by Wilf Jones
‘And that was that: the end of the Age of Chaos. Ah’remmon was gone from the Earth, his demons just a bad memory, and at last Mankind was free to act and do according to his own designs without fear of divine retribution. The glorious Age of Man was begun.’
‘I say ‘glorious’ only because that’s the description given in the Song but I do wonder if the word is being used ironically. It’s an incomprehensible age in many ways, partly because the history is so complex, partly because the development of mankind seems to far outstrip anything we have managed since. It’s frightening to think all we have once discovered but have now lost.
‘This Age of Man as a passage of time seems to have been as long as the history we claim for ourselves: eight thousand years; and yet, whatever the great achievements and mighty dramas and extraordinary characters of all those many generations of mankind’s growth, Haslem’s attention is fixed upon the final two centuries of the Age.
‘We don’t share the words to explain or understand his description of those years. It’s a time of, of…’ Seama pulled out a page from the pile, ‘of global information systems, of mass media, solid state, of genetiks and byoinformatiks, and all of these things together somehow give mankind incredible powers; knowledge of… cloning and stemcells that can bring an end to all the illness, frailty and decay we’d come to expect from life. There’s probably no point in dwelling upon the meaning of these words and phrases – we could never understand them; the significance of what was achieved is all that matters.
‘As Haslem has written it, this new understanding of what life is, and can be, these new powers mankind had gained through his own labour and intelligence, this ability and desire to deny what might have been thought of as the very laws of creation: all of this was abhorrent in the eyes of The Creator. Zurvan was outraged. None of this was part of Time’s Purpose. Mankind had gone too far. Yes, Fel?’
‘If I understand you rightly, you’re saying that mankind had learned how to make new life and figured out how to put off death. Well that all sounds fair enough to me. I mean we’ve been having babies a good long while now and how many of us here wouldn’t want to live a little longer. That’s why we have doctors ain’t it?’
‘I suppose it is, and I don’t entirely disagree with you, but you must understand that I’m trying to shorten the argument. There were other words and ideas all bound up with the reason for Zurvan’s anger: consumerism, packaging, marketing, all seemingly to do with world trade.’
‘So they were selling medicines. What’s the problem with that?’
‘Perhaps I haven’t made this strong enough: it wasn’t just medicine to help people live a little longer. I think that at the end of the 4th Age there was the very real chance that man might learn how to live forever and that most of mankind was eager to lay down money on the outcome.’
Seama looked around the table, expecting a reaction but most everyone was looking up at him, waiting for him to say more. Seama wasn’t sure he wanted to. The whole idea of living forever made him feel uncomfortable, as though it was a crime for him to address, something so wrong that it was his duty to prevent it. And yet he himself could hold onto life far beyond the span of normal men. Was it guilt he felt? He noticed that Sigrid was staring fiercely at her own clenched fists.
‘Do you have something to say, Sigrid?’ he asked, ‘What do you think about the idea of life eternal?’
She looked up with a face like thunder. ‘What do I think?’ she said, ‘I think that nothing ever changes. So damned clever these people, so caught up in what they can do instead of what they should do. What’s the point in cheating death if you don’t understand the real importance of life? This world is so full of people dealing out horror and misery, all for the sake of their own amusement. Everywhere you look people are irredeemably self-centred, and some of them unutterably cruel, and the only respite we have from these evil men and women is that either they die or we die. The thought of these people living forever makes me feel sick.
‘And what will happen, anyway, if no one ever dies? What will happen to normal people? Will they still want children or will they be so happy with themselves they won’t be willing to bring new life into the world? Nothing but selfishness, that’s what it is. But perhaps some women won’t be able to stop having children – that’s what we’re here for isn’t it? Perhaps the world will become so full there’ll be no space left to live in; and not anything like enough food or water to go round. What do you think the eternals will do then? Put up with it? Or put a stop to it? There you are: selfish! That’s half of mankind for you in a single damnable word. And you think we should live forever? Do you? For me, give me one good day of true happiness, of peace, of love. And that will be enough. That’s what I think.’
She stood abruptly and walked away from the table. There was not really anywhere to go to be out of sight except to leave through the doors of the chamber and so she walked over to where some jugs of water had been placed on a trestle and poured herself a drink.
Seama almost regretted asking her to speak but only because he would have spared her the pain of it. The Gotherians present didn’t know Sigrid. They seemed embarrassed or even resentful at the outburst. There was silence until she regained her seat.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you’ll think kindly of Lady Althoné. She has seen more pain and terror and loss in recent months than you can imagine. And what’s more she is right. The thought that men or women could concern themselves with the prospect of eternal life when all around are poor, oppressed people, desperate only for a few hours of comfort and escape from suffering, seems to me obscene. I don’t know how it was in this last century of the Age of Man. It may be they had achieved a reality of just, peaceful and productive lives for every man, woman and child on the Earth. Maybe they had banished disease and famine, war and cruelty. Perhaps this search for eternal life was the logical next step for them.
‘But I think it was this endeavour that put mankind beyond the favour of God and was the root of what was to follow. The next and fifth Age of this Earth is named The Intercession.
‘The Intercession was an Age more like the Age of Creation than the others: it is difficult to say how long it lasted, it seems there are no records of the deeds of mankind. And so again we have a passage you might take as metaphor if it weren’t for Haslem’s insistence that it is all true. If it is true then it is truly terrifying.
‘In his fury over the Apostasy of Mankind Zurvan literally rips the Earth apart. It seems an improper description but Haslem suggests that Zurvan is like a child in a rage destroying the castle he has built on the shore because it isn’t the perfect thing he had imagined. We spoke earlier of a cataclysm remembered by our ancestors: that was an appalling event but it was insignificant in comparison to this. Here the fabric of the Earth was mangled, great rents were made in the bed of the oceans, torrents of molten rock ran free, the air was filled with poison. Mankind and the Earth were finished, an end had come to the Creation. That was supposed to be that.’
‘And yet still here we are.’
‘Yes Keth, we are still here. Our saviour was Ohr’mazd, the Bright God, Zurvan’s better son.’ Seama flipped through the pile of pages before him until he found the right reference. ‘You’ll forgive me if I keep to Haslem’s styling of the story – this is how he describes it:
‘From the moment Zurvan raised his hand Ohr’mazd stood before the Father to hinder his intent. He took many blows that might have destroyed all that is and yet stood firm. And many blows passed him and smote the Earth and still Ohr’mazd would not yield. ‘Do you have no memory of mercy?’ he cried, ‘Do you have no memory of love for your children?’ but the Father closed his ears. Ohr’mazd fell to his knees and destruction rained down upon the Earth. The brightness of Ohr’mazd was in that moment dimmed. ‘Do these tears for my people mean nothing to you?’ he begged. The Father
refused to look upon his son and continued with his task. But then Ohr’mazd reached down into the ruins before him and took up in his hand that which was most precious to him, and he held it safe from the fury all around. But the Father saw this and said: ‘What is that thing you seek to withhold from my justice?’ and Mazda said, ‘I withhold nothing from your justice only from your temper.’ ‘Whether it is justice or temper,’ said the Father, ‘It is not for you to withhold from me anything that is mine.’ Ohr’mazd now stood proud to face the Father. ‘There is nothing that is not yours and yet there is much that is precious to me though I seek to own it not. And here is a thing that is most precious.’ And Mazda held forth that which lay in his palm and said to the Father ‘Is it not precious to you also?’ And in that palm, warmed and calmed by the heat of the God lay an infant of no more than five hours. ‘Here, Father, is what you made in the beginning; here is the greatest part of your creation: it is potential, it is hope, it is future, it knows not of evil. This surely is the key to all you have made. Will you not look upon this child and see in her the beauty of your thought?’
Seama paused, he was quivering from the intensity of his recitation, but it was the image that filled his mind of Bassalo’s miracle child, struggling to stay alive in the ruins of the schoolhouse that brought the sudden tears to his eyes. He looked over at Sigrid. Her head was bowed, her hands covered her face. He wouldn’t let it stop him. He took a good breath and continued.
‘Zurvan was stilled then but not chastened. ‘I see the beauty of my Creation but did all the infants of man come to my hands I might find in one hand a potential for goodness and humility and in the other a promise of arrogance and evil. Why then should I save the beauty of my Creation if it will become corrupt?’
Seama turned more pages of the text before him, it made him feel more business-like, less emotional. ‘The answer seems obvious to Ohr’mazd, but Haslem takes another two pages to get through to it. Yes here we are: the Bright God comes up with a plan. He knows full well the pain that will be caused among mankind by it, and yet for that one chance of survival for at least that one child he holds safe, Ohr’mazd knows what he must do.
‘And what if, Father,’ he says, ‘you found that in the one hand was the goodness of which you speak and you made for it a place of sanctuary on what remains of this Earth, but, as with that other Son of your making, for that which is in the other hand, and is less pleasing to your sight, might there not be found another place?’
‘Again Haslem gives us a great deal more dialogue than you will need but the upshot of all this is something I consider to be a truly infernal decision, the infernal decision. Zurvan says:
‘If this your plan will succeed then all that remains of mankind on this Earth will know a debt to your Goodness; if it comes to failure then all will come to ruin, and you and I and your brother too will know it. If this is your judgement and your intent then I will ordain one more Age for this Earth when there might have been nothing. It will be The Age of Last Hope for, know you now: it is my intent that there will be an ending. Is this your wish?’
‘Ohr’mazd then gave assent, knowing that he must, and yet bowed his head in shame. Zurvan, the Father, released his grip upon the world.’
‘This is the moment and the act that made our world and made our chance of life, and it gave us too the constant threat that hangs over our heads. The Age of Last Hope was dependent upon The Choosing.
‘Firstly Zurvan recovers nearly a half of our world from the forces of destruction he has unleashed, and brings it back to the state of the first creation. He separates this from Vastos, the great sea that encompasses the rest of the globe that is the Earth. The men that survive the trauma of the Intercession name their new home Earnor for in it is saved all that was the best of the old Earth. There is no comment in the Song to indicate how long this work might have taken. Clearly the Age of Intercession must span many thousands of years and what happened to mankind throughout this time is simply unknowable. It is my thought that maybe all of mankind was put in a place beyond time until all was ready. But when the land became settled and calm and mankind had been restored to Earnor, then Zurvan demanded the price he had been promised. Zurvan had not made this world for the benefit of that part of mankind he considered evil, the part of mankind that had taken Ah’remmon as their Lord, that part of mankind who had taken Ah’remmon’s Gift over his own. So that there could be no mistaking of his intent, The Father brought back to the Earth the First Son to stand in opposition to his Bright Twin. Now, together with the Father, they made, for the Judgement of Mankind, the Place of the Choosing.
Seama paused here. He had come to it at last: the point of connection between The Song and everything he considered his life to have become. The memory of the trauma rushed through him, the finality of that day, the terrible reality of that place filled his thoughts. He shuddered but found the strength to continue.
‘It is still there,’ he told them, ‘The Place of the Choosing. Up in the Norberry Part: a pass in the mountains close by the source of the Deiva. We call it Kentreth’s Grave. As the last act in The Age of Intercession all of mankind was brought to that place: every man or woman or child that yet drew breath. They were brought to stand and be judged; they were examined by those three mighty forces of existence right down to the last vestige of their free will. And a choice was made. ‘Ohr’mazd called to him all of those he deemed to be of good heart and right mind and who went freely and happily into his embrace. But Ah’remmon called to him whomsoever bowed before his feet, whomsoever rejected the peace of Ohr’mazd.’ I am sorry to say that for those who made no choice at all, of their own free will, it was left for The Father to decide, and his decision was harsh. The Father reached down into the waste and took up a great desert of the old Earth in the palm of his hand and with the mighty power that is in him he set it ‘in a place beyond’ that it would be free of the corrosive waste and yet distant from Earnor. That new land was named Kyzylkum after the name of the desert and Ah’remmon was to be its King. Banished from this Earth, cast into the desert, were all the people of Ah’remmon, and banished too were those who could not freely stand in the presence of Ohr’mazd. And so Earnor was cleansed and Mankind was made new as it was in the beginning.’
‘And so began The Age of Last Hope.’
‘This is all very religious, Seama. You don’t normally go in for this stuff.’
‘No, Fel, I don’t, but I’m learning that perhaps I ought to pay a bit more attention to some of the people on Lindis.’
‘It’s those ones and twos they were on about on Tumboll!’ Captain Farber had enjoyed a moment of revelation. ‘You know those fellers who reckoned Earnor was a second creation – well, sumthin’ o’the sort.’
Seama was confused. ‘I don’t remember.’
Sigrid, looking a little less emotional now that Seama had moved on, spoke up to help him out. ‘It was while we were captive on Tumboll. The place we were held was similar to a Oncers’ temple. Garaid gave Angren a quick lesson on the difference between Oncers and Twoers.’
‘Well then the Captain is right. What is written in the Song matches pretty closely the standard Twoer creation story.’
‘Well that isn’t surprising is it?” put in Tys Heald. ‘Didn’t Haslem line up with the Twoers early on in his career? Saved a whole cabal of them from that temple fire on Lindis; had the culprits put in prison.’
‘I hardly think that made him a Twoer, Chancellor. Had the situation been reversed, with Twoers trying to burn their rivals off the face of Earnor instead, I think Haslem would have been with the Oncers. He was tasked by the Council to bring the dispute to a close. That’s what we do. However, it’s certainly in a last chance world that we now live and according to The Song that last chance could have been very short lived indeed. There is one more event to describe.’
‘Yes, as I recall,’ Tys reminded th
em, ‘You promised us a cataclysm.’
‘Haslem has no notion of how it might have come about, but in the remaking of Earnor and the creation of Kyzylkum the two places were not completely set apart. Perhaps it is against the day of a further Choosing that Kentreth’s Grave endures and will ever be a connection between our world and the Land of Exile. That path was, of course, made for passage in one direction only but what if it could be altered? What if it has become a route of escape from Kyzylkum?’
Alveson let out a sharp laugh: ‘Escape? Oh, surely not. Hadn’t these people had spent their lives worshipping the foul god? Finally they’re in his company for good: isn’t that what they wanted? They should be grateful they weren’t all obliterated.’
Seama grimaced. ‘This is no straightforward thing, Admiral. First of all, I’m not entirely certain that all of those exiled deserved their fate – many were children with little enough experience of life. How could they have the perspective to understand the question put to them? And what of the offspring of those banished, those born in exile? Are we to hold children responsible for the crimes and choices of their parents? And good or bad, why shouldn’t they all want to escape their exile, and return to this beautiful world of ours? I have seen it, ladies and gentlemen, I have seen Kyzylkum through the mind of the spy in Slaney and it is a very hell. No soul that was ever made could wish to stay there.
