Wheel of Anime:  Book 1 – The Eye of God
Epilogue:  So Far As The Eye Can See  

By John Biles

http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/Jordan/


********
	
	He slew and slew and slew, and still they came, 
endless ranks of madmen, driven by strange curiosities and 
urges beyond the understanding of men.  How anyone 
could take time in the middle of a battle to discuss 'Vegita' 
fighting 'Superman' was beyond Lord Parn's 
comprehension.

	He blew his horn, rallying his men around him for 
another charge.  Elsewhere, he could see other groups of 
Shienarians forming into circles and squares, a thin line 
against the seemingly endless hordes of Fanboys.  He 
turned to his wife.  "You should have gone South with the 
other women."

	"I could not leave you," she said.  And then her ears 
quivered.  She turned and stared at the onrushing Fanboys, 
then looked up, to the northwest, across the mountains.

	He turned and looked.  Her sight was keener than his, 
keener than anyone's, and her hearing as well.  "What is 
it?"

	She pointed.  "It comes."  Her voice was torn between 
fear and hope.  "It comes."

	There was a dot, which grew larger, a great metal 
segmented sphere, shining in the sun, with a huge eye 
inscribed onto one side of it.  Closer it came, closer, and the 
battle began to turn to silence as even the Lagmen turned 
and stared at it.  

	The Eye of God.  No one had ever seen it, but it was 
just as the legends said.

	They held their breaths.

	Confident, the Lagmen urged the Fanboys to another 
charge.  The lancers of Shienar waved their banners and 
prepared to charge in response.

	And then the sky spat death, fire and lightning and ice 
and sound and acid rained down from the open Eye, down 
upon the Fanboys, searing and destroying them.  Upon the 
pass, burying thousands beneath rock and destroying it 
forever.

	Only a few thousand Fanboys survived the disaster, 
and Lord Parn raised his sword.  "CHARGE!  CHARGE 
FOR SHIENAR!"  

	The Shienarians fell upon the survivors in a wave, 
driving them to the rocks and butchering them.  And when 
the last cry of 'Doooooh!' fell silent, they raised their hands 
to the heaven and gave a great cry of triumph and thanks.

	And the Eye of God turned and headed out across the 
Blight, and where it passed the Blight was wiped away, 
replaced with green and healthy growth.  And the men of 
Shienar fell to their knees and gave thanks to the Creator 
above.  None would forget that day.

**********
	
	Lord Dom frowned.  This was all just a puppet show, 
and a distraction from what he was really worried about.  
His daughter had chosen the worst possible time to run 
away from home, with Saldea ripping itself apart in an 
uproar caused by that cursed False Ronin, Gendo.  And 
now all his army could do was dance a diversion for the 
Red Ajah to do its work.  And just to add to things...

	"Your Highness, it would be advisable if you were to 
go back to Maradon where you are safe," he said to the 
young Queen, Azalyn.  She'd just taken the throne, for her 
parents had been slain in battle by this False Ronin, Gendo.  
He understood her need for vengeance.  But there was 
nothing she could do here but endanger herself needlessly.

	"I will not," she said.  "I will see Gendo defeated and I 
will see him chained, and I will see him sent to Tar Valon 
to have all that is most dear to him taken away," she said 
fiercely.  And then she sagged, just for a moment.  "As he 
did to me."

	Dom watched his infantry move to try to hold Gendo's 
center, spread out in wide groups to avoid Gendo's fire and 
ice.  Unfortunately, this meant Gendo's spearmen could 
drive it before them like deer before the hunt.  His cavalry 
had the same problem.  And there was no sign that the Red 
Ajah was actually doing anything.  "We will both do our 
best," he said.  "Haruka Sedai assured me that she and 
Michiru Sedai and the others could handle this."  

	She watched, frowning.

	And then, across the valley, fire sparked and the river 
behind Gendo's army suddenly rose up in a great wave.  It 
crashed down on his command tent, and then there was a 
great explosion.  He could make out a half-dozen women 
being flung into the air by an explosion.  So much for the 
Red Ajah, he thought.  

	The water surged again, turning to ice, which 
electrified as it came down.  There was a strange glow, and 
the ice shattered, sliced by a glowing circle, which then 
faded.

	And then he could spot Michiru Sedai, standing on the 
ice, a flag in each hand.  The flags began to wave in 
semaphore.  He wondered a moment how she knew the 
Saldean military flag code, then set himself to deciphering 
it.  'Gendo.  Has.  Fled.  Crush.  His.  Rabble.'

	Dom smiled.  That was just the news he wanted.  He 
turned and signaled to the hundreds of mounted men who 
had been lurking behind the hill he had put his command 
post on.  "Circle left, then charge!  LET LOOSE THE PIGS 
OF WAR!"

	And the Saldean War-Boar Cavalry circled to the left 
and charged into the ranks of Gendo's abandoned followers, 
taking them on the flank and scattering them to the winds.  

	Once the battle was over, Haruka Sedai came to see 
him.  "Lord Dom," Haruka said.  "Gendo has escaped, so 
we must track him.  Michiru is trying to figure out how to 
track the trick he used to escape, but it may take a while."

	Queen Azalyn frowned.  "He got away.  There were 
eight of you and he got away."

	"He is the strongest male channeler I have ever seen," 
Haruka said grudgingly.  "Even with the Space Sword, I 
was only able to hurt him, not stop him or kill him."  She 
patted the gaudy blade which hung at her hip.  "We will 
have to gather more Aes Sedai.  But Michiru should be able 
to track him."

	"Should," Lord Dom said.

	"We will find him again.  One way or another," 
Haruka said firmly.  "If we hadn't gotten distracted by that 
thing, we would have had him this time."

	"That thing?"

	Haruka frowned.  "We don't know what it was, just 
that it was some huge use of the One Power, far to the east.  
It must have been hundreds upon hundreds of miles away.  
And yet we felt it."  She shivered slightly.  "Some great 
work has taken place.  Perhaps the Amyrlin brought forth 
the Tower's full Strength to aid the other Borderlands."

	"But you don't think that," Lord Dom said.

	"I will not speak when I have only guesses to offer," 
Haruka said.  Her lips pursed.

	"What is it?" Lord Dom demanded.

	"Nothing," Haruka said.  "Nothing worth your 
worrying."

	Lord Dom frowned, but decided he would have to see 
if he could winkle it out of some less-close mouthed Aes 
Sedai.  If such a thing existed.

**********

	Amyrlin Nabiki Sanche stared at the envelope and 
sighed.  It was a simple white envelope, but the wax seal 
was set with a flamboyant V symbol.  Another message 
from 'Sedai V'.  How exactly Minako Sedai thought this 
would fool anyone, Nabiki was not sure.  

	Then again, the fact that over the last five years the 
Tairens still hadn't figured out that Makoto, First of 
Mayene, had an Aes Sedai advisor might indicate it was a 
better ruse than Nabiki thought.  

	Much of the letter was the usual inane babble which 
Nabiki had come to expect from Minako.  She would have 
recalled the woman long ago except for the fact that she 
and Makoto seemed to be the best of friends and that she 
had more influence over Makoto than most Aes Sedai 
advisors managed to exert.  For good and ill.

	A few moments of rationality did shine through, 
however.  Makoto and Minako's manuevering had 
apparently sent the Tairen High Lords into a deadlock 
which was preventing them from launching their planned 
assault on Mayene.  This was good.

	The Aiel were sending small bands of men and 
women north across the Waste for some reason.  Minako 
did not know why, but they all spoke of some sort of 
search.  What were the Aiel looking for?  The last time 
they'd come looking for anything, it had been King 
Laman's head.  Could this mean another Aiel War?

	Nabiki put down the letter and frowned.  "Kasumi," 
she said.

	Kasumi, her Keeper of the Seals, came in.  "Yes, 
Mother?" she asked.

	"What do you..."

	And then she felt it, a tugging at the borders of her 
perceptions, a surge in the Power.  Something had 
happened, far to the north.  Something very powerful.  
Stronger than the strongest sa'angreal in the Tower could 
do.  And it was continuing.

	"What...is that, Mother?" Kasumi asked in confusion.

	"I don't know," Nabiki said.  "But I intend to find out."  
Setsuna, what have you unleashed, she asked herself.  And 
how can I keep the Tower from connecting you and your 
charges to it?

 ********* 
	
	Kanrinin Sedai stared at Mamoru as he sat in his cage.  
"You're grinning, boy."

	"Me?  Why would I, a man being taken to be stilled, 
smile?" he said, smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

	"Because you know something," she said.  "Because 
you felt something."

	"So did you," he said.  "I could tell."

	"What is it?  What was that?"

	"That, as they say, would be telling," he said.

	She kept trying, but was unable to get anything further 
out of him.  

	Finally, as she left, Mamoru smiled to himself.  He 
knew what it must be.  Only the Ronin Reborn, the true 
one, could channel that much power.  He had studied the 
Prophecies, though too late to avoid being foolish enough 
to proclaim himself.  She was out there, the one he had 
seen.  And she was the Ronin Reborn, able to use both 
sides of the Power.  And because she was a woman, the 
Aes Sedai would never think to look for her in the right 
places.  

	Revenge enough for all who had come before her.  
The only revenge that he or any of the other fools who had 
thought themself the Ronin, would ever have.  It would 
have to be enough.  It was enough.  She was out there, and 
now she would begin to shake the world.  To the very 
Pillars of Heaven.