10,035 BC
Stories take us out of our world and ask us to imagine what might have been. That’s how history spreads from one generation to the next. This desperate need to dazzle others with astonishing fables can be traced back to the primitive age of mankind.
Life can be cruel but no era in human history was more fraught with a never-ending period of punishment and fight for survival than the Stone Age. The struggle just to make it another day was very real.
The grasslands and forests of Africa hosted the first batch of tree climbing and knuckle-dragging humans. Early man lived in a world with nothing but what God gave them. Not many fragile infants survived long enough to even walk and fewer made it to adulthood.
There was no guarantee of food. People ate when they could get their grubby hands on an egg, a bug, or — in rare cases — a beast much bigger. Hunting with spears was a test of endurance, hinging on whether the hunter could outwit their prey long enough to make the kill and not die in process.
Over time though, these nomadic people developed tools using assorted bits of stone and skeletal fragments.
Little thought was given to what the future might hold. Nothing in the days man had lived before suggested that life beyond the pain and suffering endured from dawn till dusk suggested that something wonderful was about to happen.
Young Lukis grew up as the only child of a gatherer and a builder. His parents named him “Lukis” because that was his father’s name. So technically, his name was actually “Lukis Jr.” Life expectancy wasn’t so great back then. His mother passed away in childbirth, so Lukis was raised by his father. By age sixteen, he was an orphan and replaced a dead father in the construction of Gobekli Tepe.
Gobekli Tepe was situated in a region between the Tigris River and the Euphrates, known as the Indus Valley. It was a barren land baked by the blistering hot sun.
To any outsider, Gobekli Tepe was an ancient heavenly center of faith. The people were taught to worship their Greatfather Malum and fear the spirit of death known around campfires as “Hagios.” Endless back-breaking construction made life hell on Earth. This “temple” was a primitive assembly of stone within simple circular walls. For 10,000 BC, Gobekli Tepe was the height of humanity’s architectural ingenuity. The massive construction project took the lives of Lukis’ entire family. One goal dominated his natural life “Push the stones down the hill. Hike back up again.” Lukis couldn’t remember doing anything else.
Lukis had the same long tangled black hair, dark brown skin, and hazel eyes as anybody else. All he wanted was to be different. Anyone who stuck out in Gobekli Tepe didn’t last long. It was best for Lukis to keep his head down and wait for death. He had zero ambition or promise of a better life. Living till age 25 was considered ancient.
If being anything significant were possible, it certainly wouldn’t happen to Lukis. Every day found him dragging his wasted body up the hill. That was his life. The world never gave him any reason to believe life consisted of anything else. Up and down. All. Day. Long.
Then Lukis met her.
Meeting the most beautiful girl in the tribe began the greatest story ever told. This beautiful effervescent maiden appeared when he thought he’d be cast aside to live a life of loneliness forever. It was as if a skilled craftsman chiseled her from his own heart. Big midnight blue eyes peeked out from behind a mane of black hair. Strips of animal hide covered her chest and a grass skirt tickled her feet. Lukis couldn’t help being ashamed that his loincloth left little to the imagination.
The way they met wasn’t so exciting. Sometime prior to Lukis’ birth, builders of Gobekli Tepe temple figured out that transporting limestone slabs on logs created enough friction to make pushing easier. Men rotated in an out on log-duty and it was Lukis’ turn. Lukis had to pick up logs in the back and move them to the front with the help of a partner. The limestone would then roll across about twelve logs. Lukis was right in the middle of replacing a log when he tripped over a rock. He took a hard fall to the dry ground, and a radiant girl pulled him up.
Back then, everyone spoke a language called “Primish.” In its most basic form, Primish was a short but hard to understand language. One word could have several meanings.
So when Lukis introduced himself with “Sia Lukis.” That translated to “My name is Lukis.”
A smile graced the girl’s face before she responded: “My name is Adele.”
Lukis grew up alone on Gobekli Tepe and always figured he would die that way. For the first time, Lukis found someone full of life. In a land full of brutality, two orphaned teens fell in love. Abandoning his duties on the construction of Gobekli Tepe temple ushered in the happiest time his life.
Adele’s beauty went far beyond her outward appearance. Her sweet harmonic voice sounded like music as she introduced him to the world of art, taught him new words, and showed him how to dream.
“See those birds?” Adele pointed at a trio of Great Crested Grebes gliding along the shimmering surface of the Tigris River. “What would they say if they talked?”
The idea of animals speaking was absurd to Lukis. “They cannot speak.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Adele. “Every animal speaks in its own unique way.”
Lukis never had to explain his opinion to a girl before. Their primitive society highly discouraged women from being anything more than a pretty face. They were supposed to accept a man’s word as low, even if it was ridiculously stupid. Adele openly rebelled against this unspoken rule of social conduct.
“They’re birds,” asserted Lukis. “Birds are animals. Animals cannot talk.”
Adele was ready with a clever retort. “Look outside of what is possible and think about what might be.”
Lukis looked very much like a Neanderthal discovering fire for the first time as he tried to ponder what Adele could mean by this.
They had dallied by the river for too long. Everyone noticed someone’s absence when they should have been working. People in 10,035 BC didn’t know how to bathe, but they knew how to hold grudges.
“We should go back to the temple.” Lukis peeled himself away from Adele like a scab. “Greatfather Malum will be angry with us when he notices we’re not working.”
One man ruled over Gobekli Tepe, and the people called him “Malum.” No one recalled the exact age of their dear leader. He’d been around for as long as they could remember. Malum rarely came out of the dark cave overlooking the rising temple built in his honor. Nobody knew what he looked like because they never met their Greatfather’s eye. Lukis glimpsed Malum once before as a young boy, and that was more than enough for one lifetime.
Adele pulled Lukis back to her side. “Oh, Greatfather Malum never comes out of his cave. Gobekli Tepe is no temple and Malum is no leader worth following.”
Lukis marveled at the way this lovely girl dared to speak out against Malum. He’d never seen anyone who had the courage to do that, but Adele did it without batting an eye. “Who are we supposed to look to for guidance?”
“That’s easy. Hagios,” said Adele.
The mention of the dark spirit known as “Hagios” made Lukis gasp. From their very first breath, infants of Gobekli Tepe were taught to fear Hagios. For evil Hagios was responsible for all death in the world and would destroy Earth if given the chance.
Lukis felt completely justified in asserting “Hagios is evil. Greatfather Malum says so.”
“That’s the problem, Lukis. Don’t you see?” Adele brought like to the dark untapped recesses of Lukis’ mind like she carried a torch in a cave. “Malum has corrupted the people of this tribe to worship him instead of our holy father. Hagios is a kind and loving force for good in this world. If you want to lean on anyone for guidance go to him, not Malum.”
“Hagios took my parents. My family is gone.” For Lukis, this was an unforgivable act for any potentially trustworthy god. “How can I put my faith and trust in a god that has taken everything from me?”
A tear slid down Adele’s heart-shaped face. “Hagios freed your family from the misery of this place. Don’t you realize this entire land is a tool created by our ‘Greatfather’ to break our spirits? Thanks to Malum, men like you cannot imagine the world can hold any beauty beyond this place.”
“Beyond?” Lukis had never given life outside Gobekli Tepe much thought before. “What’s beyond Gobekli Tepe?”
“Some place magical,” said Adele dreamily.
Having Adele lay her sweet heart-shaped head on him felt like a butterfly landing on his shoulder.
Lukis never loved another woman the way he adored Adele. Every ounce of his imagination fantasized about a future with her by his side. She never left his mind. They worked during the day, but when the sun set, they snuggled back in each other’s arms. Their relationship was built on stolen glances in the day and complete oneness under the stars at night. Even the passionate thumping of his heart whispered her name.
Lukis didn’t know what to call this new lease on life. “Love” didn’t describe how his heart ached for her. He tried to explain his emotions to Adele, but his limited vocabulary failed to compare to his heart. So he decided to paint what he felt.
“Open your eyes,” instructed Lukis when his work was complete.
Adele gazed at the tanned deer hide, splashed with blood and sand mixed with animal fat. Nobody ever called Lukis an artist, but he expressed the likenesses of himself and Adele the only way he knew how.
“This — This is me. Right here.” Lukis pointed to a blob of fat still dripping off the hide. “And — um this is you.” His heart fell when he showed Adele his horrible painting. “I know this isn’t any good, but I wanted to show you my love and I didn’t know how else to do it.”
Adele’s smile stopped him. Without saying a word, she walked over to the nearest grove of bushes. She returned with a handful of berries. Lukis tilted his head in confusion as she smashed each berry, adding color to the hide. Vivid hues of deep reds, blues, and softer violets transformed his messy painting into something alive. Drunk with emotion, pain, pleasure, and joy. Their hands created an illustration of love.
One splash of color explained the words Lukis couldn’t say. Adele illuminated his dull existence. She added light to his heart. She colored his world.
“This is perfect.” And Adele meant it.
“I wanted to show you my heart. I wanted to show you, my love. You showed me our love, something greater than anything I could imagine. The word ‘love’ cannot begin to describe it.” Lukis paused for a short beat. “What should we call this wonderful feeling?”
Adele smiled brighter than the sun. “We can call it ‘Fabella.'”
*****
Lukis and Adele’s boundless adoration for each other became legendary in the small tribal community. Nobody believed anything would tear them apart. The tribe was certain they would be together forever.
No one on Gobekli Tepe lived past age thirty. Their relationship came to an abrupt tragic end shortly after it began. It all started with a sudden loss of appetite, then spiraled out of control with a high fever. When lovely Adele expelled her final breath, her spirit floated away. She got her wish to escape Gobekli Tepe. Lukis was alone once more. At that moment, the world became a different place. His color and light ceased to exist.
Adele was laid to rest on a hill northeast of Gobekli Tepe, overlooking the Tigris River. It took Lukis all night to dig her grave. Beads of sweat snaked down his emaciated frame. His hands clawed deep into the soil; digging and digging long past the point when his fingertips started to bleed from all the hard work.
Adele always loved sitting on the hill watching the sunrise. Now she would be there forever.
The blistering hot afternoon sun beat down on Lukis when he placed her body in a grave. Her gorgeous matted black hair flowed down her shoulders. Sort of like the mane of a lion.
A vision popped into Lukis’ s head of Adele’s face on attached to the body of a lion with vibrant wings.
Lukis shook off the vision. Adele was a girl, not a mythical part lion, part bird, part girl animal. She lay in the grave right in front of him. Her lessons in dreaming were phenomenal, but this began to get out of hand. Picturing his departed love as a non-existent animal had to be a crime against nature. Such a beast couldn’t possibly exist. Only real magic could make it happen.
With each pile deposited into the grave, Lukis’ mind drifted closer to the mysterious feline invading his dreams. He needed to rid of this image, release it out into the world and never think of it again.
Lukis dashed away through the rolling hills past Greatfather Malum’s cave and through the amber wheat fields of upper Gobekli Tepe he ran. He didn’t stop till reaching the mountain sanctuary. Etchings of various animals all over the land covered the T-shaped pillars. He never sculpted anything before. Regardless, Lukis seized the first flint hand ax available and attacked the nearest pillar.
Lukis hacked away at the limestone pillar. When the flint hand ax broke, he picked up another one and continued hammering at the limestone. Blank oblong eyes — Adele’s eyes — appeared first. Tight spirals down the sides mimicked her dark matted hair at the bottom, Lukis carved four paws, a stark contrast to the human features dominating the top half of the pillar. Finally, he added the mouth, curled into the kind of smile Adele always used right before saying “Fabella.”
His work attracted a crowd.
Men and women from all over the hilltop sanctuary admired the strange figure. Designs of animals from across the ancient land — birds, foxes, snakes, and wild boar — covered the pillars. The roughly chiseled image of a mismatched half-girl, half-lioness, defied all logic and reason. Everyone froze before the sculpture utterly stupefied by what they witnessed.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The huddled mass of people dipped low. Lukis found himself staring down at Greatfather Malum’s feet. The pungent stench of death emanated off him. So much dirt covered the chieftain’s feet that it was hard to tell where the earth ended and Malum’s tall robust frame began. No one ever looked their revered leader in the eye. To do so would mean certain death.
Lukis was so close the hairs on the edged of Malum’s wolf-hide robe rubbed against his dirty face. His heart hammered inside his chest, beating so fast his whole body throbbed with each beat. He felt like he was about to drop dead any second.
Malum’s cold deep voice addressed Lukis for the first time. “Why did you carve this figure?”
“Because I saw it.” Lukis’s bone dry throat made it difficult to talk.
“You saw it?” grilled Malum. “So there is a vicious half-woman, half-lion beast roaming the land?”
“No Greatfather.” It was in Lukis’ best interest to answer as fast as possible. “I dreamt it. It isn’t real.”
“Ah. So you defaced a sacred pillar to create an animal that doesn’t exist,” Malum hit Lukis like a spear to the heart.
“Yes,” replied Lukis.
“Louder,” growled Malum.
“Yes!” Lukis shouted as loud as possible.
Malum turned to the crowd. “Such despicable work can only be the will of Hagios.”
Gasps, muttering, and angry calls for Lukis’ death circulated throughout the assembled crowd.
“Do you regret your actions?” demanded Malum.
“Yes.” Lukis tossed aside his flint handaxe. “I’m sorry for what I did.”
The tribe’s voices rang out from the thick crowd all calling for Lukis’s head.
“Silence,” growled Malum.
The tribe fell silent under their Greatfather.
Malum hauled Lukis inside his deep, dark, cave. “Look at me. Look at me. LOOK AT ME!”
Intense fear gripped Lukis as he stared into Malum’s empty evergreen eyes. Greatfather Malum’s sharp angular face twisted into a crooked smile behind a hooked nose and peeling dead skin. Spiders covering the dark cavern wall scuttled away with fright.
“Repeat after me,” commanded Malum. “Hastas, eritas, utas, arcatas.”
Lukis did as he was instructed. “Hastas eritas utas arcatas.”.
“Again,” snapped Malum like an alligator.
“Hastas, eritas, utas, arcatas,” repeated Lukis.
The cavern floor began to quake.
Lukis hovered on the edge of death. “What does this mean?”
“Continue,” said Malum darkly.
“Hastas, eritas, utas, arcatas.”
“Good. Again.” Malum’s anticipation grew. “Eyes on me. Don’t blink. Maintain the connection.”
“What am I saying?” demanded Lukis.
“AGAIN!” roared Malum.
Malum’s powerful booming voice caused stalactites to fall from the cavern ceiling.
“Hastas, eritas, utas, arcatas.” Lukis rushed through the chant, screaming himself hoarse. “Hastas, eritas, utas, arcatas.”
CRACK!
A large broken stalactite stopped short of clobbering Lukis in the head. It hovered for a moment, almost as if time had frozen, before zooming back up. It picked up speed, showing no signs of stopping. The stalactite collided with the ceiling in a mighty thunderous blast.
The entire mountain shattered.
A massive vortex swirled above, tearing at Lukis’ frail body. At the same time a plume of crocodiles green smoke billowed out from Malum’s powerful frame.
“Yes!” roared Malum in triumph.
The force of the vortex pulled at Lukis’ long tangled hair.
Malum barred his sharp fangs. “One more time. All it needs is one final push.”
Lukis struggled to hold up his head. “I can’t.”
Malum rounded on the weak boy. “SAY IT!”
Lukis could barely speak, but he summoned the strength to say the mysterious words one last time. “Hastas, eritas, utas, arcatas.”
A brilliant blue beam of light burst out of his chest. Light spread all over his body making him glow with a godly energy full of all the power in the universe.
Lukis ceased being a man and became something more.
1 FY | 4000 BC
“Hastas, eritas, utas, arcatas.”
Those four magic words tossed Lukis through time and space. 6,032 years on Earth passed in a blink of an eye. He was no longer on Earth or anywhere resembling it. A crushing dark abyss surrounded him. Only his conscious mind existed. There were no visible signs of life, no cosmos stretched out to eternity, not a single shred of Earth existed. Complete and utter darkness.
The only comforting thought of this new experience was that Lukis had some semblance of a body in the form of a twinkling blue star. This was certainly no body, but it was better than nothing.
His shimmering blue star darted left and right, up and down, finding no salvation in sight. Darkness went on forever. The endless dark abyss was a bleak, unhappy, place. Lukis’ thoughts drifted back to home on Gobekli Tepe’s mountain ridge.
All of a sudden, bright vaporous lights in every color imaginable appeared, twisting and contorting in the darkness. Soon the lights all joined together, swirling as one, growing larger and larger.
In the wake of the twisting aurora, a crusty spherical planetary surface appeared. The surface below quaked. All the tectonic plates moved as one, turning the once even crusty shell into a rough-hewn land. Slabs of rock crashed into each other with so much force their jagged ends created towering mountains. Other plates diverged. Rivers of lava flowed all over the world.
Lukis shed his blue light on the land. He’d been thinking about Earth and this new world cam into being. Next, his mind pictured his old body, hoping the same thing might happen again.
And it was so. Lukis morphed back into his physical body. A light blue and lilac robe covered his lanky frame. He felt better, now that he could open his blue eyes. Eyes he missed and was glad to have back.
The colorful vapors arched overhead casting luminous pigments on the desolate wasteland below. They illuminated the harsh dark world just as Adele’s crushed berries brought color to the messy painting. Extreme heat wafting off the searing hot magma had no effect on him. He put his hand in the lava and let it drip from his fingers like water without the slightest twinge of burning pain.
The crusty surface of the alien world in front of him certainly wasn’t inviting. Wave upon wave of searing hot magma crashed into a beach made of ash. There were no trees, tall grasses, or rushing rivers teeming with wildlife. It looked like a land straight out of some hellish nightmare.
Something had to be done about this, and Lukis had the power to bend the forces of nature to his will.
A blinding light illuminated a landscape peppered with canyons, mountains, and erupting volcanoes. Then came the rain. Clouds from the volcanic eruptions combined with the shimmering lights above to bring the first drops. In a matter of seconds, a massive flood cooled the world. Everything became submerged beneath the deep blue sea. Water parted from water; forming the churning sea and white cloudy sky. Lava burst through the water’s surface cooling into jagged continents and scattered islands.
One of them was a tiny speck of a tropical paradise shaped like a burning torch.
The sensation of emerald green grass tickling Lukis’ bare feet gave him a sense of accomplishment. Nothing compared with his first glimpse of the serene shoreline. The crystal clear blue ocean stretched so far to the horizon that it was hard to separate water from the endless blue sky.
Exotic palm trees reached up to the heavens.
Rivers tenderly leaped from mountain ridges.
Fields of vibrant flowers tall as trees sprang up from the soil.
Molten lava receded into volcanoes.
“This is where it begins,” mused Lukis to himself as he watched the new world take shape. “This is Fabella.”
Lukis paused for a while to soak in the splendor of his creation. Then the sorrow of being completely alone set in. A life of loneliness would not be his eternity. He would create life, enough to fill Fabella for ages, no shortage of brothers and sisters who would be with him for all time. For one brief shining moment, Fabella was quiet and unspoiled. Now it was time to create intelligent life.
Waves crashed into the shoreline, leaving a pile of seaweed and sand in their wake. Each crashing wave brought with it more sand, shells, and rocks, shaping the body of a person.
Crash! A broad robust frame.
Crash! short stubby fingers.
Crash! A heaving chest.
Crash! Round ears.
Crash! Two ocean blue eyes.
Crash! Wiggling toes.
The final wave washed away the sediment leaving behind a hairless youth with sandy skin, a long neck, and pointed ears. Fabella’s first form of intelligent life . . . a dwarf.
Dwarves were much shorter than the average man, only reaching a height of approximately five feet tall. Lukis made them hard workers dedicated to achieving one narrow-minded goal. A sure trait to lead any tribe.
Lukis commanded him to “Wake up.”
The dwarf opened his clear blue eyes.
“Rise,” bid Lukis.
The dwarf had never done anything, but somehow he understood. Even though he never used them before, he instinctively rose to his own two feet. He wobbled a bit on his thick knees before falling back on the sandy beach. It took twelve more attempts for him to stand. Then he promptly tossed himself back again because he enjoyed the feeling of falling.
“Runa Sia?” The dwarf understood how to speak the Primish language even though he never moved his lips before. “What am I?”
Lukis tried to formulate the best way to break the fantastic news this pile of sand was now a living breathing being. “You are a dwarf. The first person created on Fabella.”
“Fabella?”
It didn’t take Lukis long to realize he should have given the dwarf more brains. Lukis would need to nurture the dwarf like an infant even though he was a fully formed ten-year-old dwarven child. “Fabella is the world you inhabit. It is everything you see in this tropical paradise and more. You will call this world “Fabella” just as you call me — your creator — “Lord Lukis.”
“Oh. Okay. I understand.” Anyone with eyes could see the dimwitted dwarf’s confusion. “Who am I?”
“Choose,” prompted Lukis. “The right name will come to you.”
The dwarf concentrated on a name. He thought for so long Lukis wondered if something was wrong. Finally, the dwarf opened his big mouth and proclaimed, “My name is ‘He Who Pees Freely.’”
Fabella couldn’t have the foundation of the world built on the shoulders of someone named “He Who Pees Freely.” This name wouldn’t do at all. A better name would be needed.
“Why don’t you just go by ‘Col’?” suggested Lukis.
“That works too, I guess,” said Col with a shrug.
The word “intelligent” didn’t describe Col in the least. As Lukis gazed at his new creation, he became convinced Col was a bit below average. Lukis had to spend the first several minutes of creation scolding him like a child.
“Get that coconut out of your mouth. Don’t eat the sand. Pay attention when I’m talking to you. Stop scratching your butt. I don’t want to smell your feet.”
The next batch of lifeforms would need to be smarter. Col was an okay job for the first time, but Lukis could do better. Creations were always inferior to the creator. Col was absolutely an inferior person.
Lukis made a nearby bush erupt into flames. Col recoiled as the inferno reached out to him, licking at his exposed flesh. “This is fire. It can give you salvation or devastation. This particular flame is — pay attention.”
Col stopped playing with a flower petal the size of his head.
Lukis started over, keeping a wary eye on the easily distracted youth. “This particular flame is a symbol of the power you hold over this world. It will neither dwindle nor grow. Keep it in a place where all can see and remember that you are the ones who shape the world for better or for worse. This is the ‘Eternal Flame of Adele.’”
Naming the first settlement after Adele was a no-brainer. Lukis wished he could see her face again. Honoring her memory with a budding village would have to suffice. But Adele was not a civilization, at least not yet. One life form made a lonely community indeed. Col was an okay start, but Fabella needed more. To have an incredible paradise such as this without billions of beings enjoying its splendor was a travesty. It was time to create more animals and people to share in the glory of this world.
Evolution took far too long. Lukis called upon the environment to burst into life as animals. The result meant entire species appeared from what had been a collection of rocks. People of all shapes and sizes sprung out from the bark of trees, rich soil, rolling ocean, and even flower petals wafting in the breeze. Each race still retained the pigment of whatever natural medium they sprang from embedded into their skin. Fabella now had lifeforms just as colorful as the world itself.
Creativity never was Lukis’ strong suit. Most of Fabella’s biological life was a combination of different animals found on Earth:
Phoenixes. Proud birds attracted to heat whose plumage shined like fire.
Cerastes. Great horned snakes slithering through the wild grasses of the plains.
Jians. Parrot-like one-winged birds capable of flying only when joined with a mate.
Sasquatches. Huge lumbering 8ft tall apes with large flat feet.
Unicorns. Horses with a single horn protruding out of their foreheads.
And sphinxes. Lions with human heads and bright wings.
Flocks of the sphinxes with Adele’s wild mane combined with a gorgeous lioness body brought tears to Lukis’ eyes. He wished Earth did not have to end for him to enjoy such beauty. It only reinforced the fact that good came from the most horrible of disasters.
Aside from the new animals frolicking around Fabella, there were nine very different kinds of people. Full-sized people included:
Humans. Normal men and women without unique biological characteristics.
Fauns. Goat like beings equipped with horns and hairy shins ending in hooves.
Goblins. People with tough leathery skin and the ability to adhere to level surfaces, making them expert climbers.
Elves. People with multicolored hair and pointed ears.
Harpies. Bird people with huge wings capable of carrying them into the air.
Merpeople. Amphibious people who mostly lived underwater.
Dwarves. Stocky folk a little smaller than the average human.
Trolls. Short ape-like people with colorful hairy bodies and finger-like toes.
Entics. Small people with bug-like antenna which glowed in the dark.
Centaurs. Horse people with the upper half of a human and lower half of a stallion.
Minotaurs. Cattle folk able to walk upright like humans.
Slithaurs. Snake people who slithered around the jungle floor.
The assorted people of Adele or “Adellians,” as Lukis decided to call them, were happy. Lukis walked the tropical paradise watching flower petals dance autonomously through the air. Trees flexed growing roots. Huge mushrooms and giant flowers sprouted from the ground. Fabella was less reality and more a magical dreamland.
Adele flourished under Col’s leadership. The small budding community became so much better than expected. All the fantastic new animals accomplished — at least for a little while — what they were meant to do. They helped each other and shared what little food they had. Not a single soul walking the land experienced a moment of darkness. That was the way I wanted to keep it. With Col as a leader, Fabella would fulfill its promise of becoming the paradise Earth never was.
Then a curious thing happened. People of this new world began to sin.
It all started innocently enough with the first white lie from a goblin.
Then it snowballed from there with the first theft when a dwarf stole a harpy’s rock.
Which then led to the first fight. Soon all nine groups of people were screaming themselves hoarse. Attacking each other with vicious words and taunts.
Every one of these early instances of sin was accompanied by a frightening dark blue plume of smoke. Lukis seemed to be the only one who could this mysterious dark cloud. Nobody else could see that it was controlling them, taking away their life force, and sucking out all the good in the world.
Things came a real head when this punishing dark force took the first life. Death had now entered Fabella and the world was irrecoverably changed.
People began killing innocent animals to feed their starving stomachs. Lukis placed fruit trees and fresh vegetables on Fabella so the world would always provide sustenance. Once people tasted animal flesh, they were forever tainted.
A brilliant emerald star suddenly appeared to Lukis. It hovered silently in front of him. As if the celestial body was surveying him from head to toe. Silently deliberating on passing judgment the way a father might over a son who had made a mistake.
In an instant, Lukis knew this bright green star was Hagios. Adele was always confident in the good nature of this spiritual force. There wasn’t any doubt that the unjustified fear which accompanied Hagios on Earth had all been based on lies.
The unmistakable sense of trouble suddenly hit Lukis. Hagios came for him. The serene spirit didn’t need to say a word. Something had gone seriously wrong.
Lukis exploded into a beam of blue light. He felt freer than ever before. Free from bondage, free from persecution, free from hatred, and free from fear. Time, space, and all knowledge of the universe bombarded him. For a fleeting second, Lukis thought the silent Hagios tricked him. Then everything came into focus.
The chant Malum made Lukis recite opened up a new plane existence. An alternate universe from which Fabella was born. No world could exist without positive and negative forces guiding its development. Malum was the direct opposite of Lukis. Where Lukis was a peaceful spirit of light for Fabella, Malum’s true form was a wicked blue cloud of malice. They were both gods capable of molding Fabella into their image.
A swirling blue vortex linked Earth to Fabella. Lukis plunged through the gateway with Hagios to return to the world he once called “home.” The unbelievable destruction that met him as he crossed back into Earth was far worse than he imagined. An army of colossal spiders, created by Malum, crushed the world with every step. Parts of Earth’s crust floated in space, forests burned, skeletons littered the ground. The only things on the Earth now tore it apart.
Earth was virtually gone. It would be completely destroyed in a matter of seconds.
Hagios led Lukis directly toward Malum. He was a sick, suffocating, cloud of pure evil. No light could penetrate the malevolent, vengeful spirit’s crippling dark cloud of smoke. Lukis couldn’t reason with an evil spirit who didn’t understand the logic and lived only to bring about pain and suffering.
Malum’s sick, evil, voice surrounded Lukis. “I started to wonder how long it would take for you to come to your senses. Pity, it was not in time to save Earth. You served your purpose. I’m done with you.”
“We are not finished,” Lukis spoke with a determined vigor, a potency he never experienced before.
Lukis had never been more afraid of anything in his life. Deep in his boundless knowledge of the world, he knew that he could be afraid and still be brave. Facing Malum despite his fear was the very definition of courage. If he stood back and did nothing, Malum would win. Adele wouldn’t allow that to happen if she was a god and neither would he.
The vortex connecting Fabella to Earth was still open. Lukis knew he had to get to Malum to propel him back to Fabella where he couldn’t do any more damage to Earth. He sent borage of lightning bolts sizzling against Malum’s punishing dark cloud to distract him.
Not to be outdone, Malum countered by tearing an entire mountain from the charred Earth and hurling it through the air.
Hagios broke the mountain into a thousand pieces, clearing Lukis’ path to Malum.
Lukis smashed into Malum with an explosion of thunder that shook the entire Earth.
Malum gained the upper hand and forced Lukis down, down, down, to the ground.
Lukis collided with the ground so hard the Earth was cleaved in half like an egg.
Malum didn’t stop he kept forcing Lukis down through the Earth’s crust until they reached the very center full of molten rock.
Lukis repelled Malum’s dark cloud into the flaming core of the Earth as it split apart.
Malum exploded out of the core in an inferno of fury.
Lukis was ready for him and caught Malum, carrying him up, back to the swirling blue vortex.
Malum ferociously tried to rid himself of Lukis grip.
The two gods tumbled through their air on their ascent so embroiled on their embittered battle that it was impossible to tell who was really in control. Lukis’ magical bright blue light wrapped around the crushing pillar of smoke that was Malum like a sizzling electric snake. Malum’s massive form swirled in a cyclone, upending entire forests with hurricane-force winds.
Lukis used his power to gather Malum’s cloud into a ball of smoke. Before Malum knew what was happening and had a chance to react, Lukis sent the accursed ball of smoke zooming toward the vortex.
Malum was almost to the gaping portal between worlds when a gargantuan crocodile green pillar of smoke smashed into him, diverting Malum from his course.
Hagios shimmered beside Lukis as the emerald and sapphire godly lights were dwarfed by two mammoth clouds of hate and disgust. Lukis didn’t know who this other green cloud belonged to, but he was able to connect the dots. This hellish cloud had to belong to the person chosen to replace Malum after he became the negative force of Fabella. Such a person had to be the most evil and despicable waste of life in the universe for them to be chosen.
Lukis launched himself at Malum as Hagios tussled with the dark green cloud. Blinding flashes of blue and green lightning rebounded of the cruel dense smokey adversaries. Explosions of thunder sent shockwaves across the destroyed Earth.
There had to be another way to get Malum to Fabella. Lukis had to get him as far away from Earth as possible before he could do any more damage.
Malum tossed Lukis into the moon.
Lukis struggled to right himself as his light graced the powdery surface. The vortex hovered just a few thousand miles away from him. The gaping circular portal to Fabella swirled like a cyclone. As he tried to right himself, Lukis could have sworn he saw the vortex move ever so slightly.
A thought suddenly occurred to him. Using his boundless power, Lukis took hold of the vortex and found that he could move it. This took a great amount of effort and power to accomplish, but it was possible. Then Lukis knew how he was going to win.
Lukis flew at Malum.
Malum tried to throw him again, but Lukis took control of him for one brief moment. That was all he needed to move the vortex under the devious cloud and send them both tumbling through the portal back to Fabella.
The final pieces of the planet split. Earth ceased to exist.
“This doesn’t change anything,” howled Malum. “All the people of Fabella will bow down to me. You’ll see. I’ll corrupt your creation to the point where you won’t even recognize it.”
“Do your worst,” dared Lukis. “Adele gave me the love I need to fight to till the end of time.”
Bolstered by the memory of his lost love, Lukis soared into the sky to bring light to Fabella once more as its golden sun.
*****
Pieces of Earth floated through the vacuum of space in a formless, empty, chaotic mess. Skeletons of man and beast were Not a single living thing survived.
But that did not deter Hagios.
Great, Almighty, Hagios remade the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty; darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Then there was light.