-1Okay. First I must say simply that I actually have only the faintest inkling exactly where this is going. For anyone who has ever been struck with an idea that seemed completely ludicrous only to dwell on it until it began to form into a workable concept… that's where I am with this, and believe me, I'm still dwelling. As that is the case (and as I have other stories in the works and college finals these coming weeks), updates may be sporadic. Beyond that, though, I actually think I've come up with something so crazy it just might work, so I'd hope perhaps you who read this will be as intrigued by the idea as I am and stick with me. And don't be afraid to give me ideas, comments, thoughts, guesses… help me out here. Believe it or not, the longer and more detailed/constructive the reviews, the better (and faster!) the next chapters turn out. So here's the prologue, and hopefully chapter 1 will be up to answer a few of the questions I'm sure this will bring up (which is the point!). Thanks, and enjoy!
Prologue
One would have thought, perhaps, that things would be better this way. Of course, he'd known better that to really believe that, but even he had to admit that, while he certainly never would have made such a move, there might perhaps be logic behind it. The Five could possibly have been better off this way -- safer, happier, protected from such a Loss as they'd been made to suffer. And certainly the Loss would not happen this way, and thus the world would be better off.
Yes, five heroes were lost, but the avoidance of the Loss would be worth it, and someone else would step in. Where there were villains, there would be heroes; it was the balance of nature. He could see how it might have been allowed to happen, perhaps even encouraged, if not out-rightly performed. He would not have suggested it, had they asked him, but of course no one had. But he supposed, perhaps, it had made sense at the time. The goal had been to remake the balance.
But some balances were too delicate, too easy to off-set. And some lives were not safe apart from each other. The Five were not better off -- not in their entirety, and in truth not in their individuality either. And while the Loss had been in essence avoided, the balance had been thrown off nonetheless. And someone had to put things back in sync. That 'someone' was him.
He sat watching the Chosen through his scrying mirror. A mess had been made of this entire situation. The mess had little effect on him, and nothing to do with him. But he'd been picked to fix it. Wonderful. He closed his hand into a fist, feeling the cool metal of the two Rings he held. He had a choice. He'd made it. He placed the Silver Ring back on its cylinder and held the Gold Ring up to the light. It would meet it's Wearer soon. The Remembering had begun.