on its natural course, but your own personal spirit returned strength to us. You personified the triumph of the spirit of mankind.â
We walked a bit in silence. Uncle Press was letting me process the information. It was all beginning to make sense. It was incredible, but it was making sense. My questions were being answered. I canât say I liked any of the answers, but at least I was getting them.
âYou gotta know how impossible this all seems to me,â I finally said. âYou tell me Iâm an ancient spirit from an alternate universe on the edge of reality, but I still just feel like Bobby Pendragon. I mean, I have no memory of being anything other than Bobby Pendragon. Iâm half expecting you to burst out laughing and tell me it was all a goof, and you canât believe I fell for it. Psyche!â
âYou feel like Bobby Pendragon because you are Bobby Pendragon.â
âLead Traveler,â I added.
âYes, lead Traveler. You above all were created to be the heart of the Travelers. It was based on the strength of your spirit long before you set foot on Second Earth.â
âAnd I blew it all by killing Alexander Naymeer,â I said soberly.
Uncle Press frowned. âWhat you did is exactly what Saint Dane wanted you to do. You gave in to the darker nature of man. First by brazenly mixing the destinies of the territoriesââ
âWhat was I supposed to do?â I shot back. âLet the dados destroy Rayne?â
âYes.â
Oh.
âI couldnât let that happen.â
âI understand, but it cost. That was the beginning of the final slide. With that battle, Solara grew dark. Not only because of the tak you brought to Ibara, but because you reintroduced that weapon to the Milago and Bedoowan tribes of Denduron, who then used it to invade and enslave the Lowsee tribe. The fall of Solara mirrored your own. As it grew weaker, we relied more on your own personal spirit to hold on. The final blow came when you killed Alexander Naymeer. You had hit bottom, and so has Solara. Out of desperation, we destroyed the flumes.â
â You destroyed the flumes?â I asked, shocked.
âIt was all we could do. With Halla crumbling, we felt that preventing the Ravinians from traveling between territories might slow the fall. Iâm afraid it was too little too late. Saint Dane didnât need them anymore to achieve his goals. His Convergence was a success. Each territory was already on its own downward spiral.â
Great. I was more or less responsible for letting Saint Dane destroy all that was good about Halla, and allowing the ultimate evil to take control.
âIâm sorry,â I said softly. What else could I say? It felt prettyinadequate, but it was all I had. I sensed movement nearby. I expected to look up and again catch the fleeting image of a spirit. Instead I saw Spader. He stood on a rock outcropping, staring at me. He looked shaken, which wasnât like him.
âQuite the natty tale, isnât it, mate?â he said. âNot at all what I expected, no sir.â
Loor walked up behind him. She had a totally blank look on her face. Iâm guessing that she was just as stunned as I was. She was quickly joined by the other Travelers. Gunny, Patrick, Kasha, Elli, Siry, Aja, and Alder. None of them looked very good. When we were last together, theyâd each had a spark of defiance in their eyes that said they were still ready to fight. Now they looked as if they had all seen a ghost. Which they had. Except that they had been looking at themselves. Once I saw that everyone had arrived, I turned to Uncle Press.
âSo I guess thatâs it,â I said. âI blew it.â
â We blew it, shorty,â Gunny called out.
âWhatever,â I snapped back. âIt doesnât matter. Itâs over. All thatâs left is for Saint Dane to return to Solara and take control of the