Planet Earth 13

Planet Earth 13: The Rise of Chief Sargon the Conqueror (Part 2)

The visions he experienced were initially optimistic and glorified reality, however at a certain point Sargon felt a sense of urgency. The feeling was not his own, but felt rather like it was an emotion being shared with him by the world around him. As he accepted the invitation, he was taken to another planet in a time long ago. Sargon's consciousness rested above a grass plain. There was a village, though no women, children, or elderly could be seen. There were, however, 36 men clad in leather armor and posted in defensive positions on the village's west side. They were armed with bows, similar to his own, and spears, though a few had axes or swords instead. Though their weapons and armor were primitive compared to what Sargon had just seen in his visions of the future, these warriors looked fierce.

The men in the village were obviously expecting an attack from the west, so Sargon willed his consciousness to move in that direction. He spotted movement in the tall, thick grasses of the plain about half a mile from the village. Looking down from his point of view above the plain, Sargon saw more men sneaking through the grass. They appeared uncivilized compared to the villagemen. They wore no armor, in fact they hardly wore anything at all. Their bodies were covered instead with strange tattoos of various symbols of terror; skulls, snakes baring fangs, and images of men killing men were a few examples of recurring tattoos on these men. They carried simple but deadly weapons, including daggers, hatchets, knives, clubs and short spears. There were also 67 of these men compared to the 36 in the village. Sargon shifted back to the village and watched as the battle ensued.

A shout came from one of the defenders as he spotted the first attacker. Six archers immediately grouped up and a young man with a torch lit each of their arrows, which they fired high and far into the thick grasses outside the village. Meanwhile, more archers fired directly at the closest attackers. As more of the savages encroached on the village, most of the defenders dropped their bows and picked up their shields. They had posted stakes in the ground on the outskirts of the village, which concentrated the attackers into a narrow gap between the barriers. 16 of the defenders formed a two-layered shield wall in this gap. Six of them kept their bows, firing from behind the shield wall. The remaining villagers spread out in small clusters to cover the group's flanks, as many attackers would sneak around or through the barriers.

After the optimistic visions in the beginning of this strange esoteric experience, Sargon had learned to care for all living beings. Through the events he perceived, he gained empathy towards all life. Now, he was shocked to see people killing each other so ruthlessly. The savages threw themselves against the defenders' shield wall without fear. The villagers held the wall, but a few had fallen already. Meanwhile, groups of attackers had gone around the barriers on each side, hoping to flank their enemies. The outnumbered group fought desperately, but eventually the savages broke through the shield wall. The battle became chaos.

Meanwhile, a fire had begun to spread in the grass outside the village. The screams of the burning attackers that had not made it out of the grasses yet were muffled by the screams of men on both sides inside the bloody village. Eventually, the stronger men defending the village had killed off enough of the savages to allow them to regroup and take on the remaining attackers more efficiently. They grouped up and moved against their scattered enemies together, covering each other's flanks and taking out the rest of the strange men methodically.

Only ten of the village men survived the battle, but none of their savage enemies lived. Each of the survivors fell to their knees, crying both in gratitude for their victory and in sadness for their lost brothers. Sargon did not believe that someone could experience such carnage and be the same person afterwards. As he observed, he received a message in his thoughts from whatever force that was taking him on this existential journey, telling him that each of these men were extremely important and Sargon would encounter them someday.

After a long time of stunned silence among the warriors, one man finally rose and approached a hidden door in the ground. He took a key from a pocket underneath his armor and opened the doors. Waiting inside were dozens of women, children and old men, crowded in a room too small for their occupancy. Upon seeing the survivors, some of the women ran out to embrace their loved ones, while others weeped as they searched the horrifying aftermath of the battle for their fallen husband, father, or son.

The man who had opened the door climbed onto the roof of a smaller building near the crowd of mourning villagers. Though he spoke a language unknown to Sargon, he somehow understood his message perfectly clear. "Mourn the lost, my beloved people, each of these men were honorable and brave. They did not die in vain, however. We are now free from the rule of the Thur! What happened today will allow our people to rise to glory. For now, though, we must..." Sargon was abruptly pulled away from the vision.

More scenes flashed through his mind. Though they occurred quickly, Sargon understood the story they told. He learned that the ten survivors were actually a group of mercenaries whom had come together due to each of their own notoriety to create a small but incredibly efficient band of warriors. They had been contacted by the villagers to help them defeat the savage Thur, who forced them to give up half of their resources and enslaved some of the villagers' children. After the battle, the mercenaries they rose an army and became great conquerors. Eventually, however, they encountered a hidden building containing strange technology. They stumbled upon one particular piece of technology which took them on a predesigned path to another planet. The inhabitants of this planet were highly advanced. When the men's ship found its destination, there were already beings waiting for them. The creatures looked very much like humans, though their heads were much more round and their eyes glowed brightly with various colors of light.

The men exited the ship and carefully approached the mystical beings. While awaiting their approach, one of the creatures spoke. "We are glad that you've found our ship. One of our agents hid it there in the hopes that someday one of you would stumble upon it and it would take you here. We have a lot of work to do." The speaker shifted its head to look straight at where Sargon's consciousness was, as if looking him in the eyes. "The entire universe is at stake. There is a great empire that has spread across galaxies, and its actions will soon decimate all of life and tear the very fabric of the universe apart, eliminating existence itself." The speaker turned his gaze back to the group of men. "Each of you were chosen specifically for the purpose of bringing down this empire known as the Human Alliance. It was the Human Alliance that created you all in the same laboratory that you found our ship in. They hoped to create the perfect warrior by combining genes from different subspecies of humans found throughout the universe." Though neither Sargon or the men would have understood words like "genes", "laboratory", or "subspecies" in the past, when this being spoke data transferred into the listeners' minds, giving them the background knowledge to understand his message. This led Sargon to believe that it was one of these creatures that was causing this state of transcension. Am I genetically designed like these men? Is that why this happening? Sargon wondered. He had always felt different from other people he had met, though he had not come across many in his life so far.

Sargon's consciousness was gently guided through the universe back to his body. This journey was accompanied by the sound of a smooth, calming voice. It told the young man that the path would soon become clear, and that he was ready to face his destiny. As he felt himself returning to his physical self, he realized what needed to be done. He would assemble a group of fighters and begin conquering the Great Northern Forest. Instead of killing off his enemies, however, he would assimilate them into his army. He somehow knew that it was detrimental to the planet's survival that the people become united. The tribal system in place would not allow for unification without violence, though Sargon regretted this. He would commit to finding ways to reach his goal as peacefully as possible, but he sensed that he would have to do battle in many cases. Nonetheless, he felt that this was his purpose. Right before he woke from his transcension, the voice proclaimed a name: "Chief Sargon the Conqueror." 

...To Be Continued...