By David C. Daoust
Dakota Sun found herself within an expanse, stolen away from her world, left to flounder. She was not alone. She was fused to a whole, to a greater mind made more powerful for all its parts. It was new and different; it was the ‘Grandoxa’. How long she had been there- she could not say. She knew she was separate. She maintained control- this annoyed the rest.
Her mind was as powerful as it had always been. This one though, the Grandoxa, was beyond; it had fused the many, and it had achieved the next level. It had a sight incomprehensible without giving in to the Whole. She struggled against, despite this truth. No other had ever achieved, nor indeed, ever been able to formulate the thought to resist, before her coming.
Dakota Sun’s mind was strong. She cut her own niche, and forced the rest away. The looming presence of the Grandoxa, which was so intimidating at first- was almost laughable now.
Dakota found there was much more to this system than what she had first witnessed, what it had tried to represent to her- to limit her. She found the libraries, the histories. She found herself within ancient texts, much to the Grandoxa’s chagrin.
Dakota started with an ancient blue dot, floating in the distance. Here, this was a natural wonder, perfectly aligned within that void of nothingness that cradled it. Warmed by the Ancient Sol, it spun like a top, steadied by a single moon, without which it would topple, it would wobble and slow- the lands would scorch and the skies would darken, all the world would broil.
At its core was molten iron and rock- its caps where solid ice… all of which happened naturally, providing this exceedingly rare, amazing chance- for life to take root. Its surface would become uninhabitable a hundred different ways if just one of the many random facts of this ancient sphere were to change.
This she found was Earth- her ancestral home. It was but a slender sliver of perfect balance amongst the sheer magnificence of the chaos around it, the chaos within it. And of the sliver all, were where plant life and insect, animal big and small, fought through their evolution, to become the things that could survive their environment the best.
But amongst this, in her opinion, she found the key- the center of it all was fear; anxiety, the very thing that tested their mettle, which allowed each species to survive.
When the fear hit, each in turn took a new approach- the monkeys and apes took to the tree, the birds fluttered to the skies, and the horses charged through the plains. But of all these approaches there was the humans, whose most popular answer to the sudden grip of fear, was quite simply, to cross their fingers and hope.
Each approach had the potential enough for the species to survive… As the horses became better at running, and the apes became better at climbing, -the birds flew ever higher- man’s potential for hope, widened in turn.
Here she entertained the thought of a single man, an example, maybe; we will call this man the ‘first’ despite the plethora of men that surely came before. This man found the anxiety beneficial. He had witnessed many bad things befall those that stole, or raped, or killed. And so he lived a life apart, with fairness in his heart. His mind told him there was a balance there, some magnificent force that rewarded the just and punished the wicked.
Eventually this man’s life flourished, which could only strengthen his belief, he found he had more to care for. Yet alas, misfortune struck, and worse, those under his care were threatened.
So it was this man needed that ‘magnificent force’ to understand, to see that what he was forced to do, was just- was good. He needed the force to be reasonable- to understand, thus this force was given a mind, a character, and the awareness of God among men was born.
This man, despite having witnessed the fall of all those that did not live as he lived, with fairness paramount, simply could not watch his own family suffer. He did what he needed; he fought, he stole. And when his guilt went unanswered, when he did not fall, he believed. He believed God understood. He knew his God would and could understand- and he worshiped these ideas fully.
All went well; surely, these simple ideas spread or sprang anew… until the second man came forth and found his opening. The second man claimed it was all by his hand. He took this mantle of God; he claimed that this benevolent understanding was his own. And but by his will alone, they did not fall. Those that believed- enforced his rule. Civilization flourished and the first pyramids were formed. Man was enslaved by these ideas, en masse.
And then the third came. The third man came and said to the second, “No. I know what my God sounds like. I have spoken to Him all my life- you are not He.” And of this man, his followers fought free of this servitude, they wandered the wastes. Here they found, as long as they held the third man’s truth within their heart, this power would bring all walls down, and allow them to live among strangers. For this Good was a universal language, recognizable to all who carry the same within their heart.
This new civilization grew strong. Eventually the roads began to form- uniting other lands. Not any roads, these were the Golden Roads of legend. The rich grew richer, and as the peaks raised the valleys grew wider. This, now rich, civilization, which had built the greatest temple this slender sliver had ever seen, found themselves shrouded in fear of the massing poor.
The fourth man came. He came and found he had a choice. He could join the rich in the temple, live fat and carefree, spread the delusion of the wealthiest rewards, or he could join the poor and preach truth, and love, and most importantly forgiveness; Forgiveness in a day and age that was anything but. He chose the latter, taught the poor to remain just, to care for their neighbor. To prize fairness over the corruption of this life, for the hereafter rewarded only the meek and the poor. Heaven’s Gates stood wide for all who trusted in the fourth man’s words. This man’s ideas grew strong and spread like wild fire; they followed the Golden Roads back to their source and brought the corruption there, to ruin.
The histories went dark.
The Dark Age had begun.
‘Oooooo,’ Dakota’s interest reverberated throughout, “They even called it the ‘Dark’ Age… so foreboding!”
Dakota had never witnessed such texts before, such Ancient Histories. Of course she knew Humans must have an ancestral home, but Mars was as far back as she’d ever found text, and of that text found, was horribly, horribly vague. A historian she was not, but new information had a taste to it. She continued on in her studies, despite the growing displeasure of the Grandoxa.
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