Albonium

Volume XIV - Fated Return

Book XXVII - False Prologue

I - Rightness and Wrongness

The nameless one was on the run. "I am running, I am running!" he told himself. "They are still after me!" He was running. That was an action, was it not? It showed that he was dangerous. It showed that he mattered!

But soon he grew tired, and when he reached a Dwarven city, of which he knew not its name, he went to the square, and near a fountain and slept there for many days. They saw him, and said, "Aye! A deformed human vagabond! Well, why should we remove him? All of us are poorer now, now that Rome will not buy our oil, and so we must find another way to become wealthy."

Then he awoke, and he looked around him, and saw the business of bakers and cobblers, laborers and urchins. And around him the air was clear and clean, and the river that flowed through the city was see-through.

He heard some dwarves say, "I wish the air was full of smoke again, and that the river was dirty again! The burning of coal and the discovery of oil brought wealth, but wealth is no longer here!"

Then he heard, "I wish one could cough happily, and that boys would be sent to labor in pits, for they would be given money, the bringer of food!"

He thought, "The dwarven were poorer than the Romans, and thus they value money!" And in his mind they seemed slightly different from men. But were they not chasers of the Ideal, as was said by Hycattus?

He had to think. If he did not think, what was he? One who was deformed? One who was a beggar? He could not be! Their lives were insignificant, for they did nothing!

"I am alone. No one is with me, my power in Rome has left me, my apostles have left me, the Elven have left me, the band of Kozlov have left me... and I continue my war because I think I will win, but everyone has left! I am the only one left, struggling with all my might, and all my will, and I believe I am significant! But no one notices me... and now I am treated as nothing but common garbage! I must talk! Maybe someone will listen."

"Once I hated Man, as he oppressed those who I thought were good. But can anyone be good? Those who are good, many of them are powerless, and of few are powerful! Those who are powerless look up to those who have power and follow what they say. The slave says, 'My master says this! Thus it is right!' And hence I viewed them as innocent. They could not make evil, for they could not will action!

"But what if the powerless gain some power, and become those who have power, but have little power? They are in the middle. They are those who say, 'I can go higher! But I still idolize those who are high, otherwise I could not say that I would be becoming higher in virtue. But many people around me are wrong, and it is I that deserves to win! Might is my greatest virtue, for it proves all my other virtues. I love might!' And for the middle, or for anyone who has power but does not have absolute power that cannot be threatened in any way, they must love might!

"But what of those who have absolute power? What of the high? But I do not speak simply of those who are rich. Those who are rich can compete and become richer! I speak of the supreme tyrants, or those of an oligarchy of the highest order. They have no one else to chase! No one is above them except each other. And if they overcome each other, what will they accomplish? What is the meaning of might? It must be policy! One argues against another and seeks to win, for one seeks to change something, or let something stay the same.

"But how is policy determined as good or ill? They must follow the Ideal, as said by Hycattus! They ascribe virtues above them, and say, "I will ascend to these virtues!" But they also must define these virtues. How can one be strong if one can point to no one that is strong? If I said, 'I want to grow tall!' and I could not point to anyone else of any height as tall, how could I say I am tall? I can only say I have grown taller, but I could still be short, tall, or average!