Future Imperfect
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 125
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The 'future' Fred sat down upon the rocky floor. The Fred of the present
remained standing with sword in hand. There was still something odd about
the 'future' Fred. The dim light cast by the low fire made his appearance
seem fuzzy around the edges. The thing that shown most were his great,
white teeth. He was handsome, of course he would be—he was Fred! Yet his
hair seemed longer, and his clothes seemed to shift uneasily as if they
could not contain the man that they held.
"I cannot explain how I came to be here," began 'future' Fred. "But I can say that my coming is to right the many wrongs that our family has done and will do. I am....you are.....WE are Lord Frederigo D'Honaire, a son of the Duke of Suffex, a knight of the Kingdom, and an auxiliary officer of the royal navy." Fred looked at the 'future' Fred. ~~Well,~~ he thought. ~~He knows who I am, even if he is creating this out of his own bizarre imagination!~~ "Soon," continued the 'future' Fred. "Soon a blight shall come upon the Kingdom, a plague shall devastate the western kingdom of Gelda! First shall come riots and revolutions...there shall be conspiracies and oaths and a Terror shall consume the land. It shall spread from the Kingdom's shores and northern waters of the Aryn Ocean...to the southern waters of the Tarel Sea. All the world, the warring nations and the plotting factions, the maidens and gentlemen and the iron- handed despots, even unto the head hunters and cannibals, the pirate lords, and the wild amazons, they will suffer and too many shall die." "You are mad," responded Fred. "This is impossible. A plague to wipe out the world? How then did you come here? How did YOU survive?!" "To the southeast," answered the 'future' Fred. "To the southeast is the Bokh'ainer Archipelago, a lawless string of islands controlled by blood thirsty bandits, corsairs and buccaneers. And to the west of that is the wild country of Nom Malbra. Nominally under the control of the King of Hespan, it is little more than an unconquered frontier where the naked sword is the law. YOU have never traveled to these places, but as a Lord of the Kingdom you HAVE studied them diligently. You know well that Hespan is the Kingdom's rival in the great game of state. And you know that much of its wealth is derived from the silver mines of Nom Malbra." "Geography lessons and political disputes," came Fred. "What have these to do with your 'imagined' plague?" "Imagined?" said the 'future' Fred. "Imagined?!!? I follow honor where honor leads, and my honor, the honor of the House D'Honair has always been based upon protecting those who are sworn to us. Honor and duty are a large part of who I am and who I was...namely YOU. Yes, I...you...WE had our fair share of youthful indiscretions, but always it was honor that led me forth. I speak the truth as best I understand it. Here I be, your older self, before you, and you dare accuse me of entertaining wild imaginations?!!?
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Colonel
4/11/1999 8:20:10 AM
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