A/N: read and review please, I hope u like.
****** = new character POV
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, all characters and storylines belong to R.J.
Prologue: Unexpected consequences
The town of Whitebridge was almost deserted. It had begun early in the afternoon, now an immense dome of blackness stood on the horizon in the west like a giant mountain of pure black steel. A dome that seemed to suck up the light like it was an opposite too the sun, it seemed to cast a shadow across the ground and sky for miles around.
At first it had been barely visible, a black dot in a cloudless sky and few had noticed it and those that did had though that there must be a distant forest fire, pushing it from their minds they continued on their daily routines until they turned to look again almost absentmindedly. It was easy to know who was seeing it for the second time, they looked confused at first then shock paint their faces as the blood drained away leaving them deathly pale in they afternoon sunlight. The 'dot' in the distance grew at a steady rate and at first it had peaked the interest of the whole town, people gathered in the main square where the bridge that the town took its name from, meet the ground where the clearest view of the dome could be established and watched with fearful silence.
Bartim looked on with disgust, when people had started gathering in the square he had hoped that he would do a brisk business at his inn, The Wayfarer's Rest, but as more and more people gathered, making the square look crowded for the first time he could remember and his common room remained empty he had decided to close early for the first time in years. There was no use standing there hoping someone would come in while the whole town looked to the western skies with a fixed expression on their faces, almost identical from face to face, apprehension. The feeling seemed to pulse through the town and gained a more frantic edge the longer it remained.
Joining the crowds Bartim had begun to feel that very same feeling, like death was coming and there was nothing he could do to stop it, only watch and hope that whatever it was it wasn't going to reach him here. And that is where his disgust came from, he might be facing death and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it, the whole town was feeling the same way.
Standing at the front of the crowds near the famous bridge, he had thought that he was hearing a humming coming from the bridge, almost as if it was responding to whatever was happening to the west, then looking at the crowd he had change his mind, no one else seemed to notice it at all, all eyes where fixed on the growing black dome unmoving. He stood at the front and watched as it seemed to change colour from black to a black that made midnight seem a sunny day and grew to what must be at least a mile high he was sure.
His thoughts turned sour, it was trouble he knew, there seemed to be little else these days. Dragons proclaiming themselves across the nations, the White Tower splitting in half, not that he cared much about Aei Sedai but a split would mean trouble for the world, armies clashing in Cairhien, then Illian and finally Altara. Apparently Trollocs, of all things, had attacked villages not fifty leagues from where he stood, in the west near where the black dome reared in the sky, not that he believed that one but it was clear that rebellion had started in the two rivers, he had seen the soldiers march through the town carrying a wolf head banner and a red eagle. The eagle had looked familiar like he should have recognized it but as hard as he had tried he couldn't place it. But rebellion he knew would be put down by the queen, that is if there was a queen, there where rumors that the Dragon Reborn held Caemlyn. He turned his head and spat. The world was going crazy it seemed and now trouble had found Whitebridge.
Looking over his shoulder his movement stopped dead; stunned he looked at the once crowded square and found it near empty, looking up the road to the town gates he saw families fleeing with only a few meager possessions that they could carry. They where leaving as fast as they could manage. He looked back at the dome and saw why, as he had been lost in thought the dome had grown half again its previous size, people must be fearing that it would grow and consume the city. People where fleeing for their lives.
Bartim considered joining them for only an instant before dismissing the idea, it was not that he considered himself brave or that he was trying to prove it to anyone, but his whole life was in Whitebridge, in his inn and he didn't have a family to worry about. Turning his head back to the growing dome he continued his silent vidual with the few that remained. Apprehension settled in again.
******
He sat in his room that would not have looked out of place in a palace, except that it had no windows and the fact that the grand fire place gave of now warmth despite the fire that burned there not touching the wood, silently snarling. The chosen had failed it seemed, the access key had been blazing in his head for hours, at first he had been surprised he would feel it here so far away, been shocked at the amount of power the sa'angreal could hold and the fact that al'Thor was using twice what he felt for his deed. Then the shock faded away replaced by rage as his mind found the place in the world that al'Thor was using the access key and his plan became obvious, it was a brilliant plan though filled with risks that would have made it unacceptable to anyone who knew what they where doing. Ever since Cyndene had told him that al'Thor had the access ter'angreal, both of them, and his intended plan he had wondered how a primitive mind would conceive to remove the Great lord's shadow from saidin and this was a surprise even to him. It was a plan that had a chance of working!
His hand picked the fisher piece off the sah'rah board, black and white, blindfolded and bleeding, yet somehow had survived a flow of the power so huge over such a long period that simple physical exertion should have killed him hours ago, and still it shone in his head, torrents undreamed off in his own age, the greatest ever known, he was willing to bet that not even the creators of the choedan kal had thought so much could have been drawn.
Again he felt for the access key that might as well have been an arrow straight to al'Thor, an untrained fool who was about to complete the impossible, he might still die before the job was done, if he was lucky, but luck was a one thing that was never on his side when Lews Therin was involved. He felt where the access key was in the world and this time his rage peeked, the true power rushed into him in a addictive torrent that caused the saa to flash across his eyes faster than normal and lashed out without thought, an impossibly handsome servant women with the deepest green eyes shuddered as she died, but he barely noticed, the key was at Aridhol, Shadar Logoth as it was now known, a creation of his making in the Trolloc Wars two thousand years ago, at first it had seemed the easiest way to get rid of the second most powerful nation left in the land after Manetherin feel into oblivion, become as dark as the shadow, it's the only way to win. And his plan had worked, the city destroyed itself from within without a single finger been raised by his Trolloc armies, as they ravaged the rest of the nations, as black as the shadow. He hadn't counted on the creation that ate the city to survive after the last inhabitant was consumed by it's presence, the evil survived, a new evil that wasn't a creation of the Great lord, a shadow not of his making or under his control but a new, third party in the never ending struggle between his master and the dragon and one just as dangerous to his masters eventual victory as the presence of the dragon was. Well the presence of a dragon that knew what he was doing in any event.
Looking down at the Fisher piece in his hand, ice calm replaced his rage in an instant, surely al'Thor was getting close to finishing what the greatest minds of his age had deemed impossible, but it wasn't a complete lose for the Great Lord. Although his greatest achievement of the current age would be removed, so would a threat that had been lurking since its accidental creation, one that both he and the pathetic girls that called themselves Aei Sedai had been trying to contain for centuries, for they both knew that if that evil got loose it would spread like a plague throughout the world leaving nothing for the great lord to rule or these so- called Aei Sedai to control.
His eyes had not left the fisher piece, black and white, it worked as both and so did al'Thor at the present, those blind fools would call it a resounding victory for the light once the knew and believed, thinking of Mesaana he reassessed that though, if they ever truly believed. But it would also remove a threat that the great lord would have had to deal with once he was free, a threat that he wasn't sure he would have been able to deal with if it grew to large, he realized he was laughing but didn't bother to try and stop himself, black and white, in all things perhaps, but as in the game the piece could be used by both sides, and it was also true with al'Thor. The only problem for the light was that he had no opponent and he was a master of the game, he laughed till he cried but didn't care, al'Thor would serve the Great Lord whether he knew it or not.
Abruptly as it had started the torrent cut off without any warning or lessening of the power, and his laughter died as quickly as the hiss of his indrawn breath filled the chamber. It was over, but that wasn't what concerned him at all though, the way the power ended abruptly, one second there, one second not, exactly as if al'Thor had finally burned himself out, lost control of the power and it killed him. But that thought only lasted an instant, he was sure he would know if the fool managed to somehow get himself killed, no he was alive and he had to believe well, for he had once, painfully, found out just how dangerous underestimating al'Thor could be. Now the best that could be hoped for was that one or both of the access ter'angreal had sacrificed itself so the users wouldn't be harmed. After all that is how all sa'angreal and angreal had been designed to function in his age, and these particular ter'angreal would have been made the same way as well, most defiantly.
The chamber began to shake, violently, and the increasing temperature had nothing to do with the fire place, although he had told the Great Lord of this threat as soon as he knew of it and had been ordered to stop it if possible but not to put himself in danger, for he was needed later, the Great Lords anger was to be expected, his chosen had failed him again, he had reason to be furious. The slow building rumbling and heat stopped suddenly and Moridin got the impression that the Great Lord was ... Listening? As strange as that felt Moridin also decided to open himself up to the natural order of things where one could sense even minute changes to the pattern as the threads shifted, his teachers had called him a natural and they where right, for this ability was rare even in his age and was unheard of now, it was in fact how he was the first to be able to determine what Mierin had done at Collam Daan, the first to sense the power that had been unleashed, the first to come into the Great Lords service. He opened himself up now as he did then searching for something, anything that the great lord would pay attention to.
At first he found nothing, even began to think he had made a mistake of feeling what the great lord was doing, just felt the normal movement of the pattern with new normal ripples and weavings been woven all the time, nothing strange then he saw it or rather felt it. It was as if a thread was been laid across the pattern from ages past to the present, he had expected something like this, had even been surprised that it had not occurred earlier but the fact that it was happening now gave him great cause for concern, because there could only be one reason it would be happening now.
This was a threat that he had though he had destroyed with the Trolloc Wars, where his armies had destroyed almost everything that remained from his age, but he had been mistaken, this was something that could destroy all his well laid plans, normally rage would have consumed him at this point but not now, not now, he had to know. Opening up again he followed the thread as it came ever closer until finally, it integrated itself into the pattern at its furthermost point and its end taken up by the wheel and woven in seamlessly as if it had always been. The Ground shook about him and the temperature rose as the wail of rage from the mountain not far away bellowed out into the world. Moridin vaguely noted that he was in danger of been killed either by has chamber caving in or been roasted to death, but he no longer feared death and it was just a minor thought in his mind, flashing across the edges of his consciousness, he was ice calm inside. He knew what must be done, hoped it would be enough. Snarling he strode out of his room barely noticing the destruction left in his wake or the saa flying across his vision.
*****
Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, the Amyrlin Seat, stood on her balcony alone after what had seemed like hours, come to think of it it had been hours, and stared into the western sky. She could have pointed to the stop where she was looking with her eyes closed. Somewhere in that very direction a women was channeling saidar in amounts undreamed of, amounts that at the beginning of the day, would have been ridiculous to even think off. She was sure that a whole white tower, a combined white tower using every angreal and sa'angreal, calling every sister back from retirement and from punishment, could not have handled a half so much of that torrent, perhaps not even a third.
It was ridiculous to contemplate but she couldn't stop herself and she was sure that every women in the tower, those rebels outside of Tar Valon and any Aes Sedai anywhere in the world would be contemplating, if that lone channeling female forsaken, and it had to be one of the forsaken for no Aes Sedai knew what could be possibly causing that blazing beacon that had been in her head for hours, if she came against the tower now, could anyone survive? At all?
Elaida's glare should have burned holes in that far off forest on the horizon. She shook visibly with rage, she was sure it was rage, not fear, defiantly not fear! It had begun as a normal day, well not so normal, almost two weeks ago Alviarin had disappeared as soon as the rebels had all of a sudden appeared at the tower walls, impossible she knew, but looking down she could she them there, milling around like so many ants. Then the news came that Elaida had feared, both pieces at once, both that she had thought would get her stilled, news of the disaster of the attempted kidnapping of Rand al'Thor, and they had blamed Coiren. No one even though of blaming her, she was not in control of bringing al'Thor here, how could the blame land at her feat? Then news came of the black tower not two days ago, news of numbers that had shocked every woman in the tower, some had fainted and needed to be carried to their rooms, some where visible sick, and fear painted as many faces as disgust did. She saw more then one red look a little green. What sister could think of that so-called "Black Tower" without disgust and at least a little fear? And then people thought of Toveine, and then the most remarkable thing happened, twice in two days it seemed, no one even looked at Elaida, Toveine must have had the sense to learn of there numbers before she attacked. Right? Elaida certainly hoped so, but deep down a worry that would not go away whenever she thought of Toveine gnawed at her, a worry she could not shake. She knew they where lost to her. Probably dead.
For all of Alviarin threats it had come to nothing. Nothing! Elaida fumed, when she got her hands on Alviarin she would roe the day that her mother let her father steal that first kiss. What she had suffered, Alviarin would suffer ten fold! She considered exile, but irritably forced that thought from her mind, she wanted the women stilled, sentenced and stilled, by tower law, for that she could wait till her hunter found it's pray, for that she could.
Today Elaida had felt better than she had in months, for today was the first time that she had been in control of the tower almost since she had become Amyrlin. She had summoned the hall in the morning and had had them remove Alviarvin from the keepers stole. It was almost pitiful the joy that she had felt when she had gained the greater consensus, making it an anonymous decree. She was in control. The hall was about to adjourn when it had started.
Panic had grip the tower all the way up to the hall. Everyone had been stunned to silence, then all turned slowly to stare through the walls at the exact point she was looking now, and she shivered again and it had nothing to do with the wind. Frantic cries had filled the Hall of the tower, calls for the tower to be evacuated as panic women who should have known better ran for the doors. Somehow amid the chaos she had managed to keep a cool head. Arguing that there was no way to run from that, she issued orders for everyone to stay in there rooms until the danger passed. When the words left her mouth she though many in the hall would protest, and she knew that it was a defining moment, knew that if the hall had ignored her it might mean the end of her career as an Amyrlin that ruled the hall, not the other way around.
Luckily some had regained some sense and stop acting like frightened children and realized that it was all they could do. The hall had followed and the orders where given. It was a great triumph, the hall bowing to the Amyrlin and then as she walked back to her rooms her mood had soured terribly. She found herself wishing Rand al'Thor was here, in the tower, not so the world was safe from him, but so the White tower would be safer from that! Safer from what she was looking at in the west. She almost thought that she should be able to see the glow of saidar that must be surrounding the women who channeled it, like a second sun rise.
Turning from the window she strolled to the wine pitcher sitting on the table and poured herself a cup. Bringing the cup to her mouth she frowned down at the spilt wine, now why did her hand shake so badly? She would have to send for one of the serven-.
Her mind seemed to skip a beat, after hours of its continuous presence the beacon in her head had disappeared, as if snapped from existence. The wine cup fell from her hand making a dull thud on the floor. She turned to stare at where it had been. What had happened? Surely something horrible, something that is beginning to destroy the world, there must be something happening! But as hard as she looked and felt she could fill nothing. Nothing at all!
As it always did the foretelling took her unawares, by complete surprise and she heard herself muttering in a terrified voice. "This I foretell, the dragon sleeps and the healer queen slumbers. The Guardian released from ancient dream, the wound of madness healed and a cutting of hope given, as prophecy demanded. The faithful servant returns the sight to the fisher kings eyes, showing him his ancient might. Which servant will it be that brings Tar Valon to its knees? Which soldier will it be will it be, untainted by the shadow, that burns for revenge now free"?
Elaida didn't remember falling but she found herself on her knees, shaking, Aes Sedai serenity completely absent from her face. She didn't bother trying to stand, she crawled to the pitcher, didn't bother with a cup, she drank straight away. The words seemed to bang around in her head getting ever louder until she was forced to listen again, "will bring Tar Valon to its knees". No matter how much she drank the words seemed to haunt her. "No one will hear of this, no one." She muttered defiantly to the empty room. There had to be some explanation, something she was missing, she just wasn't thinking clearly that was all. She knew all she had to do was think. Light, why did that sound like I was trying to convince myself? Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, the Amyrlin Seat, sat on the floor of her apartments almost on the verge of crying. Light how can the white tower be stronger than ever but be brought to its knees? They contradicted each other, it could not be, foretellings never lied, but she couldn't see how these two could be about the same world. THEY COULD NOT BE! It was a shout in her own mind. All she had to was sit there and think, that was all. That was all! Why could she not stop shaking?
******
Bartim once again considered leaving, it had become a more frequent though that he was having, he had been standing at the edge of the river for hours and looking around he saw only a handful of people that had remained with him and none he knew. The dome, he would call it black but that word no longer seemed to do it justice, had grown constantly and now he was willing to bet that it stood two and a half miles in the sky and had not seemed to be slowing in the rate it grew. He thought it would be foolish to run now, if something was going to happen he was sure that he could not out run that! Sure that if he had left earlier it would still have killed him. He felt like laughing but felt hollow inside, like a man awaiting the headsmen, only he knew he was innocent but there was nothing he could do to sto-.
He was ripped out of his thoughts, for the first time the surface of the immense dome seemed to move it...withered. There was no other word to describe it and he was sure that now was the time, now the doom that had been going to happen for hours was about to unfold and consume him entirely. He stood ready to embrace his fate as if he was routed in the stone, unable to move and for the second time in the space of a heart beat he was stunned to unmoving silence. The doom had clasped in on itself, in the space of a heart beat, the terror that he had been sure would be his death just disappeared down to a dot, to a pin prick, to nothing. And from the distance a dull roar filled the sky as if distant thunder reached their ears after a lighting strike.
Oddly the thunder awoke those standing at the river bank, he heard himself laughing and embraced the act, he looked up at the dusk sky and shouted a wordless shout, the danger had passed he knew, he through his arms up as if to embrace the sky. Looking around he noticed that everyone doing something similar, they all had the look of men who had escaped a headsmen axe that they had though was already falling.
A heavy set man to his side with dark hair and a moustache that clung to the sides of his mouth laughed and Bartim noticed more than a few teeth where missing. The man reached over and embraced him shouting into the sky, "it's done, what ever it was, it's done and where alive, beautifully alive". Bartim understood entirely and joined in his laughter.
Abruptly the ground underneath their feet started shaking. A cry of despair filled the air and he was shocked to find that it came from his own throat and even more surprised to learn that it was joined to cries coming from everyone that remained.
The heavy set man was clutching on for dear life now and began shouting, "it is coming, it is beyond our vision, but it do be coming we all feel it, there be nothing we can do, oh light!" A slim young man to his right, with eyes as wide as teacups, rose a visibly shaking to point at the bridge, "lo-l-look" he stammered, "a-at the b-bridge, at the highest p-point, something is happening" his voice gained volume the longer he talked until the last was a shout.
Everyone turned to look where the young man pointed and there at the apex of the bridge, the bridge that the town took its name, the bridge that many said was from the Age of Legends, was a light that began shining coming from inside the bridge that looked like glass, making it vibrate visibly. At once he realized that the humming he though he heard earlier had grown to such a level that it was about all he could hear. Vaguely somewhere in the back of his mind he made the connection, as the light increased, so did the vibrations, and the ground shock harder, in tune he though.
A black dome rearing in the sky leagues away was one thing, a bridge from the Age of Legends doing what it should not do, and seeming to start to tear the town apart was quite another. All the remaining man turned and ran towards Caemlyn as hard as they could, he didn't intend to stop until he dropped over from exhaustion.
.....If any had stayed they had they would have witnessed an event that would define the age in which they lived, they would have seen they light grow at the apex of the bridge, would have seen the bridge consume itself from the sides, as if it was disintegrating into nothing, all the way up to the shinning light at it's highest point, would have seen the bridge fall away into nothing to reveal something that seemed to be a box, hanging unsupported where the apex of the bridge had once been, would have seen the box like structure open, and would have seen what fell out, landing ungraciously in the water and would have seen the box destroy itself as the bridge had and finally see the light disappear. They would have looked down and seen the body floating in the gentle flowing waters of the Arinelle, as if unconscious but face up so it would not drown, Floating south towards the Manetherendrelle. If they ever learned what had happened that day, both at the bridge and to the west, they would have been reminded of a saying they heard once, "Men plot and women scheme but the wheel weaves as the wheel wills".......
A/N: I hope it wasn't to long, and I hope the Characters where in Character at least. Hope u liked it, what will happen next I wonder? ;)
****** = new character POV
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, all characters and storylines belong to R.J.
Prologue: Unexpected consequences
The town of Whitebridge was almost deserted. It had begun early in the afternoon, now an immense dome of blackness stood on the horizon in the west like a giant mountain of pure black steel. A dome that seemed to suck up the light like it was an opposite too the sun, it seemed to cast a shadow across the ground and sky for miles around.
At first it had been barely visible, a black dot in a cloudless sky and few had noticed it and those that did had though that there must be a distant forest fire, pushing it from their minds they continued on their daily routines until they turned to look again almost absentmindedly. It was easy to know who was seeing it for the second time, they looked confused at first then shock paint their faces as the blood drained away leaving them deathly pale in they afternoon sunlight. The 'dot' in the distance grew at a steady rate and at first it had peaked the interest of the whole town, people gathered in the main square where the bridge that the town took its name from, meet the ground where the clearest view of the dome could be established and watched with fearful silence.
Bartim looked on with disgust, when people had started gathering in the square he had hoped that he would do a brisk business at his inn, The Wayfarer's Rest, but as more and more people gathered, making the square look crowded for the first time he could remember and his common room remained empty he had decided to close early for the first time in years. There was no use standing there hoping someone would come in while the whole town looked to the western skies with a fixed expression on their faces, almost identical from face to face, apprehension. The feeling seemed to pulse through the town and gained a more frantic edge the longer it remained.
Joining the crowds Bartim had begun to feel that very same feeling, like death was coming and there was nothing he could do to stop it, only watch and hope that whatever it was it wasn't going to reach him here. And that is where his disgust came from, he might be facing death and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it, the whole town was feeling the same way.
Standing at the front of the crowds near the famous bridge, he had thought that he was hearing a humming coming from the bridge, almost as if it was responding to whatever was happening to the west, then looking at the crowd he had change his mind, no one else seemed to notice it at all, all eyes where fixed on the growing black dome unmoving. He stood at the front and watched as it seemed to change colour from black to a black that made midnight seem a sunny day and grew to what must be at least a mile high he was sure.
His thoughts turned sour, it was trouble he knew, there seemed to be little else these days. Dragons proclaiming themselves across the nations, the White Tower splitting in half, not that he cared much about Aei Sedai but a split would mean trouble for the world, armies clashing in Cairhien, then Illian and finally Altara. Apparently Trollocs, of all things, had attacked villages not fifty leagues from where he stood, in the west near where the black dome reared in the sky, not that he believed that one but it was clear that rebellion had started in the two rivers, he had seen the soldiers march through the town carrying a wolf head banner and a red eagle. The eagle had looked familiar like he should have recognized it but as hard as he had tried he couldn't place it. But rebellion he knew would be put down by the queen, that is if there was a queen, there where rumors that the Dragon Reborn held Caemlyn. He turned his head and spat. The world was going crazy it seemed and now trouble had found Whitebridge.
Looking over his shoulder his movement stopped dead; stunned he looked at the once crowded square and found it near empty, looking up the road to the town gates he saw families fleeing with only a few meager possessions that they could carry. They where leaving as fast as they could manage. He looked back at the dome and saw why, as he had been lost in thought the dome had grown half again its previous size, people must be fearing that it would grow and consume the city. People where fleeing for their lives.
Bartim considered joining them for only an instant before dismissing the idea, it was not that he considered himself brave or that he was trying to prove it to anyone, but his whole life was in Whitebridge, in his inn and he didn't have a family to worry about. Turning his head back to the growing dome he continued his silent vidual with the few that remained. Apprehension settled in again.
******
He sat in his room that would not have looked out of place in a palace, except that it had no windows and the fact that the grand fire place gave of now warmth despite the fire that burned there not touching the wood, silently snarling. The chosen had failed it seemed, the access key had been blazing in his head for hours, at first he had been surprised he would feel it here so far away, been shocked at the amount of power the sa'angreal could hold and the fact that al'Thor was using twice what he felt for his deed. Then the shock faded away replaced by rage as his mind found the place in the world that al'Thor was using the access key and his plan became obvious, it was a brilliant plan though filled with risks that would have made it unacceptable to anyone who knew what they where doing. Ever since Cyndene had told him that al'Thor had the access ter'angreal, both of them, and his intended plan he had wondered how a primitive mind would conceive to remove the Great lord's shadow from saidin and this was a surprise even to him. It was a plan that had a chance of working!
His hand picked the fisher piece off the sah'rah board, black and white, blindfolded and bleeding, yet somehow had survived a flow of the power so huge over such a long period that simple physical exertion should have killed him hours ago, and still it shone in his head, torrents undreamed off in his own age, the greatest ever known, he was willing to bet that not even the creators of the choedan kal had thought so much could have been drawn.
Again he felt for the access key that might as well have been an arrow straight to al'Thor, an untrained fool who was about to complete the impossible, he might still die before the job was done, if he was lucky, but luck was a one thing that was never on his side when Lews Therin was involved. He felt where the access key was in the world and this time his rage peeked, the true power rushed into him in a addictive torrent that caused the saa to flash across his eyes faster than normal and lashed out without thought, an impossibly handsome servant women with the deepest green eyes shuddered as she died, but he barely noticed, the key was at Aridhol, Shadar Logoth as it was now known, a creation of his making in the Trolloc Wars two thousand years ago, at first it had seemed the easiest way to get rid of the second most powerful nation left in the land after Manetherin feel into oblivion, become as dark as the shadow, it's the only way to win. And his plan had worked, the city destroyed itself from within without a single finger been raised by his Trolloc armies, as they ravaged the rest of the nations, as black as the shadow. He hadn't counted on the creation that ate the city to survive after the last inhabitant was consumed by it's presence, the evil survived, a new evil that wasn't a creation of the Great lord, a shadow not of his making or under his control but a new, third party in the never ending struggle between his master and the dragon and one just as dangerous to his masters eventual victory as the presence of the dragon was. Well the presence of a dragon that knew what he was doing in any event.
Looking down at the Fisher piece in his hand, ice calm replaced his rage in an instant, surely al'Thor was getting close to finishing what the greatest minds of his age had deemed impossible, but it wasn't a complete lose for the Great Lord. Although his greatest achievement of the current age would be removed, so would a threat that had been lurking since its accidental creation, one that both he and the pathetic girls that called themselves Aei Sedai had been trying to contain for centuries, for they both knew that if that evil got loose it would spread like a plague throughout the world leaving nothing for the great lord to rule or these so- called Aei Sedai to control.
His eyes had not left the fisher piece, black and white, it worked as both and so did al'Thor at the present, those blind fools would call it a resounding victory for the light once the knew and believed, thinking of Mesaana he reassessed that though, if they ever truly believed. But it would also remove a threat that the great lord would have had to deal with once he was free, a threat that he wasn't sure he would have been able to deal with if it grew to large, he realized he was laughing but didn't bother to try and stop himself, black and white, in all things perhaps, but as in the game the piece could be used by both sides, and it was also true with al'Thor. The only problem for the light was that he had no opponent and he was a master of the game, he laughed till he cried but didn't care, al'Thor would serve the Great Lord whether he knew it or not.
Abruptly as it had started the torrent cut off without any warning or lessening of the power, and his laughter died as quickly as the hiss of his indrawn breath filled the chamber. It was over, but that wasn't what concerned him at all though, the way the power ended abruptly, one second there, one second not, exactly as if al'Thor had finally burned himself out, lost control of the power and it killed him. But that thought only lasted an instant, he was sure he would know if the fool managed to somehow get himself killed, no he was alive and he had to believe well, for he had once, painfully, found out just how dangerous underestimating al'Thor could be. Now the best that could be hoped for was that one or both of the access ter'angreal had sacrificed itself so the users wouldn't be harmed. After all that is how all sa'angreal and angreal had been designed to function in his age, and these particular ter'angreal would have been made the same way as well, most defiantly.
The chamber began to shake, violently, and the increasing temperature had nothing to do with the fire place, although he had told the Great Lord of this threat as soon as he knew of it and had been ordered to stop it if possible but not to put himself in danger, for he was needed later, the Great Lords anger was to be expected, his chosen had failed him again, he had reason to be furious. The slow building rumbling and heat stopped suddenly and Moridin got the impression that the Great Lord was ... Listening? As strange as that felt Moridin also decided to open himself up to the natural order of things where one could sense even minute changes to the pattern as the threads shifted, his teachers had called him a natural and they where right, for this ability was rare even in his age and was unheard of now, it was in fact how he was the first to be able to determine what Mierin had done at Collam Daan, the first to sense the power that had been unleashed, the first to come into the Great Lords service. He opened himself up now as he did then searching for something, anything that the great lord would pay attention to.
At first he found nothing, even began to think he had made a mistake of feeling what the great lord was doing, just felt the normal movement of the pattern with new normal ripples and weavings been woven all the time, nothing strange then he saw it or rather felt it. It was as if a thread was been laid across the pattern from ages past to the present, he had expected something like this, had even been surprised that it had not occurred earlier but the fact that it was happening now gave him great cause for concern, because there could only be one reason it would be happening now.
This was a threat that he had though he had destroyed with the Trolloc Wars, where his armies had destroyed almost everything that remained from his age, but he had been mistaken, this was something that could destroy all his well laid plans, normally rage would have consumed him at this point but not now, not now, he had to know. Opening up again he followed the thread as it came ever closer until finally, it integrated itself into the pattern at its furthermost point and its end taken up by the wheel and woven in seamlessly as if it had always been. The Ground shook about him and the temperature rose as the wail of rage from the mountain not far away bellowed out into the world. Moridin vaguely noted that he was in danger of been killed either by has chamber caving in or been roasted to death, but he no longer feared death and it was just a minor thought in his mind, flashing across the edges of his consciousness, he was ice calm inside. He knew what must be done, hoped it would be enough. Snarling he strode out of his room barely noticing the destruction left in his wake or the saa flying across his vision.
*****
Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, the Amyrlin Seat, stood on her balcony alone after what had seemed like hours, come to think of it it had been hours, and stared into the western sky. She could have pointed to the stop where she was looking with her eyes closed. Somewhere in that very direction a women was channeling saidar in amounts undreamed of, amounts that at the beginning of the day, would have been ridiculous to even think off. She was sure that a whole white tower, a combined white tower using every angreal and sa'angreal, calling every sister back from retirement and from punishment, could not have handled a half so much of that torrent, perhaps not even a third.
It was ridiculous to contemplate but she couldn't stop herself and she was sure that every women in the tower, those rebels outside of Tar Valon and any Aes Sedai anywhere in the world would be contemplating, if that lone channeling female forsaken, and it had to be one of the forsaken for no Aes Sedai knew what could be possibly causing that blazing beacon that had been in her head for hours, if she came against the tower now, could anyone survive? At all?
Elaida's glare should have burned holes in that far off forest on the horizon. She shook visibly with rage, she was sure it was rage, not fear, defiantly not fear! It had begun as a normal day, well not so normal, almost two weeks ago Alviarin had disappeared as soon as the rebels had all of a sudden appeared at the tower walls, impossible she knew, but looking down she could she them there, milling around like so many ants. Then the news came that Elaida had feared, both pieces at once, both that she had thought would get her stilled, news of the disaster of the attempted kidnapping of Rand al'Thor, and they had blamed Coiren. No one even though of blaming her, she was not in control of bringing al'Thor here, how could the blame land at her feat? Then news came of the black tower not two days ago, news of numbers that had shocked every woman in the tower, some had fainted and needed to be carried to their rooms, some where visible sick, and fear painted as many faces as disgust did. She saw more then one red look a little green. What sister could think of that so-called "Black Tower" without disgust and at least a little fear? And then people thought of Toveine, and then the most remarkable thing happened, twice in two days it seemed, no one even looked at Elaida, Toveine must have had the sense to learn of there numbers before she attacked. Right? Elaida certainly hoped so, but deep down a worry that would not go away whenever she thought of Toveine gnawed at her, a worry she could not shake. She knew they where lost to her. Probably dead.
For all of Alviarin threats it had come to nothing. Nothing! Elaida fumed, when she got her hands on Alviarin she would roe the day that her mother let her father steal that first kiss. What she had suffered, Alviarin would suffer ten fold! She considered exile, but irritably forced that thought from her mind, she wanted the women stilled, sentenced and stilled, by tower law, for that she could wait till her hunter found it's pray, for that she could.
Today Elaida had felt better than she had in months, for today was the first time that she had been in control of the tower almost since she had become Amyrlin. She had summoned the hall in the morning and had had them remove Alviarvin from the keepers stole. It was almost pitiful the joy that she had felt when she had gained the greater consensus, making it an anonymous decree. She was in control. The hall was about to adjourn when it had started.
Panic had grip the tower all the way up to the hall. Everyone had been stunned to silence, then all turned slowly to stare through the walls at the exact point she was looking now, and she shivered again and it had nothing to do with the wind. Frantic cries had filled the Hall of the tower, calls for the tower to be evacuated as panic women who should have known better ran for the doors. Somehow amid the chaos she had managed to keep a cool head. Arguing that there was no way to run from that, she issued orders for everyone to stay in there rooms until the danger passed. When the words left her mouth she though many in the hall would protest, and she knew that it was a defining moment, knew that if the hall had ignored her it might mean the end of her career as an Amyrlin that ruled the hall, not the other way around.
Luckily some had regained some sense and stop acting like frightened children and realized that it was all they could do. The hall had followed and the orders where given. It was a great triumph, the hall bowing to the Amyrlin and then as she walked back to her rooms her mood had soured terribly. She found herself wishing Rand al'Thor was here, in the tower, not so the world was safe from him, but so the White tower would be safer from that! Safer from what she was looking at in the west. She almost thought that she should be able to see the glow of saidar that must be surrounding the women who channeled it, like a second sun rise.
Turning from the window she strolled to the wine pitcher sitting on the table and poured herself a cup. Bringing the cup to her mouth she frowned down at the spilt wine, now why did her hand shake so badly? She would have to send for one of the serven-.
Her mind seemed to skip a beat, after hours of its continuous presence the beacon in her head had disappeared, as if snapped from existence. The wine cup fell from her hand making a dull thud on the floor. She turned to stare at where it had been. What had happened? Surely something horrible, something that is beginning to destroy the world, there must be something happening! But as hard as she looked and felt she could fill nothing. Nothing at all!
As it always did the foretelling took her unawares, by complete surprise and she heard herself muttering in a terrified voice. "This I foretell, the dragon sleeps and the healer queen slumbers. The Guardian released from ancient dream, the wound of madness healed and a cutting of hope given, as prophecy demanded. The faithful servant returns the sight to the fisher kings eyes, showing him his ancient might. Which servant will it be that brings Tar Valon to its knees? Which soldier will it be will it be, untainted by the shadow, that burns for revenge now free"?
Elaida didn't remember falling but she found herself on her knees, shaking, Aes Sedai serenity completely absent from her face. She didn't bother trying to stand, she crawled to the pitcher, didn't bother with a cup, she drank straight away. The words seemed to bang around in her head getting ever louder until she was forced to listen again, "will bring Tar Valon to its knees". No matter how much she drank the words seemed to haunt her. "No one will hear of this, no one." She muttered defiantly to the empty room. There had to be some explanation, something she was missing, she just wasn't thinking clearly that was all. She knew all she had to do was think. Light, why did that sound like I was trying to convince myself? Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, the Amyrlin Seat, sat on the floor of her apartments almost on the verge of crying. Light how can the white tower be stronger than ever but be brought to its knees? They contradicted each other, it could not be, foretellings never lied, but she couldn't see how these two could be about the same world. THEY COULD NOT BE! It was a shout in her own mind. All she had to was sit there and think, that was all. That was all! Why could she not stop shaking?
******
Bartim once again considered leaving, it had become a more frequent though that he was having, he had been standing at the edge of the river for hours and looking around he saw only a handful of people that had remained with him and none he knew. The dome, he would call it black but that word no longer seemed to do it justice, had grown constantly and now he was willing to bet that it stood two and a half miles in the sky and had not seemed to be slowing in the rate it grew. He thought it would be foolish to run now, if something was going to happen he was sure that he could not out run that! Sure that if he had left earlier it would still have killed him. He felt like laughing but felt hollow inside, like a man awaiting the headsmen, only he knew he was innocent but there was nothing he could do to sto-.
He was ripped out of his thoughts, for the first time the surface of the immense dome seemed to move it...withered. There was no other word to describe it and he was sure that now was the time, now the doom that had been going to happen for hours was about to unfold and consume him entirely. He stood ready to embrace his fate as if he was routed in the stone, unable to move and for the second time in the space of a heart beat he was stunned to unmoving silence. The doom had clasped in on itself, in the space of a heart beat, the terror that he had been sure would be his death just disappeared down to a dot, to a pin prick, to nothing. And from the distance a dull roar filled the sky as if distant thunder reached their ears after a lighting strike.
Oddly the thunder awoke those standing at the river bank, he heard himself laughing and embraced the act, he looked up at the dusk sky and shouted a wordless shout, the danger had passed he knew, he through his arms up as if to embrace the sky. Looking around he noticed that everyone doing something similar, they all had the look of men who had escaped a headsmen axe that they had though was already falling.
A heavy set man to his side with dark hair and a moustache that clung to the sides of his mouth laughed and Bartim noticed more than a few teeth where missing. The man reached over and embraced him shouting into the sky, "it's done, what ever it was, it's done and where alive, beautifully alive". Bartim understood entirely and joined in his laughter.
Abruptly the ground underneath their feet started shaking. A cry of despair filled the air and he was shocked to find that it came from his own throat and even more surprised to learn that it was joined to cries coming from everyone that remained.
The heavy set man was clutching on for dear life now and began shouting, "it is coming, it is beyond our vision, but it do be coming we all feel it, there be nothing we can do, oh light!" A slim young man to his right, with eyes as wide as teacups, rose a visibly shaking to point at the bridge, "lo-l-look" he stammered, "a-at the b-bridge, at the highest p-point, something is happening" his voice gained volume the longer he talked until the last was a shout.
Everyone turned to look where the young man pointed and there at the apex of the bridge, the bridge that the town took its name, the bridge that many said was from the Age of Legends, was a light that began shining coming from inside the bridge that looked like glass, making it vibrate visibly. At once he realized that the humming he though he heard earlier had grown to such a level that it was about all he could hear. Vaguely somewhere in the back of his mind he made the connection, as the light increased, so did the vibrations, and the ground shock harder, in tune he though.
A black dome rearing in the sky leagues away was one thing, a bridge from the Age of Legends doing what it should not do, and seeming to start to tear the town apart was quite another. All the remaining man turned and ran towards Caemlyn as hard as they could, he didn't intend to stop until he dropped over from exhaustion.
.....If any had stayed they had they would have witnessed an event that would define the age in which they lived, they would have seen they light grow at the apex of the bridge, would have seen the bridge consume itself from the sides, as if it was disintegrating into nothing, all the way up to the shinning light at it's highest point, would have seen the bridge fall away into nothing to reveal something that seemed to be a box, hanging unsupported where the apex of the bridge had once been, would have seen the box like structure open, and would have seen what fell out, landing ungraciously in the water and would have seen the box destroy itself as the bridge had and finally see the light disappear. They would have looked down and seen the body floating in the gentle flowing waters of the Arinelle, as if unconscious but face up so it would not drown, Floating south towards the Manetherendrelle. If they ever learned what had happened that day, both at the bridge and to the west, they would have been reminded of a saying they heard once, "Men plot and women scheme but the wheel weaves as the wheel wills".......
A/N: I hope it wasn't to long, and I hope the Characters where in Character at least. Hope u liked it, what will happen next I wonder? ;)