Catharsis, Legend of the Lemurians

by Lada Ray

  “And…did we all learn our lessons?” he asked.

  “You did,” said Mu with a sad smile.

  Morf let out a big sigh of relief. “Then we all, both Catharsians and Uglies, can be saved?”

  “Yes…you will be saved,” echoed Mu with the same sad smile.

  “Great!” Morf jumped to his feet, a relieved smile flooding his face. “I should wake up the Elders, and we should get the Council together so all the logistical details can be worked out. There are so many things to consider, so much to take care of. We need to tell Catharsians so they can get ready…”

  “Catharsians can’t be saved,” said Mu.

  “But you said…”

  “I said you, the Lemurians, would be saved.”

  “But what about…,” started Morf again, struck by the thought of the woman who gave him medicine and bandages to treat Dorf’s wounds.

  Mu shook her head. “Catharsians chose their Karma—they cannot be helped. Sit down, my child, and listen!” As Mu touched his shoulder with her cool, shimmering hand, Morf felt a tingling sensation of happiness that made his heart pound. He obediently sat on the nearby rock, Mu next to him.

  “I know you are wondering why I appeared to you, of all people.”

  “Yes, the thought has crossed my mind,” admitted Morf. “There are so many worthier Uglies out there, for example, the Elders. But then I thought that perhaps it was simply because I was the only one awake. You noticed me by the sacred fire and…”

  “I didn’t appear to you by accident, Morf.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No. That’s why I need you to listen to me. There will be a time when your people will need you. Although the Uglies can be saved, they still need leadership. Whatever happens next, always remember that!”

  Morf and Mu headed to the home of Alton, the Supreme Elder of the Uglies, located at the Gathering Square. Alton’s dwelling was bigger than everyone’s because it included a spacious meeting room where the Elder Council convened for private discussions.

  Alton was both amazed and relieved to see the Goddess Mu come to them. It meant that their prayers have been heard after all. He touched his Elder Lemurian crystal, which was hanging around his neck, and sent a telepathic message to the Elder Council members.

  Each Elder had a similar crystal hanging around his or her neck. Within minutes, the eight sleepy Council members joined Alton, Mu and Morf in the meeting room. After the initial shock of seeing the sacred Goddess Mu in their midst had passed, the Council members listened with reverence to what she had to say.

  “Dear hearts,” started Mu. “I thank you for living according to my laws, and for making your lives so beautiful and pure. The time of reckoning has come. I came to tell you the bad news and the good news. The bad news is planet Catharsis is quickly moving toward its destruction; the good news—you can be saved.”

  “This is such a relief,” said Alton. “Blessed Mu, we are most anxious to hear how we can save ourselves, and how we can help these unfortunate Catharsians!”

  “Dear Elder,” responded Mu. “Bless your kind heart for still wanting to help the Catharsians after what they did to your people. But unfortunately, they inflicted this situation upon themselves and therefore, cannot be saved. My offer applies only to the Lemurians. I will take your people to the new blessed land with lush meadows and beautiful trees, with flowing rivers and bountiful harvest. In that land you’ll know no cruelty, and you’ll be able to raise your young without fear.”

  “But Catharsians are in need of our help. Can we bring them along to this blessed land?”

  In response, Mu just silently shook her head, her eyes soft and sorrowful. “You must make your decision soon, Elder. Bring your people to the southern field at this hour tomorrow, and I will take them to safety.” With these words, Mu slowly dissolved into the bright column of golden light, which kept diminishing until only a tiny spark remained. The spark flew up, up, up… Everyone in the room followed it upwards with the longing eyes…until it was gone.

  “So be it,” said Alton, his eyes still lingering on the spot where the spark used to be. “I don’t need long to make my own decision. My wife and son will go, and I will stay behind to try to help the unfortunate Catharsians. Someone has to. And what say you, distinguished Elders?”

  “I will stay, too,” said another Elder.

  “And I.”

  “And I.”

  “Our people should go, especially the young. And we, the Elders, should stay,” agreed Ulan, the Elder from Morf’s native sector No. 5. Ulan came from Morf’s neighboring village, and Sector No. 5 was Ulan’s territory.

  All nine Elders were in consensus. They should all stay and the rest of their people should go to the new promised land with Mu.

  “Wait!” exclaimed Morf, who had been so quiet that everyone forgot he was still in the room. “You can’t all stay! We need you! Remember, you are still our Elders!”

  “Don’t worry, my son. The new Elders will rise to the call when the time comes,” responded Alton. “This is our planet and we know no other; we must stay to try and prevent its destruction. Perhaps we can still spare many lives.”

  “But Goddess Mu says they cannot be helped,” objected Morf. “We must all go together and know happiness in the new land. We’ll need your wisdom there.”

  “The new happiness is for you and our other children, my son. We have known great happiness here, on Catharsis. And as to the wisdom, there is plenty of that to go around among our people.”

  The Elders all nodded in agreement, as Morf tried to digest everything he just heard. Somehow, without anyone noticing, Morf had become the tenth member of the Council, and the Elders accepted him without any objection. Perhaps it happened because to them, he represented the point of view of the young generation, which in these extreme circumstances, they were interested in hearing, or perhaps they already knew what was to come. In any event, Elders accepted him as one of their own. The discussion continued for a few more minutes, after which each Elder went to his or her own sector to convey the news and to come to a consensus as to what to do next. Each family, each village and each sector was to make a decision as to who would go and who would stay. After that, the Elders were to reconvene at Alton’s hut at dawn to develop a plan of action.

  I’d better go; the Elders obviously have a lot on their plate, thought Morf, preparing to quietly leave.

  “Morf!” Alton’s voice caught him at the door. “You would be wise to stay with Ulan. And at dawn, come back here.”

  Morf nodded obediently, as the full meaning of what Alton had just said penetrated his mind. The Supreme Elder was asking him to become a member of the Elder Council!

  He accompanied Elder Ulan to Sector No. 5, still not fully believing the turn of events. On the way, the Elder explained what was to be done. Like all other Elders, Ulan wore around his neck a piece of the Lemurian Crystalline Engine as the sign of his supreme power. The Elder Lemurian crystals were attuned to the same frequency and were used to send direct telepathic communications to each other. Each village Head in turn wore a smaller peace of the Lemurian crystal. These smaller pieces were chipped off the Elder crystals and were attuned to their energy. These were used by Elders for telepathic communication with village Heads.

  When they reached Ulan’s hut, the Elder touched his crystal and within minutes five village Heads appeared at the door.

  “I have very important news, which will affect the future of our people,” Ulan addressed the village Heads, adding in response to their curious glances, “Morf is here at the request of the Supreme Elder Alton. He will participate in our discussion.”

  After that, Ulan relayed the whole story of the appearance of the Sacred Goddess Mu, her offer to save the Uglies, and the Elders’ decision to stay behind.

  “I will stay, too,” said one of the village Heads.

  “Me too.”

  “And I.”

  All five village Heads volunteered to st
ay behind to help Catharsians, while letting their people go to the new land of happiness.

  Morf was starting to get really worried. If ALL of them stayed, who would be guiding the Lemurians in time of need?

  “Wait,” he said, “you can’t all stay! You are leaving us without any leadership. Who will be guiding us in the new land?”

  All five village Heads exchanged a glance with Ulan, comprehension dawning in their eyes.

  “Don’t worry, Morf,” said Enana, who was the head of his native village, “it is time for new leadership, which will appear soon.”

  “New leadership? But who…”

  “You’ll see,” murmured Ulan mysteriously.

  All five village Heads dispersed to their respective villages to advise their people of the developments. It was decided that they would reconvene at Ulan’s hut in two hours with a final decision from each village on who would stay and who would go. Morf had an urge to run back home in order to be with his mother and father in this time of trial. He so wanted to hold his mother’s hand, to reassure his parents, to tell them that they could lean on him, that they didn’t need to worry about anything in the unknown world they’d be heading to because he would provide for them.

  But he couldn’t. His orders were to stay with Ulan, and besides, he was really curious to see what the Elder would do next. Without realizing it, Morf became Ulan’s apprentice, absorbing his moves, attitudes, even his thought process.

  Ulan gave Morf an encouraging smile and sat down in the hut’s corner to pray and meditate. Morf sat next to him, but his thoughts wouldn’t let him concentrate on his prayer. Who was this mysterious new leader the Elders kept talking about? And where would he come from? Would Goddess Mu send them this new leader? After all, she promised them salvation. And she was the all-powerful Goddess. His thoughts began dissolving as he drifted off to sleep.

  Morf awoke with a start as Ulan got up, murmuring under his breath, “Time to wake her up.” He paused by the small room where his twelve-year-old daughter slept, and Morf noticed that his lip trembled. But he shook off the momentary weakness and proceeded to the bedroom to wake up his wife.

  Morf sat, listening. First, he heard quiet murmurs, then sobs, followed by silence. Next, he heard what seemed like an argument between Ulan and his wife. This was odd. Normally, the peaceful Uglies didn’t argue, on the contrary, they always tried to understand another’s point of view. Ulan’s wife seemed to be saying something, while Ulan objected. The woman’s voice disagreed again, and Ulan countered with yet another argument. Although Morf couldn’t hear the words, the couple’s voices were becoming more and more agitated. Then, the voices stopped and sobbing began anew.

  Morf felt very uncomfortable—after all, he was intruding on someone’s intensely private moment. He quietly got up, deciding to wait outside. A few minutes later, when Ulan emerged out of the bedroom together with his wife, Morf decided that it was safe to go back inside.

  Ulan was holding his wife’s hand, a smile of total incredulity and bliss on his face. His wife’s face was tear stained, but she was smiling, too.

  “Teona decided to stay with me,” Ulan said quietly.

  “But what about your little daughter?” exclaimed Morf.

  A shadow passed through Teona’s face, as a tear started making its track down her cheek. “She will leave with the others. Mu will lead all of you to safety. But my decision is to stay by my husband. Maybe we can still save our planet. And maybe you, our children, will still be able to come back when it’s safe again.”

  “We must try…,” echoed Ulan, his eyes dry.

  Soon, the village Heads started appearing at the door. When everyone was back, Ulan said, holding his wife’s hand, “Teona and I decided that our daughter should go with Mu, but we both will stay to try and save the planet. What say you, esteemed village Heads?”

  “Village No. 1 unanimously agreed that all adults would stay and all the young would leave.”

  “Village No. 2 unanimously agreed that adults would stay and the young would leave.”

  “Same for Village No. 3.”

  “Village No. 4 decided the same.”

  “Village No. 5’s decision,” said Enana, the Head of Morf’s native village, “is that all adults will stay, and all the young will go!”

  As Morf listened to this, a new thought hit him: his parents were staying! He had a desperate urge to jump to his feet and run as fast as he could to see them immediately…

  “Very well,” said Ulan gravely, getting up to his feet. “I thank you for your service, esteemed Heads! I shall deliver the citizens’ decision to the Council. Morf and I shall be making our way back without delay.”

  As the village Heads solemnly filed out of Ulan’s hut, Morf surreptitiously wiped a treacherous tear, which was about to make its way down his cheek. He couldn’t go to his parents now. He had to stick with Ulan—that was the Elders’ wish. Besides, he was extremely interested to know what the decision of the remaining four sectors would be. He got up to his feet and followed Ulan. There would be time to hug his parents after the Council meeting.

  The red dawn was upon them as they approached Alton’s hut. The other seven Elders were already there.

  “Sector No. 1,” announced first Elder, “has unanimously decided that all adults should stay and help save our planet Catharsis, as well as alleviate the pain of the Catharsians, while all of our children should leave to safety.”

  “Sector No. 2 decided the same.”

  “Sector No. 3 made the same decision.”

  “Sector No. 4—same.”

  “Sector No. 5,” echoed Ulan, “fully agrees with this decision.”

  “Sector No. 6 also agrees.”

  “Sector No. 7 decided that adults would stay and the young would leave the planet.”

  “Sector No. 8 agrees with the rest.”

  Complete silence followed the eight announcements. After that, the Elders and Morf followed Alton to the Temple of Mu, where in the center of the Great Hall was the sacred Lemurian Mother Crystal. The Elders, together with the young Runner, sat around the crystal, holding hands, swaying and singing their prayer. They sang about the ancient race of the Lemurians, their struggles and their love for the red planet; about the impending disaster and having to say goodbye to their families; and about Goddess Mu who would keep their children from harm.

  After the prayer was over, the Elders got up and went back to their respective sectors to offer comfort and to organize things.

  Morf followed Ulan to Sector No. 5, and having said goodbye to the Elder, finally headed back to his parents’ hut. He walked past other huts, where the final preparations for the young Uglies’ departure were underway. Fathers and mothers were taking stock of the few things their children could take with them on the journey, here and there you could see families holding hands and crying together, or having their last breakfast at the modest family table.

  As Morf reached his hut, his mother ran out the door to hug him tight, tears streaming down her face. Father limped up to them and joined the hug. They remained like this, in one tight embrace for a long time. They finally broke apart and went inside, where they sat down holding hands for what would be their last family talk. After that, they started preparations for Morf’s departure.

  In the afternoon, village Heads came by to announce that all parents were summoned for a meeting. Morf stayed behind, waiting, until his sleepless night got the best of him and he dozed off. He woke up when his parents returned from the meeting. He didn’t ask what the meeting was about—they’d tell him if they could. But he noticed that the expressions on their faces were different. They looked serene and dignified, as if they saw the whole picture, as if the worry about their son had gone away, as if now they were confident he would be all right.

  Morf wondered what caused such change, but didn’t ask that either. He wanted to remember his parents like this, with these wonderful expressions on their faces. They sat down to the last family
supper. Departure time was quickly approaching.

  Meanwhile, the unusual activity and behavior of the Uglies did not escape the Catharsians’ attention. Sure, the Uglies were warned to be as discrete with their preparations as possible, but how do you hide your emotions when your only child is about to leave to unknown lands and you’ll probably never see him or her again? How do you hide your sorrow, your desire to protect and hold that child for as long as possible?

  Since among themselves the Uglies spoke their ancient Lemurian language, Catharsians couldn’t understand what was going on, but they started suspecting that something was up.

  It was late, and the final hour was fast approaching. Although most Catharsians were asleep, none of the Uglies slept that night. When the time came, the Uglies started moving to the agreed upon field just outside Sector No. 8. Families walked together holding hands, whispering the last words of love and encouragement to each other.

  But what they didn’t know was that some of the Catharsians didn’t go to bed, and instead followed them to the gathering.

  As Morf and his parents approached the field, they noticed the blinding light coming from the sky. They lifted their heads and watched mesmerized as a giant, saucer-like space ship, nebulously shimmering in the illusive light of the purple and orange moons, slowly descended to the fuchsia fields of grass. There was a collective gasp as the ship’s door opened and Goddess Mu stepped out.

  “Is everyone ready?” asked Mu.

  “Yes,” responded Alton for everyone. “Our decision is to save our young, our future. We, the adults, will all stay behind and try to prevent the catastrophe. Perhaps, if we work together, we’ll manage to save the planet and our children will be able to return home.”

  Mu shook her head and issued a light sigh. “Very well… If this is your decision, I respect that. But we should hurry. Everyone who is going, please come forward.”

  All the children hugged their parents for the last time, preparing to step forward. And that’s when the mystery of the parents’ meeting was revealed.