Reign Of Fayala

Reign

The men cautiously approached the darkened temple. Kele was armed with a musket as was Jargon, Jacy and Delsin.   Those following behind them carried clubs and knives. Kele was the first to climb the stairs to the temple entrance. With the surrounding trees now burnt to the ground and much of the temple in ruins, moonlight was able to penetrate into the structure casting an unnerving pall on the inner sanctum.

Kele looked for signs of life. His musket rested across his forearm and in his other hand was a torch. He stood still for a moment and listened for any sounds, he heard none, stepped over the burnt remains of the temple doors and entered the courtyard. Kele heard someone moaning and peering into the darkness saw a body curled up into a ball. He motioned to Jargon who approached and poked at the figure with his musket.

     Arnatt rolled over and looked up at Jargon, he wiped the tears from his eyes ... "You, you murdered her," he sniveled getting to his feet, "you killed my wife you murderer ..."

   Jargon slammed the butt of his musket in Arnott's face sending him staggering back to the floor. "Yeah and what of it, it's the bitch's fault for running anyway."

    Arnatt lay on the floor, blood dripping from his mouth and nose, "you murdered her," he sobbed, "my wife ..."

         They rest of the group entered the temple two at a time moving carefully through the debris. They gathered in the central courtyard where Kele dispensed orders breaking them down into teams of three with assignments on what part of the temple to search.

     "Once the temple is clear we will enter the Goddesses private sanctuary, I have reports that survivors sought refuge there." Kele took a deep breath, looked impassively at Arnatt and after eying each man declared ominously, "and I do not expect to find any survivors, does everyone know what I mean."

            "Yes we do," was the cryptic reply. Kele heard it but he was sure none the men before him had said it. Then he noticed they were all staring blankly at something behind him, he quickly turned around and gasped. The Goddess Fayala was standing not fifty paces away, her arms were extended out to her sides and in the palm of each hand stood Mira and Ohas. There was a blue haze surrounding the three that slowly expanded out towards the men. Kele had seen this before and instinctively knew he had to act fast or —

         The musket he was holding involuntarily dropped from his hand crashing to the stone floor as did the weapons held by all the men. Kele strained to reach down and pick it up but realized that he could not move a muscle. No, it wasn't that he could not move a muscle, he actually had no feeling of any part of his body. It was as if he existed, but in a shell that confined him, imprisoned him.

           Then he felt them, the Goddess, Ohas and Mira. They were in his mind controlling every action and reaction of his body. He tried to cry out but it was as if  he was in a dark gloomy hole and there was a heaviness that weighed him down, prevented him from climbing out no matter how hard he tried. Then he heard a voice ...

"Are you frightened," it said. The voice was female but Kele could not tell who it was that spoke. "We are speaking as one, unified and together in strength and wisdom. We have taken control of your bodies through your minds so that you may be ... taught, the appropriate manner in which to act in deference to your Goddess."

            "Taught," thought Kele what the hell does she mean. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain, it was in his head, his brain, a certain part of his brain, then another part, and another, his groin began to burn, then he found it difficult to concentrate, or even understand what was happening, or who he was, why he ... what ... suddenly it became dark.

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When his eyes were finally able to see and he was able to climb out of the hole that was his mind, the man looked about in wonder. Before him was the most beautiful thing, a being, tall, shining and wondrous who looked down on him and smiled.

"Welcome," She said.

     He liked her voice it was soft and reassuring, then people who looked like the giant being only much smaller approached and taking his hand led him, and others like him into a dark cave.

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            Ohas, Mira and Fayala sat on a low hill and watched the women teach the new servants how to clean clothes.

"It was the right thing to do, the only thing," said Mira.

"I know," replied Ohas. "It is what I saw in their minds before we, burned out the bad parts, what they had done and were planning to do, they were truly evil."

     Fayala sensed that Ohas was overly distressed about what they did. She picked her up in one hand, Mira in the other setting them on her knees, "It was for the better," she said. "The alternative was to ... kill them."

Ohas looked up at her Goddess, "Is that not what we did, we took away their souls, and left them —"

"With new souls," interjected Mira. "We gave them a fresh sense of their humanity, we made them better."

               Ohas looked at the large overweight man who had once callously thrown her to the ground outside the temple. Yesterday Jargon was a vulgar, alcoholic who had brutally murdered a young woman. Now he was on his hands and knees, a eunuch, happily performing menial chores, a bland smile permanently etched on his face. "So, we really are Gods," she stated.

             Ohas's statement caused Fayala to reflect on the origin of their existence. An alien race eradicated humanity from the planet, then genetically manipulated humans to create beings that would be suitably heedful of their place on a living planet. When one considers the course humanity ultimately took it looked as if the experiment was a failure.

Mira picked up Fayala's thoughts and telepathically conferred her opinion on the experiment. "Remember sister, Bienn cautioned that the introduction of a deity would cause humanity to forget their place within the planet's ecosystem and by associating with a supreme being put themselves above it."

          Mira sighed heavily as the consequence of the misguided actions she took so long ago would ultimately validate old Bienn's wisdom. But to have his prediction manifest so disastrously troubled her greatly. She remembered how it all started, the pond and Deyan, a young human boy who would awaken in her maternal longings Miorpeans had eschewed for centuries. That boy would willingly sacrifice himself for a human girl that would become the Earth Goddess. She would be the recipient of the human worship in a fallible being that Bienn warned about.

          "So how do we fix this," added Ohas joining the psychic conversation.

"I do not see how we can go back," replied Fayala. "If we remove all vestiges of the Earth Goddess we would be validating the violent action that took place. We would in effect set the precedence that force and violence is the solution to societal disputes. However, if we leave them on their own they will assuredly devolve into warring parties."

"I agree," said Mira. "I think we need to look at strengthening the power of our order, expanding it, putting our priestess' directly in charge of the towns and over the people."

"We would need to empower them,"  added Fayala. "We can enhance their psychic abilities making them formidable in their own right."

          Ohas sighed, "if we do this, humanity will be forever subjugated."

Mira looked at a tentative Ohas, "after we gain control and get things into order, we will begin to teach  people the proper manner in which they are to live within the natural environment. We will have them deconstruct the towns and build modest dwellings living within the ecological limitations of the natural world."

         Fayala placed Mira and Ohas on the ground and stood. She looked out over the valley and opened her senses to the world seeking enlightenment. Ohas and Mira were still linked to Fayala and joined her in shared meditative reflection. They felt themselves lifting from their bodies and taking flight. The three drifted together letting the light cool breeze take them were it might, their corporeal forms blended and mixed together becoming one, three sisters joining the bio-network of the planet ...

           "It is settled," they stated as one. "Tomorrow begins the Reign of Fayala."