The Twins Read Online Free

perfection, and no other incident of such subversion has ever again been mentioned in the Tomes. This incident is celebrated every spring during the holiday of Mantal, named after Aracon’s tree, and is a source of great entertainment for the children of the nations, as they act out the final moments of Aracon’s life dramatically and in forever new and unique ways. The child picked to be Aracon is always one of great potential, and this choice is meant to teach him or her humility, and to be a reminder of the futility and great sin of any effort to not serve the tree truthfully.
    Each Lalas was said to be able to engulf an enemy if it entered its territory with bad intent. Once taken by the Lalas, death was imminent and said to be terribly painful. There are accounts in the Tomes of entire armies being absorbed by the trees. Their vengeance was legendary, and their power seemingly limitless. It was thought that the Lalas held the earth together and that when the last of the great trees finally died and the light from the Gem of Eternity was extinguished forever, the earth would disintegrate and its fragments would be spread all over the universe. That day, named the Great Dissolution in all of the legends, was feared by all who served the light. Only if and when evil prevails could such an event be possible.
    The ancient diaries of the gods of Caradon devote chapters to the Great Dissolution. The powers of darkness looked forward to it as their means of salvation. The fragmentation was viewed as a renewal and rejuvenation though completely antithetical to life itself. The Dissolution was the means by which their ideas and seeds would be spread all over the universe, and by which they would find eternal peace and freedom from the cycle of human suffering. They had no feeling for the lives that would be lost or the pain and hardship that would inevitably precede the final days.
    Baladar shivered at the thought of how few Lalas remained. Of course, he was not certain of the count, but his powers allowed him a good sense of the weakening of the chain of communication which could only be the result of a lessening in the number of the trees. The sadness which engulfed him and his people so infrequently years ago was more and more common nowadays. He knew what it meant each time. With his wife gone, he had to strain his abilities to the limit in order to fight the sadness and depression. Reports of citizens jumping from cliffs and into rivers for no recognizable reason were much more prevalent recently. Nature sadly but necessarily began to strike a balance of sorts with the continuing loss of the trees, and although the power that renewed and sustained the Lalas was ebbing, the earth had girded itself against the terrible consequences of their deaths.
    Baladar’s own sense of desperation at times seemed overwhelming and unbearable. Yet, he had the strength to fight on, particularly as his hopes were now being rekindled by the arrival of the boy, the Child-King; the only remaining link to the ancient Gwendolen family. This noble family was the oldest of all of the blood lines in recorded history, and oh, what a history of achievement and accomplishment! The myths are rife with stories of triumph and goodness, so frequently traceable back to a Gwendolen family member.
    Baladar knew that somehow he had the noble blood streaming through his veins. He, like many others with the gift, instinctively knew that he was tied to the family, yet his mother had been a regal though simple woman, a healer who labored day and night if circumstances required, and his rise to power was achieved by hard work, and intentions that were honorable, true and just. His father had died when he was quite young and little was known about him. He was not a local man, and whenever he attempted to discuss his father with his mother, she avoided the subject, and she made it clear to Baladar that it was not something she wished to talk about. She indicated to