A vision
Do you want to hear a story, soldier ? Do you want to know of my dreams ?
For I have dreamt, soldier, and in my dreams, I have seen the face of Fate.
I have seen the ruins of your Roman Empire. I have seen them set to
the sword or sold into slavery, your new converts and old citizens
alike. But you know that already, do you not ? Barbarians setting
marble aflame and Senators battling each other into a common
grave. In my vision, every single of the thousand peoples you had
conquered had risen again and was marching against you or against
its neighbours.
Wait, soldier, for there is more I have to tell you. I have seen many
a knight who was not a knight and many a priest who was not a priest
but a thing of your Hell. I have seen Giants and Dwarves and Beasts
and Dark Armors walking on a Black Road and pretending to be human.
You should weep, soldier, for your precious Empire is falling.
The Golden Circle is dying.
And to Fate, I asked, where are the Princepi of Amber, the Peers of Chaos,
the Deep Ones of Rebma ? Where are these heroes and monsters of many a legend,
these godlike beings who can, from their will, summon creatures,
mold empires out of Shadow, or create worlds to their liking ?
Do they even exist, I demanded ? Perhaps there is nothing more than
knights and
sailors, conquerors and artists, playing out their fate with sword or
paintbrush, fire or poison. Some say that godlike creatures can be
found in dreams only, or above the clouds, or under the oceans, or in
the deepest forests.
Do you want to know what Fate answered to my question ? She answered with a smile and a riddle. She told me that every legend is but the Shadow of some greater Truth.
Tell me, soldier, what you still hope in your mad quest. Do you believe you will find your saviors ? Will you keep searching the others ? Their bastards and their servants, their henchmen and their slaves and their wizards and their soldiers and the orphans of their minions ? Those who will not be called upon to take a place into a royal family. Those who will not be called upon to rule this world. Those who will not be called upon to pass the Pillars of Order and Chaos. Those who, you say, will shape Fate, for they hold the all-important gift. The gift you call
