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He held the watch long into the night, letting the others sleep He did not kno late it hen he suddenly realized a fog had risen Close to the ground it lay, thick,to huher up, it still shrouded the land around the except the nearest trees Theat all could coht up to theainstswirled around Rand’s feet as he spun, the sword coht before him The void leaped up inside hiht of saidin

A shadowy figure drew nearer through thewith a tall staff Behind it, as if the shadow’s shadoere vast, the fog darkened till it was blacker than night Rand’s skin crawled Closer the figure caloved in black, with a black silkhis face, and the shadow came with it His staff was black, too, as if the wood had been charred, yet sht For an instant the eyeholes of the lowed, as if fires stood behind them rather than eyes, but Rand did not need that to knoho it was

"Ba’alzamon," he breathed "This is a dreahed like the roar of an open furnace "You always try to deny what is, Lews Therin If I stretch out my hand, I can touch you, Kinslayer I can always touch you Always and everywhere"

"I aon! My name is Rand al’--!" Rand clamped his teeth shut to stop himself

"Oh, I know the name you use nos Therin I know every na before you were even the Kinslayer" Ba’alzaan to rise in intensity; soh that Rand could see thes in the silk mask, see them like endless seas of flame "I know you, know your blood and your line back to the first spark of life that ever was, back to the First Moether as surely as two sides of the same coin Ordinary men may hide in the sweep of the Pattern, but ta’veren stand out like beacon fires on a hill, and you, you stand out as if ten thousand shining arrows stood in the sky to point you out! You are mine, and ever in reach of ed Despite the void, his tongue wanted to cleave to the roof of his ht skittered outside the emptiness Even one of those drea in front of me The Dark One is sealed in Shayol Ghul, sealed by the Creator at the moment of CreationHe knew too much of the truth for it to help "You’re well named! If you could just take ht, and you cannot touch me!"

Ba’alzamon leaned on his staff and looked at Rand adown at the, Rand saw -- he ray mist did not swirl and eddy around his feet as it did around Rand’s That gave him heart Perhaps Ba’alzamon really was not there Perhaps it was a dream

"You find odd followers," Ba’alzairl who tries to watch over you A poor guardian and weak, Kinslayer If she had a lifetih for you to hide behind"

Girl? Who? Moiraine is surely not a girl "I don’t knohat you are talking about, Father of Lies You lie, and lie, and even when you tell the truth, you twist it to a lie"

"Do I, Lews Therin? You knohat you are, who you are I have told you And so have those woave a laugh, like a small thunderclap "They think themselves safe in their White Tower, but my followers number even some of their own The Aes Sedai called Moiraine told you who you are, did she not? Did she lie? Or is she one of mine? The White Tower means to use you like a hound on a leash Do I lie? Do I lie when I say you seek the Horn of Valere?" He laughed again; calm of the void or no, it was all Rand could do not to cover his ears "So that they become allies and never realize it They think they strike at you, but they have becouided the blow yourself"

"You don’t guide s tied to you, Kinslayer, each one finer than silk and stronger than steel Time has tied a thousand cords between us The battle o have fought -- do you re that we have fought before, battles without nu of Time? I know much that you do not! That battle will soon end The Last Battle is co The last, Lews Therin Do you really think you can avoid it? You poor, shivering worm You will serve in aneith your death The grave belongs to the Great Lord of the Dark This time if you die, you will be destroyed utterly This time the Wheel will be broken whatever you do, and the world remade to a new mold Serve me! Serve Shai’tan, or be destroyed forever!"

With the utterance of that name, the air seemed to thicken The darkness behind Ba’alza Rand felt it engulfing him, colder than ice and hotter than coals both at the sa hiripped his sword hilt till his knuckles hurt "I deny you, and I deny your power I walk in the Light The Light preserves us, and we shelter in the palm of the Creator’s hand" He blinked Ba’alza behind him, but it was as if all the rest had been illusion

"Do you want to see my face?" It was a whisper

Rand sed "No"

"You should" A gloved hand went to the black mask

"No!"

The mask came away It was a ed, red crevices crossing those features, the skin looked healthy and smooth Dark eyes looked at Rand; cruel lips smiled with a flash of white teeth "Look at me, Kinslayer, and see the hundredth part of your own fate" For a moment eyes and mouth became doorways into endless caverns of fire "This is what the Power unchecked can do, even to reater power It will burn you like a moth fly