Читать книгу Aon Ór Crossroads - C.J. Benvol - Страница 7

Ending a War or Ending the Universe

“Are we sure this is going to work?” King Kodarint questioned, doubting what was to come and if they were not all insane for releasing such a power onto the universe again.

Mralia looked to him, unsure of why these men would keep questioning their own decisions like this. “It has been well over a hundred thousand years since our people have seen peace in this universe. It has caused nothing short of an upheaval between the other worlds that reside within our galaxy. If we don’t find a way to make this work, then how will we ever find peace? Or worse, will we end up destroying ourselves until all of our people are wiped from existence?”

“She has a very solid point there, Kodarint. It is time for change. Unless you know of a way to find that peace that doesn’t involve this immense change, then we have to follow this course and trust that we are doing the right thing,” King Rytan agreed.

“But to release the Aon Ór,” King Kodarint shook his head, “we have all heard the stories of what it has done and what evils it contains when used by the wrong people. How can we be sure that this won’t end up the same way?”

King Rytan nodded his agreement to that. “While I would agree with you fully under any other situation, you know my people’s gifts at knowing how things will be. I have spoken with one of the chosen children, and she has assured me that we will do this, and it will work. Mralia is right, we can’t continue on like this. We have to let this war go, and if putting our people to sleep for the next five hundred generations so that these young ones can learn how to forget our grievances and learn peace is the only way to do that, then I say we should do it. I’m tired of losing those I love and care about because of this senseless war.”

King Kodarint sat back in his high-backed chair and looked to those around him. “Three moons ago, I watched my five-year-old kill a man without a thought as to what he had done. There were no feelings from him on taking a grown man’s life, and when I asked him how he could do something like that, he answered, ‘We kill them because we have to.’ I never thought that I would see the day when a child had no feelings on death. It was the saddest day of my life.”

Queen Mralia was very young, almost too young to fully understand this pain. Both of the kings were much older and could have easily been her father, but the girl’s youth seemed to bring something to this table that was refreshing. “We have been growing up watching our friends and family die for so long that we, the children, have just accepted it as a normal everyday occurrence. Now it is time to let this go and let the visions of our youth’s desire for peace and happiness rule over our people.”

“But to allow children so young carry so much power? Are we not just as responsible if this goes wrong?” King Kodarint questioned still not sure of this. “I want peace as much as you two, but to allow children that young and inexperienced carry the most deadly power known to exist…” It was hard for him. “It just makes me question if we are doing the right thing here. Forcing a child to have a child in order to bring peace to our home seems wrong.”

King Alfdus seemed to agree with him on that. “I believe and wish that we could let someone older and more experienced do this and lead our people into a new life. After speaking with the child that would guide us, I know that my visions of a young girl, given the power divided amongst the four, will in turn do what we need better than we have done ourselves. We need to believe in our hearts that this will work, and that one day, our worlds will be strong once again.”

“But children—”

Mralia cut off King Kodarint, a man old enough to be her father. “I can see the good in what is to come. I can dream of a day when our four worlds are peace-filled and can openly work together. Remember that a child can dream and envision things that we tend to forget as we age with wisdom. A younger mind can find answers and ways to make what looks impossible work with ease and grace. A young girl with my age and experience can see no limits to what they can do and become; without those limits, what seems impossible today will become reality tomorrow. Open your heart and let in the hope that what we are doing will work and succeed.”

“Releasing the Aon Ór again…” That was the part that these, the wiser kings, seemed stuck on. “It is too dangerous.”

“That is why it will be divided into these four, and then again into their ten young ones. Each will be able to control their own power, and with three other queens there to stand against them or with them, they will easily be able to keep the past from repeating itself,” Mralia insisted.

King Alfdus stopped the brewing argument. “We are going to do this and we are going to bring an end to this senseless war. I know we each have our own reservations, but we need to stop and find a way to let go of our pain and trust that this will work.”

“Or it will blow up in our faces and destroy the entire universe and everything in it,” King Kodarint countered as he put the last of their signatures on the treaty which would hopefully guide their next generations into finding peace or continuing their war until there would be nothing left…only time would truly tell if this plan of theirs would work out.

“Four daughters of the Aon Ór and ten Golden Keys of hope…or fourteen souls that would rip apart the universe until all life as we know it disappears into nothing. That has to be the biggest risk anyone has ever taken, and we won’t know the truth until long after our days have come to an end…”