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But he spake not, and his mute guardian sighed and
gently laid his master in a posture of repose. Then he also
laid himself upon the earth beside his master and he also
died.
And at the beginning of the Fourth Age the Seeress
Onatel came, and she also spake of the choice. And the
Seers of the Generations of Onatel probed with their
minds toward the very center of Prophecy and of the
Destiny which was at the core of Prophecy. But the visions
came darkly and seemed without meaning. We saw the
whirling of stars and entire worlds suddenly touched into
fire, but none knew what such visions meant. And at last
came Dallan, a Seer of the Generations of Onatel, and he
spake the great truth unto us, saying:
'Behold what I have seen. The life of man is but the
winking of an eye, and the life of a star is but a breath in
length. The contention between the two Fates hath endured
throughout eternity, and the outcome will encompass
EVENTS so vast that thine imagining cannot grasp them.
Should the Fate which is EVIL triumph over the other Fate,
the result will not so much rebound upon the lives of men,
but rather shall be seen among the stars. And if the stars
perish, all will perish.'
And then at last we understood. The choice between
GOOD and EVIL was a choice between existence and
destruction for all of creation, and GOOD and EVIL were but
human terms, and had no meaning among the stars. That
which might be foulest evil in the eyes of men might well
be that which would save creation from destruction. And
as we considered this, we grew afraid, for Behold, it was
our stern duty to protect creation - even should our choice
enslave or even destroy mankind.
And thus it was when we saw in the Book of the
Heavens that the time was drawing nigh for the meeting
between the Child of Light and the Child of Dark, sent we
five Seers of the Generations of Onatel to Cthol Mishrak,
the City of Night, to make the choice.
But the moment for the choice came and passed - for lo,
we had believed that the EVENT was to be the meeting
between Belgarion and Torak, but it was not. The EVENT
which slipped so swiftly past us was the spurning of
Torak by Belgarath's daughter, Polgara.
And, sorrowing that they had failed in their task, the
five Seers of the Generations of Onatel returned to Kell,
and the Fifth Age had already begun.
And the Fifth Age was the Age of the Generations of
Gazad, the stern Seer who berated us that we had failed in
our task. And the Generations of Gazad were to be known
as the Choosers, and they moved into the affairs of this
world as none of us had done before. The necessity for
choice now lay heavily upon us, and the time of
indifferent contemplation of EVENTS had passed. Now is the
time to act, to shape EVENTS rather than to be shaped by
them. We must move the figures on the board of time
ourselves and place them in such fashion that the final
meeting will take place at a time and place of our
choosing. For Behold, should this meeting pass without our
choosing, all that was, is and shall be must surely perish.