BECMI Chapter 89 – Annihilation: Code Black

“Well, that is a good tale. Perhaps Skarvald will finally realize there are consequences to his actions he cannot fight his way out of,” the fair and golden-haired Ceruil elven Lord Elder Waynder Equavus chuckled at my relating of my most recent meeting with the infamous barbarian. “ his Amulet first and then leash him with magic as appropriate. A tall order…”

“I am sure Belle has told you of the Elven Wizard path by now, and is keen to teach it to your people. It will involve discipline and devoted efforts you likely thought you were long past, but you can develop the kinds of magical skills that human archmages can wield too, if you but put in the time and effort, Elder. It would be an excellent show of leadership, and even if you do not tower above your kin or stay the foremost in this way before them, well, being a master of both Paths would be most appropriate.”

“Belle has been reluctant to share where she learned of such arts, but has indeed been eager to pass them on. I am on the Regency Council, and know that you come from the future. She refuses to let slip any details of the future, and is remarkably cool towards more… intimate relations.” He wasn’t sure why he was divulging this to me, so many years his junior, but I was plenty unmoved by his demeanor or station, and certainly he didn’t have designs on me. “I should preface that I am motivated by romantic notions and wondering if I am doing something in error.”

“I am certain you know that she is a widow, but that is of minor concern. Her station in the future is also similar to your own. It’s a good match. If there can be star-crossed lovers, there can be time-crossed lovers, so such a relationship is not out of the question.

“It is a question of permanence and destiny.”

“Some of the more intellectual of the Council of Regents mutter things about messing with time and altering the future by having your people here. Your sheer competence and the changes that are rippling out from you in magic and the sciences have forced them to quiet, and even the archmages can divine no great threat or collapse from your presence.

“Yet your words make it seem that something dire is on the horizon…” he observed astutely.

“There is no risk of temporal disruption. This timeline is now different from my own. The instant we stepped outside the Thisbean Inn, the river of Time forked, and this is no longer our past, and we no longer come from your future. Set the minds of your Regents at ease. If we could not be here, we would literally be dust on the wind, and would not have left the Inn at all, returning to the future and leaving you all as you were.

“I am far, far more conversant in temporal mechanics than any of them. Put your thoughts to rest on the matter.”

I looked up to the moon above, stars out of position from those four thousand years in the future, different skies and places relative to the rotation of the world.

“Time is a river, a place where Law conflicts with Chaos. Where Fate confronts Chance, and the same things tend to take place, even if the names and faces change.

“That means major events are extremely likely to repeat along the river, even if the how and why of when and where change slightly.

“That includes catastrophes of truly epic scale.”

His purple eyes narrowed sharply. “What manner of disaster? When?” he asked immediately.

“I do not know the precise nature of it, nor precisely when and where, how it was triggered, by whom, nothing. The Doom was so great and all-encompassing that it erased all evidence of what caused it, and left only a Ruin behind it of mythological proportions.

“Darkmoor is only a legend and a name in my time, Elder. The Empire of Iberon is a crumbled ruin, its very language a thing for only scholars, its peoples scattered across the world and much of its art and history gone forever.

“I firmly believe that there is no way to flee what is coming. If you were to take such actions, it is likely you would only trigger the absolute event all the more quickly. But… once the Event is triggered, you should be able to survive it, if you take the right precautions.”

He seized on that immediately. “Tell us what we must do!” he pleaded quickly.

I nodded slightly. “Two methods can save you from what is coming.

“The first is simple. Have a way to enter the Underdark and flee into the deep tunnels beneath the world. If the ways are scouted out first, this is a way that can give the elves a way to survive, albeit far from sun and sky, wind and moon.”

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His face twisted at that image. “And the other method?”

“A Permanent, one-use to a very distant location, indeed. A refuge prepared for when the moment comes.”

“And what moment is that?” he asked, frowning.

I paused to turn on him. “The operant word you will use is ‘Code Black’, Elder.” His face went ghostly at the underlying meanings in Elven, carrying the very essence of death, annihilation, doom. It meant staring at the end of all things!

“When the Doom comes, you will likely have mere minutes to react. There will be literally no time to do anything but run, run as far and fast and deep as you can. Everything must be dropped and you must run, without hesitation, without delay. To the underdeeps or your very, very distant refuge. If you do not run, you WILL die.”

I turned and resumed my pacing, and the stunned elven lord followed along with me. “You have not told the Regency Council of any of this,” he said.

“There are reluctant and independent fools on the Council, who will panic and lash out in their fear, and likely trigger the Doom all the faster as they try to prevent it.

“It cannot be prevented. It WILL happen. It is a fixed event in Time that cannot be escaped or stopped, only pushed a little bit this way or that way.

“I will be informing King Antius of this matter in particular, and the need to prepare for a Code Black in general, given the potential threats facing us. It will be only invoked once, and then Darkmoor and all the hopes and dreams that rose so high that even in the future it is acknowledged how great they became will be wiped from the world, and the whole world changes as the Doom comes down upon all.”

The proud and noble lord looked suddenly weighed down by the prospect of a grim future ahead of him. “To flee it early and abandon this land will only bring it on. We can only flee it as it happens, dancing on the edge of disaster...”

“History says the Doom comes and wipes it all away. If you are far enough away, that means you have been wiped away, too.”

He took a deep breath. “You are not bound by history like this, and will be gone from this time before then?”

“If not then, then I will be trapped here for many years, indeed. That is not a great imposition, given the nature of the ties to my own time, and I do wish to know what the true cause of the Doom is.

“Belle will naturally be in her own time with her own people.”

He was silent for long moments as we walked along underneath the cold moon and uncaring stars, thinking hard. “Could we vacate some of our people to your future ahead of time?” he finally asked slowly. “The very young, the very old?”

“I do not know, but I do not think that wise as yet. A cross-time movement will be observed by the Immortals more than mere Teleporting to a more distant location to start a colony there, and Immortals are definitely involved in all of this. I do not trust them to tolerate someone acting to spoil their fun.

“I can help with the establishing of a colony here and draw much less attention than shuttling your young families across time to avoid what is coming. That is, up until the Code Black comes, and then the Portal will be standing open to vacate all the people of Darkmoor City, and any people of Darkmoor who can reach the city in time.”

The Elven Lord heaved a deep breath and nodded slowly. “And the dwarves and hyn?” he asked as calmly as he could.

“I will be visiting each of them in turn. I will be using the colony argument with them as well, but most will probably opt to flee into the deepest tunnels instead.” It was my time to sigh, as well. “I will naturally also be using Divinations to ensure that such flight is… permissible, and the Doom does not simply follow those who flee. If it does, then going across Time might be the only option, as a Doom will not be able to follow across Time.

“Doing so will likely drag the Doom closer, however. There is no way of knowing how the Immortals will respond to mere mortals trying to survive their grand event.”

His smile was thin. “You do not place much trust in the Immortals?” he asked.

“They set all this into motion, and in my timeline, the coming disaster is a known event. No, I don’t trust them or their motivations. The fact I am here is a wildcard they might not even be truly aware of, or what I am capable of.

“The reasons I am here in this time are to leverage time to grow more powerful, to preserve the history and lore of Darkmoor that had vanished from the world, and to rescue as many good people as I can from the Doom that is coming in doing so.

“Triggering the Doom early interferes with all three of my goals. I do not want to do that.”

He gave me a shrewd glance. “My apologies, Lady Edge, but you do not give off the appearance of caring about such lofty-minded goals…”

“Indeed. It becomes much, much easier to pursue lofty-minded goals when I give the appearance of not giving a damn about them.”

He pursed his lips artfully. “Your performance is superb, I must say.”

“Excellent. I’ve been working on it since I was a child.” Totally true, of course. “It helps to have a Bloodline associated with blood and souls. No such being could possibly have good interests at heart, could they?” I wondered aloud coldly.

“Well, the magic you use IS extremely unsettling to many beings,” he managed diplomatically.

“Wonderful! I find the distraction of my style of magic very useful in many situations.” Totally unrepentant, of course.

“It is… definitely memorable, to say the least,” he agreed, wavering between amusement and confusion. “It is… not very elven in nature,” he decided to stay with.

“As Belle keeps pointing out to me. Of course, as I am anything but a traditional elf in any sense, you may note for posterity that such does not bother me in the slightest.”

“Yes. You have an aura of great power and purpose which can be quite overwhelming to experience if one is not braced for it,” he informed me.

“Focus, intelligence, and excellent moral judgment tend to be alien to many people, in my experience,” I rejoined.

“That… is something I can agree with,” the elven lord nodded slowly. “Alas, I am in the position of having to listen to many competing factions with different ideas on how to proceed with matters.”