by Lada Ray
CATHARSIS
Legend of the Lemurians
(Earth Keepers Chronicles: Book 1)
Prequel to THE EARTH SHIFTER
Bonus: Excerpt from THE EARTH SHIFTER
the upcoming dystopian YA fantasy/thriller
Books by Lada Ray
GOLD TRAIN, rip-roaring thrill ride across Russia. (Accidental Spy Russia Adventure, Book 2)
STEPFORD USA, psychological mystery/thriller (Accidental Spy US Adventure, Book 1)
GREEN DESERT, riveting story set in Iraq (Accidental Spy Prequel)
Coming soon:
THE EARTH SHIFTER, new YA Fantasy
DRAGON GATE, Accidental Spy Asia Adventure
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2012 Lada Ray
Cover copyright © 2012 Lada Ray
Visit author’s official website: www.LadaRay.com
Blog: http://LadaRay.wordpress.com
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CATHARSIS
Earth Keepers Chronicles: Book 1
Before recorded history, before Humanity, since times immemorial, the Earth Keepers have been watching over our planet. Marked at birth and endowed with supreme powers, the nine chosen ones are the Earth’s record keepers and moderators, and when the time comes, the ultimate decision makers. This is the first of their chronicles.
Legend of the Lemurians
Planet Catharsis was a beautiful red planet located on the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy. Everything on the planet was a lovely shade of red, orange, or fuchsia. Catharsis had two beautiful moons: the purple moon and the orange moon, which illuminated the nightly sky when its red sun was napping.
Just like the planet itself, its inhabitants were truly beautiful: gorgeous women clad in exquisite gowns and elaborate hairdos, stately men with dignified features, and adorably angelic children. Even the old people were beautiful: nice grannies knitting pretty hats or baking delicious cakes and cheerful grandpas taking lovely morning strolls to discuss the latest news at a nearby café.
Catharsians prided themselves on their large and beautiful houses. In fact, one house was more beautiful than the next. People of Catharsis treated beauty as an art form and a lifelong competition. On this planet, being a beautician was a high honor, but what was even better was to be a plastic surgeon.
Once, the planet of Catharsis possessed a rich animal kingdom, with animals of varying species living in the woods, fields, and waters. Catharsians also kept adorable pets. But at some point, they realized that all these pets were terribly messy, what with chewing on their owners’ stylish shoes, scratching valuable sofas, and leaving fur everywhere—and that was unforgivably ugly. Soon, all the pets were gone, vanished, as if they never existed.
Initially that caused a stir in society, with children crying for their little furry friends and even some adults longing for them. But what wouldn’t one sacrifice for beauty? So, eventually everyone in the Catharsian society adjusted to the absence of pets.
However, there was still the question of all those wild animals, which continued to bother the beauty-oriented Catharsians. One day, all the wild animals were gone as well. That caused much less of a stir, although the group called Fair Catharsis tried to stage protests. The population at large hardly noticed the disappearance of all of the wild creatures. The truth was, the entire planet was now clean and sterile, and no one could argue that this wasn’t much better.
Next, an ingenious company, called ELPET, introduced the new electronic pet. Catharsians were tripping all over themselves to purchase one for their household, because these pets never ate, never made a mess and were (you guessed it!) beautiful. Before long, every self-respecting Catharsian household had an Elpet, one model more gorgeous than the next. ELPET stock went through the roof, and the population returned to its happy equilibrium. Harmony and beauty was restored.
The whole planet was clearly basking in the rays of its Golden Age, and it seemed nothing, absolutely nothing, could spoil it.
But wait, there was something of which Catharsians were both afraid and ashamed. Something they didn’t even admit to themselves. The thing was, not every inhabitant of the planet was beautiful. Sure, there were degrees of beauty. Not everyone could be strikingly, impossibly beautiful. Some had to be plainer than others were. That was true. Although it was never admitted publicly, some Catharsians were less attractive than was socially acceptable. However, they would become more beautiful with the adept help of plastic surgeons and beauticians.
No, the people we are talking about were not beautiful by any stretch of imagination. In fact, they were truly and exceedingly ugly. As ugly as one could get! The truth was…the beautiful Catharsians had to share their planet with another race, which they called the Uglies. Of course, the Uglies themselves preferred to be called Lemurians. Alas, on beautiful planet Catharsis no one cared what the Uglies preferred.
The Uglies were as different from Catharsians as day was from night. While Catharsians cared very much how exquisite their gowns were, and how well their high-heeled shoes accentuated their meticulously groomed feet, the Uglies ran around in simple, home made outfits. And, oh horror of horrors, they often walked around barefoot! When asked why they did so, they smiled serenely, explaining that this is how they connected with Goddess Mu, the Sacred Mother of All.
Catharsians didn’t mind the Uglies worshipping their Mu, as long as it distracted them from any thoughts of rebellion, keeping them docile and submissive. Indeed, it had been noted that the Uglies were especially meditative and quiet after they’d prayed to Mu. In fact it seemed, thanks to their prayers, they took their fate and abuse exceedingly well.
Another thing that really bothered Catharsians was the sheer openness of the Uglies’ smiles. They had these very large mouths, and when they smiled their plump lips would open wide to reveal their unnaturally white teeth. How exceedingly ugly! Everyone on Catharsis knew that one’s mouth was supposed to be small, with thin lips, and teeth—a lovely shade of orange! Anything else was completely unacceptable, and the planet’s plastic surgeons and dentists were hard at work to make sure everyone’s mouths and teeth were in strict compliance with the universally accepted standard of beauty.
But that was not all, far from it. The Uglies possessed very large, almond shaped eyes, which slanted upwards, while it was common knowledge that the most beautiful eyes should be round and small. Plastic surgeons had their job cut out for them, as Catharsian women lined up to make sure their eyes were that unattainable shape and size. One of the most irritating things about the Uglies’ faces were their noses. While Catharsians prided themselves in their long and sharp noses (the sharper the better), the Uglies had these strange short noses, which made their faces look eternally young. That was the last straw for many Catharsians, who spent big chunks of their incomes on battling the relentless aging process.
And to add insult to injury, the Uglies were significantly taller than natural, towering over Catharsians like big, sore thumbs.
; Because Catharsians were ashamed that some of them could be so ugly, a long time ago they built a special reservation, called Camp Ugly. The camp was equipped with a lethal voltage electric fence and watchtowers with state-of-the-art monitoring equipment. All the Uglies on the planet were herded into Camp Ugly, where they lived out their drudgery generation after generation.
It wasn’t an act of cruelty on part of the Catharsians, oh no! It was firmly believed in Catharsian society that being ugly was in fact a disease. Therefore, herding all the Uglies into the camp where they could be carefully monitored and isolated from the rest of society was a fully justifiable measure.
However, it proved difficult to find guards for the camp. Not only was it an awful strain on the eye to look at the ugly people all day long, but what if ugliness was also contagious? Of course, the researchers were never able to prove conclusively that was the case, but what if it was? The camp guards were paid double salary, but even then they wouldn’t stay for long. The turnover among the Camp Ugly guards was simply terrible.
Catharsians prided themselves on being fair and just, because, well, the alternative would not be beautiful. The truth was that once upon a time, the planet’s administration tried to cull the population of Uglies, but the Ugly Rights Groups were up in arms. Another time, a controversial bill was introduced proposing that all Uglies be sterilized and denied mating rights, but it didn’t pass the Senate. After much deliberation, the compromise was reached according to which, when an Ugly reached a mating age he or she would be allowed to take a mate and have one child, but no more than that. The hope was that slowly but surely the population of Uglies on the planet would be reduced.
And so, Catharsians and Uglies co-existed without much interaction, nor with much knowledge of each other. Catharsians went on living the high life, attending beautiful parties and having the time of their lives, while the Uglies were left to fend for themselves behind electric fence built to prevent their escape and the spread of the much dreaded “ugly disease.”
Camp Ugly occupied a large wasteland territory, just outside the capital city of Thar. It consisted of eight sectors divided into forty villages, each populated by one to two hundred Ugly families. The population of these villages used to be substantially larger, but now many huts stood deserted, as each new generation of Uglies would get smaller and smaller. It was apparent that the one child policy, imposed on the Uglies, was working.
The focal point of Camp Ugly was the Gathering Square, where the Uglies sang, danced and worshiped Goddess Mu in their ancient Lemurian language. On the corner of the square stood the house of the Supreme Elder, as well as what the Uglies proudly called the Temple of Mu. In fact, it was just a large and rather unattractive barrack.
But the Uglies didn’t notice its outward appearance, because inside was the most important and valuable thing the Uglies possessed. This ultimate treasure was the famous Lemurian Mother Crystal, which was guarded zealously day and night. The crystal was so huge that even a hundred Uglies couldn’t lift it. It consisted of a myriad of points growing like a gigantic flower out of the crystal’s center, and it sparkled like a zillion stars when the light of the torches reflected from its thousands of facets. No one knew where the crystal came from, or how it appeared in Camp Ugly. But according to the Lemurian legends, the crystal was the ultimate protective shield and energy booster for the entire planet of Catharsis. The Uglies called it the Crystalline Engine and considered themselves its keepers.
Truth be told, it was an incredible stroke of luck for the Uglies that Catharsians saw no value or beauty in the Mother Crystal. If they did, they would have taken the sacred crystal away from the Uglies, broken it into pieces and sold it off to the highest bidders. But since they thought that the pointy and heavy crystal was just an ugly rock, the Lemurian treasure was safe, at least for the moment.
Camp Ugly’s eight sectors lay beyond the main square, spreading outward according to the compass directions like slices of a giant pie. Each sector was comprised of five villages, and beyond these villages were agricultural fields. Each village specialized in growing of one kind of produce, which they shared with the rest of the camp’s population in an equitable and fair manner. If one village had a bad crop, which happened often due to substandard equipment and scarce water, others stepped in to fill the food shortage.
Despite such meager conditions, the Uglies seemed not to fret. They lived in their simple little huts, growing crops and caring for their young. They had to work very hard to survive, and because of that, they didn’t have much time to look after themselves. Their features and their bodies weren’t perfect to begin with (at least according to Catharsians), plus they had no time at all to beautify them. Even if they did, there wasn’t anything in the entire Camp Ugly with which to beautify themselves.
Instead of spending whatever little free time they had on vanity, the Uglies usually got together to sing and dance as they prayed to Mu, the Mother of All, for the good of Uglies and Catharsians alike. They sang beautiful songs about peace, love, and…beauty. Their singing was so entrancing that even the guards couldn’t help but listen, and some even shed a tear or two. It seemed these songs came straight out of their souls, which stood wide open for the whole world to see. And if anyone cared to look inside those souls, which Catharsians certainly didn’t, they’d see how truly beautiful the Uglies were.
Catharsians and Uglies alike dreaded the last day of each month. The thing was, there were certain needs the Uglies had that could not be fulfilled inside Camp Ugly. For example, they had to get certain supplies they couldn’t get otherwise. There were also certain errands to run, like getting medicine for the old and ailing. A hundred of designated Uglies, called Runners, were allowed to leave the camp on that day to obtain supplies for everyone else, because Catharsians considered it below their dignity to run errands for the Uglies. It was bad enough that they had to maintain the electric fence and guard them day and night!
The Runners were chosen each month from the strongest and most courageous of the Uglies. As usual, the night before the trip, all able-bodied Uglies gathered around the campfire to sing their beautiful songs as a good luck wish for the chosen ones. That night, the Runners got the choicest pieces of food from the Uglies’ scarce table and went to bed early, to preserve their strength before the arduous endeavor. The next morning, at the break of the red dawn, they said farewell to their tearful families, and left.
The entire population of Camp Ugly gathered to say a final goodbye as the camp’s tall electric gate opened up, and promptly closed again behind them. As their eyes followed the departing Runners, their lips moved, as the Uglies whispered prayers to the Goddess Mu to keep their brave men safe, because it was well known (and even expected) that not all of them would be back.
The Runners were considered heroes among their own, and they proudly sacrificed themselves for the good of all.
Morf was sixteen when he first volunteered to become a Runner. His mother was against it, but his father who had been doing the Runner duty for a while, was in no condition to go. His right leg was badly damaged after the latest model Elpet attacked him during his last run. Morf’s native village, located in Sector No. 5 of Camp Ugly and comprised of one hundred twenty households, had too many women and children, but not enough strong, young men. Most of the older men sustained injuries from past expeditions, but someone still had to procure supplies, clothes and medicine. Morf took after his father, growing tall and strong—stronger and taller than most Uglies. At sixteen, he towered over his mother, and at that point Morf knew, it was his turn to become a Runner.
At seventeen, this was already his sixth run. He kissed and hugged his weeping mother and his limping father goodbye, made sure he had his water bottle, and carefully examined his gear. The gear every Runner carried along consisted of two huge sacks, which they would load up with as much stuff as they could gather during their expedition, and two sturdy purses strapped to their waists, in which they would carry th
e most valuable items, like medicine. Morf also carried two backpacks, one upfront, and another in the back. Some Runners were so adept that they even strapped additional small bags to their legs and arms. Equipped this way, each of them looked like a walking, talking clothes hanger.
To Morf, the fully loaded Runner resembled what Catharsians called “a decorated New Year’s tree.” During one of his previous runs he had seen a real New Year’s tree after it was thrown out into garbage. Even in the garbage the tree looked very beautiful. The Uglies didn’t have any trees. The wasteland where their camp was located was dry and barren, with only one small river, which was hardly enough to water their crops. No water could be spared on luxuries like the trees and even bathing was a problem.
Morf desperately wanted to pick up that New Year’s tree and bring it back to the village so the children could enjoy it. But it was too big to haul all the way back. In the end, he had to sacrifice the tree for crucial necessities, like food, clothes and medicine.
The thing was, Runners had to carry everything they were able to gather on their person. They couldn’t bring carts, because the carts would slow them down. It was very important to be fast on your feet. In fact, sometimes it could mean the difference between life and death.
Morf waited for his companion Dorf, a veteran Runner from his village. Three other Runners from the neighboring villages soon joined them, and all five disappeared behind the tall gate. Five men was the optimal size for the Runner team. Any more and it would be harder to find enough stuff for everyone. On the other hand, it was certainly not advisable to travel alone. Thar, the capital of Catharsis, was a very safe city, but not for the Uglies.
