But how could Joy and Sorrow co-exist? Where was there a place for Love in Authority?
And yet the one word that the voice spoke pulls at him, and he feels a longing in a place he cannot point to as it washes over him.
"Come."
He lifts his arms in answer, the chains clanking loudly as he shifts.
"Come."
What does this voice expect of him? He is bound, he can't move! His ire rises. How can it continue to demand this of him?
"Come."
….
Red's head felt like a spike had been driven through it. He groaned, cracking his eyes open. The light hurt, and he squinted. So many eyes on him, why were there so many eyes—
He shrieked, scrabbling back. A figure stood before him, shining with the power of a newborn star. Four massive wings extended from its back, and eyes covered every inch of its body. Half of the eyes fixed steadily on Red, as the others roved about the area, one hand gripping a sword.
"Do not be afraid." The figure's voice resounded with the sound of a hundred steel blades ringing against each other.
Red began laughing hysterically, unhinged at the sight of this creature and its command. Don't be afraid? Was it serious? Then a thought crossed his mind which shut him up. Could this be the Ayam everyone talks about?
"Do not mistake me for the Maker." The figure's eyes pierced through his thoughts.
Irrational frustration welled up in Red. "Just how many names does this person have?" He snapped like a spoiled child.
"Oh it's a very long list," came a much milder voice, tinged with amusement, "And depends on the situation and what I'm trying to communicate."
The winged figure dropped to its face, wings brushing the ground. Red turned, a sense of dread settling in his spooch.
He recognized the Irken instantly. It had shown up at the execution of Teruna, and addressed him through the cameras. The invisible-to-everyone-else Irken.
"You're Ayam?" He croaked.
"That is the name I came to Zim with," The Irken said. "He needed to know me as the Essence of Existence, because that is what I Am. Also," he chuckled, "he did so love to shout who he was. For you, I chose Elyon."
"Elyon?" Red echoed.
"It means The Most High."
Red's face fixed in a stony glare. "But you're not!" He protested. "Look at you!"
As before, the Irken was slightly shorter than an average Irken, dressed as an Invader in standard issue uniform. There was nothing special or outstanding about him, but he just raised an antenna. His eyes shifted behind Red, who followed his gaze back to the winged form that remained on its face.
Red shifted uncomfortably. Elyon didn't have to respond. This creature, which Red cowered from, was on its face to Elyon, which made Elyon the higher being.
"But you can't be!" He blurted. "You don't look anything like it! Why don't you show yourself to be powerful?"
The response was calm. "It's a kindness and a courtesy to you, Red. Your mind and body couldn't handle my true nature, it would undo your body down to the atomic level. Your mind can't even handle all the concepts I wish I could show you, I have to restrict myself to your limited language and understanding."
"But you could at least show yourself as Tall!" Red gripped his antennae, trying to hold himself together.
"Why don't you ask what's really on your mind?"
"Fine!" Red shouted. "I don't know what is going on, but ever since we executed that traitor Zim I've been slowly losing my mind, and hallucinating, but it's not hallucination because it's all real except nobody else can see it unless I pull off their blindfolds and WHY did you make me able to see like this and WHY am I losing everything and WHY do you have to exist and WHY DON'T YOU SHOW YOURSELF AS TALL?"
Elyon let Red's questions hang for a moment, before turning aside. "Would you walk with me, Red?" Without waiting for a response, he began making his way down a pile of scrap.
Irritated that he was being left behind, Red picked his way after Elyon, easily catching up. He towered over Elyon, and his insides curdled at the thought of considering this Elyon Taller than himself.
"You know, Red, every sentient creature in the universe gets an invitation to come with me. The invitation comes in all sorts of ways." Elyon kept his face forward, his expression sad. "Some don't need much prompting. Others, like Zim and yourself, need more extreme measures. And then there are those that would turn me away no matter how I invited them, or what measures I took. I still invite them to allow them the choice, but they still turn me down." A sad smile crossed his face. "Zim asked me why I didn't force them, but I don't want slaves and minions. I want each to choose me, but I will let them choose. Why did I make you able to see? To give you the choice the only way that you'd understand it.
He continued. "Why are you losing everything? You could turn around right now, Red, and leave. Signal your fleet, go back to being Tallest, and have everything you ever wanted. I'll tie the blindfold back on you myself if you really want, and over time you'll convince yourself that this was just temporary insanity. But I'll tell you this, if you do that, then you really will have lost everything. It just won't appear that way."
Red's step faltered. How many times had he questioned which world was real in the past few days? He'd come to accept that this other world reflected the true state of things, so it followed that it was possible for it to appear as if he had everything when truly he had nothing, and might even be in bondage, just like his dreams.
"Why do I have to exist? That one is simple, Red. I Am. I was here before your species was a thought, because it was my thought. I Am Creator, Maker, Originator. You asking me why I exist is like a SIR unit asking why an Irken exists, although you are nothing like a SIR unit, you grasp my meaning."
Red put a little more distance between himself and Elyon, his words disturbed Red deeply. He didn't want to think of himself as created or manufactured. Granted, all Irkens were manufactured through cloning, but that was different. That was within the control of technology, not this unknown force.
"Is that truly what you would prefer, Red?" Elyon turned, his eyes reflecting Red's face. "You would truly prefer that a machine, a cold heartless calculating machine, knows more about you and how you were made than I do?" Elyon took a step forward, his voice rising in passion. "When I set in place the laws that allowed your cells to continue forming in that glass tube? When I watched and cultivated and bound together each cell as it replicated? When I placed in here," His hand pointed at Red's chest as the Tallest took a step back, "The desire to build communities and guide your people to a better way of living? Was I not there," His voice took on a thunderous undertone that dropped Red, shaking, to his knees, "When it was corrupted by the one who sought to blindfold you all so that you took that desire and used it to destroy whole planets, drenching you in the blood of every creature that gasped out its last breath under your planetary cleansing protocols?"
Red gripped the ground, unable to peel his eyes away from the Irken. For a moment, it did not matter that Elyon was a short Irken. For a moment, Red could sense something far greater than what his eyes could process, and it wasn't just in front of him. It was all around him, completely surrounding him from all directions, but keeping a distance. He could feel the power, a raw force greater than he could ever hope to comprehend, something capable of forming and destroying whole galaxies with a word, and understood he could only grasp a fraction of the concept he was being shown.
"Then why," he croaked, "Why didn't you stop me?" The pain in his own voice startled him. "Why didn't you kill me and make it stop?"
The Irken's small hands took Red's claws, cradling them gently. His voice was softer as he answered, "Some of the answers are not concepts that will translate to your understanding, Red, so my words will seem incomplete to you. What part you can understand is this; I honor the choice of every being, even if it breaks my heart. I want you to accept my invitation. I've given it to you in the way that you will best understand it, because I heard you calling for help long before you ever emerged from that tube."
Red's memory flashed back to the moment in the hall, with the black-eyed Irken reaching for him, when he had barely whispered the words, "Help me."
"I Am beyond time," Elyon confirmed, "And I heard you. As for why I do not show myself as tall, I do not need to."
Red sucked in a breath. The simplicity of the statement shredded his understanding of power, turning his worldview on its head. Because this Elyon had all power and all understanding, he had no need to show it. He knew exactly who he was, and that understanding would never be shaken by anyone. All the beings in the universe could say that Elyon did not exist, and it would never rattle him. In fact, he chose to appear within the Irken social structure in a lesser status to topple this concept, because he cared enough to reveal the structure for the trap that it was.
"I haven't entered it yet." Elyon corrected him. "But I am going to. It's what I sent Zim to start telling people, that this is what I will do. And I am coming to you also. I have two invitations for you, Red, but for now, the first is before you." He released Red's hands and stood. "When you decide, we will be over there." He pointed off in the distance, as a black streak penetrated the golden layer, plummeting toward the ground. "We will hear your decision once you come to it. My cherub will keep you safe until then."
"Your what?" Red asked, dumbly. The ground shook as the winged figure drew near, head still lowered in deference.
"Cherub," Elyon repeated. "I have assigned him to protect you. Dantie will be rejoining you shortly." He paused, and murmured quietly, "I hope you will accept my invitation, Red. There is so much more I want to tell you, but it takes your whole life to explain…" He stopped himself, then turned and walked in the direction of the black streak.
….
Note: Soooo that disclaimer I put over and over about not being a theologian and trying to express what I believe in IZ format and probably missing some things and doing my best and if you don't like you don't have to read… that goes here again… cause I'm paranoid…
