Aglanthol 1 - The Legend of Khaalindaan - 19. Chapter 19

Neldor studied Norlorn’s text again the following morning. He made some exercises and he memorized everything. At noon he felt ready to complete his mission. Leandor brought a meal. Neldor ate and drank, but he pushed a bowl of hot soup aside.

"We will see if things work out," Neldor said, gazing at the bowl.

And then Neldor straightened in his chair. He visualized Norlorn, the great magician, and bowed to him.

"Norlorn, master of all wizards, you called me in time and I feel prepared to complete the task. I am your worthy apprentice. You taught me all your knowledge and the Castle of Saelethiel has left no mystery to me. My master, I give you my oath. There is no way back. I will follow your path," Neldor said in a measured voice.

He bowed again to the image of Norlorn, and then Neldor closed his eyes. He concentrated and focused his mind. Norlorn’s alphabet led him step by step. Neldor visualized the symbols according to Norlorn’s instructions. Each symbol led him deeper into trance until Neldor crossed a threshold that he had never crossed before. He kept focusing on the symbols and they led him deeper until he lost his feeling of space. Neldor felt like he had left the secret chamber. He continued following the track of the symbols until he lost his sense of time. Linear time ceased to be and Neldor felt like he had lost his senses entirely. The symbols came to his mind in no particular order. Neldor followed their track like he followed the lines in a book without knowing where Norlorn’s words would take him to.

~~**~~

Norlorn had invented a language that so far nobody had seen. Each letter was carefully thought out. But the letters were not just meant for writing texts. Each letter was also a symbol. The letters were just a layer that hid a mystery that the less skilled would fail to see. They would decipher the language and they would not seek farther. However, the letters were just the first layer of the mystery. The second layer was harder to see and only a wise and intuitive man would grasp it. A man with a linear thinking mind, a man who was used to think step by step, would never grasp Norlorn’s concept. And that was exactly what the wizard had in mind when he invented his language. The symbols were like signs on the road. They led the traveller to his destination. They led the traveller back in time.

Norlorn had taken this road. And he had carefully noted the signs on the road that his inward eyes had seen and that his keen mind had memorized. Norlorn had experimented with the symbols until he had mastered the technique and until he was able to travel forth and back in time. Norlorn, however, used this technique only sparsely because of its far-reaching effects. Manipulating time was dangerous for the wizard himself and the world on the whole. No one knew better than Norlorn.

Norlorn was hesitant to write down the full instructions on how to master time. However, he had to. He had travelled back and had changed the course of time. But he had decided against travelling into the future as well. He would not change the future based on his past changes. He was not a god and he would not challenge the gods. This could only backfire on him. Another man would accomplish the task, if fate did not decide against it.

The only thing Norlorn could do – and he felt this was not an evil act – was to write down the symbols and let fate lead the right man to them. Norlorn trusted fate, or in other words, he trusted the universal spirit. He felt, that after all, he was just a part of it. He was a mighty wizard, but he was just a spark compared to the light of the universe. Norlorn felt humble. He did not have delusions of grandeur. And he was thankful for it.

Norlorn wrote a report on the battle. He described in detail what Khaalindaan had done and how he had reacted to Khaalindaan’s moves. He wrote down that he found a solution on how to finally defeat the evil wizard. He wrote down that he had changed the course of time. The task, however, was not yet completed. Another man would have to accomplish it.

Norlorn did not mention the technique of time travel in his report on the battle. A worthy successor would know how to figure it out. This man would ultimately come to the Castle of Saelethiel - a thousand years in the future from Norlorn’s time - and continue where Norlorn had stopped. Norlorn felt connected to that man although centuries separated them. But, after all, Norlorn knew, that all depended on perspective. For a mighty wizard like Norlorn, time was just an illusion.

When Norlorn had closed the book and had put down the quill, he had done all that fate had required of him. An era had come to an end. The time of the mighty wizards was over.

~~**~~

Neldor followed the track of the symbols. He was deep in a trance. Suddenly, the symbols started to whirl around him. There was no beginning and there was no end. There was a whole universe of letters and words. Images came to Norlorn’s mind. They showed different spaces and different times and Neldor could move wherever he wanted to.

Neldor watched the whirl of images until he felt the time had come. He focused on the symbol that Norlorn had written down for this particular moment. Neldor focused on a single moment in time. Instantly, the chaos of words and images retreated. Only one image remained. Neldor focused on it. It moved closer. It became clearer. It wrapped around Neldor until the wizard was a part of it. The image had turned alive and had stretched in all dimensions of space and time.

Neldor opened his eyes. He stood in front of the royal soldier Qildor.

The man was talking to him. Neldor glanced around. He saw his tower at the royal court. A crow landed on the window sill. Neldor looked up at the sky. The weather was bad. The first raindrops fell. Neldor turned back to Qildor and listened to the man. He heard the exact words that he had already heard some months ago. But apparently Qildor felt like he spoke them to the wizard for the very first time.

Qildor was about to leave the royal castle in order to travel north. The man was kind of obsessed with the legend of Khaalindaan. Neldor knew all too well why the man was driven by his obsession. Fate had summoned the man to witness Khaalindaan’s final defeat. So far, however, the man had no clue of it. And Neldor would not reveal it to him. Everything would happen exactly like it had happened some months ago. This time, however, Neldor would show up on the snow-covered hill and thus would change the outcome according to Norlorn’s plan. Neldor had missed the chance the last time. He had not arrived in Tanmil in time.

Neldor had travelled back in time. He was about to correct his mistake.

"I will travel to Tanmil as soon as I have found a solution," he said to Qildor.

The man left and Qildor hastened to his tower in order to pack his things. He had to leave shortly after Qildor. Else he would not arrive in time. And he had to make sure that he travelled alone. He had to make sure that nobody distracted him from his goal. Neldor did not want to get lost in time.

Neldor followed Qildor and arrived at Tanmil in time. He watched Qildor and Magath climb up the snow-covered hill. He climbed up as well when the men had reached the edge of the wood. Neldor followed their tracks. He hid in the forest until Gwyn, the old woman, had taken Norlorn’s sword. Neldor moved closer. Gwyn held out the sword and Khaalindaan’s spirit seized it. Khaalindaan’s energy entered Gwyn’s body. The old woman fought bravely. She grew weaker, however, when Khaalindaan’s spirit took her over more and more. Neldor hurried up to Gwyn. He stood behind her, raised his arms, and seized her wrists. He spoke to her, and then he seized Norlorn’s sword. Gwyn let go and dropped to the ground. Neldor resumed the fight where Norlorn had had to give in. Neldor focused on Norlorn’s most powerful symbol and Khaalindaan’s energy shook with fear. Norlorn’s symbol made Khaalindaan’s spirit lose power. Neldor absorbed the energy ultimately and neutralized it.

Then everything happened exactly like it had happened the last time. Neldor stayed with Gwyn until the woman had almost healed. Then he departed. Neldor left the village and hid in a wood. There he applied Norlorn’s time travel technique again.

Neldor opened his eyes. He sat in front of the desk in the secret chamber.

Neldor gazed at the wall. Then he straightened. He raised his arms and turned his head. And then he put a finger in the bowl on his desk. The soup was hot. Neldor licked his finger. He nodded thoughtfully.

"No time has passed here. I came back in time. Everything worked out fine, I guess," he said to himself.

Neldor placed Norlorn’s book in the middle of the desk. He folded his notes and pushed them into the pocket of his tunic. Then he waited until Leandor knocked at the door. The man gave Neldor a questioning look. Neldor nodded.

"All fixed up in time," he said with an impish smile.

Leandor smiled also. He looked at Norlorn’s book.

"I suspect you will be writing down your discoveries. Will you send us your book when you have finished it, Master Neldor?" he asked. "The two books should be kept next to each other, I suspect."

Neldor nodded.

"I will send it to you. And yes, place them next to each other. They don’t fit in the shelves very well. The books there are arranged chronologically. The two books would not fit in," he said.

"I will see to it, Master Neldor," Leandor replied. "I suspect you will leave the castle now. Your things are packed. Your horse is ready. Your companion will be led to the hall."

~~**~~