“Wait!” The one who shouted out at this point was Verna. “Don’t believe this nonsense Jace. He’s lying to you.”

Jace looked at Verna a moment then looked back at Jaenin. “Please keep going.” He squeezed Verna’s hand and gave her a smile, she looked back at him irritated, and yanked her hand away from his.

“You see, near the end of the God’s war I was captured by Elis. I am not a God, well not in the sense that those 8 are. If I were something, I’d say I became something like Fate. Only nowhere near as powerful. Fate isn’t really a god either. It’s the First Plant, a Wollumba plant that gained “godhood”. I was raised like as a fungus at its feet. And in time I gained thoughts as well, and became a god. However, we are merely aspects of this world. Fate is fate. I am not. I am, if you could call me anything I’d say you could call me the memory. Whereas fate is an aspect of the future I am one of the past. Unfortunately, the past has little power over the here and now, or even the future. So, while Elis could not subdue fate he could capture me, and through me weaken fate.”

Jaenin paused and stared at the ceiling of the room a desolate look upon his face. “I was bound. Made to play the role of puppet for Elis. Oppress the people of the lands, oppress the humans, while Elis found a way to “Rob” fate. This I cannot explain, but he found a way to alter fate so that he became greater for it, while Fate became lesser, and he was using and suppressing human mages to accomplish it. Eventually I found a solution to my problem. I made a sword which when in the hands of a human would be able to break the bindings upon me and shatter Elis’s hold on Fate. It took almost 2000 years to make the plan and execute it. I used generations of humans to create the sword in secret outside of Elis’s eyes. With the aid of Fate I planted the seeds for Darius to rise in rebellion. I let the sword do the rest. What Darius didn’t know was he wasn’t killing me, he was simply freeing the world from the control of Elis.”

“Unfortunately, the plan failed. Elis, somehow created a curse, he spread prophecy of the curse through the churches which of course stood in complete opposition to Darius’s rebellion. Somehow history turned this truth into me as in I mean the Grey King, giving this prophecy when Darius thought he was killing me, or at least that’s how history records it. This curse the humans suffered…” he shook his head “…Terrible, they’re all basically power supplies to make Elis ‘more’ then a God. You know I never gave a prophecy about a human hero to cure the curse? How could I? I’m History not Fate. That was another add-on to the events of the Grey King’s death you can thank Elis for. He figured prisoners would be more willing to suffer their fate if they thought “someday” it might end. You know this curse is actually a curse of…”

Jace cut him off, “It’s a curse of fate. I know. I did remove it. I couldn’t have done that if I hadn’t figured that much out.” Jace’s mind was spinning. The things this Jaenin freely said did answer a lot of questions drifting in the back of his mind since he learned the so called history of this world.

“Correct. He leveraged the faith of all of his believers, and their anger and rage about the death of the king, and used them to create the curse. Yes, he didn’t have the power to curse the world. The humans of this world cursed themselves, through their faith in Elis, and a ritual they performed. You know those who actually performed this ritual were the ones who got the original moon marks? They thought those were marks showing their PROTECTION from the curse. By the time the truth was known, the lie had decades to promulgate. Once the curse ignited Elis and Vigelli syphoned the very fate of billions of humans and others vastly increasing their power and lifespans. Fate was now bound by Elis. He had lost control of me, the past, but gained the future. It makes me wonder if he had been behind my rebellion in the first place.” Jaenin was still staring at the ceiling. Then he kept talking.

“Fate is bound, not completely but Fate is bound. Do not forget this. Anyway, another 2000 years passed and this world degenerated to this state. The wars were better than this slow march into ruin, degeneracy and ignorance. It is not just the humans who have suffered. And now we come back to why I’m here, the promise.” He stopped looking at the ceiling and looked directly at Jace. “You will die if you do not heed this warning.”

“Stop using magic.”

Verna cleared her throat. She had been silent throughout the conversation but now spoke “Jaenin, how could anything you just told us be true? I’ve never heard this. And the kindred have long memories and longer lifespans. Dragons longer still.”

Jaenin looked at Verna, “And your Dragon King in Erindalle in the Sky helped Elis suppress the humans throughout my so-called reign. What reason would he have to tell you the truth? Sure, he likes to fuck human women. He also enjoys Fucking lots of things. You know when he was a little thing with no pretense to the word “king” he used to fuck a little creature known as a Vorl. Well Vorls no longer exist, but the offspring of that coupling, the Harkan, most certainly do. Don’t think I’m insulting your king for fun. Many dragons liked to fuck Vorl. He wasn’t alone. The only thing dragons enjoyed doing more than fucking Vorl was EATING Vorl. Is there any doubt how there are no more Vorl in this world? Well if Dragons, the one species which enjoyed fucking the Vorl couldn’t be bothered to keep the Vorl alive, what do you expect the dragons think about the humans? They certainly like fucking humans too. But when it was a question of Vorl or Human, believe me a dragon would fuck a Vorl. And they’re extinct. “

“What about Kindred eh? Well dragons didn’t bother to fuck the Harkan, and they don’t seem to like fucking the Kindred much either. How much do you think they’ll be willing to “cherish” your people? About the only thing, the Kindred have going for them is the fact they worship the dragons. Treat their draconic ancestor as their patriarch. This just proves you know how to stroke a dragon’s ego. They like veneration almost as much as they like fucking and gold. “

“Your own sister is a woman in the Red Dragon King’s harem is she not?” Jaenin’s direct question seemed to rattle Verna, so she spoke through clenched teeth. The look on Verna’s face troubled Jace.

“Yes she is.” Jace caught the smirk on Jaenin’s face and started wondering about their relationship, it seemed like Jaenin had something on Verna.

“Very admirable. Though I’m willing to bet she has not been a favorite of the king. Too much like dicking a daughter I suspect. And while dragons will dick mostly anything, I’ve noticed they lose interest in their kin pretty quickly.” Jace had little interest in the libido of dragons, he was much more interested in what this Jaenin meant when he said not to use magic again. He also suspected Verna wasn’t enjoying this turn in conversation either.

“Alright, I get it. Jaenin, let us say you are history, and you’re here on a promise. What do you mean don’t use magic?” The refocusing of the conversation seemed to get Verna’s attention and she lost a bit of her hostility.

Jaenin thought a moment then spoke, “Becoming a sorcerer… I’ve never done this, so, I can only guess at it, what it means. My powers were more similar to a God’s ever since I grew consciousness. THAT SAID, I watched many humans and OTHER sorcerers fail to become grand sorcerers. Many humans and gnomes who became sorcerers died. Yes, died. It took a long time for people to discover how to successfully navigate that stage.”

“Amazingly (or not, if you were paying attention) right around the time humans discovered the keys to successfully become Grand Sorcerers, the God war started up. And that knowledge was lost soon after, along with the knowledge of how to become a God.” The look on Jaenin’s face got a little conspiratorial.

“A good friend of mine told me the steps to both. And begged me to pass them on to humans who were to become sorcerers. I refused. He saved my life once. I would only save one life. So the deal was to pass on the secrets to becoming a grand sorcerer. No more.” Jaenin was now smiling.

Easol, silent this whole time finally spoke, butting into the conversation. “How can we trust any of what you are saying Jaenin? You say you’re interested in the King because of a promise made 20,000 years ago. Yet you also make it clear you fight Elis, you dislike the fact that he has Fate bound. And yet you suddenly show up at the place, the first place in 2000 years to break Elis’s hold of fate? It seems to me your purpose is different then what you claim.”

Jaenin simply smiled. “History, the past, the true past does not lie. I am here for a promise. It may appear that I have other motivating reasons to come here, but in reality, it was the promise that I came for.”

Jace stared at him. He was a young man, he wasn’t particularly sophisticated in reading the hidden meaning in a conversation, frankly he always was much more of a do’er then a talker. Though the past few weeks certainly was rapidly developing his skills as a talker as well. He didn’t miss what the creature, this “history” was saying, and decided to return the conversation to the point.

“So then, I don’t use magic. To what purpose?” Jace started small, he needed to know what was happening to him. “I am not using magic right now and I feel like my skin is crawling, and I could be sick at any moment. There is more to this. Please tell me what you know.”

“What I know is that when you become a sorcerer, you’ve stepped onto the path to Godhood. Thinking of yourself as a proto-demigod would not be far from the truth. However, to become a God is no small step. You’re changing. Your body and soul no longer mesh. Your soul is FAR too strong for your body. Frankly, no mortal body could properly hold a sorcerer’s soul. This step kills most humans. Kindred and Dragons are damned near immortal at birth, so kindred produce a number of sorcerers, and they know nothing about “difficulties” about their step. The People of the World however rarely CARE enough about magic to become sorcerers. They have their own innate magic that they usually use instead of the pulse. Gnomes and Humans however, are in trouble once they step into the sorcerer stage.” Jaenin paused.

Jace was thinking about the sensation he felt, the disconnected sensation, how he felt removed from the world ever since he stepped into being a sorcerer. Even fucking Verna became perfunctory. Something, on reflection he hadn’t done in a week. One thought dominated Jace’s mind at this point, ‘this Jaenin is a gold mine.’ So, he let him continue.

“The first key to surviving this stage is to stop using the pulse until the body ‘transforms’.” Jaenin continued. “That black substance is parts of your body expelled. The non-immortal parts. If you replace too much at once you’ll die. And the only known way to replace too many parts at once is to channel the pulse. The more you channel the pulse with a mortal body the more the pulse will rebound, and FORCE the transformation. Channeling literally is killing you. Keep it up and you’ll die.”

Jace could feel the truth in the words spoken. He could FEEL the rejection when he merged into the pulse. Had he never created that fake leg he never would have recognized it for what it was. The pulse objected to his “being”.

“After your body, has transformed you can use magic again. Actually, at that point, depending on your ties to the world, you might just be a Grand Sorcerer.” He cryptically added at the end.

Jace stared at him then spoke slowly, his mind coming to one conclusion, this man was ‘history’, “How does one forge closer ties to the world” Jace wasn’t sure he’d answer. And was surprised when he did.

“By loving it. By becoming part of it. You hate this place. I can feel it. Every inch of your body despises this world. Cannot wait to return to your land. Like this you’ll never become a Grand Sorcerer. The best you’ll hope for is to finish your transformation and become a true, full Sorcerer, in 50 years or so.”

Jace sat there in deep thought, then looked at the stone ceiling. He knew this “History” was right. He hated this world. Even the laws he created made his skin crawl. He was used to his Xbox One, not that he was a huge gamer, but he was looking forward to games like Madden, FIFA and NHL. He wanted to find Jenn, he wanted to go to and then graduate from high school, go to college and buy a home. Part of him still wanted to play hockey. Heck, he wanted to see the Buffalo Bills or Sabres become world champions. He didn’t want anything to do with this world. In a way, every part of his soul hated being here. And now this “history” told him to get home he needed to love this place.

The difficulty level to go home just increased beyond Jace’s imagination.