((So... this story is new and improved with all of the chapters en route to being changed quite drastically. I like it better this way though, a LOT better. Hopefully none of the people who liked the original so much will object to it, because I honestly do believe that it is better this way.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of David Eddings' ideas, characters, or places. Now the characters that I created all on my own, well... yeah, those ones don't quite belong to him so much as they belong to my little imagination
Note: italics means thought-speak between sorcerers and the like
:italics: means the Drasnian secret language
The ages are not spot on with how the book has them, but I wanted it this way so just call it slightly AU and we're all good.))
The space looked like a complete ordinary forest clearing that could have been found anywhere, with one exception. In the center stood a figure with straight, perfect white hair and a trimmed beard of the same color. Power, peace, and wisdom seemed to radiate from him much as heat and light did from the sun itself. In front of this powerful being, for he could not have been human despite his almost ordinary appearance, stood another who looked just like him. Only this one was definitely human and lacked the powerful aura of the first. "You summoned me, Master?" the human man said, bowing deeply. "Truly Aldur, I thought that I would never speak to you face-to-face again, not after all the time has passed since I left."
"Never could I forget thee, my beloved Disciple," the being, named the God Aldur by the old man, said with a gentle smile. "The world hast just been so busy since thy departure that I have been unable to find the time to visit with thee, no matter that I desired it. But there is no other route to be taken but the one that hath been presented to me by mine brothers. Belmakor, I know that thee took thyself away from the world for a reason, but thou hath no other choice than to return to it now."
"What?" Belmakor, one of the seven legendary Disciples of Aldur exclaimed, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Master, please, no! I do not want to return to that place; there is too much pain, too much hatred, too many people who care for naught but themselves. There cannot possibly be a reason that it should be I who goes instead of someone else. I took myself out of the world, Master, and I rather prefer that it stays this way. No disrespect meant, of course, but I am dead after all, and have been this way for well over five thousand years."
Aldur sighed, his gentle smile fading away. "Belmakor, must thou make this so difficult for me? Thou knowest that I would never ask something of thee unless it was of the utmost necessity that it be done as I say. Thy convictions against the world are not incorrect, but not all are as thou claims. Good still prevails in the world, and all is moving towards the final battle between Light and Dark. Believe my words, Belmakor, thou shall take part in the events leading to the battle."
"Belgarath will be there," Belmakor protested, pain evident in his voice. "I cannot simply reappear to him, it would be far too hard of a blow! They all believe me dead, as is the truth, and you are asking me to go back there for a battle that will decide the fate of a world that is no longer mine. Master, forgive my disrespect once again, but I do not think that this thing you speak of should be done."
"Thou shall not appear to them in the form that they knowest thou for," Aldur explained patiently. "And the world shall be thine once more, my son, if thou will just believe and do as I tell thee to. Even when thy task is complete, thou shalt be allowed to remain in the world, to reclaim the spot that thou abandoned far too soon for the like of any. Belmakor, thou shall go back in the form of a wolf pup, cared for by Poledra in the form of the wolf that belongs to her by right. If the time is ever right, then thou will reveal thyself."
Belmakor simply stared at Aldur, shocked into silence for what was probably the first time ever. "Yes Master," he said at last, his voice choked with emotion. He could not believe that he was being offered this chance to help make the world right, to fix the mistake he had made by taking himself out of it simply because he was tired of how everything was. Belgarath had gone through so much more, and still he remained. "When do I go?"
Aldur raised his hand and pressed it against his disciple's forehead. "Right now, my son."
