Authors: Doug Backus
“Over several years the Balane came to know and trust me so much that they would allow me to ride them across the lake. I would sit in the notch where their necks joined their mammoth bodies. I never fell off because I held onto the bottom two spikes that jutted out either side of their long necks up to their head. If only I had known the fate that was to be bestowed upon them I would have…,” said Kiran. She appeared sad, but caught herself and continued.
“Excuse me. I have gone a bit off track. Let me continue,” Kiran said with her hand resting on her cheek.
“Oh yes, my home, well I led a pretty comfortable life you see. My parents were both servants for the royal family. This was a great honor in Rhol and my parents were quite proud when they were bestowed it. They began to plan a family shortly after they had saved up a little nest egg, and I was born a year later. The Queen took a shining to me from the very minute I was born. She told my mother I had a special heart, and with that a special purpose. I, of course always thought my mother made it up to make me feel special. She had a good soul my mother,” Kiran said pausing again.
“
Many of our days were spent at the castle on Mount Kartago. The castle was beautiful. Hundreds of people worked there and anyone with a caring soul was welcome. The Queen would throw lovely feasts at night on the top of the castle which was much like an outdoor ballroom. Everyone was welcome to join in the festivities. The Queen herself always attended the dinners sitting with her people, and even serving some of the less fortunate herself. What a remarkable women she was…is.
“
Anyway, as I said before, the Queen had taken a special interest in me and often took me exploring through the castle, showing me hundreds of secret corridors. Some led to underground lakes deep in the mountains, and others led you to areas of Rhol such as the top of Mount Sibileo. Many others led to secret rooms. The castle was a magical place. Every room looked different from the rest, some strewn with art from centuries before, others with elegant furniture. Of course they all housed books containing histories not only of Rhol, but of other worlds too. There were books about magic, books about war strategy, and books about magical creatures.
“
By the time I was twenty I am quite sure that I knew the castle better than the Queen herself, and there was barely a book in the whole place I had not found and read. I loved reading. I would devour page after page, all while using my overzealous imagination to bring the characters to life, just as the author had described them. Even the sounds of their voices, or the expressions they used, would seem real to me.”
The thought of this quite obviously made Kiran very happy
and she smiled staring at the fire. At the same time it made Deke feel a little sad for he could see that Kiran’s eyesight had failed her some time ago, taking with it her dream world which only a book could create.
“It was shortly after my twenty-first birthday that my parents retired and Q
ueen Elissa asked me to stay on, not as her servant, but as her advisor and confidant. I could not believe the honor and gladly accepted. There were great times ahead. Rhol was at peace and very prosperous thanks mainly to Queen Elissa. She taught me many things over the years including the secrets of Rhol, and the secrets about herself that to this day few people know. Unfortunately, with great times and peace, someone usually comes along that causes great sorrow and war...I don’t know why that is,” Kiran said with a tear in her eye.
“Perhaps greed or sheer arrogance
, or maybe some are created who are just pure evil through and through. In any event that person was Solharn.”
For the first time
, Deke saw this lovely old woman frown. Her voice changed from being a warm gentle voice of reason, to being cold and full of disdain. It was as if telling the remainder of the story would leave a bad taste in her mouth for years to come.
“Solharn is a s
eraph and was a member of the Order of Six Angels. The Seraphim are what formed that Order. Now every living creature in every world describes divine beings, a creator of the universe if you will, as do many religions. There are many different names for the Creator; in your world he is often referred to as God, Allah, or Buddha. The people of our world have many different names for him as well. To make things easier, I will refer to him simply as the Creator.
“
Now, this universe is made up of hundreds of planets. Five of these planets or worlds sustain life made possible by the Creator. In order to maintain life on these five planets, the Creator designed it so each world would support the other, not only to maintain life but to evolve.
“
This is why the Seraphim were created. The Seraphim consisted of six celestial beings, and were dubbed the Order of Six Angels. They were the highest order of angels, and they served the Creator. Their main purpose was to assist the five worlds in maintaining a stable environment, and ensuring that they evolved continuously together. If one world destroyed itself, or fell behind, the balance of all would be lost causing the imminent annihilation of all five worlds.
“
The Seraphim would travel from world to world, and with them bring knowledge and technology from the other, allowing each world to balance itself in different ways. The Seraphim would appear at times in the form of angels when necessary, but for the most part they blended in by assuming the form of the inhabitants.
“
The worlds were created about two hundred years apart. Each was more advanced than the other, depending on when it had been created. Each contained within it the energy to enable the people of each world to possess a unique ability. Rhol was created first, and was given the gift of knowledge. Beltic was created after Rhol. Their abilities were the honing of the five senses. Daikon followed, and was given the ability to evolve in the art of magic. Jinn, the second last world created, would eventually define the ability to self-transport. The last world created was Earth and it was given perhaps the most important gift of all…balance.”
“Balance?” Deke bashfully interrupted
.
“Yes Dietrich. Earth being the youngest of all the worlds would eventually bring balance to the other four allowing all five worlds to coexist as a harmonious whole. Can you imagine
, Deitrich, the sheer exaltation of it all, the five worlds sharing what they learned, living and co-existing as one?
“This is why on Rhol, after many thousands of years and countless wars, we eventually through knowledge evolved into a peaceful world. A world that finally understood why we were created and what we had to lose if we continued to destroy it in our once barbaric ways. You see, Dietrich, Earth is still another eight hundred years behind Rhol. It will take many more centuries before your world reaches this realization, but through balance you will.”
“But your world is at war now. In my short time here I have seen it firsthand.” Deke interrupted.
“You are correct Dietrich, and this is because of Solharn. The Balance of Five has been altered. He has quite nearly defeated one of the five worlds, and because of that the others are barely sustaining themselves.”
“But Kiran, why would
a seraph such as Solharn being of the Order of Six, want to destroy the Balance of Five?” Deke asked.
“Ah, but I said Solharn
was
an angel of the Order, Dietrich, not
is
. You see Solharn, by all accounts, was the most powerful angel in the Order of Six. It seems that the more power and knowledge he gained the more arrogant, and self-indulgent he became. He constantly challenged the Creator, and eventually began to dispense with anybody that did not do exactly what he instructed them to when he visited the five worlds. He carried this out in the most horrific of ways. This of course was not the purpose of the Seraphim. They were there to guide and help the inhabitants, not to harm them.
“
The Creator grew tired of Solharn’s ways; however he underestimated the extent of Solharn’s power and prowess. You see Solharn had realized that the Creator was growing tired of his antics, but in his arrogance he did not believe the Creator could do anything about it. He quite often imagined himself as the Creator and ruler of the five worlds. Even if, by some stretch of the imagination he was defeated, he knew that he, a Seraph could not be destroyed, not even by the Creator. The worst that could happen was that he be dispelled into the Black Abyss.
“
As a safeguard Solharn used black magic to create five Blackpools, one on each world. He hoped that, should he be dispelled to the abyss, these pools would act as a portal back.
“
Finally, following one of Solharn’s journeys to the five worlds, the Creator did confront him. He told Solharn that he must change his ways or forever be banished from the Order of Six. Solharn laughed, and gathering together all the evil he could muster from inside himself, he lunged at the Creator and shot a torrent of black energy coursing with evil from his gaping mouth. Solharn hoped the energy would weaken the Creator allowing him the chance to overtake him, and send the Creator himself into the abyss. The plan failed miserably as Solharn was no match for the Creator. The evil died slowly as the Creator sent stream after stream of light toward it. The light sliced through the blackness and enveloped what was left, leaving Solharn standing there in silence. He knew his arrogance had led him to failure, yet he still laughed as the Creator drained him of all his energy until there appeared to be none left. Solharn had been dispelled into the Black Abyss.
“
However, Solharn’s black magic worked. After being dispelled he returned years later to each of the five worlds through the pools, creating havoc, plagues and wars. The more lives Solharn took the more powerful he became. It was as if he used the life energy of those he killed to enhance his own. The abyss had made Solharn beyond evil, and he was hell bent on destroying the Balance of Five. If he succeeded, he would finally have his revenge on the Creator.
“
In time the Creator realized that Solharn was slowly destroying the balance world by world, so he beckoned the remaining five Seraphim. He sent one to each of the five worlds in order to protect them from Solharn’s wrath. Each was given an amulet which contained within it part of the Creator himself. This gave each of the seraph one of the greatest powers one could possess, the power of life. For them the amulet became a portal to the afterworld, in which the energy of one’s soul could be released back onto the world or cast away to the Abyss depending on its essence. The amulets would help maintain the balance of the five worlds, but in turn would weaken the Creator. He knew that only by sacrificing himself could he protect the Balance of Five against Solharn.
“
He sent Jobe to Beltic; his amulet was that of a gold moon which represented birth. Dierdra was sent to Daikon; her amulet was a wooden wand that represented growth. Trestin was sent to Jinn; his amulet was an emerald sun which represented light. Kraymona was sent to Earth, and her amulet was that of a ruby star which represented life. Lastly, the Creator sent Elissa to Rhol; her amulet was a trite stone arrowhead which represented evolution.
“
Solharn learned of the amulets. He created armies by attracting creatures from the darkest corners of the five worlds. He used the promise of power and wealth, if they supported his depraved plan to have all the amulets for himself. If he succeeded, the five Seraphim would be helpless against his powers. The energy of the souls would become trapped with no passageway to move on to their next phase of life. Evil would grow on each of the worlds because the negative energy would remain. It would not be dispersed to the abyss. The positive energy, the energy of the good, would not be reincarnated as it should be, and thereby would not sustain the balance of life. With this much power he would easily defeat the Creator.
“
Solharn set his sights on Rhol, and after many wars he was able to defeat Elissa, the Queen of Rhol. There were faults in his plan however. He was unable to control the amulet. The amulet became powerless in the hands of someone who stole it. For him to control it, the amulet would have to be given to him.
“
Unable to use the amulet, Solharn decided he would destroy it so that nobody could ever have its powers. He became incensed after realizing that this plan would fail too. You see, much like a seraph could not be destroyed, the amulet contained the essence of the Creator making it indestructible.
“
Solharn cursed, and decided to send the amulet to Earth using the Blackpool. This would keep it far away from Elissa, and any of her supporters. He left his armies on Rhol to destroy whomever and whatever might be left, and moved onto Beltic. After many years he defeated Jobe. Solharn believed, and was at least partially right, that when the amulets were dispersed to other worlds they would become obsolete. If anything or anyone found them, they would not work because they were not given to them, but Solharn was somewhat mistaken in his belief.
“
You might be asking yourself why the amulet worked when it was retrieved by you. Why was a boy from earth entrusted with such a great responsibility? I can only answer that in part.
“
Because you are from Earth, Deke, it makes you special. Because Earth is the youngest planet, you and the other inhabitants of Earth have a paladin that exists as an outer soul, independent of you yet attached. It is not the same in the other worlds. Yes, they still have two souls, but they are more intertwined. Over the years the natural course of evolution has brought their souls together. They work more as one within the body.”