 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
there in
the
dimness
I beheld
the ruins
of an
ancient
temple
I wandered as in a dream through the marshes of Temba
and came at last to the shore where a small boat awaited
me. And all unbidden I stepped aboard the boat which
then without oars or sails bore me out to sea. At length the
boat brought me to a shoal, and I saw ahead of me a grim
reef of ancient rock where the sullen sea beat itself to
frothy tatters. And, as one compelled, I debarked upon
that reef to wander through a wilderness of brine-crusted
rock until I came at last to a fissure which tended
downward
into the darkness beneath.
Fearfully I descended into that grim cavern, and there in
the dininess I beheld the ruins of an ancient temple, and
on the steps thereof I beheld the hooded and veiled form
of a woman. And her aspect chilled my blood within me.
Wordlessly she pointed to the door of the temple,
commanding me to enter, and, unable to resist, I did as she ordered.
Within the temple I beheld an altar and resting
thereupon I beheld a dark stone of some size. And I wondered
why I had been brought to this place. But as I stood, the
woman came forward, and in her arms she bore a
newborn infant. And as she approached the altar, the
stone thereon began to glow with a dim fire, and it
seemed that of a sudden I could see within the stone and
what I saw there terrified me. And the woman reached
forth the newborn child as if she intended to press it into
the stone itself, and Behold, the stone opened to accept the
child. But of a sudden I beheld the grim form of Belgarion
the Godslayer standing before the woman, With his face
contorted in anguish and with tears streaming from his
eyes, he raised his flaming sword to smite down the
woman and the child in one dreadful blow. And as I cried
i
I
out to stop him, the sound of my voice shattered the
vision which had come unbidden to me and I awoke
shrieking in terror.
But truly I tell thee, my brother, my vision was not a
misty imagining but a truth as solid as the earth upon
which thou standest. Hear my words, for they are truth.
The shoal and the reef are there, and the temple within the
cavern doth truly exist. And within the temple lies the
stone. One day will the woman and the child and the
Godslayer himself come to that dim place, and at that
moment must the choice be made, for that is the EVENT