Genesis - the Battle Within (Pillars of Creation Book 1) (15 page)

“So my brothers, as I rightly say, our search is now afoot. We do have clues, but no direct heading. We know we need to find the four Sacred Facilities that our forefathers once aligned, and just as importantly be led through this hunt to find the battle place of Armageddon – the last place our forefathers were heard from, staving off the evil that may be awaiting us there, if it truly does remain.” Osiris sighed as he continued.

“But for us today to find this place of battle and absolution, we must first find each facility, a task not so easy it seems. For over a thousand years we have searched for these places, which will help light the way to our path. But, frustratingly, we have found none, not other than our original Temple shown to us on Mars Prime.”

He transmitted this picture to the receiving crowd. Many wondered and commented at the high spires and unusual stone it was carved from. Osiris looked back up as if washing away his last thoughts, and moved them on.

“At one point we thought we were close, and indeed we actually did find our way onto the next step and leg of our journey. Again it was the Tel’nagara who were able to direct us to this place, even if done unintentionally.

“You may open your eyes disciples, for I dare not show you these next places.” Again Osiris gave pause as he mustered himself to delve into the memory.

“Initially, for this act, we owed a great debt to our Tel’nagara friends; I guess, at the time, you could go so far as to say the Tel’nagara earned their place as they were the ones who made all this possible to begin with. In a way, some believed they were the saviours of humanity at the time.” His face grew dark and his eyes wrinkled into a tired and sad expression. “Until, that is … those apostates turned on us.

“It was only through the Tel’nagara’s own creation that we were able to maintain control and wipe them clean of their immoral and heretical sins. Without the SINAI, human history, again, could have been very different. Very different indeed, my disciples, if we hadn’t stopped them. Yes, these wonderful developments and construction of the SINAI, were all won at yet another cost, a cost that brings us into our own time.

“The Tel’nagara turned on us and the true Holy Wars began, which haunt many of us even now in our darkest nightmares. As you know, the deep space colonies sided with the alien creatures, joining the religious sect known to us as ‘The Seekers of Truth’, and our missions and SED duties became plentiful right up to today.

“Now, there is only one true enemy to our cause, and which unfortunately I need to bring up in this sermon, as from the very outset you must be clear about the demons you will fight, and these bastard vermin that see our progress stemmed wherever they slip in. They are the only other completely opposed, registered religion outside our own branches of belief, and were at one time even a part of our own cause. These heretics are the thorn in our collective sides – the heretics that we must destroy.

“Once we thought they could be trusted, but oh how we were wrong, my disciples. How we were wrong.”

His tumbling memories and crystallising facts resonated clearly within his brain as whole portions of his cognition and emotions focussed on this time, when he was once young.

“Yes, as you’ve probably heard, their beliefs were once in line with our own, yet as time progressed their teachings and motives became distorted and began to vary greatly from ours. And as all modern society remembers, they became the catalyst for the Galactic Holy Wars of 3453 to 3582.

“As a result of this war, all other beliefs, agnostics and religions were separated from our own, and if they cause conflict or terrorism towards the SED, they are promptly pacified, or if unsuccessful in the pacification program, relocated to the Outer Rim planets; once a well-mined, series of moons and planets on the outskirts of our known space. But even this is no blessing for them. Understand this, this place, which is a land of burden and is only marginally inhabitable, is only a fitting locale for such beings of detestability.

“Unfortunately the flipside to throwing them out there – through many years of hardship – is the Seekers of Truth have emerged to be a strong, some say evil and hardened, race indeed. Harder than I dare say many of the SED’s own inhabitants. Even today – although we be vastly superior in technology and sheer volume – there are conflicts between the SED and the Seekers of Truth militants, even within our own borders.

“Those of you joining our military will soon come to know well of these enemies lurking to threaten our ways, don’t be fooled otherwise. For those transferring into SED duties you will come to understand the battle has not been extinguished. The Skinks lost the war long ago but the more devout believers fight on. They’ve managed to reform their own military factions, which they believe will bring about the SED’s destruction and lead humanity to a true destiny, free from our
apparent
false transformation.”

Osiris was now way off his normal sermon, but for some reason he just couldn’t bear telling the disciples that everything would be fine and they would all be coming home heroes after their campaigns. For he knew better, and today, uncertain why, he would tell the truth. For even those destined for simple chantry duty would be in danger from these dwindling, desperate vermin. The further they went from Earth, the more their risk. He understood the struggles well, and knew the Skinks now grabbed any opportunity, which meant even chantries weren’t off limits anymore.

He lowered his voice as he looked honestly into the hundreds of young faces before him, and he spoke with conviction, his mind humming once more with what he’d lived through.             

“They believe that through a different interpretation of our own texts, taken from our Temple of the Sacred – which we found together as a united front remember – we are not on the true path. They declared their separatist intentions on the 7
th
of June 3453, whereby they initiated the first battle in the Holy Wars. They utilise many strategies’ and teachings of old, developed by the Stygian.” His voice wavered as he remembered some of those horrific scenes. He cleared his throat before becoming more animated.

“So don’t be fooled disciples, this life is not an easy one. True, you will hear that after the events of the Portal Battle at the end of the Holy Wars, the Skink numbers were, as reported, greatly decreased. But they are still out there, and they are still a credible threat to our remotest, lesser equipped factions and colonies – along with the threat from the plethora of filth in our society. You must not be lulled into a false sense of security by our superior ways, you hear me. Always be on guard and hold strongly to your faith, for you will be tested and you
will
need it then, more than ever, once you leave the safety of our major factions.”

His eyes glinted as he struggled to keep his tone even. He’d let himself get a bit worked up, and couldn’t stop elaborating on his deeply rooted prejudice.

“I know it has no longer been considered a war for over twenty years, just pockets of resistance and skirmishes the media calls it,
apparently
diminishing
,” he said sarcastically, “but believe me, they are still strong enough to be alive, and that should tell you enough of the threat they pose. In the face of a mighty nation and military dominance they still remain. They are crafty indeed and the masters of resistance and underground warfare. We have bombed them, betrayed them, starved them and purged their scourge from the inner galaxy – and yet they are still out there.”

Osiris looked up and saw fear on the faces of the young disciples. Some of the monitors were switched off as well.
Blast
, he berated himself again,
I’ve gone too far haven’t I?

He calmed himself; he wanted to prepare them, not scare the Sacred out of them. He tried to scale back his intensity, knowing the damage was likely done but trying anyhow.

“But don’t be overly worried my disciples,”
damn that sounded patronising didn’t it
, “we usually only have trouble with the Seekers of Truth’s military arm because, after the lessons from countless billions of lives lost in the Holy Wars,”
really? I just can’t help myself today can I, I’m doing it again
, “and the Skinks – sorry – I mean Seekers of Truth’s heavy losses, a peace was long ago made with the Outer Rim’s main colonies to ensure another galaxy-wide war would be avoided at all costs.

“So take comfort in the knowledge that even if the Outer Rims were to rise up again, the SED is more than prepared to withstand even the most vicious of armadas they could conjure up.”
Yes
,
that sounded much better,
he told himself.

“This leads me into my very last point for today, I promise; the purpose and reason for the Holy Wars, and the Sacred Temple of Mars Prime and its connection to the Cen’Shur’a sector. Hopefully we won’t run out of time.”

Osiris noticed he had in fact almost done just that as the timer on his podium ticked down. His voice raced as he glossed over details he desperately loved to fixate on.

“As I said, for over a hundred years the Holy Wars raged on, with countless billions falling for the sacrifice of this cause and that, but in the end, through the hands of our Immortals and the SED military, we somehow, if you could call it a victory, won. Our path was stayed and we were on course, as I mentioned, once again.

“After we vanquished the Tel’nagara, nearing the end of the Holy Wars, with it looking likely the Skinks would be eliminated entirely,” in his haste forgetting to correct his slang yet again for the Seekers of Truth, “the Skink government declared a cease fire, agreeing to flee along with the major portion of peaceful society, through the portal of the Sacred Facility.”

Osiris cleared his throat as he readied for his concluding statements and brought forward a mental image for the class to see.

“The Temple facility had given us much already; the religion of the Sacred, the mighty SINAI, the Mouziz stones, even the Immortals … but there was still one last secret the Temple had to give us – its most vital and Sacred yet.” He paused for effect.

“Through what the Tel’nagara divulged to the Seekers of Truth, when they sided together in the Holy Wars, our Order learned that the Temple contained the ability to open a portal in deep space, directly above its planetary location. This was the very element to which our path had been guided; destiny it seemed had found a way to tap us on the shoulder and show us our way through, again. We’d finally found the means for the first step in our galactic ascension, of where, and most importantly how, our brethren had fled thousands of years ago to our Sacred Creators.

Through the truce at the end of our religious war, the Seekers of Truth came to a position where they peacefully served us, and they provided the Ten’stone, which proved to be the key, that opened the portal and our destined path when placed deep within the Temple’s Sacred chambers of Mars Prime. Yes, as you’d likely know, this was the original and first Sacred Portal, and our first prophesied journey across the stars to the Cen’Shur’a sector – which came about in the year 3582 and was the time when our method was finally revealed.

“In the years to follow, within this newly found sector, we spent quite some time searching for the next Temple, yet unfortunately, as fate also reminded us, things are never that easy. All our efforts and searching were to no avail, we found nothing on the other side of that portal – other than the receiving temple of our own gate.

“Our search did indicate one thing though, and that was that the next portal for our path needed to be physically linked to ours here on Mars Prime, one we’d have to find to continue on our journey. Mars Prime was one of the four we needed to escape to achieve the grand alignment of portals, as did our forefathers.”

Conscious of time, Osiris skipped over the finer details; even though it pained him.

“Unfortunately the endeavours of this search cost Earth substantial credits, and all seemed hopeless again as our economy slowly slid into recession. On one planet after the next for many, many years this burden was felt. The quest for our next Temple was taxing us all far too greatly.

“We eventually saw that we needed a better way to search through Cen’Shur’a’s many planets than flying our ships all the way from Terithian space, through the portal, and finally, only then, out the other side of the portal to begin looking. This technique was draining us substantially and our SINAI and Elders finally realised they needed a more permanent solution. A stroke of ingenuity would be needed to save our people.

“The now defused Seekers of Truth played their final redeeming role, for their remaining non-fanatical colonists. We allowed them, under close guidance, to make amends and continue serving us, by gifting to us the Ten’stone and renouncing the Stygian influences to their faith.

“With one of Earth’s two Planet ships — the largest of our ships, big enough to hold an entire city — and assistance from our Immortals and military, the new peaceful Seekers of Truth splinter group were sent to set up a permanent colony on the other side of the portal, in the Cen’Shur’a sector. Tera-forming machinery and endless colonies of Skinks were all sent through the portal for a full colonisation operation, which was, by all measures, a great success at the time.

“Trade and peace was enjoyed for many years through this operation, and the Skinks were able to rehabilitate and redeem their long and bloody history through their newly tera-formed planet. This planet came to be known as ‘Kna’n’, a promised land – due to its abundant and similar oceans, jungles and eventually colonies of the Skinks, and, if choosing to join them, SED citizens.