Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #12 March 2015 | Page 61

Sundering. That meant there were many versions of
me spread through the multiverse, unlike wizards who
were returned to Melasurej and were not duplicated.
You’ve already met one of them!”
“Exactly how old are you?” Simon interrupted.
“Well, you know that elves have very long life spans.
Dwarves, on the other hand live only for about two
hundred years. My father died when I was a child. I
remember little about him, just a few memories of
him bouncing me on his knee and me pulling on his
long grey beard. And I remember his smell.” Jhamed
paused for a moment and Simon thought he saw a tear
in his eye. Jhamed didn’t know his father either.
“My mother lived a long life. She was already very
old when I was born, but she lived for nearly another
five thousand years. Thankfully, she died before the
dark ages began. I grew and developed very slowly.
Manfred says that I am a creature of the Balance and
have inherited a lifespan that approaches or exceeds
that of wizards. When my mother died, Manfred took
me under his wing. I was really still a naïve youth at
that stage. When he was exiled, I went with him and
we spent many years wandering FirstWorld, doing
what we could to preserve the Balance. Eventually, we
returned to Wizards’ Keep. Nearly all of the wizards
had passed to stone. The Keep was in disarray. We
worked hard to re-establish it and Manfred began to
study the ancien Ёѕ