My Second Fanfic!

[Sivart Reborn 7]

Unfortunatly... not a WoT one. I can't ever keep one going, sorry all!

It is a Shannara one, so Ajit, there might be spoilers! I don't know how far you are in the series.

I dedicate this to Kate because she actually asked me to post another a loooooooooooong time ago but I never got around to writting one!

Author's Note: I always wanted to type that, but anyway, this is considerably shorter than my other one, so less suffering for all readers!

 

Everything I Hated

 

The man that had been born Walker Ohmsford, took upon his mother's maiden name of Boh, and later simply became Walker now was totally left alone in his mind. He'd spent the first part of his life trying to escape the Druid legacy that had been placed upon Brin Ohmsford; only in the end to embrace it and become the succesor to Allanon. In doing so he, in many ways, became Allanon, as well as the rest of the Druids throughout the history of the Council. He was no longer Walker Boh, but he wasn't truly Allanon, or Bremen, or Galaphile. He was still Walker. So he spent the second part of his life trying to be a better person than Allanon. At first perhaps he even hoped that he could be the better Druid, but in the end he realized he couldn't.

Allanon was the only Druid for five hundred years, perhaps in many ways the greatest Druid; but at the same time, Allanon was the worst. He guided the Races alone, but he did so through manipulation, not teaching. He fell upon the Ohmsfords for the last century or so of his life, relying on the legacy of Shannara where his own magic, the most powerful magic since Brona and his Bearers of the Skull, failed. Allanon had not gone to seers, relying on only the vague and shaded foretellings of the Hadeshorn shade of his father to guide him. He brought about the end of the Warlock Lord and Skull Kingdom, over-matched the Dagda Mor in single combat, sealed away Paranor and battled a Jachrya to the death. He led the quest for the Sword of Shannara, gave the Elfstones to the Ohmsfords in the first place and was indirectly responsible for the birth of the wishsong. He gave Brin Ohsmford the trust to carry his legacy as well as that of her forebears. That cursed Druid legacy.

Walker lost an arm before he accepted that he would become the next Druid and he never regained it. He lost himself to the legacy of the Druid Councils. Walker, a grown man, forced to submit to the will of a dead Druid that stood for everything he wished to avoid. Everything he hated. Looking back on it, perhaps he should've come willingly. Allanon had. And Allanon had lost more than an arm before becoming a Druid. His background was never revealed to the Ohmsfords, but when Walker used the Black Elfstone to bring back Paranor, he been given Allanon's past as well as that of the whole order. Allanon's entire family was killed when he was twelve by the Warlock Lord's army toward the end of the Second War of the Races. Bremen was only an adoptive father, and Allanon was the one who did the adopting. He also asked to be a Druid against the elder Druid's advice. But he hadn't wanted to be the mystery to the Races, the manipulator of those he protected. Yet he believed there hadn't been another way. Walker had been determined to beat him there, find a way around it. He was dying now, in the arms of the Shade of Allanon, being taken to the afterlife, and realized he hadn't done so.

Walker was not Allanon's equal by any chance. He wondered for the shortest moment what Allanon might have done in his positions and then stopped. It didn't matter. Allanon was dead and gone when all these things happened, he had relied on Walker to act for the Druids instead. Walker had done what he could, and nobody, not even Allanon, could ask for more. The man who was once Walker Boh had done his best.

He reflected further on what he and Allanon had in common, realizing that Allanon also had felt inadaquate for his tasks. Allanon never did find another person in the world to be a Druid with him or even directly after him in his lifetime. He had to return as a Shade three hundred years after his own death to do so. Walker had marked his successor. Neither of them had been right at all points. Both of them lived their lives alone, not knowing the love of a family. Both of them acted the way they did in order to better the Races. Both used the Druid magic to protect the good things in life and both had been fatally wounded in the final battle of their lives. Allanon with a creature of a time before the Forbidding and Walker with a thing of the Great Wars. But in the end both destoryed their oppenent. Both ensured the Druids would continue. Both were the only Druid of their time, Allanon being a boy of fifteen when he realized that. Walker had spent most of his life trying not to be Allanon, but in the end he was Allanon. Perhaps a cheap mockery, he thought of himself bitterly. But he was still everything he had hated.

As they began to submerge into the waters to the afterlife, Walker looked up at Allanon's face. The Shade of the Druid didn't look scornful or disappointed. His face was as hard as it had been in life, but his eyes revealed acceptance. Approval. Allanon was proud of his successor. Allanon was proud of the Druid Walker. Walker had spent all his life trying not to be Allanon, but he failed. He had become everything he hated, but he didn't hate the man anymore. He now, as he drew in his last breath, understood the Druid. They were two of a kind. Grianne would refound the Council, she wouldn't be a lone Druid. He and Allanon had been. The man that was Walker now closed his eyes and let the peaceful rest of death take him over. He had done well enough.

[Kaitlin 22]

I really love this. It makes me want to read the books (I believe I read them when I was little, because some things are familiar), but I'm not sure they would interest me as much as this. Sometimes the best things are written concisely.

 

I'm so glad you posted it.

[Sivart Reborn 7]

Thanks!

Going over this, this is one of the few things I've ever written (prose-wise) that I don't have an overwhelming urge to redo. It kinda came to me on the spot after reading about Walker's death and Allanon's shade rising to take him to the beyond with him. It reminded me sharply of Allanon's death and Bremen taking him. Then the connections came to mind and it all kinda fell into place.

[Ekho 52]

This is really well written, nice work

[Ishmael Moridin 0]

Ok.

[jan 14]

Yeah, it makes me want to read the series too! I have it, but haven't picked it up.

 

Interesting style, though, Travis. I liked the whole no-conversation mode.