In The Beginning

by Richard Webber

  Chapter Fifty Five

  I called a meeting of all our family members. I wanted every one of my children and all their offspring to come to the capital city. In all the years I had been ruler over the land, I had never before done this. We had not been together as a family since Kalou, I, and the rest our children had gone to Kalou-Car when Enoch had taken the rule of our first new city. My family was now spread wide across the land, with my children and my children’s children leading cities from the north end to the far south.

  I knew this might be the last time we could ever come together, given the size of our family and the size of the land, so I sent messengers to each city commanding that every family member must attend. None of my family was excused. To make sure everyone could be there I set the meeting for six months in the future.

  “Why are you making this into such a big deal?” Kalou asked me once again.

  “I told you Kalou, I really want to see all our children together, and their children with them. We have become a great nation, and this may be the last chance to get us all together.”

  “Yes, I understand that,” said Kalou, “and I agree it will be wonderful to see all the children and grandchildren. But there is more going on here than just that. You’re planning something.”

  I couldn’t disagree with her, since that would be a lie.

  “You’re right.” I laughed, “Why do I ever try to keep anything from you? Actually, I shouldn’t laugh, because it’s serious and very important to me.”

  “Our family has grown so large that I've lost count of our grandchildren, though I know it's over two hundred. Our children’s children are now becoming parents, and the family will continue to grow. We are spread far across this land, and most of the family rarely sees each other.”

  “I want to bring the family together to give this generation and future generations a sense of community. I want them to see that though we are different from those around us, there are many in our family and we are the same.”

  “Also, I need to tell them my story, to make sure our grandchildren and their children hear from my own mouth who and what I am, and how I have tried to change.”

  Kalou looked at me and smiled gently, “You are a wonderful man and a great ruler to your people. You are as different as the night is to the day from the man I met at the edge of the wilderness three hundred years ago.”

  Kalou’s statement brought me up with a start. Three hundred years! Had it really been three hundred years? I could remember the day we met like it was yesterday. Three hundred years had seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. But really, it had not.

  When I looked at my wife, I saw her through the eyes of love. I saw her as the wonderful, fiery, intelligent and beautiful woman she had always been. And in truth she still was, but she was no longer young. Though Kalou was healthy and strong, and to me she was still the most beautiful woman in the land, she was now well past the middle of her expected time and was approaching old age.

  The jet black hair had begun to show gray, and there were wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. She was not yet an elder, but that time was fast approaching. The last few years had seen the passing of several of my oldest and most trusted friends and leaders. It had been painful to see them age and pass from this world, but of course, that is the way.

  I now knew the blessing of long life that my race carried also included the pain of watching those you love age and pass away. It had been heartbreaking when Cadune died a few years ago. Even though he had lived a long, full life and had accomplished much, losing my good friend and my closest advisor after Kalou had been very painful. His departure had been followed by Gadu and Ataran, friends and leaders from the beginning. Just last month I received word that Shadan had passed away. His death was especially difficult because he was not yet old, having been in the world less than four hundred and fifty years.

  I expected those of the other race to live at least five hundred years. This is what I hoped for Kalou, which would give us at least one hundred more years together. The thought of another hundred years comforted me somewhat.

  I had no idea how long I would live. Though I had never truly expected to live forever, I had often wondered what my span would be, since for a very long time I did not seem to age at all. I was now four hundred and four years old, and signs of aging were finally visible, which reassured me. I no longer looked like a young man, but would now be seen by most people as a man entering into the prime of his life. As my friends and wife aged, I had come to realize I had no desire to live forever. The pain of losing those you loved was great, and I did not want to feel that pain over and over forever.

  Kalou nudged me with her hand and smiled gently as she said, “Cain, where did you go in your thoughts? You look so serious.”

  I came to myself with a start. “I’m sorry Kalou. I was just thinking about the man I was when you met me all those years ago. That is one of the reasons I want to bring our family together. I want to make it clear to them how easy it is to do evil. How it can appear to be acceptable if you fool and excuse yourself. I'm going to teach all of my offspring as long as I live with my own story.”

  “How will you do that?” Kalou asked. “We are too widespread. We can’t make everyone come here every year; it’s too long a journey.”

  “I know, but I'm going to establish a new tradition for our family. I will tell my story once every five years. The entire family will not be required to be there and listen each time, but I'll require all of our children and grandchildren to bring their children once in their life, before their twentieth birthday. This will happen until I die. If all my offspring hear my tale from my own lips at least once, perhaps I can help them not to make the same mistakes I made.”

  “That’s a good idea Cain. I know they can learn some important lessons from your life. And at least we'll be able to see our family more often; the ones in the far south rarely visit anymore.”

  I decided this was a good time to broach the subject I had been putting off. I knew Kalou would be opposed to returning to the East. She had hated everything I told her about the land after my last journey there. She had seen that the evil in the place affected me profoundly, and it had taken a long time to rid myself of the sadness it brought upon me.

  Kalou had mentioned on more than one occasion that she never wanted our people to settle that side of the Great River. She believed that God had sent the evil people to that land for a reason, and our people were not meant to live there.

  “Kalou, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” I said hesitantly.

  She looked at me expectantly, “What’s that?”

  “Well...” I finally just blurted it out. “I’m going back to the eastern lands.”

  “What! Why would you do that?” She was as upset as I had expected her to be.

  “Please calm down. You know we need more land. That is a fact we cannot get around. We have almost completely filled this land, and at the rate we're growing within a hundred years we’ll have no more places to settle.”

  Kalou was extremely distressed, “But there’s got to be some other way, some other place!”

  “There’s not,” I said. “We all know we can’t go to the west. That’s a fact. Even though our offspring could make the journey, we don’t know what welcome we would find there.”

  “I have been into both of the mountain ranges at the ends of this great valley. The mountains to the north continue on for a very long time, and they are uninhabitable. When you finally come out of them to level land it is too barren to farm and keep animals, and we could not live there. The southern mountains and their deep valleys are filled with creatures of which I will not speak, lest they return to my dreams. We dare not encroach too close to them with our cities, and even I could never get through those mountains to see what lies on the other side.”

  Kalou was still not convinced. “But God sent the evil people across the river. You said yourself that there was no way the
y could have crossed the river and the wide plains without His aid, much like my people reached this land from yours long ago.”

  “That's true, but that doesn’t mean we can never go in that direction. And we have no choice Kalou! There is no other place for us to grow. We have to cross the river, because it's only a matter of time before this land becomes too small to support our people.”

  Kalou thought about this. I could tell she was desperately trying to think of another way to manage, so we would not need to cross the river.

  Finally agreeing with the truth of my words she gave up, and in resignation said, “Well, how do you plan to do this?”

  I knew Kalou was really going to dislike what I was about to tell her, but there was no getting around it.

  “Well,” I said slowly, “I have an idea for the fastest way to scout, and if necessary conquer any that may still be living there.”

  “I’m confused. What do you mean, scout and conquer any that may be living there?”

  I explained, “They were such a violent people that it’s possible they've killed each other off. I would be very shocked if they still exist in any great numbers. It's been almost three hundred years since we were last there, and anything could have happened.”

  “Yes, anything could have happened! How do you know they haven’t become a mighty people, just as we have? Given their evil, vicious nature, perhaps they could defeat us in battle.”

  I couldn’t help myself, and I actually laughed as I replied, “Kalou, there is no way they could become a mighty people with the culture they had, any more than you could have become a mighty people with your old way of life. Anyway, the land was not evil, just the people. And now we have a great need for the land, so we have to go back. Any people still living there will need to renounce their evil ways or die.”

  Kalou continued to protest, “You say it so easily Cain, like it is such a simple thing. But how do you plan to take a force across those barren plains and conquer the land?”

  “With the Nephilim.”

  “What! You want to do this with our children?”

  “Yes, because there's no other way. To cross those wide grasslands without food or water is very difficult for common men, but to our family it is no great barrier. Once we cross the great river, we can be across the plains in a matter of days. I want to take a large enough force to explore the land thoroughly, and conquer any evil people that may still live there.”

  Kalou was not willing to give in easily, “If you go, do you expect to find any good people living in the East, or will they all be gone?”

  “I think it’s very difficult for good to grow in a completely evil environment, but it happened before, so you never know. I’m not sure exactly what we will find, but I’m confident they have not grown into a great people. I believe it is much more likely that they have diminished, choking themselves with their evil.”

  “But do you think you are going against God’s will? He sent them across the river, and He separated us with a wide, waterless plain. Perhaps God intended that you never settle that land.”

  “I do not think so. God controls everything in ways we cannot see. God separated those people from your tribe when you could have been corrupted by them. Now we are powerful and much more numerous, and we can eliminate that tribe's evil from the world. I do not pretend to know the mind of God, but perhaps this was His plan all along.”

  Kalou thought about this and nodded, “Perhaps... As you say, we cannot know the mind of God. So, how many Nephilim do you want to go with you?”

  “I would like at least one hundred to accompany me.”

  “What? One hundred Nephilim! That is like sending more than a thousand of the hunters. Nothing could ever stand in your way. Why so many?”

  I smiled, “Because nothing can stand in our way! We must conquer the land completely, so we control the entire east side of the great river. That land stretches as far south and north as our own, and on the far side of the eastern mountains the land continues on for a very great distance, so far that I could explore only a small part of it. The land to the far east is a very fertile land, and is so wide that I believe it could never be filled by our people. We must have access to that land, and I will take an army of Nephilim to make sure we get it.”

  “So when will you leave? When will you start your next journey?”

  I looked at Kalou and said quietly, “I think this will be my last journey and my last adventure. But we will leave from the gathering. Once I have told my tale and discussed the business of the land, I will tell the family of my plan. I expect that many, if not all of them, will want to go. I have decided that leaders of cities cannot go, but any others will be allowed. If necessary, I will choose those that are to accompany me by drawing lots.”

  Kalou said thoughtfully, “This was inevitable, wasn’t it? Eventually we had to go.”

  I nodded my agreement, “Yes, it was only a matter of time. We couldn’t let that evil fester over there forever, and it’s better to go now before overcrowding becomes a problem; while we are still in control of the situation. This is the right time, and the Nephilim are the right people.”