I'm back. For my return, I submit to you:

[FortyFiveAuto 1]

My greatest fic ever, for the contest. It's long, but I figure if you can sit through some 10,000 pages of RJ, you can suffer ~9 from me

 

 

I'll have to cut it into 3 parts

 

 

A Paradox in the Pattern

 

 

"She says there are worlds where it is time rather than distance that changes. Spend a day in one of those, and you might come back to find a year has passed in the real world, or twenty. Or it could be the other way round. Those worlds-this one, all the others-are reflections of the real world, she says. This one seems pale to us because it is a weak reflection, a world that had little chance of ever being. Others are almost as likely as ours. Those are solid as our world and have people. The same people, she says, Rand. Imagine it! You could go to one of them and meet yourself. The Pattern has infinite variation, she says, and every variation that can be, will be."

 

-Loial son of Arent son of Halan

 

 

The wind swept gently over the Tairen countryside, bringing the chilled sea air amidst the swampy lowlands. It was an especially pleasant breeze, considering the weather in the past few months. Surely it was a sea breeze from far away, perhaps further than even the Sea Folk dared to venture, but still it was refreshing. It was one thing to be able to ignore extreme heat and cold, but drawing a nice, cool breath was always a relief. Any little comfort would do. Tales of shadowspawn kept most people far away from these lands in recent times. Fabled darkhounds were still rumored to roam them freely. To hear it from a Tairen fishmonger, they had overrun the swamps and formed packs with as many as 20 in each. Others in the city claimed that you could hear them howling at night, not like normal wolves, somehow more

[FortyFiveAuto 1]

Gerod had taken to digging away at the soil at the base of the column.

[FortyFiveAuto 1]

[Marie 73]

I think I best get some food before sitting down to read. Welcome back, by the way.

[Kaitlin 22]

This was great. I loved how you described the effects of the gunfire on the shield. It really connected the two worlds and brought realism. *cheers*

 

I don't love Blackcoats either but I was really interested in this story. Thanks for sharing it!

[Sivart Reborn 7]

Interesting, but I thought the end was really weird. And did she wipe his mind or just leave him more confused than he already was?

[Olivia 26]

Welcome back! I liked the story, and the surprise ending Makes me want to read more. I especially liked the line where the Marine compares his fight with the katana-wielding Asha'man to what his grandfather went through in close combat with Japanese soldiers.

[jan 14]

oops... *tells self to read story first and then the comments*!!

 

Welcome back 45!

[FortyFiveAuto 1]

Interesting, but I thought the end was really weird. And did she wipe his mind or just leave him more confused than he already was?

 

I was trying to suggest that she may have "mind-f***ed" him a little with the Power. The Lt. should have known, at the very least, WHERE he was.

[Tosh 8]

I don't really like stories with guns and other futuristic (present? ) stuff but I actually kind of enjoyed this one. Good work