“Go for it,” Uncle Press shot back.
“It sounds like you’ve known what he’s been up to for a long time.”
“From the beginning. He and I were together for eons. I believe I knew him better than any other in Solara. I suppose in some strange way you could say that we were friends.”
“Okay, odd, but if you knew what was happening, why didn’t you try to stop him?”
Uncle Press smiled. That was an odd reaction, considering that we were on the verge of Armageddon.
“You’re right, that was a dumb question,” he said.
”Why?”
”Because we did do something to stop him. In an act of total desperation that in many ways went against the nature of Solara, we created the one thing we hoped would stop his mad plan.”
“What was it?”
“We created you, Bobby.”
Chapter 6
From the first moment I left home to go with Uncle Press so long ago, there were very few times when I actually felt I was up to the challenges put in front of me.
Sure, there were times when I had plenty of confidence. I had become a decent fighter. I think I did pretty well figuring out Saint Dane’s schemes. At least some of them, anyway. I had faith in my fellow Travelers. We made a good team. But whenever I turned my thoughts to the larger, more cosmic issues, I always felt I was behind. I didn’t know why I had been chosen to be the lead Traveler. I was just a kid. I always felt as if they should have picked somebody better equipped to match up with Saint Dane. Hearing all the incredible things that Uncle Press had to say about Solara did nothing to change my mind. The battle against Saint Dane was no longer about a tribe or a city or a country or a world. It wasn’t even about Halla. It was about trying to stop a guy who had taken on the power of a god and was about to create his own universe. How the heck was I supposed to compete with that?
As we stood together on that mysterious world at the edge of reality, I really hoped that Uncle Press had a good answer.
“I don’t mean to criticize,” I said to my uncle. “After all, you have the combined knowledge and wisdom from all time, and I’m just a basketball jock. But, how do I say this? What the hell were you thinking? You’re trying to stop a demon who has the power to control the power of all that ever was, and you chose me to stop him? Doesn’t seem like the brightest move, if you ask me.”
“It was the only move,” Uncle Press answered.
“Then Saint Dane won before the game even began” was my conclusion.
“Not true. I’ve watched you, Bobby. I’ve seen your every move. We made the exact right move.”
“You saw it all? Everything? You know exactly what happened?”
“Everything. Solara is everywhere, remember?” “Everywhere. Right. You even saw me when I was, like, going to the bathroom?”
He gave me another sour look.
“Sorry, habit. If I don’t make fun of what’s going on sometimes, I’ll explode.” “I know that, too.”
“So if you saw everything, you know I was outmatched every step of the way. Even when I thought we’d won, he turned it back on us. It’s been totally futile.”
“But it hasn’t been. Saint Dane knew that you and the Travelers were the only threat to his plan. Stopping you was as important to him as swaying the destiny of the territories. He could have ignored you, but he didn’t.”
“He kept asking me to join him.”
“Of course he did. I think you can see why now.”
“Not exactly.”
“I know you’ve wondered how the battle was supposed to play out. What Saint Dane told you is true. He was trying to prove the rightness of his way of thinking. That was the battle. His philosophy of control and elitism, versus your thinking that people should be free to choose their own destiny.”
“Yeah? Then who the heck were we trying to convince? Is there some kind of grand judge on Solara? A panel? An executive council? The bosses of the ages, who are going to pass judgment on who won and who lost?”
“In a way you were trying to prove yourselves to the most important judges of all. The only judges that counted.”
“Who?”
“The people of Halla.” “Uh… huh?”
“Saint Dane’s plan was to turn the territories upside down. Mankind is inherently good. Saint Dane wanted to change that. He wanted to create an atmosphere of mistrust. Of constant competition and pervasive desperation and fear. On each territory he appealed to the lowest instincts of man. Greed, arrogance, self-absorption, paranoia. But for his ultimate goal to succeed, it had to happen on a universal scale. On all the worlds of Halla. That’s why he found those turning points in the histories of those worlds. He needed to find the moment in time of each territory that would have the maximum negative impact on that world. By turning a territory away from its natural destiny, which was to follow the positive instincts of man, he forced the territories into chaos. That, of course, brought out their worst. Since Solara is a reflection of mankind, the spirit of Solara changed right along with those worlds. The high thinking and positive energy that created us changed. It’s why you can barely feel the spirits of Solara. They are growing weaker and dying off. The desolate world you see now is a direct result of Saint Dane’s meddling with the nature of man.”
“So how was I supposed to stop that?”
“Not just you. You and the other Travelers. Saint Dane became a physical presence in Halla. For him it was no longer about visiting dreams and whispering guidance. Once he determined the turning points, he became part of their societies, seemingly helping them make decisions, but actually leading them toward disaster.”
“Yeah, I know all that.”
“The only way to stop him was to create our own actual presence in Halla. We took ten souls and gave them physical life. One on each territory.”
Uncle Press stopped talking. He must have seen the look on my face.
“What do you mean ‘took ten souls’?” I asked cautiously. “You’re from Solara, Bobby. All the Travelers are from Solara.”
I knew he was going to say that. It’s exactly what my parents had told me. But hearing it put so plainly was still a shocker. Maybe in the back of my mind I was hoping for another explanation, but that was just wishful thinking.
“So I’m really not Bobby Pendragon” was my sober response.
“Oh no, you are very much Bobby Pendragon. That was the whole point. We chose a strong, wise, caring spirit and gave it life on Second Earth. We created a family to raise and nurture that spirit, teaching him the ways of that world. The same happened with each of the territories. Each Traveler was given a mentor from Solara to prepare them for the conflict with Saint Dane. It’s why I became a physical being. I bounced between territories, ensuring that the Travelers were being properly prepared and ultimately telling them of their true destiny.”
“That’s why Press Tilton was born,” I said.
“Not exactly born. More like created. The only hope we had of countering Saint Dane’s influence was to do so with actual, living beings. But instead of just one, we chose ten. Saint Dane had grown too powerful; there was no way we could match what he had become with only one Traveler. Our intent was for the Travelers to bond and work against him, which is exactly what happened.”
My mind flashed to a million different questions.
“But wasn’t that just as bad as what Saint Dane was doing? I mean, the spirits of Solara aren’t supposed to monkey with reality, right?”
“You’re right. By creating the Travelers, we were also sapping the strength of Solara. In some ways what
