NexLord: Dark Prophecies (55 page)

"This is the testing wall of the
Nexus.  Be warned, to enter here you must be ready to
face your fears, sacrifice your life for the good of others and
take nothing for yourself.  If you wish to shoulder this
burden then approach and enter the wall of stone with friends in
waiting.  They must be present, but you must enter
alone
so that you will never be
alone again.   Take care before you touch the stone
for once started, this test cannot be stopped.  Take this
last warning before you choose, those seeking personal power must
not, cannot and will not survive.  Once inside, no evil
can enter but that with which you harbor in your
mind.  Enter the Nexus only if you are ready to place
your life in the hands of your fellowship.  Herein is the
power of the Nexus, yours to serve and protect if you emerge a
NexLord."

Below that were written words of the
Bondsman's Pledge and the last verse stated:
 
‘The
NexLord’s Pledge’
.

"I don't understand the meaning of these
pledges.  Isn't it time you told us what it means to be a
NexLord?" Gandarel asked Mara.

Mara nodded.  "Indeed, Gandarel, I
would have given you this knowledge sooner had your lessons
continued.  A NexLord is a conduit for the power encased
within these walls." She explained, touching the rough wall to the
side of the smooth area.  

"It was put here hundreds of years ago by all
the free people believing in a fellowship of friendship over hate
and fear.  This power of the Nexus is strong; it is the
greatest power in this world.  Those who sacrificed to
create this place could not allow this awesome power to fall into
the hands of someone who would abuse it.  To
ensure
that only a good and true person could
wield the power of a Nexlord, a test was created to keep the
ambitious and
self-serving
from
becoming a NexLord.  And even after passing this test,
any NexLord who gives into the temptation to abuse this power will
die.  There is a saying passed down from our ancestors,
'Absolute power corrupts absolutely,' and so we have protected the
power of the Nexus against that possibility."

"If that is true, then what could they
possibly do to guarantee this power was not abused?" Gandarel
inquired.

Mara turned to the young Nexlord candidate
and answered, "Simply put, they took the control of the power from
the NexLord and put it into the hands of his bonded
friends.  When you become a NexLord you will initially
have only one power, the ability to bond a friend to you
forever.  Other than that you will be unchanged."

"What possible good is that
then?  I already have friends, I don't need any further
proof of their commitment," Gandarel stated.

Aerin nodded. He agreed with his friend
wholeheartedly, but he knew there was more to the NexLord's power
from things he had learned from his father and later from Mara.

Mara smiled.  "You are correct,
your friends are true and don't need to commit to you to prove it,
but here is what you don't understand; it is they who hold the
chains to your soul, not the other way around.  When a
Nexlord bonds to a friend, they unlock the power of the Nexus, but
should they betray that power, if their bonded friend denounces the
bond they share, the Nexlord will die."

"What... if Aerin was my bonded friend and he
got mad at me, I die?" Gandarel said in disbelief.

"No, I'm sure he will get mad at you," Mara
said with a quick knowing smile, "but he would have to denounce his
friendship from the heart, and that would not happen if he was
still your friend."

"Gedin save me, I don't know if I would trust
anyone with the ability to kill me with a thought!" Gandarel
exclaimed.

"You must if you would use the power of the
Nexus, and without that the Dreadmaster will surely destroy us
all.  I know you will become a NexLord, Gandarel, but
there is more you need to know, much more."

Whatever it was that Mara was going to tell
him was suddenly interrupted by the sound of bone chilling laughter
echoing in the hall.  It came from outside the Chamber of
Stone.

The sound grated on Aerin, like the sound of
fingernails being dragged across a blackboard, it was evil in ways
that words cannot describe.  He felt evil down in the
marrow of his bones welling up from instinctual fears from a
million years of evolution.  Here was Death come for his
soul.

"Dreadbeast!" Yearl hissed and spun to face
the opening, with his two wooden sticks in his hands.

"Gedin, not now," Mara whispered in a tired
voice
and then clenched her hands
and eyes shut in an effort to regain control.  When she
opened her eyes she was in control, and spoke quickly and
concisely, just as she had taught her students for times of
crises.

 "Somehow a Dreadbeast has passed the
protections and has tracked us here.  I thought the power
of the Chamber was too much for the Dreadmaster's evil to seek us
out, but somehow I was wrong.  I must go forth and drive
it off, or it will take you all."

"Can we help fight it?" a brave Guardsman
asked.

From out in the cavern the voice of Death
called, "Come to me, I feel your fear."

Mara grabbed Gandarel.  "You must
go into the Nexus or all will be lost!  Your instruction
will have to wait until after you succeed.  If this
Dreadbeast cannot be defeated, you must be finished here before it
gets past us.  I don't want to tell you what the Dark
Prophecies say about this time if you have not entered the chamber
when Death enters!"

"What do I do?" Gandarel
cried.  The voice of the Dreadbeast was nearly driving
his fear over the edge, and he was already tottering on the edge of
control, long before its arrival. 

Aerin stepped up next to his friend and took
him by the upper arms.  "Gather yourself Gandarel; do not
allow it to make you fear.  That is how it feeds and
where it gets its strength."

"He is right, Gandarel, trust your
friend.  Now listen quickly, all you have to do is step
up to the stone and walk within.  Only you may enter the
wall.  Within the
chamber,
you will be tested… and I can't tell you what
form that test will take; it comes from within your own
mind.  Be strong, Gandarel, come back to us a
NexLord!"

Mara reached up and touched his cheek with
the back of her fingers in such a caring gesture that Aerin
swallowed hard. It was as if Mara was fixing his features in her
mind, in case she never again saw her young friend, but then the
moment was over and the old woman turned to go face the Dreadbeast,
so she could buy Gandarel time.  Without a word Yearl and
Tocor followed Mara.  

She paused at the opening and faced the
soldiers.  "Do not allow anything to enter this room, be
strong and don't fear, we will handle the Dreadbeast, but some Togs
might get past.  Once Gandarel is free of the Wall, make
your way into the cavern maze.  There you should be able
to avoid the Togs until we find you.  If we don't show
up, wait until the Togs depart, and then head for the west...
farewell
."

Mara turned and disappeared into the
dark.

Gandarel faced the Wall.

Up to now his two councilmen had been quiet,
but Enolive stepped forward and spoke softly to Gandarel.

"You don't have to go in there,
Gandarel.  Do you understand that you could die in this
test?  You might never come out."

Gandarel shook with fear; the smooth stone
face of the Wall terrified him. The thought of what might happen,
of the prophesy’s words about him killing Aerin, of the Dreadbeast
Death,
coming, of the test that
could kill him... each was like a large boulder of mounting fear,
each of them weighing down on his mind, as he tried not to
collapse.

Aerin approached his trembling
friend.  "It's all right, Gandarel, this is your
destiny.  My father believed you were the one, and I
believe in you."

Gandarel did not want to step forward, but in
the face of Aerin’s calm he could not let his friend down, and so,
somehow, he moved forward one step.  He stopped when he
was just in front of the stone.  "Tell me that the others
that have gone in here have come out."

"Mara said almost all of them have, she only
mentioned one that didn't return," Aerin answered truthfully.

The sweat was pouring from Gandarel's face
and soaking down into his shirt.

"I can't do it," he almost moaned, as his
mind rebelled at the thought of the solid stone that would be
around his body if he stepped into that smooth surface.

"Then don't go in, Gandarel, it is death to
enter that stone," Enolive replied.  "We can just leave
this place! You aren't ready, and that woman shouldn't have asked
you to do this yet."

Aerin scowled at the
bony
councilman, “You aren’t helping!”

The doubt that Enolive's words caused in
Gandarel was obvious in his face, yet with a shaking hand, he
reached forward to touch the smooth stone. Instead of a hard
surface, his fingers entered the stone as if it was no harder than
water, but there was no ripple in the smooth
rock.  Instantly an invisible force was pulling him
forward.  He tried to stop, but once started he was
pulled into the stone, body and soul.  He turned and
stretched his free hand out in supplication; the young boy’s face a
mask of terror.

"Help me!" Gandarel cried, terrified more
than at any other time in his life.

Enolive was nearest, but he did nothing.

“Please, Aerin, help me!” Gandarel pleaded
desperately as he turned, trying to keep his head out of the
stone, but
he was still moving
into the wall.

Aerin saw his friend's anguish and
leaped
to grab his
hand.  When Gandarel felt Aerin's hand, he latched onto
his friend with a dying man's grip, but the pull was too strong and
Gandarel's scream was cut off as his head went into the
stone.  His hand clutched Aerin's, and though Aerin tried
to stop, Gandarel's death grip on his hand pulled his friend’s hand
into the smooth stone surface.

Lor
leaped
for Aerin and grabbed his shoulder, as she tried to stop him from
entering the Wall after Gandarel.

Aerin felt his right hand go into the stone,
and now he too felt the pull.  He looked back into Lor's
desperate gaze and he was calm. Mara’s teachings in fear washed his
mind of panic and his thoughts were clear. He spoke to Lor calmly,
"As you love me, Lor, let me go, now!"

Lor saw the clarity in his face; it wasn't a
look of panic, but one of
decision
.  Trusting her friend, she let
loose.

Lor stood and watched as Aerin stepped into
the Wall, no longer resisting. His hand was still clasped in
Gandarel’s tight grip.  In a moment, all traces of both
friends were gone.

Chapter Sixteen

"I saw the boy return and his face was the
mask of despair, his soul empty and his future
destroyed.  In that
moment,
he was lost to us forever."

-  From the Dark Prophecies

"Something tells me that wasn't supposed to
happen," Katek stated into the shocked silence.

Dono read the words written
on
the side of the Wall again, aloud, "…you must
enter alone so that you will never be alone
again.   Take care before you touch the stone, for
once started, this test cannot be stopped." 

"What should we do?" Lor demanded.

"Well, I doubt it will do any good to send
more people in," Enolive said, entering the discussion.

"You should have stopped him from going in
there in the first place!" Niler snarled at his fellow
councilman.

"How dare you!"

"Shut up, both of you!” the Corporal of the
Bluecoats commanded.  "I can't hear a thing with you two
bellowing."

He and his soldiers were clustered around the
edges of the chamber's entrance, with drawn
weapons.  Gandarel's Guardsmen were arranged in the
center of the chamber, guarding the path to the Wall, where
Gandarel had entered.

Suddenly a Togroth
leaped
out of the dark and into the
chamber.  Its mouth was open in a snarl and it carried a
curved sword with scalloped edges in its hand.  It
bellowed its unintelligible war cry to terrify its enemies.

The Bluecoats
leaped
from either side, and cut it down with sheer
numbers, but three more Togs
leaped
in and the battle was engaged.

Half the Guardsmen went to their
aid
while the remaining six stayed in
reserve.

Katek,
Dono,
and Lor prepared their weapons.  Behind the youths, Niler
Corbin cowered against the wall to the left of the
entrance.  Enolive stood near the Guardsmen, seemingly
calm.

The fight was brief and
vicious.  When it was over, the four Togs were dead, but
six Bluecoats and two Guardsmen were also dead and three men
wounded.

"What's happening in there?" Lor
demanded
while staring at the smooth wall
that had swallowed her friends, but it gave back no answers.

Ten screaming Togs were suddenly charging out
of the dark, and
battle
was
engaged throughout the chamber.  Lor,
Dono,
and Katek fought as a unit, keeping their
backs to the wall.  A Strakhelm Guardsmen fell from a
sword thrust through his chest, and one of the screaming beasts
leaped
through the
gap.  The Tog, brandishing the gore-splashed blade, ran
at Dono, with spittle flying from its black teeth.

Behind
it,
another Tog followed through the gap, and the young warriors
engaged them in battle.

Dono parried a crushing blow from the first
Tog, but the power of the thick
arm
and the weight of the heavy
blade
drove him to his knees.