Ch. 8: Never to Make War

Back to Arheled



             A   blinding   glare   filled   Forest’s   eyes. It   took   a   moment   for   him   to   see   what   was   around   him,   to   separate   the   glare   into   individual   figures   of   light. Stars. Armies   of   Stars,   discarding   their   duty   to   shine   in   the   heavens. The   sky   was   night,   but   it   was   not   night. The   unnatural   splendour   of   that   awful   sight,   of   the   night   sky   filling   with   silver   and   white   suns   until   it   was   spangled   day,   brought   tears   to   his   eyes:   he   knew   what   would   happen,   what   inevitably   would   happen.

             Barvast’s   big   voice   echoed   over   the   leagues   of   air. “Drëdo,   I   hereby   call   on   you   to   render   up   the   traitor   Angar!”

             “I   have   him   not!”   the   lofty,   masterful   voice   of   their   eldest   replied.

             “You   take   his   side!”

             “I   speak   reason   and   try   to   instill   sense!”

             Barvast   answered,   “With   me stand   Hormo   and   Gentos. We   will   compel   you   to   yield   him. We   are   not   content with   your   pithy   excuses!”

             Drëdo’s   voice   thundered   in   reply,   “Think   well,   boastful   brother. Two   princes   aid   thee,    but   three   stand   behind   me. I   have   collaborated   fully   with   the   Sun’s   inquisitors,   as   have   you   all. Yet   Angar   has   not   been   found. Has   anyone   searched   the   nine   layers?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Do   not   parry   my   demands   with   your   attempts   to   divert   attention   from   yourself. Every   effort   you   make   only   convinces   me   further   of   your   complicity. Stand   aside,   then,   if   you   desire   no   war,   and   we   will   ransack   your   halls   and   mansions   until   the   traitor   is   found.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Whirling   rays   of   green   erupted   from   Drëdo   as   his   weapons   powered   up   all   at   once. “I   will   never   so   yield   my   sovereignty   as   to   suffer   you   to   use   Angar   as   an   excuse   to   plunder   and   loot!”   A   wild   roar   from   his   army   backed   him   up.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             With   a   flaming   wall   of   red   power   Barvast   and   his   Stars   sped   into   motion.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             So   terrible   a   sight   as   that   charging   double   host   of   lights   of   heaven   Forest   had   never   imagined. The   eerie   beauty   of   the   starsinging lights   he   knew;   but   in   their   anger,   they   were   deadlier   than   ever. Redness   like   flowing   wispy   flame   surged   in   ten   thousand   forms,   ten   thousand   hues   and   shades   of   wispy   red   mingled   with   rose,   and   pink,   scarlet   and   purple   and   violet,   and   even   blue. Only   a   few   had   any   green   mingled   with   the   red   of   their   rage. Like   two   churning   seas   of   silver   and   red   they   thundered   through   the   exploding   airs   upon   one   another,   each   slanting   downward   so   as   to   gain   maximum   momentum,   so   it   was   like   a   descending   valley   of   flame. The   blue   of   heaven   faded   and   expired,   changing   first   to   white   and   then   to   awful   lurid   rose.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   blinding   glare   of   golden   and   silver   appeared   between   the   two   armies. Amber   gold   and   silvery   red   exploded   into   being   in   the   valley   floor   where   the   armies   were   converging. Twin   balls   of   light   made   both   sides   reel. Teleported   from   their   appointed   places   by   the   angelic   power   of   their   rulers,   the   Sun   and   Moon   stood   between   the   halted   hosts.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Begotten!”   Silmo’s   hard   voice   and   Urwendi’s   scorching   voice   resounded   with   such   power   it   must   have   been   heard   across   the   planet. “In   the   name   of   the   Valar   and   the   name   of   the   Father,   we   command   you,   by   the   authority   of   our   parenthood   and   of   our   noble   spirits,   DISPERSE!!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Stand   from   our   path,   old   man.”   said   Barvast   roughly. “A   fine   time   to   be   getting   on   your   high   horse. Where   were   you   when   Angar   wrought   his   evil? Maybe   you   let   in   the   spirit   within   him. Is   not   he   a   Vala,   even   as   are   you,   your   own   brother?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Do   you   require   convincing,   fools?”    roared   the   Sun   and   Moon.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Their   forms   fell   down. Their   bodies   toppled. Twin   they   stood,   two   naked   flames. The   timewalking   humans,   even   in   the   suspension   of   the   Road,   cried   aloud   as   they   clamped   their   hands   over   their   eyes. A   blinding   white   light   was   all   around,   squeezing   past   their   fingers   and   making   their   hands   transparent   of   flesh. They   felt   pressure   as   if   the   air   was   being   sucked   from   their   lungs. They   wanted   to   fall,   to   grovel   into   the   dirt   to   escape   the   alienness   of   the   power   that   was   around   them,   that   crushed   breath   and   soul   with   its’   unlikeness,   its’   strength,   its’   utter   alien   nature. Power   so   scorching   and   so   alien it   made   the   mind   of   Forest   wither   even   through   the   veil   of   the   Road   rayed   out   of   them,   as   it   had   when   Arheled   commanded   them   to   turn   their   backs. The   sudden   revelation   of   an   intellectual   substance   in   its’   full   nature   was   like   a   mountainful   of   rocks   falling   out   of   the   air   upon   a   beetle. Breath   failed. Minds   wilted. Forms   lost   cohesion. Stars   fled,   shooting   off   like   meteors   on   all   sides.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             As   suddenly   as   it   began,   the   revelation   ceased. Tilion   and   Arien   pulled   on   their   raiment   of   flesh,   coldly   and   sternly. The   Star-hosts   were   scattered. Only   the   Seven   Captains   remained.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Will   you   disperse,   and   place   Angar’s   hunting   in   our   hands?”   the   Moon   demanded.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             What   they   would have   said   would   never   be   known. The   three   cold   brothers   stood   with   downcast   eyes. Tears   came   from   Barvast. Drëdo   looked   ashamed. Gentos   and   Hormo   looked   merely   sullen. Barvast   dashed   tears   from   his   eyes   and   turned   to   speak.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   reeled,   choking. A   black   arrow,   wavering   with   ugly   red   power,   stuck   in   his   throat. He   ripped   it   out,   as   the   others   whirled   in   the   direction   it   had   come   from. There,   wheeling   out   of   range,   were   the   Twins,   the   bows   of   Angar   in   their   hands,   the   arrows   of   Angar   in   their   quivers.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Barvast   shifted   himself   whole. “Made   by   Angar.”   he   hissed.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Your   precious   grandchildren   are   siding   with   Angar.”   sneered   Doldûn   the   cold   to   the   Sun   and   Moon. “Yet   they   always   were   your   favorites.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   has   been   you,   all   this   time.”   snarled   Barvast. “The   one   place   we   have   never   looked—inside   the   Sun   and   Moon!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Are   you   mad?”   spluttered   Lundo.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Chaos   fell   upon   them. Planet   shouted   at   Planet,   and   while   some   pushed   toward   the   Sun   and   Moon,   others   stood   in   the   way.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Flee,   my   sires!”   shouted   Drëdo. “We   will   hold   off   our   madman   brothers!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Oh,   you’ll   hold   us,   will   you?”   jeered   Barvast. He   lifted   his   hand   and   sent   out   a   call.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Instantly   the   sky   began   to   swarm   and   fill   with   stars.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   was   no   longer   standing   amid   the   host,   for   if   he   had   he   would   never   have   been   able   to   comprehend   the   horrible   chaos   and   splendor   of   that   sight. He   stood   in   a   crystal   forest,   or   a   silver   one   at   any   rate,   a   forest   growing   out   of   thin   mist   that   flowed   opaque   and   cottony   about   the   roots   of   the   grey-silver   trees. Their   branches   were   no   longer   crystalline   and   bedewed   with   diamond,   as   they   had   been   when   Lara   saw   the   Sun   and   Moon   walk   amid   them;   frost   had   condensed   upon   them   as   the   Shadow   deepened,   till   every   twig   was   as   thick   as   if   wet   snow   had   recently   fallen   and   turned   the   forest   into   a   web   of   lacey   grey. The   sky   seen   through   and   between   the   silver   branches   was   silver   also,   a   beautiful   pearly   silver-rose;   the   sight   was   so breathtakingly   beautiful   it   made   tears   come   to   his   eyes   and   freeze   upon   his   skin. For   the   Stars   were   singing   amid   the   branches,   and   he   could   see   through   the   mist   as   if   it   was   of   glass,   and   while   still   beholding   the   silver   limbs   and   the   rosy   sky   he   saw   the   sky   filling   with   awful   glaring   flocks   of   winging   lights. From   here,   from   there,   from   every   corner   of   the   rounded   airs   they   gathered,   girl   stars   and   women,   servant   stars   and   lords:   even   the   housemaids   were   bearing   the   fearsome   weapons   of   the   tremendous   stockpiles.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Strange   despairing   voices   began   to   wail   from   all   sides:   the   echoes   he   had   heard   when   he   first   walked   Temple   Fell. Their   haunting   cries   and   mournful   notes   tore   and   wrenched   his   heart. Clouds   boiled   on   Earth. Stars   boiled   in heaven. The   holy   stars,   the   shining   ones,   so   far   removed   from   the   evils   of   the   ground. The   grey   branches   swayed   in   the   foreground   of   his   sight,   and   above   him,   or   below   him   it   may   be,   he   saw   the   heavens   erupt   into   war. He   saw   the   red   and   silver   lights   spangle   and   splash   one   against   another;   lights   strangling   lights   and   horrid   bursts   of   sickening   neon   green   and   yellow   power   from   abominable   weapons   unmaking   entire   flocks   of   Stars; or,   worse,   not   unmaking   them,   but   splashing   in   misty   clouds   of   radiation   and   power   to   pollute   the   atmosphere. He saw   the   music   as   well   as   heard   it,   saw   the   music   crystallize   like   spars   of   hoar   upon   the   deepening   twigs,   saw   the   frost   of   song   growing   denser   and   the   crystal   twigs   weighing   ever   farther   down,   and   amid   them   Sophia   walked,   and   it   was   she   who   was   singing,   she   alone   of   all   that   host   carried   on   the   Choir’s   song.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Little   one,   who   taught   you   to   dance ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">So   high   in   the   sky? ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">O shining   one,   teach   me   to   dance ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">With   you   in   the   sky… ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   Star   exploded,   her   form   unmade,   her   substance   shattered   by   one   of   the   fell   weapons,   novas   of   fiery   power   splashing   outward   and   withering   on   the   wind. A   web   of   luminous   layered   cloud   with   fingered   edges   and   filaments   of   silver   and   green   splorped   all   at   once,   a   net   flung   across   the   sky. Pricks   of   light   still   burned   within   it,   and   faint   hearts   of   reddish   green   flickered   and   keened   as   the   Star   died. The   heavens   rippled   and   shook. The   air   burst   and   wavered. Streamers   of   thin   greenish   and   red   mist   trailed   slowly   away.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Brightly,   O   brightly   you   shone   from   on   high ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Melt   my   heart   with   aching   love ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Brightly,   O   burning   you   fell   from   above ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Coming   to   teach   my   soul   how   to   love… ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Stars   spiraled   downward   in   pearly   tornados   of   blue   and   rose-purple   fire,   trailing   streamers   of   power,   to   disappear   in   the   clouds. Flashes   of   sorrowful   white   from   within   the   burning   clouds   marked   their   doom. Stars   form-shifted   around   others   stars,   beauty   strangling   beauty. Air   wrinkled   and   exploded. Stars   wrinkled   and   exploded. Weirdly   shaped   blades   melded   and   shifted   like   the   phantoms   of   a   dream   and   lopped   off   pieces   of   form-shifting   whips   of   violet   and   silver-lilac   flame,   and   mistlike   blood   of   deepest   pure   red,   each   drop   as   bright   and   lovely   as   a   heart   of   ruby   and   as   poignant   with   sorrow   as   tears   of   crimson,   drifted   on   the   air. Blue   was   gone   from   heaven. Light   was   gone   from   heaven. Stars   were   gone   from   heaven. A   horrid   sunset   of   fiery   red   and   green   and   violet   swirled   lurid   in   the   vault.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Lovely   one,   who   taught   you   to   shine ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">So   high   in   the   sky? ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">O   silver   one,   teach   me   to   shine ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">With   you   in   the   sky ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Softly,   O   sweetly   you   came   from   the   sky ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Coming   to   see   the   light   of   my   life ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Softly,   O   sweetly   you   went   up   to   the   sky… ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Enchanted   castles   wrought   of   snow   as   tough   as   diamond-steel   melted   into   flowing   shapes   and   fell   as   rain   upon   the   airs,   their   once-pure   whiteness   a   rose   stained   with   blotches   of   purple. Crystalline   palaces   forged   of   light   that   had   been   bended   into   solid   form   and   fashioned   like   to   glass,   fractured   and   shattered   into   powder   and   into   a   dreadful   hail   of   splinters   that   evaporated   even   as   they   fell. Forests   of   mist   and   moonbeam   bent   into   living   growth   crumpled   and   warped   into   blinding   greenish-white   distortions,   and   the   cotton   mist   they   grew   in   was   blasted   as   with   fire,   and   the   frost   of   songs   that   condensed   upon   their   silver   twigs   perished   forever   and   even   the   memory   was   gone   from   the   world,   and   their   crystal   twigs   would   be   dewed   no   more. Smoky   was   the   pure   air   of   the   heights;   polluted   was   the   brilliant   blue   of   the   clear   air   of   Ilmen;   misted   with   redness   of   vaporized   blood   was   the   holy   air   of   Ilwë. Gone   were   the   fountains   of   glass   and   wet   light,   the   floorless   streets,   the   carpets   of   fire. Falling   were   the   dwellings   of   the   dwellers   celestial. Blasted   were   the   heavens,   and   their   fiery   ruins   fell   in   fire   through the   clouds   and   were   dissolved   in   the   sea,   which   was   growing   every   moment. Faint   and   deep   and   high   as   a   dirge   the   wails   of   men   rose   up   from   the   earth. Faint   and   tingling   and   thin   as   deathly   rain   the   wails   of   stars   came   down   from   the   heavens. Under   the   sea   the   land   broke.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Down   into   the   ocean   Drëdo   plunged,   fleeing   from   Barvast,   a   frothing   mass   of   red   mist   and   water   and   flame. Full   upon   the   ocean   floor   they   smote;   a   floor   that   once   had   been   dry   land. Ancient   forests   that   still   held   to   their   holes   in   the   stones   of   the   mountains   were   torn   loose   by   the   crash   of   the   impact. There   upon   the   land   did   Star   strive   with   Star,   and   Planet   with   Planet:   those   offspring   of   the   Gods,   most   powerful   and   noble   of   all   the   host   of   heaven,   planted   their   forms   like   titans   twenty   miles   high   and   grappled   with   ten   thousand   arms   of   power   and   of   wind,   of   fire   and   of   flesh:   it   was   like   two   squirming   seas   straining   one   against   another. Under   their   feet   the   land   began   to   move. Under   their   feet   the   very   earth   was   pushed   apart.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Something   was   rising   up   from   the   earth.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Taller   and   taller   the   figure   arose. He   was   no   Star,   for   his   form   remained   single,   yet   he   was   huge   as   a   twelve-mile   mountain   range   that   stands   upon   one   end,   and   his   head   breached   the   sea   and   his   head   rose   even   into   the   poisoned   clouds,   so   that   the   mile-deep   flood   only   laved   his   ponderous   feet. He   was   ancient,   huge,   and   dreadful;   a   beard   flowed   about   his   stonelike   face,   each   hair   like   a   rooted   tree;   and   in   his   giant   hands   began   to   coalesce   a   harp   as   huge   as   a   lake. The   Stars   paid   him   no   heed   at   first,   but   strove   ever   more   desperately,   as   chasms   began   to   yawn   in   the   earth   underneath   them   and   entire   chunks   of   land,   nay   of   continents,   began   to   move   apart. Then   the   figure   opened   his   eyes.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             At   those   eyes   Forest   wanted   to   scream,   but   could   not,   for   this   had   already   happened   and   he   could   change   nothing. Those   eyes   were   ancient,   eerie,   horrible;   a   nature   as   old   as   the   earth   peered   eagerly   out   of   them,   as   alien   and   frightening   as   if   a   rock   had   suddenly   leered   in   his   face. He   was   a   Frost-giant.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   began   to   sing.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             At   the   first   note   the   straining   Stars   froze   in   their   places,   even   as   the   continents   still   moved   apart,   inch   by   inch,   like   ponderous   and   inexorable   ships. Forest   felt   his   very   blood   crinkle   and   warp;   only   the   protection   of   the   Road   was   keeping   him   from   dying   at   the   queerness   of   that   singing. If   the   Choir   had   been   so   eerie   and   beautiful   it   had   starstricken   mortals   who   heard   it,   the   tremendous   music   of   the   Jotunn   was   enough   to   wrench   apart   the   very   heart   and   soul   of   those   who   heard   it. Both   Stars   wilted   in   the   power   of   that   song. Deep   and   ancient,   great   and   throbbing,   the   mighty   chant   and   heartrending   notes   shook   the   air   like   bolts   of   thunder,   and   far   overhead   the   maddened   warring   of   the   Stars   slowed   to   a   crawl. Earth   shook   and   sundered   underneath   the   Bard   of   the   Frost-Giants. Mountains   cringed   and   wrinkled   upward. Continents   snapped   and   began   to   crawl   apart,   inexorable,   ponderous   as   ships. The   Planets   staggered   and   turned   in   their   places   until   both   titanic   shapes,   melting   at   the   edges,   faced   the   Giant-Bard. Still   the   might   of   that   song   tore   at   heart   and   at   body,   for   he   was   of   the   earth,   and   there   was   a   power   in   the   earth   that   the   Stars   could   not   face.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             But   these   were   not   Stars. These   were   the   offspring   of   the   Sun   and   Moon,   and   only   shared   in   the   nature   of   the   Stars. Shuddering   though   they   were   they   resisted   the   assault,   and   ground   their   melting   forms   slowly   toward   their   adversary   as   his   mighty   mouth   moved   and   thundered   and   immortal   words   no   other   race   had   found   raged   against   the   Planets. They   spanned   the   Atlantic   in   five   great   strides   and   set   foot   upon   the   submerged   land   of   the   Americas. Ever   more   mightily   the   Giant-Bard   strove. Slowly   up   against   the   power   of   the   notes   that   were   roaring   like   winged   fire   from   his   lips   and   from   his   harp,   the   two   Planets   lifted   their   spears,   and   as   one   they   thrust. Through   the   power   of   his   singing   clove   the   weapons   of   the   Stars,   forged   in   the   essence   of   Chaos   they   pierced   through   his   pauldrons   and   entered   the   huge   bulk   of   his   mighty   left   shoulder. With   a   roar   of   anguish   the   Giant   clamped   both   hands   to   the   wound,   snapping   asunder   the   spears:   but   the   hafts   remained,   buried   deep   in   his   flesh.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Lie   there,   Vipunen,   and   grow   into   stone.”   hissed   the   sons   of   the   Sun   and   the   Moon. Down   they   cast   him. Down   they   hurled   him. Full   upon   his   back   the   Giant   toppled,   his   hands   still   clenched   upon   his   shoulder,   and   as   he   lay   sprawled   on   the   earth   the   earth   grew   up   and   into   him. Over   the   ages   he   would   turn   slowly   into   stone,   becoming   the   Sleeping   Mountain   of   the   Utes   in   Colorado. Still   the   continents   moved   like   tremendous   ancient   ships;   the   crust   of   the   world   was   fractured   in   fragments,   and   mountains   were   buckling   and   trenches   were   folding   as   the   tremendous   tectonic   forces   pushed   inexorably   on   at   each   other,   and   still   they   move   to   this   day.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Rising   to   guide   my   love, ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Conquered   and   died   your   light ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Dearest   one,   forever   my   guide ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">So   high   in   the   sky! ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">O   holy   one,   bring   me,   my   guide ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">To   you   in   the   sky! ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Walking   unseen   through   the   midst   of   it   all   strode   Angar,   surveying   his   work   with   a   satisfied   stare. His   arms   moved   and   swept   and   rose   and   fell   like   the   gestures   of   a   symphony   master   conducting   a   sweeping   chord   of   music,   and   at   each   gesture   the   chaos   increased. Forest   was   not   the   only   one   to   see   him. The   head   of   Arcturus   came   into   his   view   from   behind,   as   if   Forest   was   moving   backward. Over   his   eyes   were   strapped   frames   of   eddying   gold   wire,   white   energy   swirling   between.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “There   he   is.”   he   said.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “My   beloved,”   Sophia’s   voice   sounded   brokenly,   even   as   she   too   came   into   view,   “must   you   go?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “The   Sun   and   Moon   are   beleaguered.”   he   answered. “Silmo   and   Urwendi   cannot   help   me. None   besides   me   ever   thought   to   build   seers. I   fight   alone.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   will   fight   with   you.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Sophiala,   I   please   to   you   saying   that. But   if   Arcturus   has   any   authority   left,   if   one   Star   in   his   hosts   has   not   yet   deserted   him,   she   will   heed   my   request.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “For   the   love   that   I   bear   you,   Arcturoha,   I   will   do   even   that.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Then   may   the   Valar   aid   me.”   He   pressed   one   last   kiss   upon   her   lips. “Farewell,   Sophia.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Shining   in   the   midnight   sky ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Burning   through   the   night ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Bitter   tears   dry   in   my   eyes ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">As   I   behold   the   sight… ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   Lord   Arcturus   rose   up   from   the   earth,   cleaving   into   the   heavens   amid   the   fume   and   froil   of   war,   his   powerful   being   blazing   like   a   cascade   of   multihearted   thunder   as   his   form   altered. The   most   potent   aspects   of   the   most   powerful   forms   his   nature   was   able   to   wear,   all   manifested   at   one   time;   he   was   like   a   burning   sun   of   lights   and   energies   beyond   the   natural   entirely,   the   weapons   and   the   tremendous   might   of   their   construction   like   awful   halos   and   shooting   lightnings   of   roping   sparks   playing   about   his   thunderous   nature.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             So   dreadful   a   sight   as   the   Lord   Arcturus   in   his   last   rage   had   even   Forest   not   seen,   except   for   that   awful   vision   of   the   splendor   of   the   Sun   and   Moon. The   weapons   around   him   were   like   the   heart   of   a   comet,   a   webwork   of   blinding   lines   of   metallic   color,   of   silver   flame   and   golden   heat   and   amber-copper   fire;   and   his   form   roared   and   blazed   around   them   in   terrible   rays   as   hard   as   swords,   rays   that   wavered   and   whipped   in   many   hues   of   red   and   amber   and   pinkish-white. Like   a   meteor   the   Lord   Arcturus,   third   brightest   of   the   Stars,   sped   into   the   heavens,   amid   the   fume   and   froil   of   war,   cleaving   blades   of   amplified   power   and   dodging   waves   of   substance-shaking   energy,   straight   and   silent   upon   Angar.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   power   inside   him   saw   him   coming. Even   as   Arcturus   activated   all   his   tremendous   weapons   and   all   his   own   huge   Star-power,   Angar’s   eyes   flickered   red.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             That   was   all   it   took. That   was   all   the   Lord   of   Chaos   had   to   do   to   destroy   the   third   greatest   of   the   Stars. Forest   watched   in   grief   and   dismay   as   the   coruscating   sun   that   was   Arcturus   imploded. The   thundering   meteor   wobbled   and   bloated,   as   the   weapons   inwarped   and   shattered,   as   the   power   collapsed   and   the   rays   lashed   and   boiled,   the   essence   of   Chaos   by   which   they   were   powered   turning   upon   him,   while   the   unimaginable   mind   of   the   power   inside   Angar   simply   tore   the   very   being   of   Arcturus   into   shreds;   he   began   to   lose   form   and   his   form   distended,   till   he   floated   like   a   limp   mist   upon   the   wind,   a   mere   nebula,   crab-green   and   weblike.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">O   little   star ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">O   little   star,   so   close   so   far, ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You   sweep   away   my   woe ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Lending   light   when   all   is   dark ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">My   star,   I   love   you   so… ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Weeping   Sophia   obeyed   his   last   command. Turning   her   silver   back   upon   the   chaos   of   horror   above   her   she   plunged   like   a   fish   down   into   the   solid   sea   of   boiling   clouds   and   the   lancing   lightning   of   eerie   neon   green   that   lashed   sickeningly   from   cloud   to   cloud   and   up   into   the   Stars. The   sight   of   Forest   veered   and   swooped,   dizzyingly   as   a   roller   coaster,   in   her   wake,   following   her   burning   course   as   Sophia   fell   from   heaven   like   a   meteor. Veering   to   left,   veering   to   right,   dodging   the   drifting   wreckage   of   unheavy   castles   unable   to   sink   below   the   level   of   the   clouds,   dodging   the   stray   beams   of   awful   purple   and   red-rose   that   blasted   and   zapped   between   two   groups   of   whirling   fire   that   had   to   be   Stars. Down   through   the   pounding   brown   rain   of   poison   and   dirt   that   drenched   her   form   and   dampened   her   light,   till   pollution   streamed   from   her   like   muddy   water   and   her   armour   was   melting   and   dripping   off   her   form,   unable   to   endure the   acidic   rain. Out   of   the   roof   of   clouds   she   plunged,   and   came   to   a   halt   above   the   earth,   astounded;   and   the   sight   of   the   Children   of   the   Road   halted   with   her,   no   less   astounded.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   earth   was   water.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Huge   cakes   of   shrinking   ice   bobbed   around   her. They   were   scalloped   and   pitted,   the   scallops   a   dirty   greenish-blue,   a   heart   of   clearer   ice   of   a   more   ordinary   white   showing   far   below   the   stained   surface;   the   ridges   were   poisonous   brown   and   livid   green,   and   pits   of   greenish-yellow   were   eating   into   them. Boiling,   lashing   brown   water   churned   from   sky   to   sky. Lightning   smote   the   water. Hail   smote   the   water,   and   the   poisoned   rain   cascaded   in   a   greenish-brown   glowing   deluge,   like   a   sea   of   poison   falling   from   the   sky;   and   the   sea   flickered   in   ugly   rings   at   the   touch   of   the   foul   rain. Bolts   of   evil-hued   lightning   smote   the   water;   sometimes   they   merely   burst   it   to   all   sides   like   a   bomb,   but   sometimes   great   spires   of   crystal   and   stone   built   up   out   of   the   water   only   to   shatter   and   collapse,   or   the   water   would   mutate   into   other   states   and   forms   beneath   the   substance-shaking   energy. Beneath   the   sea   she   saw   mountains   lying   buried   in   the   mire   of   the   deep,   saw   through   the   opaque   water   the   wreckage   of   cities,   saw   the   ruin   that   was   falling   from   the   heavens   to   consume   the   flooded   world. Then,   as   seas   began   to   move   beneath   her,   Sophia   comprehended   at   last   the   titanic   nature   of   the   catastrophe   her   people   had   caused   with   their   war.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   land   itself   was   moving.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             It   was   no   current   that   so   roiled   the   seas. It   was   the   lands   beneath   them   moving. The   earth   itself   had   snapped   in   pieces,   and   the   land   moved,   this   way   and   that,    beneath   the   froil   of   the   earthbreaking   conflagration   in   the   skies   overhead. Like   awful   submerged   ships   they   moved,   fire   welling   up   between   them:   and   she   knew   in   despair   that   the   very   shapes   of   the   ancient   world   would   never   be   the   same;   would,   in   fact,   be   only   traces   left   for   guesswork   to   deduce   from   the   wreckage   that   remained.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Water   leaped   as   a   stray   bolt   smote   the   sea,   mountains   of   water   rising   in   a   tremendous   explosion. Sophia   was   smashed,   drenched   with   unclean   water   that   horrified   her   touch;   she   screamed   with   shock   as   it   ate   upon   her   form. Pulling   herself   free   she   rose   into   the   air,   numb   with   horror. From   above   descended    blades   of   red,   and   greenish-white,   and   orange:   bolts   of   power   smote   the   water. The   war   was   spreading. Fleeing   stars   shot   by   overhead. Under   the   sea   the   land   groaned. Clouds   burst   and   exploded   as   the   weapons   of   the   Stars   peppered   the   fleeing   army.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Gleaming   like   a   silver   flame ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Illumining   the   night ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I   have   changed,   for   when   you   came ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You   drove   away   the   twilight ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Before   you   came,   my   life   was   made ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Of   shadows,   dreams   unreal ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Lonely,   hating,   nowhere   aid ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Devoid   of   love   to   feel… ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Sad,   despairing,   the   faint   music   of   the   singing   of   the   dead   grew   ever   more   potent. Forest   found   himself   seeing   many   things,   as   though   he   glanced   about   with   the   eyes   of   angels,   not   of   men. He   saw   the   drowned   world,   a   few   crags   far   in   the   south   still   dry. Broken   lands   reft   by   earthquake   ground   slowly   on   past   each   other,   or   away   from   each   other,   or   into   each   other. A   tiny   wooden   boat   bobbed   on   the   waters   far   below. Poison-blasted   clouds   eddied   over   the   filthy   waters. Far   above   the   Stars   blasted   one   another   with   weapons   that   were   shedding   poison   in   their   wake:   not   only   what   we   know   as   radioactive   fallout,   but   ash   of   power,   far   more   potent   and   ugly:   the   very   rocks   were   stained,   corrupting   all   tests   later   to   be   made   on   them. Not   only   would   Arda   die…she   would   rise   up   undead. The   horrid   colorful   stars   popped   and   flashed   in   the   sickly   brown   sky.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">My   sister-star,   so   near,   so   far ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You   swept   away   my   woe ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Lent   me   light   when   all   was   dark ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">My   star,   I   love   you   so 

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">   A   blue   star,   flickering   and   sputtering,   spiraled   from   the   heavens:   Arheled   was   falling,   the   Warden   in   White,   the   king   of   the   Road,   as   Forest   had   seen   so   long   ago   he   had   come   in   his   power   and   trod   in   his   strength,   and   he   had   cast   the   Road   itself   upon   the   Lord   of   Chaos,   and   the   Road   itself   was   not   enough. Now   he   fell   from   the   heavens,   his   mind   raped,   his   power   broken:   fell   into   the   sea,   and   was   gone.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             And   Sophia   flew   through   the   choking   airs,   silver   tears   dropping   from   her   eyes,   and   sat   upon   the   roof   of   a   funny   wooden   ship   chopping   ponderously   through   the   waves. Square   was   it   and   long,   not   made   to   sail   but   to   float,   and   it   was   very   broad,   large   enough   for   an   army. Some   of   the   humans   saw   this   coming. She   heard   the   confused   sounds   of   animals   below. Many   animals. Doomed   little   animals. They   would   come   out   onto   a   dead   world. If   they   were   fortunate,   they   too   would   die.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   wept   harder.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   window   opened   in   the   roof   behind   her. Sitting   on   the   tar,   her   white   garments   drenched   and   her   luminous   hair   falling   draggled   about   her,   she   looked   very   little   like   a   Star. More   like   a   forlorn   human   girl   pulled   out   of   the   sea.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Weep,   but   do   not   wail.”   said   a   deep   old   voice   from   the   window.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Sophia   looked   up,   choking   a   sob   into   a   sniffle,   and   saw   a   human   face   to   face   for   the   first   time. The   human   must   have   been   old,   for   it   had   white   hair   that   trailed   around   its’   face,   and   it   bore   as   well   a   majestic   white   beard. Most   Stars   wore   none. Sophia   looked   at   the   human’s   eyes   and   felt   a   cold   shock:   they   were   eyes   of   power. Eyes   of   a   prophet.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Not   wail?”   she   repeated.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “To   wail   is   to   despair,   and   despair   is   death   inside.”   the   human   said. “Both   our   peoples   have   perished. Mine   has   already…yours   soon   will.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Both   of   us   will.”   sniffled   Sophia. “The   sky   is   death   settling   downward. I   may   live…not   you.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “We   will   live.”   the   old   man   said. “Have   faith   in   Him   who   made   us,   little   Star. He   told   me   I would   live. He   does   not   lie.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   hope   He   is   keeping   an   eye   on   things,   then. A   boat   cannot   save   you   from   air.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “The   Herald   comes.”   said   the   human. “Stay   down   here,   little   Star. Touch   no   weapon. Make   no   fight. Or   your   curse   will   find   you   also.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Oh,   that.”   she   sniffled. “We   countered   that. It   bites   no   longer.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   will   when   He   blows   his   horn.”   said   the   human. “Rest   upon   my   roof. Or   change   to   a   fish. Do   not   go   back   to   the   heavens. They   are   gone.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Who   are   you,   human?”   said   Sophia.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   am   Noe.”   he   answered. “I   am   last   of   the   line   of   Adam. From   me   shall   the   earth   be   repeopled.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Then   the   window   swung   shut,   and   she   heard   bolts   sliding   into   place.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   felt   his   foot   touch   earth.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Bitter   night   air   rushed   in   around   him. Five   strange   cloaked   figures   stood   beside   him   on   the   narrow   cobbled   road   curving   under   the   solemn   old   hemlocks. The   entire   top   of   Temple   Fell   was lit   now   with   a   blueish   white,   as   pure   and   clear   as   the   cold-brilliant   stars   overhead. At   his   feet,   propped   against   a   hickory,   was   a   short   slab   of   stone. Graven   in   glowing   letters   it   read   The   Road   M.   0.1.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “There   are   two   ends   of   the   Road.”   said   Arheled. “The   first   end   lies   before   you. The   second   lies   behind. Both   must   be   trodden   before   midnight   ends.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   looked   behind   him   at   the   stars. The   Herald   stood   perfectly   upright,   just   as   he   had   before. They   were   still   in   one   moment.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Then   he   moved   one   step   forward,   and   Temple   Fell   faded   from   his   eyes.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   stood   in   the   Voids   of   Space.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             To   the   right   of   his   field   of   vision   he   saw   a   round   globe,   and   at   first   he   thought   it   was   some   alien   world,   for   it   was   entirely   brown. Turgid   brown   surged   below   huge   layers   of   brown   and   eerie   poisonous   green   clouds   that   covered   the   entire   earth,   even   the   poles. Then   he   saw   the   pops   and   flickers   of   still-warring   Stars   speckling   the   clouds   and   the   grey   outer   air   with   frosty   green   and   blue   and   occasional   red,   and   he   knew   at   once   that   this   was   Arda,   the   globe   of   Earth,   sad,   battered,   wracked. He   looked   for   the   Moon,   expecting   it   to   be   a   ball   of   pocked   stone   hanging   at   a   distance   and   the   Sun   to   be   a   blazing   globe   farther   off,   but   he   saw   only   utter   darkness   everywhere   else. In   the   North   the   blackness   was   speckled   with   colliding   lights,   and   two   mightier   ones   strove   amid   them,   silver   and   smouldering   amber,   yet   were   they   dim   and   nothing   like   the   glory   that   was   rightfully   theirs:   the   Sun   and   Moon,   foundering   and   dying   in   the   fury   of   their   children.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   single   star   grew   in   the   blackness. Like   a   minute   prick   of   light,   it   grew   bigger,   with   terrible   speed   beyond   reckoning;   and   now   Forest   could   see   it. It   was   a   ship. A   ship   of   glittering   fire. The   hull   was   of   green-silver   glass   and   of   a   silvery   metal   that   sparkled   and   flamed   in   beautiful   patterns,   and   it   was   masted   with   fire   and   lightning   snapped   about   it   for   pennant. And   the   light   of   that   ship   came   from   one   man   standing   erect   upon   the   prow,   and   on   his   head   he   had   bound   a   gem   of   great   size   and   brilliance,   and   from   it   came   all   his   light. His   clothes   and   mail   sparkled   as   with   dust   of   gems. His   sword   burned   like   silver   flame. His   face   was   blazing   white,   but   his   eyes   burned   like   two   stars   beneath   the   great   star   of   his   jewel. It   was   the   Evening   Star   himself,   hastening   to   war   at   the   call   of   the   Sun   and   the   Moon.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Then   Forest   was   aware   that   not   everything   was   black. Three   bursts   of   light   leaped   up   in   the   path   of   the   ship. Angelic   power   slowed   the   rush   of   the   Star. There,   gigantic   wings   spread   though   there   was   no   need   to   use   them   above   the   airs,   a   seven-headed   dragon   loomed. Vast   was   he   as   a   mountain   that   lifts   itself   above   the   airs,   and   his   scales   sparkled   red   and   dreadful   gold   in   the   light   of   the   Silmaril,   yet   his   eyes   burned   with   a   dark   red   flame   that   even   that   light   could   not   overwhelm. Upon   every   head   flashed   a   diadem   of   diamond,   and   the   stars   of   their   gems   were   the   souls   of   living   men   he   had   chained   into   his   service,   and   great   horns   thrust   beneath   them. Two   lights   flashed   past   him,   one   a   bluey-red,   the   other   a   frosty   purple-white:   Polaris   and   Charosa. The   Mariner   lifted   his   sword. The   light   of   the   Silmaril   flashed   like   lightning   as   he   wielded   it   as   he   had   wielded   it   once   before,   thousands   of   years   before,   when   dragons   as   big   as   this   had   shadowed   the   very   mountains   with   their   wings.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             But   he   was   not   facing   a   mere   dragon,   not   even   one   of   the   abominable   Primeval   Dragons   whose   power   came   from   the   spirits   bound   into   them. He   was   facing   Carn’hell’nar   himself,   equal   in   might   to   the   Lord   of   the   Cosmos,   out   of   the   highest   of   the   choirs   of   the   ancient   Ainur. The   power   of   the   Father   of   Dragons   beat   against   the   sanctified   light   of   the   hallowed   gem. Like   a   wind   of   gleaming   darkness   wound   about   with   curls   of   shimmering   red   it   strove   against   the   wind   of   white,   and   turned   it   back,   beat   it   down. The   Mariner   found   himself   outmatched. He   ground   his   teeth   as   he   fought. His   ship   shuddered   underneath   him.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Then   the   two   Stars   fell   upon   him. Already   beleaguered,   the   added   might   was   too   much,   and   clouds   and   smothering   webs   of   thick   white   power   captured   the   Ship   and   held   fast   the   Mariner   upon   it. Down   they   forced   him. Down   pushed   the   Dragon. Down   through   the   poisoned   airs   they   beat   him. Violently   he   struggled. So   great   was   the   light   that   escaped   from   him   it   seemed   a   second   Sun   had   entered   the   sky. But   still   they   wrestled   him   down,   ever   down,   until   the   water   met   them,   and   under   the   water   they   forced   the   Evening   Star. Still   in   the   waters   the   Mariner   wrestled,   for   he   who   could   tread   the   voids   and   live   had   no   need   of   breath   and   could   not   drown. Still   down   the   Dragon   bore   him,   breathing   water   against   him   like   a   black flood   and   no   longer   darkness,   and   the   Silmaril   shone   ever   more   dimly,   foundering   in   the   lightless   depths   of   the   murky   sea,   a   cloudy   red   globe   amid   the   black   night   of   the   deep. Down   upon   drowned   Connecticut   they   bore   him. Still   encased   in   ice   as   it   was,   already   mountaintops   were   jutting   through   the   ice,   and   the   Dragon   broke   a   hole   in   it   and   forced   him   down. Laughing   did   Charosa   leap   aboard   the   bounded   ship,   her   naked   glory   flaming   white   and   red   in   the   icy   water,   her   hair   flowing   about   her   like   golden   flame:   and   she   was   so   lovely   even   the   Mariner   was   only   able   to   turn   his   head   with   great   effort.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Hatred   flamed   in   Venus’s   eyes. The   daughter   of   the   Sun   and   Moon,   greater   than   any   of   the   Stars,   leaped   upon   him   and   bore   him   from   his   vessel. To   the   buried   earth   she   held   him,   crushing   his   luminous   face   into   the   ground. Laughing   she   held   him,   as   calcification   crept   up   the   glasslike   sides   of   his   vessel,   as   coral   shrouded   the   gleaming   masts,   as   with   one   last   cry   of   anguish   the   breathless   Mariner,   Earendil   himself,   was   turned   into   stone.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “The   Silmaril! We   must   take   the   Silmaril!”   cried   Polaris,   pulling   at   the   petrifying   helm   of   the   Mariner.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Leave   it   be,   darling.”   sneered   the   Father   of   Dragons. In   the   turgid   water   his   face   was   barely   to   be   seen,   but   a   weird   and   malicious   smile   was   growing   upon   it. “I   have   use   for   you. It   was   not   out   of   charity   I   lent   thee   my   aid. I   am   weak   from   ages   of   slumber   among   the   stars   where   I   hid. To   walk   again   upon   the   earth   in   bodily   form   I   will need   strength. Yours,   to   be   exact.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Polaris   and   Charosa   whirled,   alarm   growing   in   their   faces,   and   from   their   hands   streamers   of   misty   power   flamed   and   flowed   like   glowing   water.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Too   slow,   mighty   king,   pretty   queen.”   laughed   Carn’hell’nar. A   gelatin   spell   appeared   around   Polaris,   holding   him   bound. Charosa   screamed   and   shot   into   the   heavens,   just   barely   eluding   the   second   spell.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Perhaps   I   may   take   that   back,   lovely   one.”   said   Glaurung,   arching   a   fiery   brow. “But   you,   at   least,   shall   give   me   strength,   O   King   of   the   North.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Then   he   clamped   his   jaws   upon   the   helpless   form   of   Polaris.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   followed   the   fleeing   Charosa,   up   into   the   airs. She   hovered   in   space,   aghast. Where   the   cities   of   the   Stars   and   the   palaces   of   the   Choir   and   the   forests   of   crystal   dew   and   freezing   song   had   been   were   only   drifting   wreckage,   misty   clouds   of   broken   light,   and   poison   floating   in   great   spreading   stains. He   saw   her   bewilderment   at   the   ruin   all   around   her. She   fled   farther,   out   into   the   bitter   voids,   her   world   in   ashes,   seeking   only   flight.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   flash   spread   from   the   embattled   Earth,   in   a   flat   plane,   shooting   outward. Through   the   darkness   of   the   Void   it   sped,   faster   than   any   light,   like   a   blue   ring. It   was   the   Road,   calling   aloud. Its’   Steersman   had   fallen.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             An   answering   flash   came   from   the   left. As   if   a   door   had   opened,   and   shut   again.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Streaking   through   the   black   voids,   along   the   plane   of   the   Road,   stretched   a   band   of   silver. It   was   brilliant   as   silver   flame,   and   yet   it   was   liquid,   it   flowed   like   a   raging   flood,   crashing   through   the   voids   at   the   speed   of   the   winds. Riding   upon   it   was   a   star   of   brilliant   flame.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Suddenly   he   was   much   closer. Close   enough   to   make   out   the   individual   stars   in   the   wild   chaos   of   the   Rebellion. Three   of   the   Alaplondo   were   trying   still   to   defend   the   Sun. Anar   burned   a   deep   red-orange   as   if   it   was   sunset,   but   this   was   no   illusion   of   the   horizon. Ithil   too   was   coppery,   as   pale   as   if   he   was   in   eclipse. Flashes   and   tremendous   bursts   and   explosions   of   multihued   power   filled   the   air   around   them.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   golden-red   star   underlaid   by   silver   grew   larger. Its’   glow   filled   the   stormy   air,   lighting   it   a weird   unnatural   silver-red. The   poison   and   the   livid   scars   of   the   ruin   of   the   heavens   all   faded   as   the   very   void   itself   began   to   blush   silver   and   rose,   and   the   silvery   rose   filled   the   wreckage   of   the   heavens   and   cast   the   very   Stars   into   shadow. Fighting   slowed   as   the   Stars   viewed   this   new   threat.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             There   was   a   shock   of   power   like   a   blast   wave. Stars   reeled   and   staggered. Others,   ignoring   the   embattled   Sun,   turned   their   tremendous   weapons   onto   the   meteor.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             It   was   a   man,   or   a   figure   shaped   like   one. He   wore   a   great   belt   with   huge   white   jewels   in   it   that   blazed   like   stars. His   shape   was   graceful   and   flowing   and   seemed   to   be   made of   some   crystalline   substance   that   gleamed   like   water   suffused   with   gold. Great   waves   of   hair   of   a   burning   red   fell   about   the   longest,   thinnest,   most   far-drawn   features   Forest   had   ever   seen,   which   gave   his   face   an   amazingly   stern   and   pitiless   cast. In   the   eyes   was   a   cool   and   piercing   clarity   of   light. He   was   naked,   yet   not   obscene,   and   flowing   from   his   shoulders   was   a   mighty   mantle   of   red   and   gold. Upon   one   arm   was   a   night-blue   buckler   set   with   stars. In   his   right   hand   he   held   drawn   a   curious   narrow   sword   with   a   curved   blade   like   a   scimitar. In   the   left   hand   was   a   curled   bow   that   gleamed   with   a   grim   light,   and   each   horn   was   a   single   star. A   quiver   of   arrows   fletched   with   white   fire,   their   shafts   red   as   blood,   hung   over   his   mantle. Calf-deep   he   stood   in   the   river   of   silver,   as   with   anger   like   a   sea   it   roared   down   from   the   layers   of   the   heres   and   the   heights   of   the   worlds   it   filled   and   illumined,   drawn   down   in   rage   to   this   most   important   of   worlds. From   his   belt   hung   a   horn,   queer   of   shape,   every   inch   wrought   in   signs   and   figures   so   complicated   they   defeated   the   sight;   but   they   were   signs   of   power.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             It   was   the   Herald.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   power   of   the   weapons    never   even   reached   him. His   shield   glowed. All   power   to   near   him   quenched   and   expired. His   arms   whirled,   and   in   an   instant   he   had   sheathed   the   sword,   and   nocked   an   arrow,   and   fired:   downward,   into   the   swirling   clouds,   where   Arheled   had   fallen.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Who   are   you?”   challenged   Drëdo.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   am   Menelmacar.”   the   being   replied. His   voice   was   strong   and   airless,   rich   with   power,   like   a   golden   tornado. “I   am   the   Herald.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Of   whom   are   you   the   Herald? Do   you   serve   Angar?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   am   the   Herald   of   the   Lord   of   the   Cosmos.”   he   said. “I   come   from   the   throne   of   Manwë. I   come   to   doom   the   heavens. I   come   to   cure.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   drew   back   the   arrow. Red   as   blood,   the   head   gleamed   with   a   cold   fire   like   a   golden   cluster   of   stars.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   lie! You   stand   for   yourself!”   Drëdo   shouted.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “The   head   of   the   Herald   is   hidden   from   view,”   the   Herald   answered,   “because   I   do   not   stand   for   myself;   my   head   is   Manwë,   who   acts   through   me.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   eyes   of   Drëdo   widened   as   he   saw   his   own   death. Moving   as   only   Stars   can   he   shot   into   the   heavens.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   Herald   released. Through   the   airs   like   a   stream   of   lightning   the   arrow   sped,   the   path   it   left   a   vivid   gold. Like   a   gold   lightning-bolt   the   arrow   caught   Drëdo. A   weird   red-black   flash   spread   through   him. He   reeled. He   looked   down   at   his   gurgling   form.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   cannot   be.”   he   whispered.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Arrows   gold   as   lightning   poured   from   the   Herald. Bow   and   arms   were   invisible,   they   moved   so   fast. Through   the   heavens   like   a   cataract   of   rays   of   death-bearing   glory   the   arrows   of   the   Herald   sped   and   pursued,   veering   to   right   and   to   left   as   they   hunted   their   targets;   and   howsoever   far   the   Stars   fled   from   it   or   how   fast   they   moved,   the   power   of the   Herald   was   faster,   and   the   arrows   struck   them,   and   the   Stars   turned   blackish-red. Gold   thunderbolts   struck   the   Stars. They   dropped   weapons. They   wobbled   about   the   heavens. Their   forms   began   to   leak   light.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Arrows   gold   as   lightning   smiting   Sun   and   Moon   and   sons; ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Stone   and   gas   and   fire   come   to   being   where   none   was ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Stars   are   fleeing   outward   leaving   light   and   life   and   love… ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             With   a   flash   of   darkness   a   figure appeared   behind   the   Herald. It   was   black   of   hair,   and   no   light   came   from   him,   for   it   was   Angar   the   Dark;   but   he   was   sheathed   in   armour   mightier   than   any   others   of   the   Stars,   and   on   his   shoulders   and   in   his   hands   and   bristling   from   every   pane   of   his   scaled   armour   were   weapons   and   blades,   darts   and   needles   of   silver   and   blackish   red. More   potent   than   any   other   were   these   weapons,   for   they   had   been   forged   by   the   Lord   of   Chaos   himself,   using   black   magic   to   milk   the   power   of   the   Road   and   the   strength   of   the   very   Universe   and   to   wed   it   to   his   own   essence:   these   weapons   could   have   overcome   the   Gods.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">   “May   your   Lord   save   you.”   he   sneered   as   he   unleashed   them.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   power   warped   backward   into   Angar   as   the   shield   of   the   Herald   glowed. It   defended   the   wearer   from   any   power,   whether   angelic   or   vendaic.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Amen.”   the   Herald   answered   mildly.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Shock,   and   then   horror,   showed   in   the   possessed   eyes   of   the   Black   Star. “This   cannot   be.”   he   whispered. “You   are   no   Seraph. You   are   only   Maia. How   the   hell   can   you   hold   me   off?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   condemn   you   to   true   death.”   the   Herald   said. “Your   inert   form   will   be   shattered,   spread   as   asteroids;   you   will   not   awake   when   I   sound   the   End   of   the   World.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Do   you   not   know,   little   angel,   whom   it   is   that   you   now   speak?”   hissed   the   Dark   Star,   and   the   voice   was   deep,   grinding   as   stone,   and   the   eyes   were   like   a   void   in   reality   itself.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             And   the   Herald   looked   at   him,   and   did   not   tremble   or   shake. Serene   was   his   expression,   unshakeable   in   his   confidence,   and   despite   the   smallness   of   his   nature   he   seemed   suddenly   impregnable,   the   focus   of   titanic   powers   and   unimaginable   forces   that   had   met   and   joined   in   him. “I   do.”   he   said   simply.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   stabbed   Angar   with   an   arrow   and   thrust   the   writhing   Dark   Star   away.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “My   lord!”   Angar   howled. “Chaos! Where   are   you?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “He   needs   you   no   longer.”   said   the   Herald,   his   arms   moving   of   themselves,   sending   once   more   a   perfect   cateract   of   arrows   into   the   swirling   armies   of   Stars. “He   was   in   Arheled,   but   my   arrow   cast   him   out. He   was   in   you,   but   he   has   left   you   to   your   own   destruction. He   cannot   stand   up   to   the   power   that   is   in   me   until   the   Dagor   Dagorach.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Like   a   laden   ship   wallowing   up   from   a   burying   wave,   the   Sun   and   Moon   struggled   out   of   the   seas   of   seething   Stars. “Menelmacar!”   cried   Urwendi. “At   last! The   Valar   have   come!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             And   the   Herald   turned   to   the   Sun   and   Moon. Slowly   he   lifted   his   bow. Dismay,   and   then   dismal   acceptance,   showed   on   the   faces   of   the   Lights   of   Heaven. A   stern   sorrow   was   in   his   face. “I   have   not   come   to   save   you,   Arien.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   nocked   two   arrows   different   than   the   rest. “You   deemed   the   law   of   the   Stars   was   a   physical   warning,   to   be   overcome   like   a   disease. It   was   a   command. It   was   meant   to   be   obeyed. You   have   not   obeyed   it. Share,   therefore,   in   the   doom   you   accepted.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   arrow   pinned   Urwendi   to   the   ship. “We   did   what   we   did   to   defeat   and   destroy   the   maker   of   Chaos   and   the   lord   of   destruction.”   she   gasped. “Does   this   count   for   nothing?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   is   why   a   worse   fate   is   held   from   off   thee,   my   sister.”   said   the   Herald   as   he   turned   to   the   Stars.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Flee,”   Urwendi   bade   her   maidens,   as   the   juices   of   the   Fruit   began   to   seethe   and   boil. “Return   to   Valinor. You   were   not   under   my   doom—you   should   not   share   my   curse.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Like   a   flight   of   birds   the   weeping   maidens   cast   off   their   raiment   of   flesh,   and   sped   like   arrows   of   fire   back   to   Valinor.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Urwendi,”   Silmo   called   from   the   Moon,   “canst   thou   hear   me?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   hear   thee,   Silmo.”   she   answered. Gold   lightning   sped   by   on   every   side.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “He   smote   me   also.”   said   the   lord   of   the   Moon. “I   feel   stone   creeping   through   me,   through   the   Moon. Are   you   in   pain,   my   beloved?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Ah,   Tilion.”   sighed   the   lady   of   the   Sun. “Ever   you   longed   to   shine   with   me,   and   long   you   sought   me   across   the   skies. Great   has   been   our   love. We   knew   the   joy   of   the   Incarnates…now   we   shall   also   know   the   bitterness   of   their   sorrow. We   shall   know   death.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   are   Maia. If   your   raiment   perishes,   it   touches   you   not.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “We   incarnated,   Silmo.”   the   Sun   said   softly. “We   will   not   be   freed. I   feel   death   in   me. I   will   be   fire…you   will   be   stone. Our   spirits   will   sleep,   chained   still   to   stone   and   fire;   I   will   burn   as   a   furnace   in   the   body   of   my   vessel   and   the   fires   will    burn   and   consume   one   another,   and   anguish   will   possess   me,   though   I   see   not   how. Stone   will   you   be   and   as   stone   will   you   sleep,   and   as   fire   will   I   burn,   until   the   curse   is   reversed   at   the   end   of   the   World.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Long   have   I   loved   thee,   Urwendi. I   thank   thee   for   all   thou   hast   been   to   me. I   am   glad   we   knew   bliss,   for   a   little   time.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Long   have   I   loved   thee,   Silmo. Great   is   my   grief   that   our   tale   is   gone   down,   and   our   glory   is   doomed,   to   sink   into   darkness   of   stone   and   of   flame.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   heard   them   no   more. The   Herald   had   fired   his   last   arrow. He   stood   for   a   moment   above   the   sea   of   wailing   Stars,   a   great   sorrow   in   his   stern   face.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Now   pass   the   heavens   of   old.”   he   said.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             From   his   side   rose   his   hand. The   beautiful   horn   was   clasped   in   the   golden   fingers. From   the   mouth   burst   a   fierce   yellow   light.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   set   it   to   his   lips   and   sounded   his   horn.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Pure   sound   made   visible   cataracted   over   Forest   like   a   river   of   golden   light. One   single   dreadful   note   filled   the   air,   pure   and   beautiful   and   solemn   as   the   Silent   Mountain   itself. The   gold   sound   thinned   before   his   eyes,   though   the   note   did   not   stop,   and   he   beheld   the   end   of   the   world   that   had   been.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Star-weapons   shattered   like   tinkling   glass,   colored   smoke   drifting   out   of   their   dust   as   they   blew   on   the   wind. Frosty   nebulae   formed   around   each   of   them   as   armour   was   dissolved   and   their   raiment   destroyed,   till   their   naked   essences   hung,   transfixed   by   that   sound. Dragged   by   their   arrows   the   Stars   shot   off   in   every   direction,   the   way   water-droplets   do   on   the   surface   of   a   pond   when   water   drips   on   it,   until   the   battered   globe   was   surrounded   by   a   net   of   gleaming   stars. There   hung   they   writhing   as   the   note   increased,   until   with   a   unanimous   wail   they   were   catapulted   outward   into   the   Void   in   every   direction. Under   the   power   of   the   Lord   of   the   Cosmos   they   filled   the   blackness   with   bars   of   blinding   silver,   moving   at   unbelievable   speeds,   until   they   outstripped   their   own   light   and   it   was   by   the   Road   alone   that   Forest   saw   them. And   as   they   sped,   they   transformed.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Their   power   ripped   out   of   them   like   luminous   mist. Each   droplet   of   mist   shot   outwards,   growing   and   swelling,   until   it   too   shattered,   and   sent   its’   droplets   out   in   every   direction. And   when   the   last   speck   of   power   had   finished   exploding,   it   ceased   to   be   power. The   final   droplets   grew   like   seeds   of   some   awful   thing   of   smoke;   gas   and   stone   built   up,   mist   pouring   in   around   itself   in   tendrils   of   thickening   luminous   smoke,   wrapping   and   condensing   until   it   burned   with   hearts   of   flame;   comets   raced   through   the   skies,   and   silent   rocks   tumbled   sadly   through   the   emptiness,   and   great   furnaces   of   gas   boiled   and   seethed,   suns   upon   suns   beyond   suns. The   black   void   was   lit   with   spangled   dust   of   red,   and   intolerable   white,   and   misty   yellows   and   cold   blues. The   stars   as   we   know   them   had   been   born. Galaxies   of   stars. Clusters   of   galaxies,   borne   on   the   wind   of   the   power   of   the   horn   of   the   Herald   still   ever   outward. And   along   the   plane   of   the   Road   clustered   a   disk   of   rotating   stars,   and   the   motionless   Arda   began   to   drift   in   their   wake. And   along   the   plane   of   the   Road   the   galaxies   all   began   to   curve,   until   they   were   flowing   like   a   vast   river   in   its’   direction.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Earth   suddenly   bulged   and   grew   closer,   as   if   he   was   zooming   in   with   an   unseen   lens. The   air   was   no   longer   brown   and   poisonous,   but   clear. Yet   it   was   not   the   air   that   it   had   been. No   longer   was   Ilmen   so   blue   and   clear. New   layers   had   been   formed. Great   shields   of   magnetism   looped   out   from   the   Earthheart   to   defend   Arda   against   the   deadly   breath   of   the   new   heavens:   until   then   the   Earth’s   magnetic   field   had   not   existed,   Forest   realized   with   a   great   shock. Compasses   had   steered   in   the   ancient   world   only   by   the   composition   of   the   bedrock   itself;   now   they   had   magnetic   poles   to   point   toward,   and   compass-north   was   not   true   north. Outward   tumbled   the   proud   lords   of   the   Stars. Outward   spun   the   Nine   Planets. In   space   they   stopped,   two   on   one   side,   seven   on   the   other. Their   forms   swelled   and   grew   solid. Stone   unfolded. Gas   condensed. Some   burped   and   belched   as   they   settled   down,   struggling   in   their   last   throes,   sending   loops   and   grasping   hands   of   energy;   and   then   the   curse   consummated,   and   energy   and   power   hardened   into   moons,   and   droplets   of   stone,   and   rings   appeared   as   the   closer   ones   began   to   rotate   in   bands   around   these   Planets.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   Moon   spun   outwards   too. As   he   spun   he   grew,   until   he   was   round,   and   the   Blossom   became   a   heart   of   fire   deep   under   the   stone,   and   still   upon   his   ship   Tilion   stood,   growing   taller,   a   giant   made   of   stone. And   Anar   swelled,   seething   with   fire,   and   Urwendi   swelled,   becoming   fire   also;   and   the   Sun   came   into   being,   and   the   Solar   System   was   born.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   looked   out   into   the   stars. There   was   the   Dipper,   and   he   made   out   Polaris,   faint   and   dimmer   than   he   was,   for   most   of   his   power   had   been   sucked   up   by   the   Father   of   Dragons   before   the   Herald’s   arrow   found   him. Last   was   Arcturus,   now   a   distending   shape   of   fire. The   Herald   lowered   his   horn   from   his   lips. “Thou   alone   stood   against   the   Lord   of   Chaos,   sacrificing   thyself.”   he   said. “Wherefore   be   thou   closest   of   all   stars,   that   when   I   sound   the   unmaking   of   the   heavens,   thou   be   first   to   rise.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   grateful   light   pulsed   from   the   swirling   ball   that   was   Arcturus,   before   with   a   great   cry   he   sailed   outward   into   the   heavens.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Then   the   Herald   placed   his   horn   in   his   belt,   and   he   stepped   calf-deep   into   Daslenga,   and   the   river   of   silver   bore   him   back   through   the   new   heavens,   until   he   vanished   into   the   Star   Murzim:   the   Herald   Star.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Two   forms   breached   the   sea   like   nymphs,   water   pouring   from   hair   and   from   clothes   as   they   thundered   up   from   the   sea,   from   where   they   were   hiding:   Diana   and   Apollo. In   their   hands   were   the   bows   of   Angar. In   their   quivers   the   arrows   of   Angar   gleamed.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “So   it   befell   even   as   our   Uncle   said.”   Diana   uttered   in   a   cold   and   dreadful   voice. “I   will   take   the   Moon;   you   will   take   the   Sun. I   am   cold   and   you   are   hot;   let   us   become   gods.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   had   seen   it   before,   and   he   closed   his   eyes   as   the   Moon   was   cast   from   his   vessel   and   the   Sun   was   violated,   but   the   others   had   not   seen   it,   and   they   could   not   look   away   nor   shut   their   eyes,   as   the   genders   of   the   lights   of   heaven   were   reversed.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             For   a   brief   moment   Forest   was   aware   of   the   mountain   around   them,   and   then   the   Road   lay   before   them,   and   they   had   passed   the   Third   Milestone   and   the   altar,   and   were   walking   up   the   last   of   the   two   ends   of   the   Road.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             This   time   was   not   like   the   others. Under   their   feet   wound   the   cobblestones   road,   and   yet   it   seemed   to   be   winding   among   an   overlaying   space-existing   multitude   of   terrains:   the   solemn   pines   of   Temple   Fell   were   transparent   as   dark   ghosts,   and   under   them   spread   a   forest   of   stone   trees,   and   yet   this   too   was   transparent,   and   under   it   were   layers   of   burning   plains   and   fiery   dark   and   crystalline   hills   of   purest   glass,   and   under   all   of   this   enormous   blue   stars   with   white   hearts   burned   in   the   branches   of   the   trees. Wading   through   the   layers   of   physical   space   came   Arheled,   brilliant   bluey-white   and   indistinct   as   a   ghost,   yet   the   features   that   the   light   seemed   to   impress   into   their   minds,   were   the   same   features   under   which   they   had   come   to   know   him.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             As   they   followed   in   his   wake   they   saw   curving   below   them   five   fantastic   layered   towers,   solid   stone   churches   and   superimposed   phantom   fortresses   built   one   over   another   and   yet   one   within   another,   nine   layers   thick. A   sixth   united   them   at   their   center,   and   only   it   and   the   steeple   of   the   midmost   breached   the   Ninth   Layer. From   the   Soldier’s   Tower   they   saw   white   beams   spring   to   each   church,   and   from   church   to   church,   until   a   solid   shield   of   white   power   barred   the   North.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Still   higher   they   climbed   in   the   wake   of   the   footsteps   of   Arheled,   and   the   misty   cobblestones   lay   now   over   abyss. It   was   as   if   they   were   seeing   through   things,   to   the   hidden   back   of   things,   to   the   concealed   cognition   of   the   very   foundation   of   reality   itself. Inifestimable   fogs   of   gleaming   dust   filled   the   ether   they   walked   in,   the   foundations   of   matter   at   the   bottommost   level,   and   above   a   certain   point   (not   above   in   regards   to   height,   because   the   overlayment   was   in   the   same   place,   but   above   in   a   sense   none   could   ever   explain,   an   above   in   nature)   the   dust   was   overlaid   by   curving   interlocking   grids   going   every   direction   and   at   every   conceivable   angle:   mathematics,   systems   of   coordinates,   the   laws   of   measurement   by   which   all   matter   was   constructed.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             But   the   grids   were   all   flat. It   felt   like   standing   on   one’s   head,   to   see   the   almighty   grids   and   numbers,   the   values   and   events,   tilt   and   flatten,   while   their   sight   gained   new   dimensions   and   soared   up   in   unguessable   shapes   far   above   and   beneath:   structures   all   luminous,   and   queer   misty   looping   patterns   winding   through   the   grids   with   no   relation   or   dependence   to   them,   and   they   were   every   color   known   to   man,   and   colors   as   well   that   no   man   had   ever   known.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “This   is   the   other   aspect   of   that   which   is.”   Arheled’s   voice,   fluid   and   thunderous   like   a   blue   river,   fell   into   their   minds. “This   is   the   interaction   of   differing   principles   with   the   material   principle. Life   envivens   the   dead   matter,   and   sensing   reaches   outward   and   assembles   images   and   memory. And   the   soul   of   man—see   the   blades   of   fire?—it   reaches   into   its’   own   matter   and   unites   with   it   in   a   way   no   instrument   divines. And   weaving   into   matter   are   the   hands   of   spirits   as   they   act,   and   the hands   of    venda   and   the   imprint   of   their   hands:   the   angelic   principle   and   the   paravallian   or   vendaic   by   which   such   beings   produce   effects. In   short,   what   lies   here   are   the   interactions   of   efficient   causes   upon   that   on   which   they   produce   effects.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   Road   steepened. Grids   fell   behind,   seen   far   below   as   a   level   floor. Running   through   all   the   interweaving   principles   was   a   barrier   of   iron,   a   web   of   power,   weaving   and   binding   and   churning   ever   forward,   and   it   was   Time,   sundering   what   is   from   what   was   and   will   be;   and   no   matter   could   escape   it,   nor   could   even   the   other   principles   pass   out   of   the   iron   corridor of   the   Present:   though   they   could   rise   above   it. And   as   the   Road   switchbacked   higher,   the   Children   of   the   Road   realised   that   the   whole   gigantic   tapestry   of   grids   and   actions   of   angels,   venda   and   men,   was   contained   inside   that   iron   corridor,   and   only   by   sight   could   any   being   step   beyond   it,    to   see   what   had   been   or   peer   into   what   would;   they   could   not   walk   there,   in   person   or   in   power. Dared   they   try,   he   who   strode   over   the   corridor   and   enforced   all   its’   workings   would   prevent   them. Then   they   rose   beyond   Time   and   its’   rooftops   lay   below,   Space   and   Matter   all   in   one   mighty   disk   containing   all   worlds,   and   the   disk   was   a   cone,   for   the   center   of   it   rose:   yet   the   iron   corridor   travelled   forward   unequally,   slowest   above   our   world   and   varyingly   faster   everywhere   else,   so   that the   Present   was   like   a   wavy   line.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Only   by   travelling   along the   Present   can   other   worlds’   times   be   entered   and   left.”   said   Arheled. “Sometimes   the   other   worlds’   loops   move   too   fast   and   have   to   go   slower,   that   ours   by   which   all   is   measured   may   catch   up;   and   our   bend   of   time   never   wavers. For   we   are   the   central   world,   and   here   was   God   made   Incarnate.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   gestured   around   them. Vast   shapes   too   smoky   and   brilliant   to   easily   discern   towered   and   churned   around   them. “The   spiritual   realms. See   beyond   us,   the   White   Mountain   above   the   Worlds,   the   storehouses   of   Heaven,   the   perfect   places,   the   Library   and   the   Halls   of   Doom   and   the   machinery   of   Creation. We   are   in   Angelhome,   Aveternity.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Red   light   served   for   air. Forms   and   shapes   and   signs   of   fire   wheeled   and   winged   and   burned. Their   minds   began   to   spin   and   swoon:   they   were   mortals,   the   lands   of   the   Gods   were   too   much.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Look   up!”   thundered   Arheled. “Look   up   if   you   can,   for   the   Road   climbs   no   further   than   the   floors   of   They   from   whom   It   proceeded. Behold   Reality!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             As   strainingly   as   if   lifting   a   millstone   on   their   necks,   the   Children   of   the   Road   tilted   their   heads   upwards. Red   smoky   fires   mounted   up,   growing   whiter,   growing   brighter—and   Above   that   which   exists,   they   suddenly   knew   with   searing   certitude,   was   That   which   Is. Their   minds   swooned. Their   balance   broke. Full   upon   their   backs   fell   the   Children   of   the   Road. It   was   like   looking   into   the   sun:   the   excess   of   light   fills   the   eyes   and   forces   them   to   close.

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<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   will   freeze   if   you   lie   there   too   long   like   that.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             With   a   slow   grogginess   the   six   youths   sat   up. They   were   fallen   upon   frozen   grass   in   the   center   of   a   round   glade. Small   grey   hickories   and   oaks   stood   knee-deep   in   the   grass,   and   black   hemlocks   ringed   it,   cowled   like   monks. Behind   them   the   narrow   cobblestones   road   ran   out   of   the   glade   on   its’   way   along   the   mountain. Beneath   them,   in   the   glade’s   center,   it   simply   ended. So   did   Temple   Fell,   falling   away   in   steep   slopes   ahead   and   to   either   side. They   were   at   the   southwestern   end. Overhead   the   blue-white   unwinking   Stars   burned   hard   and   keen,   and   the   Herald   still   stood   upright,   aiming   his   arrow   at   the   North   Pole.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   thought   we   would   find   the   White   Tree.”   said   Forest. “You   said   it   was   planted   on   the   Road.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   planted   it   inside   Wayham   King,   last   of   the   line   of   Elendil   through   Fintan   the   Undying,   and   he   assumes   its’   form   when   he   wishes. He   is   in   Europe   now,   and   the   Seven   Sleepers   are   with   him,   and   they   make   for   the   Sleeping   Heros.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “The   Lore.”   said   Lara. “What   was   it’s   meaning?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   should   think   the   first   two   riddles   are   clear. But   the   third—it   is   a   mystery,   Lara. For   Daslenga   is   threefold,   even   as   the   nature   of   light   is   threefold,   and   he   flows   in   the   Tower   as   he   flows   in   the   heres,   and   yet   also   flows   here   as   a   common   stream. Midnight   is   over. It   is   Christmas   Day   now,   and   the   Road   has   returned. Let   it   be   hidden,   but   not   sent   back,   for   the   last   hour,   I   greatly   fear,   is   upon   us.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   will   send   you   home   now,   and   you’d   better   get   some   sleep   before   you   go   to   spend   time   with   your   families   and   all. I   have   done   calling. I   am   well-pleased. Merry   Christmas,   my   sons   and   my   daughters,   in   the   name   of   the   Road.”

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<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">'''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">                 Here   ends   the   first   tale   of   ARHELED '''

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