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and was to be the fulfilment of creation. And then we
turned to the pages which spoke of the Second Destiny
before it became aware of the existence of the First; and
Behold! the Second Destiny also moved inexorably
toward one EVENT. At a certain time the two Fates will
confront each other in all their aspects and the fate of
creation will be chosen.
And as we learned more, we discovered more and
more of the aspects of the two Destinies; and we found
them always to be in balance. For the one stone there was
another; for the God, there was another God; for the hero,
a hero; for the woman, a woman; for the sword, a sword.
In all things were the two Fates so balanced that the
weight of a single feather might tip the course of the
ultimate EVENT.
And behind it all we found that the First Destiny of
creation was unchanging and immutable, permanent and
unmoving. The Second Destiny we found to be bent on
change and alteration, transmutation and progression.
And we saw evidence of these differences in all of the acts
of the two Destinies, and we argued among ourselves
concerning the nature of GOOD and the nature of EVIL,
and at last we were still unsure and unable to state with
certainty that change was good or evil or that absolute
immutability was the Fate we should choose.
And even as we considered all that we had learned,
ancient Belgarath, himself one aspect of the First Destiny,
moved to retrieve his master's Orb from the City of
Endless Night. And as the morning of that day dawned, a
Seeress we had not known before came down from out
the mountains bordering upon Darshiva, and the
voiceless man who guided her was of a strange race. And the
Seeress raised her voice and laid our third task upon us.
'Behold,' she said, 'the Third Age of man has begun,
and this is the Age of Prophecy. And it shall be thy task to
gather up all the Prophecies which are spoken by the one
Destiny or by the other. Seek ye, therefore, among the
lands of all men for the Prophets who will speak the
words of the Fates, and gather up all that is said and carry
the words of Prophecy to the speakers, who will wrest the
meaning from them.'And so saying the nameless Seeress
turned and went her way, and we saw her no more.
And the task the Seeress had lain upon us was long and
hard, for Prophecy hovers ever on the verge of madness,
and we were perforce obliged to seek out every madman
in all the kingdoms of the world and to take down all the
ravings of gibbering insanity. And some of the words of
the madmen of this world seemed to be the words of Fate,
and some of the words of true Prophets seemed to be the
ravings of the deranged, and we knew not which was the
Voice of Prophecy and which the Voice of Madness. And
so, that we leave no true Prophecy ungathered, we carried
all such mouthings back to the Seers at Kell, where they
winnowed Prophecy from madness.
And sometimes we despaired, for the times themselves
seemed mad. And we found, moreover, that sprites and
Devils oft-times in mockery would speak through
innocent mouths in the tones of Prophecy to lead us astray. But
we persevered, and when the Age of Prophecy ended, we