Hey, all. I'm here for chapter nine. This one's another brief overview of Dane/Raban/Press's Traveler life. I know it's interesting and people wanna hear more details, but let's face it. I'm just too lazy.

The good news is that I've decided to write a prequel. Eventually. Two of them, probably. One about the adventures of Press and Dane and one about the adventures of Raban and Terese.

I don't own Pendragon. But I've bought three of the books. And the Merchant of Death graphic novel.

So. Yeah.

Enjoy chapter nine of "The Truth"! Read and review, please! Thanks!

"Dane?" Courtney asked, her eyes wide. "Do you think-"

"Saint Dane? It has to be."

- -

Yeah. At one time, Saint Dane had been the Traveler from Third Earth.

I've told you guys about Third Earth. Courtney, you've seen it. It's a paradise, too. And the first territory the three of them went to was Quillan. They tried to stop the spread of Blok. They didn't think it would be good for one company to have a monopoly like that. And they were right. I told you how that turned out. However, Raban had already killed the new Traveler from Quillan, so they had no way of knowing how to reach the people of the territory.

Saint Dane's first territory was a loss. A huge one. So I guess he really meant it when he told me he'd had nothing to do with Blok taking over.

This made my Uncle Press and Rosalita want to fight Raban even more. They were especially mad when he killed the woman who had raised them, that last Traveler that he hadn't killed.

I guess Raban figured he was gonna die soon, so he started trying to find someone else to take over Halla when he did. He picked Saint Dane. Saint Dane had come from paradise, too. All he'd seen when he'd gone around to the other territories were all those bad things that don't exist on Earth in the year 5010. He convinced him that the Travelers were wrong. So he and Raban were going to take over Halla.

But then Uncle Press killed Raban.

Saint Dane was there. I don't think my uncle knew that he'd gone to the dark side yet. But he swore to Raban that he'd destroy Halla; he'd tear it down and then rebuild it.

Saint Dane always seemed like he was trying to prove something to someone above him. I think it's Raban. I think he's trying to prove that their dream can actually come true. Something like that.
Anyway, after Raban got killed, Saint Dane went around trying to kill the other Travelers. But they remembered what Raban had done, so he wasn't able to kill all of them. He killed Rosalita and the Travelers from Denduron and Veelox. The Traveler from Quillan had already been killed by Raban. And you know the rest of the Travelers eventually died, too.

My Uncle Press picked me to be the lead Traveler. He picked me to lead the fight against Saint Dane. I don't know why. Maybe it has something to do with being from Second Earth. That last Traveler was from Second Earth, and after that Uncle Press was the role model for most of the new Travelers. Maybe the Travelers that hadn't been killed by Saint Dane voted, and I won. Whatever the reason, I somehow became the lead Traveler.

Mark, Courtney, you guys know I didn't ask for this. I'd much rather be at home right now playing basketball in the gym, playing Guitar Hero, hanging out, or walking Marley. I was thrown into this. So were you guys. So were Loor, Alder, Spader, Gunny, Patrick, Aja, Kasha, Elli, and all the other acolytes.

So were Nevva and Saint Dane.

They aren't evil simply because being evil sounded like fun. You know Saint Dane always sounded like he didn't think what he's doing is wrong. He doesn't think what he's doing is wrong. He's trying to make Halla a better place, just like the Travelers.

Just because his version of a perfect Halla is different than the Traveler's version, does that make it wrong?

My Uncle Press lied to me. Well, actually, he didn't tell me everything. But isn't that the same as lying? And this whole time, Saint Dane has been telling me the truth... when I wanted to listen.

I guess that's how he knew that one day the two of us would stand together.

Mark, Courtney... I know you're not going to like hearing this, but... I've decided to join Saint Dane.

- -

Courtney started sobbing silently. Mark wasn't really far behind.

- -

If you guys are going to hate me for that, I can't blame you, any more than I can blame Courtney for what she did. But even if you hate me, I hope you can at least understand. It's hard for me to hate him now that I know where he's coming from.

And now the two of us - Saint Dane and I - can be together. I guess Courtney and I just weren't meant to be. I don't think out relationship would have lasted much longer, anyway. I'm a Traveler. For me, a relationship with a non-Traveler just can't survive.

And, Courtney, like I said, this isn't because of you. I didn't get all depressed or decide to join Saint Dane to destroy Halla or become gay all because you dumped me. So don't go thinking it's your fault. It's not.

I know you guys probably aren't happy with me right now, but all I can do is hope you don't hate me. I hope you guys will still be my friends and acolytes now that I'm technically your enemy.

- -

Bobby reluctantly finished his latest journal and sent it to his acolytes. He sighed as it disappeared.

Nevva Winter came up behind him from out of nowhere. Well, it seemed like out of nowhere to him. He had just forgotten that she was there. "Pendragon," she said. She sounded concerned.

"Mark and Courtney are going to hate me," he muttered.

"Do not worry about it, Pendragon. If they truly are your friends, then they will understand that they have chosen their path, and you have chosen yours." She sighed. "I know this is a hard path to take."

Bobby thought back to when he and Nevva had gone to see Mr. Pop. She had started crying. After he had learned that she had joined Saint Dane, he had wondered about that.

"Hey, Nevva."

"Yes, Pendragon?"

"When we went to see Mr. Pop... and you started crying... were those... real tears, or were they an act?"

She plastered a smile on her face, but her eyes showed her sadness. "That was my history, Pendragon, the history I never knew. It was a beautiful thing, and I realized that I was going to destroy it. I had to destroy it, to bring about our dream of a unified Halla. It was a hard thing for me to do, Pendragon. Right then, I thought about turning against Saint Dane and re-joining you and the Travelers. I took a moment to myself to calm down, and I chose to stay with Saint Dane and destroy Mr. Pop." She took a breath.

He knew what she was talking about. It had been hard for him to choose Saint Dane over Mark and Courtney.

"Saint Dane has also made his share of hard choices. He told you that he was the Traveler from Third Earth. He came from utopia. He's working to make every territory like Third Earth. Unfortunately, Third Earth will grow much worse before anything gets better." Nevva sighed again and shook her head. "It's going to be hard for him to see that."

- Kuramastrass -