Book 7, Chapter 39 - The Truth

“The Great War we were told about a thousand years ago was a civil war . ” Cloudhawk’s a.s.sertion was a startling one . “Who you call the Demon King used to lead the G.o.ds – if he wasn’t the G.o.d King then he was one of their top commanders . With his spatial powers he led the Milky Way, searching for other civilizations . For reasons we don’t yet know, they invaded these civilizations and built their Elysian lands . They manipulated the natives through faith . ”

Bruno interjected, “But why destroy these worlds?”

“Maybe that’s their harvest method . Maybe they didn’t get what they were after, so they razed them . Whatever the case these worlds were destroyed, there’s no changing that fact . The Demon King pa.s.sed through these worlds and left his markers so that the phase stone could bring him to the worlds that were lost . ”

All of the worlds Cloudhawk had seen, including this one, were the remnants of places the G.o.ds had visited . For whatever reason the Demon King broke with his people, gathered as many as he could to his side, and gave them all free will .

Those that chose to leave the G.o.ds were changed by it . Although they retained their immortal lifespan and incredible power, they were rejected by the spiritual matrix . These betrayers were called demons, and it sparked a great and terrible war . Cloudhawk’s home just happened to be the battlefield .

That’s why there was no trace of ‘demons’ on other worlds .  

The Demon King’s power allowed him to go back and forth among these worlds, so he returned and fixed up this factory . That’s why there were humans here and why the G.o.ds didn’t know about it . To Cloudhawk, it was the explanation that made the most sense .

Of course, under closer inspection the story still had many holes . He didn’t have all the facts, so there were sure to be inconsistencies . However, it was at least part of the truth . Now Cloudhawk had the opportunity to learn more about this civilization . The implications were serious .

“Look, what’s that? There’s something in the crystal!”

Before leaving, Cloudhawk wanted to take another pa.s.s through the base . Dawn had spied something out of the ordinary, several crystal things that looked like sacrificial vessels . They were about the size of a human skull and etched with strange symbols that glowed faintly .

“What the h.e.l.l is this?” Dawn picked one up, weighing it with her hands . “Sort of like a relic and not . Why leave them out here in the open? It’s like they wanted them to be picked up . . . ”

“Don’t break it, they were left here by the Demon King . I bet they’re important . ” Cloudhawk picked one up, shut his eyes and searched it with his feelings . It definitely wasn’t a relic, but it wasn’t exactly right to say they weren’t, either . He was marked by the Demon King, so it was worth trying his mental power .

“Back up a little . ”

The first thing he felt was sizable energy locked within the crystal, so he told the others to make some room . He didn’t know if they might explode or have some other dangerous reaction .

When they were ready, he gave it a toss .

Cloudhawk poured his will into it as the crystal left his grasp . It drank his power up like a sponge . A flash of light burst forth and everyone who looked at it felt their mind go blank:

Everyone, Cloudhawk included, found themselves floating in an illusory world . Cloudhawk looked down at himself and saw an unfamiliar form .

He was towering and clad in beautiful armor . He had become a G.o.d, and they were all in the bridge of a divine wars.h.i.+p . Beside Cloudhawk were several dozen others like him . Beautiful, perfect, even though he couldn’t see details clearly .

They all remained still, silent . G.o.ds did not need to eat, breathe or relieve themselves . Voice? Hearing? Digestion? These were the mark of lesser creatures . G.o.ds were capable of roaming through the inhospitable eternity of s.p.a.ce without discomfort .  

So this is it… Cloudhawk understood . Cloudhawk was a G.o.d – or, more correctly he was a parasite looking through a G.o.d’s point of view . He was a spectator with no ability to change or manipulate the scene before him .

He didn’t know how long these G.o.ds had been traveling among the stars . He watched them merely stand in the s.h.i.+p, still as statues . Suddenly there was a flesh and a slight tremble and the vessel stopped . A s.h.i.+ft in his perspective allowed him to see the s.p.a.ce vessel from the outside .

It wasn’t just one . One after the other, s.h.i.+ps appeared to blink into being on the terminal stop of a wormhole . There were several dozen at least, appearing abruptly against the star-spangled backdrop .

The s.h.i.+p was shaped like a drop of water; flawless, beautiful and translucent . It didn’t have any unnecessary decorations, rather it was like a drop of mercury . There was a flow to it, as though touching it will deform the surface . It was a mystery how the thing moved at all .

But they did move, and they were made of some kind of liquid . As the s.h.i.+ps arrived the dozens of perfectly shaped droplets converged into one . That was how the divine mothers.h.i.+p formed, from these droplets gathering . Within it now were thousands of G.o.dly troops .

Cloudhawk was standing in a chamber filled with glimmering G.o.dly figures, all unmoving . These powerful creatures showed no signs of life, more like robots .

What are you planning…

The question formed in his mind as a planet appeared in his field of view . It was a living planet, with clearly visible oceans and vegetation . Objects zipping around in low orbit revealed that this was a fairly advanced civilization .

I see…

G.o.dly technology was far superior, so they did not alert their targets as they approached . When the mothers.h.i.+p drew close it released a special sort of ‘wave’ that, too, was beyond this planet’s ability to sense . It bounced off the surface and returned to the s.h.i.+p, bringing with it confirmation of the life therein .

Confirmed . Commence .

At last the G.o.ds began to move . They made their way into compartments that were reminiscent of the collection vessels found in the underground factory . Thousands of G.o.ds lent their mental energy to the s.h.i.+p, which collected it and fired it toward the planet in a terrible beam .

Attacking first, without provocation? Cloudhawk watched it happen .

This beam wasn’t the only one . He spied several others from elsewhere out in s.p.a.ce . It meant this mothers.h.i.+p wasn’t the only one . He counted seven, eight… possibly even a dozen . They were attacking from all directions . The collected power of so many G.o.ds was enough to kill a whole planet!

Cloudhawk noted that the world wasn’t blasted directly, not right away . Under the a.s.sault, its magnetic field wobbled and flashed . All of the satellites and other objects floating above were instantly destroyed .  

Below, the ground finally began to react . Seas boiled, mountains crumbled and valleys pitched . Meanwhile fissures in s.p.a.ce-time appeared, windows which revealed distant planets . After a few minutes, it was all done .

Silence prevailed as a single droplet fell toward the planet’s surface .  

It struck, carving a path through layers of earth before ultimately coming to rest like some sort of seed . G.o.ds emerged .

Cloudhawk watched them gather survivors into utopias they created . They taught the lucky ones how to use mental power and allowed them to live in comfort while the vestiges of the old world rotted away .

This is how the Elysian lands come to be .

Time sped up and he watched the realms grow in size and prosperity . But something strange was evident . No matter how rich or large the realm became, the population never grew . On the contrary, fertility rates continued to drop until there was nothing left .

Native populations dwindled into oblivion . The Elysian realms shrank . Nothing was left for the G.o.ds to exploit, they did not get what they were after . Then one day a terrible scene emerged . The earth split, and from it emerged a number of droplet-like s.h.i.+ps . As though birthed from the world itself, new G.o.ds were spat into the cosmos .

Their last act was to lay waste to the Elysian lands they had built . Whatever final dregs of life remained were snuffed out .

Although the G.o.ds did not get what they were searching for, they had used this world as a womb for new G.o.ds . They were cast out into the universe to begin the search anew, for other fertile lands .

Cloudhawk saw it all and at last understood .

This was the true face of the G.o.ds . These powerful, every-living ent.i.ties were like locusts . Hungrily they swarmed the galaxies, looking for worlds with energy they could devour . That energy was used to reproduce . They were heralds of death . They were destroyer of worlds .

In the vast expanse of the milky way, worlds were ordinary specks of dust . It was impossible to know how many G.o.ds infected the galaxy, but they were far more dangerous than Cloudhawk had imagined .  How many thriving populations had they sucked dry? Yet they continued searching, ever hungry, for aons upon aons . And in all that time, what were they really after?

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