A Land of Fire. Morgan Rice

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      “Ten more?” he asked. “Greater? How is it possible?”

      “Let me show you,” she said, as she came up beside him and draped an arm around him and led him gently down the corridor. She led him through a shining sapphire door, and into a room made entirely of sapphires, sparkling green.

      Thor’s mother led him across the room to a huge, arched window made of crystal. Thor stood beside her and reached up and placed a palm on the crystal, sensing he needed to, and as he did, the two windowpanes gently opened.

      Thor looked out at the ocean, a sweeping panorama from here, covered in a blinding haze and fog, a white light bouncing off of everything, making it seem as if they were perched atop heaven itself.

      “Look out,” she said. “Tell me what you see.”

      Thor looked out, and at first he saw nothing but ocean and white haze. Soon, though, the haze turned brighter, the ocean began to disappear, and images began to flash before him.

      The first thing Thor saw was his son, Guwayne, out at sea, floating on a small boat.

      Thor’s heart raced in panic.

      “Guwayne,” he said. “Is it true?”

      “Even now he is lost at sea,” she said. “He needs you. Finding him will be one of the great quests of your life.”

      As Thor watched Guwayne floating away, he felt an urgency to leave this place at once, to race to the ocean.

      “I must go to him – now!”

      His mother laid a calming hand on his wrist.

      “See what else you have to see,” she said.

      Thor looked out and saw Gwendolyn and her people; they sat huddled on a rocky island and braced themselves as a wall of dragons descended from the sky, blanketing them. He saw a wall of flame, bodies on fire, people screaming in agony.

      Thor’s heart pounded with urgency.

      “Gwendolyn,” Thor cried. “I must go to her.”

      His mother nodded.

      “She needs you, Thorgrin. They all need you – and they also need a new home.”

      As Thor continued to watch, he saw the landscape transform, and he saw the entire Ring devastated, a blackened landscape, Romulus’s million men covering every inch of it.

      “The Ring,” he said, horrified. “It is no more.”

      Thor felt a burning desire to race from here and rescue them all right now.

      His mother reached out and closed the window panes, and he turned and faced her.

      “Those are just some of the quests that lay before you,” she said. “Your child needs you, Gwendolyn needs you, your people need you – and beyond that, you will need to prepare for the day when you shall become King.”

      Thor’s eyes opened wide.

      “I? King?”

      His mother nodded.

      “It is your destiny, Thorgrin. You are the last hope. It is you who must become King of the Druids.”

      “King of the Druids?” he asked, trying to comprehend. “But… I don’t understand. I thought I was in the Land of the Druids.”

      “The Druids do not live here anymore,” his mother explained. “We are a nation in exile. They live now in a distant kingdom, in the far reaches of the Empire, and they are in great danger. You are destined to become their King. They need you, and you need them. Collectively, your power will be needed to battle the greatest power ever known to us. A threat far greater than the dragons.”

      Thor stared back, wondering.

      “I’m so confused, Mother,” he admitted.

      “That is because your training is incomplete. You have advanced greatly, but you haven’t even begun to reach the levels you will need to become a great warrior. You will meet powerful new teachers who will guide you, who will bring you to levels higher than you can imagine. You haven’t even begun to see the warrior you will become.

      “And you will need it, all of their training,” she continued. “You will face monstrous empires, kingdoms greater than anything you’ve ever seen. You will encounter savage tyrants that make Andronicus look like nothing.”

      His mother examined him, her eyes full of knowing and compassion.

      “Life is always bigger than you imagine, Thorgrin,” she continued. “Always bigger. The Ring, in your eyes, is a great kingdom, the center of the world. But it is a small kingdom compared to the rest of the world; it is but a speck in the Empire. There are worlds, Thorgrin, beyond what you can imagine, bigger than anything you’ve seen. You have not even begun to live.” She paused. “You will need this.”

      Thor looked down as he felt something on his wrist, and he watched as his mother clasped a bracelet on it, several inches wide, covering half of his forearm. It was shining gold, with a single black diamond in its center. It was the most beautiful, and the most powerful, thing he’d ever seen, and as it sat on his wrist, he felt its power throbbing, infusing him.

      “As long as you wear this,” she said, “no man born of woman can harm you.”

      Thor looked back at her, and in his mind flashed the images he’d seen beyond those crystal windows, and he felt anew the urgency to Guwayne, to save Gwendolyn, to save his people.

      But a part of him did not want to leave here, this place of his dreams to which he could never return, did not want to leave his mother.

      He examined his bracelet, feeling the power of it overwhelming him. He felt as if it carried a piece of his mother.

      “Is that why we were meant to meet?” Thor asked. “So that I could receive this?”

      She nodded.

      “And more importantly,” she said, “to receive my love. As a warrior, you must learn to hate. But equally important, you must learn to love. Love is the stronger of the two forces. Hatred can kill a man, but love can raise him up, and it takes more power to heal than it does to kill. You must know hate, but you must also know love – and you must know when to choose each. You must learn not only to love, but more importantly, to allow yourself to receive love. Just as we need meals, we need love. You must know how much I love you. How much I accept you. How proud of you I am. You must know that I am always with you. And you must know that we will meet again. In the meantime, allow my love to carry you through. And more importantly, allow yourself to love and accept yourself.”

      Thor’s mother stepped forward and hugged him, and he hugged her back. It felt so good to hold her, to know he had a mother, a real mother, who existed in the world. As he held her, he felt himself filling up with love, and it made him feel sustained, born anew, ready to face anything.

      Thor leaned back and looked into her eyes. They were his eyes, gray eyes, gleaming.

      She lay both palms on his head, leaned forward, and kissed his forehead. Thor closed his eyes, and he never wanted the moment to end.

      Thor СКАЧАТЬ