by Ryan Sova
How Nephal and Heragald had found this place was still a mystery to Eliak. When Nephal told him that he would be taking everyone to a place where the sun shined brightly every day, a place where ash wouldn’t be polluting the air anymore, and a place that doesn’t smell like sulfur, Eliak almost didn’t believe it. Nephal had taken it a step further, though. He had told Eliak that the dead would never find them in the place where he would be taking them to.
Eliak sat in peaceful reflection until the sun had nearly set. He was getting hungry now. He willed his old bones to move and slowly made his way back to the village. The sweet aroma of the cooks made his mouth water and his stomach ache. As he was nearing the dining hut, a small child raced past him. Oh to be young again, he thought to himself.
Eliak had finally reached his place at the table. He sat down in his seat and rested. He was so tired from his long trek. His bones ached and his entire body was sore. He was more than ready tonight to eat his share and make his way to bed for the night. The cooks were not finished as of yet, however, so he would sit here in miserable anxiety until he could satisfy the only two desires on his mind.
A pack of small children swarmed Eliak and said, “Great-grandpa Eliak, tell us the story of Noah and his ark, please.”
This was followed by the phrase of, “Please,” being repeated over and over again out of the mouths of several children repeatedly. Several of the older tribe members turned and smiled at Eliak, one of whom was his daughter Elisabeth (who was also Debra’s daughter, Eliak had married Debra once it had become clear that Nephal and Heragald were never going to return again). She was fully grown now and had children and grandchildren of her own. All those who were once children had taken their part in sharing the story of how their race had nearly ended. The children of the tribe had all heard the story of Noah before, but this was something special. To hear the story from great-grandpa Eliak, a man who was actually there to witness the great flood first hand and sail on the fabled ark.
Eliak started his story just as he had done several times before, “Once upon a time the people of this Earth were so wicked and so full of violence and hate that God swore in his wrath that he was going to send a great flood to cleanse the world of all of its wickedness. Living on the Earth at this time was a man named Noah, your great, great, great grandfather. Noah was a very righteous man, so God had mercy on him and warned him of the terrible flood that was coming. On one night God appeared to Noah in a dream and commanded Noah to build an ark, or a great ship, that could carry him over the waters. So Noah did as God commanded and built this ark.”
A young girl named Esther interrupted Eliak, “What did the Ark look like great grandpa Eliak?”
“You know Esther, I really don’t know. You see, I was only a baby when I rode on the ark myself and I don’t remember what it looks like (this was not actually true, but no one was going to ever hear otherwise). But as I was just telling you kids, the ark was a great ship that could carry you over the biggest, deepest waters. Even the meanest flood was no match for Noah’s ark, so once Noah finished making of this ark, God came to him again and commanded him to gather a boy and a girl of every living animal on Earth. Now do you kids know why Noah had to gather a boy and a girl of every animal alive on Earth?”
Marcus answered, “So they could make babies and more babies and more babies until we had a lot of every animal again and we would not be missing any.”
Eliak smiled and said, “You are absolutely right Marcus! It was so that every animal would survive the great flood.”
Esther interrupted again, “Are there any other people, other than us?”
Eliak put a serious look on his face and with a deep voice said, “No Esther, we are the only people who are left because God washed all the others away with the flood.”
A young boy named Jhedial asked, “What if God gets mad at us again and sends another flood to drown all of us too?”
Eliak looked around the table at some twenty children and saw the frightened little expressions that were now echoed in each of their faces. Eliak leaned forward and looked around the room to gain eye contact with every child in the room. Once he had everyone’s attention he spoke, “Now listen to me kids, your great, great, great grandfather Noah asked God that same very question and this is what God told him. He told Noah that he was going to make a great rainbow in the sky after every time that it rains and he made the great rainbow for us as a promise that he will never, NEVER send us another flood again. Now have any of you kids ever seen this great rainbow that God made for Noah?”
All the kids around the table started raising their hands saying things such as, “I have great-grandpa Eliak,” — “So have I,” — “I have seen it too.”
Suddenly, the look of fear on the children’s faces turned to excitement and awe. Every child in the room felt like they had personally taken that ride on the ark for themselves and talked to God themselves. There was noise and commotion at the table. It was simply amazing how quickly the attitude of paranoia had changed to elation for these young, impressionable children. Now if it were only that easy for Eliak.
Even now, Eliak could still vividly remember the warning that Nephal had left him with before leaving his last time.
Nephal had said, “Eliak, the knowledge and understanding of magic must forever die with us. So long as magic exists in the world, no one will be safe from the demon. Through magic, it is possible to speak to him. Through magic, it is also possible to give him control of your body. This is how the demon penetrated the shield and destroyed our world. A sorcerer opened the door for him and let him in. Eliak, if we don’t wipe magic from off the face of the Earth, it’s only a matter of time before all of this will happen again. And I fear greatly that if the demon comes a second time, no one will be able to stop him. The Awakening will come again only, this time, no one will survive.
The story of Noah and the ark was defiantly a good story. It beautifully explained away the almost complete extinction of mankind and was much less terrifying than the truth. This story of Noah and the ark would be passed down from generation to generation. Stories would be told hundreds, maybe even thousands of years from now about how Noah saved all of mankind with his ark. Eliak was now the only person left who knew what really happened back then. When I die, he thought to himself, that knowledge will forever die with me. Or will it? Magic has existed on this Earth for almost twelve-thousand years now. There are libraries that are filled with the ancient texts, books that explain how to speak the language of magic. These books can be found in homes, castles, towers, caves, and some are even buried under the ground. What if someone finds one of these books long after I am dead? What if someone calls to the demon after we have already erased magic from the world? How will they fight the dead without magic? How will they possibly defeat the demon without magic? Eliak thought back to all that he had seen and heard in his lifetime and quietly said to himself under his breath, “If anyone discovers what we have learned, God help them all.”
EPILOGUE
How could I have been so blind?
How could I have been such a fool?
I fell right into his trap and before I could even realize what was happening, it was too late. I screamed in agony. I resisted his power. But it was no use, he had me right where he wanted me.
I felt the life drain from my immortal body. Death was closing in on me and, with death, oblivion would also follow. I had to do something, but what? Then an idea came to me. I pulled a small fragment of my soul into another plane of existence. Then, I hid myself and watched from afar.
I watched as he killed me, as he destroyed what remained of my immortal body. The demon thought that he had won and that I was no more, but he was wrong!
Next, the demon turned his attention to my creation. The matter that had been granted to me from the beginning. The matter that I had spent billions of years forging into a solar system. This is what the demon wanted.
I should have known that he was h
ere to steal my creation. I should have suspected his true intent from the beginning. After all, he was the same God who had earned the wrath of Athena (master of all creation) when he had so recklessly mismanaged his own creation. In her anger and wrath, she had ripped his worlds apart and then supernovaed his sun. After she was done, she gave him one simple command, “FIX IT!!!”
The great goddess Athena expected that the demon would obey her commands, that he would start from scratch again and rebuild the solar system that she had destroyed. But instead, he resorted to killing me and stealing my creation. In his heart, the demon believed that my solar system would be ripe for the taking once I had been defeated. He was wrong!
For there were others that were watching over my creation in my absence. A small group of humans that I had exalted to Godhood. This I had done for the purpose of having them help me with managing the affairs of my creation. These Demi-Gods that I had created were named Hebernal, Tecethnes, and Seberath.
The demon demanded that my Demi-Gods depart from our solar system at once, the solar system that was mine by right for it had been assigned to me from the beginning! They refused. Before long, a war broke out in the heavens. My Demi-Gods fought courageously but, alas, they were only partial Gods, Demi-Gods who had been exalted by me. Their enemy was a full God with power that was far greater than what they possessed.
My Demi-Gods succeeded at driving the demon off, but tragically Tecethnes died in the struggle. Hebernal and Seberath mourned the death of Tecethnes, but even in their pain and anguish they knew that the demon would return again soon. They went to work immediately, creating a magical barrier that the demon would be powerless to penetrate. A shield that would protect the one and only thing of value in my entire solar system, the one planet that can sustain life. The planet named Earth.
In time, the demon returned again to claim his prize. Upon learning that my creation had been abandoned, for he was still, as of yet, unaware of what my Demi-Gods had done, he called upon the elementals of Earth. He commanded them to destroy all life upon the face of the planet so that he could then replace the creatures of my making with his own hideous forms of life. His attempt failed.
The demon cursed my Demi-Gods who had nobly sacrificed themselves while building this shield. Then, without delay, he started hurling giant boulders at my Earth. This attempt also ended in failure.
By this point, the demon had become so enraged that he didn’t even care anymore about what the consequences of his actions might be. He wanted the life that I had created to be gone and if that meant leaving the planet unlivable, so be it.
The demon grabbed hold of the Moon and hurled it at Earth. When the Moon emerged again from Earth’s atmosphere without even touching ground, the demon screamed in a mindless rage. He then grabbed hold of the planet Mars. Just as he was preparing to hurl this planet at Earth, he heard a voice from the distance.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!”
The demon froze, his immortal frame quivered in fear. He responded, “I - I was just rearranging the orbit of these worlds… g – great s - supreme goddess Athena.”
Athena’s voice boomed across the heavens again, “THESE AREN’T YOUR WORLDS!!! WHERE IS AEKMAR!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM!!!”
The demon answered, “H – H - he left y - your grace. H – H - he doesn’t want…”
“SILENCE!!! YOU DARE SPEAK LIES TO ME!!!”
The words of magic boomed across the heavens. And behind those words was a willpower that was strong enough to forge galaxies.
The demon cowered in terror. Then suddenly, a voice called out to Athena, “Athena, stop.”
Athena’s voice became faint as it echoed across the heavens. This was due to the fact that she was no longer addressing the demon directly, “WHAT? WHY!!! THIS THORN IN MY ASS HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT TROUBLE SINCE THE MOMENT YOU EXALTED HIM AND SENT HIM TO ME!!! I WILL NOT TOLERATE HIS INSOLUENCE FURTHER!!!”
“Athena, the council has spoken. You will let him return to his endeavors, to the system that he has claimed as his own. You are still free to command him so long as he retains the right to manage this system. If he defies you again, you are free to do with him as you please.”
After a short pause, Athena responded, “As the council wishes then.”
Athena then spoke to the demon again, “It seems that I am not allowed to kill you at the moment. But I am still allowed to command you. So these are my commands. You are to maintain the worlds that Aekmar created. I expect his creation to live out its full lifespan while you maintain it. You may build upon what is already there if you wish, but you are NOT to destroy anything. And PLEASE, let me catch you defying me again! Nothing would bring me more pleasure!”
The worlds of my creation then went quiet. For thousands and thousands of years, the demon feared doing anything that might bring down Athena’s wrath. Over this period of time, I recovered some of my strength. Although, I would never regain even the smallest fraction of the magical power that I used to possess. This had been forever lost to me when my immortal body was destroyed.
As the years passed, I began to breathe a sigh of relief for it didn’t seem like the demon would ever be able to harm any of my creations again. But then I saw it. I looked into the future and saw what the demon was planning.
The demon knew that he couldn’t penetrate the shield and he also knew that he couldn’t destroy it from the heavens either. But if there were a way for him to sneak a small fragment of himself inside my world, then, he might be able to destroy it from within. The demon knew that Athena would never look close enough at any of these worlds to actually see what was going on inside of them. So this was his one last opportunity to finally claim his prize.
Terror began to fill my heart. The demons plan was a clever one. Every possible future ended with his victory. Nothing anyone could ever do would ever stop him from claiming my world, it seemed. But I was not ready to give up, not yet.
I started exploring different possible futures until, at last, I found my key. I appeared in a future that was 250 million years from now, a future that, by all accounts, shouldn’t even exist. I exerted what remained of my life energy and I took physical form. From there, I went to work.
I charmed a young lady by the name of Jollica Henderson. Over time she ran away from home to be with me. I stayed with her just long enough to ensure that she was pregnant with my baby before leaving. A child that she would later name Garry Henderson.
I felt sad for leaving her, but taking a physical form had drained me immensely and, had I stayed much longer, I would have placed myself at risk of fading into oblivion.
Over time my son grew. He had the gift of magic running through his veins. In time, other people started seeing his talents. He spent years helping the police department by solving some of their toughest cases. But this was not his true calling.
When the time was right, I linked Garry’s mind to the mind of Nephal. This simple act was pivotal to my plan against the demon, for Garry had the blood of a God running through him. This made his willpower with magic exceptionally strong and also gave his mind the natural ability to quickly grasp the language of magic. It was Nephal’s link to Garry’s mind that allowed him to learn magic so quickly. Likewise, it was Garry’s link to Nephal’s mind that allowed him to learn magic in the first place. But this was not all.
By linking Nephal’s mind to the mind of my son, a person who shouldn’t even exist, I created a new future. A future that no one could see coming, not King Noah, not Nephal, not even the demon. There was a reason why Nephal never appeared in any vision of the future. It was because his actions couldn’t be foretold, just like Garry’s actions also couldn’t be foretold.
The link in the mind of Garry and Nephal effectively blinded the demon to what actions they might do. It was this one weakness that made all the difference in the end.
Reaching the end, however, was difficult. I had to strain myself even further. At times, I showed Garry things, bringing him to place
s in a ghost form. Other times, I spoke to him with my voice. I had to limit myself, though. I was so close to fading away into oblivion. This left my son confused, wondering why I wouldn’t help him anymore. But it was in those instances that I knew my son would find the right answer on his own. So I conserved my energy, saving it for times when I knew he would truly need me.
The suffering of my world dragged on. I continued to wait for Nephal and my son to reach their full potential, to learn how to travel through time. Then, I waited for them to learn the truth and track down the demon for themselves, after which I had to wait for them both to sleep. Then, I spoke to both Nephal and Garry in their dreams. It was in this moment that I showed them how to defeat the demon.
It was a simple solution, something that everyone had overlooked. King Noah had once said it best, “You can’t change the past. You can only destroy it.”
No one had realized that time travel could actually be used as a weapon. Nephal couldn’t use this weapon yet though. He still had survivors to worry about. The demon had already made the Earth become unlivable due to the gas and dust that he had already kicked into the air. Nephal had to bring his survivors to safety first before he could destroy the demon or the human race would surely come to an end. I showed him where to bring the survivors, a time millions of years into the future, a time where the human race would be able to start over again and thrive.
