To the Void
Part Three
by Selinthia Avenchesca

"I am not here to argue with you, Lews Therin, so there is no need to prepare yourself for an argument," Artur spoke blandly.

"Indeed. The what are you here for?"

"To show you. All words, over the span of what amounts to two thousand years in the material world, though we did not feel it for that length in the World of Dreams, have come to nought. The world cannot afford to wait until we convince by word that you are needed to fight the Dark One. But there are other ways."

"You mean to show me," the Dragon gazed consideringly at the former High King for a long moment, and then shook his head. "I know of only one such way, without using the Power, which you do not possess."

"I don't," Artur agreed, "But as you say, there is one other way."

"You need my consent for that," the other said, with a slight smile. "I doubt you will get it."

"Why? What are you so frightened of?" Birgitte, who had been previously silent, spoke up now in demand.

"Have you ever underwent such a thing," Lews Therin hissed, "Facing every moment of every minute of every hour of every life you ever lived? Remembering it all in such clear detail that it is as though you were not only reliving it, but in magnification? Remembering everything? I have no desire to relive any of it. There is enough pain for a thousand *worlds* within those memories."

'You barely remember any of them. Your last life is too fresh in your mind, too real for you. You remember the shadows of some other lives, but it is though you are seeing them through smoked glass, as though they never happened to you. You are not just Lews Therin Telamon. That is but one passing identity in the soul of a recurring entity who has been born a hundred thousand times and more," Fery stepped into the archway that led into the room where the trio stood, speaking the words as though reciting a passage in a textbook.

"If you consent to do this, you will remember more than individual lives, Lews Therin. You will remember yourself, in whole, not just in part, or in fact. Fact is nothing. I can recite to you the names and descriptions of friends and enemies alike that I have known, but that does not mean that you will know anything worth knowing. Cold facts, yes, but you will not them," Artur continued Fery's line of thought.

"It will happen eventually, Lews Therin. You will loose track of your memories from your most recent life, and then you will no longer answer to this name. The only reason we must urge this remembrance is that there is not enough time for it to come naturally. That could take a hundred thousand years or more. You will be needed, very soon, I think," Birgitte added.

"Very soon," Lews Therin mused, "You do not seem to understand that I have no desire to undertake rebirth again. Now or ever."

"It will fade, in time," Fery noted impassively.

"I doubt that. I very much doubt that."

"Which is our point," Birgitte put in. "If you do not take some measure of detachment, the world will pay."

"You use your words in that hope that I shall be moved by them, that your concern for that world which has cost so much by it's very existence will be carried through by myself," the Dragon mused absently. "I know this. But it is not for this reason that I will agree to undergo this. Oh, no. Not for this reason at all."

Looks were exchanged, eyes flashing from one face to another as three beings of the World of Dreams gazed upon their renegade companion, startled by his sudden seeming agreement. From almost anyone else, such a seemingly simple statement would not be worthy of worry. But this was no ordinary being, and the seeds of worry were indeed planted within them.

* * *

The Void was an ocean beyond comprehension, vast beyond belief. Lews Therin smiled ironically as he gazed over it.

"I wanted to throw myself in with the dead souls, not very far back in time. I wonder if you can still sense the whisper of a whisper of who those souls once were. A ghost of a dead ghost."

"I know you did," said Fery impatiently, ignoring the rest of the other man's statement.

"I wonder if I would know her if I touched her echo," Lews Therin whispered.

"We are not here for her. We are here for you!" Fery spat irritably.

"You do not like me. You never have. Why is that?" Lews Therin spoke in that manner he had, making the other feel as though he were the center of the universe, all of his attention focused upon the projected brilliant importance to the answer to his question, but Fery laughed sneeringly.

"There is nothing to like about you, Dragon, nothing to like about a creature made for but one purpose, a creature who repeats such patterns as he cannot break over the endless cycle of time. Nothing to like at all about a man who is willing to put himself above everything that is, so that he may weep over a lost soul, and wish for True Death. Leap in blindly, leap into the Pit of Doom, I would tell you, were not made for that purpose that makes you what you are. A necessary creature, but still loathsome. You will know when you remember. Perhaps that is why this is necessary. Perhaps the end of your most recent life is not all that you are loathe to remember. The Light knows, it is far from the worst in your history. Go into the Void, Dragon, go into the darkness and invite the memories of all that you are and ever have been. Remember not the inconsequential names you have bore over the Ages of the Wheel, but rather, above all else, your essence. Remember that purpose, and perhaps you shall have the answer to your question."

Lews Therin's eyes crackled like a simmering fire, not exploding, but waiting for the right time by which to burn.

"When I remember, I will judge. And then, Fery, we shall see if my purpose warrant's your words," his voice was a soft hiss as he spoke to the man who had been chosen to occupy him to the edge of the Void, to watch that he did not throw himself into the whirlwind in which he could destroy himself. Fery, who had ever remained detached and disdainful of the being known by a merid of names throughout Time, but ever holding the power of the Dragon creatures he was now titled after. Until now. Now, Fery had come forward, pulled close, though for what reason, it could not be yet said.

"Out To the Void, I step," the Dragon whispered now, "Into the Void I plunge."

And he did.