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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
SECTION ONE: Chasing Shadow Dreams
SECTION TWO: Glitter of Gold
SECTION THREE: Finding Future’s Past
SECTION FOUR: Children of Blood, Fire, and Storm
SECTION FIVE: So Doth the Kriggerman Cry
SECTION ONE:
Chasing Shadow Dreams
The woman stared out the portal, deep into the reaches of space - the planets and stars that made up the Trizentine - and it was her job to help protect the people of that region. It had been a long, exhausting day, filled with all the responsibilities that come with officering five hundred soldiers. Darla was tired, but satisfied with her work. As she gazed through the tiny window, little did she realize how much the world around her was changing, and it was largely because of her.
Somewhere, in the near distant past, she had stood before the Lord of the Rebellion and forced his hand. A little ripple in the sands of a cold, dark, desert planet was becoming a raging wave, sweeping over the galaxy, forever changing the lives of countless millions.
“Yea! How can we watch from afar when our little sister is devoured by wolves?
We shall march to the sound of the drums to win back her honour!
We shall willingly die to set all matters right!”
On the eve of the last prisoner exchange, Lowenah told her youngest daughter, “You are like a pebble thrown into a reedy pool. The disturbance caused by its splash will have far-reaching effects.”
That child’s public ordeal at the hands of Lowenah’s oldest son, Asotos, moved the collective moral conscience of those in the First Realm as no other thing had ever managed. As if groggily rising from some drunken stupor, the entire universe was waking to reality and shaking off its former illusions of complacency and indifference. The realization of who the oldest child had really become was beginning to sink in. To publicly attempt the destruction of an innocent mind for no reason other than selfish desire had pushed their limitsof tolerance beyond the breaking point. No honest person could find an excuse for Asotos’ actions. There was no longer any defense for the man’s violence committed against his brothers and sisters.
Lowenah’s children were beginning to comprehend their own future should this Asotos gain rulership over them. Although claiming they had freedom, he would dictate according to his personal whims. His laws would be emplaced to control the actions of others. But unlike Lowenah, who lived within the confines of any rules made, Asotos would do as he pleased, placing himself above law. Should he so viciously attack one of least and most inexperienced among them, as he had Darla, was there any safety to be found for the others?
If love hadn’t moved them before, and if it wasn’t moving them now, at least self-preservation was jolting the people to action. As the outcry over Asotos’ attack on Darla and the atrocities against the crew of the Zephath echoed across the galaxy, a new energy filled the hearts of Lowenah’s children. War was coming. And if Asotos was not defeated, everyone surviving would be enslaved for as long as the universe remained. Freedom would disappear forever. Preventing such a thing from happening rested on their shoulders. The fate of all future history and all past life lay in their hands.
‘Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning shears into axes.’ was the cry being sounded across the star-systems. And countless numbers of volunteers were heeding that call. They came in ones and twos - sometimes entire colonies. Most had never lifted a hand in anger against another, and now they were prepared to kill or be killed. Billions were gathering to this coming day of slaughter, one that was to make the Great War appear as though but a small skirmish.
“...And one man’s hand will be found to be against his brother.” “...And to the god of fortresses they will lift up their might.” Lowenah had inspired prophets of old to utter such words, but her children hadn’t realized the personal implications until now. As they pondered their circumstances, the shocking reality of those prophecies fulfilled was becoming evident.
The machinery of war was beginning to turn. Industries that had only produced items for comfort and delight were now swiftly converting to manufacturing weapons of destruction. Night and day, acrid clouds of smoke billowed from furnaces fired by the ‘fuels of Hell’ in order to equip an army attempting to save the Heavens. Ancient works of art and contrivances made for their amusement and pleasure were being torn down and fed into the smelters’ pots, while huge machines were created to dig into the galaxy’s planets to retrieve riches buried there, all this done to support the new soldier recruits gathering for war.
And yes, it would be a ‘man’s hand against his brother’. This was a ‘family feud’, a ‘blood-battle’ - two opposing sides, all siblings and one-time lovers. Death would rule the day. There was no alternative. They must drive Asotos and his armies from this Realm or destroy them. If they failed, all hope would be lost. The one called ‘brother’ was no longer a term for blood in the flesh. It was reserved for the person sharing the same passion and willingness to sacrifice all to accomplish this one paramount purpose.
Rhiannon had ‘pitched her stone into the sea’ and the tempest was only beginning to boil up. Few could see what it would engulf before exhausting itself upon a ruined land. And a ruined land it was to be…millions of lives snuffed out and countless cities buried in smoldering rubble. Centuries would be needed to rebuild their world and many more to forget…if they ever could. Yet it was going to happen, causing those involved to release a collective sigh. The day had come at last. The suspense was over. Now duty begged them on to whatever destiny awaited them.
And the one used to start it all could not even see herself as that stone. Her heart could not comprehend that she was the vortex now pulling those billions into a war that would change the universe forever. She was not able to understand how anyone would consider her precious enough to be willing to make such sacrifices or even die for her.
That woman continued staring out the portal, oblivious to the effect her previous actions at the Prisoner Exchange had on people around her. She was unaware of the extent her mother had gone to in order to provide a cure for the child’s demonic sickness. She was unaware of the great cost such a cure would demand. She was also unaware of the eyes that were constantly watching her every move...