It was only a few moments after Onan and Zimri left me that the Munamsarrived, for they had run, spurred on, apparently, by their great desireto meet me. In appearance they were like I had seen from afar: hairy andstooped, almost using their arms as legs, but not entirely. Their skullswere large and oddly shaped and their mouths were pushed out from theirfaces like an ape's. A limp, furry tail hung down from their lowerbacks, and their hands had a tough, leathery appearance.
There were eight of them, and when they drew near, the foremost hailedme with an eager gleam in his eyes, like one who has long hoped and longbeen denied. His voice was low and gravelly, but not at all uncivilizedsounding, as one would have expected by his appearance, and his facialexpressions were equally as livid and distinctly humanoid. He began:
"Hail, the White Eagle, sent by the gods to deliver us! Hail theredemption from paradise, coming to bring us home." With that he heldout his arms and embraced me in a very warm, heartfelt manner.
"Hello," I replied, somewhat embarrassed by my lack of authority.
"I am Ramma, leader of the Munams," he told me, "And I welcome you inthe name of us all."
"Greetings, Ramma," I replied, "I am Jehu."
"We are joyous at your arrival, oh Jehu of the White Eagle."
When he said this I had a flashback, a moment of memorial deja vu, whenthe present and the past are morphed together by one thought, when oneidea from the past and the present exists in such a way as to connectthe two times around it, forming a nexus between the two moments. I wasbrought back to two separate times, the first being my initial meetingwith Onan, when I saw the muraled dome, the genetics of history, and itsdepiction of the events which were symbolically representative of Daem:the deformed man, the warring races, the worshipers of the White Eagle.The other was my arrival in the Temple of Time, when the King showed methe altar to Temis, the God of Time, depicted as a great White Eagle,wrought in diamond and grasping the altar in its talons. There wassomething about the White Eagle that connected itself to me inseparably,something that converged us into one form. I had a sense that it wassomehow a key to the mystery of the end times, but I could not make theconnection. I thought back to what Onan had said to me just a fewmoments before, that he and Zimri were close friends, and not enemies atall, while those on earth believed their rivalry was a serious conflict.Yet while I had two separate memorial deja vu's, I could not make theconnection between them to figure out what they meant.
"Tell me," I asked of Ramma, "What do you mean when you call me theWhite Eagle?"
"The prophecy said that our kinsman redeemer, who would bring us out ofthe lands of desolation and into paradise, who would come to us like agiant eagle, soaring high above the sea. Across the ocean there," hesaid, pointing to Daem, "Is Daem, the paradise land, wherein dwell ourenemies the Zards and Canitaurs. They keep us off of the island and onthe mainland by force, and here we have suffered ever since the greatwars, in these desolate and barren wastelands, where there is neitherlife nor death, but only a hazy in between. An ancient one with wingslike an eagle was to come and rescue us, the White Eagle, and under hisguidance we are to be led to victory against our enemies.
"To them he would be sent first, humbly he would come to redeem themfrom the woes of their own causing, but they would receive him not.Instead they cast him away, and he was to come to us, to bring us to thepromised land. What a blessed sight it was when we saw you soaringthrough the sky on your white wings, and now you have come, my dearJehu, you have come at last, in the hour of our greatest need. Come, ohWhite Eagle, and let us go to Kalr, our city. Tonight is the Feast ofthe Hershonites, celebrating the night that the prophecy was received,and on the same day shall it be fulfilled!"
With that he turned and set off with a step of exuberance to thenorthwest, the other Munams and myself following him. He walked quickly,and it was all that I could do to match his pace, so that I was leftwithout breath enough to ask any more questions. From what I saw on ourjourney, the landscape was the same across the whole mainland that wasnear to the coast, and there was neither change enough nor any landmarkconspicuous enough for me to take any bearings. Without the Munam'scompany, I would have been lost.
Ramma led us on a straight course for about half an hour, there beingnothing to steer around, and when that time had elapsed, we foundourselves in a small, battered city. There were no great buildings orinfrastructure like in Nunami, nor any complex labyrinths like theCanitaur's military base. Instead there were only weak, unsound huts,built with a framework of oddly shaped driftwood and covered with athick layer of insulating sod. A road ran through the center of thecity, only distinguishable because it was packed down by constant use,and on either side were groupings of the huts in semi-circular patterns,with no space between them left unfilled by soil. This created a windbarrier, preventing the strong winds that whipped across the desertlands from harassing the inhabitants as they worked and played in theircommunal yards. Each such grouping had a field of a strange, potato-likeplant that spread across the back ends of the houses, where the fiercewinds piled up loads of nutrient rich top soil from miles and milesaround. In the center of the protected areas, each of the communities,for such they were called, had a well that reached hundreds of feetdownwards, bringing them almost unlimited supplies of fresh water. Usingthese two major systems, they were able to live in a comfortable manner,not comfortable in a sense of comparison with the Zards or Canitaurs,but comfortable in the sense that they had food to eat, clothes to wear,and shelter to protect them. Under such conditions humanity can thrive,for happiness is not found in the accumulation of excess comforts, butin the accumulation of excess love. This the Munams had plenty of, andfrom that point of view were more the evolutionary form of humanity thanthe devolutionary.
The Munams all wore a sort of close fitting frock, a plain colored onepiece suit that displayed their practicality and modesty. It is a hobbyof mine to observe the clothing worn by different groups of people andcompare it to their characteristics. As I have said before, clothes donot make the man, but the man certainly makes the clothes, and it ispossible to judge a person's character by the type of attire that theywear, in that it is an expression of their tastes. The Munams were shownby their clothing to be a very friendly people, for their frocks werehung gently about the body in a manner that was at once both carefreeand conservative. This is perfectly analogous to their personalities.
When we came down through the center street, which was really the wholecity, for there were no other roads, the people rushed out to meet us,and when they were told that it was the White Eagle, they began to dancejoyously about in the streets. There was laughter and play going on allat once, and it was like a great burden lifted from my heart to see themrejoicing, for it almost reconciled their sufferings with the Zard's andCanitaur's ease of life, in that they seemed to be much more happy, inspite of the circumstances.
Ramma gave a short speech to the people, in which he detailed theprophecy and its fulfillment and, in general, encouraged everyone tohope for what was to come. When it was over, he and I retired to hishome, which was rather larger than the others and formed its ownsemi-circle, containing as it did both his private quarters and theofficial offices of the government, which, while extremely limited innumber, were well outfitted. The door of this building opened into ashort hallway that had several doors adjacent to it. He led me downone of these and it proved to be a dining hall, though it was not ascommodious as most, with only a round wooden table with a few chairsaround it and some cupboards and cabinets.
Pulling my chair out for me to sit in, Ramma went through all the normalduties of host with great ease, and within a few moments we were eatingheartily from a great dish of boiled potatoes that had been brought inby a servant, or rather, a deputy minister of state, for such was histitle. We did little talking before we ate, because I was greatlyfamished and as such was ill-inclined to be jovial, not that I wassullen, but I found it hard to be completely relaxed without a fullstomach. Yet when that
was remedied and I found myself satisfied andcomfortable in a warm dwelling, I opened up to Ramma and we had a longand entertaining discussion, some of which I will record here, as itshines a little more light upon the mysteries of my story:
"So, my dear Jehu," Ramma began, "I trust your stay on Daem has so farbeen enjoyable."
I chuckled quietly and told him, "No, not entirely, for there is a warafoot on Daem, or at least there seemed to be, and it made quite a bitof trouble for me."
"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied, "But also gratified, for it willhelp us in our offensive if they are against each other as well as us.Still, it will be hard."
"What offensive is that?" I asked, my interest being perked.
"Our jihad, to capture the lands which were meant for us and reclaimthem from the filth that now inhabit them. You are our kinsman redeemer,Jehu, but it is not with your presence alone that we will be broughtvictory, for we also must act. Ever since the prophecy was given we havebeen preparing for a strike that will catch the Zards and Canitaurs bysurprise, for those are our only advantages: time and surprise. Thecarrying out of the surprise attack is the hardest part, and we decidedlong ago to dig a tunnel under the sea to bridge Daem and the mainland,for if we had made a fleet of ships, or attempted anything on thesurface, they would have seen and known what we intended to do. Thetunnel is very long, and it was an arduous task to undertake, but withmuch patience we prevailed, and now it is complete. In fact, it was onlycompleted yesterday, though it was started more than 500 years ago."
"How is it that you started so long ago and only finished just before Iarrived? I asked.
"Fate," he answered, "All the happenings of the world are controlled bya force much greater than us, and it brings everything into completionwhen it is needed, no sooner and no later. Many civilizations try to outwit fate, but they cannot, and in the end they do its bidding. Not,however, in the way they had planned, and with more consequences thanthey would like, at which point they try to change fate again and undothose consequences, and soon they are in a downward spiral of suchdeeds. We recognize that we are controlled by fate, and instead offighting it, we go along with it. We know that things will happen asthey are meant to happen, and we knew that 500 years ago, so it was nogreat trial for us to work at our task for so long and not to know whenthings would be brought to completion. You see, if we had worried aboutit and attempted to change to course of events that history dictated,than we would have only given ourselves more work for the same end.Stress is the only thing that is created when you try to alter fate, soit is our philosophy to take things as they come and trust to the powersthat be. You may think it unsophisticated, but that is just as well, forwhat matters is not appearances, but reality, and we have the two thingsthat matter most in life: peace and joy."
I agreed with him, for I had found the same to be true in my ownexperiences. I then asked him, "When will this grand offensive beundertaken?"
"Tomorrow," he said bluntly.
"Tomorrow? Isn't that rather soon?"
"Why? Fate has been fulfilled so far, why wait when it is time to act?Maybe you misunderstood my meaning: it is not our philosophy to simplylet things go as they will. Instead we relax and let things take theircourse when it is not in our power to do anything effective, but whenthe time comes to act, we act swiftly and do not delay. In a word, we donot force fate, either by forcing action where patience is needed, norby forcing patience where action is needed."
"That sounds well enough," I said, "But the difficulty lies in thecorrect classification of the situation, or in other words, deciding ifpatience or action is needed."
"Yes, of course, but in this case it has been decided to attacktomorrow, and there is nothing left to do but to attack tomorrow. But donot yet let your spirits be dampened by the onset of war, for tonight isthe Feast of the Hershonites, and there will be great celebrating andrejoicing this evening. Forget about the troubles of tomorrow and enjoythe celebrations of today, as I always say. And it is now time for thecelebrating to begin, so let us be off."
And with that we both rose and took our plates into the kitchen that wasconnected to the dining hall on the opposite side as the hallway anddeposited our plates to be cleaned later (for even the leaders of asociety must do their fair share of the work). Then we walked backthrough the dining hall, down the hallway, and out the door.
Outside we found that the people had already began to assemble on theroad in front of their communities and were preparing for the festivalby chattering with one another as loudly as one would think possible. Ahush began to fall upon them like a descending fog when we came out,though, and within a few moments it had died down to a ghostly silence,for all that could be heard was the wind's constant blowing. Ramma tookthe head of the procession of Munams that had formed on the road, and Itook the place next to him. With a sort of quiet anticipation of thejoys to come, there was little movement, and what little there was, washushed by a sense of subdued excitement. Then, with a somber gait, Rammabegan the parade down the road, in the opposite direction as we had comefrom, that being northwest, and all followed him as he did.
The sun at that time was just beginning to set, and once we had crossedone of the larger hills we came face to face with the coast, the sun'sgreat red form half sunken beneath its surface. A faint cloud layerfloated by and was illuminated by the twilight so that it stretchedhaphazardly across the face of the sun. Never have I seen so profound ascene as that which then presented itself, with the desert sands and theocean's still surface reflecting the last agonies of the sun's descentinto the underworld with such a subtle emotional undertone so as torender it a subconscious delight. Its recognized superiority to mortallife forms left us all mute and somber, but at the same time the freedomfelt from the same gave us joy beyond reckoning.
The march to the sea was slow and steady, and when we finally reachedits shores it was just at the change of day and night. Several largebonfires were lit and by their light a great communal dance began,everyone jumping around, running, and doing whatever their lighthearteddesire may have been. Under stars that shone like the twinkling in anewborn's eye, we had such a joyous time that it can hardly bedescribed. We were no longer within the reach of civility or socialduty, but without it we were not mean nor hurtful to one another, butwere playful and joyous, like children without a care in the world. Ourlittle games and frolics cannot be described with any accuracy, becauseoutside of the moment's happiness, they cannot be understood, as it wasa spiritual happiness, existing only in the spiritual realm. All thatcould be described is the physical actions that were taken because ofthat spiritual enjoyment, but that would do nothing to describe thefeeling of the night. It was one filled with more joy than anything Ihave known as an adult, because we became as children in our trusting tofate, and it was natural, befitting to our natures. Man is not meant toworry, man is meant to be free from all boundaries, inward and outward,man is meant to be ruled by only one desire: love of others.
As the night dwindled away, we grew tired, but instead of returning tothe city, we laid down wherever we were when we felt that we couldremain awake no longer, and fell to sleep instantly when we did. It wasnot at all uncomfortable, for the sand was soft and a warm breeze blewin from the water, and though as an adult I would have feared sleepingso openly in the unknown, I was not at that time an adult.
Chapter 13: The Big Bang