"Ohh." "Seeker?" "Our prayers have been answered." "What happened to these people?" "They're calling it Keeper's Blight." "Please, be careful." "It only takes one touch to pass it on." "Rumor is, it was brought to our world by banelings." "Who needs a knife when you can kill with your fingertips?" "The sick come here 'cause they believe that the Monument of Ardris has the power to heal them." "Most perish within days." "Zedd, maybe the compass led us here so we can help them." "Zedd?" "This blight..." "It's indeed fueled by powerful black magic." "If I try to absorb it, it'll kill me." "No, don't, you'll be killed!" "You healed him." "Who are you?" "I am the Creator." "All will rejoice in my light." "If she's the Creator, I'm the Queen of Tamarang." "She's healing people I couldn't." "Maybe, but the Creator lives in the Spirit World." "This woman is flesh and blood." "I'm going to find out who she really is." "Kahlan, be careful." "Whoever she is, she's very powerful." "May I speak with you." "Of course, Kahlan." "I miss our talks." "I beg your pardon?" "You used to pray to me to take care of your mother after she died." "And to protect your sister from your father's brutality." "So many pray for selfish reasons, Kahlan, but never you." "It's so hard to believe." "Faith is hard." "It is all right to have doubts." "You wouldn't be the Mother Confessor if you weren't inquisitive." "You're wondering, if I am who I say I am, why haven't I come to this world sooner?" "Why have I allowed so much suffering?" "The thought did cross my mind." "I wish I could wave this hand and make the darkness go away." "The Keeper is as powerful as I am." "And now that the veil has been torn, he's growing stronger." "If you are the Creator, you could tell us where to find the Stone of Tears." "Even the Stone of Tears won't save you if I don't first destroy the Keeper's most powerful servant." "Who?" "Richard Rahl." "Richard isn't a servant of the Keeper." "The Keeper is devious." "He hides his servants well." "But Richard's actions clearly show him to be an enemy of the Light." "But everything he's done" "Has secretly been to serve the Keeper." "I don't believe that." "Your love for Richard blinds you to his true nature, Kahlan." "Just as my love for the Keeper once blinded me." "You know my story." "Your mother taught it to you." "Yes." "In a time before remembering, the Keeper's love for the Creator brought our world into being." "People were made in their image, perfect and immortal." "But the Keeper soon grew jealous of the Creator's love for her children." "He made your kind mortal, so he could murder our firstborn." "He betrayed me, brought death and suffering to the world we had created." "I wept." "So profound was my grief that it took shape." "The Stone of Tears." "I used it to banish the one I had loved, trapping him in the Underworld for eternity." "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do." "Just as seeing Richard's true nature will be the hardest thing you've ever done." "I could have simply destroyed Richard." "But before I do, I need you and the First Wizard to see the truth." "So that he will name a new Seeker, and you will agree to come with me to a place where you'll be protected." "It is the only way to ensure my Prophecy." ""As long as the Mother Confessor's pure heart beats, the Keeper is doomed to fail."" "People believe in Richard." "He's the only one who's fought for them in a very long time." "And many of them wonder, as I often have, if the Creator has abandoned them." "If you destroy Richard without giving him a chance to defend himself, the people may turn against you." "Please." "Please." "Give me a chance to show you that his heart and his motives are pure." "You're very important to me, Kahlan." "You always have been." "If it will help you and others accept my decision, then I will hear what you have to say." "Ah, thank you." "But the Seeker will face judgment." "It's a trick." "For all we know, she's an agent of the Keeper sent to destroy Richard." "She's telling the truth." "Or at least she believes what she's saying." "You can't even read a Mord-Sith." "Yet somehow you know what a woman this powerful is thinking?" "There's more to it." "She knows things." "We should leave." "Now." "Resume the search for the Stone." "I can't let Richard find the Stone." "I've quelled the magic of the compass." "Forget the compass." "Go." "I can repel her magic." "I don't want to harm you, Wizard." "Zedd, no!" "She may be strong enough to kill you both." "And if we run, the people will believe what she's saying about me." "They'll turn against me, and we'll never find the Stone." "I've made mistakes, but I'm not an agent of the Keeper." "I don't know if you're the Creator or not, but I'm not afraid to be judged by anyone." "Richard Rahl, you claim to serve the Light." "Tell us, how have you done so?" "I found the Boxes of Orden." "And used them to kill the tyrant Darken Rahl." "You say that in destroying Darken Rahl, you were serving me, but tell us, Richard, what was the result of Rahl's death?" "This crack in the earth, it's a tear in the veil that separates the Underworld from the World of the Living." "How could this have happened?" "In all my years as a Wizard," "I've only known one form of magic strong enough to tear the veil." "The Power of Orden" "This happened when I killed Rahl, when the Boxes of Orden exploded." "As long as it's open, there's no way to prevent the Keeper of the Underworld, the great enemy of all that walks, breathes, and grows in the Light, from sending his minions to bring death" "to every living thing." "Creatures from the Underworld, banelings returning from the dead to terrorize the living." "How many of you were aware it was the Seeker who unleashed these horrors upon the world?" "I didn't do it intentionally." "And I've sworn to find the Stone." "And if you should find it, what will you do with it?" "Use it to seal the rift." "Are you aware of a Prophecy that says otherwise?" "Yes." ""In the time of the tearing of the veil," ""should the son of Brennidon seek the sacred stone," ""he will find it, only to deliver it to the Enemy of the Light."" "The Creator herself gives us these Prophecies to guide our actions." "And yet you continue your search for the Stone." "I don't believe in Prophecy." "The Prophecy comes from me." "Are you saying you don't believe in the Creator?" "Open your shirt." "Tell everyone what that is." "It's the Mark of the Keeper." "How did you receive it?" "You are for the Keeper." "What did Rahl mean," ""You are for the Keeper"?" "Maybe Rahl marked him because he wanted the Creator to believe that Richard had turned against her." "If you really are she, apparently his plan is working." "The Mark is only bestowed upon the Keeper's most loyal servants." "Maia!" "Thank the Spirits!" "I heard the Creator had returned and knew in my heart it must be you." "Who are you?" "I'm her mother." "It is wonderful to see you again, Mother." "You have a mother?" "I was born into this world as all of you were." "You say you're here to destroy Richard, but he would've been just a child when you were born." "I could foresee the horrors that will one day threaten the world." "So 20 years ago, I caused myself to be born to this woman, knowing my divine strength would manifest when I needed it." "That's absurd." "What do you mean, "manifest"?" "This mortal body couldn't contain my powers until it came of age." "Creator, more people suffering from the blight have come for you to heal them." "As soon as I've done so, we will resume." "I always knew one day she would embrace her divinity." "She doubted it?" "It was a heavy burden for a young girl." "She wanted to be like everyone else." "But I always knew my daughter was the living incarnation of the Creator." "The truth came to me in a vision before she was born." "When did you see her last?" "Two summers ago." "She ran off with a boy from our village, Jason." "The Creator ran off with a boy..." "She was at that age." "I knew I had to let her go, and have faith that one day she would see the truth." "And now she has." "And where is Jason?" "They lived in a cabin south of Rivermore." "Please excuse me." "I want to be with my daughter." "My Creator." "They're both mad." "Maybe so." "Find this Jason." "Mm." "You've left a trail of corpses in your search for the Stone, and yet you continue to kill, knowing that every soul you send to the Keeper makes him more powerful." "I only kill to protect my friends or other innocent people." "And even then, I only do it when there's no other choice." "So you've never killed for any other reason?" "Or when you could have defeated an enemy some other way?" "Yes, once..." "But I wasn't myself." "You could've taken those men prisoner, but instead you slaughtered them." "They were slavers and murderers." "And it wasn't Richard's fault." "He was possessed by an ancient spell, and I taught him to control it." "Who dragged you into this fight?" "Who are you angry at?" "You." "Now we're getting somewhere." "All those years, you knew who I was and you said nothing." "You lied to me about being my grandfather." "You weren't ready for the truth." "You took me out of Hartland." "You named me the Seeker." "You're the one who gave me this damned Sword!" "Richard, no!" "No." "He has to stop himself." "Ahh!" "Uh." "Uh." "He may have refrained from killing you, but that doesn't change the fact that he sent slavers and murderers to the Underworld to join the Keeper's army of souls." "Only because of the magic that possessed him." "But he was strong enough to overcome it." "So you were convinced it was over, that Richard would never again succumb to his rage?" "It's okay, Zedd." "We're here to tell the truth." "I did have some doubts." "Kahlan, there's part of the Minders' story" "I didn't tell him." "Canton Rahl, the man who first put the spell on the Minders, wasn't always bloodthirsty." "He started out as a protector and benefactor to his people." "But then as his powers grew, he began to fight and to kill, and the more he killed, the more the blood lust overtook him." "He went mad with it." "And now we know that darkness is in Richard." "But Richard learned to control the Sword." "He mastered his rage." "Yes." "He controlled the Sword today." "But what about tomorrow?" "But my doubts were fleeting." "I am convinced that any rage Richard may still carry will never again get the better of him." "How can you be so sure?" "Because I've given up the magic that fueled my anger." "Tell us how you did that." "Say the words with me." "Uh!" "You were the most powerful wizard born in 3000 years, yet you gave your powers to someone you hardly knew." "The magic would have killed me." "I didn't have a choice." "You could have stayed at the Palace of the Prophets, mastered your wizard powers, learned how to use them to serve me." "The Sisters of the Light told you this, but you didn't listen." "They lied to me." "Because they were afraid you would resume your mission in service of the Keeper, which is exactly what happened." "I don't serve the Keeper." "No?" "Tell us." "This woman you gave your powers to." "Is she a Sister of the Light?" "No, she's a Sister of the Dark." "And whom do the Sisters of the Dark serve?" "The Keeper." "You knew this, and yet you still gave this woman your powers." "I made sure she couldn't keep using them." "Now the Sisters won't be able to follow you." "All that power." "Useless." "With the rada'han around her neck, she couldn't use my magic." "So she was never able to harm anyone, ever again?" "No." "She escaped." "I don't know how." "I do." "The Keeper has agents everywhere, and not all of them walk on two legs." "Your magic, your han, was a divine gift from me, but you gave it willingly to a Sister of the Dark." "How can you expect us to believe that you are not an agent of the Keeper?" "Richard." "Hey, what are you thinking?" "Honestly?" "Yeah." "I'm thinking maybe the Prophecy is true." "Maybe I'll fail." "You've always said you don't believe in Prophecy." "There was a Prophecy that said I'd defeat Rahl." "Maybe I can't ignore this one just because I don't like what it says about me." "Richard, this woman," "I don't know if she is the Creator or some kind of charlatan." "Cara's trying to find out." "But whoever she is, tomorrow, we're going to tell your side of the story." "She and everyone else here is going to see what I have never doubted." "Your heart is pure." "You are and always will be on the side of good." "What if I'm not?" "How can you say that?" "I'd never willfully do the Keeper's bidding." "But what if I'm serving him without even realizing it." "Maybe that's what this is." "Some way of controlling me." "Making me think the wrong decision is the right one." "Maybe I'm an agent of the Keeper and I don't even know it." "Hello?" "Jason?" "I'm guessing you're Jason." "Are you going to kill me too?" "Not if you tell me the truth about Maia." "What a pleasure this is." "It's not often I'm fortunate enough to enjoy the company of two such devout Sisters of the Light." "I would offer you the chance to return to the world as banelings, but alas, you're both far too pious to accept the Keeper's generous proposal." "Do your worst to us, Darken Rahl." "You and your Master will soon be finished, now that the Creator has returned to defeat all those who serve the Darkness." "Returned?" "How?" "Where?" "You will soon learn everything." "But not from us." "Then allow me to loosen your tongues." "The Seeker is an agent of light and justice." "And I have faith that every one of you will soon shed any doubts that you may have about him." "Every one of you." "No one has slain more of the Keeper's servants than Richard." "Perhaps most terrifying of all was a creature known as a screeling." "Tell us what happened when one of them crawled out of the rift." "It attacked the people of Ehrengard." "Hey!" "You wanna rip somebody's head off, take mine!" "Ahh!" "Uh, Zedd, now!" "Ah." "Richard killed the Keeper's pet, but the Keeper has many fearsome servants." "I'm sure by now you all know about banelings." "Ordinary people, men, women, even children who have died but agreed to kill for the Keeper every day in exchange for a second life." "Tell us about the first time you encountered this horrible new enemy." "It was at a place called Tothrayne." "Uhh!" "They've all gone!" "Not all of us." "Welcome back to Tothrayne." "Ahh!" "Ahh!" "Why would the Seeker have slaughtered so many of the Keeper's minions if he himself were an agent of the Keeper?" "What better way for Richard to gain the trust of t Mother Confessor and the First Wizard than to slay a few of the Keeper's pawns?" "You may have destroyed a few banelings, but isn't it true that there are thousands of them wandering the land, biding their time until they can make their next kill?" "Lord Rahl." "How may I serve you?" "I've been told that the Creator has returned to the World of the Living as flesh and blood." "I'm instructing all my banelings to search for her." "If it's true, she shouldn't be hard to find." "Surely the deluded masses will be abuzz with the news of her arrival." "I will try to find her, My Lord." "But if it is true, she will be trying to seal us back in the Underworld for all eternity." "If the Creator has been foolish enough to return in a mortal body, then she is vulnerable, and it is I who shall extinguish Her Light for all eternity." "Tell us, Seeker, have you seen Darken Rahl again, since the day he marked you?" "Yes." "In the Underworld." "And how did you come to be there?" "I was killed." "Goodbye, Seeker." "And when I opened my eyes," "I was in a sea of dead souls." "How wonderful to see you again, my brother." "Welcome to the Underworld." "And what did he say to you?" "He made me an offer." "Become a baneling." "Return to your body before it's too late." "You're a fool if you think I'm going to kill to serve the Keeper." "You've already killed enough people to earn yourself a place of honor here." "What difference will a few more make?" "I won't do the Keeper's bidding." "You do the Keeper's bidding every time you take a life." "The reason you kill doesn't make a difference." "You want to see your beloved Kahlan again, don't you?" "Kahlan will go on without me, and so will Zedd." "He'll name a new Seeker." "They'll find the Stone of Tears and seal the rift, and you and your master will be trapped in this pit forever." "Why would the Seeker turn down an offer for a second chance at life if he is now, and was then, an agent of the Keeper?" "We have only Richard's word for what he and his brother said to each other that day." "Even I cannot see into the realm of Death." "Would you have us believe that Richard accepted Rahl's offer?" "That he is a baneling?" "No, the Keeper and his agents are too clever." "They knew Richard would be brought back to the world of the living by other means." "Tell us how it is that the Seeker is standing here again today" "We used magic to revive him." "Richard?" "Richard didn't need to become a baneling because he knew the people he had tricked into loving him would stop at nothing to bring him back." "You have revealed through Prophecy that" ""As long as the Mother Confessor's pure heart beats, the Keeper is doomed to fail."" "I have." "Then it stands to reason that if the Seeker were an agent of the Keeper, he would have killed the Mother Confessor as so many of the Keeper's minions have tried to do." "And yet, the Seeker has done precisely the opposite." "Tell us, Mother Confessor, how many times has the Seeker saved your life?" "More times than I can remember." "The first was the day we met." "Stay back!" "Shoot her." "Ahh!" "Leave her alone!" "He saved me again at Tothrayne." "Uh!" "He did it again at Stowecroft." "The Mother Confessor's word is final." "These heroic deeds you describe, they all happened before I revealed my Prophecy." "Even after the Prophecy was known to him, the Seeker protected the Mother Confessor's life when it was threatened by a Sister of the Dark." "If you don't do as I say, the Mother Confessor will die." "We can't let her do this." "She's using my life as a weapon against you." "Right now, we don't have a choice." "Zedd will find a way to undo the spell." "Whatever happens, do not let her get the stone." "I won't let anything happen to you." "So you left the Mother Confessor to go with a Sister of the Dark." "Why?" "She cast a maternity spell." "Anything that would happen to the Sister would happen to Kahlan." "I had to protect her." "Then you found a way to remove the spell?" "No." "Zedd did." "So it was in fact the First Wizard who saved the Mother Confessor's life while you used a pretext to spend days alone with a Sister of the Dark." "You're twisting everything I say!" "If Richard were working for the Keeper, why hasn't he simply run me through with his Sword?" "Because he needs your help to find the Stone." "But if I allow him to find it, he will no doubt kill you, deliver the Stone to the Keeper, and the World will be lost." "Richard!" "Kahlan!" "Don't listen to her." "This woman is a fraud." "This man is Maia's husband." "They were living a quiet life until the Sisters of the Light abducted her." "I went with them willingly." "Because they put some kind of spell on you, Maia." "That's not true, Jason." "The Sisters are my most devoted servants." "Is that why they were holding Jason prisoner and tried to kill me?" "They were protecting Jason, helping him accept my Light." "Jason, tell us about your life with Maia." "We were so happy until they came." "Creator." "At last we've found you." "This is madness!" "The Sacred Scrolls told us we would find you in this province on this day, and here you are." "Get out of our house!" "We both knew this day might come." "Because of your mother's visions." "She's out of her mind, you told me so yourself." "I tried to deny it, but I can see now I was wrong." "These Sisters have come for me, just as my mother always said they would." "Maia, you're not the Creator, you're my wife." "I don't know what kind of spell they've put on you, but I won't let you go." "Creator, I know you love this man as you love all your children." "And it would be dangerous for him if he tried to follow us." "Perhaps one of my Sisters and I should stay behind, watch over him, help him to accept the truth of who you really are." "Maia?" "I'm sorry, Jason, but I must go with them." "The fate of the world I created depends on it." "Maia." "Maia." "Jason, before that day, have you ever seen Maia use magic?" "No." "She was an ordinary girl." "So how does an ordinary girl suddenly become the Creator?" "I told you, my divine strength could not manifest until my body was mature enough to contain it." "So tell us, did the Sisters of the Light help you manifest this divine strength?" "Yes, exactly as the ancient scrolls predicted." "The scrolls also tell us you are to destroy the Keeper's deadliest servant, the Seeker." "Destroy the Seeker?" "Why?" "We tried to show Richard the path to your light, but he refused us." "You are the only one who will have the power to stop him." "What power are you talking about, Prelate?" "I don't have any magic." "This has always been the holy purpose of the Sisters of the Light." "For centuries, we have been gathering the most powerful han in the world, preparing for this day when we would return that power to its divine source." "You." "One by one, the Sisters surrendered their han to me." "How many of them gave you their magic?" "All of them." "You're not the Creator." "The Sisters of the Light created you." "The Prelate lied to you, just like she lied to Richard." "Silence." "There is another agent of the Keeper among us." "Baneling!" "Zedd!" "Ahh!" "You have nothing to fear." "Now that I have returned, all the servants of the Keeper will be destroyed." "All of them." "I sincerely hope your demise was not in vain, Drago." "No, My Lord." "I found her." "The Creator." "You're certain?" "Yes." "She's at the Monument of Ardris." "She's there to pass judgment on the Seeker." "The Creator, are you certain?" "As certain as I can be, Master." "She has demonstrated great power." "She has cured the blight our banelings have been spreading." "Open a rift, bring her to me." "I will do as you command, Keeper, but my baneling has told me the Seeker is with her." "If I open a rift then he will die too, and we cannot let that happen, not yet." "He is too valuable." "The Creator herself has prophesied that he will deliver us the Stone of Tears." "Open a rift, Darken Rahl." "I've been separated from the Creator since the world began." "I must know that this woman is truly my beloved." "Use all the power I've bestowed upon you and bring her to me now." "The Sisters of the Light have been working against Richard from the beginning." "First, they trapped him in their palace." "Then they left him to die in the Valley of Perdition." "When they failed, they sent a false Creator to execute him." "This hearing is over." "My judgment is final." "Richard Rahl is an agent of the Keeper and will be destroyed." "You're not going to lay a finger on my grandson." "Stand aside." "All of you." "Cara, no!" "Ah!" "What's happening?" "Maia?" "Run!" "It's the Keeper." "He's opening a rift directly under us!" "Let's get these people outta here!" "Run back!" "Get down." "Come on, come on, get up." "We gotta get outta here, come on." "No." "I can close the rift." "You have failed me, Darken Rahl!" "Forgive me, Master." "Why did you push me out of the way?" "I don't know if you're the Creator or not, but either way you're flesh and blood." "That stone would have killed you." "The Seeker risked his life to save yours, even after you condemned him to death." "The truth couldn't be clearer." "Richard is good." "You have to see that." "You can't destroy him." "I used all my han to seal the rift." "I couldn't destroy the Seeker now, even if I wanted to." "But the Mother Confessor is right." "I can see now by his actions that the Seeker is clearly on the side of good and Light." "It's working again." "Without her powers, Maia can't quell its magic." "Which way is it telling us to go?" "Maybe we don't need to know." "Maia, can you tell us where to find the Stone?" "She's gone." "The Creator?" "She was just a deluded girl who was manipulated by the Sisters of the Light." "I can't explain some of the things she knew about Richard and me." "You were raised by the Sisters of the Light, and Richard was a prisoner in their Palace." "They obviously told Maia what they knew." "Some of the things Maia knew I never told anyone." "With that much power, maybe she could read our thoughts." "There is another possibility." "Maybe she was exactly who she claimed to be."