Forgotten Embers

Chapter 29: The Ambassador

He sat reclined at his desk, his feet up with the papers, a cluttered desk for a cluttered mind. He remained lost in thought, tossing the ring in the air and catching it again in his hand. It was gold, ornately decorated, an ever present reminder of the promise his life once seemed to hold. Up it went, a flash of light, ascending only to return to his palm again with a similar flashing of brightness.

'I wonder how he felt once he realized that I had figured it out all that time ago, that time that does constrain us. In constant, I am thankful for that, also, the time was not wasted. Still, Adrien, would you have killed me if you'd had the chance? I wonder.' He watched the ring fly up, falling again into his hand, and he sighed. 'My only hope is that he isn't trying to acquit himself of that which is forgiven.'

He paused as he heard the footsteps approaching, and he caught the ring in his palm. 'There isn't a soul I was expecting...'

"Mr. Waverley, are you around?" the question came from the hall around the corner. "I'd like to talk to you about something."

He took the ring, returning it hastily to his vest pocket. "Avera, I'm here in the office," he called out after her.

She quickly appeared in the doorway and entered the room, coming up to the front of his desk. "Please, have a seat," he offered kindly, motioning to the chairs on either side of her.

She shook her head. "No, that's alright. I'll stand."

He looked to the chair positioned behind her. It was covered in a jacket, some books, and other objects. He jumped up, embarrassed. "On second thought, you can have my seat! Please... I-I'm sorry." He hung his head. 'First rate hospitality, Mr. Webber, as always.' He sighed.

Avera chuckled. "No, thank you, Mr. Waverley. You're kind enough. Ben and Dorothy warned me about your organizational tendencies. Really, it's fine. I've been sitting all day, and I'd rather stand, if I may."

"Very well," he nodded with a warm smile, "so long as you're comfortable. I will sit, if you're not opposed?"

"Not at all."

"Thank you," he said, returning to his chair. "So," he continued, pulling the chair in closer, "what is it I can do for you?"

"I read in a book," she began, curiously watching him, "about a man appointed by the Council as an ambassador to Pyre. While in Pyre he endured much hardship. Still, he was faithful to his charge. I thought the book was old. I thought that it told stories of a faraway time. Then, I saw something that changed my mind about it. It was a photograph taken at the dedication of a library, the same library where I met Benjamin in the ruins. In the photograph, I saw Justice, Kypher, and Blackridge standing side by side with Casper, Ramus, and Stephan. Sebastian was there, too, with his apprentice and the Ambassador beside them."

He listened to her closely, but his mind stopped, and had no words. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and his mouth on his folded fingers. His eyes watched her. He couldn't have looked away if he had tried to. He was far too invested.

"The Ambassador was a man from Delphi, as you are. He wore dark rimmed glasses, like you do," she said, and paused as if considering whether to wait or speak further.

He watched her with some mild concern, considering silently deep within himself whether there were any words with which to respond, but he had none.

"He was a good friend of the Seer," she added, "and a better friend of his apprentice, I think."

He closed his eyes as he lowered his head and sighed. "Avera, would you kindly bolt the door for me?" he solemnly requested.

"Of... course. Which...?"

"Both, please," he told her, sending her on her way.

He pressed his hands against his eyes and breathed, collecting his thoughts. He felt the grief of his heart open, and sorrow poured out like blood through his veins.

'If there is to be any more hardship, let it fall on me. I could not bear to see them harmed.'

He removed the ring again from his pocket, considering its design. When Avera returned, he asked her, "How much do you know?"

"I read a good portion of your book, sir," she told him. "E. H. Webber... the H is for Horace, I take it?"

He shook his head. "Horatio."

"Ah," Avera said, accepting her error. "And Dorothy is..."

"Sebastian's apprentice, as you suppose," he told her plainly, and he paused, his eyes glancing up at her. "Do you see this ring?" he asked, directing her attention to the shining piece of metal held between his fingers. "I had it specially made, and I bought it the day the city burned. The last thing I remember is closing my eyes the most optimistic I think I've even been. 'Come tomorrow,' I said, 'I will delight in all my heart desires.'" He swallowed, his eyes tearing. "When I opened my eyes, everything was dark. All I could see was the fire in the distance. Sebastian's house was burning. When I arrived, I found him dead. He was pierced through, lying in a pool of blood in his own sitting room.

"Then, I came to find that the King had been killed, also... along with many of the Court officers. I hid myself in the stables when I heard it. I laid down on a haystack, and I thought I'd die that night."

"But you didn't."

"No." He shook his head. "Although, I have no doubt I would have died had I been in Pyre that evening. The guardsmen fought valiantly to quell the insurrection, but it was a difficult task. Our enemies were our friends, coMr.ades, and colleagues. Kypher said it was nearly impossible to tell who was loyal and who wasn't. I can only imagine what chaos there must have been."

"Yes... I understand. It must have been hard for you all, especially with Ramus leading and Blackridge joining in the rebellion. But, Mr. Webber, what happened to Ramus? There's no more record of him than there is you."

"Ramus was a title of honor, but that never was his name," he told her. Stephan called him that, and everyone knew him by that name. He was even knighted by Casper as Ramus when he became his armor bearer. Stephan said he was his 'arm of strength,' though he became his greatest weakness. Casper called him 'the right arm of the kingdom and Altruon's strength,' though he would steal his headship, ravage the land, and plague us with grief.

"In the weeks following Stephan's death, the name came to mean no more than the violent and murderous rebellion he had inspired. His legacy was tarnished by his unsatiated lust for power. There had been such great bloodshed that the people were appalled by him, and he could no longer bear it. When at last Ramus came to power, there was such resistance to his reign throughout the seven regions that he asked that they crown him by his name." He paused, and Avera's eyes watched him with a spark of understanding. He nodded, knowing that she already knew the rest. "They crowned him Zephyr Almast according to his wishes," he told her. "He wanted so badly to escape the past. That is why he began the Kingdom Learning Initiative, which resulted in the Kingdom Learning Program, as part of the Eternity Project. Through magic, the system interfaces directly with the user's memory, allowing them to implant, edit, and remove the memories of anyone who is subjected to it." He stopped, arising from his seat and walking to a nearby bookshelf. "And that is why this," he said, grabbing hold of one of the backwards volumes and holding it up between the two of them, "is so different from the history most people remember." He walked back to the desk, taking his seat and presenting to her the blue covered copy of his writing. "Zephyr sought to erase his former life, his disgrace and shame, even his title, but a man can't outrun his conscience," he told her.

"I see," she said, pensively considering things. She touched the book, running her fingers lightly over the silver words.

"It's yours if you'd like," he said, "but it's not lawful to have it."

"Thank you," she replied softly. "Maybe... next time," she muttered, pushing the book back towards him as she lowered her eyes. "I do have one more question, though."

His heart was towards her, and he smiled, his eyes expressing his care. "Ask anything," he said, extending the invitation warmly.

"Blackridge... I don't understand. Why is he working with you when he partnered with Ramus in the rebellion? He knows who you are. Shouldn't he have apprehended you?"

"He should have killed me," Eliezer told her, leaning back in the chair. "In fact, Dorcus had a dream to that effect." His mind strayed to the past, and he remembered the day as though it was the present moment.

"It was during the time of the city's reconstruction, in the early days of the Eternity Project. Dorcus came to me early one morning and told me that Adrien would come that day to slay me. He sought to prove his allegiance to Zephyr by my death at his hand.

"By that time, we were all in the library together, and I decided that, rather than wait, I would go out to meet him. I would go down to meet him in the valley and die there, that the others may be spared their lives for mine.

"I stood on the crest of the hill and watched as he came riding on a black horse and racing from the forest into the valley below me. I called out his name, wanting so badly to speak with him. He looked at me, and then... there was a flash of marvelous light. He fell from his horse, and the beast kept on without him. I ran to him down the grassy slope.

"When I reached him, I found he had been blinded. I took his hand and grabbed him. He was crying out for me to help him.

"'Adrien,' I said, 'you can still turn back from this. You don't have to keep on this path you're on.'"

He swallowed, his eyes tearing. "It took some convincing, but he did take me up on that.

"He said, 'Alright, old friend. I'll surrender,' and his eyes were dark until that point, but the light returned when he said it, and at once he could see again. I've never seen such relief on a man's face before or since.

"You see, Avera, Adrien Blackridge was given the choice between two fates. One the path of bloodshed, which brings with it sweet pleasantries, though only for a season, and the end of which is destruction. The other is the path of forbearance, which takes us through trials of various kinds, enduring patiently the present things for the hope of the glory which will one day come to us. The same is the path of life. The first is the fate of Ramus, the second is mine, but the choice is there for us all, not just for Adrien."