"The former world of man, having been unfit to bare the seeds of the chosen, was abandoned by Lucias. And so he came to the promised land, a world he named Terresta. Lucias brought law to this world and created life that would uphold that law. These sons of Lucias he named the Luminos, keepers of the force. The blood of the Luminos is a gift from Lucias himself, and maintaining its purity must be the Luminos' gift to him."
Excerpt from the Book of Lucias
Chapter Three: Massacre at Megiddo
A large crowd gathers before the steps of the elder temple. They pack in elbow to elbow listening to a single man atop the stairs as he screams and rants. That man is Isaac.
"Flee for your lives! Gather up your loved ones before it is too late!"
The pedestrians began to nervously clamor amongst themselves. Finally one of them spoke up.
"The other elders have told us that there is no immediate danger… we should not question their authority!"
Some of the other members of the crowd voiced their agreement. Isaac raised his palms in the air in an attempt to settle them down.
"The elders have blinded themselves from the truth! Search your feelings friends, surely you know what I say is true!"
Slowly the crowd began to agree with him, but then an odd hush came upon them. They were silenced by the presence of the four other elders emerging from the temple flanked by five temple guards.
"Isaac!" Marcus called out, "What is the meaning of this!?"
Isaac turned to the other elders who now stood before him.
"I am simply telling the people what it is they need to hear."
"You are inciting anarchy! You will stand down at once!" Marcus shouted, his anger becoming visible.
"I will not."
Isaac's statement caused the crowd to stir once again, Marcus' face began to turn red with rage.
"Then you are under arrest, Master Isaac. Guards!"
Isaac reached out his hand and a lightsaber flew out from beneath his robe and into his hand, a sleek golden blade shot out of the hilt; gold was the color of the elders.
"Stand down!" Isaac shouted to the guards.
Marcus' face twisted in disgust as he stared at Isaac.
"What do you intend to do Isaac? Do you intend to kill us all, in front of all these people?"
"Heh," Isaac laughed, "It matters not. The way I see it, we're all dead men."
Ludovicus stepped forward and carefully unclipped the lightsaber from his belt. The golden blade exploded outward and Ludovicus could not help but smile.
"I have waited a long time for this, my old friend."
Marcus quickly turned his attention to the crowd.
"Go back to your homes! Now!" Marcus shouted, "There is nothing to see here!"
"If you leave now you die!" Isaac snapped back, "If you stand and fight, you live! It's your choice!"
Ludovicus shook his head as he raised his saber.
"Not smart."
Ludovicus lurched forward and he and Isaac began to exchange blows in brilliant flashes of gold. Both of their saber styles were equal parts graceful, fast, and deadly accurate.
I arrived just in time to observe Ludovicus attack Isaac.
"Father!" I shouted. I turned back to Constans and Eva who were still following close behind me. "Come on, we have to help him."
I ignited my red saber and rushed forward through the crowd, Constans and Eva did the same. As we pushed and shoved through the mass of people, they too began to build up the will to fight. We found ourselves leading the mob as we began up the steps of the elder temple. Marcus squinted his eyes at us then turned to one of the figures dressed in black standing besides him.
"Guards!"
"Yes my lord?"
"Kill them."
"As you command."
I continued to charge up the stairs, my lightsaber in hand, when suddenly the five elder guards impeded my path. They each ignited a lightsaber whose core was a deep black, a faint gray glow seemed to ooze off of the dark blades. Wordlessly one of the guards leapt high in the air over my head and, upon landing, swung his lightsaber, decapitating one of the pedestrians. The man's head rolled down the marble stairs followed by a river of blood. The other pedestrians froze, they were in shock. Without hesitation the four other guards sprung into action. They leapt and flipped through the air, slicing the onlookers apart.
On top of the steps, Isaac and Ludovicus' golden blades locked as each pushed up against the other.
"You see what you have wrought, Isaac," Ludovicus said through his clinched teeth, "with your fear mongering."
"Fear mongering!?" Isaac replied, "Fear mongering has been the business of this council for almost a million years! We will no longer be afraid."
Just then, Felix, Sylvanus, and Marcus walked up behind Ludovicus and ignited their own gold lightsabers. Ludovicus smiled, and then shoved Isaac back.
"It's over Isaac. May Lucias have mercy on your soul."
Finally I made my way to the top of the steps. Constans, Eva and I ran up between our father and Ludovicus.
"Enough!" I yelled, "Don't kill my Dad!"
Ludovicus gave me a disgusted look, then slowly lowered his saber and turned it off.
"It will take more then children to save you Isaac," Ludovicus said, "Take him to the dungeon!"
"And what of the children?" Felix asked.
"Their fate will be the same as his."
"NOOO!!!" Isaac yelled out as loud as he could, but was quickly silenced by a strong blow to the head from behind.
The sun set that day over Megiddo, its rays no longer reflecting off the elder temple, whose steps were now stained with blood. Deep within the catacombs of the temple, Isaac sat on a dank dirt floor, unconscious and chained to the wall. The room is almost entirely dark except for the dim light from a single wall torch. A violent tremor within the earth shook Isaac awake. As his eyes scanned the darkened room, he could barely make out the form of Ludovicus standing in the shadows.
"Wha…" Isaac muttered, "What was that?"
"Your black hole it would seem," Ludovicus stepped forward into the light. The glow from the fire gave him a hellish demonic look. "The planet is being torn apart. These tremors have been rumbling all night."
"Where are my children?"
"Oh don't worry, their destiny will be the same as yours… along with the rest of this planet. A pity really…"
"You knew… then why!?" Isaac lurched forward, but was immediately recoiled by his chains, "Why kill all of these people? Why not give them a chance!?"
"There never was really any hope for them… sinners every last one of them! Lucias will not save them, they deserve their fate."
"So you're going to just let the Luminos die?"
"Oh no, the Elders and I have arranged a special evacuation shuttle. There is room for five, a shame you won't be joining us…" Ludovicus smiled ear to ear with satisfaction.
"You bastard…"
Isaac was interrupted by another violent quake that shook the entire room; bricks began to fall from the ceiling before the shaking finally ceased again. Ludovicus began to examine the walls.
"The tremors are getting worse… I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a shuttle to catch. See you in hell Isaac. Hahahahaha!!!"
Ludovicus laughed uproariously as he slammed the dungeon door behind him. Isaac vigorously shook his chains, trying to somehow tear them from the wall, but it was to no avail. Finally when he stopped struggling, he heard a voice coming from the shadows besides him.
"It's no use you know," the voice said, "You should be thankful… they didn't have time to torture you…"
Isaac gazed curiously into the darkness toward the source of the voice.
"That voice… you're…"
"Oh… so you do remember me. Yes, I'm Carashi. The murderer and freak is how I believe your brother put it."
"I thought you were scheduled to be put to death…"
"Hmph," Carashi chuckled to himself, "I guess the elders decided they were going to have a little 'fun' with me first."
Isaac slowly looked down towards the ground; he stared at the shackles now around his wrists.
"For what it's worth… I'm sorry."
"Yeah… so am I…"
Through the darkness of the night, a lone figure in a brown hooded cloak navigated the corpses that lay before the elder temple. As he made his way up the steps, two shadowy figures crept up behind him. The man ignited a blue lightsaber and quickly spun around, slicing the guards in two. The man slowly pulled back his hood; it was Terentius.
Terentius entered the main hall of the elder temple, where Constans, Eva and I were unconscious, chained to the foot of the golden Lucias colossus. Terentius turned off his saber and ran over to us; he began to shake me violently.
"Hey! Hey wake up!"
The three of us slowly emerged from our stupor, completely oblivious to how we'd wound up in our current predicament.
"Terentius!" Constans said, "Thank Lucias you're here!"
"Be careful Terentius," Eva warned, "The elder guards are sure to be around here somewhere."
"Don't worry, I already took care of them."
"All five of them?" I asked.
"Five?"
Suddenly, behind Terentius, three dark lightsabers ignited. Terentius immediately did a back flip up over the guards, landing behind them as he ignited his blue blade. He skillfully engaged all three guards, spinning his saber all about, blocking their advances. With a flick of his wrist, Terentius decapitated one of the guards and quickly spun his saber around his back to cut the second guard in half. The last guard leapt at Terentius who simply stepped aside and impaled him from behind. Terentius then returned his attention to us and cut our chains.
"Are you alright?" Terentius asked.
"We're fine." Eva replied. Suddenly a massive tremor rocked the temple. Several of the pillars in the main hall crumbled around us.
"Let's get out of here, now!" Constans yelled, already on his way out.
"No!" I shouted, "We can't leave without father!"
"Father?" Terentius asked, "Where is he?"
"They've taken him to the dungeon, deep underground." I replied. Another quake shook the ground, cracking the marble floor and knocking the four of us off our feet. Terentius stood back up immediately.
"Come on, we have to hurry!"
