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Seeress in all the world. And with the touch of vision
still upon her she spake unto us in a great voice, saying:
'Behold! A feast hath been set before those who made
us, and this feast shall ye call the Feast of Life. And those
who made us have chosen that which pleased them, and
that which pleased them not was not chosen.
'Now we are the Feast of Life, and ye sorrow that no
guest at the feast hath chosen ye. Despair not, however,
for one guest hath not yet arrived at the feast. The other
guests have taken their fill, but this great Feast of Life
awaiteth still the beloved guest who cometh late, and I say
unto all the people that it is he who will choose us.
'Abide therefore against his coming, for it is certain.
The signs of it are in the heavens, and there are whispers
which speak of it within the rocks. If earth and sky alike
confirm it, how can it not come to pass? Prepare then for
his coming. Put aside thy grief and turn thy face to the sky
and to the earth that thou mayest read the signs written
there, for this I say unto all the people, it is upon ye that
his coming rests. For Behold, he may not choose ye unless
ye choose him. And this is the fate for which we were
made.
'Rise up, oh my people. Sit no more upon the earth in
vain and foolish lamentation. Take up the task which lies
before ye and prepare the way for him who will surely
come.
Much we marveled at the words which had been
spoken to us, and we considered them most carefully And
we questioned the Seeress, but her answers were dark and
obscure. And we perceived that a danger lurked within
the promise. And we turned our faces to the sky and bent
our ears to the whispers which came from the earth that
we might see and hear and learn. And as we learned to
read the book of the skies and to hear the whispers within
the rocks, we found the myriad warnings that two spirits
would come to us, and that the one was good and the
other evil. And we redoubled our efforts so that we might
recognize the true spirit and the false in order to choose
between them. And as we read the Book of the Heavens
we found two signs; and as we listened to the earth we
heard two voices; and we were sorely troubled, for we
could not determine which sign was the true sign nor
which voice the true voice. Truly, evil is disguised as good
in the Book of the Heavens and in the speech of the earth,
and no man is wise enough to choose between them
unaided.
Pondering this, we went out from beneath the shadow
of the mountains of Korim and into the lands beyond,
where we abode. And we put aside the concerns of man
and bent all our efforts to the task which lay before us.
And we sought out all manner of wisdom to aid us in
distinguishing the true God from the false when the two
should come to us, each saying, 'I am the way.' Our
witches and our seers sought the aid of the spirit world,
and our necromancers took counsel with the dead, and
our diviners sought advice from the earth. But lo, the
spirits knew no more than we, and we found that they were as
confused and troubled as we.