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Chapter 1- Genesis Night had fallen and those who lived within the northern Temple of Sephiroth,
were all fast asleep and had been for some time. But there were three,
within the temple, who did not belong there. Dressed identically and covered
head to toe in black, they crept quietly through the temple-not wanting
to disturb the inhabitants. “Do you know where we are going?” That whisper came from the
man who trailed behind the other two. His eyes were a deep blue, still
full of life and energy that came with his young age. This man carried
all the equipment, obviously the omega of the group, but even so his voice
didn’t lose his boyish curiosity and pride. His question was directed
to the alpha. The head of the line was a more well built man, strong, and his eyes
were an emerald green…possibly reflecting the greed that accompanied
all his intentions. How he carried himself and how he walked was a good
indication on how he thought of himself and how very confident he was
all through life. He lacked the emotions that most humans generally had
or showed…not because he had a hard life or was raised that way…alpha
just stopped caring one day. “Judas explained it well.” He nodded and looked over his shoulder.
Green met blue. “Don’t fall behind.” Alpha didn’t
bother to whisper of course which caused Omega to look around a bit. And calmly between the two was a man with pale blue eyes. They had paled
to almost gray with the years he had been alive. The oldest of the group
but certainly not to the point where his age would become a hindrance…instead
his years he had just gave him a calm and cool head. Because of this he
was like second in command and often times would take the lead of things.
Pale eyes is Beta. “Well this place seems big.” Omega was trying to be a little
braver and let his voice go above a whisper. Only a sound came from Alpha
as he looked forward again, Beta couldn’t help but smile to himself.
The temple didn’t only seem big…it was big. Temple of Sephiroth
was a large pyramid that was made out of stone that had an enormous tree
growing around it. So much so that in some areas of the temple there is
bulges in the stone from the roots of the tree were growing threw. The
temple consisted of only three levels. The top level was the prayer room.
The smallest floor that by itself was a room. The floors were heavily
decorated with rugs made by those who lived with in the temple. The ceilings
and walls were painted to look like the sky and the room was always stayed
lit with a magical white fire that burned from a lamp that hung in the
center. The second flood filled up most of the pyramid and contained the
highest ceiling within in the temple. Divided into four rooms, a bathing
room, dining room, kitchen, and a medical room that was hardly ever used.
The bottom level, the floor Alpha, Beta, and Omega were on, was made up
of all the rooms for each and every person who lived at the temple. The
part of the temple that had the most activity at any given time for it
was also where the library and teaching hall are located. It also contained
a very special room…that no one entered The three men seemed to have been wandering for a long time, the floor
seemed more like a string of halls that only lead in circles, a maddening
maze that seemed to never end. But somewhere near the end of the temple,
the other side from where the entrance…the three came across a set
of doors. Omega only stared at the doors with wide-open eyes, Beta admired the
artwork that was carved into them, and Alpha just wondered how only the
three of them were going to open them. For Alpha knew that what they were
looking for is behind the doors. Practically floor to ceiling doors with a scene carved into the stone.
Such detail was placed into the designs that covered them…a scene
of two angels, one on each door and fighting one another. Down the middle
and behind the two angels was a large tree that divided up the scenery
that each angel seemed to be in. One angel was holding a poleaxe of some
sort and the scene behind him was beautiful and full of life and plants.
Behind the other angel, who held a trident, only a barren wasteland laid
behind him. No life, not plants, no animals. So much detail…the artist
must have put their whole heart into creating them. The three stood there for some time, and then finally Alpha walked forward
and planted both hands against a door. As he stood there the other two
could see that a man such as Alpha was no larger than one of the angel’s
own feet. “There’s no way! That’s got to be solid stone! We can’t
push that open and if we could…we will wake someone up.” “I don’t care. Judas said this is where we would find it. I
didn’t come all this way for nothing now get over here.” To their surprise the door slid open with ease and did not make one single
sound. They stopped pushing the door, one stumbling from pushing with
all his energy in fear the others would be hard on his case, and the door
came to a rest-a mere crack for the doors themselves…was large enough
for two men to walk through side by side. The room was covered with a black marble, gold and silver dancing through
the stone and the walls had it’s own movement. Large spiraling stone
vines covered the walls and even parts of the floor. There also stood
six columns, three on either side and against the walls on either side
of the room, and at the top was a large white fire burning from a gold
dish. This white fire was known as God’s Fire, a sign that the Gods
themselves watched over that area, for it was believed that they could
only create the fire. And finally, directly in front of the men, against
the back wall, was a statue of a tall man with long hair upon a block.
The detail was so fine, that you could see the texture in his clothing,
and the expression of his face show a deep sadness and pain. At the statue’s
feet was a golden trident and in its hand was a poleaxe of the same metal. Without any hesitation, Alpha began to walk forward to the statue; the
trident was what they came for. Beta looked around in amazement of the
room and followed at a slower pace, but Omega stayed behind, staring at
the fire with fear. “That’s it?” Beta asked softly, his voice echoing inside
the room. He came to a stop behind Alpha, looking around him as Alpha
picked up the trident. “Yeah. It’s what Judas described. It’s exactly what he
described.” His eyes looked over it then turned and held it out to
Beta. “Here. Hold this while I get the other one.” Pale eyes blinked and took the trident, it was warm to the touch…even
through leather gloves, and Beta noticed this…while Alpha didn’t
pay much attention to it. “ Hey…if this is all we came for why-” “Can you imagine what kind of price we can get from this? I’m
not going to leave this behind…we can give Judas what he wanted while
we go and scrap this one off for some money and split it among us.”
Alpha interrupted then turned back toward the poleaxe. He gripped it tightly,
expecting it to be attached to the stone, but instead it slipped freely
from the statues hand. He looked back at Beta and gave a smug look but
received no reaction in return. It took 30 long days for them to reach where Judas waited…at the
southern Temple of Sephiroth. And during these 30 days, the head of the
North Temple was plagued with a series of dreams depicting their Goddess
Jain crying day and night; her wings withered and dripped of blood. She
would hold her hand out over the Tree that protected the temple and the
tree would wither and die away. From the remains of the tree came up an
angel of darkness, whose eyes matched the color of the blood from her
wings and who created mass destruction to all that was living. This was
on the final day. This was when he finally understood. So on the 30th day he summoned those of the temple to the prayer room
and when everyone was seated, he spoke in a clear voice. “I have heard the whispers that have been said behind my back about
the dreams I have been having as of late. I am to clear them up for you.”
He paused softly, his eyes rested on a young lad who sat near the side
but close to the front. “Jain has visited me. I believe she has been
trying to contact me. To warn us.” He paused again but the room sat
in silence, wanting to hear everything that was going to be said. “It doesn’t matter which of the text you follow whether it
be the ancient path or the arbor path but both sects share common ideas.
We all know the story behind the battle of the moon and sun…of the
dark angel and the light. I believe Jain came to me to warn us of the
resurrection of the dark angel.” He paused for a final time and relaxed.
There was something on his mind. “So let us pray now. Call for the help from Jain to guide the angel
of light to us. To awaken him and reborn.” And all together they
closed their hands together, rested their fingertips under their chins
and chanted. After a moment the elder looked up and watched the others continue in
chant…again his eyes rested on the same young lad from earlier. He
walks over quietly and lightly placed a hand on the lad’s shoulders. Jerking slightly he quickly looked up-startled from his train of thought
being broken. But seeing who it was he took to his feet and followed the
head of the temple out of the room and down to the first level of the
temple. “Where are we going father?” The young lad finally asked. He
saw the head of the church as his father since he never had one…and
so…called him that. “You will see…there is something very important I can only
trust you to do.” They walked together to the two stone doors and entered the room for
the first time. The elder showed no change in emotion while the younger
one seemed to be in awe. Neither had been in the room before and it was
more than either imagined, but only one of them showed his awe on the
surface. They stopped before the statue and the elder looked up at the eyes of
the statue and frowned. The young lad gasped softly when he too finally
saw the statue man. “Is that…supposed to be?” “Yes Jehv.” “It’s so…” Jehv paused then quickly looked over at
the elder. “Wait…why are we here?” “A body dies but a soul lives forever. The soul travels with others
who have passed on forever. And they can hear prayer…everyone right
now will help guide our savior to here. There is just one problem…a
soul needs a body.” “Jehv…” He looked at Jehv and smiled. “You are like
a son to me. I trust you will do the right thing…and I want you to
understand that I need to do this. I will sacrifice my body to help save
others. The other elders and I discussed this and it is for the best.
I want you to help the angel in anyway you can. I trust you.” “Yes father.” Jehv let a few tears escape from his eyes-they
slipped down from behind his glasses and down his cheeks. He tried to
maintain eye contact with his father but had trouble. The elder then opened
a small wooden box he had been carrying with him the whole time and held
it out to Jehv. The box held a large bladed weapon with an ivory handle.
The elder took it with two hands and held it up, the two faced each other
and said a prayer forgiveness and a prayer that normally was said to someone
after they had passed. After the prayers the elder looked at Jehv for a final time then thrusted
deep his own chest. Jehv quickly tossed the box aside and rushed forward
to catch his father as he fell. He quickly went to his knees and held
him…the statue remained lifeless. Jehv cried tears and held his father close to his body. He glanced at
the statue and seeing it remained still, turned his attention back to
the elder who was barely still alive. “Thank you father for giving me purpose.” Jehv forced a smile
as he watched life slip from the elder’s body. They remained that
way for some time. Jehv soon had no more tears to shed and looking toward the statue he
began to wonder if they had done the right thing. For his father laid
lifeless and grew cold. A small whimper left his lips as he stared at
the eyes of the statue. “I don’t know what to do…” He looked to the side,
“Jain…please. What were we supposed to do?” Finally the statue began to move and color formed. His skin was light,
his hair was white, and wore clothing of white and light blue. A blue
cross on the front of his clothing, gold bands around his neck, shoulders,
and holding his hair up replaced the once stone form. His eyes opened
and fell upon Jehv and the elder. From his blue eyes quickly fell a tear,
seeing the lifeless body and the blood that has escaped from it. He quickly
stepped down and knelt down on the other side-taking the elder’s
body from Jehv’s grasp. Jehv pulled away, startled, and just stared at the angel. He wanted to
speak but couldn’t form the words to do so. The angel let a few more tears fall from his eyes and spoke softly to
the elder, “Your life is a gift for you to enjoy. Please don’t
waste it or destroy it for someone else.” The angel then pulled the elder into a tight hug. His name is Genesis. |