Once Upon a Friday... (#SciFriday entries and other short stories)

#SciFriday Challenge 16 - Skyfall

"History is the long, difficult and confused dream of Mankind"

(A. Schopenhauer)

Words of what happened came to us through the ages, first by word of mouth, then in books copied over and over, translated as best as it could in different places. One can doubt the veracity of those words, considering the aging men who recounted it, considering the many hands that copied over words they didn't understand, considering the will of those controlling the knowledge of past times and their interpretation of the facts. Considering all that happened between now and then, one can ask if what we know as History is the truth; but then, one can argue that there is no ultimate truth and all is subjective...

More than twenty five centuries have passed, and we only know that the war ended when the sun disappeared. The fearful men engaged in a conflict for domination fell to their knees under the presage. No doubt the day becoming night had been a sign for them to bring over peace to their people. Though the event had been foretold by a great man, a sage of a great civilisation, those men pursued their power struggle for five years before the Gods signalled their ire in a spectacular way.

The two warring nations became one after that, by way of a union between a young ruler and the daughter of an older one. To these days, the peace treaty was attributed to the events that happened when the day turned night, thus ending what is known as the 'Battle of the Eclipse'.

What really occurred on the day of the total solar eclipse? What made the rulers of those two powerful warring nation kneel and agree to peace?

In a way, the answer may probably be found in the sky itself, in this same place where the sun meet the moon on this fateful day. Records of the episode all came from the one in the Historia. Those who study the past don't really look further than it. They retell it the same way decades after decades, centuries after centuries, millennia, even... This is what mankind is all about; learning from the past, but not looking outside the predefined and accredited frame that makes the official History.

I know more of what happened in this battle. Though no one will listen to me. I know that the supposedly foretold total solar eclipse had been once engineered by the Gods. It was truly the sign they had send to the warring nations to instil fear in their heart and to lead them to peace.

What did the Gods want, I am not sure about this part. I didn't find much in the old records about their intentions. I suspect, however, that the Gods wanted peace in this region so they could start to implement the slow evolution of the civilisation, guiding it and controlling it so they could ensure the success of their experiment.

In the old ages, Man believed the Gods existed and were almighty. What gave them the right to lord over humanity, if not the humans themselves shackling themselves to the dream of a benevolent and loving entity working for their best interests?

I know the Gods were not this loving, nor that benevolent. I know they worked for their best interest and not the one of a flock of men roaming the Earth. I know this, because I read it in the sky, in the stars. I am an Historian, an observer of civilisations, one that look for answers none of my predecessors has ever found. I have read all that exists in the known World, and I know that the Battle of the Eclipse didn't really occurred the way it was described.