Day 28 (The Word That Ends the World)

He paused, as though in thought. "It is this which Savant's prophecy speaks of."

Alyssa was nonplussed, to say the least. "There's a word that ends the world?"

"I have spent many years of my life in this place, " he replied. "and in that time I have not spoken, for fear of destroying everything. The only reason I can speak now is that I knew, eventually, someone like you would come along. Someone else who was capable of speaking the word with meaning. I spent all my time thinking of exactly what I would say, rehearsing my part, memorizing every detail of every argument and thinking of all possible responses. If I were not so convinced that this word exists, I would not have gone to such lengths."

"But of course," Alyssa pointed out, "you can't tell me what this word is."

"Naturally."

"Can't you write it down?"

He squinted at her. "It is a common word. It is why I feared to speak, after all. If the word were 'xenophobia', I could have lead a normal life. If I wrote the word on a paper and passed it to you, your first reaction would be to ask me, aloud, whether or not I was sure. In so doing, you would speak the word. It is difficult not to say accidentally, and even more difficult when you know what it is."

"How, then, am I to avoid saying it?"

His examination of her seemed to continue regardless of the nature of their talk. His eyes were boring into hers, searching for the answers that would tell him if he could trust her. Finally, he sighed and spoke again. "I will give you the word. In return, however, I want your story. I want to know what has happened to you, and how you came to master order and chaos."

She nodded. "It's a deal."

Craig made a motion, and at once one of the nearby monks had provided him with pen and paper. They had attracted nearly the whole monastery by this time, so there was no shortage of providers. The monks which hadn't just tended to his need for writing were sitting, rapt, obviously listening intently to everything he had to say. Even the elder was at attention, having not spoken up since his initial admonishment.

It was just a word, and not a long word, judging from the fact that it didn't take him very long to write it. He looked at her and said only "Not a sound" before sliding the paper to her.

She looked, and knew instantly that Craig's earlier worries had been right. She stifled an urge to speak, to ask him if he was sure. She hadn't spoken the word, that she could remember, but it would definitely require concentration to avoid. She looked at him, nodded her understanding. He took the paper back, crumpled it up, and handed it to a monk next to him. "Burn this." he instructed. "And don't look at it."

The monk displayed more restraint than Alyssa could imagine herself possessing - he followed the instructions exactly, burning the paper in the flames of a fireplace on the far end of the room. He made no move to even peek at the contents.

"I have given you the information that I dared not share with anyone. I feared that Yael or any other council member might be the ones of prophecy, and thus end the world with their utterance. I knew that Savant would write it down - it was from his writings I learned it to begin with - and that would lead to the same end if anyone gifted enough were to read the book. No, the word had to die with me. You, though... your argument was correct. Now, at least, you can refrain from accidentally ending us all without knowing."

"Thank you." was all that she could muster.

He nodded, as though his actions had been expected. "You have your end of the bargain to uphold. I would learn of you. Simply be careful what you say."

"Where should I begin?"

"An astute question." the look on his face indicated he was pleased she'd asked. "Ask yourself, what began this? If my suspicions are correct, it was not long ago. Events began coming to a head. Before this, your memories are fuzzy, yes?"

So she thought. The last few days had been insane, and she'd hardly rested at all. The last time she'd even had a good night's sleep had been the night before Jacob came to her door. She frowned. What had she done before that? It seemed hazy - she knew she'd been doing something, probably her typical off-duty routine, but no details came to mind.

"A few days ago, " she finally decided, " when Jacob... came to my door and got me out of bed."

Jacob was paying attention, she saw, even though he likely knew most of the story. Craig seemed satisfied by her answer, and gestured for her to continue her story.

She did. She described the haunted house and how she and Jacob had performed there, how she'd been ambushed by a Sightless and they overcame. At the mention of the creature, Craig again glanced toward Jacob's direction as did a few of the more skittish monks. He made no comment, though, and she continued her story.

When she described her fight through the storm - and she had Jacob's attention especially then, as he'd been out for part of it - Craig stopped her.

"The Sightless you faced, you said they wanted your name?"

She stopped to think. "Ask who you are, child, that you can do such things." she intoned, keeping her voice steady. "I don't know that he ever actually asked. I think so. But that's what he first said."

"Did you answer him?"

“I told him I was Alyssa D'Eldess.” she said. “I understand we share that name.”

He laughed lightly, a smile on his face. His good humor, she sensed, was due more to being able to laugh again to begin with than with the situation itself. “I imagine there was some confusion when you said this to the elder. More so when you heard my name! This must be why you asked if we were related. No, Alyssa, D'Eldess is not a name – it is a title, one we both share. I'm beginning to believe it belongs more truly to you than me, however. Still, I ask you to continue your story before I make up my mind.”

She did, then. She spoke of the return from the storm, the frenzied meeting of the council and Savant's suspicions that there was a chosen one. Craig stopped her again, then, seeming interested.

“So he'd forgotten about me?”

She struggled to think. "I'm not sure. He never actually said he knew you, but he mentioned writing's he'd made concerning you."

He nodded. "I couldn't find them all. That book of prophecy he was reading from was probably what remained of that. He had a complete book when I knew him, one which spelled out in detail everything that had happened to us and was going to happen. And at the end was the word. If Savant claims I came to them knowing it, he's misremembering or has actually forgotten. I learned it from his prophecy, and I struggled from that day forward not to speak it. At the time, there weren't the sort of attacks you speak of, so I couldn't know for sure that I was the chosen one, but I knew I had mastery that others lacked. So I came here. Before I left, though, I destroyed everything I could find on the topic of the prophecy. I didn't want Savant to be able to reconstruct it from memory, and I didn't want anyone else to find the word."

"You made him forget? So you know what does it!" Alyssa found herself surprised in this knowledge. Anyone who knew Savant and also knew what caused him to forget would almost certainly tell him. A Savant who remembered everything was infinitely more useful than the one who was constantly having to refer to books he'd written long ago when he spoke a language he no longer recalled.

"I did not make him forget, but I know what does it - I found out because he did it in front of me. He knew too, though. Otherwise I don't know if I could have gone through with what I did. He knew that doing what he did would make him forget, and he did it anyway." Craig shrugged. "He told me he didn't care if it cost him his memory, it was that important."

"Well... what is it?" she nearly blurted the question after a moment of silence during which it was apparent that he wasn't going to volunteer the information.

"If I'm right, you'll find out yourself. It doesn't matter, though, because he'll know it'll do it, and he'll make the choice. You have not finished your tale."

For a moment, she contemplated refusing to go on until he told her what he knew. Then she remembered that he had spent several decades under a vow of silence. Waiting him out was unlikely to work. Instead, she continued where she left off, telling of their assignment to the city, the hundreds of Sightless which stood in her way, her learning the True Name of their leader and her descent into chaos. Naturally, this raised further questions.

"You learned his True Name from his blood, and spoke it? Brilliant! When the Voice takes them utterly, it takes their names into it as well. When you took it back, you made it yours. It's a shame your friend here isn't a full convert yet, you could just name him and be assured of his loyalty."

Jacob managed a quick, "She is assured of my loyalty" before the collective disapproving glares of a roomful of monks quieted him. Clearly, he was not welcome to speak.

Craig seemed to have dismissed the comment already, instead leaning forward toward Alyssa. "Then you mastered Chaos." he said.

She shrugged. "It was a matter of survival, I didn't really have a choice. Once I could remember who I was, the rest fell into place. I made my own world."

She related, then, the tale of fighting the creature of shadow which had come to battle her. Craig seemed endlessly amused by this. "They must have thought you'd not have that sort of control over your world so soon. Rather foolish, considering it didn't take you that long to make it to begin with."

She returned to reality, without Jacob but with a pet monster. She described how they'd returned to the chamber ("So that's what the deal with the door is!" Craig shouted at one point, then looked utterly abashed at having apparently gone off-script) and how she'd learned more about her destiny.

Talking got more difficult, then, as she spoke in slow detail on the discovery of Jacob's car and its defaced headlights. She could fight the Sightless easily, then; with her new mastery they could neither hide nor dodge her. She rescued Jacob, and brought him back with her.

Understanding seem to come into Craig's eyes, then. He looked toward Jacob. "I mistook you, sir. I thought you to be a beast she'd bound via name, not her friend."

Looking around, Alyssa could see that the elder - along with several of his students - were variously confused and relieved by this revelation, though not altogether trusting. Still, it was a step.

She told him then about discussing him with Savant, getting recollections from everyone, and Yael's surprising attempt to get them to back away. Craig smiled fondly at this, but did not comment. She spoke of fighting the Soldiers at his doorstep, her second descent into chaos, and the further mastery she'd attained. She ended her story abruptly, then, after describing how the shadowy beings had simply ceased to be, once she sowed Order among them.

It got very quiet, then. Craig seemed to be busy thinking, and the other monks were watching him. One had the presence of mind to get her a glass of water, for which she thanked him. She had been talking for far longer than she'd thought.

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