The Law of Nines

23

JAX DIDN’T SHY FROM THE QUESTION. “If I came to kill you, then why aren’t you dead?”

Alex didn’t like her evasive answer. He chose his words carefully, but kept it simple and sincere. “Back at the house you said that if I came with you, you had to be able to depend on me. I deserve no less, Jax. I think you owe me the truth.”

“Now you sound like a Rahl,” she said.

His voice took on an edge. “I am a Rahl.”

She let out a long, deep breath and looked away from his eyes again.

“Well, the truth is I did come here expecting that I might end up having to kill you.”

Somehow, that didn’t surprise him, but it did surprise him that she so freely admitted it.

“But you said that I’m the one named in this prophecy of yours—”

“It’s not my prophecy. It’s an ancient core prophecy, well known in certain circles.”

“Well, if I’m the one the prophecy pertains to, then why in the world would you want to kill me, and why am I not dead?”

“You are not dead because I chose not to kill you.”

Alex decided to wait for her to explain. She picked at a loose thread on the blanket for a time before doing so.

“The prophecy says, ‘Someday, someone born not of this world will have to save it.’ That’s all that it says.

“Short prophecy, such as this, is often the most troublesome and the most dangerous. While it may sound simple, you can’t assume it is.

“Since it’s so obviously important, the prophecy has been studied extensively, but it still remains one of those great unsolved questions that frustrate the experts. From the beginning it’s been a prophecy associated with the House of Rahl.

“In certain circles it has been known for just as long that there are members of the House of Rahl in this world who—”

“How could there be members of the House of Rahl in your world and in my world? They’re separate worlds, separate places, maybe not even the same universe or dimension. How can there be the same line of people in both worlds?”

Her eyes had a timeless look of authority, or perhaps wisdom, about them. “Because your ancestors and the ancestors of a great many other people here once lived in my world.”

Alex stared at her. He wasn’t even sure that he had heard her correctly.

“That’s impossible.”

Her serious expression was unwavering.

“The ancestors of people here at one time lived in my world. This world was born from mine, or at least some of the people were.”

He had seen things that proved she was telling the truth that she had somehow traveled here from some other place, or time, or dimension. But this? This was just plain crazy.

Alex realized then that maybe he was taking her too literally.

“You mean that ancient stories say this. That it’s a legend, a myth, some kind of Dark Ages fairy tale.”

“It’s the reason that there are Rahls in both worlds — or, at least there used to be. There are no longer any Rahls in my world. At one time they were only in my world. Long ago some came here, to this world, to start new lives.”

He thought then that he could see how the whole thing had started and how it might have come to be misunderstood. “All right, I get it. All you’re really saying is that long ago some people named Rahl came to this world, much like you came to this world, and started lives here living among the people here. That’s why there are Rahls here. The Rahls here are descendants of a few people who once traveled here — sort of like you did.”

“No, it’s more than that. History says that long ago our world was engulfed in war. There were many people who didn’t want magic in their lives — didn’t want it to exist. They believed it was evil. They were adamant that they wanted to live in a world free of it. They were willing to die for that cause. They were unwilling to allow anyone with magic to live free. They were unwilling to allow anyone with magic to live at all.

“Because there could be no peace with them, because they refused to coexist peacefully with the gifted, because they were fanatically committed to killing any gifted and wiping magic from existence, they were granted their foolish wish to live in a world without magic. But they weren’t allowed to undo our world. They were all banished here, to a world where magic didn’t exist.”

“You mean, they didn’t want magic back then, either? The same as now? The same problem all over again?”

She paused for a moment, thinking. “No, it’s not the same. Before, it was a movement, a fundamental religious belief that was larger in its scope. It was a fanaticism that would not tolerate any other point of view. They believed that this was the will of the Creator and that they would be rewarded in the afterlife for killing the gifted.

“Now it’s nothing more than a cynical ploy Radell Cain is using to cover a grab for power. Tyrants don’t want their subjects to possess weapons. Eliminating magic takes a weapon away from anyone who might resist. That’s what Cain is really after — taking away the ability of people to resist his rule.

“Those who didn’t want magic back then got their wish; they were sent here. Some of the Rahl line who weren’t born with the gift chose to also come here to start new lives.”

“So we’re aliens? Our ancestors traveled here from your world?”

Her nose wrinkled as she thought it over. “They didn’t exactly ‘travel’ the way you’re thinking, the way I did or the way Cain and his people do. The worlds were said to have been joined together — at least for an instant they were at the same place at the same time — then they split apart, with the people who wanted to live without magic left in this world. I don’t know how many were banished, but vast numbers, well over half the people in our world, were gone after the parting.”

He thought the whole idea was too far-fetched to take seriously, but he decided not to debate it for the moment. Instead he asked something else.

“How long ago is this supposed to have happened?”

“Our scale of time might be different from yours, so I can’t be certain, and we have only the bones of history left, but that history suggests that in our world it was long ago.

“There would be virtually no record of the event here in this world. The memories of the people who came here degraded. The breakdown of memory was part of the process. The loss of magic would have been for the most part instantaneous, though some of it might have lingered for a short time. After a while it would have faded, along with any memories of its origin.

“It would have been a very dark and terrible time for those who came here. Even starting a fire, which with our ability is simple, would have been a struggle.

“As a result, generation upon countless generation would have lived in savagery and ignorance that would have been ruled by superstition and hardship. Recording events would have been a luxury beyond the scope of people struggling just to survive another day. There would likely be no real record of it here.

“The era would now seem a black hole in your history.”

“So that’s why we don’t have magic and you do?”

“Yes. Your ancestors — like mine — were people who lived lives with magic as a routine part of everyday life. The difference is that the people in our world still have their magic; the people who came to your world don’t.”

Alex wiped a weary hand across his face. He tried his best to keep the impatience out of his voice. “I guess that I can imagine that there is magic in your world, Jax. It’s a different place. For all I know, the laws of nature could be different there. But here things don’t work that way. It isn’t just that magic doesn’t exist here — it can’t exist here. The laws of nature don’t permit such a thing.”

He had almost said “such a silly thing” but restrained himself.

“So?”

“So, I can’t believe that it was ever part of reality for the people of my world.”

“It wasn’t, once they were here.” Seeing that the answer didn’t satisfy him, she looked up, thinking for a moment before asking a question. “You don’t have have wizards, witches, sorceresses, dragons, or magic here in this world?”

“No, not real ones.”

“Then why are those things part of all cultures, all peoples, throughout your history? Why do different people in different places in different times speak of them? Why do they even have the words for things that can’t possibly exist?”

“It’s just ancient legend, myth.”

Jax arched an eyebrow. “Why has this myth always been basically the same in every culture, in every corner of your world? Why do they all have the same words for the same imaginary things — myths — that can’t exist? Where do you suppose such common myth was born?”

Alex didn’t have an answer.

She leaned closer. “It was born in my world. The reality was left behind in my world. Why is magic such a universal part of your language, your culture, even though it does not exist here, cannot exist here? Why?

“Those who came here could bring with them only the fading memories of those things. As you say, magic is not part of the reality of nature here. It can’t exist here. I’m sure that those who resettled here soon came to deeply regret ever having wished for a life without magic. There could have been nothing worse for them than getting exactly what they had wanted.

“Those things lost lived on in this world but only as a ghost of what once was, of what is now gone.

“That myth, that legend, is all the history that’s left from those who came here from my world.

“They left magic behind, yet it still haunts you.”