Another Great Full Moon

After jumping over a puddle of what looked like molten metal, we suddenly found ourselves in a huge circular hall filled with strange individuals. Merlin stopped abruptly and I barely slowed down in time to avoid knocking the old man to the ground. Someone’s elbow jabbed into my back and I found Alex on my right and Angrew on my left.

Angrew? He wasn't here a minute ago. I turned to see Xaval standing right behind Angrew. How had they appeared here?

I slowly scanned the hall with my eyes, noticing and memorizing every detail. Well, the room was familiar to me. In the Looking Glass World it served as a dining hall, but in reality, it was known as the Throne Hall, and it looked quite different.

Our small group was immediately surrounded by the palace guards. Behind them, I saw many people: gentlemen and ladies, or whatever they were called in Irrat, dressed up as if it were a party, and some creatures that weren't human at all.

And on the throne sat the Destroyer himself, his face once again covered by a veil of darkness, his eyes glowing red through it. His long black cloak unfurled like a bat’s wing as he threw it aside. His right hand rested on Esterlior's hilt, and the spider ring adorned the middle finger of his left hand.

"Thank you, Merlin," the Faceless One said, "I knew I could count on you."

"Quid pro quo," the old man chuckled.

I grabbed Helyswort, but the traitor was already out of range. He was standing by the throne, giggling.

"He hasn't changed in a thousand years," Alex said, confused. "Oh, Meriddan."

A rather strange expression appeared on Merlin's face, "You are Counselor Egon!" he exclaimed.

"Indeed," Alex confirmed.

"So it was you who stole my brother's Tiara!"

"His brother’s?" I asked.

"He is Yurhek's brother," Alex explained, "the youngest."

"And the first of the Haighwerg family to worship the Formless," the Faceless One added. "Ironic, isn't it, kinsman?" he nodded at Alex.

What a strange situation! Merlin, the Keeper of Knowledge, the constant advisor to many generations of the Irrat rulers! No wonder Irrat was mired in endless intrigues and conflicts. Now it was clear why the Faceless One had been able to seize power so easily.

"Well," Haighwerg began, "I have waited a long time, and I wasn't always sure of success. But thanks to Merlin and you, my enemies, everything has gone according to my plan. All those who could stop me are out of the game: the Hermit and Kordgan are dead, old Otrana will never make another idiotic prophecy. That narcissistic idiot, Uncle Mabert, and his foolish priests..." he waved his hand dismissively, " their belief in their own invulnerability has destroyed them."

"The same thing may happen to you," I said in a low voice.

The Faceless One, who had been talking to his minions, turned in my direction.

"You doubt my success, Archie?”

"It's not over yet," I replied.

"Do not be so naive, Archie," he laughed, "Kainos is rising and the Great Full Moon is coming. You, my enemies, have gathered all the Keys of the Great Master for me. I really haven't thought it would go so well."

"You don’t have the Keys yet!" Alex shouted.

"Oh, come on! There are only nine of you - what can you do against us?" He made a sweeping gesture, pointing at his troops. "Surrender, you don't have a single chance."

"Do you want the Keys?" I asked, stepping forward. "Come and take them. But do it yourself."

"Don't be ridiculous," Destroyer replied, waving his hand.

Then it started. They all moved at once, trying to get at us, trying to crush us, to kill us. They surged at us like a wave and rolled back, pushed back by the combined power of the Keys; but they did not cease and continued to attack.

I slashed and stabbed like crazy while Alex fought his old enemy Valent to my right and Angrew worked his sword like a raging fan to my left, fighting off two opponents at once. There was also the battle behind me, with energy discharges, fireballs, and other unhealthy nastiness in the air. I was moving toward my goal, killing anyone who got in my way, and that goal was the Faceless Destroyer.

He stood on the dais near the throne, his arms folded across his chest, seemingly just watching. But the ruby spider on his finger pulsed with scarlet light, and I realized that Haighwerg was not passive, but was directing his warriors.

By the way, where had Merlin gone? His black robe was nowhere to be seen, and that was worrying me.

We were still a long way from Haighwerg. Blades clanked against my ear, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Roger parry the blow intended for me.

"Watch out," he shouted cheerfully, fighting off the next opponent.

"I owe you one!"

I walked forward, losing track of the blows and the time. It seemed to me that I had been fighting my way through this blood-flooded hall for an eternity. Meanwhile, it was getting brighter outside the window, and I realized that Kainos had risen, the Great Full Moon had come, and the turn was complete. Time zero, the state of precarious balance.

In the depths of the Irratian Library, I had finally found the answer to the question: why this particular night, why the Full Moon of Kainos? And I didn't even smile as I read what not so long ago I would have dismissed as another legend, a tale for fools.

This "legend" said that Irrat was not just one of the worlds, Irrat was the heart of the Lace, while Kainos was the power that made the Lace exist. Once every five and a half Earth years, when the Lace completed its turn and all three rings of Kainos shed their magical light on Irrat, when TIME itself stopped its run, becoming material and permeable, when everything returned to its original state, came the most dangerous hours of the universe: the few hours when the Great Master's creation was most vulnerable to the legions of Chaos, when the Lace could be destroyed. Besides, only a true descendant of the Great Master was capable of destroying it from within. Now, Walter Haighwerg was the Master's descendant, and he was very determined.

I suddenly realized that I would not let him do it - and not because I would die, not because the Lace would be destroyed. Because it would kill her, my Gemma, another man’s wife. As if in a bad dream, I made my way towards the Faceless One, hearing nothing but the beating of my own heart, seeing nothing but my greatest enemy.

His attention was also focused on me, and I felt the blows from his spider ring, but I was invulnerable to them. Whether it was the combined power of the Keys protecting me, or something else, I didn’t know.

Haighwerg understood that he couldn't avoid the fight and raised Esterlior. This time there were no cheap tricks with flaming swords or the like. The blades sang and shot sparks as they met in the air.

"Your arrogance, Arthur, knows no bounds," he said, swinging my blade back at me. He succeeded, and I retreated, but then I stepped toward my enemy again, Helyswort in front of me.

"You called me lucky once, Norn."

"Wow, what an insight," he hummed. "But today is not your day. Do you know why?"

"Tell me."

"Twin swords belonging to siblings must never meet in battle, or disaster will result."

"Really? And what about the Keys of the Great Master, ritual suicide, and all that stuff?"

"You know a lot," my opponent admitted, "but our fight is the beginning of the end. Esterlior against Helyswort - the Master could never have dreamed of such a thing."

"There are a lot of things the Great Master could never have dreamed of," I countered, "You know, Norn, I’ve read that legend too. It says nothing about the situation when the madman got one of the magic blades."

"And the thief got another?" he parried. "Not a bad try. But it’s about the blades, not the owners."

"In my world, apocalypses are predicted five times a decade. That means not all prophecies come true, and I suspect this one is one of them."

"What if you are wrong?"

"We'll see tomorrow."

"Tomorrow will not come," he predicted.

"It will," I protested stubbornly, "but not for you."

"We'll see," he replied, stabbing me in the chest with Esterlior.

I blocked his sword and pushed him away, but he tried again. The air around us howled and groaned, our wrists numb from numerous blows, our ears ringing and our eyes blurred. My right shoulder burned with pain as a long cut appeared on my sleeve, instantly turning scarlet. Esterlior soared upward to land on my head, and I didn't miss the chance.

I ducked quickly, letting his blade pass over my head, and immediately struck my opponent on the inside of his thigh, from bottom to top, with Helyswort. Haighwerg flailed his arms and collapsed in a black heap on the ground. Without wasting a second, I plunged my blade into his chest.

"Stop!" a familiar but strangely distorted voice drifted across the room. "Stop, madman! He is your father."

Someone jumped up and managed to pick up the body of my enemy.

"You’ve just killed your father, Artur."

I couldn't understand the meaning of these words, nor the fact that it was my uncle talking to me. 

The Faceless One turned his head to look at the one who was supporting his body. "Aldmir, is it really you?"

My uncle nodded.

"I thought you were dead."

"It was meant to be that way."

"You…” Haighwerg's fingers gripped my uncle's sleeve, "have you told the truth? Is he really my son?"

"It is true, Walter!" my uncle confirmed solemnly. "Tefana asked me to hide him when she realized the danger."

"How ironic," Haighwerg smiled bitterly, "everything is as predicted."

I looked from one to the other, from Uncle to Haighwerg, and then from Haighwerg to Uncle, and couldn't believe what was happening.

"Then whom did Teimur kill?" Haighwerg asked.

"An anonymous child."

The veil of darkness fell. I could see the true face of the man my uncle had called my father. I could now see why he had worn that veil: his entire face was covered with the terrible scars that usually come from deep burns or curses. But his eyes... His eyes were familiar: the same ones I saw in the mirror every morning. So it was true?

But I didn't want it, I couldn't accept this truth! I'd rather have an alcoholic father than... this madman with a passion for destruction. Now I knew how you felt, my fellow Skywalker.

Haighwerg turned his head and looked into my eyes with sadness and regret. "My son," he said, holding out his hand, "I didn't know."

I said nothing.

"I couldn't figure out who you reminded me of." He tried to get up - it didn't work, he coughed and fell into Aldmir's arms.

"Give me your hand, my son," Haighwerg asked, catching his breath.

I hesitated, not knowing what to do.

"Give him your hand," my uncle either ordered or asked me. "Don't deny your father at least this."

I got down on one knee and held out my hand, not really understanding why I was doing it. The dying man's grip was surprisingly strong. At first he just held my hand and stared into my eyes, then he announced, "Arthur of Sa-Maste, descendant of the Great Master, born on the night of the Great Full Moon of Kainos six cycles ago! I, your father Walter Haighwerg, pay all debts in the face of death and grant you what is yours by birthright: strength, power and knowledge. Take and possess!"

I felt the energy flow from his weakening hand into mine. I collapsed into the vortex of power that his eyes had become; I rose, fell, raced through the passageways of time, dying and coming back to life, remaining myself and at the same time becoming a new man, finding my true nature - the nature that was rightfully mine but had been taken from me from the moment of my birth.

Then I realized that I was still in the palace of the Irrats, holding in my palm the lifeless hand of my real father. Walter Haighwerg, the Destroyer, was dead. And everything he had been, everything he had desired, everything he had dreamed of, now passed into eternity.

I looked at the lifeless body and couldn't understand how I should feel. On the one hand, he was my own father, and on the other, the enemy who had nearly destroyed the universe.

***

I closed the dead man's eyes and, with my uncle's help, laid him on the floor, pulled the sword from his wound, and folded his hands on his chest. I took the spider ring off his finger and put it on mine - it fit perfectly! I picked up Esterlior. Its diamonds dimmed, as if waiting for the unknown.

My uncle put his hand on my shoulder. "I warned you, Arthur."

"A damned oracle you are!" I snapped angrily. "Why the hell did you say nothing for so many years?"

"I gave my word to your mother," he explained.

I turned away from him, feeling nothing but irritation. "Later," I decided, "I'll think about it later."

The battle was over. Most of the warriors of the Faceless Destroyer were dead, their bodies covering the floor like a horrible carpet. The survivors stood on their knees by the wall, their heads bowed. There was no sign of Merlin among the survivors or the dead. It seemed the old schemer had managed to slip away, but I was sure we'd hear from him yet. For the moment, though, I didn't care much for his absence.

There were also casualties among us. Roger and Stattada were dead, and Angrew was bleeding in the arms of Luis and Boldwan. Victoria and Xaval bent over him, trying to help.

Only Alex stood like a pillar in the midst of the chaos. He wore the Tiara of Concord on his head, a wide metal band with sharp prongs set with milky-white stones I'd never seen before. In his hand he held his sword, covered to the hilt with blood. Alex was staring at me, and I couldn't read his expression. I wondered what a man in his situation could feel.

But psychoanalysis could wait. Angrew was more important.

Tears of the Forest! I put my hand behind my back to get my backpack, and only then remembered that I'd left it in the lab. No problem - I had the ring of the Great Master himself! I articulated a wish and channeled it through the epicenter of the power concentrated in the ring... The next second, the phial was in my hands.

I leaped over dead bodies to Angrew and gave the cure to Victoria. "This is the Tears of the Forest. Heal him!"

She nodded and began to do so, while I turned to Alex, intending to give him back Esterlior, the Sword of Valor that had belonged to the Sa-Mastes for thousands of years.

I stepped forward - and into the streak of moonlight streaming through the open window. Kainos looked me straight in the eye, possessing my soul and subjugating my will.

Alex rushed to me, but couldn't reach me - I flew up, soared to the ceiling, and from there I looked down at them, the wretched humans who had tried to resist the Formless! Did they really expect to succeed? Fools. Did they think they'd finished with the Destroyer? Holy naïveté!

 Even though my father had taken the title of Destroyer, he was not the one who could carry out the Formless One's plan.

For it was not enough to be a direct descendant of the Master and to have ascended to him through both Irr and Oel, it was not enough to carry a particle of Primordial Chaos within oneself. One also had to be born on the night of the Great Full Moon of Kainos, and among those present, as well as among the other inhabitants of the Lace, I was the only one who met those conditions.

A truly fateful coincidence! If I had been born a few hours earlier or a few hours later, everything would have been different. I would have had everything I was entitled to by birthright, I would have grown up in Irrat, I would have known my mother and father... But being born under the ringed Kainos that very night, I had no right to live. That was Otrana's decision, and my uncle Teimur hastened to carry it out. My mother died by the hand of her own brother in an attempt to save me, and my father was accused of this terrible atrocity, and he became what he became.

But I survived, I came back, and I learned the truth. Nothing could stop me now, for he who was born for a single purpose could not fail to fulfill his destiny.

The people below - eyes wide open, faces distorted. Each of them had once meant something to me, but not anymore. My uncle, who had kept the truth from me for years. Alex, my cousin, whose father was responsible for all my troubles. Gemma, who had caused me so much pain... They would all pay! Not even the combined power of the Keys would protect them, for my power was a hundred times greater!

I reached out my hand and the Tiara that had been on Alex's head flew to me. I caught it and hung it on my elbow. The Heart of Night, the sword Victoria had laid on the floor while healing Angrew, soared after the Tiara. The Amulet, tightly bound to its keeper, was harder to resist, but it too yielded to the combined power of the five Keys.

"Arthur, wake up!" Victoria cried. "You are bewitched! Resist the spell!"

Oh, no. I was free. At last I was completely free. 

I had the six Keys.

The blow came from Xaval, who tried to oppose me with the power of the Eye of Chaos. But he didn't know that I myself was Chaos!

I called, and the Eye, obedient to my will, left its illegal owner, the thief, and found itself in my hands. Seven!

Xaval collapsed. Dead? Unconscious? It made no difference to me.

"Pray, if you know how," I said as I left the hall and the people in it. I had to fulfill the destiny.

Now that I had all the information from my father and the power of the Master's Keys, I could jump to any place on the Lace; but it wasn't necessary.

The Light and Oeldiv was the geometric center of the Lace. But its heart, its power point, its true center was here, in Irrat. And the lock that sealed the Lace from the forces of Chaos was this very palace. The keyholes for the seven Keys were the seven towers of the palace.

I knew it now. I knew it because my father, with Merlin's help, had spent many years gathering and combining all the secret knowledge and had come up with the only correct answer.

The basic hexagon was formed by the towers, which served as the vertices of two right triangles of power: Light and Darkness.

Darkness was first.

I took turns descending the towers, leaving the Keys in their designated places.

Esterlior, the Blade of Valor, on the south tower, the Heart of the Night - northwest, the Master's Ring - northeast.

Light was next. 

The Amulet of Unity, southeast; the Tiara of Concord, southwest; Helyswort. I didn't want to part with it, so I stayed a little longer and said goodbye to my trusty blade... Helyswort - north.

Now I only had the Eye of Chaos, and its place was Guard'Ancha. The Eye of Chaos would split the triangles of Light and Darkness once united by the Master, and Chaos would rush into the Lace and consume it.

Simple as genius.

 I flew up the tower and placed the Eye of Chaos in its place. Then I had to spill a few drops of my blood onto it to set the mechanism in motion.

From the top of Gard Ancha, one could see a wide panorama of the Lace. It was the only place in the world where one could see it from the inside.

I stood and watched. The image was slightly distorted by the multicolored glow of Kainos, but it did not prevent me from seeing all the familiar lines, all the lights and magnetic swirls, the glowing Center and the coal-black Shadow. All that Arthur Corney had once loved and that the hand of the Destroyer would end.

I knew what I had to do. I knew.

Still, something kept me from taking that final, irreversible step into the abyss. I even took out a knife to cut my arm... but I hesitated again and again, looking at the Lace and the Mad Kainos rolling across the fantastic landscape of Irrat and already beginning to slip towards the horizon.

The seconds dripped into eternity and drifted away in the river of time, and many voices in my head howled, screamed, demanded of me to finish what I had begun, and I heard my father, and Merlin, and Mara, and all the others who had given their lives in the service of the Formless. They were all here with me in this hour, all waiting, all pleading, all bringing closer the once foretold end of the Lace and the victory of Chaos. They called out to the on who was born for destruction, who had been joined to the Sacrament by the Mad Kainos, the Moon of the Three Rings, and was subject to its power and the will of his progenitor.

Still, I hesitated. For somewhere in the depths, pressed down by the will of my father and the light of Kainos, almost paralyzed but able to perceive reality, I still existed.

I, Artur Corney, an earthling! The one who had come all this way to save the Lace, not to destroy it, and who had always been the implacable enemy of those who now were breaking my will. The one who had never bowed his head or submitted to the will of others.

I was a tiny spark in the depths of my own consciousness, and that spark was holding me back, not letting me make the final step into the abyss.

This was the battle with myself that Svilann had once foretold. It was here, on the top of Guard-Ancha, and it was a thousand times harder than the battle with the Dreameater that had taken my form.

I stood there, as Kainos continued its inexorable descent, and suddenly I realized that my knife was stained with blood and my wrist was cut.

The precarious balance, the final confrontation. I existed and did not exist at the same time. A multitude of voices filled my head, I was lost in them and didn't even have the strength to remember who I was.

Surrender. How easy it would be to surrender.

One step. Another step.

An effort and a step back. A dance over the abyss.

Then, suddenly, it was over. Kainos dropped behind a mountain range far to the west, the rainbow sky blackened, and the Lace glowed with redoubled power.

The Lace that had survived, not destroyed by the hand of a madman.

I was no longer possessed. I was myself again.

I fell to my knees and bent down, clutching the bleeding cut on my arm.

Oh, my God! Was it really over? The thought slipped at the edge of my consciousness and was gone, replaced by unhuman exhaustion. Blood pounded in my ears and there was not a single cell in my body that did not respond with aching pain. Red and orange circles swam before my eyes and then I fell into a blissful blackness where there was nothing. Nothing at all.

First there were sounds. The voices, which sounded like they were coming from a malfunctioning radio receiver, got closer and then farther away, but I couldn't make out the meaning of the conversation.

Then, in the general noise, I heard, "…Destroyer, son of the Faceless One..."

With great difficulty I opened my eyes and saw the brightening sky above me. I turned my head.

They were here. All of them.

Victoria and Alex, Angrew and Xaval, who had regained the Eye, Louis and Boldvann; and my uncle, whose real name was Aldmir. The ones I considered friends, the ones I had fought the hardest battle of my life for.

Last night had erased everything that had been between us. From now on and forever, I would be the son of the Faceless One, the one who had almost destroyed the Lace. It would always be that way.

Every five and a half years, as the Lace was finishing its turn and Kainos was growing stronger, they would be terrified that I might come back to try it all over again. And worst of all, I myself could not say for certain that it would not happen.

It had to end. End here and now.

I slowly got to my knees, then to my feet, straightened up and turned to my former comrades. I looked at them and they looked at me. No one said a word, no one took a step towards me. Only Gemma - I let myself call her by that name again - rushed towards me, but Alex held her back with his arm around her waist. Then she was silent, just staring at me in pain, tears rolling down her cheeks. She was the only one I wanted to say something to, to explain, to say goodbye... But I couldn't.

So I turned away, climbed up the parapet, and jumped down without giving myself time to think or doubt.

Guard-Ancha was the tallest of the palace towers. It would take me a long time to fall.