Asmireen
©2024 by Jonathan Scott
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Chapter 28 - The End of a Civilization
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Nothings
16.17 Two girls, they walk in the dark. They walk home.
16.18 In the dark, they hear a voice that say, "Daughter, go left."
16.19 One girl, she know not the voice, she trust not the voice, she only know she want to go home. So she go straight.
16.20 Two girl though, she know the voice. She know the voice be she's Father's voice. So, she stop and she turn left. Before she go though, she call one girl.
16.21 "One girl, the voice be two girl's Father's voice. Please turn left." say two girl.
16.22 One girl though, she say "I know not two girl, and I know not two girl's Father. I go straight."
16.23 So, one girl, she go straight and she die.
16.24 Two girl, she go and she walk far, but she go home. She be with she's Father, and she be happy.
It was dark, and Jake walked through the tall grass as he held his hands out to his sides. As he walked, the tops of the shafts of grass would bump past his hands. The feeling was electric. Amongst the tall grass though, from time to time, were shorter and sickly looking stalks of wheat that struggled to live. As Jake walked through the grass, he would sometimes come upon these stalks of wheat that refused to bend out of his way. As the stalks of grass blew and fluttered in the breeze, these sickly looking stalks of wheat remained stoically motionless and unaffected. Occasionally Jake would push against a stalk that seemed to somehow bar his way. Sometimes, his pushing would be successful, and other times, no matter how hard he tried, he would fail and the valiant stalk continued to stand defiantly. For those stalks that succumbed, Jake simply threw them casually off to the side, where they would eventually wither and die from lack of nourishment.
Jake then looked to the right where the sun was just beginning to rise. As it rose, the stalks of grass began to grow and squirm and bend to reach the new and welcome warmth. The stalks of wheat though, being shorter, and being surrounded by the taller grass, continued to stand stoically in the shadow even though the sun was shining brightly.
Then, as the sun reached its pinnacle of height and brightness, the stalks of grass began to sway in a very unnatural way. The speed of the swaying gradually increased until the stalks almost appeared as snakes. And with each sway, the stalks of grass would collide with the stalks of wheat. With each collision, pieces of the stalks of wheat would flake off and fall to the ground. But, then, the swaying of the grass increased to an even greater speed as did the frequency and violence of the collisions. The field churned as though it were a green flowing river.
Slap after relentless slap pummeled the stalks of wheat. And from time to time, a stalk of wheat here or there would fall. Others though, stood still and allowed the buffeting to erode them, piece by piece.
Jake walked up to one of these stalks of wheat and studied it closely. As he walked, the heaving commotion of the grass flowed away from him in all directions, leaving him unassailed. As Jake stared at the stalk of wheat though, he would notice that the pieces of the stalk that fell had not really been pieces of the stalk at all, but rather just pieces of a shell that covered something brilliant hidden within. With each piece that fell, a tiny ray of light emanated from the newly exposed surface. Jake looked closely to see that the undersurface of the stalk looked to be made of glass.
Eventually, each and every stalk of wheat that still stood had its entire outside shell ripped off by the violent swaying of the grasses around it. But, then once the shell was gone, and all that remained was the wheat shaped shaft of glass, the grasses were unable to do anymore damage. Jake then watched as the now useless swaying of the grasses slowed and then watched as the stalks of grass bent over and began to wither as if in shame.
The sun and sky exploded covering the Earth in a blanket of fire that burned all. Jake himself disappeared in the blast. And when the flames died down, all the remained of the Earth were these stalks of glass-like wheat and the new glass-like field on which they stood.
Then a new son began to shine gently in the sky and color once again came. The glass-like field slowly turned into a beautiful green field of peaceful heather. The glass-like stalks of wheat slowly lost their glass-like appearance and, as if by choice, once again became green.
"So then, what happened?" asked Isaac.
"We were in the throne room, like I said, and the King was pretty obviously not going to do anything. Then, Master Williams kind of went nuts and there was a fight." said Jake.
"You should have seen Zeb and Adam. They were tossing the kingsguards around like they were toys." said Jake.
Marie, Jake, Hannah, and Isaac all sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast and talking about last night. Isaac's attention was completely focused on every word that came out of Jake's mouth.
"Why didn't the King believe you?" asked Isaac.
"I think he just didn't want to, or didn't care." said Jake.
"So, Master Williams just picked the King up and slapped him around?" asked Isaac with a complete look of bewilderment on his face.
"Yeah. I couldn't believe it." said Jake.
"What do they think is going to happen? Do they seriously think the King is going to bow down to them and their bullying?" asked Isaac.
"I guess Master Bremin read the King and found out about some big bribe that Nahli was going to pay him today. I overheard him speaking with Sir Thomas and he said that once Master Williams lost his cool, there just weren't too many other choices." said Jake.
"If the King is as impertinent as everyone believes, I don't think it's going to work." said Isaac.
"Yeah. Sir Thomas didn't think so either." said Jake.
"Williams is a great fighter, but that man knows as much about statesmanship as I do about goatherding." said Isaac.
"You know how to herd goats?" asked Marie with a look of surprise.
"No. I don't. Not at all." said Isaac showing the young Marie as much patience as he could.
As Jake drove his wagon down the streets of Old Town, he thought to himself about his dreams. He wondered about his place in this world and wondered why he had been given a role of any significance whatsoever in it. He felt an uneasy calm come about him.
As he drove down the streets, he pulled up in front of a restaurant and stopped. He then looked at a handbill that had been pasted on the wall of the restaurant.
The handbill, in simple language, told the world of Jake's vision and how the god known as Asmireen was actually the Devil.
The handbill then began to recite several revelations from the scriptures that talked of a great and evil religion being organized in the last days for the purposes of bringing about chaos and destroying the followers of Papa Voice.
It was a beautiful little handbill that very maturely told the world exactly what it needed to know.
About twenty of these large handbills had been glued to this wall. Jake was pleased to see them even though he had no idea how they got there. As he stood there though, he saw a large man walk up to the wall with a wheeled barrel, a mop and a large carpet bag.
The man who was fast, miraculously fast, not even aware of Jake, looked at the wall somewhat offhandedly, picked up his mop, dipped it into his barrel of glue and began to paint the wall with lightning fast strokes that splattered glue everywhere. Jake watched as the precious handbills became smeared and saturated. And then, before Jake could even realize what was happening, the man who was fast, put his mop back into the bucket, reached into his carpet bag and pulled out a handful of new handbills, which he then placed, with lightning speed, one by one, all over the glued surface hiding the message that was there.
Within thirty seconds, the wall had been erased and recovered with an advertisement for a new playhouse that was opening up in Audon. Where before there was a place where one could see an urgent, exact and accurate means of saving one's eternal freedom and happiness, there was now nothing but a tattered and ugly wall covered with bright and blaring cartoons of sexually dressed women standing in a line dancing.
The large man walked away. He had destroyed an important means of telling the world something that they needed to know. He was only doing his job, so there was some excuse for it. But, Jake could not help but feel a crushing sadness come to his heart. But then, as Jake sat there, something else happened. Whereas before, Jake had been sitting there alone happily looking at the flyers that he knew were important, now, a new group of young men stood in front of him staring at the wall filled with sexy flyers looking back and forth at each other talking about how interested they were in attending.
Jake knew that these young men would not have stopped for the flyers that were there before. He climbed down from his wagon, and walked up to the wall. He then walked up to one the new flyers and began to pick at a corner of it. Then, he began to pull until the flyer came off of the wall exposing the smeared but infinitely more valuable flyer underneath. He then took the new flyer that he held in his hand, tore it in two and then dropped it to the ground. He then began picking at another of the new and ugly flyers until it came off of the wall as well.
"Lunatic." said one of the young men who then gave a quick look to his friends who rolled their eyes in approval of the comment. They all then continued walking down the street.
Jake once again looked at the valuable handbill pasted to the wall. He saw maturity. He saw love. And he saw caring. And that was the problem. Jake now lived in a world where maturity, love and caring were unpopular. The handbills would only save a handful. The majority though, were far more interested in other things.
Had Jake had the time, he would have taken down all the flyers, rescuing the ones beneath them. But, he didn't. So, he contented himself with having freed just the two, climbed back onto his wagon and continued down the road.
As Jake drove his wagon down the streets, he saw wall after wall covered in these new sexy flyers. Each wall sparkled as it reflected the still wet glue that clung to it. Jake wondered how many walls held the important message trapped underneath. Jake wondered how many people would not see the message that day because someone else chose instead to advertise sex.
Apathy was the true enemy, and it was a mighty one.
The young King sat in his throne with both of his feet fully anchored to the ground. The room was dark, except for one intense blaring blast of sunlight that persistently streamed through one half-opened curtain. He was not smiling. Rather, he looked angry. He spoke in short sentences and spent most of his time listening to the words of another. In his hand, he held a single large and beautiful platinum piece which he stared at continually as if the piece somehow held an answer to some important question that he was not aware of.
He looked up from the floor and looked before him. There, in another chair, sat his first counselor George. George looked scared. The King though did not notice this. The King's thoughts were deep and dark and did not allow him to do anything other than to brood.
The King was a different man this day.
Jake's day came and went as they usually did. His compulsion was now gone. His overpowering sadness was gone as well. He performed his duties as though nothing was out of the ordinary whatsoever. He worked all day as he usually did, his mind being more or less empty through all of it. As the day ended, Jake returned to his custodial room, returned his tools, washed his hands and face, and prepared to go home. Just before he left though he saw a large handbill that someone had left on his desk. It read as follows:
By Order of the King:
A Proclamation
To all citizens of the country of Eastbrook and all citizens of her possessions, be it known from this day forward, as so commanded by the Divine and Wise Good King Peter, that worship of the god Asmireen and full membership in the religion known as Nahli are heretofore mandatory. It is henceforth required that all citizens everywhere embrace Our New Protector and His Blessed Organization.
It is also heretofore commanded that no other gods be given allegiance in this kingdom, under penalty of death. THIS IS THE NEW LAW, DELIVERED TO US FROM OUR NEW AND BLESSED GOD, AND HUMBLY AND BLISSFULLY ACCEPTED BY OUR NEW AND RIGHTEOUS KING.
Our Holy King Himself, The Great Lion of Righteousness, The Angel of Truth, Our God's Royal Messenger, in a vision given to Him by our new and virtuous god, even the eternally divine Asmireen, has been miraculously informed of the fraudulent nature of the cult of Papa Voice. Through divine revelation, Our Hope and Salvation commands us this day, not to merely realign our allegiances, but, rather to aid Him in cleansing the world of a great evil. In this task, you, the brothers and sisters to The Greatest of All the Servants of Heaven, may feel pride and glory in the abolition of a great wrong.
Holy and Praised be the Name of Good King Peter! Amen.
Jake stared at the sheet of paper for minutes before he finally set it back down on the desk. He himself did not know what to do. He sat down, put his elbows onto the desktop and then placed his head into his hands and sat there for minutes trying to understand the severity of this proclamation.
Jake stood and began to walk towards Main. He was looking for Zeb and Adam. As he walked across the courtyard though, he saw fighter after fighter looking at him. They weren't all just looking at him though. They were staring at him. Everyone knew about his dreams and visions. And everyone knew that Jake would probably not voluntarily join Nahli. They knew that they were looking at a boy that would soon die and those that stood in groups spoke about him under their breaths.
Jake looked back at them. They were huge. They were absolutely mighty compared to him. But, they all, each and everyone of them, had taken from Asmodeus a gift, the full payment of which, unbeknownst to them, had not yet been collected. They were all dead men. They were more than dead men though. They were the future Damned. And because Jake liked them, because Jake loved them, he felt an immense sickness come over him.
"You're all going to die. You know that, right?" said Jake to everyone in the courtyard.
"Not as soon as you." said another voice and several fighters began to laugh.
Another fighter then picked up a rock and threw it at the laughing fighters striking one on the chest. The laughing fighters became quiet, not out of fear, but rather out of reminded respect.
"You're all going to become Damned, y'know?" said Jake.
There was a small pause and Jake spoke again.
"Asmireen is Asmodeus. I know it."
The crowd continued to stare. They were all strong. They were all skilled, but they were all lazy foolish cowards when it came to spiritual matters. They dared not disobey this serious of a proclamation. And they were all so content with their gifts from Nahli that they could not understand why they should have to throw them away in return for what seemed to be the nothing promised them by Papa Voice.
Jake stared at them and didn't know what to do. He wanted so desperately to convince them that they were in great danger with Nahli, but didn't know how. And, with men such as this, who were mighty and coarse and proud, doing anything would more than likely just make them even more adamant about their decisions. So, not knowing what else to do, Jake simply said "I love you. Please leave Nahli." and walked away in what appeared to be shame.
Many laughed. So many were so used to being around people that hated and despised virtue, that their natural reaction to it was one of complete kneejerk derision. And in this case, with a simple statement of such perfect virtue as "I love you" being directed at them by such a small and seemingly naive source, there was nothing to do but to laugh and feel insulted by it. A few though listened to it and hung their heads low. There was one man though, one man out of a hundred, who began to walk after Jake and followed him towards Main.
He eventually caught up to him and said quietly "Hey Jake." Jake then stopped walking, turned around and looked at him.
"Thanks kid." he said as he looked him in the eye. Then the great and mighty fighter quietly turned and walked away. Jake stood there momentarily. There was so much going on though that Jake, even in the joy that he felt for the one, could not shed the feelings of dread that he felt concerning his own safety, the safety of his family, the new proclamation, and the other ninety-nine that still stood outside in utter contented belligerent ignorance.
Jake opened the doors and walked in towards Shane. Shane stood there with several armed men who appeared to be questioning him. As Jake approached, he overheard Shane saying overly loudly, "No, I haven't seen the boy all day." As he said this, Shane looked in a direction away from Jake and pointed at something. At the pointing, the men who stood before him all looked in the direction he was indicating. Shane's other hand pointed at Jake from behind his back and then made a shooing motion at which point, Jake understood and walked back out Main very quickly and very quietly.
Jake ran across the courtyard, passing the scores of fighters that still stared at him.
"I love you too honey." called out one who was smiling an evil smile.
"Your place or mine darling." said another. At the saying of this, the group of fighters that stood around him all began to laugh out loud.
Jake continued to run until he finally made it to his wagon. He quickly climbed aboard and began to drive home.
As he drove through the city streets, he saw groups of people here and there standing around talking to each other. In the middle of each group, someone was holding one of the new handbills printed and sent out by a very young, foolish and selfish King.
As he drove, from time to time, he also saw groups of guards that had taken a person into custody and were placing them in the back of a barred wagon. As they did this, invariably, the neighbors of the new prisoner stood around the wagon shouting out their defenses of the neighbor and cursing the guards for obeying an evil order.
Jake drove past one such wagon, and as he drove, he looked in the back of it to see people that he knew, people that he had seen at church, sitting in the back of the wagon, surrounded by their crying children shivering out of fear. One of the parents then saw Jake and looked at him with a look of such absolute disbelief and despair that Jake could not help but look away.
The world was dying. It had been sick for so long. But, now it was truly dying, and Jake knew that he would miss it.
Jake continued driving his wagon down the road. He drove down Robert Avenue. Ahead, was Blue Avenue where he always turned to go home. This time though, rather than turn, he simply drove by it and looked towards his apartment. There, in front of it, he saw another barred wagon, in the back of which he saw Hannah and Marie. Marie sat between Hannah's legs, and Hannah wrapped her arms around Marie as if she were protecting her. Both looked at the ground and seemed abysmally sad. Jake continued to drive.
How could this happen? How could a King die and the new King tear the world to pieces in such a short amount of time? Their world had always seemed so stable. But, the stability was gone. Jake continued driving as he unsuccessfully forced himself not to cry.
Jake was alone again.