“I am not talking aboutpunishment or blame,” Kalina insisted, “but I do need to know whichone of you caused the bead to fall from the sword.”
“We don’t know,” Arikanswered. “The bead was on the bottom of the sword because we werelooking at the side where the gems belong. When we turned it over,the bead was not in the sword. There is no way we could determinewhich one of us broke it. We are all to blame.”
“Okay,” Kalina saidexasperatingly, “let me say this again. There is no blame orpunishment involved. The sword is not broken. The sword is behavingexactly like it is supposed to. I will admit I was excited when Isaw the missing bead, but I was wrong when I accused you ofstealing it. I know that now. What I do not know is which one ofyou was the cause of it coming loose.”
“And we shall never know,”declared Tedi. “Everything that has been said is true. We do notknow how the bead came loose. We all touched the sword. Niki hadthe bead in her hand because she was trying to put it back on thesword. Why does it matter who was the cause?”
“Okay,” Kalina began, “I amgoing to tell you some things that very few people in the worldknow, but to tell you, I need your pledges not to repeat it toanyone if you decide to leave us.”
One by one, the children gave theirpledges and Kalina finally continued. “In the time before yourbirth, there was an evil magician known as Sarac. Sarac had visionsof ruling the world and he did not care how he achieved that goal.He caused wars and strife in which tens of thousands of people diedand still he failed. He created an organization called the BlackDevils and taught them magic. One of the spells he taught them tiedthem to his will with eternal allegiance. In effect, he created aprivate army that held no allegiance to country, but only to him.In a great battle, good magicians created a new Universe and exiledhim to it.”
“Who were these good magiciansand why didn’t they just kill him?” Tanya asked.
“Who they were is notimportant,” Kalina declared, “but the reason they didn’t kill Saracis because they were not capable of killing him. Sarac surroundedhimself with a hundred Black Devils and there were only three goodmagicians. The hundred Black Devils’ job was to provide Sarac withshields to protect him.”
“The three magicians wereKirsta, Jenneva and Egam,” Fredrik interjected. “Kirsta and Egamdied in the battle, or so the Black Devils say. They still searchfor Jenneva this very day, but most believe she died during theCollapse.”
“You know very much for aCollapse child,” Kalina said.
“I learned many things fromspying on the Black Devils in Trekum,” Fredrik saidproudly.
“Well,” Kalina continued, “youare correct, except Egam did not die in the battle. It was thoughtthat he was dead, but he survived that battle to supposedly dieduring the Collapse. Anyway, to get back to the story, they wereunable to kill Sarac and he was slowly killing them, so Jenneva didthe only thing she could think of. She created an empty Universeand banished him and his hundred Black Devils to it.”
“But I heard that Sarac is theDark One,” objected Fredrik.
“And so he is,” confirmedKalina. “You see, Sarac did not possess the knowledge of creatingand collapsing Universes, so he was trapped. Only Jenneva knew andshe would never let him free. Some of the Black Devils who wereleft behind organized under a sorcerer known as Mordac. Mordac wasan assistant to Sarac and schemed to bring him back. He amassedthousands of followers and began looting temples and libraries tofind the knowledge that would free Sarac.”
“Was this Jenneva foolishenough to write the information down?” Tedi asked.
“No,” replied Kalina, “but shedid not invent the information. She learned of it in old scrollsand there was a volume called the Book of the Beginning that alsocontained the information. It was this volume that Mordac sought.Again the Black Devils caused thousands of lives to be lost throughwars and murder, but eventually Mordac and the Black Devils weredefeated by the Targa Rangers and everyone thought the threat wasover.”
“Who are the Targa Rangers?”inquired Arik.
“The Rangers were an elitefighting force conceived and organized by Alex Tork,” Kalinaanswered. “They fought for Targa which was a large country north ofhere. By all accounts, they were the finest fighting force everassembled in the history of the world, but we are getting offtopic. Two Black Devils out of thousands survived, Dalgar andAurora. By a quirk of fate, these two Black Devils were the onlytwo to have read the Book of the Beginning in the extremely shorttime that the Black Devils possessed it.”
“Perhaps fate decreed thatthey should be spared,” offered Niki.
“Perhaps,” Kalina grimlyagreed. “They used their knowledge to open a Junction to Sarac’sUniverse. The story is unclear here, but somehow they got this newknowledge to Sarac and he opened a Junction to Alutar, the GreatDemon. The Mage had imprisoned Alutar for over a thousand years andthe Demon’s freedom triggered a prophecy. According to the AncientProphecy, Alutar chose Sarac to become the Dark One. This madeSarac immortal and guaranteed him rule of the entire world. Therewere a couple of twists in the Ancient Prophecy, though. Saraccollapsed the Universes and brought darkness and havoc to the worldin preparation for his armies, but Alex and Jenneva managed toimprison him in his castle before he could conquer the world andthat is where he still exists today.”
“What does all of this have todo with the sword?” Tedi asked.
“The twists in the AncientProphecy,” explained Kalina. “The sword before you is the Sword ofHeavens. It is older than the oldest mountain range and it is tiedto the Ancient Prophecy. It is the sword that will kill Sarac andend the Darkness. There are two conditions that have to be metbefore Sarac dies with this sword and neither is assured tohappen.”
The children looked in awe at the swordand there were quite a few red faces around the fire.
“The first,” Kalina detailed,“is that the seven missing gems must be restored to the sword. Eachof the gems represents one of the original Universes. Until allseven of the gems are restored, the Sword of Heavens is just asword and will not kill Sarac. The second twist is that the Swordof Heavens must be wielded by a descendant of Sarac and only afterthe ancient kingdom of Alcea is ruled by its rightfulKing.”
“I have never heard of Alcea,”declared Fredrik.
“And who is a descendant ofSarac?” quizzed Tedi. “I think most people would deny it if theywere.”
“Very good questions,”admitted Kalina. “The Children of the Prophecy whom everyone seeksare the descendant of Sarac and the rightful King ofAlcea.”
“Are you sure it says the Kingof Alcea and not the Queen?” Niki queried.
“So, for these two people,everyone who is seventeen is to be killed?” Arikquipped.
“If Sarac has his way, yes,”Kalina responded. “You can see why it is so important to the DarkOne to find these children.”
“Sure, it’s important to him,”remarked Tedi, “but what does that have to do with us?”
Kalina looked at the faces of thechildren around the campfire before answering. “Because the Swordof Heavens will be inactive until touched by one of the Children ofthe Prophecy,” she stated.
Silence fell over the group as thechildren all glanced at one another. For almost five minutes no onespoke as each person was lost in his own thoughts about what theyhad witnessed and what it might mean to them if they were the onewho had set the sword off. Eventually, Garth interrupted thesilence.
“You will see now,” he began,“why it is important that we do not split up. Any one of you couldbe one of the Children. Any of the others could provide adescription of the other four and make the Dark One’s work easy forhim. The fate of the whole world lies in the hands of the people inthis campsite. None of you can walk away from this and hope to leada normal life as if none of it has happened. You must all train tobe as skilled as you can become, both in the arts that I can teachand in those that Kalina can teach. Together we can restore Lightto the world, though it will be no easy task. Are weagreed?”