This could not be happening. No, no, no! It was one thing for The Council to show emotions at all, but for them to display such extremes in emotion could only mean one thing. Lunok had seen such erratic, emotional outbursts before. This behavior was a prelude to unwelcome news.
“Fallok! Come hither!” Salok commanded via telepathy.
“Yes, mother,” Fallok appeared before The Council, next to Lunok.
Fallok was the overseer to the Zarark factory, where the Zararks were created for distribution to other realms.
“As you already know, Fallok designed the latest esoteric signature scanner used to identify tainted Shemsus,” Salok addressed Lunok who did his best to remain calm. “He occasionally scans Shemsus at random across Asah, in search of those who are tainted.”
There was an aloofness in the way she spoke the word ‘tainted’ that validated Lunok’s conclusion about how dire the situation had just become.
“Tell us, Lunok,” Collok sneered. “Did you run searches against your own esoteric signature?”
“Not intentionally, father,” Lunok replied firmly, maintaining his focus on The Council. “The process was random and mine was not selected.”
“Scan him!” Mulok ordered Fallok.
Fallok nodded and turned around to face Lunok. He summoned a portable version of the scanner and scanned Lunok. Then, he displayed the results on the hologram he also summoned for The Council to see.
“This is the esoteric signature of an untainted Shemsu,” Fallok spoke calmly as he highlighted a signature. “This is yours,” he added, highlighting Lunok’s.
Fallok overlapped the two signatures and Lunok’s displayed an anomaly against the untainted Shemsu’s.
“Dear Council,” Fallok spoke with academic firmness. “The scans indicate that Lunok’s essence is tainted.”
“He probably infected Emok with his stain!” Salok sneered.
“And maybe all the others too!” Collok interjected.
“He should be immediately incarcerated!” Mulok chimed in. “Before he becomes as infectious as his lies and pretenses.”
Lunok was, surprisingly very calm as he summoned a scan from a tainted Shemsu’s essence. He overlapped the tainted essence with his.
“And if The Council could focus their attention on the highlighted overlap,” Lunok maintained his calm. “The Council will notice the difference in the variation between my vibration of will with that of a tainted Shemsu.”
“I still do not see it!” Salok said in a deep, dark voice that was not hers.
“The tainted Shemsu’s essence has a peak,” Lunok said, highlighting the peak via telekinesis and pretending not to notice the change in Salok’s voice. “Mine has a peak and a trough.”
Lunok highlighted the peak and trough on his vibration of will.
“This suggests that the peak in the vibration of will in the tainted Shemsu is aligned wholly with another energy form,” Lunok explained. “In this case, that energy form is the darkness. Mine has a peak and a trough, meaning there are two energy forms within me, and since neither the peak nor the trough is higher than the other, it suggests that neither is more dominant in me. This is what polarization means, dear Council members.”
Lunok noticed the looks of confusion on the faces of The Council. He glanced in Fallok’s direction and noticed Fallok’s countenance change from confident to concerned. Lunok did not declare victory yet, but there was hope in that direction with The Council’s expression of confusion and Fallok losing confidence.
“I am polarized, but I assure you that my essence has not been taken over by the darkness,” Lunok said confidently. “I am proof that falling to a lower realm and experiencing milder aspects of the darkness will inoculate a Shemsu from being taken over by the darkness. If I was aligned wholly with the darkness, I would already have been showing signs of it by now.”
Lunok was surprised that The Council was still able to remain in a relatively controlled state despite the accelerated transmutation of their essences.
“Both energy forms, light and dark, exist in my form now, thanks to my fall,” Lunok continued. “I am immune to the darkness, because I am inoculated. This is what polarization is all about, the ability to handle both energy forms within one’s essence. Unfortunately, polarization is alien to our species, despite our level of evolution. This inability of ours still is a mystery which baffles me truly, now that I have experienced this phenomenon called polarization.”
The moment had arrived to drive his final point across.
“As council members, your levels of evolution supersede ours,” Lunok said. “As such, you can perceive Creation better than the rest of us, which is why you are now wondering why you have all been taken over by the darkness!”
There was a mixture of reactions on the faces of The Council; confusion, shame, anger, fear, hatred, stupidity, helplessness and powerlessness, all thanks to the darkness taking over and the thought of being subjected to the same treatment they had submitted their fellow tainted Shemsu brethren to.
“If it pleases The Council, I would like to continue sharing the results of my research,” Lunok maintained his calm despite the dangers he faced from three tainted Shemsus.
“Proceed!” Salok yelled impatiently.
“All 1,440 subjects were Zarark bearers,” Lunok said. “And who is the overseer of the Zarark factory?”
“Dear Council, I must object to Lunok’s insinuations!” Fallok spat, taking a step forward. “Surely, you do not believe what he is trying to imply, do you?”
“And what am I insinuating, Fallok?” Lunok asked, turning around to face Fallok. “That you are responsible for the darkness infecting our brethren?”
“Yes, that is what you are implying,” Fallok replied and turned around to meet Lunok’s gaze.
A necklace, with a seven-faceted crystal dangling from it, danced from his neck as he turned around.
“But you’re wrong,” Fallok continued with a smile of impending victory. “The Council is infected as well, but they are not Zarark bearers. So, your theory fails.”
“Initiate Phase 1, Mashok!” Lunok commanded through stealth telepathy.
He knew The Council and Fallok would be monitoring his every move, including his telepathic communications. Hence, why he went into stealth mode with Mashok.
“Council!” Lunok spoke formerly but boldly. “Behold!”
He summoned a video of Fallok on a separate hologram.
***
Fallok was inside the Zarark factory working on two orders for Zararks for two realms. Everything was going smoothly until suddenly, he felt a change within his essence. He realized his thought patterns and his emotions were deviating from the norm.
Why am I doing this? Creating Zararks for others! Fallok thought. Is this all I am good for? I am a creature from a higher realm with a task that is far more important than those of The Council. Yet, I am trapped within these confines at the service of those who are beneath me.
“Greetings Fallok,” a Shemsu said. “You summoned me?”
“Yes, Arok,” Fallok said. “Your Zarark is ready for deposit.”
Fallok handed the Zarark to Arok.
“What a beauty,” she said and absorbed the Zarark within her form. “Thank you Fallok.”
“My pleasure, sister,” Fallow replied and Arok teleported away.
What a beauty? There is no beauty in this existence of servitude. Why-
***
“I will not bore you with all the details of that moment,” Lunok addressed The Council as he fast-forwarded through the video. “But as you can clearly see, this moment marks the beginning of Fallok’s metamorphosis. This moment marks the birth of something new within Fallok; the darkness.”
Lunok let a few moments slip by to allow The Council to absorb the facts.
“It is my belief that Fallok being constantly exposed to the Zarark led to his vibration of will to be activated,” Lunok explained. “However, this activation was
random and, unfortunately, one-sided. As such, and with our ignorance of the energy forms of light and darkness, Fallok’s vibration of will was activated and aligned with the energy form of darkness.”
“How did you come across this video?” Fallok snarled and the seven-faceted crystal on his necklace beamed. “It was not supposed to be in the records!”
“Why is that, Fallok?” Lunok asked, trapping Fallok with Fallok’s own words. “Why was this video not supposed to be in the database, though EVERYTHING is supposed to be uploaded in and unremoved from the database?”
Fallok realized his mistake, but it was too late.
“This brings me to my next discovery,” Lunok continued confidently with the notion of a certain victory. “One could have considered the randomness of Fallok’s taint as an accident. But this next segment of the video will reveal another sad truth about our esteemed overseer of the Zarark factory.”
***
Fallok had just finished forging a Zarark. He held the artifact in his hand and studied it as many thoughts raced through his mind.
Why do we, Shemsus, spend our existences populating realms and dimension when we can be rulers? This is a waste of our abilities, a waste of our powers. We can be more and we should be more.
Fallok flipped the Zarark in his hand a few times.
I must help my brothers and sisters! I must deliver us from this mundaneness we call existence. I want to live! I want to live! And I want to be free! Free from tasks, obligations, the restrictions of the realm. Free of the confines of this form! Free, free, free! And I want my brethren to share in my freedom. But they cannot free themselves… So I must free them!
Then, Fallok buried the Zarark within his form, closed his eyes and infused the Zarark with a tiny bit of the growing darkness within him. A Shemsu came to pick up the Zarark, which Fallok gave to him with a smile.
***
“By this moment,” Lunok said, pausing the video, “Fallok had already been taken over by the darkness and this was the first instance in which he began infecting our fellow brethren. And once the darkness was passed onto their essence from the tainted Zarark they contained within their form, their essences also became tainted.”
“Initiate Phase 2, Mashok!” Lunok ordered via stealth telepathy.
As Lunok spoke, The Council remained silent and listened in shock. There was nothing they could do, especially now that they, too, were almost completely taken over by the darkness. Even if they wanted to fight, they could not. The darkness was not going to fight itself. It could only become stronger.
“You are too late, Lunok,” Fallok said calmly, realizing that The Council had finally gone past the point of no return. “I win. You lose. Finally, I will free the Shemsus and Creation will be ours for the taking.”
Suddenly, Lunok lashed out and ripped the necklace from Fallok’s neck. Fallok was too slow to react. Lunok held the seven-faceted crystal in his hand and felt the energy form of the darkness pulsating within and trying to take over his essence. But he was immune, thanks to his fall.
Fallok raged and screamed and lunged towards Lunok. But he could not move. His fury morphed to confusion and he tried over and over to attack Lunok without success. Lunok turned around to face The Council. He was glad to see them slowly coming out of their state of being possessed, while Fallok’s eyes became pitch-black.
“Glad to have you back, Fathers and Mother,” Lunok said with a smile.
“Oh my!” Salok exclaimed, rubbing at her temples. “I cannot believe this just happened. The darkness! It is so…”
“Dark!” Collok offered. “So very dark.”
“I would show you the other part of the video in which Fallok succeeded in fashioning this crystal for himself,” Lunok said holding up the crystal towards The Council. “But you can watch it later.”
“What does it do?” Mulok asked.
“Fallok found a way to channel the energy form of the darkness through this crystal,” Lunok said. “As such, he can remain ‘untainted’ while those around him become affected by the darkness. That was why, as soon as you summoned him, the darkness started taking over you. You remained untainted, but you exhibited symptoms of a Shemsu with a tainted essence.”
“And why were you not affected, child” Salok asked, feeling pride for her favorite Shemsu, despite the possibility of her self-destructing at any moment.
Yes, Lunok had just moved up to her list and was now her favorite Shemsu.
“Because I am immune, thanks to my fall,” Lunok replied. “This situation right here and now has just validated my claim.”
“Why can I not move?” Fallok seethed and writhed.
“Because Mashok and my team have you contained,” Lunok replied with pride. “Mashok is the only Shemsu I trusted who was smart enough to fish out the videos of yourself you erased from the database. While I was presenting my theory, she found what I asked her to look for and you know the rest.”
“This is excellent work, son,” The Council chorused.
The Council had united their wills to fight the darkness that was rapidly taking over their essences. They could feel themselves edging closer towards an end that they had only witnessed in others from a distance. It was one thing for a Shemsu to self-destruct within Atlantia; but with three senior Shemsus self-destructing at once, there was no telling how much damage their demise would cause within Asah and beyond. They held on to hope, hope that was dwindling as fast as the darkness was taking over their esoteric makeups.
“Thank you, fathers and mother,” Lunok replied and bowed.
“Not excellent enough!” Fallok exclaimed in a voice that reflected the entity that had consumed his essence, and broke free from Lunok’s team’s containment.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A SHEMSU’S SACRIFICE
EVERYTHING FROZE FROM Lunok’s perspective. He was unsure how that happened. Maybe it was the notion of facing something that was far more powerful than Emok was when the darkness threatened to come out of him while in Celestia. By Asah, Fallok had just snapped out of the combined containment of five Shemsus like it was nothing! He turned towards The Council and saw the look of genuine horror on their faces. They, too, knew all was lost and there was nothing they could do within the split moment the entire dimension and beyond had left before they became obliterated by a destructive force they had only seen but never, ever experienced. Lunok thought that if this was going to be his end, then he had nothing left to lose.
Fallok’s Shemsu form had mostly disintegrated into an amalgamation of a dark, viscous form of energy. Two orbs glowed in a smoldering redness where his eyes used to be. The darkness had already consumed every bit of his Shemsu essence like a cancer in the forms of creatures of certain lower realms. Fallok was gone… almost. Lunok was not going to let the assimilation of Fallok’s form to reach completion. He knew, innately, that the more the darkness assimilated Fallok’s form, the more it became powerful. For now, that assimilation was not yet complete and that meant there was still a tinge of hope at saving not just Asah, but an innumerable number of realms and dimensions beyond theirs. As such, not knowing if it was going to work or not, Lunok lunged at Fallok and opened his palm containing the crystal.
The moment the crystal came in contact with the dark, viscous energy form of the darkness, the assimilation of Fallok’s body ceased. The viscous energy form began retreating until Fallok’s Shemsu form returned. But Lunok knew it was only a temporary fix and had to make use of the opportunity. The power of the darkness was becoming too overwhelming for him to handle and contain. Still, he held on to Fallok’s form as Fallok wrestled against his grip. Lunok’s existence and the countless existences of other creatures depended on Lunok’s decision there and then.
“Mashok find me a location in the cosmoscape that is the least populated!” Lunok screamed in urgency using the Shemsu frequency that allowed everyone in Asah to hear him.
“What are you going to do, Lunok?” Mashok asked, though she kne
w already.
Every Shemsu in Asah watched as Lunok struggled to contain something that looked like Fallok, the overseer to the Zarark factory. Lunok’s meeting with The Council and Fallok was being broadcast live across the realm, but no one really paid any attention to the meeting, until now. When Lunok snatched the crystal from Fallok’s neck, the entire realm and dimension had felt the power and the surge in energy that was the darkness. Most of the Shemsus were unaware of what was happening, except those who had been specially trained by The Council to handle Shemsus with tainted essences. As such, they did not know what to do, even though they felt the threat to their realm and beyond from the darkness.
The Council, the trained Shemsus and Team LOHIM wanted desperately to help, but there was nothing they could do. The darkness in Fallok was too powerful for all of them to contain and it was truly a miracle that Lunok had lasted that long. The crystal helped, but something had changed within Fallok and the darkness was about to realize its ultimate dream: freedom. And that untamed, unbridled freedom will come at a price to huge that the cosmoscape will weep at the stain from the loss of countless lives. The most Lunok could do was to minimize that loss of lives as best as he could.
“Follow my teleport link!” Lunok screamed as he felt his essence stretch beyond its esoteric limits. “And send me the coordinates as soon as I emerge.”
“Our blessings go with you son,” The Council said in unison.
But Lunok did not hear their blessings. He had already teleported away with Fallok, the embodiment of the darkness.
“You think you can stop me, creature?” the darkness scoffed while they were in mid-teleport. “You only delay the inevitable!”
“What are you?” Lunok asked. “What do you want?”
“I am what I am,” the darkness replied and grabbed Lunok’s esoteric makeup.
Lunok screamed as his esoteric makeup fought hard against the darkness’ attempt to possess him.
“I existed long before you were even a concept,” the darkness scoffed. “I am purity of might, thought and will. I am the fallout of the vibration of free will and I will be free. Nothing and no one will stop me!”
Celestial Crisis Page 20
