Belgarath the Sorcerer by David Eddings

reason, I guess.’
    My Master and I returned to the Vale not long after that, and I took up other studies. Time seemed meaningless inthe Vale, and I devoted years of study to the most commonplace of things. I examined trees and birds, fish and beasts, insects and vermin. I spent forty-five years on the study of grass alone. In time it occurred to me that I wasn’t aging as other men did. I’d seen enough old people to know that aging is a part of being human, but for some reason I seemed to be breaking the rules.
    â€˜Master,’ I said one night high in the tower as we both labored with our studies, ‘why is it that I do not grow old?’
    â€˜Wouldst thou grow old, my son?’ he asked me. ‘I have never seen much advantage in it, myself.’
    â€˜I don’t really miss it all that much, Master,’ I admitted, ‘but isn’t it customary?’
    â€˜Perhaps,’ he said, ‘but not mandatory. Thou hast much yet to learn, and one or ten or even a hundred lifetimes would not be enough. How old art thou, my son?’
    â€˜I think I am somewhat beyond three hundred years, Master.’
    â€˜A suitable age, my son, and thou hast persevered in thy studies. Should I forget myself and call thee “boy” again, pray correct me. It is not seemly that the disciple of a God should be called “boy”.’
    â€˜I shall remember that, Master,’ I assured him, almost overcome with joy that he had finally called me his disciple.
    â€˜I was certain that I could depend on thee,’ he said with a faint smile. ‘And what is the object of thy present study, my son?’
    â€˜I would seek to learn why the stars fall, Master.’
    â€˜A proper study, my son.’
    â€˜And thou, Master,’ I asked, ‘what is thy study - if I be not overbold to ask.’
    â€˜Even as before, Belgarath,’ he replied, holding up that fatal round stone. ‘It hath been placed in my care by UL himself, and it is therefore upon me to commune with it that I may know it - and its purpose.’
    â€˜Can a stone have a purpose, Master - other than to be a stone?’ The piece of rock, now worn smooth, even polished,by my Master’s patient hand made me apprehensive for some reason. In one of those rare presentiments that I don’t have very often, I sensed that a great deal of mischief would come about as a result of it.
    â€˜This particular jewel hath a great purpose, Belgarath, for through it the world and all who dwell herein shall be changed. If I can but perceive that purpose, I might make some preparations. That necessity lieth heavily upon my spirit.’ And then he lapsed once more into silence, idly turning the stone over and over in his hand as he gazed deep into its polished surface with troubled eyes.
    I certainly wasn’t going to intrude upon his contemplation of the thing, so I turned back to my study of the inconstant stars.

Chapter 3
    In time, others came to us, some seemingly by accident, as I had come, and some by intent, seeking out my Master that they might learn from him. Such a one was Zedar.
    I came upon him near our tower one golden day in autumn after I’d served my Master for five hundred years or so. This stranger had built a rude altar and was burning the carcass of a goat on it. That got us off on the wrong foot right at the outset. Even the wolves knew enough not to kill things in the Vale. The greasy smoke from his offering was fouling the air, and he was prostrated before his altar, chanting some outlandish prayer.
    â€˜What are you doing?’ I demanded - quite abruptly, I’ll admit, since his noise and the stink of his sacrifice distracted my mind from a problem I’d been considering for the past half-century.
    â€˜Oh, puissant and all-knowing God,’ he said, groveling in the dirt, ‘I have come a thousand leagues to behold thy glory and to worship thee.’
    â€˜Puissant? Quit