I can still hear all of their voices, those who survived, and those who died. Those who passed on, and those who sacrificed all, in the end. They speak down to me, down through all the years, and none of them, not one, will let me forget what they did...and these words speak, for them, what that terrible year meant to us all.
* * *
**"It was an age of fear...
A Time For Rebellion...
A Cause worth fighting for..
And a hope to give us life.
There was a reason for caring..
A last farewell..
An end to tyranny...
And a dark time of war.
The year was 2261.
And WE were the Riders on that Storm."**
**"Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishible from magic"**
- Clarke's Law
* * *
Z'ha'dum. Between one moment and the next.
##There is an option...if you have the courage to accept it##
The burning flash behind them was too painful and bright to behold, but then, it was as if everything came to a crashing, jarring halt. They had believed in hope...but what was this, that had happened?? With that deperate thought foremost in her mind, her left hand still an almost unbearable agony, Jennie slowly, very slowly opened her eyes, and turned to look.
And immediately wished she hadn't. Behind them, a massive flower of fire burned out of the heart of Z'ha'dum...a flower of fire frozen in motion. Impossible, they should have been *dead*!
"Now." an all too familiar voice announced, "There is...*time* for us to decide what must be done."
Will whirled with her, and she beheld, with near incredularity, a figure they had not believed they would ever see again, on the edge of the abyss; a figure sallow in complexion, and lined with age, eyes once twinkling with wisdom, and now pits of sadness and regret. But about this familiar figure, light was seen to glitter!
"Taaldon!?!"
The First One nodded, his expression near unchanged. "Precisely, Sha'vei Westcastle, and greetings to you as well, Observer. What you see and understand around you is, unfortunately, partially a construct of our imaginations. What has occurred continues to occur, and will, in due course, occur again...but for now, and only, for a limited time, limited, shall we say, by the scope of my imagination and determination to make it so, we stand, how is it said?...ah yes...*between* the moments."
"Why?" she whispered, her gaze bleak. "Why bother? The moment will pass, and we will be dead...there is no escape from *that*!"
Taaldon sighed. "Only if you choose such a route; but do you truly wish to die?...or do you, instead, know that your tasks in the universe stand, as yet, incomplete?"
"I made the choices I did because I could do no other thing!!" William barked, his gaze dark. "You must understand that."
"Yes, of course."
"How, then, can you make us hope enough to believe there is ANY hope of escaping that trap behind us? You, yourself, say this discussion is merely a trick...that the death waiting will move eventually."
"That it will, Rimstalker...but you and yours do not, by means, have to BE HERE when that happens."
"What?"
"There is..another option, a terrifying one to take, for you, but perhaps the only one remaining. Difficult choices need to be made, and to make you understand, for there is still a little time, I will describe what this...final solution is, and then, you shall decide what you will do...to die, or to, if all goes well, LIVE."
"Say on." Will ground out. "We have little time."
"As you say. My race, the V'zag, possessed, among our abilities, the trait to translate ourselves between First and Secondspace, what you and the other Younger races call hyperspace. In times of duress, we have been capable of translating one other sentient with us between the mediums...but the energy strain placed upon us during such a translation is extreme in the least. And as for two...
Now, I offer you my services one last time, William Westcastle, Jennifer Clifford...if you will take them, if you will accept what must be."
"No, Taaldon!!" she cut in, her voice desperate...they *couldn't* let him do THAT! "Please...you cannot!"
"What choice is there, any longer?" Taaldon replied, his expression both tragic and serene. "I have been commanded to this place, and this instant...and the reasons for that may eventually be clear to you. In the end, we all have reasons to live for...but the hardest choice of all is finding a reason to *die* for. If you do not survive, then there is a slim but probable chance that all connected to you will suffer the same fate. You stand behind so many bright stars...and if your support is not available, then these stars may fade, wane and be extuinguished.
I cannot allow this to happen! For if I am to pay atonement for the crimes of my past, for the dealings I have made down the centuries, for both Order and Chaos, then you must allow this to happen. You, and the others, possess a rare gift...the gift to *stop* this insanity, to end it once and for all...with the aid of certain other parties.
But you cannot do that if you die here on Z'ha'dum, now can you? And thus, I offer my life, in exchange for that service that you, with the Others, must perform if this is ever to be ended."
"Is there...any way to make this easier??" she asked, her voice cracking with emotion.
Taaldon nodded. "Yes. But it will be hard on you, as well as my life long companion. She will help, as well, for she will not make the choice to live when I do not...and you, as well, if you so desire it, can add a portion of your own life force to this alchemy...but only if you wish."
"You do this thing for us willingly." William whispered, his eyes wide with wonder. "Can we do any other thing??"
"I will warn you, human." Taaldon commented, his eyes bright. "There may be...unforseen consequences if you commit to this."
"It matters not, Taaldon!" she added forcefully. "If we die, here and now, all is lost; if we can help you in any way to find your peace in an easier fashion, then what choice do we have? We are Rangers, we stand below and behind those Stars you remind us of...and our goal is save all life; and if not to save, then to help that life find an easier end! You may have all that I can give, Taaldon, unforseen consquences be damned! in Valen's Name, we must do this thing."
"In Valen's Name," William added, in finality."We would do no other thing; we are in this together, and if none of us leave together..."
"We will, however, have made the attempt." Taaldon finished, a slight smile touching his face. Then, the First One bowed slightly. "It has been an honour to know you both, and perhaps, in some future age, we will meet again, beyond the Veil, and see if it was all worth it, in the end.
But now, I am afraid, the moment between is nearly over. Prepare yourself, my friends; this will *hurt*...a great deal, I'm afraid."
At that, time suddenly resumed, and Jennie turned, her eyes wild, to face the march of fire that swept over the Shadow city. And in flame, and fire, and pain, they stood, and then it all faded..
Down into the Shadows.
* * *
Did it work, though, is the question? A question that may, or may not, be answered in the first part of THE RIDERS ON THE STORM, as 2261 begins with "The Death of Dreams and Consequence".