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Children of the Gods
- Children of the Gods -
Based on some of my past-life memories…
The exciting prequel to my epic true story “Memoirs of a Galactic Emperor”!
Prologue – The Dark Faction
In another time, across the vast gulfs of the stars, there was a very distant universe not totally unlike the one in which we now exist. Perhaps it still is out there, amongst the myriad realms of the endless cosmic reaches! But this tale is of the past, not the present. And in that era of the ancient past, there did exist beings not unlike mankind, who were human much as we know humanity… and as frail and fallible. Their world had reached a point in its’ course of development where their society proved too much for that planet to support and endure comfortably. Lest the planet die, they needed to change, to evolve, and to transcend their former petty natures. It is not known whether biology or technology was the impetus for the transformation that came, but came it did. The humans became as gods, and they had forgotten the old squabbles and ego-driven ambitions of their former lives. However, the new race was not perfect! Not by far. Their new science allowed them to heal the world they loved and create a paradise wherein technology and nature could be reconciled and exist hand in hand, with no fear of destruction resulting. But amongst these people, these techno gods, there were differences about how best to ensure a secure future beyond this point of healing and growth. Unable to resolve their differences, the factions of gods did war against one another, forgetting all about the nearly averted perils that had so brought them together in unity. After some time, the most evil and sinister of these factions was defeated but not destroyed. They retreated into the depths of space, beyond the borders of their galaxy, to start life anew without being bound by morality or restraint. The remaining gods, afterwards, had reached common ground and forged alliances that led to a lasting peace between them. But they had forgotten about those who had left for the stars… though those dark ones had not forgotten them. And they plotted their return in secret, waiting. They were like fallen gods, those dark ones, and they had learned secrets. Forbidden secrets, which soon they would use to exact their vengeance upon those who had caused their exile. A single will drove them, and a single purpose. Sometimes, it is said that the sins of the past come home to roost like ravens. Black ravens who journey silently through the night, waiting for carrion upon which to feast. In space, you cannot hear the wings of death approaching. Which makes it all the more deadly when death comes just the same. The stage is set, and the tale is now begun. The tale of a certain wanderer: and of his people.
Chapter One – Fall of Corinthia
Part One: Wanderer and Kali
He was called the Wanderer, though once they called him simply the Centurion. His father was the king of the people of that region of their world known as Corinthia. He was tall, wore most oft a red cloak and robes of golden hue. His hair was long and unkempt, silver before it’ time, and though he was immortal he feared time itself. For with time comes the inevitability of change, which makes all people, gods and mortals alike, tremble on occasion. His thigh-high leather boots snapped upon the marble tiles of the royal palace, where his father held court. He turned to his closest friend, a woman named Kali, and spoke to her in hushed tones: “My father is a fool! He thinks his speeches can keep the people asleep, unknowing of the threat that lies beyond the galaxy, poised to return at any moment. This is why I fear the future: because I know the dark ones shall one day return, and that we have become too complacent to stop them should they do so.” Kali nodded her head in agreement, silent as she ever was but not simple. Kali had skin as black as night, and hair as white as snow. She wore red garments that were trimmed with black and gold, and those garments were spun from the finest silk. She was a warrior by trade, but there had been no wars left to fight in generations. When the people of an entire planet no longer needed to produce children, nor had any challenges left to face, nor any reasons left to know one another in passion… they grew complacent indeed. This is something Kali long thought, and so with the Wanderer she was an ally as well as a friend. He and she walked the length of the palatial chamber, past the indoor gardens where the sunlight streamed through, and beyond the rooms of recollection… where relics of the more glorious past adored the walls. Mere curiosities now! There were no children left, for it had been a forbidden thing to create an immortal from a child. Everyone on the planet was young and in their prime, with neither the old nor the young to care for or worry about. “They call this a paradise!” Wanderer sneered, his disgust beyond obvious. “Then where is the laughter of children, or the singing of the innocent? Or has innocence died here, in favor of immortality!” and this was overheard by many who thought him mad for saying so. They were gods now… what need for laughter or for song? In the end, that was the doom of Corinthia, and the entire world upon which it had raised itself as a kingdom. One soon to fall! It was put down in prophecy that the world’s final judgment would come from the stars. A prophecy being fulfilled: swiftly.
Part Two: Return of Old Night
Wanderer and Kali were standing in the observation tower, with he looking through the mighty telescope that was at the very center of that tallest structure in the entire land. It could see well beyond the world’s moons, all the way to the edge of the far boundaries of the galaxy. His eyes were the first in Corinthia to behold the black ships returning after thousands of years. “It is as I feared!” he screamed, swearing coldly with evident fear. “They are coming home… our demons of the past. Coming home, to haunt us all. Alert my father. Now, mayhap, he shall be moved to action! And you, my warrior friend, shall yet see the conflict and challenge for which your soul has been burning.” And so Kali rushed off to warn the king, whilst the sleek and predatory crafts of ebon metal made their way through the void, purposefully taking their time. Why needed they to rush, when the outcome was never in doubt? The king was so unnerved by the news, that he broke his staff of ruler-ship across his knee in frustration. “Old Night returns, and how are we to greet her?” He said to his courtiers, as timid as a child might speak such words. They looked to him, as he stood there muscular and imposing in ceremonial armor of forest green and bright gold over robes of purest white. With his gilded crown, gem-encrusted and magnificent… with his great beard all bristling with sweat… and with his hands trembling, revealing his cowardice for all to behold. They could not look to him, to save them from their impending damnation. Kali returned to Wanderer, and two hastily began to gather old allies. Trusted ones, who could still wield their old weapon in defense of their world. From every kingdom and nation of the planet those allies came, and for a year they mobilized their forces in preparation for the dark ones’ arrival. Wanderer, Kali, Shiva, Agni, and Yama, along with a thousand other noble immortals gathered at a secret base high in the tallest mountains of the world. In a place where the waters ran so clear and white that they seemed almost as milk on a clear day. They readied great canons of atomic fire, and prepared other deadly devices meant only for the repelling of invaders. In their hearts, they knew even these would not avail them! But Wanderer refused to admit defeat without a fight. “Prepare the forces at each general’s command, Shiva. I want them to be ready, for today is the day we have dreaded.” And blue-skinned Shiva went forth as was ordered. The men and women were prepared that day, and the day went by slowly. Each hour passed like the loud beating of a heart.
Part Three: Darkness Descends
Entire cities were consumed in flames by the beams that rained down from the dark ships from beyond the galaxy. Once, the ones who piloted those crafts were like those whom they now slaughtered like cattle. For mayhap once, those they slew had been more like they. But now, the would-be conquerors were vastly stronger and the immortals of the world below became like sheep waiting for their throats to be cut. Wanderer and his band of warriors repelled as many of the dark ones’ crafts as they could, but more and more came down from the heavens. Many of his immortal brothers and sisters discovered on that day that they could still die by violence even though they could never age. Shiva took a blast to his throat, and because of it his neck would forever after be discolored. The radiation from that blast worked like a poison, and though Wanderer’s best scientists and physicians found ways to halt it… the physical changes wrought in Shiva could never be undone. Their base at the top of the mountain was obliterated, and they lived like true rebels… ever in hiding, going from place to place seeking a safe haven… whilst pursued by the invaders, who finally came aground in their massive landing crafts and drop ships. Black was their armor, and silver helmets with mirror-like visors hid their visages. They wielded guns and swords, and carried some wide range of alien-seeming devices that the immortals had never seen before. These beings never spoke, and men called them the Death Squads… for they took no prisoners from amongst their foes. Only heads, hearts, and other organs to be harvested as replacements for their own damaged limbs. Thus the war was a vastly lopsided affair, with the dark ones having found the means to create their own perverse form of immortality through cybernetics, cloning, and the harvesting of bodies. They had rejected the peaceful methods of those whom they had once fled from and now caused to flee. Wanderer saw the suffering as he and his friends and allies fled across the world they once called home. Kali could never long put down her weapons of war, and her blades were always red with the blood of the foe. Shiva had, over the years spent on the run, quite recovered compared to how he had been, though still was he a frightful sight to behold because of the ravages of radiation poisoning. Agni was burned by napalm bombs and appeared hideous now because of it, and Yama’s skin became red from burns he suffered whilst trying to save Agni from death. Burns that healed, but which left his flesh reddish in tone ever after.
Part Four: Thunder in the Clouds
Wanderer looked upon his comrades. Kali had a nervous twitch to her beautiful face. Shiva’s immortal body was: constantly wracked by the pain of a condition that would have killed him had he been mortal still. Agni looked more dead than alive and through his bandages one could see the extent of the horror inflicted upon him. Yama constantly scratched his itching skin, in the vain hope it would ease the stinging of it. Each of them had been permanently changed by the war. Wanderer alone was spared any sort of misfortune, and his allies began to think that gods above them did favor him. They were resting in a farm on the outskirts of the capital city of Corinthia itself, preparing one final mad effort to reclaim it from the dark ones’ grasp… and each one knew this battle might well be the end for them. If loving affection had still been a part of their peoples’ way of life, then Kali would have kissed the Wanderer to ease his worry on that evening. Perhaps even made love with him. But love was gone from that world, never to return. She knew not what she felt, and so she shrugged off her feelings and sharpened her swords, loaded her guns, and thought of the carnage the morrow would surly bring. “If we still had gods… if we were not gods ourselves… I would pray, this night.” Said Shiva, his voice more a raspy croak than a voice in the usual sense of the word. “You were always one for austerities, my friend.” Said Yama. “I myself, am more of a fatalist.” And hearing that from Yama, Wanderer… for the first time in his entire life… wept. Kali consoled him as he wept, and that night was one of somber thoughts and terrible realizations. The morrow came at last, and the warrior gods made ready to do battle. It was a full day they fought to enter the royal palace, and the dark ones seemed to come in waves. “They can resurrect, so long as there is something left of their bodies to harvest!” Kali exclaimed. “Then we must make certain nothing remains of them.” Yama laughed, half jesting and half serious. Men were cut to pieces in that struggle, their bodies consigned to flame so that they might never be able to rise again. The heroes had to fight as evilly as the villains they faced, in order to prevail. Horror had come to Corinthia, and both sides brought it to bear with equal ferocity. It seemed thunder wracked the clouds above on that day, and Wanderer… his sword spattered with blood and his pistol nearly out of ammunition, his flame grenades just about spent… finally realized that they could never hope to win against this sort of foe, without embracing their cruel ways.
Part Five: The Black Empress
Somehow, Wanderer and his allies made it to the throne room, where his father once held court. Still, his father was there. Hung from a wooden cross above the throne where once he sat. Immortal, unable to die, as machines probed and prodded his flesh, scraping and scarring, tearing and experimenting… replacing this or that with metal or circuitry. He begged for some form of death, but she who tormented him refused any such mercy. She was the Black Empress, ruler of the dark ones. Or as they called themselves: the Children of Chaos. Tall she was, and imposing in black armor with red gemstones decorating the armor at her breast. Her helm covered all save her smiling mouth. Two curved wing designs went up from the sides of that helm, which was otherwise smooth all around and without decoration or ornamentation. A blood red cloak hung about her shoulders, and as she reclined upon the throne she tapped her gauntleted hands rhythmically. She seemed content but bored in a way… she was bored with the king’s suffering, with the whole invasion, and with this uprising. She controlled the machines with her mind, and so willed every detail of the former king’s torture. “Father!” cried out Wanderer, but the king could not answer, for his throat was constricted by black metal coils of a snake-like design, which also kept him lashed to the cross as they also pierced his hands, wrist, feet, and ankles, securing him firmly. “You cannot help him.” The empress coldly stated. “So you are the son this fool has often spoke of.” And wanderer charged at her, his sword ready to strike. No guards were left to protect the throne room, and the Empress was quite alone. This would all end now! “I am. And I shall be your death, witch!” he exclaimed as he neared her. She deflected his strike with ease, and with but a gesture caused black tendrils like those that ensnared the king, to ensnare Wanderer’s companions. Whilst they struggled against their bonds, he faced the Black Empress fearfully, though betraying none of that fear to her. “Who are… or were… you?” he asked her. “I had a name, once.” She replied. “Your father spoke it lovingly, when you were still a child. When children still lived on this world, before your science took the right to procreate from the people.” And Wanderer knew he faced his mother, at that point. Long ago, he had been told that she died in childbirth, and that her death was the impetus for the king’s embracing of immortality. Each citizen of the world had their personal reasons for doing so… and the king’s had been in reality, just a lie.
Part Six: To Wander the Stars
“I will bring the right to have children back to this planet.” The empress stated. “Once I have brought its’ population back to a more manageable state. With our form of immortality, we need not give up love, passion, or life just for a life eternal. With my way, immortality is a choice and not a mandate. If one wishes not to live forever, they need not replace whatever parts ail them. They can age, they can die… or they can come to me, and become gods. It is their choice, and my right to bestow, as queen of this nation and now empress of this entire world.” Wanderer felt confused by her almost sensible words. He had, all during this war, seen friends and allies suffer and die in horrible ways. But what were they really fighting for? A better world, or merely to preserve the old status quo of the past! Was change, really a bad thing after all? “No, mother!” he cried. “If you truly seek to make this world a better place… stop the fighting and sue for peace. Offer the people your way of life, and see if they accept your hand… but by doing as you are now, you are imposing your will upon them just as this whole civilization has done to its’ own people for millennia.” And the Black Empress knew her son was right… but she could not stop now. Not when she was so close to winning her war or change and vengeance. “I will take your words into consideration, my son. But for the moment, I must continue as I am now. I will allow you and your allies to depart my planet in peace, never to here return. I will spare your lives and your souls. For my science could alter both, if I so chose! Depart for the stars, as once I was forced to do, with all my people in tow. See how I was forced to live, and to survive, in a hostile universe. Know that I will care for this world and make of it a truer paradise than it was before. But change comes with cost. Your cost is exile!” and so Wanderer and his warrior gods fled the world of their birth. A single ship was granted for their use, and they called it the Stellar Ark. Wanderer had finally lived up to his name in the most literal fashion, and become a wanderer amongst those very stars that once he looked upon through the great telescope of his father’s highest tower. “We can never go home, you know.” Kali reminded him. “She will kill us, if we do.” And Wanderer nodded his head knowingly. “She is my mother. I will not visit harm upon her. Maybe she can bring this world peace, after all. Maybe… we were wrong all these years, our mad, immortal peoples, to think ourselves gods. At our core, we are only human, after all.” And so the Stellar Ark left on its’ way.
Chapter Two – Journey Beyond Time
Part One: Ark of the Gods
The Stellar Ark journeyed beyond the bounds of the known galaxy in which Wanderer had been born and lived, and fought and lost his war against the Children of Chaos. The journey took a thousand years, and in that time he and Kali came to at last embrace the love they had long felt for one another, unspoken. They had a daughter and named her Mara, which meant “Illusion” for love had been an illusion to their people for so long, and now was a reality once again. When Mara grew to the age of thirteen, on the verge of becoming a beautiful young woman, she stopped aging at all without having been exposed to the technologies that might have rendered her immortal. Wanderer had brought none of those technologies with him when the Stellar Ark was launched into space. There was no conceivable reason why Mara should become immortal on her own. “In all the history of our people, no two immortals had ever produced a child. So how could we know what the result of such a union might be?” offered Kali in an attempt to explain this mystery. “We shall take it for what it is, a miracle!” Wanderer so responded, content with what Kali had said. Ironic, since he was raised to believe a child immortal was a blasphemous thing. On the world of their birth, they might have been put to death for producing a child such as Mara. But now, she was truly a treasure, and one to be cherished above all others. Mara turned out to possess the gift of second sight, and using her powers she guided the ship’s navigation systems to take them to a planet where she sensed they might be able to start over. But on the way, they passed through a wormhole and journeyed through time as well as through space, arriving at a certain point in the time stream that they did not expect. The world was in the Sol system, in a galaxy known as the Milky Way. It was the third planet from its’ sun, and its’ name was not known to these gods. That was where the wormhole took the Stellar Ark! The ship put down in a valley, which would in the future come to be known as the Indus. No humans yet walked the Earth, (for that was the name of this world)… but still this was further in time than the past from which they had come. Even though to us now, here on Earth today, that time still would have been the very dawn of prehistory. Dinosaurs still roamed the lands, and to the gods they were strange beasts indeed. Quite unknown to their experience! Wanderer was the first one off the Ark as his eyes surveyed the alien landscape before them. In which they themselves might be considered alien. He was pleased.
Part Two: Demons from Beyond
They began to set about building a great civilization, and used what skills they could to raise the walls of what would in time become their great and ancient city. The oldest city of the gods in all of Earth’s history, predating even the colony of Eden! Over the centuries after their arrival, Wanderer’s people gave him the title of Brahma, which meant “Supreme God” and he was pleased to see that their new home seemed hospitable and otherwise uninhabited. He was wrong, however. For there had come to Earth from the stars an ancient race of old beings, which some might call demons. And these demons became mighty foes of the gods, often clashing with them down through the years after the initial attempted colonization of Earth by both races. The conflict grew bloodier over time, and soon it became apparent that the gods could not prevail against their alien adversaries. This was the day when the gods finally had enough of the Old Ones, as they called their rivals. Kali was racing through the jungle, her swords cutting a path through the bamboo and the undergrowth. She was the mightiest of all the divine warriors of her people… if she could not prevail, none of them could. She approached the sound ahead of her, and beheld the cavern where the Old Ones’ kept their landing crafts hidden. “That ship is made to blend with the rocks and natural formations of the landscape in this area.” She noted to herself. “Incredible! Even we do not possess that advanced a cloaking technology.” She crouched down, her keen eyes focusing on her prey. The reptilian humanoids beyond paid her no heed, as they worked to collect mammal and dinosaur genetic material to aid in their secretive experiments. “Mara says they are trying to breed new races from that material they are gathering. Slave races that they can one day control. I must not let their plans succeed!” she thought, as she readied her weapons for the attack to come. Her long tongue licked her lips in dire expectation of demonic blood to be shed. Then, without warning, she emerged from her hiding place and stormed into the midst of the Old Ones gathered thereabouts. They never knew what hit them. Wanderer knelt before Mara and begged her to foretell the future whilst Kali was away acting as his champion against the enemy. The temple chamber was magnificent, of carven stone and with high pillars that bore the faces of the gods upon them. This was Mara’s temple, and within it she was supreme. She looked upon Wanderer, and her eyes were not those of a child, but of a true goddess who was centuries old.
Part Three: A Prophecy of Peril
Mara sat back upon the cushions that decorated the dais upon which she reclined. She wore green silken pantaloons and a white linen blouse, trimmed with gold. A golden diadem held back her scarlet hair. Her eyes were both as green as jade, and she resembled much the memory Wanderer had of his mother. Uncannily so! “The future is not something you wish to know, my father.” Mara began. “For if you knew, you would despair.” And he said unto her: “Tell me anyway.” At which she made a very strange smile upon her face. A knowing grin of such satisfaction that it unnerved Wanderer, for it was almost evil in its’ sense of mischief! “We will have to flee this world very soon, father. But you and I shall be parted and your road shall be a long one filled with much suffering. That is what the future holds.” Wanderer, supreme ruler of the gods on Earth, knew fear at the words of his own child. Words he knew to be the absolute truth, and nothing less. Meanwhile, Kali returned from her mission bloodied but savoring the sweetness of victory. She came up the steps of the temple, in the city of the gods, and she bore in her hands the heads of many of the reptilian demons. She laid them at Wanderer’s feet as he emerged from out of the temple to greet her. “Kali… is it done, are we safe now?” and Kali who was still in her state of battle euphoria said as if in a daze: “No! Thousands more wait in their accursed craft, hidden there in the jungle beyond our reach. Even I could not pierce their defenses, but I triumphed still over many of their chieftains! Their blood is still wet upon my mouth, and I savor the hot sweetness of it.” She then went to kiss Wanderer, who pushed her back, disgusted by the blood on her lips. “What!” she exclaimed. “Have you not seen rouge upon my lips before, my king?” at which Wanderer stated what Mara had foretold of the future. “She is still a child, Wanderer! Or do you prefer to be called Brahma now, great lord? Ignore this prophecy of peril and let us rout the invaders. With our combined might, we gods can best any demons, even these Old Ones.” This Kali said unto Wanderer, at which he grew pale and explained: “Mara is not a child, Kali. Even though she appears as one, her soul is the same as any of us gods and goddesses of old. She is the youngest of us, but also the wisest, to be sure.” And Kali laughed. “If she is the wisest of us, then we are damned indeed!” and then off the warrior goddess went to wash the blood from her body. Wanderer gave the order for all the gods to gather and attack the Old Ones once and for all. They agreed.
Part Four: The Burning Jungle
After seven days of fighting, the entire jungle was ablaze, as the gods fought their way to the cavern where the Old Ones had their main base, their great hidden ship. The reptilian foes seemed to be retreated back to it, and the gods gave chase with a lust for victory in their hearts. But then, Wanderer realized what was happening! “They are trying to lure us into following the lot of them into the cavern. Why?” Kali stifled his concerns, though, saying: “It is merely a sign of their cowardice in the face of our superior prowess in combat! They cannot hope to best us, now that we are united in their defeat. Let us press on, and end this once and for all!” And so Wanderer agreed, and they pressed on, into the cavern. They fought ever deeper into the darkness, as Agni brought illuminating devices to light their way. Eventually, they discovered the horrible laboratories where the Old Ones mixed genetic material to create their slaves. The mutants there were misshapen things, little better than beasts. The gods immediately called them the Asuras… meaning “Devils”… because of their inhuman and repulsive appearances, as well as their apparent savagery and thirst for blood. Kali put them to flight and slew the leaders of these slaves of the enemy. Suddenly, massive explosions rocked the cavern, causing rocks to tumble down and threaten a cave-in. “Their ship, it is on the verge of taking off!” Cried Agni through his scarred lips. “Retreat! Everyone, back out of the cavern immediately.” So ordered Wanderer, and all the gods obeyed his command. They emerged from the cavern as the Old Ones’ ship emerged from it behind them, streaking across the skies and heading straight for the gods’ own city. “No! We must protect Mara and the others at home. Gods, to me!” cried Wanderer. They made their way through the burning jungle, and soon arrived back at their city only to find it reduced to rubble and ruins. All fallen rocks and stones, no evidence of the carven faces or other examples of divine architecture that once had stood in that place. All was as if it had never been. Charred bones and other bits of remains could be seen smoldering in the ruins, and every time he passed one such fallen god or goddess, Wanderer feared he would see his daughter Mara in such a state of death. But she was nowhere to be found! “Where is she? Where is Mara!” he screamed, tears falling from his eyes and his lips quivering with her loss. He collapsed amongst the ruins, weeping. Kali tried to comfort him. But there were no words of comfort to be found! Mara was gone… and no one knew to where.
Part Five: Flight From Earth
None of the remains turned out to be Mara’s, once identified. Wanderer decided there was nothing left on Earth for the gods now… and so, he ordered them back to the Stellar Ark, which was expanded and refitted to allow them to leave the planet with more supplies and technological devices than they had with them when they came to it so long ago. “Where can we go, my king?” Kali asked. “Without Mara to guide us, we have no direction.” And Wanderer thought deeply for a moment, then realizing one possibility. “Check the shuttlecraft bays! If one is missing, then it means she fled by that way and can still be tracked by the ship’s scanners.” Surely enough, one shuttlecraft was reported to be missing. Off all the gods, both living and dead, only Mara had bee reported unfound and unaccounted for. It had to have been her, who fled thus! The scanners were locked unto the shuttle’s signal, which came from someplace out on the edge of the galaxy. All was made ready, and the Ark made its’ flight from Earth as swiftly as it had first come unto it. Not a trace of the divine civilization, or that of the Old Ones, had been left behind for later generations to find. All was destroyed, during their conflict. The Stellar Ark rocketed through the Milky Way, passing beyond Pluto and out into the unknown reaches where oft astronomers today might see new planets or other marvels. There, they spotted a temporary wormhole. The signal from Mara’s shuttlecraft became scrambled after that point, and so they knew she had gone through. But where had the wormhole taken her, and where would it take them? “Plot a course to follow her signal! We cannot turn back now.” Wanderer ordered, and Kali punched the coordinates into the navigation computer. They could not risk using automated navigation for this journey, so it had to be manual all the way! The Stellar Ark lumbered through the event horizon and disappeared into the wormhole itself. When it emerged, it was in a domain of space that none of the gods had ever seen before. They could not be certain, either, at what point in time they had emerged. “Where, and when, are we?” Shiva rasped as he looked around at unfamiliar stars and constellations which they passed as the ship sped on its’ uncertain way. “I do not know, but we must continue to follow Mara’s signal.” Wanderer pointed out, as he gestured to the computer, which indicated the path they must undertake to find her shuttlecraft. Kali made ready to navigate the craft onward, without so much as a comment. They would find her, no matter what the cost to anything.
Part Six: Into the Black Void
The Stellar Ark proceeded into a starless void, with nothing except Mara’s signal to lead the gods onward. “What could this place be?” Kali said, in awe and fear. Wanderer speculated: “Could this be the same unknown realm where the Children of Chaos went, when they too made the journey beyond our home galaxy?” A thought that made everyone uneasy, for each of the gods had wondered on that same exact thing. Only one single large planet was detected, and it lay at the very deepest heart of the black and lightless void. It was that world, where Mara’s signal came from. The Ark landed on that world, in the middle of a massive desert dotted with ancient ruins from another time. Mara’s shuttlecraft was nowhere to be seen, but the signal from it kept ringing out from across the wastelands. “Kali, you and I alone will undertake this mission. Everyone else must stay behind and watch the Ark, just in case it needs to be defended. We do not know who, or what, lives on this dead world. It may not even be as dead as it at first seems!” And so Wanderer and Kali set out across the desert, leaving signal beacons behind them as they went, like a trail of bread crumbs so they could find their way back. Taking a pocked tracer, they traced Mara’s signal and followed it. The heat of this world was oppressive, but it was a dry heat with no humidity. To protect his head, Wanderer ripped off a piece of the cloak he wore and wound it up to form a turban on his head. Kali did likewise with a second piece that Wanderer handed her. They already wore robes that protected their bodies from the sun. The two passed broken remains of what had once been cities, and dark places carved into rock with gates across them to keep intruders out… or prisoners in. Even so, no sign of life or habitation could be seen. Only where once life had existed, and now existed no more. “I am afraid of this place, Wanderer.” Kali admitted. She was always the fearless one, but there was something here that unnerved even her unbreakable resolve. Wanderer could not place it, but there was something very familiar about this world… as if he had seen it someplace before, long ago, but put it out of his memory for some reason his mind would not allow him to fathom. “This is a domain of death.” He said, and Kali knew despair at that statement. “Why… would Mara choose willingly to come to such a place and not find a kinder world to flee to? She has the sight, after all! She knows the future.” Wanderer asked this aloud, of no one in particular. Kali replied: “I… do not think we want to learn why.”
Chapter Three – Mask of Illusion
Part One: Cities of the Cliffs
Eventually, Wanderer and Kali entered a rocky valley with high cliffs on all sides of them. Cities were built into the sides of those cliffs, where people seemed to be going about the ordinary business of life. Wanderer approached one of the people who lived in the cliff cities, a young man in a white robe with a shaven head. “Sir, can you tell me… have you seen a craft of some kind land hereabouts? Or a young girl of about thirteen years with red hair, wearing green and white?” And the man actually understood Wanderer’s language, recognizing it as being not dissimilar to his own. “You describe the goddess we have worshipped for thousands of years, stranger. Ever since she came down from the stars to greet our ancestors.” This revelation shocked Wanderer, who asked the man to tell him what year it was. But the man confessed that his people do not keep track of time any longer. Kali exclaimed: “Wanderer, the wormhole! When we passed through it, we must have come out at a different point in time than Mara did when she made the same trip. She arrived in this world’s ancient past, whilst we have emerged at a distant point in its’ future.” Wanderer realized only that could explain this strange turn of events, and so he nodded his head acceptingly. “Sir, would you tell us where this goddess of yours might be found? I know her, and she will most certainly wish to speak with me.” Wanderer asked this of the native man, who pointed towards a great temple carved high upon a lonely crag on a distant mountain at the end of the ridge of cliffs. “Thank you, sir! We will depart, now.” And so Wanderer and Kali made their way from the cliff cities and across the base of the ridge that defined the valley they were in. “Should we not have at least asked the name of this world, while we could?” Kali offered, but Wandered shrugged it off. “Mara can always tell us, once we find her. She has been living here for thousands of years, apparently.” And apparently, in all that time, she has kept her shuttlecraft in working order, so that her signal might be found. A desperate hope, that her dear father might one day discover that very signal and follow in search of her. But at least it proved she was alive, which was all Wanderer cared about right now. “Her shuttlecraft must be within the temple.” Kali realized. Wandered nodded in assent. He did not feel like talking, only crossing this waste and finding Mara at long last. After that, he did not care where they went or what they did. It was enough, that she would be with them so that they could do face their dark, unknown future together.
Part Two: Temple of Illusion
There were over twelve hundred steps leading up to the gates of the temple. However… there was also an elevator built into the cliff’s side, which made progress to the top far easier than such a potentially deadly climb up steep steps, under that high burning sun. The elevator was, clearly, a more recent addition to the place. Even gods could perish through violence, and that includes falling to one’s doom! So this transportation was designed wisely indeed. After several minutes, they arrived at the temple gates themselves, and they knocked on the imposing brass doors. A robed priest, all in green and with his face deeply hooded so that it seemed he was a living shadow, opened the doors and beckoned the strangers in silently. Eerily. He led Wanderer and Kali down dark corridors lit with burning braziers hung from chains high above, suspended above the halls like chandeliers. The halls were covered with murals depicting Mara in various stages of life, from childhood to adulthood but not old age. Wanderer was shocked by that strange depiction of his daughter. “Priest, why is she depicted in this way? I though she was eternally a child, incapable of aging to adulthood.” And the priest spoke in a hollow, deep voice. As if his voice came from somewhere other than his body. He said: “She has found the means to age herself to a point at which she is content. We had to change the murals over time to keep up with her changes. She is immensely powerful, stranger, and beyond your mind’s ability to comprehend.” Kali was shocked, and cried out: “Wanderer! Such a thing is impossible by the science of our race.” To which the priest stated, matter-of-factly: “There are sciences beyond yours, evidently.” After which they made their way in silence. Wanderer had been anxious to meet his daughter after so long searching for her, but now… suddenly, he was afraid that he might not know the woman she had become in her absence from the company of the gods. They passed columns, gardens, and places where priests chanted. More faceless priests just like this one who led them ever deeper into the temple. All was beautiful, and yet rugged, rough, and earthy in the extreme. If it were not for those terrible seeming priests, the place would be no different from many of the ancient temples of the world of Wanderer’s birth. There was: an immensity to the scale of this temple, however, that would have dwarfed any such place he had ever been in before. “I actually fear her, Kali. I fear my own daughter, what she may have become.” This dark thought, wanderer kept to himself.
Part Three: The Price of Time
She reclined upon a mound of cushions, heaped upon a raised dais. A beautiful woman with scarlet hair, wearing a black and shimmering gown! Her jade green eyes regarded Wanderer coldly, betraying no warmth within them. Her body was curvy and splendid to behold, as she stretched out like some great cat. She wore a black circlet, decorated with upswept wings of delicate design. A necklace of red ruby gemstones adorned her neck. Red and black, with wings on the sides of her head… the memory of Wanderer’s mother, the Black Empress… which he had long since tried to forget: this vision had come back to haunt him in the form of his own beloved daughter. “Mara?” Wanderer called out, at which she nodded her head almost distractedly. “Father! Were you told only one thousand years had passed since I came here? That was a lie… an illusion meant to distract you and blind you from learning the truth until I alone might have the pleasure to relaying it to you. I placed a simple suggestion in the man’s mind who relayed it to you, knowing it would give you hope that I might not have changed all that much in that brief span of an immortal’s lifetime. But time is longer, and time has a price we all must pay. This is a timeless world you fool! I have been back to your home planet, in the distant past, having made many trips through various wormholes I have charted. As the woman you see before you, not the child I used to be. There… I married a king and gave birth to a baby boy. I named him Wanderer, in honor of my father. How could I know that my son would then grow up to become my own father?” Wanderer had no words for Mara. He never had learned his mother’s name. His father never told it to him. Now, looking at that cruel mouth of hers, he knew it was she. The Black Empress. His mother. His daughter, in a life now lost to them all. “I completed my conquest of your world, Wanderer. I was true to my word, and made of it every bit the paradise I told you I would. My adopted children, the Children of Chaos, are now simply a contented people living in harmony with what is left of the immortal race. Things are more democratic there now, and they have no further need of my rule. So I have come back here, where I first found myself, to contemplate and find inner peace once again. To shed myself of old angers, hatreds, and fears! I told you long ago, that you would know suffering. How does all of this feel… my son?” Every word Mara had spoken, had driven Wanderer further into despair. But still, no bold words came to his lips to speak.
Part Four: A Mask is Broken
“You have put aside your mask, mother. I raised you; I saw your true soul and the love within your heart! What turned that gentle heart to conquest, torture, and bloodshed?” Wanderer got up the courage to face his mother, and that is what he told her. She laughed, and replied honestly: “Loneliness. All that time after I first landed on this world, before I found those who might take me in, care for me, and come to worship me as divine upon seeing that I will never die. I dreamed of you coming back for me, to find me and rescue me. But my visions of the future showed me the truth! They showed me your past, and I never understood why until I gave birth to you. To the boy who… became you. Loneliness can drive any soul mad, if it is strong and pervasive enough to rot their soul away. As mine was, for a time!” and at this memory, Mara wept bitter. Her son walked up to her and put his arm around her, trying to make her feel better. “Mother… let us all go home now, together. To that paradise you said you created and left behind. Why hide here in a void of darkness, crying yourself: into further sorrow? I am here now! Let the cycle of misery end, so that our people can know a truly eternal peace.” But Mara could not be ever so easily moved. “You do not know where I have gone, what I have done! Oh, Wanderer… you cannot forgive my crimes, and I will never expect you to. Go back home if you wish, but I must stay here, until time ends or I have forgiven myself. My mask is broken, and the Black Empress is no more. I am Mara once more. Scared, lonely little Mara. Leave your daughter to her weeping, and remember me as your strong mother, who destroyed a world to save it.” Wanderer would not let this be, and he kept on trying to persuade Mara. Kali too tried her utmost, to move her to go with them. But her heart was made as stone by all she had done and experienced… she had grown up truly, and there could be no going home for her now. “I am a goddess here.” She explained. “I am loved, worshipped, adored above all others. Here on Kolob, which some do call Kobol, which even the most ancient gods of the universe have abandoned… here, I can be whole. Why not stay with me, Wanderer? Together, we could start over! Build anew. Discover other sciences, deeper secrets of existence than those I taught to the Children of Chaos. Yes… Join me. Join me!” and soon Mara’s tears turned to mania, her old fury boiled to the surface once again. The Black Empress had returned. Kali saw the signs even before Wanderer could. Sinister signs indeed!
Part Five: Fall of the Empress
Mara grabbed Wanderer by the neck and with strength far beyond that of even the mightiest of immortals, she proceeded to squeeze the life from him. “Why… are you doing this to me… Mara?” he croaked out, but before she could claim his life by this deed, Kali stepped forward and struck the former empress across the face with the back of her hand. Mara then turned her attention fully to Kali, leaving Wanderer gasping for air on the floor. “Bitch! Harlot! You may have birthed me, but I have no compunctions about slaying even you. I must build up my power again, become strong again, and return to the Children of Chaos so that they might remember their need for me. Yes… another catastrophe shall befall our home planet I think. And I shall be the catalyst for that change!” Such was Mara’s rant when she faced Kali, fury building in her breast. Kali looked at the woman who used to be her little girl: the child for which, she and Wanderer had long sought across time and space. She looked upon her and knew that child was lost to her forever. “Daughter, I should have been there to protect you, to keep you from becoming evil. To keep you from fleeing to this place that changed you so. I am sorry for failing you! Please, try to forgive me. For everything.” But the kind words Kali spoke meant nothing to Mara, who replied: “You did not fail me, Kali. I am eternal, as well as immortal. I existed before you birthed me, because you birthed me so that I could journey through time and exist long before you ever dreamed of having a child. All this was fated to happen, and there is nothing any single god or mortal could have hoped to do, which might have changed things. You forget, I can see the future after all.” Kali then lunged forward and stabbed Mara through the heart with a concealed dagger. As she twisted it into the wound, she yelled to her former daughter with tears in her eyes: “If you could see the future, than why couldn’t you see this!” Mara looked into the eyes of her slayer, the same eyes she first saw when she was born… and she realized she had never foreseen this. The one act that never factored into any possible future given to her sight to behold! Mara was crying. She was like a little girl again. “Mother… why did you kill your little girl?” Those were her final words, and then she collapsed atop the myriad pillows and cushions whereon she had reclined not long before. And there, she died, no longer immortal or eternal. Wanderer cried out a pitiful “No!” as he held Mara’s unmoving form. It shuddered and did spasm as the Black Empress breathed her last breath.
Part Six: Divine Will Enacted
Mara was buried: by her dark and shadowy priests, in the holiest crypt of her temple, whilst Wanderer and Kali observed the ceremony. Everyone was weeping except the priests, who perhaps had not the capacity for emotion. Mara’s ebon black armor was given into the keeping of Kali, so that it might be kept with the immortals when they left that dead world. People came by to see the burial of the one they had worshipped as a goddess for generations beyond counting. “She was not evil, not really.” Said Wanderer. “She was merely lost. I wish I could have helped her to find herself again.” But Kali knew better. “Mara knew herself all to well, my beloved! She could not turn from her path for that reason. All we could hope to grant her was this final peace. The child we brought into this universe was only an illusion. The Black Empress was the only part of her that was ever actually real.” And so they walked back to their ship, solemn and without cheer, that pair of grieving immortals. Wanderer’s heart was broken beyond all hope, and Kali felt the sting of remorse in her soul. “Perhaps… I should not have slain her, after all.” She finally concluded, whilst looking at the armor she carried. Once the Stellar Ark was prepared for final departure, Kali looked over at Wanderer and asked him: “Where will we go now? There is nothing left back home, or here, for any of us.” Which made the king of the warrior gods think very deeply to himself for some time. He then decided: “We will seek a new home, then, elsewhere in the vastness of this universe. We will find one where there are people willing to live in peaceful coexistence with us, and we will blend in with them so that our peoples become one. We will put aside the ways of war forever. Those ways have gained us nothing in the end, but death and broken hearts! Let us depart, now, once more for the stars.” And so the Ark did leave, bearing Mara’s black armor with it. Unknown to everyone, that armor contained her soul and spirit that she had very cunningly transferred to it with her dying breath. It waited in the cargo hold of the Stellar Ark, patiently and silently. As the Children of Chaos had before beginning their terrible war! Wanderer’s dream would never be possible, for peace would be always something gods and mortals alike would have to fight for in order to preserve. Other children would one day be born to the race of immortals, though never again would there be born one like Mara. She who had become eternal… as well as immortal! However, there are some cases where a certain individual can at least be reborn.
Chapter Seven – Black Empress Reborn
Part One: My Name was Maya
It was many centuries since the Stellar Ark made its’ final voyage across the universe. Unto many worlds it so came, seeding them with life as gods came down to dwell amongst mortals and begin their lives anew. Many of these gods and their awful ancient struggles would come to be remembered by man, once humanity came to dwell upon Earth. No one could remember quite what world it was that Kali came to settle upon, bringing Mara’s discarded armor with her. But on that remote world, far from the notice of the great powers of the cosmos… the black armor was kept in a shrine dedicated to Mara. A shrine fit for a goddess! Countless ages passed, until there came to that unnamed planet a solitary craft bearing an androgynous god, or mayhap more correctly: a goddess. One of a different race than Wanderer’s people had been. Once, this being had dwelt on the dead world where Mara had been worshipped as divine. The being’s name, at that time, was Maya… and I was she. And mine is the hand, which has penned this ancient tale. I remember the beauty of that world without a name, and I recall walking up a hundred steps to reach Mara’s shrine. It was flanked by four marble pillars entwined with images of serpents, and those four pillars held up a mighty dome inlaid with panels of scarlet glass that were illuminated by the bright light of that world’s sun. Each panel bore Mara’s beautiful face upon it. All around the shrine were glorious gardens of red roses, and I felt my heart drawn to that place deeply. Within the shrine was a chest of gold, with fiery rubies set upon its’ surface in many places. I cared nothing for the wealth of such a thing, only for what it contained. Gently, I opened the chest and retrieved the black armor that lay within its’ confines. “Who are you, and why do you disturb this shrine?” asked Kali, who then appeared behind me as I donned the black armor. Armor I once had worn in another life, and which felt good to wear once again. “Do you not recognize me, Kali? Even in this body, you aught to.” And she looked upon me and knew I was Mara reborn. “How is such a thing even possible?” she uttered, her lips quivering with fear and horror. “Death cannot destroy one whose soul is both eternal as well as immortal. Know you nothing, of the nature of souls, Kali?” I said, then proceeding to stroke her face with my left hand. She clasped that hand in her own, tears forming in her eyes. “It has been so long, my daughter.” She said. But I had to caution her: “I am not your daughter any longer, Kali. I have a new mother now, if you will allow me to explain.” Kali said to me in her most tender voice: “Tell me, dear Mara, and tell me also… how it was you came to live in flesh again.” My eyes were now blue, and my hair was blonde… but my face and my mannerisms were as unmistakable as all my words.
Part Two: The Child of Chaos
This is what I told Kali. Long after Wanderer and his fellow warrior gods decided to seek out new worlds to settle on, a new empress was crowned on Haven, the planet that had been conquered by the Children of Chaos… and from which Wanderer and the other exiled immortals had been forced to depart upon the Stellar Ark. It had not been called Haven always, but that was the name chosen for it by the new empress, Sophia. She had been named as Divine Empress, and her world had indeed become a veritable paradise. Heaven, some called it, a variation of the name Haven. She desired to have a child, but every one of her children was stillborn because they lacked a soul due to Sophia’s mutated generics. In desperation, she sent out messengers across the universe to find a soul without a body so that she could give life to one of her dead children. In time, they discovered the world on which Mara’s armor lay, and though they left it there… they retrieved from it her soul, and so housed it in a special cylinder designed to hold such forms of energy as souls and spirits are composed of. This, they brought back to Sophia and she imparted the soul into the child she had loved the most. One who possessed both male and female characteristics, though in whom the feminine was foretold would be: dominant. The child breathed and lived at last, and she named that child an ancient name known only to she and the child itself. I was that very child, and they called me the Child of Chaos. The Supreme Council of Haven, who spoke for the Divine Force of the entire universe, called Sophia’s act a theft of Divine power… and she was forced to flee Haven with me whilst a god was named Divine Emperor in her place. With the whole of Haven’s space armada after her, desperate to destroy her and I both in order to prevent my ever being reborn (for they feared I might rise in power again and upset the political balance the Council had created)… Sophia’s craft brought her to the dead world whereon Mara’s forgotten temple lay. Kolob: also known as Kobol. There, she gave me into the care of the priests of Mara, and she told them I was their goddess resurrected. I was raised there in exile whilst Sophia fled to the stars… where she would wage her endless war against the forces of Haven’s Council. The priests called me “Maya” but to people from other worlds I was known simply as Ariel. Eventually, I thought to seek out my old armor and so wear it again.
Part Three: Immortal Insurrection
The world of Haven had changed much in the years after I had led the Children of Chaos in their insurrection against the old immortal status quo. Clone banks had been established in order to meet the demand for the new brand of immortality that we had brought to the people from beyond the confines of their small galactic borders. What I had originally begun as the Black Empress… Sophia the Divine Empress completed to her ideals of perfection. Bodies soon became like unto raiment, and the means to transfer the soul and spirit from one body to another made it fashionable for people to discard forms grown old or weary from time, in favor of younger, stronger forms. Even going so far as growing more idealized bodies for themselves: to inhabit, based on how they desired to look, not necessarily how nature intended them to. So was it that the people of Haven became dependant upon the Clone Banks to ensure they could live forever. Whereas the immortals who came before them used their science to prolong a single body’s life indefinitely, and then imposed that upon the entire world’s population over time… the descendants of the original Children of Chaos could choose to remain mortal, to extend their lives longer or even indefinitely, or to switch to a new body when the old one grew tiresome. But it was ever the nature of humankind to long for immortality over mortality, and so the choice to go beyond a single lifetime was totally irresistible to everyone. Some very opportunistic factions on Haven exploited this by offering certain new model bodies for a price. People could (and did) pay for such forms, and the wickedest aspects of this variety of capitalism became noticeable in many provinces of the Divine Home-World. It would be generations before even the people of so lofty and enlightened a society would be able to rise far enough above their capacity for greed and begin to market the new models to everyone without cost. When I was reborn at the command of Empress Sophia, it was into the latter era, when greed was long abandoned, that I was created anew. The dark side of all this, is that it was possible to punish any rebels against the powers that be by either denying them immortality or forcing them back into mortal bodies if they disobeyed. Sophia was against such punishment and felt that immortality was the birthright of all, whilst the Council was in favor of keeping this sort of punishment as a tool to always ensure that their will would never be able to be denied. Thus, it seemed, that even in the paradise we had long tried to create on our world…there would always be those who would seek to despoil paradise and make their own mark upon it. Thus had all things changed!
Part Four: Time’s Eternal Cycles
Kali looked at me long before replying, after hearing the tale I had just told her. Then, she calmly said: “I will never slay you again, Mara. You are clearly meant by the Divine Force to exist forever, and I will wager that long after the gods are dust, or perhaps become mortal… you will still exist, somewhere in the universe.” And so we reconciled at last, and I departed back to Kobol, where my priests were waiting for their goddess to return. Once there, I confessed to then my loneliness and they helped me to create half-mechanical and half-organic beings that might serve to keep me company. Thus was born the race known as the Archons. Their tale is told elsewhere, and is not for this story to relate. In time would arise the Olympian gods and in time the Archons would give rise to the Titan race. War would come once again to the heavens, and I would become embroiled in it. Eventually, I would come to dwell upon Earth along with others of my kind. And there, I would be forced to live the rest of my existence as a mortal. Doomed to die and be reincarnated time and time again. Just like many of the other gods who… like myself… fell short of the ideas of perfection held by the immortals that lived amongst the stars. Kali once had said that I would still exist long after the gods became mortal, and her words became a prophecy proven true by time’s eternal cycles. Back on that unnamed world, Kali was joyful and yet saddened by having met me in my new form. “She was given back to me, only to be lost to me once again.” She sighed, as her new husband Shiva came to greet her. “Kali, I had thought I might find you here at Mara’s Shrine. What is the matter, you seem troubled?” but Kali could find no words with which to convey what she had just seen. “It is nothing, heart of my heart! For too long, I have wept at this shrine… but now I realize there is nothing here I need to weep for any longer. Let us go home, back to the city. Our children are waiting for us.” And hand in hand, the two immortals walked away from the empty shrine. In time, that place would become forgotten. The panes of glass would crack and break, and ivy would climb its’ four pillars. Mara’s spirit was no longer there, after all. It is not known what became of Wanderer, and many believe he entered a timeless cryogenic slumber from which he awakens every so often to explore the universe. Perhaps he is still out there somewhere, he who was once my father as well as my son. Still wandering, still believing his daughter, his mother, to be slain. Time does strange things, especially to eternal souls.
Epilogue: Divine Forgiveness
And so was it written in the scrolls that were kept in a sealed chamber in the greatest library on the planet Kobol: “Of Mara, very little was given down to us, save that which we dark priests that served her scribed, ere we met our violent end. It is so said that she summoned forth a great and terrible storm that raged across all the heavens, and that when the cruel storm had passed she said unto her mother: ‘I forgive you, my mother, and so now… will you forgive me in turn? For we both sinned.’ And there was peace between Kali and Mara. ‘For all eternity, there shall be put forth no more bloody enmity between the Primordial Goddess Kali and the Demon Queen Mara, for there is for them naught but the memory of pains past, and yet through that pain: forgiveness.’ Thus was it written by we dark priests: and our scribes.” It was said that Mara made one final pilgrimage unto them, and thence dictated what they should put down. After… she unsheathed a great silver blade encrusted with rubies set into a golden hilt. And with that sword, she slew her own priests and scribes so that none should speak of her secrets. The scrolls were then sealed away wholly, and the library lay entirely forgotten until all that it contained crumbled to dust. The priests and the scribes had, before their passing, aided Mara in a terrible act of creation, and it was believed that this too was one of the secrets the Demon Queen sought to keep eternally. When the Archon race arose, they knew their creator only as the androgynous child of Sophia and exiled heir to her glory, not as the forgotten daughter of Kali. Thus was one cycle of time swallowed up so that another could begin. Mayhap this ending of a cycle was what Kali had unknowingly longed for all along, hoping that it would lead to a new golden age of peace and prosperity across all the worlds. As the one who was formerly called Mara and Maya looked out across the wastelands of Kobol, from the vantage point of her palace in the city built for her by her creations… she beheld the skies begin to grow white in hue, with a very slight hint of coral blue to them. The distant mountains seemed blue as well, and this seemed to calm her spirit. “One day, mayhap, I will die to this life I am living now and be born in some future unknown to me at present… but also mayhap there will be someone with sight who shall glimpse all that was, and because it is my curse to remember I shall say unto that person: behold, this is who I was, who I am, and who I yet shall be. All that you saw me as, you saw truly. And what I did, and do, will not have been for naught.”
To be continued… in “Memoirs of a Galactic Emperor”
Based on some of my past-life memories…
The exciting prequel to my epic true story “Memoirs of a Galactic Emperor”!
Prologue – The Dark Faction
In another time, across the vast gulfs of the stars, there was a very distant universe not totally unlike the one in which we now exist. Perhaps it still is out there, amongst the myriad realms of the endless cosmic reaches! But this tale is of the past, not the present. And in that era of the ancient past, there did exist beings not unlike mankind, who were human much as we know humanity… and as frail and fallible. Their world had reached a point in its’ course of development where their society proved too much for that planet to support and endure comfortably. Lest the planet die, they needed to change, to evolve, and to transcend their former petty natures. It is not known whether biology or technology was the impetus for the transformation that came, but came it did. The humans became as gods, and they had forgotten the old squabbles and ego-driven ambitions of their former lives. However, the new race was not perfect! Not by far. Their new science allowed them to heal the world they loved and create a paradise wherein technology and nature could be reconciled and exist hand in hand, with no fear of destruction resulting. But amongst these people, these techno gods, there were differences about how best to ensure a secure future beyond this point of healing and growth. Unable to resolve their differences, the factions of gods did war against one another, forgetting all about the nearly averted perils that had so brought them together in unity. After some time, the most evil and sinister of these factions was defeated but not destroyed. They retreated into the depths of space, beyond the borders of their galaxy, to start life anew without being bound by morality or restraint. The remaining gods, afterwards, had reached common ground and forged alliances that led to a lasting peace between them. But they had forgotten about those who had left for the stars… though those dark ones had not forgotten them. And they plotted their return in secret, waiting. They were like fallen gods, those dark ones, and they had learned secrets. Forbidden secrets, which soon they would use to exact their vengeance upon those who had caused their exile. A single will drove them, and a single purpose. Sometimes, it is said that the sins of the past come home to roost like ravens. Black ravens who journey silently through the night, waiting for carrion upon which to feast. In space, you cannot hear the wings of death approaching. Which makes it all the more deadly when death comes just the same. The stage is set, and the tale is now begun. The tale of a certain wanderer: and of his people.
Chapter One – Fall of Corinthia
Part One: Wanderer and Kali
He was called the Wanderer, though once they called him simply the Centurion. His father was the king of the people of that region of their world known as Corinthia. He was tall, wore most oft a red cloak and robes of golden hue. His hair was long and unkempt, silver before it’ time, and though he was immortal he feared time itself. For with time comes the inevitability of change, which makes all people, gods and mortals alike, tremble on occasion. His thigh-high leather boots snapped upon the marble tiles of the royal palace, where his father held court. He turned to his closest friend, a woman named Kali, and spoke to her in hushed tones: “My father is a fool! He thinks his speeches can keep the people asleep, unknowing of the threat that lies beyond the galaxy, poised to return at any moment. This is why I fear the future: because I know the dark ones shall one day return, and that we have become too complacent to stop them should they do so.” Kali nodded her head in agreement, silent as she ever was but not simple. Kali had skin as black as night, and hair as white as snow. She wore red garments that were trimmed with black and gold, and those garments were spun from the finest silk. She was a warrior by trade, but there had been no wars left to fight in generations. When the people of an entire planet no longer needed to produce children, nor had any challenges left to face, nor any reasons left to know one another in passion… they grew complacent indeed. This is something Kali long thought, and so with the Wanderer she was an ally as well as a friend. He and she walked the length of the palatial chamber, past the indoor gardens where the sunlight streamed through, and beyond the rooms of recollection… where relics of the more glorious past adored the walls. Mere curiosities now! There were no children left, for it had been a forbidden thing to create an immortal from a child. Everyone on the planet was young and in their prime, with neither the old nor the young to care for or worry about. “They call this a paradise!” Wanderer sneered, his disgust beyond obvious. “Then where is the laughter of children, or the singing of the innocent? Or has innocence died here, in favor of immortality!” and this was overheard by many who thought him mad for saying so. They were gods now… what need for laughter or for song? In the end, that was the doom of Corinthia, and the entire world upon which it had raised itself as a kingdom. One soon to fall! It was put down in prophecy that the world’s final judgment would come from the stars. A prophecy being fulfilled: swiftly.
Part Two: Return of Old Night
Wanderer and Kali were standing in the observation tower, with he looking through the mighty telescope that was at the very center of that tallest structure in the entire land. It could see well beyond the world’s moons, all the way to the edge of the far boundaries of the galaxy. His eyes were the first in Corinthia to behold the black ships returning after thousands of years. “It is as I feared!” he screamed, swearing coldly with evident fear. “They are coming home… our demons of the past. Coming home, to haunt us all. Alert my father. Now, mayhap, he shall be moved to action! And you, my warrior friend, shall yet see the conflict and challenge for which your soul has been burning.” And so Kali rushed off to warn the king, whilst the sleek and predatory crafts of ebon metal made their way through the void, purposefully taking their time. Why needed they to rush, when the outcome was never in doubt? The king was so unnerved by the news, that he broke his staff of ruler-ship across his knee in frustration. “Old Night returns, and how are we to greet her?” He said to his courtiers, as timid as a child might speak such words. They looked to him, as he stood there muscular and imposing in ceremonial armor of forest green and bright gold over robes of purest white. With his gilded crown, gem-encrusted and magnificent… with his great beard all bristling with sweat… and with his hands trembling, revealing his cowardice for all to behold. They could not look to him, to save them from their impending damnation. Kali returned to Wanderer, and two hastily began to gather old allies. Trusted ones, who could still wield their old weapon in defense of their world. From every kingdom and nation of the planet those allies came, and for a year they mobilized their forces in preparation for the dark ones’ arrival. Wanderer, Kali, Shiva, Agni, and Yama, along with a thousand other noble immortals gathered at a secret base high in the tallest mountains of the world. In a place where the waters ran so clear and white that they seemed almost as milk on a clear day. They readied great canons of atomic fire, and prepared other deadly devices meant only for the repelling of invaders. In their hearts, they knew even these would not avail them! But Wanderer refused to admit defeat without a fight. “Prepare the forces at each general’s command, Shiva. I want them to be ready, for today is the day we have dreaded.” And blue-skinned Shiva went forth as was ordered. The men and women were prepared that day, and the day went by slowly. Each hour passed like the loud beating of a heart.
Part Three: Darkness Descends
Entire cities were consumed in flames by the beams that rained down from the dark ships from beyond the galaxy. Once, the ones who piloted those crafts were like those whom they now slaughtered like cattle. For mayhap once, those they slew had been more like they. But now, the would-be conquerors were vastly stronger and the immortals of the world below became like sheep waiting for their throats to be cut. Wanderer and his band of warriors repelled as many of the dark ones’ crafts as they could, but more and more came down from the heavens. Many of his immortal brothers and sisters discovered on that day that they could still die by violence even though they could never age. Shiva took a blast to his throat, and because of it his neck would forever after be discolored. The radiation from that blast worked like a poison, and though Wanderer’s best scientists and physicians found ways to halt it… the physical changes wrought in Shiva could never be undone. Their base at the top of the mountain was obliterated, and they lived like true rebels… ever in hiding, going from place to place seeking a safe haven… whilst pursued by the invaders, who finally came aground in their massive landing crafts and drop ships. Black was their armor, and silver helmets with mirror-like visors hid their visages. They wielded guns and swords, and carried some wide range of alien-seeming devices that the immortals had never seen before. These beings never spoke, and men called them the Death Squads… for they took no prisoners from amongst their foes. Only heads, hearts, and other organs to be harvested as replacements for their own damaged limbs. Thus the war was a vastly lopsided affair, with the dark ones having found the means to create their own perverse form of immortality through cybernetics, cloning, and the harvesting of bodies. They had rejected the peaceful methods of those whom they had once fled from and now caused to flee. Wanderer saw the suffering as he and his friends and allies fled across the world they once called home. Kali could never long put down her weapons of war, and her blades were always red with the blood of the foe. Shiva had, over the years spent on the run, quite recovered compared to how he had been, though still was he a frightful sight to behold because of the ravages of radiation poisoning. Agni was burned by napalm bombs and appeared hideous now because of it, and Yama’s skin became red from burns he suffered whilst trying to save Agni from death. Burns that healed, but which left his flesh reddish in tone ever after.
Part Four: Thunder in the Clouds
Wanderer looked upon his comrades. Kali had a nervous twitch to her beautiful face. Shiva’s immortal body was: constantly wracked by the pain of a condition that would have killed him had he been mortal still. Agni looked more dead than alive and through his bandages one could see the extent of the horror inflicted upon him. Yama constantly scratched his itching skin, in the vain hope it would ease the stinging of it. Each of them had been permanently changed by the war. Wanderer alone was spared any sort of misfortune, and his allies began to think that gods above them did favor him. They were resting in a farm on the outskirts of the capital city of Corinthia itself, preparing one final mad effort to reclaim it from the dark ones’ grasp… and each one knew this battle might well be the end for them. If loving affection had still been a part of their peoples’ way of life, then Kali would have kissed the Wanderer to ease his worry on that evening. Perhaps even made love with him. But love was gone from that world, never to return. She knew not what she felt, and so she shrugged off her feelings and sharpened her swords, loaded her guns, and thought of the carnage the morrow would surly bring. “If we still had gods… if we were not gods ourselves… I would pray, this night.” Said Shiva, his voice more a raspy croak than a voice in the usual sense of the word. “You were always one for austerities, my friend.” Said Yama. “I myself, am more of a fatalist.” And hearing that from Yama, Wanderer… for the first time in his entire life… wept. Kali consoled him as he wept, and that night was one of somber thoughts and terrible realizations. The morrow came at last, and the warrior gods made ready to do battle. It was a full day they fought to enter the royal palace, and the dark ones seemed to come in waves. “They can resurrect, so long as there is something left of their bodies to harvest!” Kali exclaimed. “Then we must make certain nothing remains of them.” Yama laughed, half jesting and half serious. Men were cut to pieces in that struggle, their bodies consigned to flame so that they might never be able to rise again. The heroes had to fight as evilly as the villains they faced, in order to prevail. Horror had come to Corinthia, and both sides brought it to bear with equal ferocity. It seemed thunder wracked the clouds above on that day, and Wanderer… his sword spattered with blood and his pistol nearly out of ammunition, his flame grenades just about spent… finally realized that they could never hope to win against this sort of foe, without embracing their cruel ways.
Part Five: The Black Empress
Somehow, Wanderer and his allies made it to the throne room, where his father once held court. Still, his father was there. Hung from a wooden cross above the throne where once he sat. Immortal, unable to die, as machines probed and prodded his flesh, scraping and scarring, tearing and experimenting… replacing this or that with metal or circuitry. He begged for some form of death, but she who tormented him refused any such mercy. She was the Black Empress, ruler of the dark ones. Or as they called themselves: the Children of Chaos. Tall she was, and imposing in black armor with red gemstones decorating the armor at her breast. Her helm covered all save her smiling mouth. Two curved wing designs went up from the sides of that helm, which was otherwise smooth all around and without decoration or ornamentation. A blood red cloak hung about her shoulders, and as she reclined upon the throne she tapped her gauntleted hands rhythmically. She seemed content but bored in a way… she was bored with the king’s suffering, with the whole invasion, and with this uprising. She controlled the machines with her mind, and so willed every detail of the former king’s torture. “Father!” cried out Wanderer, but the king could not answer, for his throat was constricted by black metal coils of a snake-like design, which also kept him lashed to the cross as they also pierced his hands, wrist, feet, and ankles, securing him firmly. “You cannot help him.” The empress coldly stated. “So you are the son this fool has often spoke of.” And wanderer charged at her, his sword ready to strike. No guards were left to protect the throne room, and the Empress was quite alone. This would all end now! “I am. And I shall be your death, witch!” he exclaimed as he neared her. She deflected his strike with ease, and with but a gesture caused black tendrils like those that ensnared the king, to ensnare Wanderer’s companions. Whilst they struggled against their bonds, he faced the Black Empress fearfully, though betraying none of that fear to her. “Who are… or were… you?” he asked her. “I had a name, once.” She replied. “Your father spoke it lovingly, when you were still a child. When children still lived on this world, before your science took the right to procreate from the people.” And Wanderer knew he faced his mother, at that point. Long ago, he had been told that she died in childbirth, and that her death was the impetus for the king’s embracing of immortality. Each citizen of the world had their personal reasons for doing so… and the king’s had been in reality, just a lie.
Part Six: To Wander the Stars
“I will bring the right to have children back to this planet.” The empress stated. “Once I have brought its’ population back to a more manageable state. With our form of immortality, we need not give up love, passion, or life just for a life eternal. With my way, immortality is a choice and not a mandate. If one wishes not to live forever, they need not replace whatever parts ail them. They can age, they can die… or they can come to me, and become gods. It is their choice, and my right to bestow, as queen of this nation and now empress of this entire world.” Wanderer felt confused by her almost sensible words. He had, all during this war, seen friends and allies suffer and die in horrible ways. But what were they really fighting for? A better world, or merely to preserve the old status quo of the past! Was change, really a bad thing after all? “No, mother!” he cried. “If you truly seek to make this world a better place… stop the fighting and sue for peace. Offer the people your way of life, and see if they accept your hand… but by doing as you are now, you are imposing your will upon them just as this whole civilization has done to its’ own people for millennia.” And the Black Empress knew her son was right… but she could not stop now. Not when she was so close to winning her war or change and vengeance. “I will take your words into consideration, my son. But for the moment, I must continue as I am now. I will allow you and your allies to depart my planet in peace, never to here return. I will spare your lives and your souls. For my science could alter both, if I so chose! Depart for the stars, as once I was forced to do, with all my people in tow. See how I was forced to live, and to survive, in a hostile universe. Know that I will care for this world and make of it a truer paradise than it was before. But change comes with cost. Your cost is exile!” and so Wanderer and his warrior gods fled the world of their birth. A single ship was granted for their use, and they called it the Stellar Ark. Wanderer had finally lived up to his name in the most literal fashion, and become a wanderer amongst those very stars that once he looked upon through the great telescope of his father’s highest tower. “We can never go home, you know.” Kali reminded him. “She will kill us, if we do.” And Wanderer nodded his head knowingly. “She is my mother. I will not visit harm upon her. Maybe she can bring this world peace, after all. Maybe… we were wrong all these years, our mad, immortal peoples, to think ourselves gods. At our core, we are only human, after all.” And so the Stellar Ark left on its’ way.
Chapter Two – Journey Beyond Time
Part One: Ark of the Gods
The Stellar Ark journeyed beyond the bounds of the known galaxy in which Wanderer had been born and lived, and fought and lost his war against the Children of Chaos. The journey took a thousand years, and in that time he and Kali came to at last embrace the love they had long felt for one another, unspoken. They had a daughter and named her Mara, which meant “Illusion” for love had been an illusion to their people for so long, and now was a reality once again. When Mara grew to the age of thirteen, on the verge of becoming a beautiful young woman, she stopped aging at all without having been exposed to the technologies that might have rendered her immortal. Wanderer had brought none of those technologies with him when the Stellar Ark was launched into space. There was no conceivable reason why Mara should become immortal on her own. “In all the history of our people, no two immortals had ever produced a child. So how could we know what the result of such a union might be?” offered Kali in an attempt to explain this mystery. “We shall take it for what it is, a miracle!” Wanderer so responded, content with what Kali had said. Ironic, since he was raised to believe a child immortal was a blasphemous thing. On the world of their birth, they might have been put to death for producing a child such as Mara. But now, she was truly a treasure, and one to be cherished above all others. Mara turned out to possess the gift of second sight, and using her powers she guided the ship’s navigation systems to take them to a planet where she sensed they might be able to start over. But on the way, they passed through a wormhole and journeyed through time as well as through space, arriving at a certain point in the time stream that they did not expect. The world was in the Sol system, in a galaxy known as the Milky Way. It was the third planet from its’ sun, and its’ name was not known to these gods. That was where the wormhole took the Stellar Ark! The ship put down in a valley, which would in the future come to be known as the Indus. No humans yet walked the Earth, (for that was the name of this world)… but still this was further in time than the past from which they had come. Even though to us now, here on Earth today, that time still would have been the very dawn of prehistory. Dinosaurs still roamed the lands, and to the gods they were strange beasts indeed. Quite unknown to their experience! Wanderer was the first one off the Ark as his eyes surveyed the alien landscape before them. In which they themselves might be considered alien. He was pleased.
Part Two: Demons from Beyond
They began to set about building a great civilization, and used what skills they could to raise the walls of what would in time become their great and ancient city. The oldest city of the gods in all of Earth’s history, predating even the colony of Eden! Over the centuries after their arrival, Wanderer’s people gave him the title of Brahma, which meant “Supreme God” and he was pleased to see that their new home seemed hospitable and otherwise uninhabited. He was wrong, however. For there had come to Earth from the stars an ancient race of old beings, which some might call demons. And these demons became mighty foes of the gods, often clashing with them down through the years after the initial attempted colonization of Earth by both races. The conflict grew bloodier over time, and soon it became apparent that the gods could not prevail against their alien adversaries. This was the day when the gods finally had enough of the Old Ones, as they called their rivals. Kali was racing through the jungle, her swords cutting a path through the bamboo and the undergrowth. She was the mightiest of all the divine warriors of her people… if she could not prevail, none of them could. She approached the sound ahead of her, and beheld the cavern where the Old Ones’ kept their landing crafts hidden. “That ship is made to blend with the rocks and natural formations of the landscape in this area.” She noted to herself. “Incredible! Even we do not possess that advanced a cloaking technology.” She crouched down, her keen eyes focusing on her prey. The reptilian humanoids beyond paid her no heed, as they worked to collect mammal and dinosaur genetic material to aid in their secretive experiments. “Mara says they are trying to breed new races from that material they are gathering. Slave races that they can one day control. I must not let their plans succeed!” she thought, as she readied her weapons for the attack to come. Her long tongue licked her lips in dire expectation of demonic blood to be shed. Then, without warning, she emerged from her hiding place and stormed into the midst of the Old Ones gathered thereabouts. They never knew what hit them. Wanderer knelt before Mara and begged her to foretell the future whilst Kali was away acting as his champion against the enemy. The temple chamber was magnificent, of carven stone and with high pillars that bore the faces of the gods upon them. This was Mara’s temple, and within it she was supreme. She looked upon Wanderer, and her eyes were not those of a child, but of a true goddess who was centuries old.
Part Three: A Prophecy of Peril
Mara sat back upon the cushions that decorated the dais upon which she reclined. She wore green silken pantaloons and a white linen blouse, trimmed with gold. A golden diadem held back her scarlet hair. Her eyes were both as green as jade, and she resembled much the memory Wanderer had of his mother. Uncannily so! “The future is not something you wish to know, my father.” Mara began. “For if you knew, you would despair.” And he said unto her: “Tell me anyway.” At which she made a very strange smile upon her face. A knowing grin of such satisfaction that it unnerved Wanderer, for it was almost evil in its’ sense of mischief! “We will have to flee this world very soon, father. But you and I shall be parted and your road shall be a long one filled with much suffering. That is what the future holds.” Wanderer, supreme ruler of the gods on Earth, knew fear at the words of his own child. Words he knew to be the absolute truth, and nothing less. Meanwhile, Kali returned from her mission bloodied but savoring the sweetness of victory. She came up the steps of the temple, in the city of the gods, and she bore in her hands the heads of many of the reptilian demons. She laid them at Wanderer’s feet as he emerged from out of the temple to greet her. “Kali… is it done, are we safe now?” and Kali who was still in her state of battle euphoria said as if in a daze: “No! Thousands more wait in their accursed craft, hidden there in the jungle beyond our reach. Even I could not pierce their defenses, but I triumphed still over many of their chieftains! Their blood is still wet upon my mouth, and I savor the hot sweetness of it.” She then went to kiss Wanderer, who pushed her back, disgusted by the blood on her lips. “What!” she exclaimed. “Have you not seen rouge upon my lips before, my king?” at which Wanderer stated what Mara had foretold of the future. “She is still a child, Wanderer! Or do you prefer to be called Brahma now, great lord? Ignore this prophecy of peril and let us rout the invaders. With our combined might, we gods can best any demons, even these Old Ones.” This Kali said unto Wanderer, at which he grew pale and explained: “Mara is not a child, Kali. Even though she appears as one, her soul is the same as any of us gods and goddesses of old. She is the youngest of us, but also the wisest, to be sure.” And Kali laughed. “If she is the wisest of us, then we are damned indeed!” and then off the warrior goddess went to wash the blood from her body. Wanderer gave the order for all the gods to gather and attack the Old Ones once and for all. They agreed.
Part Four: The Burning Jungle
After seven days of fighting, the entire jungle was ablaze, as the gods fought their way to the cavern where the Old Ones had their main base, their great hidden ship. The reptilian foes seemed to be retreated back to it, and the gods gave chase with a lust for victory in their hearts. But then, Wanderer realized what was happening! “They are trying to lure us into following the lot of them into the cavern. Why?” Kali stifled his concerns, though, saying: “It is merely a sign of their cowardice in the face of our superior prowess in combat! They cannot hope to best us, now that we are united in their defeat. Let us press on, and end this once and for all!” And so Wanderer agreed, and they pressed on, into the cavern. They fought ever deeper into the darkness, as Agni brought illuminating devices to light their way. Eventually, they discovered the horrible laboratories where the Old Ones mixed genetic material to create their slaves. The mutants there were misshapen things, little better than beasts. The gods immediately called them the Asuras… meaning “Devils”… because of their inhuman and repulsive appearances, as well as their apparent savagery and thirst for blood. Kali put them to flight and slew the leaders of these slaves of the enemy. Suddenly, massive explosions rocked the cavern, causing rocks to tumble down and threaten a cave-in. “Their ship, it is on the verge of taking off!” Cried Agni through his scarred lips. “Retreat! Everyone, back out of the cavern immediately.” So ordered Wanderer, and all the gods obeyed his command. They emerged from the cavern as the Old Ones’ ship emerged from it behind them, streaking across the skies and heading straight for the gods’ own city. “No! We must protect Mara and the others at home. Gods, to me!” cried Wanderer. They made their way through the burning jungle, and soon arrived back at their city only to find it reduced to rubble and ruins. All fallen rocks and stones, no evidence of the carven faces or other examples of divine architecture that once had stood in that place. All was as if it had never been. Charred bones and other bits of remains could be seen smoldering in the ruins, and every time he passed one such fallen god or goddess, Wanderer feared he would see his daughter Mara in such a state of death. But she was nowhere to be found! “Where is she? Where is Mara!” he screamed, tears falling from his eyes and his lips quivering with her loss. He collapsed amongst the ruins, weeping. Kali tried to comfort him. But there were no words of comfort to be found! Mara was gone… and no one knew to where.
Part Five: Flight From Earth
None of the remains turned out to be Mara’s, once identified. Wanderer decided there was nothing left on Earth for the gods now… and so, he ordered them back to the Stellar Ark, which was expanded and refitted to allow them to leave the planet with more supplies and technological devices than they had with them when they came to it so long ago. “Where can we go, my king?” Kali asked. “Without Mara to guide us, we have no direction.” And Wanderer thought deeply for a moment, then realizing one possibility. “Check the shuttlecraft bays! If one is missing, then it means she fled by that way and can still be tracked by the ship’s scanners.” Surely enough, one shuttlecraft was reported to be missing. Off all the gods, both living and dead, only Mara had bee reported unfound and unaccounted for. It had to have been her, who fled thus! The scanners were locked unto the shuttle’s signal, which came from someplace out on the edge of the galaxy. All was made ready, and the Ark made its’ flight from Earth as swiftly as it had first come unto it. Not a trace of the divine civilization, or that of the Old Ones, had been left behind for later generations to find. All was destroyed, during their conflict. The Stellar Ark rocketed through the Milky Way, passing beyond Pluto and out into the unknown reaches where oft astronomers today might see new planets or other marvels. There, they spotted a temporary wormhole. The signal from Mara’s shuttlecraft became scrambled after that point, and so they knew she had gone through. But where had the wormhole taken her, and where would it take them? “Plot a course to follow her signal! We cannot turn back now.” Wanderer ordered, and Kali punched the coordinates into the navigation computer. They could not risk using automated navigation for this journey, so it had to be manual all the way! The Stellar Ark lumbered through the event horizon and disappeared into the wormhole itself. When it emerged, it was in a domain of space that none of the gods had ever seen before. They could not be certain, either, at what point in time they had emerged. “Where, and when, are we?” Shiva rasped as he looked around at unfamiliar stars and constellations which they passed as the ship sped on its’ uncertain way. “I do not know, but we must continue to follow Mara’s signal.” Wanderer pointed out, as he gestured to the computer, which indicated the path they must undertake to find her shuttlecraft. Kali made ready to navigate the craft onward, without so much as a comment. They would find her, no matter what the cost to anything.
Part Six: Into the Black Void
The Stellar Ark proceeded into a starless void, with nothing except Mara’s signal to lead the gods onward. “What could this place be?” Kali said, in awe and fear. Wanderer speculated: “Could this be the same unknown realm where the Children of Chaos went, when they too made the journey beyond our home galaxy?” A thought that made everyone uneasy, for each of the gods had wondered on that same exact thing. Only one single large planet was detected, and it lay at the very deepest heart of the black and lightless void. It was that world, where Mara’s signal came from. The Ark landed on that world, in the middle of a massive desert dotted with ancient ruins from another time. Mara’s shuttlecraft was nowhere to be seen, but the signal from it kept ringing out from across the wastelands. “Kali, you and I alone will undertake this mission. Everyone else must stay behind and watch the Ark, just in case it needs to be defended. We do not know who, or what, lives on this dead world. It may not even be as dead as it at first seems!” And so Wanderer and Kali set out across the desert, leaving signal beacons behind them as they went, like a trail of bread crumbs so they could find their way back. Taking a pocked tracer, they traced Mara’s signal and followed it. The heat of this world was oppressive, but it was a dry heat with no humidity. To protect his head, Wanderer ripped off a piece of the cloak he wore and wound it up to form a turban on his head. Kali did likewise with a second piece that Wanderer handed her. They already wore robes that protected their bodies from the sun. The two passed broken remains of what had once been cities, and dark places carved into rock with gates across them to keep intruders out… or prisoners in. Even so, no sign of life or habitation could be seen. Only where once life had existed, and now existed no more. “I am afraid of this place, Wanderer.” Kali admitted. She was always the fearless one, but there was something here that unnerved even her unbreakable resolve. Wanderer could not place it, but there was something very familiar about this world… as if he had seen it someplace before, long ago, but put it out of his memory for some reason his mind would not allow him to fathom. “This is a domain of death.” He said, and Kali knew despair at that statement. “Why… would Mara choose willingly to come to such a place and not find a kinder world to flee to? She has the sight, after all! She knows the future.” Wanderer asked this aloud, of no one in particular. Kali replied: “I… do not think we want to learn why.”
Chapter Three – Mask of Illusion
Part One: Cities of the Cliffs
Eventually, Wanderer and Kali entered a rocky valley with high cliffs on all sides of them. Cities were built into the sides of those cliffs, where people seemed to be going about the ordinary business of life. Wanderer approached one of the people who lived in the cliff cities, a young man in a white robe with a shaven head. “Sir, can you tell me… have you seen a craft of some kind land hereabouts? Or a young girl of about thirteen years with red hair, wearing green and white?” And the man actually understood Wanderer’s language, recognizing it as being not dissimilar to his own. “You describe the goddess we have worshipped for thousands of years, stranger. Ever since she came down from the stars to greet our ancestors.” This revelation shocked Wanderer, who asked the man to tell him what year it was. But the man confessed that his people do not keep track of time any longer. Kali exclaimed: “Wanderer, the wormhole! When we passed through it, we must have come out at a different point in time than Mara did when she made the same trip. She arrived in this world’s ancient past, whilst we have emerged at a distant point in its’ future.” Wanderer realized only that could explain this strange turn of events, and so he nodded his head acceptingly. “Sir, would you tell us where this goddess of yours might be found? I know her, and she will most certainly wish to speak with me.” Wanderer asked this of the native man, who pointed towards a great temple carved high upon a lonely crag on a distant mountain at the end of the ridge of cliffs. “Thank you, sir! We will depart, now.” And so Wanderer and Kali made their way from the cliff cities and across the base of the ridge that defined the valley they were in. “Should we not have at least asked the name of this world, while we could?” Kali offered, but Wandered shrugged it off. “Mara can always tell us, once we find her. She has been living here for thousands of years, apparently.” And apparently, in all that time, she has kept her shuttlecraft in working order, so that her signal might be found. A desperate hope, that her dear father might one day discover that very signal and follow in search of her. But at least it proved she was alive, which was all Wanderer cared about right now. “Her shuttlecraft must be within the temple.” Kali realized. Wandered nodded in assent. He did not feel like talking, only crossing this waste and finding Mara at long last. After that, he did not care where they went or what they did. It was enough, that she would be with them so that they could do face their dark, unknown future together.
Part Two: Temple of Illusion
There were over twelve hundred steps leading up to the gates of the temple. However… there was also an elevator built into the cliff’s side, which made progress to the top far easier than such a potentially deadly climb up steep steps, under that high burning sun. The elevator was, clearly, a more recent addition to the place. Even gods could perish through violence, and that includes falling to one’s doom! So this transportation was designed wisely indeed. After several minutes, they arrived at the temple gates themselves, and they knocked on the imposing brass doors. A robed priest, all in green and with his face deeply hooded so that it seemed he was a living shadow, opened the doors and beckoned the strangers in silently. Eerily. He led Wanderer and Kali down dark corridors lit with burning braziers hung from chains high above, suspended above the halls like chandeliers. The halls were covered with murals depicting Mara in various stages of life, from childhood to adulthood but not old age. Wanderer was shocked by that strange depiction of his daughter. “Priest, why is she depicted in this way? I though she was eternally a child, incapable of aging to adulthood.” And the priest spoke in a hollow, deep voice. As if his voice came from somewhere other than his body. He said: “She has found the means to age herself to a point at which she is content. We had to change the murals over time to keep up with her changes. She is immensely powerful, stranger, and beyond your mind’s ability to comprehend.” Kali was shocked, and cried out: “Wanderer! Such a thing is impossible by the science of our race.” To which the priest stated, matter-of-factly: “There are sciences beyond yours, evidently.” After which they made their way in silence. Wanderer had been anxious to meet his daughter after so long searching for her, but now… suddenly, he was afraid that he might not know the woman she had become in her absence from the company of the gods. They passed columns, gardens, and places where priests chanted. More faceless priests just like this one who led them ever deeper into the temple. All was beautiful, and yet rugged, rough, and earthy in the extreme. If it were not for those terrible seeming priests, the place would be no different from many of the ancient temples of the world of Wanderer’s birth. There was: an immensity to the scale of this temple, however, that would have dwarfed any such place he had ever been in before. “I actually fear her, Kali. I fear my own daughter, what she may have become.” This dark thought, wanderer kept to himself.
Part Three: The Price of Time
She reclined upon a mound of cushions, heaped upon a raised dais. A beautiful woman with scarlet hair, wearing a black and shimmering gown! Her jade green eyes regarded Wanderer coldly, betraying no warmth within them. Her body was curvy and splendid to behold, as she stretched out like some great cat. She wore a black circlet, decorated with upswept wings of delicate design. A necklace of red ruby gemstones adorned her neck. Red and black, with wings on the sides of her head… the memory of Wanderer’s mother, the Black Empress… which he had long since tried to forget: this vision had come back to haunt him in the form of his own beloved daughter. “Mara?” Wanderer called out, at which she nodded her head almost distractedly. “Father! Were you told only one thousand years had passed since I came here? That was a lie… an illusion meant to distract you and blind you from learning the truth until I alone might have the pleasure to relaying it to you. I placed a simple suggestion in the man’s mind who relayed it to you, knowing it would give you hope that I might not have changed all that much in that brief span of an immortal’s lifetime. But time is longer, and time has a price we all must pay. This is a timeless world you fool! I have been back to your home planet, in the distant past, having made many trips through various wormholes I have charted. As the woman you see before you, not the child I used to be. There… I married a king and gave birth to a baby boy. I named him Wanderer, in honor of my father. How could I know that my son would then grow up to become my own father?” Wanderer had no words for Mara. He never had learned his mother’s name. His father never told it to him. Now, looking at that cruel mouth of hers, he knew it was she. The Black Empress. His mother. His daughter, in a life now lost to them all. “I completed my conquest of your world, Wanderer. I was true to my word, and made of it every bit the paradise I told you I would. My adopted children, the Children of Chaos, are now simply a contented people living in harmony with what is left of the immortal race. Things are more democratic there now, and they have no further need of my rule. So I have come back here, where I first found myself, to contemplate and find inner peace once again. To shed myself of old angers, hatreds, and fears! I told you long ago, that you would know suffering. How does all of this feel… my son?” Every word Mara had spoken, had driven Wanderer further into despair. But still, no bold words came to his lips to speak.
Part Four: A Mask is Broken
“You have put aside your mask, mother. I raised you; I saw your true soul and the love within your heart! What turned that gentle heart to conquest, torture, and bloodshed?” Wanderer got up the courage to face his mother, and that is what he told her. She laughed, and replied honestly: “Loneliness. All that time after I first landed on this world, before I found those who might take me in, care for me, and come to worship me as divine upon seeing that I will never die. I dreamed of you coming back for me, to find me and rescue me. But my visions of the future showed me the truth! They showed me your past, and I never understood why until I gave birth to you. To the boy who… became you. Loneliness can drive any soul mad, if it is strong and pervasive enough to rot their soul away. As mine was, for a time!” and at this memory, Mara wept bitter. Her son walked up to her and put his arm around her, trying to make her feel better. “Mother… let us all go home now, together. To that paradise you said you created and left behind. Why hide here in a void of darkness, crying yourself: into further sorrow? I am here now! Let the cycle of misery end, so that our people can know a truly eternal peace.” But Mara could not be ever so easily moved. “You do not know where I have gone, what I have done! Oh, Wanderer… you cannot forgive my crimes, and I will never expect you to. Go back home if you wish, but I must stay here, until time ends or I have forgiven myself. My mask is broken, and the Black Empress is no more. I am Mara once more. Scared, lonely little Mara. Leave your daughter to her weeping, and remember me as your strong mother, who destroyed a world to save it.” Wanderer would not let this be, and he kept on trying to persuade Mara. Kali too tried her utmost, to move her to go with them. But her heart was made as stone by all she had done and experienced… she had grown up truly, and there could be no going home for her now. “I am a goddess here.” She explained. “I am loved, worshipped, adored above all others. Here on Kolob, which some do call Kobol, which even the most ancient gods of the universe have abandoned… here, I can be whole. Why not stay with me, Wanderer? Together, we could start over! Build anew. Discover other sciences, deeper secrets of existence than those I taught to the Children of Chaos. Yes… Join me. Join me!” and soon Mara’s tears turned to mania, her old fury boiled to the surface once again. The Black Empress had returned. Kali saw the signs even before Wanderer could. Sinister signs indeed!
Part Five: Fall of the Empress
Mara grabbed Wanderer by the neck and with strength far beyond that of even the mightiest of immortals, she proceeded to squeeze the life from him. “Why… are you doing this to me… Mara?” he croaked out, but before she could claim his life by this deed, Kali stepped forward and struck the former empress across the face with the back of her hand. Mara then turned her attention fully to Kali, leaving Wanderer gasping for air on the floor. “Bitch! Harlot! You may have birthed me, but I have no compunctions about slaying even you. I must build up my power again, become strong again, and return to the Children of Chaos so that they might remember their need for me. Yes… another catastrophe shall befall our home planet I think. And I shall be the catalyst for that change!” Such was Mara’s rant when she faced Kali, fury building in her breast. Kali looked at the woman who used to be her little girl: the child for which, she and Wanderer had long sought across time and space. She looked upon her and knew that child was lost to her forever. “Daughter, I should have been there to protect you, to keep you from becoming evil. To keep you from fleeing to this place that changed you so. I am sorry for failing you! Please, try to forgive me. For everything.” But the kind words Kali spoke meant nothing to Mara, who replied: “You did not fail me, Kali. I am eternal, as well as immortal. I existed before you birthed me, because you birthed me so that I could journey through time and exist long before you ever dreamed of having a child. All this was fated to happen, and there is nothing any single god or mortal could have hoped to do, which might have changed things. You forget, I can see the future after all.” Kali then lunged forward and stabbed Mara through the heart with a concealed dagger. As she twisted it into the wound, she yelled to her former daughter with tears in her eyes: “If you could see the future, than why couldn’t you see this!” Mara looked into the eyes of her slayer, the same eyes she first saw when she was born… and she realized she had never foreseen this. The one act that never factored into any possible future given to her sight to behold! Mara was crying. She was like a little girl again. “Mother… why did you kill your little girl?” Those were her final words, and then she collapsed atop the myriad pillows and cushions whereon she had reclined not long before. And there, she died, no longer immortal or eternal. Wanderer cried out a pitiful “No!” as he held Mara’s unmoving form. It shuddered and did spasm as the Black Empress breathed her last breath.
Part Six: Divine Will Enacted
Mara was buried: by her dark and shadowy priests, in the holiest crypt of her temple, whilst Wanderer and Kali observed the ceremony. Everyone was weeping except the priests, who perhaps had not the capacity for emotion. Mara’s ebon black armor was given into the keeping of Kali, so that it might be kept with the immortals when they left that dead world. People came by to see the burial of the one they had worshipped as a goddess for generations beyond counting. “She was not evil, not really.” Said Wanderer. “She was merely lost. I wish I could have helped her to find herself again.” But Kali knew better. “Mara knew herself all to well, my beloved! She could not turn from her path for that reason. All we could hope to grant her was this final peace. The child we brought into this universe was only an illusion. The Black Empress was the only part of her that was ever actually real.” And so they walked back to their ship, solemn and without cheer, that pair of grieving immortals. Wanderer’s heart was broken beyond all hope, and Kali felt the sting of remorse in her soul. “Perhaps… I should not have slain her, after all.” She finally concluded, whilst looking at the armor she carried. Once the Stellar Ark was prepared for final departure, Kali looked over at Wanderer and asked him: “Where will we go now? There is nothing left back home, or here, for any of us.” Which made the king of the warrior gods think very deeply to himself for some time. He then decided: “We will seek a new home, then, elsewhere in the vastness of this universe. We will find one where there are people willing to live in peaceful coexistence with us, and we will blend in with them so that our peoples become one. We will put aside the ways of war forever. Those ways have gained us nothing in the end, but death and broken hearts! Let us depart, now, once more for the stars.” And so the Ark did leave, bearing Mara’s black armor with it. Unknown to everyone, that armor contained her soul and spirit that she had very cunningly transferred to it with her dying breath. It waited in the cargo hold of the Stellar Ark, patiently and silently. As the Children of Chaos had before beginning their terrible war! Wanderer’s dream would never be possible, for peace would be always something gods and mortals alike would have to fight for in order to preserve. Other children would one day be born to the race of immortals, though never again would there be born one like Mara. She who had become eternal… as well as immortal! However, there are some cases where a certain individual can at least be reborn.
Chapter Seven – Black Empress Reborn
Part One: My Name was Maya
It was many centuries since the Stellar Ark made its’ final voyage across the universe. Unto many worlds it so came, seeding them with life as gods came down to dwell amongst mortals and begin their lives anew. Many of these gods and their awful ancient struggles would come to be remembered by man, once humanity came to dwell upon Earth. No one could remember quite what world it was that Kali came to settle upon, bringing Mara’s discarded armor with her. But on that remote world, far from the notice of the great powers of the cosmos… the black armor was kept in a shrine dedicated to Mara. A shrine fit for a goddess! Countless ages passed, until there came to that unnamed planet a solitary craft bearing an androgynous god, or mayhap more correctly: a goddess. One of a different race than Wanderer’s people had been. Once, this being had dwelt on the dead world where Mara had been worshipped as divine. The being’s name, at that time, was Maya… and I was she. And mine is the hand, which has penned this ancient tale. I remember the beauty of that world without a name, and I recall walking up a hundred steps to reach Mara’s shrine. It was flanked by four marble pillars entwined with images of serpents, and those four pillars held up a mighty dome inlaid with panels of scarlet glass that were illuminated by the bright light of that world’s sun. Each panel bore Mara’s beautiful face upon it. All around the shrine were glorious gardens of red roses, and I felt my heart drawn to that place deeply. Within the shrine was a chest of gold, with fiery rubies set upon its’ surface in many places. I cared nothing for the wealth of such a thing, only for what it contained. Gently, I opened the chest and retrieved the black armor that lay within its’ confines. “Who are you, and why do you disturb this shrine?” asked Kali, who then appeared behind me as I donned the black armor. Armor I once had worn in another life, and which felt good to wear once again. “Do you not recognize me, Kali? Even in this body, you aught to.” And she looked upon me and knew I was Mara reborn. “How is such a thing even possible?” she uttered, her lips quivering with fear and horror. “Death cannot destroy one whose soul is both eternal as well as immortal. Know you nothing, of the nature of souls, Kali?” I said, then proceeding to stroke her face with my left hand. She clasped that hand in her own, tears forming in her eyes. “It has been so long, my daughter.” She said. But I had to caution her: “I am not your daughter any longer, Kali. I have a new mother now, if you will allow me to explain.” Kali said to me in her most tender voice: “Tell me, dear Mara, and tell me also… how it was you came to live in flesh again.” My eyes were now blue, and my hair was blonde… but my face and my mannerisms were as unmistakable as all my words.
Part Two: The Child of Chaos
This is what I told Kali. Long after Wanderer and his fellow warrior gods decided to seek out new worlds to settle on, a new empress was crowned on Haven, the planet that had been conquered by the Children of Chaos… and from which Wanderer and the other exiled immortals had been forced to depart upon the Stellar Ark. It had not been called Haven always, but that was the name chosen for it by the new empress, Sophia. She had been named as Divine Empress, and her world had indeed become a veritable paradise. Heaven, some called it, a variation of the name Haven. She desired to have a child, but every one of her children was stillborn because they lacked a soul due to Sophia’s mutated generics. In desperation, she sent out messengers across the universe to find a soul without a body so that she could give life to one of her dead children. In time, they discovered the world on which Mara’s armor lay, and though they left it there… they retrieved from it her soul, and so housed it in a special cylinder designed to hold such forms of energy as souls and spirits are composed of. This, they brought back to Sophia and she imparted the soul into the child she had loved the most. One who possessed both male and female characteristics, though in whom the feminine was foretold would be: dominant. The child breathed and lived at last, and she named that child an ancient name known only to she and the child itself. I was that very child, and they called me the Child of Chaos. The Supreme Council of Haven, who spoke for the Divine Force of the entire universe, called Sophia’s act a theft of Divine power… and she was forced to flee Haven with me whilst a god was named Divine Emperor in her place. With the whole of Haven’s space armada after her, desperate to destroy her and I both in order to prevent my ever being reborn (for they feared I might rise in power again and upset the political balance the Council had created)… Sophia’s craft brought her to the dead world whereon Mara’s forgotten temple lay. Kolob: also known as Kobol. There, she gave me into the care of the priests of Mara, and she told them I was their goddess resurrected. I was raised there in exile whilst Sophia fled to the stars… where she would wage her endless war against the forces of Haven’s Council. The priests called me “Maya” but to people from other worlds I was known simply as Ariel. Eventually, I thought to seek out my old armor and so wear it again.
Part Three: Immortal Insurrection
The world of Haven had changed much in the years after I had led the Children of Chaos in their insurrection against the old immortal status quo. Clone banks had been established in order to meet the demand for the new brand of immortality that we had brought to the people from beyond the confines of their small galactic borders. What I had originally begun as the Black Empress… Sophia the Divine Empress completed to her ideals of perfection. Bodies soon became like unto raiment, and the means to transfer the soul and spirit from one body to another made it fashionable for people to discard forms grown old or weary from time, in favor of younger, stronger forms. Even going so far as growing more idealized bodies for themselves: to inhabit, based on how they desired to look, not necessarily how nature intended them to. So was it that the people of Haven became dependant upon the Clone Banks to ensure they could live forever. Whereas the immortals who came before them used their science to prolong a single body’s life indefinitely, and then imposed that upon the entire world’s population over time… the descendants of the original Children of Chaos could choose to remain mortal, to extend their lives longer or even indefinitely, or to switch to a new body when the old one grew tiresome. But it was ever the nature of humankind to long for immortality over mortality, and so the choice to go beyond a single lifetime was totally irresistible to everyone. Some very opportunistic factions on Haven exploited this by offering certain new model bodies for a price. People could (and did) pay for such forms, and the wickedest aspects of this variety of capitalism became noticeable in many provinces of the Divine Home-World. It would be generations before even the people of so lofty and enlightened a society would be able to rise far enough above their capacity for greed and begin to market the new models to everyone without cost. When I was reborn at the command of Empress Sophia, it was into the latter era, when greed was long abandoned, that I was created anew. The dark side of all this, is that it was possible to punish any rebels against the powers that be by either denying them immortality or forcing them back into mortal bodies if they disobeyed. Sophia was against such punishment and felt that immortality was the birthright of all, whilst the Council was in favor of keeping this sort of punishment as a tool to always ensure that their will would never be able to be denied. Thus, it seemed, that even in the paradise we had long tried to create on our world…there would always be those who would seek to despoil paradise and make their own mark upon it. Thus had all things changed!
Part Four: Time’s Eternal Cycles
Kali looked at me long before replying, after hearing the tale I had just told her. Then, she calmly said: “I will never slay you again, Mara. You are clearly meant by the Divine Force to exist forever, and I will wager that long after the gods are dust, or perhaps become mortal… you will still exist, somewhere in the universe.” And so we reconciled at last, and I departed back to Kobol, where my priests were waiting for their goddess to return. Once there, I confessed to then my loneliness and they helped me to create half-mechanical and half-organic beings that might serve to keep me company. Thus was born the race known as the Archons. Their tale is told elsewhere, and is not for this story to relate. In time would arise the Olympian gods and in time the Archons would give rise to the Titan race. War would come once again to the heavens, and I would become embroiled in it. Eventually, I would come to dwell upon Earth along with others of my kind. And there, I would be forced to live the rest of my existence as a mortal. Doomed to die and be reincarnated time and time again. Just like many of the other gods who… like myself… fell short of the ideas of perfection held by the immortals that lived amongst the stars. Kali once had said that I would still exist long after the gods became mortal, and her words became a prophecy proven true by time’s eternal cycles. Back on that unnamed world, Kali was joyful and yet saddened by having met me in my new form. “She was given back to me, only to be lost to me once again.” She sighed, as her new husband Shiva came to greet her. “Kali, I had thought I might find you here at Mara’s Shrine. What is the matter, you seem troubled?” but Kali could find no words with which to convey what she had just seen. “It is nothing, heart of my heart! For too long, I have wept at this shrine… but now I realize there is nothing here I need to weep for any longer. Let us go home, back to the city. Our children are waiting for us.” And hand in hand, the two immortals walked away from the empty shrine. In time, that place would become forgotten. The panes of glass would crack and break, and ivy would climb its’ four pillars. Mara’s spirit was no longer there, after all. It is not known what became of Wanderer, and many believe he entered a timeless cryogenic slumber from which he awakens every so often to explore the universe. Perhaps he is still out there somewhere, he who was once my father as well as my son. Still wandering, still believing his daughter, his mother, to be slain. Time does strange things, especially to eternal souls.
Epilogue: Divine Forgiveness
And so was it written in the scrolls that were kept in a sealed chamber in the greatest library on the planet Kobol: “Of Mara, very little was given down to us, save that which we dark priests that served her scribed, ere we met our violent end. It is so said that she summoned forth a great and terrible storm that raged across all the heavens, and that when the cruel storm had passed she said unto her mother: ‘I forgive you, my mother, and so now… will you forgive me in turn? For we both sinned.’ And there was peace between Kali and Mara. ‘For all eternity, there shall be put forth no more bloody enmity between the Primordial Goddess Kali and the Demon Queen Mara, for there is for them naught but the memory of pains past, and yet through that pain: forgiveness.’ Thus was it written by we dark priests: and our scribes.” It was said that Mara made one final pilgrimage unto them, and thence dictated what they should put down. After… she unsheathed a great silver blade encrusted with rubies set into a golden hilt. And with that sword, she slew her own priests and scribes so that none should speak of her secrets. The scrolls were then sealed away wholly, and the library lay entirely forgotten until all that it contained crumbled to dust. The priests and the scribes had, before their passing, aided Mara in a terrible act of creation, and it was believed that this too was one of the secrets the Demon Queen sought to keep eternally. When the Archon race arose, they knew their creator only as the androgynous child of Sophia and exiled heir to her glory, not as the forgotten daughter of Kali. Thus was one cycle of time swallowed up so that another could begin. Mayhap this ending of a cycle was what Kali had unknowingly longed for all along, hoping that it would lead to a new golden age of peace and prosperity across all the worlds. As the one who was formerly called Mara and Maya looked out across the wastelands of Kobol, from the vantage point of her palace in the city built for her by her creations… she beheld the skies begin to grow white in hue, with a very slight hint of coral blue to them. The distant mountains seemed blue as well, and this seemed to calm her spirit. “One day, mayhap, I will die to this life I am living now and be born in some future unknown to me at present… but also mayhap there will be someone with sight who shall glimpse all that was, and because it is my curse to remember I shall say unto that person: behold, this is who I was, who I am, and who I yet shall be. All that you saw me as, you saw truly. And what I did, and do, will not have been for naught.”
To be continued… in “Memoirs of a Galactic Emperor”
Published 4th Aug 2012
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Anonymous
26th Jan 2013 00:36am
Jessica, Empress Mara... I remember knowing you back then. Do you remember your Lumina? I was your sixth child, and I revered you like a goddess in that life. You have become a great woman I see, even in your current incarnation! Your sisters and children love you.
Lol. Now I must read the sequel to this!
Lol. Now I must read the sequel to this!
26th Jan 2013 2:39am
Oh wow, Laurie! I don't know what to say... I mean, I totally wasn't expecting this at all. Babe... I love you too girl. I mean, I don't know you in this life, but I do know who you WERE and if that's you then honey... momma still loves you. Welcome to the humble home of my poetry, songs, and writings! I think I'll call you Six... just for a nickname. *Giggle* Ta for now, sweet thing. ;)
