Something Special

Hey guys, I just thought you might want to read this special preview from Flash of Lightning. The position for this part is where Adria is telling to Micenah the Gladian Prophecy.

The Gladian Prophecy

A child of Freg will give his life.

Bringing upon himself the knife;

Although out of love for someone

Cares not for days under the sun.

A Praedon will arise as well;

Though when and where, no one may tell.

One is two, though through and through,

One is not two, if I am true.

The One forever slips the gaze,

The Praedon wanders through a maze

His One Way kills the wizard, yet

There is a final, awful debt.

And when the Praedon has been killed,

And the One’s role has been fulfilled,

Astia’s light has been brought back,

Although by sweet life’s lasting lack.

Praedon, Paradox, Finisher, One.

Know of these names one may be sweet,

Over and over, sound retreat;

Forget not the light of the sun.

            Micenah stared at her. “That’s…that’s the prophecy? The prophecy everyone has been talking about?”

            Adria nodded. “Yes. It is.”

            Micenah shook his head. “I don’t understand! What is it about? That decrees the death of Gladius?”

            Adria wrote the prophecy out on a slip of parchment. “’His One Way kills the wizard’. What does that look like to you?”

            Micenah opened his mouth, then closed it. “Adria…But…Okay. So, this Praedon, this One…this One is supposed to kill Gladius?”

            “That’s what it says. The One’s One Way will destroy Gladius.”

            “But it also says that the Praedon will…die. Be killed.”

            “Yes, it does.”

            Micenah stared at her. “And you’ve come all this way, done all this work, to find me, because you thought I was the Praedon. And all this time, you knew that I was going to die?”

            Adria took a deep breath, and tucked her dark hair behind her ear. “At first, yes. That was before I…Before…” She hesitated, then continued. “Listen, Micenah. I know I’m calm about this, but that’s because…I don’t think it’s you anymore.”

            “What? Why?” This was almost worse than her thinking that he was going to die and being perfectly okay with that.

            “Because of the journal. Remember? That journal of the sorcerer? Well, he told about the qualities of the Praedon. The exact words were ‘strength of mind’. That was the most important detail, that people studied for ages. I assumed that it was talking about fighting through minds, so it would be you. You are fairly skilled in it. But…that could be talking about me, or Vinir, or Astra. It’s not specific. But it also said that the One would be…strange, an outcast, and yet not an outcast. All of the criteria…it seems to fit…Rea.”
            Micenah simply let his mouth hang open. When he couldn't speak, he decided to let it go for a minute. "And this child of Freg? Isn't Ramcol a child of Freg?" 
           "No, actually. Well, Ramcol is, but we don't believe that it's him. You see, Freg had many...wives. He could have had any amount of children. Besides, Freg is a common enough name. Everyone assumed it was him before, but prophecies are tricky like that. It makes too much sense for it to be Ramcol. Besides, 'out of love for someone?' It could be a reference to the One, in some One, but that seems too obvious. Even if it were talking about the One, that would mean that Ramcol was in love with Rea."
          Micenah thought about everything that Ramcol had done since returning to Loc'Lif...and the way he had treated Rea. 
          "Well..." he said slowly, thinking back. Then he remembered everything that Ramcol had done back in the First War, and ice encased his heart. 
          "You're right," he said venomously. "It can't be Ramcol." 


I hope you enjoyed that! It's not a final draft, just something from Flash of Lightning. 
-President Fantasy