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I will tell you a story, one that is neither fiction nor fact. Whether you believe it is up to you, how much of it can you verify? It has been so long. We are the only ones who truly remember what happened, your ancestral histories are fractured and flawed in the remembering, sometimes they overlap, sometimes they contradict.
This story occurs in the world from before time. In the early days, in the days your scientist believed the first man evolved from monkies, the prehistoric days as you call them. We lived among your people, things are not quite as you believe. You were not evolved from monkies, we made you. We merged the gene of our King with early primates and created you, man.
Three batches of specimens we made, they were the progenitors of your kind, Adam, Lilith and Eve. One hundred males, two hundred females. We set them on the face of this planet, to build a new world, with new people. People who shared our genes, people we could cultivate as our own, and raise descendants. You were to be our strength in a war we were losing to numbers.
And so we raised you, taught you many things, hunting, farming, building, family, society. Our knowledge and technology was so far beyond your comprehension, your ignorant minds worshiped us. You hailed our King as a God king and the rest of us as lesser gods.
We watched as you grew, families first, then communities, villages, towns, kingdoms, then the beginnings of true civilization took shape. You modeled your ruling structure like ours. Appointed the strongest among you as kings and councilors, sometimes the wisest among you.
You grew in number and spread far beyond the reaches of where we seeded you. A millennium passed, and we picked from among you those in whom we saw potential. The potential to start a new hybrid species, we took husbands and wives, so many children were born to us. We raised them, trained them, strong men and women, new warriors born with the benefits of our blood. Giants and demigods you called them, revered them as you did us. Our spouses, your equals were elevated in statue among you.
For a time things progressed as we intended. Our children took our strengths, they were as we intended, a new army. Their numbers grew slowly, but well enough that we had hope to return to our home and defeat our enemy. You feared our children, but that fear eventually grew to admiration. They lived well among you, taking spouses and further expanding our army.
Then the first fires of the war came. Small, unnoticeable, on the fringes of your reach, we believed those fires to be your own doing, as so often you created them yourselves. But the fires spread, consumed villages and towns, by the time the first of your kingdoms fell it was already too late for us.
We gathered you with our children, turned you into armies and made you fight against the horde. For a while, we were able to stave off their advancements. Heroes rose among your number, they strengthened our kinship and your devotion to aid our plight. But our war is long and your lives fragile and short. Your heroes fell faster than they could rise, your warriors fell in droves and our children dwindled.
Your mothers and elders cried out, your wives and children grieved, your kings were desperate to alleviate your suffering. The war was not yours to fight, it was not you they sought to end, it was us.
Your armies suffered less and they slowed the burning of your lands, but our children, their casualties were higher. They were the ones to go missing on expeditions, to die like hunted game. As we buried our children we became aware of your actions, your betrayals, your deceit.
You withdrew your armies from our lands, and together with the horde you attacked us. Our King was asleep recovering his power, power he shared with you. His power kept you alive and you turned on us. I will never forget that day, the day we all fell, the day the world entered slumber.
Together with the horde you marched on our stronghold. You broke through the walls and slaughtered the remnants of our families. We did not stand with them, we did not see your atrocities. We were in the mountain, under the earth, feeding the King our life force to revive him. But as you marched closer I grew impatient, while the others began to fear.
"Cheimon."
Cheimon: "Aura, you should not have left your chamber, you slow the process."
Aura: "I alone do not slow the process. Why do you all stand around with such burdened looks? How much longer until the King is revived?"
"He should awaken soon but there is no change in his state. It is as if he does not wish to."
Aura: "Then return to your chambers and continue the process until he awakes."
"They march on us, can you not feel their feet shaking the earth. The stronghold has fallen."
Aura: "All the more reason why you should return to your chambers and continue feeding him, Calaeno."
Calaeno: "And what of you? I hear no intent for you to return to your chamber."
Aura: "I will not wait here under the earth, while they slaughter us one by one as they descend on the King."
Cheimon: "You are part of the seven, you must remain, the others will be our defense."
Aura: "They will not hold them back. Fill my place with another if you have to."
"Aura!"
Aura: "I will delay their advancement, gather everyone else."
One of the seven they called me, I was not one of the seven. The true seven were those who had been formed to serve the King directly. They were his guards, his advisors, his strength, and extension of his form. All seven must die before the King is truly dead.
I was chosen from the lesser, to fill the void created by the betrayer, Bal'an. The King took me and made me one of his seven, I have been grateful for the blessing. But I am not one of the seven, I belong to the twenty-one, to serve on the field under the guidance of the seven.
I made my way upward through the passages, the others scurrying past me to fill the void I left in the revival process. I retrieved my spear and exited the mountain fortress. The two weakest among us were on guard outside the gates.
Aura: "Return and seal the gates behind you. Head to the King's chamber and seal the other gates along the way. Under no circumstance must you open the seals."
"What of you sister?"
Aura: "I will delay them until the King is revived."
"Bal'an's generals march with the human armies, you cannot fight them alone."
Aura: "Go. I have ordered you."
They returned and sealed the door as I instructed. I waited until I was certain they had left the entrance, then I stood on the bluff and looked out over the valley. The smoke from fires in the stronghold, the screams of our families, your feet on the ground, the death you wrought, the breeze carried all to me.
When I descended the mountain, I encountered your allied armies. Your kings marched on the field against us, along side Bal'an's most trusted general, Gamor. I met them on the plain below the mountain.
Aura: "You, human kings. Why have you turned against us? We were with you as kin."
"While we die in your war, you hide on your mountain. Our people pay the price for your war and you expect us to stand with you?"
"You cannot offer us peace as Gamor can."
"Gamor has promised us power and greater wealth for our service to Lord Bal'an. It is more than we received serving you."
"Their armies are stronger than you, it is in our interest to side with them."
Aura: "You are fools if you believe you will be rewarded for aiding Bal'an."
Gamor: "Join us Aura. Lord Bal'an rewards well, those who serve him."
Aura: "Bal'an is less than the King, I gain nothing by joining you."
Gamor: "Then you die this day."
Your armies charged me first, chariots and warhorses, warriors and mighty men. I slew them all without remorse. But your numbers were great and I was already weak, having given much of my strength to the King. In my moment of weakness, some of your kings charged, hoping to earn greater favor with Bal'an. I slew those that came near, none would take my head. I was the only one standing between your horde and the King's chamber.
Soaked in your blood and my own, I stood and drew a line in the earth, you would not cross it even as I died. Gamor stepped forward then, you had served part of your purpose, his confidence in his ability to beat me in my near death state rolled off him like a great stench.
Aura: "I will slay you Gamor. Then I will slay the rest of your armies. Bal'an will never awaken on this world."
He laughed and rushed towards me. We exchanged several blows, his breaking my defense, while my own missed their target. He retreated and I could see the playfulness in his eyes. He was toying with me. Our encounter lasted more than an hour, I was barely conscious when he pushed me back with a heavy swing of his axe.
I fell flat, face down, my injuries made every movement a fight against my body. But I had to stand, I had to stop your advancement. I would slay Gamor, and route your armies, then find Bal'an's body and destroy it. If the King died, Bal'an would rule uninterrupted for a million years. I could not allow that.
Aura: "You...will not... get past me."
Gamor: "You cannot stop the awakening of Lord Bal'an."
As I fought to stand again, a hand on my shoulder stayed my movements and healed my injuries. The King.
King: "You have fought well Aura. Your action secured my revival, but delayed it just the same. Your lack of faith is worrisome."
Aura:" Lord you have awoken. I sought only to protect you"
King: "I know your intentions. But you cannot stop the awakening of Bal'an nor can you destroy him by your own power."
Gamor: "Congratulations on your revival, your lordship. You have revived to receive your death!"
The King fought against Gamor, their fight more vicious than mine. Gamor fought on equal footing with the King, that should not have been possible. I offered aid, throwing my spear at Gamor, wounding him. The King brushed me aside, with a sweep of his hand, he took the spear and mortally wounded Gamor.
Your kings realised the folly of their ways, and tried to make amends with the King. They pledged their loyalty, offered apologies swearing Gamor had forced them to join his march against us. They pledged to build temples and altars to renew worship of the King.
King: "No one can serve two masters."
"We choose to serve only you lord."
"We have seen the error of our ways."
"We were led astray."
"Now we know the right way."
King: "You are greedy of gain. You cannot serve me, your hands are tainted with the blood of my own, of your freewill you slew them."
"Forgive us lord!"
King: "Your time in this world will stop, this world will sleep with us to heal from the taint of Bal'an's horde."
Aura: "We should end Bal'an now lord."
King: "No, I have not recovered all of my strength, I will sleep again, as will the others. Aura you will keep watch. This is both your task and your punishment."
Aura: "Yes lord."
He turned his face to the sky and blew out a breath of cold air, then left. Your kings were confused, they believed they had been spared and went on their way back to their lands. They did not understand what the King meant, what he had done.
The snows began on that day. A harsh unforgiving winter. It was not the same winter as before, the winds were colder, the snow heavier. It hid the scars you left, hid the marks of the war, the bodies of the fallen. You expected at the turn of the season winter would be over. The snow kept falling, with no end in sight. Summer came and the winter continued, spreading to lands that never knew it. The days grew shorter and colder.
You starved and died in droves. A king and his retinue returned to our lands. They came with gifts to offer to the King, they wanted to be saved themselves. They pledged loyalty to me, swore to be my servants in exchange for rescue. I did not regard them and soon they perished in the cold.
Your kingdoms fell, as you did. But you are resilient, you are after all, part animal part us. In those hundred thousand years of snow and ice, some of you did survive. You found ways to survive in small groups, hunting the great creatures that still roamed the icy world. But your minds had diminished, you regressed to your state when we first seeded you, ignorant, primitive.
I watched you for millennia, your groups travelling the icy world, always in search of food or warmth. The ones that met me feared me. A few chose to attack me, believing either to eat me or perhaps I had secret stores of food and a warm place to stay. I slew all that set foot on the mountain and soon you kept away. Then I too faded from your memories.
Then the ice and snow began to melt. The floods catching you off guard, you sought higher grounds and eventually made your way back to the mountain. I left you alone, you were the remnants of the ones before, you knew not the sins of your predecessors. I stayed hidden from you and when the last of the snows melted you spread out again, building villages and towns. You reorganised yourselves and began the second age without our aid.188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLQ7tjS6a6
