Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #12 March 2015 | Page 63

him? What did he say to you?”
Simon quietly told Manfred everything he had seen
and heard. Jhamed looked on with concern, clearly
upset by Manfred’s barb.
“We have learned something today,” Manfred said.
“There are schemes afoot that I had hardly dared contemplate. Whether the remaining wizards are aligned
with Gadiel or pursuing some plan of their own, I
wonder. Weylyn means ‘son of the wolf’. He was ever
a cunning fellow, as I recall, though very minor in the
overall scheme of things. Zenethyr was close to him
once; I wonder if he could shed some light on things?
Where is he, the Balance take him? Unfortunately, we
have alerted them, whoever they may be, that we have
found the Hero. Perhaps they won’t take us seriously.
We have been here a few times before. Simon, please
take care. You clearly have exceptional talents that we
are just learning about.”
Simon sat back in his chair, unnerved by the unexpected experience. I’m not safe, even here. Where can
I go? I want to hide. Some hero, you are! The others
present looked on with concern.
Manfred brought the meeting to order. “While the
number is disappointingly small, it may be significant
that nine people will today determine actions that will
have significant impact on the fate of the multiverse.
I fear that yesterday’s meeting was the last meeting of
the Wise. I cannot feel Zenethyr’s life force today. I
know not where he is. When there is no longer more
than a single wizard present, I’m afraid we cannot
have a meeting of the Wise. Nevertheless, we nine
have been charged with doing what we can to save the
Balance. Melasurej must not fall. It is our sacred duty
to protect it to our final breath, if necessary. Let us
determine a course of action.”
Manfred paused and looked around the table at the
expectant faces. In some, he saw hope. In most, he
saw fear. In Simon’s he saw a mixture of incredulity,
excitement and fear.
“I have spent much time in recent millennia researching the ancient texts. In that time, I have travelled of-

ten to Rhakotis and conferred with the scholars there. I
know that Rheanna, the current Custodian, has made it
her life’s work to study these mystic words. Therefore,
I cede the floor to Rheanna to tell us what she and the
scholars have learned.”
Rheanna stood and bowed low to Manfred. She was
dressed immaculately again. It looks like she’s going to
a fancy concert or dinner party.
“I am honoured, my Sage, to present the work of the
finest scholars in FirstWorld. The writings we have
studied are but fragments of texts that date back to
the brief time after the creation of the first and second born; before humankind, as we know ourselves,
came into existence. They predate the Balance by
several thousand years. They are predominantly elfish
in nature, although a few dwarfish texts do exist and
these have been used to try to corroborate the interpretations. They are the writings of the priests of Jeohab.
We believe that these priests were the link between
Jeohab and the rulers. Through them, Jeohab tried to
force his laws on the elves. After the establishment of
the Balance, the role of the priests diminished rapidly
and they soon disappeared. The ancient texts were discarded. We have been lucky to find as many fragments
as we have. We are grateful to the elves for providing
them to us for study.” She bowed low again, this time
towards Taran. The elf stood and responded in kind.
“We think that the texts describe Jeohab’s vision of the
future,” Rheanna went on. “A vision that is likely to
occur if his followers turn from his path. It is a vision
of a future where Chaos is the victor. A vision of the
future that is not set in tablets of stone, but one that his
charges can escape from by doing as he prescribes. It
seems that his charges ignored his pleas and his vision
may be coming to pass. When Jeohab was giving this
information to the priests, it may well be that he already had a prescience that the Great Old Ones would
be leaving and that the Balance would be established.
He talks of the Guardians, which we believe are the
Sages. We believe that Jeohab foresaw the Sundering
and the formation of the multiverse. He foresaw the
collapse into Chaos and the faltering of the Balance.
He foresaw a final battle between Law and Chaos. As
the god of Law, we believe he was trying to give his

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