The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (32 page)

What then, truly, is Fate? I dare not say
for a certainty, but I can tell you that the Fate of Chance is a
most elusive ally if relied upon. As for myself, I stood upon the
high plain of decision on that day so many eons ago and watched the
Master over Fate work her magic, using not Fate, but Faith, to best
her adversary - a faith so strong so as to place the history of
eternity upon the decisions made by a few frail children who knew
neither good nor bad. The Master over Fate tossed that foolhardy
ally aside and chose instead to trust innocent hearts filled with
the third element, that of Love, to best the day.

It is Love then that is the master over
the Maker of Worlds. Yet, is not this third element, this Love,
itself, the very essence of God? So then, this fact I have come to
discern: that only God is master over God, and that Fate, the fate
of
Love’s
decision, will always win out.
It is this Fate, then, that the Maker of Worlds trusted history to,
that all men must search for and then allow to guide their feet on
life’s path.

I say then to Fate, ‘To you I will pay no
heed nor will I give a listening ear, for you are both fickle and
deceitful. But to Love will I cast all my hope and charity, for it
can never fail.’

Here, on an unimportant desert planet in
a remote part of the cosmos, there gathered the two most powerful
gods known to the history of mankind. One was seeking power and
glory to gain mastery of the universe, to rule as supreme king and
potentate, and to fill that universe with his own new creation. The
other came on a mission to bring to a finish what was started so
long ago, to gather the four winds in a panting to their end.
Today, this God would relinquish Her throne to a force far greater
than she, herself, for this force came out of a belief - a faith
that the Third Element gathered by the collective was a far greater
force than the sum of its parts. This belief the Great King needed
to put to the test. Into the ocean of Fate, Rhiannon was about to
cast all her wonderful things. The future of the universe depended
on it.”
Shadows on the Moon… My life in the
Rainbow
~ J. Garlock
)

* * *

Lowenah sat proud upon her parti-colored
mount, a powerful KaminosKtisis named ‘ReaBhemah’, meaning ‘animal
companion’. The great horse was said to have been her personal
creation, the very first of the KaminosKtisis. It was said by
legend that ReaBhemah roamed the valleys and plains of EdenEsonbar
long before a palace set upon butte overlooking the ‘Seven Walls of
Creation’, the name given by the Ancients to the high enclosures
that once surrounded the palace.

ReaBhemah was also called ‘SusRuah’, meaning
‘Spirit Horse’, by many of the older children. Tales told of early
adventurers traveling the haunted lands of EdenEsonbar, and later
distant star systems, occasionally seeing a ghostly shadow of a
lone horse and rider in the bright of the moonlight off in the
distance, as if standing vigil over the sojourners. These Ancients
recalled when seeing the apparition that anxious disquiet would
begin to fill their hearts with foreboding. This dread would lead
to action, often saving the persons from suffering some later
calamity. These same Ancients came to believe that the ghostly
rider was none other than Lowenah seated upon ReaBhemah, she
warning her children of some coming unseen danger.

Whatever the case, ReaBhemah was a spirit
horse. It lived in Lowenah’s mind, coming to her when she wished
it. The animal had not been boarded for this long journey, but came
trotting out of the desert that very morning, prepared for the
occasion. Wide-eyed, the children new to this world were, many for
the first time seeing some of Lowenah’s magic. For the others, some
were amused, a few quietly smiled, one or two made comment. The
majority paid little heed, busying themselves with other activities
in the morning’s preparation for the exchange. As one newcomer
later stated regarding it, ‘I guess magic just isn’t magic if you
see it often enough.’

(Author’s note:
For many readers,
ReaBhemah
will be new to them. In my opinion, the
historical accounts penned by many of Lowenah’s children are rather
droll and unexciting, being written as if to be graded in a class
rather than to be shared with other people. Oh yes, so many
historians can bore you to tears with an everlasting list of
details regarding some meaningless event or inconsequential battle
- one in which they may have played a part. Yet even in these
exhaustive, dull, overly scrutinized, obfuscating accounts, little
or no comment can be found regarding any of what I like to call
‘magic’.

Although some have complained that my own
works can be and are overly scrutinized and at times obfuscating, I
- as any good author will do - defend what has been written as
absolutely necessary for the proper understanding of the historical
events. So it is here that I have added a short account of
ReaBhemah
, feeling that it rounds out this little bit of
history concerning the Prisoner Exchange. I think it also adds a
bit of spice to the following material. Lowenah was – is - not one
to toot her own horn, to show the universe just who she really is.
Maybe it is for the best. For if the persons lifted up to
immortality are left speechless when witnessing the breadth and
depth of a fathomless soul filled with such power, wisdom, and
might, what then for the worlds of men?

ReaBhemah
is but one simple act of
Lowenah’s magic, much as a rabbit trick is for a talented magician
and escape artist. What then were the magical abilities of this
Maker of Worlds? As the reader will find in the following account,
Lowenah’s power was far greater than most can imagine, even to the
point of changing time and space. I ponder for a moment: should you
have such power, and should you be in the agony of heart that this
possessor of such power (magic) was, would you have the strength to
restrain such a distraught heart, suffering instead the anguish
within to give honor to a self-made law?

Occasionally accompanied with tears, I
was told the following secrets of a once aching heart that still
pines with regret. Only in retrospect can we comprehend the
magnitude of love displayed by this beautiful person who, in one
moment, could have removed all the suffering from that heart...but,
no, for the love of righteousness stayed a bitter course for the
betterment of all her children. When the import of what Lowenah
did, or should I say, did
not
do, becomes
fully understood, then all faith will come to its end, for Love
will have conquered even it.
)

How different the world was today. Never
would it again be the way it was before this day. Lowenah knew and
understood just how dramatic the change, though she concluded that
few of her children had the slightest comprehension that it was so.
If ignorance was not bliss, it certainly was contagious. Even her
most loyal children could not fathom the real need to end this
Rebellion.

For these seemingly endless ages since the
strife began, the loyal children fought for the glory and honor of
the Maker of Worlds, for her cause. Willingly, they marched to the
death in a war waged over sovereignty...who had the right to rule.
Yet the very concept of sovereignty was an obtuse ideology based
upon absolutes and conjecture.

Who
did
have the
right
to
rule? Lowenah shook her head, laughing sadly to herself. Had she
not spent countless eons of time preparing her now rebellious son
to become ruler over the things she created in both the worlds
above and below? Chrusion and those supporting him were constant
purveyors of this religious viewpoint, all their ruthless acts of
violence committed in support of its accomplishment. Yes, to them
Mother had stolen back what had already been given… what was not
even hers to give… thus making her the thief and usurper of the
Kingdom.

AsreHalom, at one time the greatest of
Lowenah’s councilors, he falling away to the Darkness early, had
even declared that she was not the Creator, but merely a torch
keeper preparing the way for the Son, Chrusion, the child, the
First Born, rightful heir - created directly by the Master Builders
- who was to take up command over the universe. Women - or gods in
womanly form - ever were and always would be the servants of the
men, their superiors. This religion was taught with fervency in
Chrusion’s kingdom. Indeed! For his followers, it was the
foundation upon which all law was written.

Yet history had proved to Lowenah that even
her most faithful children invented a personal religion that led
them in their lives. Most popular was that the universe revolved
and existed around its Creator that the Maker of Worlds ruled over
her creation with a harmonic control built into it. This religion
had grown out of the children’s scientific study of the universe, a
study they called ‘EbenCeruboam’. In essence, it declared that the
soul of the Creator could be found in all living things and, if the
children could discover how the universe worked, they would come to
understand its Creator better.

After the Rebellion, this philosophy grew
into the belief in Divine Sovereignty, that Lowenah had the right
to rule because she had created all things, placing a little piece
of her soul in them. That was an erroneous belief. Only the Third
Element was made of her essence, and that energy was something
unnecessary for life. It was the power of the Third Element that
made one godly, and to this day was ignored, or at best
misunderstood by her children. Mihai was filled with it, tapped
into its power, but had no conscious awareness of its presence.

Lowenah cast a glance across the crowded
plain, sighing. Did anyone understand? Who among her own most
cherished children really comprehended the depth and breadth of
matters, the reason for this hour, for their very existence? It was
not
sovereignty
that was the issue, which was a collective
concept where the whole handed over allegiance to a superior ruler.
No, this issue was
personal
, and the future of the universe
hinged upon it. It was a principle that was not based upon
rulership but on the Third Element.
What?
So simple, yet so
elusive a beast,
it was a matter of doing the right thing just
because it was the right thing to do
. This was the true
religion, the absolute, the bond that held together the universe
and all living things in it.

Lowenah frowned. The children from the wild
Lower Realms had a much better grasp of this reality, this
religion. Garlock and Paul understood it, lived it… at least lived
it through the spirit while not necessarily recognizing it through
the mind. Tolohe understood it, but why not? Was she not already a
god - mortal maybe - but still a god, made so by the Immortal Ones?
Lowenah also believed her child, Rachel, leading ReaBhemah was
heart-wise to this reality. Lowenah’s own heart told her it was
true. She believed it so. It must be so. Whether so or not, it
would be revealed this day. If the child could draw upon that
reality to her success, then the Maker of Worlds would one day
deliver her child up to the Immortals to be changed into a god,
herself. If she failed? The child would succeed. Lowenah’s heart
refused to consider it otherwise.

A small cloud suddenly covered the burning
sun, its shadow stirring a morose heart filled with regret. In an
instant of time, so many of the decisions Lowenah had made over
countless ages swept through her mind. Surrounding her on this
desert plain were the most precious of all her treasures, her
children. Each one was a true creation of will, of heart, each one
planned as carefully as one chooses the notes of a grand symphony.
Oh yes, she had allowed Chance to choose so much of the physical
and mental makeup of each child, but still she, the Maker of Worlds
had personally dabbled with each individual soul, making it just
so.

Then she had nurtured each of those souls
within her body of flesh until that child’s little body was ready
to be ushered into its exciting new world. All the while the child
resided within, she sang to it sweet lullabies filled with love and
affection. Then each newborn she lifted up to her breast and fed to
it the elixir of life, the milk of her very person, to fill it up
and nourish its soul and spirit. Even when her child had grown in
power and stature, even up through its eighth year, Lowenah
continued her nursing care, holding her child close in her bosom at
night while it drank to dreamy satisfaction.

Had she not also built into her daughters
this same motherly instinct, and given to them the power to produce
the same creamy elixir to share with their brothers and sisters in
their sweet times of lovemaking? Indeed, had Lowenah not created
her children to become lost in the ecstasy of body, mind, and
spirit, melting into the body, mind, and spirit of each and every
lover companion the child shared its love with? Yet more...had she
not made them in a way so that the profound condition of joy and
ecstasy would only grow until it would become all-consuming, the
more they loved one another, the greater the joy?

Lowenah pondered troubling questions as the
gloom gathered its strength. What had her children lacked in need
or comfort? Everything she had made in this universe was for them,
to titillate their senses, satisfy every desire, the soul, the
heart, the palate ear, eye - every sense satisfied to the state of
intoxication. There were no laws, no restrictions, no boundaries
except for what was written upon their hearts. And were not those
laws written by the Third Element and not by her hand? Why the
Rebellion? Why the revolt?