Belboz Gets His Reward

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 83781

The memories, senses, and conscious thoughts of Belboz tried to collect themselves as the soul in a shattered body. His soul had been immersed in fear, in terror, and in shame - sensations all the stronger because he had had great power for so long. He was aware that he was in a pit, on his back and looking up. A strong light shone in his face. It was a ruddy light, with short bursts of bright yellow and white streaks within the light. He shivered, although it was cool, but not cold. He wished to speak, but could not.

Finally, a cold and even voice from above spoke to Belboz in the tone of a schoolmaster dressing down a student that had been called into his office.

"We have given you life, Belboz. Not through any merits of your own. We should have let you die for your gross stupidity. But we need your memories."

Belboz whimpered, "I am only half made up. I cannot see."

The voice behind the light said, "You will. We have reconstructed a new form from the remains of the old. You can no longer assume new forms - all your powers as a dragon are gone. You are now common - average."

Belboz did not reply. He pressed his right hand against the rough, cold stone of the floor, and thrust his neck and shoulder forward. He was still disoriented. The lights overwhelmed him, and he noticed that when the voice was not speaking that the silence was complete. There were no faint sounds from the wind. It was a silence where he could hear the beating of his heart within his ears.

Now he balanced his torso on his forearms and pushed forward. The lights were still disorienting. His conscious mind formed a terrifying thought - this was very much like a cool version of the hell of popular folklore. The idea that hell might exist shook him to his core.

His pride was completely shattered. He grovelled. He said, "What can I do, for you, Sir?"

The voice said, "Tell me why you did not kill her when you had a chance."

"The princess was not a threat. I swear she had no special ability. I have been trying to break the code behind the Erebrus Folio, and I needed some time as a human. I was hoping that it might give me some insight into the mind of the writer. And the princess - well, I was just trying to stimulate my mind and amuse myself. The end came out of nowhere."

"I was not talking about the princess. I was talking about Checkers."

The soul of Belboz was trying to gather itself. Checkers, Checkers. He slowly shoke his head.

The voice grew even colder. "It appears that you were busy trying to stimulate something other than your mind. Do you remember the harpy that made it across the sea and into your caves? That is the woman that I asked about you not killing, not Astra. Astra was average, although royal, and, as you may have noticed, has a fair face and form. But still nothing unusual."

Belboz's soul was weighted down with the crushing fact that he was now as helpless before this unknown force as his victims in his previous life were before him. He marvelled at how this power knew the details from his life. But he replied, "Yes, I remember now. I was keeping Checkers alive. I thought that she might be useful, but I had other matters to attend to."

"Congratulations. Checkers broke one of the codes in the Erebrus Folio. It is a pity that you were not there to see it."

Belboz's soul made the connection between his sudden end and what the voice said. Belboz's mouth whimpered incoherently.

The voice drove on, "You never thought to check her for abilities in the arcane arts?"

"She was a harpy! They don't have magical ability. I might as well have checked every spider and moth that entered my caves for ability."

"A lone harpy manages to not only make it past the Buroughs, but across the continent and the sea as well? And finds the caves? And you do not suspect that she might have something that was protecting her?"

Belboz lapsed into silence. He thought to himself, "Haven't I been punished enough? Obviously I made a grave error in judgment." He looked down at his new form, and stared into the light, at the unseen voice.

"Why?" he shouted.

"You seem to have a taste for becoming human, and are easily distracted in that form. It has been noticed that human women are something of a weakness for you. It has caused you to neglect your responsibilities many times before this. Princess Astra was just the case that proved fatal to you. So it was determined, to keep you out of trouble, to give you the form of

  1. a eunuch."
  2. a human, but a female."
  3. a harpy, or, as they prefer to be called, a Glider."

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11/1/2008 8:17:02 AM

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