ultimate EVENT.
And behind it all we found that the First Destiny of
creation was unchanging and immutable, permanent and
unmoving. The Second Destiny we found to be bent on
change and alteration, transmutation and progression.
And we saw evidence of these differences in all of the acts
of the two Destinies, and we argued among ourselves
concerning the nature of GOOD and the nature of EVIL,
and at last we were still unsure and unable to state with
certainty that change was good or evil or that absolute
immutability was the Fate we should choose.
And even as we considered all that we had learned,
ancient Belgarath, himself one aspect of the First Destiny,
moved to retrieve his master’s Orb from the City of
Endless Night. And as the morning of that day dawned, a
Seeress we had not known before came down from out
the mountains bordering upon Darshiva, and the
voiceless man who guided her was of a strange race. And the
Seeress raised her voice and laid our third task upon us.
‘Behold,’ she said, ‘the Third Age of man has begun,
and this is the Age of Prophecy. And it shall be thy task to
gather up all the Prophecies which are spoken by the one
Destiny or by the other. Seek ye, therefore, among the
lands of all men for the Prophets who will speak the
words of the Fates, and gather up all that is said and carry
the words of Prophecy to the speakers, who will wrest the
meaning from them.’And so saying the nameless Seeress
turned and went her way, and we saw her no more.
And the task the Seeress had lain upon us was long and
hard, for Prophecy hovers ever on the verge of madness,
and we were perforce obliged to seek out every madman
in all the kingdoms of the world and to take down all the
ravings of gibbering insanity. And some of the words of
the madmen of this world seemed to be the words of Fate,
and some of the words of true Prophets seemed to be the
ravings of the deranged, and we knew not which was the
Voice of Prophecy and which the Voice of Madness. And
so, that we leave no true Prophecy ungathered, we carried
all such mouthings back to the Seers at Kell, where they
winnowed Prophecy from madness.
And sometimes we despaired, for the times themselves
seemed mad. And we found, moreover, that sprites and
Devils oft-times in mockery would speak through
innocent mouths in the tones of Prophecy to lead us astray. But
we persevered, and when the Age of Prophecy ended, we
found that of all that we had gathered, scant few grains
were the true voices of the Fates, and all that remained
was dross, and the knowledge was bitter to us.
And in the midst of our sorrow the Seeress Onatel came
to us with words of comfort, saying:
‘Grieve not, nor let your shoulders be bowed down in
despair, for the greatest task lies yet before ye, and all that
has gone before is a preparation and a testing. And this is
the task which ye must perform. All that is needful has
been given. In this Age must ye make the Choice.’
And we heard her words in astonishment, for we knew
not that the Third Age had ended and the Fourth Age had
begun. But in time our kinsman returned from the north
and told us what he had seen in the house of Torak ‘ and
we began to understand. Torak was not the culmination of
the Fate which ruled him, and we must look further to
find the God who would one day come to us. Yet the
Seeress Onatel had told us that we had all that was
needful to make the choice. How could we choose between
two Gods who had not yet come to us? Clearly we had
received some knowledge which we had overlooked
some sign which had escaped us. And so we gathered on
the plains of Kell to consider all that we had learned.
And in time we despaired, for we found no certainty in
all that we had gathered – no truth which emerged which
could guide us without the possibility of error. And again
the Seeress Onatel came to us, saying:
‘Behold! I will tell you a mystery. The choice will be
made by one of ye – not by all. And the choice between the
two Fates will not be made in wisdom, but in desperation.
At a certain time, the Fates will confront each other, and
one of ye will see at last what none have seen as yet, and
that one will choose.’And with that Onatel left us.
And we reasoned that the Fates must meet in one of the
great EVENTS which were written large in the Book of the
Heavens, and we journeyed about the world to be present
at those EVENTS. One of our number was present when
the Rivan King was slain, but there was no choice to be
made at that EVENT. And one of us was present when
Torak set his forces in motion against the West. And one
stood nearby at Vo Mimbre when maimed Torak met in
single combat with the Warder of Riva and was struck
down by the power of the Orb. And one of us was in the
rude village where Belgarion was born and not far from
the burning house in which the Godslayer’s parents
perished. We were at Riva when the Orb was delivered
into Belgarion’s hand and hovered for an instant on the
verge of choice, but forbore a moment and the EVENT
slipped past us.
Then came we at last to accursed Cthol Mishrak in the
diseased basin where it lies, and once again the moment
escaped us. For behold, the EVENT in that place was not
the death of Torak at the hands of Belgarion, but rather it
came and passed in the moment that Polgara spurned the
God of Angarak. And as Torak fell and all of creation
shuddered to a stop, we feared that it might never again
grow light. The EVENT had passed and we had not
chosen, and we had always believed that in that instant all
must be destroyed.
And we came away from Cthol Mishrak shaken and
afraid. Had our failure to choose been in fact the choice of
EVIL over GOOD? We knew not, and fearfully we watched
the Book of the Heavens for some new and dreadful sign.
And at last there came to us the seer Gazad, and his
face was stern and angry and he spake rebukingly to us,
saying:
‘Behold! Ye have failed in the task which was lain upon
ye by Onatel. All of creation has been marred by your
failure. Your task remains the same. Choice! Fail not again,
for in your next failure, all that is or was or is yet to be
shall perish, and creation shall be no more.’
And the words of Gazad scourged us, and he drove us
ever into new efforts to complete the task which we had
failed to complete in the previous Age. And as a part of
this task we strove more urgently to find that other stone
which counters the Orb of Aldur, but the Destiny of which
the stone is the center moved ever to conceal the stone
from us and from all men and Gods. None among us was
powerful enough to break through the barriers of mind
and spirit with which the Destiny protected its secret, and
we determined at last to follow a dangerous course. Of all
the power in this world, that which lay in the hands of
Belgarath, Polgara and Belgarion was the greatest. Could
we in some way enlist their aid in our search for the other
stone, we might succeed; but in so doing we must conceal
our intent from them, for they were the servants of the
First Destiny. Should they find the other stone before we,
they will surely attempt to destroy it, and this cannot be
permitted. Thus they must be enlisted by subterfuge, and
this is perilous indeed. Moreover, we must seek out and
identify the shadowy, veiled woman who is even now
moving and shaping EVENTS to her own purposes.
These, then are portions of our great task. Let each strive
with all his might to accomplish that which is assigned to
him, but keep ever in mind that the paramount task is to
choose, and should circumstances compel it, any one of us
might be forced to make the choice unaided and alone.
Share all of thy knowledge with thy brothers and sisters
therefore, for should one of them be compelled to make the
choice, it may be that some fragment of knowledge
withheld could cause them to choose awry. For Behold, the
choice, once made, can never be unmade, and what ye