Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

Richard cut the corner without slowing, aiming his march through the center of the huge double doors that stood open into the exquisite library. Heavy oak mullions crosshatched in the doors divided them into a dozen glass panes each. There were shelves to the ceiling on the thirty-foot back wall of the library, with ladders that rode on brass rails to provide access. Massive mahogany pillars stood gleaming in the streamers of sunlight coming in from high windows. But down low, the light was more gloomy and had to be cut with lamps.

An enormous mahogany table with turned legs that were each bigger around than Richard sat opposite the doors. To each side pillars rose to support vaults overhead. The ends of the room to the far left and right were left to the shadows.

Ann looked astonished. "Richard! What are you doing here? You are supposed to be with our troops."

Richard ignored her as he grasped the red leather book he had tucked under an arm. He used the book like a broom to sweep aside the sprawl of books laid before them, creating a broad, polished, empty spot before the three gifted people.

Richard tossed the red, leather-bound book on table. It made a smacking sound that echoed almost like a clap of thunder.

The gold lettering, Chainfire, gleamed in the gloom.

"What's this?" Zedd asked in dismay.

"Proof," Richard said. "Part of it anyway. I promised to bring back proof."

"It's an ancient book," Nicci told them. "A formula for creating what is called a Chainfire event."

Zedd's hazel eyes turned up. "What is a Chainfire event?"

"The end of the world as we know it," Richard said with grim finality. "What they were doing turned out to inadvertently involve an attempt to create a contradiction, violating the Ninth Rule. They finally realized that if anyone ever actually undertook to initiate a Chainfire event, it would have cataclysmic consequences."

Nathan frowned at Nicci, apparently hoping for a little more wisdom and experience from a former Sister. "What is he talking about?"

"Wizards in ancient times came up with a new theory on how to alter memory with Subtractive power, with all the resulting disconnected parts spontaneously reconstructed independently of one another-the creation of erroneous memory to fill in the voids that had been destroyed. They were studying the theory of how to make an individual disappear to everyone else by making people forget this person, even as soon as they've just seen them. Even as they look at them.

"It unravels people's memory of the subject, but it was discovered that the ignition of such an event starts a cascade that can't be predicted or controlled. Much like a wildfire, it continues to burn through links with others whose memory has not been altered. It eventually unravels the world of life itself."

"And the prophecy worm?" Richard asked. "It may be real, but the cause of the prophecy vanishing this time is Chainfire. As part of the process, the person who initiates the event also fills in a void in prophecy, a place left blank by a prophet for future work. This gap is filled in with a completing prophecy which has the Chainfire formula invested in it. A Chainfire event thus infects and consumes all the associated prophecy on the branch, starting with related prophecy, either in subject or in chronology-in this case both: Kahlan. Thus, she is also wiped out of prophecy by what is called the Chainfire corollary."

Nathan sat down heavily. "Dear spirits."

Ann, hands in her opposite sleeves, did not look pleased or impressed. "All well and good, and we will have to study this book and see if anything you've come up with even begins to make sense.

"But that book is not the immediate problem.

"You should have stayed with our men. You must lead our troops in the final battle. You must return at once. Prophecy is quite clear. Prophecy says that if you fail to do this, the world will fall under the shadow."

Richard ignored Ann and met his grandfather's gaze. "Guess what the counter is to a Chainfire event."

Zedd shrugged, looking puzzled by Richard's line of questioning. "How would I know?"

"There is only one. It was created specifically for this purpose."

"What was?" Zedd asked.

"The boxes of Orden."

Zedd's mouth fell open. "Richard, that just isn't.»

Richard reached into his pocket and pulled out what he had brought. He slammed it down on the table before the three of them.

Zedd's eyes went wide. "Bags, Richard, that's a snake vine."

"You may recall from The Book of Counted Shadows: And when the three boxes of Orden are put into play, the snake vine shall grow."

"But, but," Zedd stammered, "the boxes of Orden are in the Garden of Life, in the People's Palace, under incredibly heavy guard."

"Not only that," Nathan put in, "but I personally equipped the men of the First File with weapons that are deadly even against the gifted. No one could get in there."

"I agree," Zedd insisted. "It's impossible."