In the beginning, there was THE ONE; He was far from time, as it did not exist. Far from mortality; as HE is eternal. Men had not been conceived yet. Even so, THE ONE’s realm was not void. He had Sons many of whom were attributes of Himself…
There was—Creator. He was the greatest of them all. He had a name: KAI. He remained compassionate and true to his nature all His days. He was most pleasant, gracious and knowing. He was pure of any malice and secure with many lavishing forces. Never did THE ONE let him abandon His side, remaining with Him always.
Then, there was WRATH. He was the most punishing! So much, that He remained without a name. He was unforgiving to the judged; undeterred, devoted, unquenchable, and fierce. The warrior spirits shook at his manifestation. He was empty of compassion, void of mercy, and an utter destroyer of everything He touched! On account of the first war, THE ONE had to hold Him back, as his conviction knew no end.
There was Light—VEILA, who remained upon everyone THE ONE chose favourable in His sight. Passionate was He, forever existing in the mind of THE ONE that led them. It was VEILA perhaps that led to the conception of men—and through KAI they became.
Then there were many more: Justice also called HAKI; Majesty also called KUU; Destiny also called EMA; Wisdom also called NOU; Power, also called ERI, and Mercy called T’URI.
There were more. Endless!
Behind them were Legions of spirit beings, liberated of thought but tied to the one purpose of service. They had seen the Wisdom of THE ONE and served in His presence under His rule, with all the good and great things. Of all the unseen glories vested in the realm of THE ONE, none was a power as He.
The first war
One timely moment came, and the realms all converged before His throne, by the crystal sea. THE ONE sought to bring forth a new creation. He spoke in calmness and with reverence, every ear and spirit opened in understanding to grasp:
“I have decided on this pleasant thought to make a new thing: A people in the realm below us. They shall be from me, for me and of me, and I shall be with them as I have with you. I shall put my breath in their lungs, a conscience in their minds, and free will in their hearts. They shall be one with me, and you shall serve them as I command until their days are done, then they shall be united with Us.”
All the realms were in agreement. He then left to manifest this.
All were pleased with this—except one. And so, when THE ONE set out to make this new world; a spawn of silence, a judging attribute, an influential spirit—one rebuked many times, arose. He stepped before them all and questioned.
“Are we so lowly to Him? Are we less than these that HE has sought to make? We, He spoke from His breath never forsaking His throne, yet these He will make with His own hands? We will have no place in HIM any more! How can the elder serve the younger? How can we remain quiet over this matter?”
His heart coveted THE ONE’s throne.
He found common interest with many legions of both the Upper and Lower spirits. He led them to revolt, warring and treading upon every spirit that stood in his way.
Then, Kai stood before him.
“You are the most deceitful and blinded of all! How can creation turn against its maker? What is this foolishness?”
“You have lied to us. The age of your reign is done. You have betrayed the order of the realms! The age of strife begins now!”
“Is order really what you want? Is it not that thirsting eye of yours that covets power with insurmountable greed?”
The winged spirits rose against them that revolted together with the stubborn spirit—Kek.
There was a great war: The first Conquest!
When the battle was much spent, Wrath was awakened! His hands were burning and became like great scorching on Kek’s back. It was then that Wrath drew his sword, readying a final strike. The sole of his foot was firmly upon Kek’s chest, bursting his breastplate and armour to reveal him! At that moment, the legions of Kek were thirsting, not repentant of the evil they had done.
Then, THE ONE RETURNED.
“HOW DARE YOU STAND AGAINST ME?”
HIS voice roared like thunder rumbling through the Heavenlies, more formidable than ever before. There was a great scarlet rain over The Throne, and fear befell the realms. He waved over the rebels.
“BE GONE FROM MY SIGHT!”
All of them fell in a great rally like lightning, crushing down to the new earth: TÍÍRI. They that had wings were broken, and those who had favour lost it. In his fall, Kek was cast away, falling into eternity; an enemy, whose heart would never change thereafter.
Men, having been raised and conceived to witness this cruel punish- ment—their souls became the prize for Kek’s continued rebellion. He promised them great power and freedom in disobedience and continues to do so to this day. The malice of Kek flourished in darkness, never surf- acing to the light.
There were now 4 realms: IKLERIEN, where THE ONE and all HIS glory habited; THE VAST, a great wasteland where spirits and the dead await the close of the age of tribulation, then, judgement; TÍÍRI, where men lived; JEHANAM, a hell where punishment awaits all who follow Kek, as the days of tribulation were near, and the Judge would get rid of evil and all its power, FOREVER!
Now, TÍÍRI consisted of Greater Whales and Sumeria in the North, the Western continents of Arabia and Ozenu, the Eastern continents of Amerigo and Tasilia, and much later, the lonely empty lands in the middle of the waters, Arikana.
THE SANGARII
On account of the Ogres rising against the men—East of Arikana, KAI sealed the underbellies of the earth with a key to keep the Abominations away. With Kek defeated and chained in the mountains of Beruel, the key was broken. It was entrusted to the three of balance; three Spirits of great wisdom who kept the balance of magic in the three pillars of Arikana. The Northern, called Kanseria, the Southern called Karikonia and the middle called Equina.
These Spirits never moved beyond the expanses of their assigned pillars, as their powers would lose potency. Ebe was the known name of the Northern and Goa of the Southern. They were the elder spirits. It was not until Kek drew his power to the navel of the lands that the last Spirit was revealed. It remained unnamed, as the people did not know of it, even till now.
Ebe
Kek, before his fall, was a judging spirit. He had been entrusted with the understanding of good. He communed with many of the lower spirits in instituting the Will of THE ONE upon the Heavenlies. It was then that he colluded with a section of lower Spirits called the Akhe-kai. These were the keepers of the songs of Kai, key in the tongues of Creation. He was compelled by their cry, particularly regarding the high place that THE ONE had given men. He was filled with envy and even desired their destruction. His nature became corrupted.
Upon His fall, Kek’s strength was depleted. He remained among the dwellings of the clans of the First Lands, spreading a sickness of the heart and of the mind, turning them away from the Attributes of THE ONE. He became so compelling in the First lands, that THE ONE brought forth GER HAKHAN to counter Him. This was not enough. In due time, His followers would spread to all the known lands, instituting cults and sects that began practicing the ‘Cry of the Akhekai’, as told by Kek. Soon after, they began twisting the Cry, hence beginning their dark magic that became their creed to Kek. This became the renewal of his strength, and with each passing day, Kek became more and more revered. From far and wide, men came to seek His new divinity, calling His name in their many languages. They referred to Him as the Prince of Enligh- tenment and Keeper of the Sages.
The Heavens saw this wickedness and sent down Warrior Spirits and Guardians, who led crusades to purge the sickness. They were over- whelmed by it. They had underestimated the power of the Tongues of Creation! THE ONE had confounded much in Mercy as if HE had released WRATH, almost none could have remained. He resolved to make a new land—a place hidden from the wicked first lands.
Ari-kaana (New Haven) was made. The three Sangarii were raised to protect it and keep balance, so that evil may not find its place there. As it was, Kek knew of the newly created Lands. He sought to conquer them as well. Leaving His high seat in Greater Whales to the Queen Un- yielding; Vrodahai, He descended to The Northern gates of ARIKANA, where He met with Ebe.
“Vile one, of what Ordinance do you leave your seat, coming to a place where you are not welcome?” Ebe spoke, raising his shields.
“I need no Ordination. I have already been given the entirety of this Realm,” Kek taunted.
“You are mistaken. The battle was lost. You once fell from a place of glory, and the gates of Iklerien were shut to you. Like lightning you fell, and all your wicked seed followed you!”
“And did you witness it? Were you there, or are these words told to you by the same Maker who made me?”
“You will not succeed here! Your Evil is not potent in me or in this place. Turn back before a Legion falls upon you.”
“I see you have believed in Him. You have believed that I am evil and that nothing I do with my hands is worthy. But, may I task you with a mystery?”
Ebe reached for the Golden horn on his waist.
“Before you call the Heavens upon me, have you not already broken the vow? Were you not told that you cannot even in the least give audience to a defilement?” Kek hissed.
“I gave you a warning!” Ebe lunged for Kek’s arm, but missed as he was too swift.
“A warning indeed, but don’t you wish to know for yourself? To be sure? To test what HE spoke, and see if it is true?” Kek saw that Ebe had a curiosity for the things he spoke about. “If at all I am the darkness, then why is light yet to shun me to shadow? If the very first children of flesh that Our Father made by HIS own hands have forsaken HIM, how is it that they have been spared yet believing in my deception? Are we not breathed by the same Maker?”
“Your tongue is foul and is only capable of spewing lies! Where emptiness once dwelt, you’ve found a barren ground. Where light was not, you filled with unnatural desires for things that only quicken destruction.” Ebe countered, however laced in.
“Yet, even the Heavenly council—those placed higher than you agree that there is a problem with these…humans. I have dealt with them. I did not choose for them to do evil. I told them only what I had observed from my judgement. I did what needed to be done. I gave them a choice, and they chose what they saw was right. There is a weakness in HIS heart. One I know that even you too have found a mystery.”
“HE cannot be as you say, lest it contradicts who HE really is! There is no Weakness but strength, Sovereign over all things,” Ebe defended, but Kek rose above him.
“Is this the reason why, even after HE brought me to the dust, knowing my heart for the Truth I bore, He still let me live? You call me evil—yet I, also, am from HIM. Tell me then, is there any nature of evil in HIM? I have not rejected HIM. HE rejected me!” Kek calmed from his rage. “I was once good until I wasn’t of Use to HIM.”
“No, you betrayed HIM!” Ebe said.
“Is it not fear, that I found something that would tear apart THEIR power? A Secret; one hidden from all of creation. Why then do I deserve shame, yet these humans—who have killed, and even mocked sacred things deserve to be let and live? Do you not have anything to say?” Kek turned away from Ebe, showing Him the vast waters.
“If one as distinguished as I was brought down and made nothing, what about you?” Kek said, watching Ebe from the corner of His eye. “I judge you too harshly. You were not there to see it yourself. How they treated me. One who was a Truth-sayer to the very throne of Iklerien. How about one who is tasked to guard…earth?”
Ebe was quiet. Kek presented an irrefutable claim before him. “You ask that I betray my Oath? You speak to sway hearts, but you have even swayed spirits before and this is why you were cast down…”
“…That is what THEY told you! I ask you to simply judge for your- self. If what I say is false, reject it. But if it confronts some part in you, then perhaps I indeed know a secret worth hiding away from all creation. I have stood here before you, and I am offering you a throne. You do not deserve to be but a mere watcher! You are way more powerful! Let me through and you will rule with me by my side. I, the Lord of the East; and you as Lord of the West. Fire and Water, in equal reign!”
“I cannot!” Ebe raised the Horn of Gold to his lips, shaken. “Return from whence you came!”
Just by the swipe of the Horn on his lips, waves rumbled in the waters wildly!
Kek turned back to Him. “Very well! I will prove this I say to you. Watch the very thing that happens today. I am not to enter this place, but the very beings that live within the confines of it are no different from those on the outside. They too bear corruption. In due time, you will see it and maybe then, your eyes will be opened. However, if you change your heart then…it will be too late. I will not offer you a Kingdom, but you will be far beneath me!”
And with this, Kek left Him.
Ebe had given audience to Kek. The hiss of his tongue alone brought a sickness to His mind, one that grew by every sunrise.
Just as Kek said, Demi and Malong’ fell. A cruel punishment was issued, and witnessing all this, Ebe’s Heart swayed even more. He retreated to himself in question. Once KAI had left, He moved secretly to seek out Kek from his seat. He hid among the winds in the Northern seas and met him. Kek had grown much stronger as His legions attended to Him. On seeing Ebe, He knew that it was done. His word had borne fruit. He rose to call Ebe forward and demanded worship:
“I will not cause you any harm. Lead me to the edge of the land. A high place where I can see all that is moving. I will reward you with favour and will keep a treaty with you. I will also lend you Lordship over the West, until I have fully overcome.”
It was done!
Kek took Beruel, the furthest North-Eastern point of Arikana, and nested His evil for 1000 years, watching as the Sons of Kai grew and grew. He waited for an opportune time to strike. And so it came—when Ovu, then Shimei, came to Him of his own accord.
Still, Ebe’s sickness did not end. It became worse. With the promise of Lordship, the West was his to command. He abandoned the pillar at the North gate called Karikonia to brood over Malong’s sons. After the Ogres had devastated the lands East of Arikana, the other two SANGARII remained. However, Ebe’s failures were found out, and He was taken to judgement before the council of Iklerien.
“What have you done? Why did you abandon your place? Because you let your heart be eaten away, now your sickness remains without a cure! Before our judgement is read, what is your defence?”
Ebe was shaken. He remembered the words of Kek, and He too, having seen the judgement laid on him at Beruel, bowed to beg the council.
“I plead with you my LORDs, for I was deceived! I admit to my failure, all of it. I have already regretted much, and seen the great cost of my actions. I ask that you have Mercy as you have had with the Other. I pray that if you can issue me another judgement, for in my death there would lack a balance of the powers in the North.”
The council saw that it was true. They agreed that by Ebe’s death, then the Northern Gate would be open to Kek’s legions and devastate the lands afresh! They gave their judgement.
“WRATH shall be poured out to atone you for 100 years. His hand shall be upon you, just as His eye is on the Fallen one. This shall not be appealed!”
WRATH quickly befell Ebe and tormented him for 100 years.
After the 100 years were done, WRATH took up Ebe seeing his deplorable condition. He took him to Beruel, at the very peak of the Mountain. Ebe raised his countenance and brought him to see what remained of the once powerful Kek. There He was, chained in both arms, His face scathed from the fire that burned him when his eyes were gouged out. His chest was chiselled by a cavity that could only be made by the hacking of a great weapon! Ebe did not wish to be near Him. He looked up, and saw WRATH bring down a Sword, flaming with Rage! HE placed it in Ebe’s hands and then commanded.
“SLAY HIM.”
Ebe felt the weight of the Sword. It was as light as a feather—swift to swing. It bore the markings of truth and its hilt and blade were made from a substance as pure as water, a metal unseen in all the lands. Its radiance was astonishing, and the prominence of its hold too was unworldly! A weapon cast by the hands of the smiths from beyond!
“SLAY HIM!” This time the voice shook the Mountain.
Ebe dug into the gravel with the Sword, grinding his palm on the hilt of it as he stood. He then dragged himself knowing that WRATH was watching from above. However, the closer he got to Kek, the anger inside him burned the more, and so did the weight of the Sword increase. The foulness of death around Kek got stronger. As he tried to lift the Sword, it had become as heavy as lead. He turned to hold it with both hands and still—it would not budge.
Seeing this, WRATH flew him off the mountain and Ebe wept with a loud cry. His only chance to end the very source of his torment was taken away from him.
“YOUR HEART IS HEAVY WITH A VENGEANCE. UNREP- ENTANT!
EVEN AFTER GREAT SUFFERING, A SICKNESS REMAINS.
UNTIL ANOTHER IS FOUND, ONE WORTHY TO WIELD THE SWORD AND FINISH IT, DARKNESS SHALL SURELY MARK YOU.
THROUGH THE WINTER RAINS AND SUMMER MOONS,
YOUR FOOD SHALL BE MET BY THE FANGS OF WOLVES,
AND LONELINESS HAS BECOME YOUR COMPANION.
YOUR FATE AND THAT OF THE ODD ONE IS SEALED.”
The voice vanished and Ebe awoke, finding himself in the midst of great dunes of sands, free of the Sword of Wrath. There in the desert, he had known of the Great healers who were the nomads. Perhaps they could heal him. He called out. He even summoned the winds, but they never appeared to him when he called. That is when he felt a chasm where his power once sat. But it was not all taken away. Perhaps a certain mandate had been withheld from him and this made him fear. Not knowing where else to go, he returned to the West where he had once reigned:
Now as The Darling of the Wolves.
ABOUT THE NOMADS
In between the time of the deaths of Demi and Malong’, the Westerlies blew in the waters, and a tempest hit a slave ship from Amerigo. It was headed for Whales also bearing various oils, gunpowder, as well as pearls obtained from the vast mines of Tasilia. A captain of the high seas had seen success in that country by the hand of Karios the Conqueror. He saw death nearing and realised that slave or free, they were all under the mercies of the seas. He commanded that all the slaves shackled in lower decks be released at once. It was this wisdom that perhaps granted his ship mercy as instead of a capsize, it broke into hundreds of pieces floating away onto the shores of an unknown land. As he gazed upon the emptiness of the land, he saw a new opportunity.
“Untouched! Our hands shall know a new wealth.” He turned to the men, free and slave. “We shall build a new Kingdom here. If any one of you wants to leave and see if they can find another vessel adrift, then you may. If anyone wants to stay, then also acknowledge me as your captain both at sea and on land!”
A few men, mostly slaves, went roaming in the desert and very little success came to their search. They ended up fishing and setting camp, hoping to find rescue from any passing merchant ships. Those that remained with the Captain salvaged whatever material was at the beach, and remained close to the salty waters.
One night as the captain slept under the open skylight, he was visited by a Ghostly light!
It came in the form of a vision: A vision of VEILA!
He marvelled at the things that VEILA showed him; the mysteries of the stars and moon and all the things that his people worshipped. He saw that the stars were not children of the moon, but markers showing the way to travellers lost in their path. He saw that the moon was like the midnight sun, holding the waters in their ebb and flow and showering the earth with life. He saw that the darkness was not dark for VEILA, but if the covering was taken away then even to him, it would never carry any difference from light. VEILA then took him further up to a place where the stars shone no more, and he looked into the nothingness. It was then that he heard them. Voices, sickening to the bones.
He asked VEILA about them, and His eyes welled up with tears and a deep sorrow. The Captain failed to see why this question had brought so much pain.
“There is an Answer to all these aches. There has always been. Your people have searched in all the wrong places in ignorance. Sorting the wrong medicines and blindly bringing suffering to many with your grievous actions.” VEILA reached for the light of the moon, plucking a speck. The Captain then stretched forth His hand, and there in His palm was placed a luminescent blue flame. “Heal my people. You must, until the flame is no more!”
VEILA then disappeared among the stars.
On waking up the next day, the captain came from his tent, dis- turbed by the vision. Before him, all the men in his company had gathered wondering about ‘the light’. It was then that his hands opened to them, and a blue flame sat in his palms. The men all bowed to it.
“In a vision, the god of this land visited me. He showed me the cure for all the sickness in the world. Here in my hands is the undying flame for ours and their healing. We must pursue its unending advantages. I must ask that all you amongst us that were once welders and smiths of various crafts return to them. We shall all become one—equal, and in fellowship. We shall be servants to this flame and the light shall be our guide, for herein lies our purpose!”
Gath was the name of the captain. His men remained faithful to the light for all their days. They became the nomads who travelled the deserts all year round studying the constellations, and buying camels and wares from other clans of men. These sons of light eventually became the Priests of Kai, the Ish-Hakhan. They learned how to find water in the sands. When their pearls ran out, they learned to make precious stones from rocks, and hence bringing forth the hardest material that became used for making weapons of war; Cuirass. When their bodies would ail, they mastered the flame and used it to heal broken bones without surgery.
In their travels, there were tribes that grew curious about their very peculiar ways. Some men followed behind them, becoming outliers, dwelling on the edges of the caravans watching—listening and learning from the little they gathered. VEILA would then reveal His wisdom to them. These became the scribes who wrote the scrolls of Kai, those called the NARUMOR, and would take them to every land as letters and messages addressed to the various peoples.
When the Ger Hakhan were revealed to Arikana, the scribes ceased to bring the letters. It was then thought that they had become watchers. Though the power wielded by the watchers was similar, it exceeded by great measure that of the Nomads, as theirs was a naturally occurring power in them.