3184 - State of Siege

N. Lygeros
Translated from the French by Vicky Baklessi

The encounter with the Jew and the Russian had occurred during one of those sleepless nights that humanity had eventually named pogrom. They were friends of long standing and the irrationality of the mass hadn’t not broken this relation. They had fled together to join the Master of Time in Vienna. It was there that for the first time they had been able to speak to him. Even if it was not exactly that because the knight without armor communicated only in thought. He was there to help the men to hold the first siege. He knew that this was only the beginning and that he would certainly have to come a second time to finish the beast. However, it was also a work of mental preparation for his disciples. They had to learn the art of war because they knew only that of combat. And this time a battle was no longer enough to repel the enemy. There was a need for an overall strategy. But no civilization was ready for that. One had to learn to become a fighter as one had to learn to become human. Only this time only the ones being too humane would resist the charge and yet it was incommensurate with what the Master of Time and his disciples should face in the century of crimes. Then he had the Jew and the Russian come to complete their training. They had to analyze the devious tactics of the enemy to transcend the code of chivalry. It was only in this way that they would manage to resist the fire of massive and systematic destruction. No one could transcribe anything they had acquired during this siege. The important thing was not there. They now had to go back to find the others in the battle of the trenches so that their epic would begin. The Master remained in Vienna for the second siege. His men already knew what they had to accomplish as a mission while the others knew only the fate of the victims. How many innocents for a single barbarian? How many Just for a single act? No one dared to count. Only the Master of time, like a real war machine, kept putting a name on each victim. It was a necessity for memory. Otherwise it would not belong to Mankind and Time. If the knight without armor had become ocean, it was better to bear the tears of the world. If the Master of time did not look at space, it was to better see Humanity. Beyond the limits of each society, he contemplated only the horizon. For he knew that there was the meaning of his death there.