The Forsaken
Part 1: The Making of A Demon
Elan Morin Tedronai sat on the small rise outside the city and stared calmly, almost happily, at the setting sun.
Behind him the city of V'Saine was descending, almost quietly from the vantage point of the hill, into panic.
From his position, Elan Morin could look up at the blue sky, and see sho-wings, graceful vehicles that glided through the air, heading towards the city, wondering why, after seeing the familiar landscape for so many years, the Collam Daan could not be seen any longer.
Elan Morin knew why. He had seen it happen: watched as a huge black hole had suddenly shattered the floating sphere of the Sharom into millions of pieces, and sucked them into itself. The city was, for the moment, untouched by the black hole, as was the main part of the Collam Daan.
But Elan Morin's concern was not for the huge city of spiralling towers and beautiful architecture. He stared in the other direction, out towards the large plain that stretched between him and the capital, Paaren Disen.
Word had been sent to the Hall of the Servants, he knew. Almost as soon as the hole had ruptured the sphere, he himself had communicated with the Council, told them what little he was prepared to tell them – and waited, not offering his services to help the panicked inhabitants of the city.
Abruptly, but not startlingly, for Elan Morin knew it was coming, a slash of light split the very air to his left. Within seconds, it had spiralled outwards to form a gateway in the fabric of reality.
A male gateway, Elan Morin knew, formed by saidin. He also knew who would be first through that gate. He watched for a moment, not moving.
A tall man stepped through the gateway, and looked with concern at the city before him, and the large black hole that hung in the sky above, seemingly drawing the fabric of the Pattern into itself. Elan Morin studied this new arrival with detached curiosity.
Tall, like Elan Morin, he also wore long dark hair to his shoulders, while a short nose and sharp, angular features leant him an air of power and authority that Elan Morin did not possess.
The other turned and looked at Elan Morin, who nodded slowly to him in greeting. `Lews Therin.'
Lews Therin Telamon wore an expression of concern on his face, rightly so. `Elan Morin, why aren't you helping in the city?'
Elan Morin shrugged and looked back at V'Saine. `There is little we can do against that,' he said, voice placid.
Almost unwillingly, Lews Therin cast his dark gaze to the black hole that drew the attention of all except for Elan Morin. `What is it?'
Elan Morin stood now, drawing his tall and powerful body upright to face Lews Therin. `You read my books, didn't you?'
Lews Therin was slightly shorter than Elan Morin, and he was forced to look up slightly at his friend's eyes. `Yes, you know I did.'
`And you remember some of the points that I made in my latest work, don't you?'
Lews Therin's brow creased, bemused by Elan Morin's strange questioning in a time of concern. `Some of them,' he admitted freely. `About what, in particular?'
`About the nature of the Pattern, and the Wheel of Time itself,' said Elan Morin. He turned to look at the hole. `We've drilled a bore through the pattern, Lews Therin,' he said quietly, after a moment of contemplation. He glanced at the other. `Mierin Eronaile was in the Sharom when it... exploded.'
With an effort, Lews Therin kept his face calm, and expression unruffled, although Elan Morin could see the troubled look in his dark eyes. `What was she doing in there?'
`She was part of the research team that planned to access the untapped source of the Wheel of Time,' said Elan Morin.
`The untapped source?' asked Lews Therin. Elan Morin nodded.
`Yes. Mierin, Beidomon, and a few others were part of the research team that discovered the source of power that was a joining of saidin and saidar. Or at least, that was what they believed.'
Lews Therin took a half-step towards V'Saine, stopped, and turned to face Elan Morin Tedronai. `I am not interested in Mierin Eronaile,' he said stolidly. `All I want to know is what you know of that hole!' His voice rose in anger, but Elan Morin remained calm before the other man.
`What is behind that hole is the True Power of the Wheel, Lews Therin,' said Elan Morin. He turned, and looked at the hole again. `The balancing force that makes up the universe that we live in.'
`What do you mean?' asked Lews Therin, his voice uncomprehending.
Elan Morin didn't look at him, keeping his gaze focussed on what he could see to be inside that Bore through the Pattern. `The Shadow awakes,' he said softly. `Soon, very soon, he will rise and touch the world and make it his own.'
Lews Therin moved forward, clutched at Elan Morin's arm, his face contorted with disbelieving horror at his friend's words. `What are you saying?'
`There is a war going on, Lews Therin,' said Elan Morin quietly so that only his friend could hear. `You and I are part of it, part of it since the beginning of time. With the creation of this hole to his prison of the Ages, the Shadow will be able to make us powerful beyond our dreams. With his power, his True Power, rather than the weak Power we use now, he will do that for us. If we give him one thing – obedience.'
Lews Therin recoiled in disgust at Elan Morin's words. `Can you hear yourself?'
Elan Morin spun around to face Lews Therin, grabbed the shorter man's arms above the elbow and gazed into his eyes. `Come with me, Lews Therin. Join the eternal war on the side of the Shadow, and end this futile struggle once and for all. Only with the Shadow can you win!'
`What do you mean?'
`My work has led me to this conclusion,' said Elan Morin exultantly, his eyes burning with a fire beyond that Lews Therin had ever seen before. You have fought an eternal war through the Ages and throughout the turning of the Wheel, used by the Shadow and the Creator in the endless war between good and evil! You have fought on both sides as the champion of both dark and light, but you have a chance to end this now! If you pledge yourself to the Shadow, alongside me, we can free the Great Lord from his prison now, and he can finally remake the world in his image. And you will occupy the highest position in that image, Lews Therin. You are his Chosen One, more than any other, to serve him as ruler of this world for all of time!'
Lews Therin pulled away, unable to believe what his long-time friend was saying to him. `You're not well –'
`On the contrary, I have never felt better,' said Elan Morin. His voice and face were calm again, and he stared at Lews Therin with almost glacial stillness.
`You must come back with me to Paaren Disen,' said Lews Therin. `We will decide what to do there.' His tone brooked no argument.
`I will not ever return to that place,' said Elan Morin. Lews Therin looked at him as if he were mad. `I will go to Shayol Ghul.'
`Why? It's nothing but an island,' stated Lews Therin. `And if what you tell me is true, then we must hear it in the Hall of the Servants.'
Elan Morin shook his head sadly. `You and your Aes Sedai friends are not ready to hear what I have to say. In two weeks, I will speak to you all again. But until then, I will remain at Shayol Ghul. Do not follow me.'
He raised his hand, and felt the power of saidin wash through him like a raging torrent of pure water. There was no effect, he noticed, of the presence of the Bore on the Pattern, as he formed and opened a gateway to Shayol Ghul.
There would be, soon.
Elan Morin Tedronai stepped through the gate, and Traveled.
Lews Therin stared despondently after his friend as the gateway swirled to a single point of light, and vanished. As yet, he could not understand Elan Morin's exuberance and almost raving speeches about "the Shadow."
But turning again to look at the dark hole that was suspended above V'Saine, he felt a cold chill, and knew that, on the other side, something was watching him....
As soon as he stepped through the gate onto the sandy shores of Shayol Ghul, Elan Morin Tedronai knew what he had found. Here, he knew, the Great Lord's touch was strongest, already.
He turned and looked over the sea towards the distant continent, and smiled again. `I have a new name now,' he said to himself. `Given to me by the Great Lord.'
He raised his arms aloft, and drew on the Power. A new Power, the True Power of the Great Lord, filling himself with it and feeling his master's touch on him, the first of his Chosen. The saa flew before his eyes, but he did not concern himself with them.
With a twisted grin, Ishamael lowered his arms and knelt, speaking with his master.
True to his promise, two weeks later, Elan Morin Tedronai was the first of the Aes Sedai to pledge himself to the Shadow.