“Those were the battlefields, those were the factions involved. The war we fought and won was with the remnants of that conflict. We were only fighting at the fringes of the greater war between the worlds of life and death.
“I used the power of Orden to end that particular war with the Imperial Order in that particular manner, but a spectral fold touches all of existence, not only what I did to banish the followers of the Imperial Order. That spectral fold that I initiated may have been absolutely necessary, but it is still in force.
“The Cerulean scrolls call this spectral fold a star shift, because it shifts the nature of everything, the very nature of existence, of the world of existence–which encompasses the whole world of life. I used the power contained in those boxes, releasing it to end the war. In so doing, I initiated a spectral fold, a star shift.
“That was what the creator of the sword knew had to be done, despite the cost. That was why he made the key. They knew it would initiate a star shift, and they knew the cost would be the spectral fold that would bring about the final battle that I would also have to fight. It was, in a way, a prophecy that had been pulled from the underworld in order to create the situation needed to force the event.”
“They created a self-fulfilling prophecy?”
“In a way, but only as a tool for the power of Orden so it could do what it was meant to do.”
Kahlan felt like her head was spinning. “What else? What else does this power, this star shift, affect?”
“The veil.”
Kahlan felt goose bumps raise the hairs on her arms. “The veil.”
“Yes. The veil is the power–the force–that keeps the world of life and the world of the dead separate. It’s that line in the Grace that separates life and death. Those worlds can’t be allowed to mix. The veil prevents that from happening.
“That power is what Adie knew as the skrin. Remember her telling us about the skrin? The power of the skrin is the power contained in the veil that keeps the spirits on that side. It keeps the dead, dead.
“But the spectral fold, initiated through the power of Orden, not only weakened time and space in order to bring the two separate worlds together so I could banish the people of the Imperial Order to that other world, it also weakened the veil as well. In a way, what I did with the separate worlds coming together in time and space, is the same thing that is also happening with the world of life and the world of the dead.
“The only difference is that the veil is a much larger force because it separates existence from nonexistence, so it has taken it longer to begin to show the signs of this weakening. That, and also, since the underworld is involved, that time factor is distorted. Time is meaningless in the underworld.
“That weakening of the veil is what allowed Hannis Arc to bring Emperor Sulachan back from the dead. That weakening of the veil is also what enables Sulachan to reanimate the dead.” Richard tapped a finger against the scroll. “Hannis Arc learned what the results of the weakening would be from these scrolls. The creators of these scrolls learned what would take place from prophecy, which they extracted from the underworld. In turn, the scrolls predict what Hannis Arc and Sulachan would do as a result of what I did with the power of Orden.”
Kahlan was having trouble fitting it all together and even more trouble grasping all the implications. “Dear spirits” was all she could say.
“Yes, but all things work toward balance, and that is the important takeaway from what the scrolls are saying. Events can fall off toward one side of that balance or toward the other because the contrasting sides work toward balancing each other.”
“How?” was all she could ask.
“The balance to the harm that Hannis Arc has the potential to do is that the weakening of the power of the veil because of this spectral fold also allowed me to travel to the underworld in order to send your spirit back to the world of life. It allowed Nicci to come into the underworld to get help for me. It allowed Zedd and all the others already there to help find me and free me from Sulachan’s dark ones. And it allowed me to return to the world of life.
“It balanced out the things Hannis Arc does because I am the force meant to balance what he and Sulachan are doing. The balance to Sulachan coming back to the world of life is me being able to return as well to be here to fight him.
“And, in a larger sense, it’s all part of a greater balance. There is prophecy in the Cerulean scrolls–”
“Wait–I thought you said that prophecy came from the world of the dead. How can the scrolls contain prophecy if they predate Regula and thus prophecy being in this world?”
“Because they draw information directly from the world of the dead as well as the world of life. They are celestial scrolls, so, in a manner of speaking, they draw from the void of the night sky as well as the daytime sky. In other words, they draw from both sides, from all there is on both sides of the veil, from both worlds.
“Just as wizards of old had Additive Magic as well as Subtractive Magic, the gifted back then, the ones who wrote these scrolls, had abilities beyond what you or I can fathom. They had not only regular Additive and Subtractive Magic, but it was combined with the opposite of occult magic. They wielded power in both worlds. They drew from a world where time exists, and from where it doesn’t.
“Cerulean, meaning ‘celestial,’ also refers to the star shift, which is this spectral fold initiated by the use of the power of Orden. I’m the one who initiated its spark.”
“You mean it’s kind of like starting a campfire to keep you warm and cook your dinner, and that much is good, but then a big gust of wind comes up and blows sparks everywhere and catches the entire forest around you on fire, so what started off good turns into something very bad.”
Richard grimaced a little. “That’s one way to put it. But in this instance, the entire world is on fire.”
Kahlan pressed her hands to the sides of her head. “This is giving me a headache.”
Richard grunted a brief chuckle. “You don’t know the half of it. I’ve only scratched the surface. It’s a lot more complex than I’m making it sound, and so far I’ve only given you a few of the meaningful highlights.”
Kahlan lowered her hands and stared at him. “You mean to say that there’s more?”
“I’m afraid so,” Richard said. “And it gets worse.”
CHAPTER 29
“You see,” Richard said, “Hannis Arc knew all this. He apparently got his hands on some of these scrolls long ago and read in them about initiating the power of Orden to create this spectral fold. He collected more of these scrolls over time and has been using what he was able to learn in them to start shaping events to his own objectives. He saw from what he read that this was his opportunity to bring Sulachan back.”
“Hannis Arc is the one who gave Darken Rahl the last box of Orden,” Kahlan said, trying to keep track of it all in her head. “You mean he did that to help start this prophecy to unfold? The prophecy he plays a central part in and that he would benefit from?”
“Exactly. He has been moving the pieces around like pieces on a chessboard in order to bring about the events the scrolls talk about. It’s as if he sees prophecy of himself doing these things, and then does them to make the prophecy reality. Mohler said that he was a master chess player, and from what I’ve learned about the game, much of the thinking in the game carries over to making moves in life.