Hermit from the Tower of Light

Through the Lace again, this time to the center. Into the blinding, beckoning, cold light. To Oeldiv.

"Once I promised myself I would never return to this land," Victoria said.

Oeldiv was a blooming garden. It was paradise, Eden. It was a world of peace, tranquility and enlightenment. The natives were full of love and benevolence, they had long since conquered war and disease and had risen to spiritual heights that mere mortals could never dream of. They were perfect, and their society was a pure utopia, but it had found its fulfillment. Oeldiv, the land of universal joy and happiness.

This was how they usually appeared to the inhabitants of other worlds. This was how they looked wherever they appeared. I sincerely believed that they were morally superior, kinder and purer than all others, until I got to know them better.

They were all snobs! Children of Light, the superior race. Damn them all. 

It didn't matter anymore. If it hadn't been for the Hermit of the High Tower, whom Victoria had insisted on seeing, I wouldn't have come back to this place either. 

By the way, the construction of this very tower was the only dark spot in Oeldiv's glorious history. Of course, they did their best to forget that shame. But there was no escaping the truth. And the truth, as I had learned, was not nice. 

The Great Master said: "There is Light and there is Darkness. Honor them both, for if there were no darkness, we would not know that we see light. Only the harmonious combination of the two great beginnings gives us beauty and knowledge.”

That's what the Great Master taught. But he was gone, and so were his sons who founded Oeldiv and Irrat. Then their descendants began to forget the Master's teachings. The inhabitants of Oeldiv, the land in the Center, became proud and began to consider themselves superior to others; they declared the Light they worshiped to be the only good, and the Darkness to be evil. And in their pride, the Oeldivians decided to build a tower of pure Light, so that it could be seen from everywhere on Lace, and no one could doubt that the Light was above all.

And so they did. The Tower of Light grew day by day, making its creators happy. But there can be no Light without Darkness. So the Tower began to cast a shadow of absolute darkness right onto the Lace.

The higher the Tower grew, the farther the shadow stretched, and where it lay, the lines of the Lace were erased, and worlds disappeared. Finally, the day came when the shadow reached the Edge of the Lace and broke through, giving way to the legions of Chaos that raged beyond.

Then the Formless One led his army to the opening, intent on destroying the Lace, tearing it to shreds so that no trace of his rebellious brother's creation would remain. A terrible threat loomed over the Lace. The Formless One rubbed his hands in anticipation of the imminent victory.

However, when the defenders of the Lace had almost given up hope, the Rainbow appeared and the Great Master returned. He stood at the head of his army, and Chaos retreated.

Then the Great Master turned to his creatures and said this: "May the Lace and the Light in the Center and the Dark Edge and the High Tower and even the Great Shadow be forever, so that the world may remember how fragile it is."

As it turned out, the Master was not even close, and his role was brilliantly played by a certain Jurhek, who earned the title of Shadow Tamer for his exploits.

For Oeldiv, it made no difference whether it was the Great Master or Jurhek. But they preferred the Great Master, because the Oeldivian snobs couldn’t tolerate the superiority of an Irrat native.

In my opinion, the Hermit was the only sane person among the local lunatics. Once he came to me and asked me for a favor, and I helped him without charging him, even though he insisted. But it’s not right to take money from a saint. And then the Hermit promised to grant me any wish I wanted. I asked him to return Gemma to me, but the Hermit said there were some things beyond even his control. And so it went unused, that wish. Because I didn't want to bother the Hermit with trifles, and I couldn't think of anything worthwhile.

The tower the Hermit lived in was really made of pure Light. I didn't know how it held up or how one could live in it. But the Hermit did.

Victoria had been here before, so she knew how to get into the Tower. We bowed and placed our hands on its surface. If the Hermit, who could read souls and knew everyone and everything, deemed the guest worthy of an audience, the latter was  drawn to the Tower’s center and a beam of pure energy lifted the lucky guest up, where the Hermit resided in his chambers beyond the clouds.

As soon as my hand touched the surface, I felt myself rise. Victoria floated beside me, surrounded by a blinding radiance.

 "I've been waiting for you, my children," the Hermit said, smiling.

He was very old. It was said that he remembered the Great Master himself. His hair was white and he had many wrinkles on his face, but his bright green eyes seemed young and surprisingly clear.

"I see you two are together again," he remarked.

"We are," I nodded, "so, wise one, you granted my wish after all."

"It wasn't me," he objected. "A man's fate is his own doing. All the wizards and saints cannot help. Now you have come together, united in one purpose. But has this woman become your property? Is she not free to do as she pleases? Can you say that someone, whether it was me, the Master, or other powers, returned her to you?"

The main problem with saints and enlightened people is their tendency to speak in long speeches and their ability to confuse things so that you can't make sense of them. 

"She is by my side now, and I am happy with that. Is it worth making plans for tomorrow that may never come?" I replied.

"You have become wiser," the old man said with satisfaction, "that is good. But what has brought you to me today, my children? Do you seek advice or comfort in times of terrible upheaval?"

I looked at Victoria and let her speak. After all, it had been her idea to come here.

"They don't need any of this," came a harsh voice from behind us.

I turned to see Kordgan, the head of the Coordinating Council and the younger brother of the ruler of Oeldiv. That was really unexpected.

"I didn't call you," the Hermit said unkindly.

"But you let me in," Kordgan replied.

Hermit shrugged and turned to Victoria, "I'm listening to you, Vivian."

She shot an angry look at Kordgan, clearly unwilling to speak in his presence. 

"Secrets, so many secrets," Kordgan laughed. "My little niece loves intrigues. Don't speak, Princess of Irrat. I will tell the Wise One everything myself. I know why you have come here."

“The little niece” hissed like a cat and put her hand on the hilt of her sword. I held her elbow. "Let him say it, it might be interesting," I said.

I was really curious to know what the Coordinators knew about what was going on and what Kordgan's interest was in all of this. I knew the head of the Coordinating Council well enough to realize that he never did anything on a whim or out of curiosity. 

"Thank you, Arthur," Kordgan said in a deliberately polite manner. "I certainly couldn't have done it without your permission."

"You're welcome," I replied in the same tone.

"Now, oh Wise One," Kordgan turned to the Hermit again, even though he was speaking for everyone, "as I said, these two people have not come here for your advice, for no one needs it. They're looking for the Amulet of Unity. Do you know what they need it for? This man," Kordgan pointed at me, "is a servant of the Formless One. And this woman helps him. They're gathering the keys of the Great Master to destroy the Lace."

"A clear example of typical Oeldivian thinking!" Victoria commented quietly.

"You're jumping to the wrong conclusions again," the Hermit frowned.

"The Great Full Moon is coming," Kordgan replied. "What if I am right?"

"I believe in Arthur and Vivian," the Hermit said. 

"But he…" Kordgan began, pointing at me again.

“Can you know what is hidden even from the Great Master?" The Hermit cut him off and turned to Vivian, "Take what you have come for, my girl."

Suddenly, Kordgan did what no one expected. He jumped at the Hermit and punched him in the chest with his fist. A red stain spread across the white fabric of the old man’s shirt; apparently there was a blade hidden in Kordgan's fist. The Hermit fell to the floor, grabbing Kordgan's clothes and knocking over a tripod with some kind of device. It happened so fast that I didn't even have time to move, let alone interfere. 

The one who was older than the Great Shadow and remembered the Great Master himself was dead. The murderer bent over the body and pulled the blade sharply from the wound.

"Catch it, Archie," Kordgan threw the blood-stained blade to me.

Automatically I did, and the next moment I was holding the broken blade of Samurai, my former sword that I had lost long ago in the Twilight Zone. I threw it away as if it could bite me.

"It won't help you, buddy," Kordgan chuckled and walked back towards the exit. "Now you can't say you haven't seen your sword - a very conspicuous sword, Archie! - since you stole Helyswort. And I was a little late. When the patrol gets here, they will find a dead body, a murderer, and a mad witch pretending to be someone she is not!"

"You're wrong," Victoria lunged forward and drove the Heart of the Night into her uncle's stomach. "They will find two dead bodies!"

She removed her sword from the wound and stepped back from Kordgan, who looked at her in pure astonishment.

"You," he gasped, falling to his knees, "how… witch!"

Victoria sheathed her sword. She was holding on remarkably well, but I could see that she was beginning to tremble.

"You won’t escape anywhere," Kordgan wheezed, "the patrol's here."

He fell to the floor, and Victoria grabbed my hand and dragged me somewhere up a spiral staircase, as ghostly and unreal as everything around me.

"Hurry, Arthur. Hurry," she repeated over and over, "we have to get the amulet."

The room we came to was round and small, and that was all I could tell about it. The light was even brighter here, harsh and painful, and I had to cover my eyes with my hands to protect them somehow .

Victoria disappeared somewhere, or maybe it was me who had lost the ability to perceive the surrounding reality. Suddenly she appeared from somewhere to my left, touched my arm and said, "Let's go, Arthur. I have the amulet."

I opened my eyes with difficulty to see the object in her hand. It was a stylized golden Lace with an emerald marking the Center, attached to a twisted chain with the repeated monograms of the Great Master woven into the links.

"This is my Key," she said, hanging the chain around her neck and hiding it under her blouse. "Time to go."

"There is a Patrol outside, don’t you forget?" I replied. 

Victoria thought for a second and then immediately came up with a solution, "Then we should use the Great Shadow."

At first I thought I had misheard. "The Shadow? Look, this is not the time for jokes."

"It's no joke, Arthur," she shook her head. "The Shadow is the only way available to us now."

"For you," I chuckled, "you are the Great Master's descendant. And I, in case you've forgotten, am a mere mortal. I won't survive there."

"It is foolish to think so when you have two of the Master's Keys and are under the protection of Sahara and Leah. When will you realize that such things are not given to mere mortals? Come on, you'll be fine."

I didn't argue anymore.

The Great Shadow, the strip of Absolute Darkness that stretched across the entire Lace from the Center to the Edge, was left by the Great Master as an edification for future generations, and was considered by the "Lace Bugs" to be a perishing place. It was known that the descendants of the Master - mostly from the Dark Edge - could draw power from the Shadow and often used it as a means of transportation. But mere mortals who had the misfortune to set foot in the cursed area disappeared without a trace. Two Patrol units and a dozen other freebooters from the No Man's Zone had already vanished there. I didn't want to go to that cursed place, but, as always,  there were no other options.

I took a deep breath and stepped out of reality into the Shadow with Victoria, preparing for the worst. But nothing happened, There was only total darkness, absolute, unimaginable darkness. Victoria let go of my hand and I felt even worse.

"Hey Princess, where are you?" I called her. My voice sounded flat and colorless, like it was coming from an old radio.

"Right here," she replied, as if from the other side of the Lace.

"I can't see you."

"I'll fix it now," she said, putting her fingers on my forehead, "let's turn on the picture now. I call it a magical vision."

I felt a wave of energy pass through me, and then I could see, but in a strange way. The space around us, while still black, was filled with indistinct, shimmering shapes, and we looked like a two-dimensional chalk drawing on a blackboard.

"How do you feel now?" Victoria asked.

"Much better, but a little strange," I replied.

"You'll get used to it," she said. "Let's go, we have to walk."

I took a few steps and felt an invisible current pulling me along. It felt kind of wild. But Victoria was with me, and I hoped she knew exactly what to do.

"You said you knew where to look for the seventh Key," she began after a while.

"Not exactly. I have a couple of ideas, and they both need to be checked out."

"Would you tell me?"

"Oh, sure," I agreed. What else was there to do? Talking was the best way to pass the time. "I found descriptions of all the Keys in the Looking Glass Library. There were many interesting facts about the Great Master's Keys and their keepers. The seventh Key is called the Tiara of Consent and must be kept where that very consent is lacking. The last known owner of the Tiara was Jurhek of Irrat, called the Teamer of the Great Shadow. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Absolutely," Victoria confirmed, "he pretended to be the Great Master, and the Oeldivians believed him. I think the Tiara helped him a lot."

"Well," I continued, "when Jurhek died, the Tiara was never recovered and has been considered lost ever since."

"Well, that's common knowledge," my companion remarked. "Unfortunately, there's no indication of where it might be found."

"You're right, but," I lowered my voice, "Alex and I found out by chance that Jurhek had hidden something in the Sacred Mountains before he died."

"Wow!" she exclaimed, "When could you do that?"

"Just one dragon blurted it out."

She laughed.

"This same dragon is also the guardian of this same treasure," I added.

"You think the dragon will give it to you out of friendship?" Victoria asked in a tone of conspiracy.

"I don't think so, but I have a plan."