Mists of Fate

My thanks to Ed for his editing! All the usual disclaimers and copyright notices still apply.

Mists of Fate Chapter 1 -- The New God

"Andrei?" the warm voice asked softly. The name seemed to tug at something inside of him for a moment. "Andrei, come on, lad. I know you're still in there."

With a rush, it came back to him. Andrei. That was his name. He was Andrei. For a moment, he felt like he was swimming in a vast ocean, an ocean that was someone else's memories. He opened his eyes and looked at the being whose memories he was drowning in.

"How do you keep them all from being so overwhelming?" he whispered hoarsely.

"Practice," J'Stan said softly. "Give yourself some time. Center yourself, remember who you are, what your are, where you came from."

"I've changed," Andrei stated.

"Of course," J'Stan chuckled. "You've got thousands of years of wisdom inside you now. Although I do appreciate you not putting on any clothes."

"I don't know if I'd call it wisdom," Andrei retorted, regaining his identity, and keeping from willing clothes into existence on the spot. He was different now. He'd grown older, mentally. Mentally, he was far older than his eighteen years, but not as stagnant as J'Stan. It was odd, but something he was thankful about. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he checked to see if J'Stan had bonded him.

"No," J'Stan said calmly. "I didn't. Not even tempted."

"Yes, you were. I'm your type." Andrei laughed, he knew J'Stan as well as he knew himself.

"I don't want to go through that again."

"I understand why, but you sell yourself short by denying yourself the opportunity," Andrei said, ideas and concepts bubbling to the surface of his mind.

"Let's agree to disagree?" J'Stan said, sitting back down in his stone seat across from Andrei.

"If you insist," Andrei said, realizing the bad side of his own stone seat was that it was uncomfortable.

"So, what now?" J'Stan asked the air between them.

"Now we go out there and give people hope again," Andrei said firmly.

"You sound like Adam," J'Stan quipped.

"Stop trying to change the subject, and I sound like him because he's as much a part of me as you are."

"I'm already regretting sharing my memories with you."

"Get ready to regret it for eternity, bub. I'm gonna be around a long time now."

"Bub?!" J'Stan laughed. "I haven't heard that word in millennia!"

"And you haven't laughed like that in almost as long," Andrei said, his tone a little reproving.

"You know, it is nice being treated like a regular person again."

"Don't get too used to it. There are still ten thousand people out there ready to worship you."

"You would have to remind me. I'm tired of that. I don't want to go through it again," J'Stan said with a heavy sigh. The golden light he'd kept burning faded out as he said that, and Andrei knew the older man was lost in thoughts, in remembrance.

"If you're so tired, why are you still here?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Yes, but you seem to have forgotten it. If you're too scared to let yourself die, stop whining about what life throws at you."

"Stop quoting me to myself."

"No."

"Yes."

"I said no!"

"Yes, infinity!"

Both men started laughing so hard they nearly fell out of their chairs. It was several minutes before they calmed down enough to look at each other, sitting in their chairs on the dais. Smiles formed on their faces, smiles that neither had a problem seeing clearly in the dark.

"Ah, to be young again!" J'Stan said wistfully.

"Hey! I'm loaded down with your millennia of memory, too. Do you see me whining about how boring things are?"

"It's different," J'Stan said slowly.

"No, it's not," Andrei responded, voice full of conviction. "Age is a matter of `state of mind' for a Shaper."

"I said stop quoting me."

"Only when you're wrong."

"Ok, ok. So what now? We go outside, show them their old god, their new god. They come in, we renew the ties of power, strengthening the barrier, expanding arable land. A few centuries pass, maybe find one or two more gifted. The population grows a little, but what really changes?"

"That is a start," Andrei said softly, suddenly not anxious to go back outside. He remembered doing it as J'Stan, but doing it as Andrei was something altogether different.

"Suddenly nervous, are we? Ah, well. It won't be as bad as that first day the colonists arrived on Europa. That was both an exhilarating day and a bad one."

"Europa!" Andrei exclaimed. "You never went back there!"

"After B'rel saw the Mists recede! Those holes could be sealed now!" J'Stan shouted, jumping to his feet. He disappeared immediately, leaving Andrei alone in the Great Hall. J'Stan had also left something else for Andrei.

Andrei now held the shield for Tylera himself. He could feel how J'Stan had neatly handed it off to him as he teleported on his way to Europa. His own subconscious had accepted the burden. It seemed some of J'Stan's habits had filtered through as well as the memories.

`Well, Andrei, looks like he left you the Temple as well,' he thought to himself. It was weird, he almost felt like two people now. The ages-old J'Stan and the young teenager Andrei were both parts of himself. He just hoped he didn't get into the habit of arguing with himself.

It was time he got down to business, even if it made the Andrei part of him nervous. He could feel the Mists probing the shield. Somehow it knew that the holder of the shield had changed, and was looking for a weakness. Outside the temple, he could feel the people still gathered, praying to J'Stan. While their devotions helped him hold the shield, their minds were not as open as it would be when they prayed directly to him, Andrei. He needed that, needed to sow part of the strength for the shield directly into their minds, make them part of the power source, and to do that he needed them to open their minds to him.

That was the key for the need of worship. The devotions opened up the normal people's minds so that the Shaper could plant things in those minds, could use them as a long-term source of power. Sure, it could be done without the worship, even against their will, but that left the person too controlled to be much use in society. All of this knowledge flowed through him from J'Stan's memories

A moment's thought, and an upraised hand brought a ball of silver light into being. The silver ball of light floated upwards several hundred feet and increased in brightness until every part of the Hall was revealed. Andrei's sniff of disdain was clearly audible, if anyone had been inside to listen. Changes were needed here.

The sounds of stone shifting, blurring, melting, filled the room for a moment, and the silver ball faded out as it was replaced by more natural light. Tall windows formed, fifty feet above the ground floor. Those same windows were filled with beautiful stained glass, telling the story of J'Stan in colorful pictures. The lights shifted on the floor, blending reds and greens and blues and whole rainbows of color together. In the ceiling high above, great skylights let light shine through clear panes, further changing the myriad of colors on the floor.

He walked around the dais, taking in his handiwork carefully. The sounds of the people outside had grown quiet, and he could feel the wonder and curiosity flowing from them. They had begun to edge towards the steps where the doors had once been, hoping to see change happen to the rock there, too. Inside, his movement had stirred up the dust of the last few centuries. That had to go too. Of course, with the dust gone in a flash, he stared at the ugly stone floor and decided white marble would look better.

When he was done, he looked around the inside of the Temple and smiled at his work. Sure, he'd never seen stained glass, marble floors, gold and silver thrones, tapestries (those he'd put to cover the walls between the windows and each one showed the various Shapers that had founded Tylera with J'Stan), but he remembered them from J'Stan's memories. Within an hour, the Temple was outfitted to his satisfaction. Unlike J'Stan, he had good fashion sense!

Finally, the moment came that he'd been trying to put off as he'd redesigned the interior of the Temple (no, those blue veins in the marble just got in the way of the reflections from the stained glass). The dais he'd kept halfway between the entrance and far end of the hall, but he'd moved it flush with a wall, below a tapestry showing J'Stan and himself sitting in the old stone chairs, a ball of golden light shining in the darkness surrounding them. Around them were spun some of the memories J'Stan had shared with him. Directly below the tapestry, in the middle of the half-moon dais, sat two chairs, built like thrones. One was made of solid gold, the other silver. He knew J'Stan was not going to like that, but since he'd run off so fast, Andrei decided to tweak his nose a little.

He walked from the middle of the hall, where the old dais had stood, back to where the entrance had once been. The only sound in the room was the slap-slap of his bare feet on the marble. He stood there, facing the blank stone wall for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. He was also unsure of the reactions of the people to him, not J'Stan, stepping out. Would they accept him? He was also apprehensive of dealing with the High Priest. That man was not on his list of favorite people.

Taking a deep breath, Andrei stepped through the stone wall, passing through it easily. He hadn't realized how thick it was until he had taken two steps to get all the way through. It was a good thing he found that out now, instead of when he made an entrance. It would have been embarrassing to have the doors open on nothing but more stone.

The bright light of mid-afternoon greeted him as he walked through the stone, and out onto the landing. In front of him, the three Priests stood. Off in the distance, he could see the catapult that had thrown him into the wall. The Priests had been facing the crowd, leading them in a prayer of Thanksgiving.

It was the Priestesses, still standing on the catapult, who saw him first. Several of them gasped, and they all pointed. The three priests who had led the invocation turned together. The younger priests had expressions of joy on their faces, while the elder man scowled fiercely.

"Where is he, boy?" High Priest Haerod nearly snarled. "Where is the Shaper? Surely you have not failed?"

"Failed? Hardly, old man," Andrei answered condescendingly. It didn't even take more than a flicker of concentration to wrap his nude form in the dark blue tunic, white pants, and blue knee-high boots of a Shaper. The crowd gasped in surprise and Haerod's face fluttered with a wild surge of emotions.

"How did you...? Stop impersonating the Shaper!" the old man shouted, grabbing Andrei's sleeve like he was going to rip it off.

Andrei stared at the man for a moment, memories of the last year bubbling to mind. Strangely they felt older than the memories of J'Stan he'd absorbed, but they were still there. He lifted his free arm, palm out towards the old man, and let loose with a blast of invisible force. The old man lost his grip on Andrei's arm, and flew down the thousand steps to land in front of the crowd. Gasps rang out through the crowd, and Andrei was actually glad he'd cushioned the old man's fall. Broken bones and a bleeding High Priest, no matter how abusive, were not needed right now.

Both of the remaining priests stared at him for a moment, before going to their knees, bowing their heads. Down at the bottom of the steps, the High Priest had risen to his feet and was staring up at Andrei, shock the only thing showing on his face. The crowd of people was milling around now, not sure of what was happening. Andrei faced them now, letting his mind work out what was needed to be said.

"People of Tylera," he began, magnifying his voice so that it boomed over the crowd. "Hours ago, you saw Andrei the boy thrown through the entrance to the Shapers' Temple. In the time that I went through that entrance, until I returned to you out here, I met with the Shaper J'Stan.

"J'Stan has not abandoned us!" Andrei continued over the cheers of the people. "Long ago, he swore to find a way to end the threat of the Mists of Fate. Three hundred years ago, a great defeat was suffered in that fight. Since then, J'Stan has meditated, and now is journeying to find a way to complete that fight!"

"He's left us!" Haerod shouted from where he stood at the foot of the steps. "He left us because of you!"

"Yes, he is gone," Andrei replied, his voice so calm that the crowd did little more than draw in a deep breath as one. "But in his place, he has left me."

"You!" sneered Haerod. "What can you do to protect us?"

"Why, I am a Shaper," Andrei said with a smile. "Trained by the Great One, J'Stan himself."

"How could he train you in all you need to know over a few hours?" Haerod retorted.

"High Priest, that sounds almost like you doubt the word of a Shaper, or the powers of J'Stan. Are you sure you don't want to rephrase that?" Andrei stated firmly.

"That's not what I meant! Stop twisting words!"

"You're right. The time for word twisting is over," Andrei said calmly. He turned and waved his hand towards the section of wall where great doorways had once stood. As he waved his arm, the stone walls began to melt and ripple. For a whole minute, the stone looked like it was melting and rippling in a gentle breeze. Then it began to settle, forming at last great doors made of a silvery metal. They stood over thirty feet high, and were nearly twice that in length. A twist of his arm, and both doors began to open wide. The grating sound they made as they opened boomed across the square, and people began to surge towards the doors before they finished opening.

Reaching out with his mind, Andrei grabbed the two priests still standing next to him, and teleported all three of them inside. The crowd barely noticed as they stormed up the steps. By the time the crowd began to enter the Temple itself, Andrei was seated in his silver chair, with the blond haired priest on his right and the dark haired priest on his left. With his new abilities, he told each of them mentally what he wanted to do. He also read their minds and was pleased to discover they both already accepted him in his new role.

Last to enter the Temple was the old High Priest, now flocked by the ranks of Priestesses. They were supporting the older man, who looked like half the crowd had stormed over him to get inside. The crowd was busy murmuring, staring around them at the interior of the Temple. Andrei could hear most of the shocked comments and smiled at how grand everyone thought his remodeling looked. At his silent signal, the two priests at his side began.

"Hear us, people of Tylera," Ter, the blond priest, began. "Today is a day for rejoicing. At long last, the Temple has reopened and we are again sheltered under the blessed hand of a Shaper!"

"People of Tylera, rejoice!" Polda, the dark haired priest, continued as the assembled people bowed their heads. "Today we have a new Shaper to join the rolls. Hear then the list of Shapers, for it starts with J'Stan, the Eldest."

"D'vad the Healer," Ter chanted, pointing to the tapestry of D'vad.

"B'rel, Patron of Musicians," Polda continued.

"T'ler, the Child-God of Arcadia."

"K'fer, Lord of the Planting."

On and on the two priests went, naming each of the Shapers who had founded Tylera. For Andrei it was weird, because he'd never met any of them, but hundreds of memories poured into him as each was named. Tears welled in his eyes before they were half through, and those same tears drifted down his cheeks by the time they were finished. He knew the people in the first row could see them, as they made whispered comments to those behind them.

"To these names, let the name of Andrei, Keeper of Memories, be added!" both of them proclaimed at once, voices booming. As one they knelt, heads bowed towards Andrei.

"It is time," Andrei said, rising from his chair. "Hear then, what has transpired since you saw me thrown into the Temple, learn what has changed, learn what was. I keep the memories of J'Stan, and share now with you some of what I have learned."

As he spoke, Andrei willed the light streaming in from the windows to lessen. When he finished, the room was near pitch black. People could be heard shuffling, and a few younger children sniffling back tears. Then they heard the sounds of someone stumbling in the darkness, and a dim figure appeared above their heads. Suddenly, the things they saw before them transfixed them all.

Andrei sat in his chair, thinking while he willed the scenes to play out. As it had appeared when he first saw the memories of J'Stan, images appeared around and above the people filling the Temple. The crowd cried in fear at that first sight of the decayed J'Stan, laughed at his teasing of Andrei. Then gasps of astonishment at the sight of skyscrapers, airliners falling out of the sky. The Center drew looks of consternation and puzzlement for the few flashes it gave, then cries of terror at the scenes of the Earth being ripped asunder by J'Stan's fight with Bjorn.

Terror turned to wonder as the Earth floated above the moon's gray horizon. Wonder continued as the great airships of New Phoenix filled the sky, and J'Stan led them in battle. Terror returned as the scenes of J'Stan's fight with Kelly and Frank played out, then the horrible battles with the Mists. Finally, the founding of Tylera was shown, and the room returned to normal illumination. Now they could all see the wetness on Andrei's face.

"I am the Keeper of Memories," Andrei began slowly. "I remember the beginning, of those we call Shapers, I remember when Tylera was founded. Some of you knew me, once, as the boy Andrei. The Andrei you knew is gone, now and forever. I am Shaper, now. I remember all that was, and is today. I alone hold back the Mists of Fate while J'Stan hunts for a way to end their threat. Yet, as it has always been with Shapers, I alone cannot complete my task.

"I need you, the people of Tylera. At the Founding, a pact was made between the People and Shapers. I ask you now, as it should always be asked, will you accept me as your Shaper? Will you accept me to defend you from the Mists, to help you harvest the fruits of the land? Will you accept me as your Shaper?"

"I accept," Ter said from his position to Andrei's right.

"I accept," Polda added. "Yes!" and "I accept" floated from the crowd. Andrei was amazed at the mental aspect of that acceptance. More importantly than their verbal acceptance, he could feel their minds opening to him, could feel the support Shapers had enjoyed for the last few millennia here.

"Guide us, protect us, heal us, in your hands, Shaper, we are protected" both Ter and Polda recited the ancient invocation. The crowd soon joined in as they repeated it. The invocation did the trick, and Andrei could feel strength flowing from them. More importantly, he was able to plant inside all of them the controls and siphons necessary to keep the Mists back, and to expand the shield. With any luck, it would only be a matter of a few weeks before they would be able to reclaim land lost to the Mists in the last few centuries.

"People of Tylera," Andrei said when he was done, and they had finished a repeat of the invocation. "It is done. Over the next few weeks we will work to reclaim land that was lost, we will renew the bonds of Shaper and people. When J'Stan returns, we will show him how worthy the people of Tylera truly are."

Cheers rang in the Temple, and the two young priests flanking Andrei brought the first convocation of Tylera in three hundred years to a close. The crowd of people, most of the inhabitants of Tylera, took almost an hour to filter out. He could feel them breaking off into their family groups, heading to the homes. Hope filled them for the first time, and he mentally pushed the shield out another hundred yards on the spur of the moment. He was just as happy as they were.

Finally, he was alone with priests in the Temple. The great doors still stood open, and they would stay that way for some time to come. He waved the priestesses who were by the doors over to the dais and waited while they made the long walk. Finally, he had all the priests and priestesses assembled before him in a semi-circle, with the High Priest at the apex. Combined, there were thirty-five of them there.

"M'lord, please forgive me," the High Priest said at last. Andrei could tell the man was more worried about his station and power than anything else, but at least the man was going through the motion.

"Forgiveness is always there for those who ask," Andrei answered after a few moments. "Forgiveness is freely given, but the memories of the past remain. I will not forget, Haerod."

"Thank you, m'lord,." the man said uneasily, not quite sure what Andrei had meant.

"For a long time, the priesthood of Tylera has led the people, kept them faithful to the Shapers. For the last three hundred years, it has been through the actions of the priesthood, in keeping the faith alive, that have held the Mists back. Alone, no Shaper can do much good. With the faith of the people, one Shaper alone can work wonders. Thanks to all of you, we are here today, and will continue to be here tomorrow. Know that you have my gratitude, and that of J'Stan."

"Where is he, m'lord? If I may ask," Ter asked cautiously.

"Far away, hunting for a way to defeat the Mists forever," Andrei said. "He will return eventually, and when he does, we will see what wonders he brings back."

"Those images, they were real?" Polda inquired.

"They were the memories J'Stan shared with me," Andrei answered. "In those few hours, he shared with me all of his memories of what it means to be a Shaper, of where we came from, what we are, and what are duties mean."

"So you really understand what it means to be a Shaper," High Priestess Mina whispered.

"Yes, lady, I do. Better than anyone but J'Stan himself, because I've lived ten thousand years as J'Stan. His true name, the name he was born with, is Justin Ackeman. I remember his parents, his childhood as clearly as my own."

"Amazing," she whispered.

"What now?" Haerod murmured.

"Now we rebuild," Andrei said firmly, standing and beginning to pace on the dais.

"Beginning tomorrow, we hold convocation each evening. During the morning I will review the schooling we give to the children. Then the afternoon I will begin visiting the farms and the border. I want you, Ter, to draw up a morning schedule for me to visit schooling of youngsters, and then the business and markets. Polda, in the afternoon I want to visit farms and any manufacturing plants. Mina, I want you to schedule evening time with small groups after the convocation. I'll be sharing the history of the Shapers with them. Make them small groups, five to ten families at a time. Also, rotate all priests and priestesses so that everyone gets to attend each cycle."

"How long should the Temple remain open?" one of the other priestesses asked.

"The Temple is always open. If someone has a petition for me, they can stand at the foot of the dais and wait until I have time to recognize them."

"Anyone can approach you?" Haerod asked incredulously. "What need do you have for us, then?"

"You are my eyes, my ears, my hands with the people. I cannot be everywhere at once. You will act as my ambassadors to the people. When they see you, they see me. Remember that. All that you do will reflect on me, and I am very picky about some things."

As one the group bowed their heads. He dismissed all of them, telling them to go about their business, and prepare for next day. The shadows had been growing in the Hall as the day passed. Within an hour, the Temple would be dark, and Andrei realized he'd forgotten something. As the last priest left the temple, torches appeared above the windows and spread a warm, golden glow throughout the room, dispelling the growing shadows.

He turned to the two young people who had remained hidden behind a tapestry while he talked to the priests and priestesses. Both had long, golden hair much like his had been before the priests had cut it yesterday. He waved them over and they slowly approached the dais. The taller figure, a boy of about fifteen, held onto the younger, a girl of about twelve. They finally reached the dais, and Andrei stepped down to hug them both.

"You still love us?" the girl asked through the tears running down her face.

"Of course, we're family forever, Tish," Andrei told his sister.

"You really mean that?" his brother, Pico, asked.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes!" Andrei repeated firmly. "My being a Shaper doesn't change the fact that the two of you are still my family."

"Do we have to go back to the orphanage?" Pico asked nervously.

"I'm sorry, but for now, yes. I'll see about making some other arrangements soon, but until then, I have no other place for you."

"But you're a Shaper now!" Tish whined.

"Yes, but some things don't change just because of that. You both head back now, and be good. I'll make sure Mina brings you by tomorrow night, k?"

They both nodded, and Andrei walked with them to the door, talking lightly about some of the latest high jinks going on at the school. For those few moments, his new status as Shaper was forgotten and he was just the older brother of his two siblings. Love filled him and he wore a smile as they walked down the thousand steps, just as the priestess in charge of the orphanage tonight made her way across the square. She didn't chide them at all in his sight, but he turned quickly and went back to sit in his silver chair, head spinning about what was to come tomorrow.

Andrei floated in the void, his mind reaching out, searching. He'd been at this for hours with no luck. Awareness of his physical surroundings was long gone, and no matter how much he wanted success, it remained out of his grasp. He just couldn't feel J'Stan. A voice on the outer edge of the void brought him back to reality, back to the Temple.

"M'lord, is everything ok?" Ter was asking him. Today the blond priest was dressed in the pale blue robes that made up the everyday uniform of the priesthood. For some reason, the color suited him.

"How old are you, Ter?" Andrei asked him.

"Sir?"

"The question is pretty basic, how old are you?"

"Uh, sir, I'm uh, twenty-six."

"Kind of young to be heading the ceremony with the High Priest, eh?"

"Yes, sir. I think it was just because I've got a strong voice, and am blond."

"Probably, knowing Haerod's tastes. Where is he, by the way?"

"That's part of the reason I'm here so early, m'lord," Ter said quietly. Looking at the skylights, Andrei could see the faint light of pre-dawn beyond the shield and Mists. A moment's concentration brought his answer.

"The old man is dead. Killed himself," Andrei stated flatly, seeing the image of the man hanging by his own sash. He had mixed feelings about it, but couldn't help the cool calculating coldness he'd learned from J'Stan's memories.

"Yes, m'lord. We should have known you'd already be aware of it, Ter said, bowing his head.

"Who knows?"

"Myself, the boy who took the breakfast to the room, and High Priestess Mina."

"Who was the boy?"

"Pico, m'lord."

"Why Pico?" Andrei asked harshly.

"He was next to be dedicated after you, m'lord. The High Priest had already designated him to replace you after yesterday."

"What!" Andrei shouted. "Pico isn't made for being Dedicated. He likes girls!"

"The High Priest ordered it, none of us could gainsay him, m'lord," Ter whispered, shaking a little.

"Well, I'll visit Pico later today. Keep him sequestered until then," Andrei ordered. "As far as anyone knows, the High Priest died of natural causes last night. I'll announce it at convocation tonight. Along with his replacement."

"Who, who will you choose?"

"You."

"Me? I'm too young"

"So, I'm only eighteen. A young High Priest for a young Shaper."

"As you command, m'lord."

"So, are things ready for the day?" Andrei asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, m'lord. We have your schedule ready, and a number of people have gathered outside, hoping to see you. Some of them were not here yesterday. In fact, everyone who wasn't here yesterday is outside now."

"Let them in, Ter. Always let them in," Andrei said firmly. "I am always available to the people."

"Are you sure about that, m'lord?" Ter asked anxiously. "I know how many petitioners we get in our Court. Aren't you worried about them wasting your time?"

"I'm sure, Ter, I'm sure. Anyone who wastes my time will be very sorry they did. After a few examples, I doubt I'll face that problem. Now, let me see the schedule."

Andrei took the handwritten schedule from his new High Priest and shook his head. Ter was a decent man; Andrei knew that. Unfortunately, he'd spent the last few years of his priesthood under a corrupt man. The people on his schedule were the wealthy, the influential. Not the people who needed Andrei's help the most. As Dedicated, Andrei had been responsible for reviewing the rolls of annual income from various farms and businesses. He knew better than the old High Priest what was needed. In preparing this list, the old man's criteria had been used, not Andrei's.

"Here, make sure this gets distributed to the right people," Andrei said as he handed a revised list back. It had only taken a few moments of thought to make the necessary changes.

"M'lord, some people are going to be mightily offended," Ter tried to warn Andrei.

"I'm not the High Priest, I can't be brought down by political turmoil. The only one who can chastise me is currently a couple million miles away."

"J'Stan?" Ter said, some awe in his voice.

"Yes, Ter. He really is out there; he really is looking for a way to defeat the Mists. I'm here to keep Tylera safe while he does that."

"Thank you, m'lord," Ter said, bowing his head.

"You're my High Priest, Ter," Andrei said, looking the man in the eyes. "I expect you to represent me well. I'm here to help the people of Tylera, to keep them safe. Everything else is secondary. You know the political bullshit, you handle it."

"Bullshit?" Ter asked, mouthing the strange word.

"Oh, yeah," Andrei said after a moment's laughter. "I forgot that's a word J'Stan is fond of using. It means a pile of excrement from a bull. It's a curse word."

"M'lord, how do you expect me to tell children to watch what they say when their Shaper uses such words?" Ter admonished him, half teasingly, half serious. After all, he'd known Andrei for four years now.

"Thanks, Ter," Andrei laughed. "Now that you can't tell me what to do, you use guilt."

"You always were a conscientious lad," Ter said more seriously. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you survived, and that this is the result. It really is a dream come true."

"That makes two of us. Glad I survived, that is. As for conscientious, well, I must admit that of all the priests, you were one of the few I respected a lot."

"You mean to do what is right over what is expeditious, don't you?"

"Yes, or what good are these powers I have now?"

"Shapers do not interfere in the daily lives of the people," Ter quoted. "It is the Priesthood who shall oversee the daily lives of the people."

"The Priesthood shall be open to any person who so desires. The High Priest shall answer to, and be chosen by, the Shapers," Andrei further quoted, with a smile.

"Three hundred years ago, it was enough for a farmer to pray to the appropriate Shaper and have their fields nourished. Now, they've been three hundred years without that support. The Mists have crept in. They need visible reassurance in their daily lives, to know in the bottom of their hearts that I am here for them. I cannot do that if the only place they see me is here in this temple."

"I agree with that reasoning," Ter said softly. "Just make sure that you stay true to your words."

"You know me better than that," Andrei said sharply.

"I knew the young man, Andrei. The Shaper Andrei is going to take some getting used to. You've changed a lot already. Grown more bold, more commanding."

"Well, having the memories of an old man like J'Stan will change anyone. Besides that, I'm a Shaper."

"Yes, you are, aren't you?" Ter asked rhetorically.

"Bring the people in, we might as well have a morning convocation too."

Had a whole week really gone by already? Andrei shook his head in wonderment. Outside the sky was brightening as dawn approached the second week of Andrei's stewardship of Tylera. He could feel the farmers, shopkeepers, all beginning their morning routines. Inside the great Temple, seated in his silver chair, he let his mind peek in on his people.

Soon the most avid of them would be filtering in for morning convocations. It had only been a week, but the morning service was becoming as popular as the evening. He'd even begun to share some of the history he'd learned from J'Stan. That was real popular too.

He was worried though. J'Stan should have been back days ago. Nothing he'd done had been able to reach the elder Shaper, and he didn't dare leave Tylera to go looking for him. As people began filing in, he turned his mind from that worry and focused instead on what he'd share today. He decided the erosion of personal responsibility in the late 20th and early 21st centuries was a good place to start the week off. Too many of the people were beginning to assume that having a Shaper back meant they didn't have to work anymore.

His mind was still stretched out, waiting for the last of those who chose to attend morning convocation to arrive. That was how he felt the shimmer, felt his shield being pulled back, then allowed to resume its coverage. Only a Shaper could do that! Excitedly he teleported himself to that area. He arrived in the middle of a freshly plowed field, and stared in shock at the figure before him.

"You!" he exclaimed, shocked to the core at what his eyes showed him.

Sorry dear readers -- couldn't resist a cliffhanger. Once more, thanks to Ed for editing!