Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate, Jeff Inlo [most popular ebook readers .txt] 📗

all thoughts, memories, dreams, and whatever else might have you. There are things floating around in there that barely make sense to the person they belong to. Can you imagine how confusing it would be to lift something from someone else’s mind and try to make sense of it? I’m not talking about perception, either. You can perceive if someone is angry or happy or upset. I’m talking about actually trying to read individual thoughts. Perhaps if I could guarantee that I could lift the very thought you are focused on, it might make sense. The problem is that because there are so many stray ideas floating around at any one time, I could pick up just about anything and it wouldn’t necessarily make any sense at all.

“Let’s just say for argument’s sake that I did try to read your mind just then. What if at that moment you were actually thinking of one of the dogs that was in here, and perhaps it reminded you of one that belonged to your great aunt. If I ended up picking up that stray thought and gave it importance, where would that lead me? Would I think you were here to visit me because I reminded you of your great aunt? Then I really won’t appear like that wizened old spell-caster.”

“But you do appear to know why I’m here,” Holli persisted not ready to relinquish her suspicion.

“I believe I do, yes. I think I know what you want to request of me, but I needed to make it clear that I did not steal your request from your mind before you made it. I had the feeling that’s what you thought, and I don’t think you and I can afford to have that kind of mistrust between us.”

Holli’s glare sharpened even further.

“I did it again, didn’t I?” Enin sighed exasperatedly. “I’m speaking as if I know what you want before you ask. I know I’m not explaining myself well, but the difficulty is that I do know what you want. I’ve known you would be coming here for some time. In order for me to explain how I know this, I think we need to speak about fate first.”

Enin looked at Holli and then about the darkened wood walls that made up this room. “Are you comfortable enough inside to have this discussion. I know elves don’t care for the indoors.”

“It’s not a problem. An elf guard learns to adapt quickly.”

“Very good, then I will only ask you to please bear with me. Most people say that I ramble on, and at times it will certainly seem that I might be babbling and not addressing your true concern, but what we talk about now is very important.”

Holli nodded and waited expectantly for the wizard to begin.

Furrowing his brow, Enin searched for exactly the right way to get his point across. Unable to find a clear opening, he opted for two quick questions.

“Did you know that we all have a destiny? Did you also know we all have free will?”

He paused a longer period of time and watched her more carefully. She did not speak. When she appeared to be waiting for further explanation, Enin nodded as if agreeing with her. “Very good, you’re right in your hesitancy. The two questions alone could be debated on and on, but if I say them both together, I seem to contradict myself. To say that one has a destiny and then to say one has free will makes very little sense. They are, at first consideration, mutually exclusive. If there is a destiny for each individual, then there is no way we could exercise free will. Free will means making decisions, choosing between different paths. Destiny means our path is decided for us. How could we decide a path if that path is already set before us? Our decisions would reflect not our own free will, but the will of destiny that is guiding us toward our ultimate fate. Reverse it and the same problem arises. If we exercise complete free will, how in the world could we possibly have a destiny, a grand purpose that we are designed to fulfill? Any decision we make could easily send us in the opposite direction from where we were meant to travel.”

Folding her hands in front of her, Holli wanted to quickly put the discussion in perspective. “Are you asking me if I believe in choice, or are you asking me if I believe in fate?”

“I’m asking you if you understand it’s possible to have both. I want to know if you can accept that it’s entirely reasonable to have a destiny and to exercise free will.”

Answering quickly, Holli simply put her own conditions on the dilemma. “It would all depend on the degree of totality for each. If you are telling me that every single action in this world is completely based on fate, then free will would be near impossible. The reverse would also seem certain, that if every circumstance was completely based on the choices of the inhabitants of this land, then destiny would not be possible. As I understand fate, there would have to be some kind of guiding force necessary to set the stage. An external guiding force would be beyond individual choice.”

Enin beamed with delight. “Excellent. You understand perfectly.”

“I’m not sure I understand at all,” Holli exclaimed.

“Yes, you do. You explained it better than I could. It all comes down to the degree of each. We have choices, absolutely. We can choose how we are going to live our lives, how we will deal with others, and so on, but we all have challenges we must face, obstacles to overcome, and events to handle. Some of these we create for ourselves by our choices, but others we will face regardless of how we live our lives. Just because we are destined to face some occurrence doesn’t mean we can’t choose how we get there. And, just because we can choose several different paths in front of us, doesn’t mean we can avoid the same destiny that waits at the end of each path. That is in essence what you said.”

“I suppose it is,” replied the elf.

“I actually have a story I like to tell whenever I try to explain this to people. Do you mind if I tell it now?”

“Not at all.”

Rubbing his hands together, Enin began his tale.

“Imagine there were two men. Each man was destined from the start of his life to be present at an important event where one of the men would die in a struggle. From the moment they were born, each man had choices to make and these choices shaped their lives, but they could not change the ultimate destiny they would eventually face.

“One man chose a dark and evil path. He became a thief and stole from many. The other chose a respectable path and became a banker. He was trusted by his friends and associates and became very successful. One day the thief attempted to rob the bankers safe. The banker discovered him and one of them was killed in the struggle.

“If you are wondering which one died, the answer is that it was the one that was destined to die. If you are asking was it the banker or the thief, the answer is it doesn’t matter. They chose their professions and that was based on free will. Their individual choices made one a banker and the other a thief, but it was destiny that determined which one would die that day.

“To take it even further, the two men could have both chosen a respectable path. To that end, they might have both become bankers. Eventually, they would become partners and one day one would mistake the other for a thief and the event would still come to pass. Or perhaps, they both would choose the lesser path and become thieves that fell in together. They would rob the bank together, argue over the money, and one would die. You see, they both had absolute free will to choose their own path, but neither could escape the fate of the event. Choice and destiny, both shaping two lives, existing together—do you understand?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

Enin nodded and then came to the true point of his story. “Then, understand that is often within my power to see the destiny of others. I do not know why I have this gift, and I certainly did not ask for it. It is mine, however, whether I like it or not. That is how I know why you are here. I saw your fate the very last time we spoke. You were returning to your camp, but I knew you would not be able to stay, I knew you would be returning here.”

Holli took long moments to consider this and Enin allowed her the time to do so. When she finally spoke, her tone remained guarded. “Are you telling me that it was my destiny to come here?”

At this moment, Enin did not shy from revealing even more of what he knew of Holli’s circumstances. “Yes, I’m also saying you were destined to leave your camp. It was your choice how it would happen. Of that I am fairly certain. It is possible you elected to leave on your own, it is possible someone from your camp asked you to go, or it could be some combination of the two, or even something I haven’t even thought of. It really doesn’t matter beyond the fact that I knew you would leave your camp and your position as an elf guard.”

Upon speaking this statement, Enin began to contemplate new considerations. “Actually, that brings to mind something else that is quite interesting. I’m really not sure if you were destined to be an elf guard, and I really can’t say why. It might be that I can’t see every destiny, or perhaps my abilities are limited to those events that occurred after the release of the magic. I don’t think it has anything to do with past or present or future. I know destinies that are about to happen and some that are well off in the future. I also am quite sure of incidents of fate that occurred in past. All of these that I can think of, however, are in the recent past, not far in the past. And yet, it seems to me that you were destined to be an elf guard. It makes perfect sense. Even so, I can not say for sure.”

“But you are sure I was destined to leave my camp?” Holli interrupted in an attempt to bring Enin back to the subject at hand.

“Yes, of course. You were destined to leave your camp and come to me. I can say that without doubt.”

“And what is my destiny now that I am here?”

“That, I can’t say.”

Holli sensed something in the words of the wizard that made her doubt this statement and she pressed the issue. “Can’t or won’t?”

“Perhaps both,” Enin answered evasively.

“Now you are talking in riddles and that I do not like.”

“If I am doing so, you will have to believe that I’m doing it with your best interest in mind.” Enin knew this would not satisfy the elf and he endeavored to explain further. “Think of the story I told you before about the two men. What if I knew these men and their destiny and decided to inform them of it? If the banker knew ahead of time that he would die by the hands of a thief, perhaps that would cause him to alter his actions. Or if the thief realized the action of robbing the bank was dangerous, he might have chosen another target. Giving them this information