one hand and pointed to the charred field below him with the other.

"You see that, you sorry excuse of a magician?" Garret asked. "That is where your body would lie now if it was not for Seth’s actions." Turning to face those who had followed them from the tent, Garret continued. "That is where each of us would lay this very moment had it not been for my brother. He alone knew the extent of his sacrifice, and he laid his life on the line to save every man and woman who now stands upon this wretched hill. If it were not for my murderous brother this very moment the black army would be marching towards the city of Valdadore unhindered, preparing to rape, murder and loot its rotten guts out."

Beginning to calm down, and seeing his words having their intended effect on those around him, Garret released the mage, shoving him to the ground at his feet. "My brother knew what it was that he sacrificed and willingly went alone to face our enemy. The king too was willing to sacrifice himself for his kingdom. If he was not, then he would not have been upon the field. Every man and woman who died yesterday sacrificed themselves to save the kingdom. We can either condemn them all, or honor them all, but know this; we each witnessed as a single man lay to waste an unbeatable army. By his actions he may have saved more than our kingdom; he may have saved our entire race. That man was my brother. I personally do not believe Seth dead, but if I hear one more word condemning his sacrifice, I will send who ever dares to utter it to find out for me," Garret growled. With nothing more to say, Garret turned and stalked away.

For many minutes those who remained of the king's advisors and councilors stood silently looking down over the battlefield letting Garret’s words sink in. Each of them knew Garret’s words to be true. Even Vladmere had heard the truth in what the knight said though he would never admit it. The king had known that by stepping upon the field his life could very well be forfeit, especially after returning to battle after Judilanthaliz and Lauren, his sworn guardians, had fallen from wounds sustained by the king. Every man and woman who had bravely and valiantly fought that day had laid their lives on the line, not so that the virtue of their deeds could be argued about, but for the survival of the kingdom and those they loved back home. Many heroes had died upon this field, and each of the former king’s councilors and advisors chose individually to honor each and every one of them, including Seth, who through his own sacrifice had spared each of their lives. One by one, returning to the tent, those who now ruled the nation as a group set about deciding all the necessary preparations for the days to come. By midday, the order was given for the army to break camp and prepare to march back to the city of Valdadore.

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Sara lay alone in darkness, fear and worry threatening to suffocate her very soul. She knew not whether she was dead or alive, or even somewhere in between, but her distress was not for herself. The last thing Sara could recall from the battle, after taking the wound to her neck, was Seth crouched over her fallen body as their enemies fell upon them both. Sara worried only for Seth. Knowing not if she herself yet lived, she had no idea if Seth thrived somehow, but she did know that she was lost to him. She was alone, and being alone had no way of knowing how Seth fared. Sara assumed herself either unconscious or dead, for no dream could be so dismal, lacking any sign of subconscious creativity. Nothing but blackness surrounded Sara, but if she lived there was hope that she would awaken to find Seth alive and well. However, Sara doubted that unconsciousness would allow her this level of conscious thought. Deciding therefore she was dead, Sara would have wept if she were able, having lost Seth, the man she had hoped to spend long years with and whose children she hoped to eventually bear. She had never before imagined death, but if she had, even death would have been more than this. Lost, alone, insubstantial, hopeless and painfully aware, Sara remained in darkness mourning her loss of Seth, never imagining herself or the loss of her own life worth mourning.

Chapter 2

A Secret of the Gods and Bounding Beauties

Seth sat in the dark stone chamber berating himself for not having discovered this solution sooner. Sara lay in his lap unmoving. Her already milky skin was unnaturally pale and her luscious red lips had dulled to a shade of blue. Her heartbeat still fluttered occasionally, and every so often a ragged breath would escape her lips, but time was running out. Seth, infused with an inhuman amount of life energy, had overlooked before what now seemed like the most obvious solution possible, but he dared not risk acting upon impulse before he had taken the time to think the process through.

Delving deep within himself Seth began to search through his own massive aura of power, looking for hidden secrets. The expansion of his mental capacity that came with the death of his own troops, who had worshipped him as their creator, had impressive effects that until now Seth had not explored. Upon first discovering his power, Seth had quickly taught himself to filter out the auras of the beings around him, finding them distracting at the best of times. Having made a habit of ignoring the surrounding auras, Seth had not, until now, discovered the change.

Upon first viewing his own aura after being given the sight of the gods, Seth had found it to be a swirling mass of blackness that seemed to sparkle and glitter, but now he realized that he had been mistaken. Looking more carefully at his own aura revealed, after long study, that in fact it was a myriad of different shades of purples, blues, grays and blacks. The sparkles he had once witnessed were in fact tiny pinpricks of vibrant colors in every hue and shade that swirled aimlessly within the darker mass of his greater aura. This discovered, Seth then retreated from himself, and delved into Sara’s aura to see what it was that he might discover there.

Sara’s aura was much smaller, the life force of a single being, and as such within moments Seth made another amazing discovery. Obviously the woman he loved had an aura different than his own, having not yet sworn her allegiance to any god. Sara’s was an aura of extraordinary color. It swirled and pulsed in vibrant hues as specks of alternating colors danced throughout her very being, but all of that was to be expected. What it was that Seth discovered in Sara’s aura now was that although upon first glance it appeared a chaotic maelstrom of light and color, there were in fact hundreds of different patterns working in unison within it. Each smaller pattern worked seamlessly with the others to form greater patterns of light and color, and those also worked within yet larger patterns, until ultimately they all worked together to create her aura in entirety. It was an amazing discovery, and with his new abilities to work through complex problems in his altered mind, Seth had a revelation.

An aura wasn’t simply energy. It was a map, or a plan of sorts, built in three dimensions. The tiniest patterns that formed the smallest details all worked together as a whole to create the particular form of life which they inhabited. It was so obvious now to Seth that he delved into Sara’s aura further, and was amazed at the complexity and intricacy of even the smallest of the pattern's designs. However awed he was by the discovery, though, Seth had no time to waste and set to the task of memorizing and cataloging each individual pattern, every color, every swirl and every interaction between each of the fragments. It seemed to Seth an eternity as he worked to memorize thousands of interlocking patterns, but in reality less than an hour had passed. This task completed Seth, began to test himself.

Turning inward once again Seth set to work within his own mind. Treating the exercise like a vast puzzle, Seth collected his thoughts and memories of the complexity of Sara’s aura and began recreating it within his mind, piece by piece. On completing the task Seth compared the creation in his mind with Sara’s actual aura. Pleased with the results, Seth dismantled his mental creation and then began erecting it once again. Over and over Seth went through the mental process of building and dismantling the mental model of Sara’s aura, each time accomplishing it faster before beginning anew. Seth continued until it was second nature, each part of the aura distinguishable from the others and placed upon the greater whole without thought. Finally assured of himself, Seth returned to his own aura to begin the process once more.

After several minutes of investigation Seth found he had no need to memorize or catalog his own aura, for though immense, it was near identical in its working and complexities to Sara’s. In fact Seth was easily able to locate and distinguish every portion of his own aura that was a reflection of Sara’s and comparing them quickly, piece by piece, Seth found only one unexpected discrepancy. He already knew that the colors and hues of their patterns would be different, and they were. But otherwise all was the same apart from one single, miniscule, nearly indistinguishable difference. Seth had an extra pattern. Deep in the core of his aura, between several small fragments that in Sara were not interlocking, Seth had an additional piece to his puzzle. For where in Sara each of these small patterns worked together with other separate and individual patterns, in Seth, like a tiny spinning gear, a small piece pulsed and whirled, interlocking all those individual patterns together that in Sara were separate. Seth had found his road block.

He had hoped against hope that their auras would be identical, and being so, he could have infused Sara with more power from his own being, perhaps speeding her recovery or, if nothing else, buying more time. This discovery left Seth’s plan in ruins, knowing not what this small difference was between them. It was a problem he was going to have to work with, but Seth believed his plan could still be possible if only he could discern the purpose of this difference.

Seth’s first thought was anatomy. It was possible this tiny variance between the two distinguished one as male and the other as female, but upon further reflection Seth thought it unlikely. He had created hundreds of wolf men and women, caring not which gender of wolf he had joined a human male or female to. In whatever combination they had been joined, each of his troops retained their own previous sex. Looking back Seth thought himself lucky as altering a man or woman's sex could have caused some serious issues among the troops. So having discarded this explanation, Seth looked for another and in short order he found a further possibility. Perhaps his wolf troops were the explanation he sought. When they had died, their life power had infused into his own, swelling his aura and expanding his mind. But this idea Seth was also able to dismiss, but by doing so he made another discovery. If this minute difference between himself and Sara was from his binding with the power of his fallen followers, his body should have altered as theirs had. They had been one third wolf and two thirds man. Surely Seth too should appear as they had, a beast of a man with the resemblance of a wolf, covered in hair with a muzzle and fangs to boot. This left Seth yet another question. Why hadn't he changed when their power had infused with his own?

Seth pondered this for many moments before the answer finally came to him. It was the process of receiving the power that made all the difference. When Seth had stripped the life from the wolves by force and infused his troops with that power, the power itself had fought the action, retaining its original design. Each time Seth stripped the life from something to use for his own purposes, the power sought release. It strained to be free of him, and because of this he had been forced early on to learn to contain and control the power. But during life his troops had aligned themselves to him, worshipping him as their deity. By doing so, at the time of their deaths their power flowed to Seth willingly. That was the deciding factor. If the power was taken by force it retained its original form, holding to the plan of life that it sustained, but if given willingly, the power altered to take on the form of the one it had been given to. It was the answer Seth needed and gave him the ability to infuse Sara with his own aura without having any unwanted physical effects. Having reasoned it out, Seth was impressed by the revelation, but it still didn’t answer his original question. What was it that was different between his aura and Sara’s?