Gods and Guardians

Chapter 14: Dasirus Decides

When Xakan set the slaves free, he knew it was just the beginning. They had to develop a program to integrate them into the society. A lot had to be modified, starting with the law. For a short time, maybe two to three tenths after Xakan returned to the throne, he had a lot of meetings with the Lords and Mystics. One thing Meinz knew was the king didn't emerge from the illness the same man.

The Lords had their own deliberations at the time. Meinz remained in the dark through all these. Only vague stories of certain happenings in the palace escaped into their ears. The Lords put more and more matters up for deliberation, sometimes even without Xakan's supervision. Some matters ended up being very controversial taking forever to reach an agreement, an agreement that meant very little since Xakan's words were final.

To think that Xakan designed some of those meetings where he tabled the matters before the Lords and yet ruled out their conclusions is somewhat surprising since no one ever questioned his decision.

Two months after the war, all was set; it was time for the people to know what has been going on in the royal chambers. There was a meeting between the king, the Lords, the Chancellors and certain Nobles of the eleven clans.

This event became known in history as The Great Liberation. The eleven councils came together; that is the ten district councils as well as the supreme council in Zoan.

'Lords and Nobles,' Xakan spoke with a deep solemn voice, most of his speech punctuated with pauses. 'I know that many would have within their hearts questions and doubts as to whether I am doing the right thing. I know that many would wonder in the course of this speech whether I'm not throwing away the truth which we all must protect. The scriptures have always talked about the Chosen Ones which we have hitherto believed we are.

'We have always believed that we and we alone, the Islanders are destined to save Mother Earth. We have always believed that our superiority as a race was validated not only by words and conquests but the scriptures bear witness.

'We believe as an onus we must preserve the Sacred Blood; the Sacred Blood which flows through our veins as not mere Cornelians, but Islanders. No other race is worthy to be ranked as equals.' There was a long pause as his eyes swept across the massive hall.

'But let us pause for a moment,' he continued, 'let us pause and examine those beliefs. Let us not be threatened by the fact that our ancestors of distant past believed them.

'Since the journey of time, man has improved a lot in mind. Now we have a mind that is more dynamic than our ancestors ever dreamt. But that is not to say that they were foolish. They understood according to the capacity of their minds at the time.

'The authenticity of the scriptures still stand beyond question; rather we should seek deeper understanding of its truths. We all know that a truth not fully grasped resides not in the heart as a half-truth, but as a lie. Deeper truths exist in the scriptures which we have not bothered to understand because we have not sought them at all. It is not an exclusive duty of Mystics to unravel scriptural truths. It is our collective duty.

'Many events have transpired these recent times that calls us to contemplation. It is undoubtedly true that some of these events challenged our most treasured beliefs. Our superiority as a race was put to the test and truly, truly we could have lost the battle. Providence pulled us through; thanks to The Great Lord. Our so-called superior knowledge was put to the test, and we failed. What if Thamaya was not here? What if she had no knowledge of medicine? I would probably have died by now and every one of you would be in ignorance, believing that I died of a curse from the gods. Can't we see now that the concept of our superiority is not wholesome?