JoaoPerspectiveJoao's PerspectiveFrom the journal of Joao Galitzin I never thought I would find the need or desire to keep a journal. However, recent events in my life, events that I never could have anticipated or even imagined have given me the impetus to put some of this down on paper. True, this may be a record of events that could serve as a testimonial, should the dangerous half world I have stepped into prove fatal. It certainly has proved dangerous. Let me introduce myself, in case someone finds this in some future time, some strange space. I suppose at the very least this is practice in writing that will make me a better student at Faiella University. A student there is what I am, amongst other things. I am the heir to a Baronial family in Rebma. Galtzin. If you know anything about Rebman politics, you have heard of my family, and my mother, the Dowager Baroness. I don’t really have the inclination to explain just how the politics of Rebma works here, but as matters come up, I may discuss it. While Rebman politics can be deadly, they aren’t as deadly as the matter that has caused me to take up this journal. Call it the Darkest Hour. I don’t know yet if it has any real or official name. It all started with a date that took an unexpected turn. Caer is a Princess of Amber. My mother, who often considers me a stallion to be bred to the best mare (to be fair, that is the standard view in Rebma for men, even noble born ones) was inordinately pleased that I had a relationship with her. It was a tempestuous one to be sure. Spirited and willful and unpredictable are definitely three adjectives to describe her. So, I had managed to score two tickets to the Crown Theatre’s Brightblade performance. Balcony seats. Don’t ask what I had to go through to get them. I headed to Caer’s dorm, hoping to impress her and keep our relationship percolating along. I was disappointed to find, from her roommate, that she had decided to light out for Shadow (she is a Princes s of Amber after all) and gave up on University. I had two tickets to the performance, and rejected in the bargain. So there was Raina. That’s was Caer’s roommate. I had an extra ticket. She had an obvious interest. Taking her, even if she wasn’t the match my mother hoped for, seemed the best resolution to the situation and the use of the ticket. It also put us together for the event that changed my life, and hers, too. At exactly midnight, during a break in the performance, the world changed around Raina and I. Time stopped for everyone, turning them into immobile coffins. The appearance of the world appeared to be changed too, to a much more gothic and oppressive sort of environment. The entire changed world seemed to stop for an Hour, a Darkest Hour, save for herself and I. And the creatures within that hour. It seems that within this Darkest Hour, creatures inhabit that time and space, hunting and seeking any who are Awakened. Raina and I faced such a creature. We defeated it, thanks to the timely aid of another discovery. In the reflections in a mirror, we each had a double, a doppelganger of sorts, a ghost of the past. These ghosts, with agendas, thoughts, ideas and opinions of their own, nevertheless aided us in defeating the creature. I think, at the time, they seemed as confused about the strange connection as we were. When the Hour ended, everything returned to normal, our connection to the doppelgangers was severed, and no one was the wiser that we had experienced an extra hour of time. Every night since, both Raina and I have shared the experience of this extra Darkest Hour This incident bonded Raina and I in a way that I still cannot confess to my mother. She thinks that I have taken pity on her, a golden datinoid for my aquarium. In truth, our shared experience has helped forge and keep forged an unlikely relationship that I find that I cannot live without. The experience with Raina, however, was just the beginning. In January the following year, I met and bonded with the exotic pink-haired Rusalka, a member of House Cardovan and the Princess Florimel Sorority Sisters . I discovered that she, too, shared Raina and my experiences with the Darkest Hour. I also learned something new and dread during my experience with her—not only did she have a doppelganger, but unlike mine, I recognized hers for who she was. You see, I had met her doppelganger, Queen Coral, when she was alive, and now as a ghost, dead, I named her as such, aloud and open. This caused a sea change in the nature of Rusalka’s relationship with her doppelganger, one that my declaration inadvertently made me a midwife for. I dread now the experience of finding out who is my doppelganger, for while she seemed no worse the wear afterward, the experience itself was terrifying. And I was only a witness, and not Rusalka herself! Next was Gillian. I think Gillian is the smartest of those who are bonded to this Darkest Hour, even as she is probably the shyest. At the very least, she has the magic skills and knowledge that is top tier amongst our group, and it is those magical skills that might save us all, yet. Raina and I met her as part of a magical project at the University, for which she was team leader for the three of us. With the help of a new friend, a member simultaneously of the Court of Amber and of the Courts of Chaos, Seabhac, we journeyed to Corilaine in search of some of the ingredients needed to perfect our magical project. It was a unique method of transport that brought us to Corilaine, one I am still trying to understand. Once there, Raina had an experience with a site sacred and sanctified by her doppelganger, discovering who and what she was—Sand. Finally, there was Cole. I confess, diary that I was not entirely truthful with Cole. I am truthful with you. My encounter with Cole was not entirely the accident that it seemed to be, but rather somewhat orchestrated thanks to the machinations of my mother. Rebman politics, again, and probably even deeper than what she allowed me privy to. In fact, I am pretty sure that my Mother did not tell me a tenth of what she planned. Although, I admit, a tenth is more than the hundredth or thousandth that I usually have deduced in the past. Still, despite a slightly artificial meeting, suffice it to say that I found Cole a boon companion, and thus discovered yet another who has seen the Darkest Hour. And, together, we discovered a new property of the Darkest Hour—its seemingly limited geography around Amber. So what does the future hold? I don’t know, Diary, although I expect that in these pages, it will unfold—if I survive that is. I suspect that I will soon discover my own doppleganger’s true nature, and that I will meet and discover more Awakened. In a conversation with Cole, I told him that I thought that Castle Amber was the epicenter of what was happening. The fact that two of the doppelgangers are deceased scions of that family, compared with the amazing transformation that the Castle undergoes every night during the Darkest Hour, and finally, the existence of the Pattern itself has led me to believe that a visit to Castle Amber during that time will be informative, if not dangerous. And there is the budding relationship with Raina, relationships with Rusalka, Cole and Gillian, the Rebmans of the Berehynia, especially the formidable Kapitan Lorna, and many, many others. These are twisted riptide currents that I seem to be swimming within. Finally, I have to pass all of my classes! It looks like its going to be an interesting school year. |
