3173 - Fascinating voices

N. Lygeros
Translated from the French by Vicky Baklessi

Who could hear the work of the Master? That was the question that the effigies asked themselves during the crossing of the centuries. They had felt the presence and the absence of numerous societies who believed the ones to be more important than others. However they had been incapable of influencing the evolution of Humanity in any way. Only some fascinating voices had managed to touch Humanity. That was how they heard the work of time through the stone of the crypt. Nothing superficial and undignified could leave a trace on their petrified bodies. The Master had taught them to understand the meaning through listening to the sounds. Societies were but of noise which the temporal wind hastened to take away from here. They remembered again despite the passage of the centuries the lessons of the Master on the art of listening. It was the only means to seize the thoughts of men and women. While the people made a lot of noise for nothing. Only that they were so little to know this didn’t upset anyone. It was for this reason that it was difficult to hear the human pain. While the Master of Time heard but only that. He was capable of making an abstraction of all the rest. The fascinating voices, as the effigies said, who had crossed the centuries so to be heard. All five of them were the memory of the Master and he was their future. Only that they had to meet after several centuries within a time that only the Master knew. They had to meet him thanks to the fascinating voices. They were listening to the world but the fascinating voices were slow in coming. However they had to make themselves ready because this time could arrive at any instant. It was as if they were waiting the beginning of music because within time they remained blind. That was the reason for the presence of the codex. Their assembly allowed locating the knight without armor. Meanwhile, they continued exchanging their thoughts on the world. So the Master could listen to them at every moment. It was their fascinating voices that gave courage to the Master when the task was too harsh. He knew that he would call on them as the worst moments when barbarity would commit a crime against Humanity. But not before because he needed all of their strength to resist the shock. If they were effigies it was to die better. If he were dead it was to live a little more. Just enough for the great battle. It was no longer about a simple tournament but about a real jouste. A sole civilization would support the attack of annihilation and he had to be there. He had prepared for this and has placed his traps and issues within time because the violence of the shock would be such that even a requiem would not support it.