Regent cannot hold his own seat, and, the seat of
Regent at the same time."
20 The man fell to his knees. "No, Lord!" he wept, "No!
I am not worthy. Do not put such a burden on me. I would have
destroyed all that is good. I would have left nothing. I am not worthy
to sit upon the throne in your absence. I will make mistakes. I will
not do what is right."
21 "You will do," assured Lord Change, "what I command you to do. The
Darkness in your heart will be pushed out by The Light. You WILL be my
Regent. I will not permit you to dwell in The Darkness, to run from
your duty. You will serve and your name will be remembered with mine.
Your sons, and your son's sons shall be Priests. We shall leave a
message in The Chamber of Whispers for one of them; for in his day
shall great things come to pass, and our people rise to a great glory.
But that is yet for another time. We have years yet. Now Go! Prepare
yourself. Your service shall be long and hard. We begin many years of
struggle."
22 The man rose and departed. The Guards started to follow after him,
but Lord Change beckoned them back. "From them," he announced, "there
will be no more trouble."
23 A Guard walked up with the fallen weapons in his belt and took the
one from Lord Change. Pulling out the power pack, he examined it. "The
same as the others," he commented. "All but one of the contacts burned
away! Even set on full kill the weapons barely produced a visible beam
of light; but how? This is military issue. For this to happen to one
pistol in a million is feasible, but for it to happen to five from the
same batch at the same time? It is just not possible!"
24 "There are Powers," explained Lord Change, "beyond your
understanding, Powers that can melt the contacts on the power packs of
a few weapons, Powers that can change a world, save a world if we can
use them rightly and not abuse them. Our Fathers chose that I
should live. Perhaps it is a sign of favor on that that I have said.
Perhaps it is a sign that