The World to Come
by Eildon Rhymer
What if the Dark had won at the end of Silver on the Tree? The world is sliding into darkness, and only tattered remnants of the Light remain. Will, Bran and the Drews grow to adulthood, and each to their own destiny in this World to Come.
I will be posting three chapters a day from now on, so I can get the whole story posted by the end of the week. As ever, feedback is greatly cherished.
Part three picks up six years after the end of part two.
Part three: chapter one
Lion in chains
Merriman had known that this day would come. He had known for quarter of a century that this moment lay in his future.
The manner of it, though, and the timing, was hidden. The Dark had triumphed at the tree, and magic was now ruled by the Dark. Merriman could no longer step into the future and see what lay ahead. In many things, he was as blind as a mortal.
They cornered him, as they had cornered so many of his kind before him, over the years. He was a lord of Light, but against him stood all the lords of Darkness, and a score of their minions. As soon as he saw them, he knew that he was taken.
He did not fight; only a soft, quiet surrendering to the inevitable. This had to be. The future was hidden to him, but some things had always been clear.
He had been the first, but he would not be the last. He had to go, for Will to come into his own.
But I wish I'd had longer, he thought, as they closed on him, grinning, triumphant. He had lived for such a long time, and had seen so much death and darkness, but he still wanted more time. He did not know if Will was ready. He wanted to tell him…
"The old lion himself," they crowed. The lesser ones sneered. The true lords of Darkness just stared impassively, for they were equals to him, although opposite in every way. "The very last one of your kind."
He cherished his secret and kept his face impassive. Even defeated, he could protect his mind from the Dark, but part of him remained human, and hope could betray itself in very human ways.
"We have you now," they said. "Too broken even to fight."
He looked at them, one, then another, then another. The lesser ones amongst them broke, and looked at the ground. Not broken, his look said. But defeated. Yes, defeated…
Perhaps they would think he had surrendered himself to them deliberately, too shattered by despair to live on. They had not captured him on some great enterprise, fighting the Darkness against all the odds. Instead they had come upon him in a wood, when he had gone unguarded to remind himself that the world was beautiful, and to remember great men whom he once had loved. He had bowed his head a while, and raised it to find himself surrounded. It had been a genuine mistake.
Or maybe, he thought, as they bound him with bonds of magic and twine, the Light had willed it so. Will was ready. It was time.
"No words for us, Lyon?" they taunted. "No pleas? No defiance? The others did, before they were destroyed."
"That is a lie," Merriman told him. He knew his Old Ones. They could feel whatever a human could feel, but they would not show it, not at this last extremity.
"It matters not," they told him, as they led him away. "You are the last of your kind. The Light has been eradicated forever. The world is ours now. Think on that, in your prison beyond eternity."
He did not bow his head, but he went where they led him. His powers were great, but theirs were legion, and there were many of them, and he was alone. He had no chance of escaping his fate. They would send him out of Time forever, but first they would parade him in front of the men who thought they ruled the land, and show him to the masses on television. He was the conquered sorcerer chieftain, the last of his foul kind. They would gloat for a while, but then it would be the end.
After four thousand years, he was leaving the world, leaving it in the hands of the Dark.
He could have wept then, tears hidden behind his mask-like face. This was inevitable, this was necessary, but this was the end. He left the world in darkness. He would never see the triumph of the Light. After so many years, so many struggles…
He was still human enough to care.
The only ending he would ever see was darkness, and then oblivion. He could not even cherish hope, in case they saw it in his eyes, and snatched it away from him, and knew.
Merriman was defeated indeed.
End of part three: chapter one