Free The Stair Of Time (Book 2) by William Woodward Page A

encased Lectavian’s ashes in twelve lead cylinders, each placed in a silver casket filled with water from the Well of Tears, each buried in a hallowed grave exactly one hundred and twenty miles apart from one another, forever entombed beneath twelve feet of black salt and an unmarked slab of the thickest granite. The purpose and location of these burial sites would have been kept secret to all but a select few, guarded day and night by those deemed purest of heart and mind—those least likely to succumb to whisperings in the dark.
    They would have done all this and more to save the world, and perhaps worlds, from almost certain damnation.  For you see, in a few short centuries, Lectavian Jandar, from such humble name and beginnings, would come to be known as “The Lost One.”
    Standing before the stained- glass window of the knight, head reeling with such troublesome thoughts, Tyler shivered again.  He’d traveled a long way to be here, leaving the safety of hearth and home to try and quiet the incessant whispering, to separate, once and for all, what was real from what was delusion.
    Two months ago the nightmares had begun, wherein The Lost One had come to him and told him how special he was, one of the most special young men ever to have been born….
     
    ***
     
    You are descended from the line of Arden, The Lost One said, breath reeking of decay, eyes gleaming with fanaticism.  I sired no direct heir, but you need only possess a single drop of my blood in the whole great sea of creation to revive me, and you have much more than that.  You are, by far, the closest thing to family I have, Tyler.
    Come to me , my boy.  Into the heart of The Waste you must travel.  Bring with you enough provisions to last two weeks, for that is the length of the journey on horseback from your doorstep to mine.  Many a night you have stood on the edge of the desert, the heavens swelling above, peering towards your destiny with longing eyes and heart.  You were peering towards me, Tyler.  You have always felt there was something more, something missing, and you were right!  It was I!
    Trust in me and I will show you the way.  I will visit your dreams at night and tell you which path to take the following day.  Clearly, I am not destroyed as King Laris and those other fools would have everyone believe.  No, far from it.  I am merely resting, gathering my strength for the final sortie.  We share the same blood, you and I, as well as what some would call the same taint, but what is in reality a blessing from The Father. 
    Our destinies are intertwined, Tyler.  If you listen closely to your heart , it will tell you true.  You have so much more potential than you realize, than those imbecilic parents of yours realize.  You have greatness in you!  I have waited so long for the line of Arden to repeat, to produce another such as myself.  You can’t imagine the patience required to while away the centuries, waiting for nature, the self-possessed old hag that she is, to take her course. 
    The things I will teach you will stagger your imagination.  Together we can accomplish anything—two cut of the same cloth, alive at the same time.  It’s not supposed to be possible, Tyler.  Safeguards are in place to prevent it, the most formidable of which is death itself.  But I decided I didn’t want to die, so I didn’t.  And you don’t have to either.  I can show you how to live forever, or at least for a very very long time.
    You are as a mirror unto me, Tyler, held up to my withered countenance like destiny.  And I to you.  I know that you are skeptical.  But do not worry, my boy.  I don’t blame you.  I would expect no less of my heir.  You require further proof of what my words and your heart are telling you because you are no fool, and that is precisely as it should be.  In order to make certain that I am more than a mere contrivance of your mind, a phantom that resides only in your imagination, you must