begun to move about the world – and in some regard this
aspect seemed a dark reflection of Polgara the Sorceress.
And we shuddered at the prospect of the meeting
between this dark shape and terrible Polgara.
And as the Book of the Heavens became clearer, we
read there that the struggle between the two Destinies will
continue for so long as the two stones which once were
one still exist. For even as the stones were once the center
of all creation, each is now at the core of a different
Destiny, and so long as both exist, the endless struggle
will go on.
And we searched even more urgently for that stone
which is the counter to the Orb, for Behold, the Orb is in the
hand of Belgarion, and he is a nighty sorcerer. Should the
two stones be drawn together for their final confrontation,
the hand of Belgarion will surely enter into the struggle, and
we do not know if this is as it should be – but how might we
deny to mighty Belgarion anything he chooses to do?
The second stone is here. The rocks of this world
reverberate with the sound of its presence. The two stones
move toward each other as inexorably as the Fates they
represent. We must find the second stone, and we must
delay Belgarion lest he bring the Orb into the presence of
the other stone before we have made our choice. For
should the meeting take place before we have chosen, all
of creation will perish.
BOOK 3
THE BOOK OF TASKS
Now These are the Tasks which have been set us:
ONCE WE SAT UPON THE EARTH in the
shadow of the mountains of Korim, which
are no more, and we made great moan that we
had been made and cast out. And even as we grieved, the
gift of sight came to one of our people, and she became a
Seeress, and she spake unto us of the Feast of Life and of
the Beloved Guest who would one day arrive to partake
of that feast. And she exhorted us to prepare for his
coming. She told us of the signs in the sky and in the earth
and commanded that we learn to read those signs in order
that we might choose between the two who would one
day come to us.
So it was that we turned our faces first to the heavens,
and we despaired for there seemed no sign there. But lo! a
great light streamed across the night sky, trailing clouds of
fire behind it like a veil. And in those clouds of fire read
we the first word in the Book of the Heavens, and the
word we read was ‘Peril’. Painfully we began to piece
together the message written in the stars. And as we
labored at this, others of our number strove to hear the
voices which whispered within the rocks. Now there were
whispers which all men might hear, but they spoke in a
language which no man could translate. But lo! in a
certain time the earth was seized by the throes of
earthquake, and the whisper of the rocks became a shriek, and
in that shriek we found the first word of the language of
the rocks, and the word we heard was ‘peril’.
For centuries we struggled with the signs among the
stars that we might read them, and for centuries we
wrestled with the whispers in the rocks that we might hear
them more clearly and translate them. And in time it
came to pass that one amongst us lifted his face to the sky
and read clearly there the message of the stars. And the
message read: ‘Peril lies at the heart of the choice, for
should ye choose awry all of creation will be bent to the
design of EVIL, and GOOD shall perish and be no more.’
And at the same time, another of our scholars arose and
went to a certain rock and laid his ear against it, and he
heard therein the voice of the rock speaking clearly unto
him. And the rock said: ‘Peril lies at the heart of the choice,
for should ye choose awry, all of creation will be bent to
the design of EVIL, and GOOD shall perish and be no
more.
And as we studied further, the Book of the Heavens
became more clear, and the Voice of the Earth more
audible. But the pages written in the stars and the volumes
spoken from the earth provided no aid to us in the choice
which we must make. Both earth and sky warned
repeatedly that two would come to us, and that one was good
and one was evil and that we must choose between them,
but neither earth nor sky would advise us which was
which. And we sent scholars into other realms of
knowledge to seek the answer we must have. And some of them
communed with the dead and others spoke with spirits
and with beasts and with trees. And our seers cast their
sight into the far future and the distant past, but nowhere
could we find the answer.
And upon a certain day we gathered together upon the
plains of Temba to consider our task and what we might
do to complete it. And we brought together all that we
had learned from earth and sky, from the living and the
dead. from the spirits and the beasts and the trees. And
when it was all before us, we were amazed that we had
discovered so much, for often what the sky did not say,
the earth did, and if neither earth nor sky spoke to a
matter, the spirits did. And when it was all joined together
we discovered that our first task was complete. We had
learned of the division which marred creation; we have
learned of the two spirits at the core of the division; and
we have learned of the two stones which once were one
but will never be rejoined.
And as we contemplated this, an aged man arose from
our midst and did bind his eyes with a cloth and spake
unto us in the voice of vision, saying:
‘BEHOLD! Thy first task is complete, and now thou
wilt turn unto the second. The two spirits which mar
creation with Division contend with one another upon
this earth even now. One of the two stones is here and the
God-form of the other Destiny also. Even now the God
raises the stone against the earth. Seize upon this
opportunity to study the two Fates. Learn all that may be learned
of them that thou might make the choice between them.’
And even as the seer set this task upon us, the earth
heaved and split asunder as the God and the stone joined
to crack the world. And we turned all of our effort to the
study of the two Destinies which were revealing
themselves by their acts. The First Destiny we found to be
obdurate and unforgiving, and some among us seized
upon this, saying: ‘Surely this Destiny must be the Evil
one, since Good cannot be so.’ But we pointed out to them
that we had considered only the aspect of the Fate which
was represented by the stone, and it is most natural for a
stone to be obdurate and unforgiving. And in like manner
we found the Second Destiny filled with pride of Self and
with a great longing for praise and adulation; but these
were the natural attributes of a certain kind of God, and it
was such a God which represented the God-aspect of the
Second Fate.
And so we bent our minds to the task of seeing beyond
the aspects to the true nature of the two Fates. And in the
Book of the Heavens we found the pages which spoke of
the First Destiny before the arrival of the Second. The fate
then of all that was all that is and all that is yet to be bent
toward one EVENT, which was to come at a certain time
and was to be the fulfilment of creation. And then we
turned to the pages which spoke of the Second Destiny
before it became aware of the existence of the First; and
Behold! the Second Destiny also moved inexorably
toward one EVENT. At a certain time the two Fates will
confront each other in all their aspects and the fate of
creation will be chosen.
And as we learned more, we discovered more and
more of the aspects of the two Destinies; and we found
them always to be in balance. For the one stone there was
another; for the God, there was another God; for the hero,
a hero; for the woman, a woman; for the sword, a sword.
In all things were the two Fates so balanced that the
weight of a single feather might tip the course of the