I don't really like the way this chapter ends... Oh well.
I don't own Pendragon.
This is another chapter with little Press... the last one? Or the second last one? Something like that.
So... enjoy the next chapter of "The Truth". Reviews are nice. Thanks.
"Raban," Terese snarled.
"Oh, please, I go by Saint Raban now," he said with a slight smile.
Press felt his mother give him a light shove. "Press, go! The flume!"
He took off running.
"Oh, so he is the new Traveler!" Saint Raban sounded delighted. "Really, Teri, you should let me show him what he'll be up against..."
"I'll let him know what he's up against, Raban, trust me!" she screamed at him. She was near losing it.
Press ran faster, not wanting to hear his mother like this.
"You killed them! All of them! What Press is up against is a murderer!"
Raban chuckled. "I suppose that's one way of putting it."
"One way of putting it? What else do you suppose you are?"
"Terese, my dear," he said, using her full name for the first time rather than her nickname, "I am but the savior of Halla."
"Savior? You think that by killing all the Travelers, you are saving Halla?"
He chuckled again. "I didn't kill all of them. You are alive, are you not?"
"Why?" Terese shrieked at him. "Why did you do this, Raban? You were a Traveler!"
"That's right, Terese. I was. Until I realized the truth."
"Truth? What truth?" she spat.
"I know how much you believe in things being how they were meant to be," he said. "But, as I now realize, this is how it was meant to be, Teri, dear. Halla has to be broken down so that I can rebuild it. And then there will be the Convergence. All the territories will become one, and I shall preside over them as a guide."
"No! The territories cannot be mixed; they must remain separate..."
"See, Terese, this is where you are wrong. All the Travelers have been wrong. The people of all the territories are corrupt, selfish... none of them can control their own destiny."
"And you think you can do better?"
He smiled again. "I know I can." He paused for a moment. "You're worried that I'm going to kill you, like I did Richard and all the others... aren't you?"
Terese snarled when she heard him say Richard's name.
"There's no need to worry," he continued. "I'm not going to kill you, Teri. You're the only true Traveler left. You have to raise the new crop. Raise them well." The smile remained.
"Raban..." she began. He looked at her questioningly. "Why me? Why am I the only one left?"
"And I suppose you wonder why I killed your dear Richard first."
She said nothing.
"I've wanted you, Terese, ever since I first laid eyes on you. You paid me no attention. I thought perhaps that it was because we are mere illusions. I thought perhaps that you realized this, and saw no point in relationships. That was how I consoled myself. Until you got together with Richard, that is. Then I realized that you paid me no attention because I was not of Earth."
Terese remained silent.
"Everywhere I looked, there was turmoil. People were corrupt, selfish, power-hungry, and greedy. They are all near-sighted. The people of the territories don't deserve to rule themselves. They don't know how. They don't know what's best for them."
"That's why the Travelers..."
"The Travelers don't know any better than the people of the territories, Terese!" he snapped. "They need a single guiding hand." He was smiling, calm again. "That would be me."
"But... Richard..."
"Richard was a Traveler. I knew all of you would be opposed to my ruling Halla. The Travelers were a threat I needed to take care of. Because Richard had you, I felt the most hatred toward him. He was the first one to go. And he never knew what hit him. It felt good, so good. I killed the rest of them, leaving you, and only you..."
"Why?" Terese choked.
"I knew you'd never have me, but someone had to raise the new crop of Travelers. It would be no fun if no one tried to oppose me."
"You're sick. Sick! You're sick, Raban! You killed your fellow Travelers..."
"Go, Terese," he said, ignoring her. "Go and teach them what it means to be a Traveler. I won't hurt you. Go and join... Press, was his name?"
She turned to go and started walking again. "One day you'll regret this, Raban. Maybe not today, maybe not soon, but one day... you will regret turning against the Travelers."
Raban just laughed. Terese had used to like his laugh, before... She shivered thinking about it. Then she heard the caw of a crow and whipped around. Raban was gone, and where he had once been, there was a raven flying away.
- Kuramastrass -
