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Part Forty-Two: Clerics' Hell


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Earth -1847I. dies Martedis a.d. XIII kal. Aug. MCLXXIII a.u.c.

(21st of July of the year 420 B.C.)


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Eastern Roman Empire – Constantinople Bishopric


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- These are dire days, my friends, and I deeply regret the circumstances that brought you here in Constantinople.

Atticus didn't play a role when talking, he was regretting the present circumstances and he was even a little scared of what the arrival of the dozens of members of the Western Clergy meant for him and the local Church.

It really seemed to him that anything coming out of the British Islands was tainted with evil and heresy. Pelagius and his sycophants were not yet eradicated that an even greater threat was coming at them.

Bishop Alevaldus of Mediolanum was the eldest of the group and, as such, the leader of the little group of ecclesiastic survivors.

Atticus frowned at the heavily armed man in armor who was standing at the door.

- Stratus, please, you are safe here, nobody will be able to arrive here without my guards stopping him.

- I'm sure that the witch's assassin has followed us all the way, your Grace, answered the brawny monk. We've barely survived his attempts three times and one was within the Bishop's Palace in Sicilia where, thank God I wasn't asleep. We lost five guards and, once more may he be thanked, no member of the delegation was injured. I'm sorry to have to say such a thing but I no longer believe in safe places. I believe in the strength of my faith and the steel of my sword.

Atticus looked at the little group of bedraggled men and was tempted to refuse to believe that those few were all what was left of the Western Clergy.

He looked at Alevaldus.

- Are you sure that there are no other survivors? I just can't imagine that in less than a year we've lost everything in the western Empire.

- I can't be sure, there are perhaps one or two who are still alive. I have heard rumors that Sigwaldus the Bishop of Colonia Aggripinensis still lives and has been protected by his flock against the killer's attempts. But like everybody else in the Church in the Western Provinces he's made himself very discreet. What is currently happening in Rome is worrying me very much.

He sighed.

- I suppose you've read the pamphlet the British witch has written and delivered to everybody who wanted a copy?

- You mean what those heretics call the 'True Gospels'?

- That's exactly what I mean, and I hope you won't judge me badly that I read them, but I'm totally amazed at the quality of those fake Gospels. Even what they have presented as the Greek originals are put in such a way that should I have come across them unknowing of the heresy that had created them I would have believed them.

Atticus had done more than read them, he had ordered an army of aids to go over all the old texts they could find in every apostolic library of the entire Eastern Empire and what they had found had confirmed that what they knew as the Gospels-at least for three of them- had clearly been tempered and -for some part of them- altered to say just the reverse from what Christ had meant.

Atticus wasn't a naïve, you just don't become Bishop by believing that you could just pray and wait for God granting you what you wanted. You reached those ranks by fighting –and eliminating- those others who had made the mistake to want the same place but for worse reasons than you. He had fought John Chrysostom and helped Arsacius of Tarsus to expel Chrysostom from the Bishopric and for his help he had been paid by being named Arsacius' heir.

He knew that the Church business was as dangerous and political as the infighting at the court for the Emperor's favors.

But still the words of Christ should have been respected. Nothing could justify forging the Savior's words. Nothing! And still he could understand. Having women as Priests was anathema for him. The Savior's wife like all women had clearly been a witch who had befuddled her husband's mind…

He had been able to get copies of the notes of the Secret Antiochian conclave where the Bishops of the end of the first century had decided to transform the Gospels to protect the Church against what clearly looked like extermination. The notes hadn't said what exactly they would do but the fact that they had decided to doctor the Gospels was clearly announced.

He sighed and smiled at the old man.

- Of course not, how do you want to argue against those lies if you don't know what the lies say? I've read them and I'm like you, I'm impressed by the quality of the texts. Some of them are so good that I too was tempted to believe the lies. But we can't follow that path, dear friends. We just can't. How can we even envision to recognize that we've lied?

Stratus who hadn't moved from the door reacted immediately.

- Did we lie or is that witch lying?

- There are hints that at the end of the first century the Church's hierarchy decided to adapt the Gospels to be less unacceptable by the Roman Imperial authorities.

- Do we know what was changed?

- The witch's Gospels are clear about that, said Stratus speaking before Atticus could utter another lie. The whole bloody book does nothing but compare what they call the original Gospels, and the Gospels the Church uses today in the Holy Bible. And if quite a lot looks the same there are way too many differences to be charged on the copies and some are obviously the exact reverse of what the Savior has wanted. Do you say that what the witch says is the truth?

- There is some truth in what she proclaims, I won't deny it! But, as of now, most of her assertions are not confirmed and could still be forged…

There was a long silence in the room.

It was Alevaldus who spoke finally up.

- Let me stop you here, my friend. You did find some proof that the allegations in those Gospels are true?

- For a very minor part…

- And did you find proof that anything in those same texts were lies?

- Not yet but our research is only beginning…

Once more there was a heavy silence.

- Wouldn't it have been honest for all our Christian followers to give a clear statement about the part that have been confirmed by our own research?

- Such a statement would immediately have induced that the rest is true too, said Atticus. It would have destroyed what little confidence our followers still have in us. We are living dangerous times and we cannot take that risk.

- I see and understand the political and survival reasons behind your answer, your Grace, said Adolphus the Vicar of Mogontiacum, but what about the Truth? You know that priceless thing we, as their religious hierarchy, have sworn to give our followers? We gave an oath to follow the Lord's words during our whole life and being truthful is a central part of said oath…

Atticus tried to interrupt his colleague who wouldn't let him.

- And today you confess that we have proof that some of the words we preached weren't the Lord's but falsities invented by the people in charge of the Church?

- Indeed, but the Church was about to be exterminated…

- I do listen to you, your Grace, and I have no problem to admit that at the time in the past when they did that, they believed it necessary to ensure the Church's survival! It was their choice and they had to live with the sin they took on them to lie and cheat to our faithful followers.

He stopped and frowned at Atticus.

- Are you implying that we will go on cheating and lying to the Christian community? If yes, I'd like you to explain the reasons behind your decision a little more precisely, your Grace. Because I need to hear from you what sort of justification, we can give to knowingly perpetuate a lie that has been already denounced?

Atticus was visibly no longer at ease.

- Only a small part of what they pretend has been confirmed…

Adolphus nodded in acknowledgment.

- You've already insisted on that point, and you were true in the part of your analysis where that admission does lead me to believe that the rest is true too, your Grace! Because we all know that once you've decided to rip the holy word to threads the entire sin of betrayal is committed, doing it again and again doesn't change anything at your guilt. So, why stop halfway? Why not change everything to have a Holy Scripture that matches what the present management of the Church always wanted it to be!

Atticus could only nod.

- I know, I know all that and I still can't go to where you would like me to go.

He shook his head.

- I've thought about what to do, I've prayed, and I've asked God to give me the answer I need to make the required decision, but nothing came that would give the Church a chance to survive. Admitting today that the Highest-ranking Clergymen of the first century's Church have knowingly altered the Savior's message would be suicide!

- But what else can we do, your Grace? We are those who pretend following the Lord's words. Until today I…

He looked around him in his companions' eyes.

- We thought that we were saying the truth and following the Savior's orders. Now you say that we fed falsities to our flock.

Once more he shook his head.

- But we were wrong only because nobody told us the truth about the Church's initial sin. We all were victims of those who did the deed and of those who went on hiding it.

He opened his bag and took out a copy of the 'True Gospels'. It had clearly been abundantly read and abused.

- If today, having obtained the proof that those men -our predecessors- did decide to forge the Savior's words, we refuse to admit that they did it and, worse, we go on pretending that those who reveal the truth are liars and must be silenced, it changes everything for us! We are no longer victims, we become offenders. And it won't be the old offense of three centuries ago! I will be a brand new one we will have created all by ourselves.

He shook his head clearly unable to understand what their host's reasons could be.

- And even if our present decision to go on lying opens for us the opportunity to avoid the justice of this Earth, what about tomorrow? What happens when we will have to face our Lord's Justice? What will we plead?

His voice grew in force. He was clearly upset, and his anger made him forget his position.

- Necessity? Necessity for what? Keeping together an organization whose existence has been based on lies and forgery? Keeping at all prices our privileges? Going on hoarding riches and power because that was the reason most of us took the cloth?

Atticus' face was soon overcome by an angry frown.

Atticus tried to silence him.

- You are forgetting yourself, Vicar!

- I don't think so, your Grace, retorted Adolphus. I'm just beginning to understand to what sort of gang I have pledged allegiance. The Bishops of two hundred years in the past were perhaps crooks but they did feel that the Church needed what they were about to do to survive. And had I been one of them, I, too, would have done what I felt was necessary. But I would also have pledged that, once the danger was behind us, everything would be undone to recreate what the Savior wanted. And, of course, that the truth would be confessed.

He shook his head.

- So, the High Hierarchy had probably known all along. At least the Bishop of Rome knew and could have stopped this folly the moment he began to bear the white suit. But in two hundred years it was never done, why was it so, your Grace?

- I don't know, pleaded Atticus who had once more lost his High Ground. Because the times weren't ready, because the Church was still in danger?

- That was only true until forty years ago when the Church became the only official religion of the Empire, your Grace. We had won, we had reached the place where we thought, falsely as it appears, nobody could cull our position. We were not only safe but in a place of power with the Emperor part of the Creed. And still Damasus didn't confess but just went on with the very convenient lies his predecessors had created! His was the genuine last chance to confess and survive the confession. But still, he didn't do it and we all know or at least suspect why he didn't do it!

He waved the True Gospels in front of Atticus' nose.

- She who you call so conveniently a witch has written it here in very simple words! Because of greed and ambition and because of what those two hundred years of lies and crookery have done with the Church and its management. And since you are a true member of the Church you know that none of us would survive a minute the Church's admission to be a congregation of criminals. So, you just go on shutting up in the fallacious hope that time will once more make the Church's horrible deeds forgotten…

He shook his head.

- But don't you forget Varus? Varus and his Legions?

Once more he waved his book.

- Varus and his witch who tell the truth while we go on lying through our teeth? Do you really believe he will forget? He's what we all call a Heathen and even if you refuse to admit it, he is winning! One day and I fear it will not be decades in the future, he and his Legions will stand at Constantinople's doors, and he will have revenge in his heart and blood in his eyes. He will never forget nor forgive that you closed the places of worship of his Gods and that you arrested and killed his Priests and Priestesses who stood up against you. He will come for blood, and he has shown that he has the means to get what he wants!

- God will protect us, protested half-heartedly Atticus.

- Which God? The God who sent his son whose words you doctored and rendered meaningless? Do you really believe the God we cheated for two hundred years will lift a finger to save the pack of thieving murderers we've become? Or do you hope that the Devil, our true Master, will come and save us? Have you forgotten his true nature? He is, as we speak, rejoicing to soon get the souls we are complacently handing him out as did all our guilty predecessors.

Adolphus turned around and walked to the door.

- Please let me out, Stratus. You've been a stout defender and I owe you probably my life more than once and I thank you for that. But I'm no longer your ward, I'm quitting as a Vicar, as a Priest and as a Catholic. My place is no longer amongst that den of lying thieves.

He turned and looked at Atticus.

- You should think hard about your next move, King of liars! God has clearly decided to make the Church pay for what we did. I still believe that Christianity is the world's redemption, and that we've been given a last chance to stand up as real Christians. But out of greed and fear you chose to forgo it and admit to all the world that you are no Christian and never were! You are a profiteer who grasped the first best opportunity to get a parcel of power! You love living in a Palace and you get your kick at seeing people grovel at your feet. Your decision makes you guilty, and God will make sure that you and all your accomplices get what you deserve.

He looked at his colleagues who had been his companions for the last months.

- Don't let him convince you that lying and cheating are what God wants us to do. He's the real Witch here and consorting with him now that you know his true nature will cost you your soul and your life.

He snorted at Atticus.

- Enjoy your wealth and power brother Atticus, I prophesize that they won't last, and that Satan will soon enjoy the return of his profligate sons!


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Earth -1847I. dies Martedis a.d. XIII kal. Aug. MCLXXIII a.u.c.

(21st of July of the year 420 B.C.)


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Eastern Roman Empire – Constantinople Imperial Palace


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- What are we going to do?

Arcadius sighed and turned around to look at his nerve-raking idiotic brother.

The Devil had known exactly what he was doing when he dumped his brother in his lap. Since that moment his life has been a living hell.

That little chit really believed himself his equal and used every occasion to remind it to everybody in the Palace.

- We wait to see if my invasion of Britannia bears fruit.

- He said they had dealt with your army…

- He lied. I have had news about the Fleet. She's safely sailing in Ephesus' direction. Nothing had happened to my army and in less than two months they will discover that they have greater problems than Barbarian invasions!

He looked at Chrusaphios and frowned the question that tormented him.

Why didn't you get rid of him as I ordered?

Chrusaphios' answer was the same little shrug he knew too well.

I'm on it, it's complicated

Of course, it was complicated, Honorius was his brother and even if he was dumb as a stump, he still was his brother. There were things even an Emperor couldn't do.

Chrusaphios chose that instant to intervene.

- We've news from Italy, your Majesties. And it does not look good. The Senate has been forced into session and Varus had tasked the Senators to find out what has provoked the different invasions of Gaul…

Honorius looked up and shot a surprised look at his brother's arrogant advisor.

- The Barbarians invaded, that's all, what is there to find out?

- Why there weren't enough troops on the Rhyne to stop the 410 invasions for instance?

- They surprised my staff, that's all…

- I'm sorry to remind you that your staff has been aware of the Germans' gathering for five months before they crossed the Rhyne. The persons in charge -which was a polite way to incriminate the Emperors- could have gathered a few Legions to place them in front of where the Germans were gathering. But they didn't…

- There was the Rhyne between the Germans and us. Barbarians had always been stopped by the Rhyne.

- It didn't stop the Goths or the Franks in the past.

- Alaric should have sent troops…

- He was under your command, insisted Chrusaphios. He would have obeyed had you decided to send your forces.

- I had just lost my most loyal commander.

Chrusaphios who felt himself quite emboldened frowned at his Emperor's brother.

Stilicho had been a friend and his demise had hurt the advisor. And Honorius was, whatever he thought of himself, a thing of the past.

- You mean you've just had him tortured to death on a false accusation you didn't even investigate!

Honorius looked at his brother to get his support.

- He confessed!

Since Arcadius didn't react, Chrusaphios went on.

- Give me two hours and you'll confess that you came here to kill your brother and take his place! Do you want me to make the demonstration?

Honorius was immediately behind his brother.

- He's threatening me…

- No, he is not, he's just reminding you that you lost your best general who had also been your protector for at least ten years because some shit was able to convince you that the most loyal man you ever had at your service was plotting against you.

Arcadius sighed.

- That doesn't point in a very satisfying direction, brother, won't you agree?

- Aetius had good arguments… And you agreed with his arrest.

- Of course, I agreed with his arrest. When a man is accused of plotting against his Emperor, arresting him is what you must do. And then you launch a thorough investigation tp find the truth. Not a torture session! Under duress everybody confesses everything, you knew that and still you let your torturers mangle your friend and protector…

- Aetius' arguments were rock solid…

- So, rock solid that Constantius needed only one week to demonstrate that they had been forged and were total bogus! You acted like a moron, brother, and those acts deprived you of the best general we still had.

- And said general, added Chrusaphios, is now on Varus' side and commanding an army of Vandals, Alani and Huns. And if Varus isn't interested in flailing you alive, I'm quite sure that Stilicho will not have such scruples. That every night he remembers what your torturers did to him on your behalf. Believe me, he won't have any difficulty to imagine what to do to you when he finally gets his hands on the man who ordered him tortured to death!

Honorius shot a dirty glance at Chrusaphios and tried to hide a little better behind his brother.

- He won't do such a thing, he always loved me…

- I believe that love was pulled out of him with the teeth your torturers did send you if I recall well.

- He will understand, whined Honorius. My life was at stake, I needed to know.

- He knows now what an Emperor's friendship means, your Majesty. And he won't forget it ever, believe me…

Honorius grasped his brother's arm and shook it.

- He's doing it again! He's threatening me.

Chrusaphios who quite liked seeing the little worm quiver, went on with his most diplomatic tone.

- Not at all, your Majesty. As a loyal advisor it is my duty to explain you all the risks you are currently taking. And Stilicho's hatred for you will necessarily be a very personal one, especially since he now knows that you also intended to kill his son and his wife after his demise. Those are things that tend to anger even the most steadfast and loyal subordinates! Even if we should find a way to ensure the peace between Rome and Constantinople, I don't see Stilicho ever renouncing to the blood oath he swore.

- Blood oath? Swore?

This time Arcadius had to repel Honorius physically to stop him groping him.

- Stop that nonsense, shouted Arcadius while looking at Chrusaphios who shared Arcadius' spite for his brother. You are safe here; Stilicho won't be able to reach you.

- What about the Archangel? He entered my apartments and brought me here. He could bring Stilicho right here and right now.

- He won't do anything of the sort, sighed Arcadius. He knew perfectly well what he was doing when he dumped you on me. And killing you is really the last thing they have in mind. Had they wanted you dead, you would be dead…

- They need you alive, said Chrusaphios, to force you to recognize the next heir.

- I'll never do such a thing, howled Honorius. I'd rather die.

Chrusaphios nodded and sighed at the same time.

- I suppose that's what will happen once they are sure you won't recognize your nephew as the heir. It won't change anything in the end, but I would have thought that saving a few million lives would have been enjoyable.

Arcadius who had rather enjoyed the polite and efficient trashing his brother had just received couldn't help but frown.

- What do you mean, Chrusaphios?

- Well, we are, here in rather delicate situation, your Majesties. We have sent half our army on an expedition we won't know anything about its result for the next three months. Meanwhile Rome has fallen into Varus' hands and the Senators are debating about the best way to get out of this mess without losing too much. The situation here in Constantinople seems quiet but underneath there is a volcano brewing and threatening to explode because of the religious question that is about to smash the Church to smithereens.

Arcadius clenched his teeth and made no effort to hide his anger.

- I ordered all the copies of the Witch's book to be destroyed.

- And we destroyed hundreds of them but each day more copies are brought into the city and the people are showing less and less respect for the Priests and the Bishops. Atticus himself has opened an ugly can of worms when he had ordered to investigate about said book's content!

Chrusaphios made no effort to hide his spite for Atticus. He loathed the man and the man loathed him with an equal vigor.

- Not only did his so-called researchers discover that some of what the Witch pretended to be true could be validated but his poor choice of underlings did get word of their discoveries all over the Empire. Atticus' decision was, from the beginning a foolish one but charging true scholars to do the job was even more foolish.

He shook his head.

- Foolish to the bitter end, Atticus really thought that the Witch's Gospels were fakes and he did choose his investigators because of their integrity. They would find the truth and they would stand witness of the witch's infamy.

He shrugged.

- But once it became clear that the Witch was saying the truth, his researchers' integrity became a two-edged sword. They did stand witness but not at all in the direction he wanted. And his efforts to get rid of those integer Priests did send a very dubious message to his followers. As a result, the word is now out that the True Gospels is the genuine thing, that what Atticus and the others preach is a lie and that Atticus is arresting and executing his former aides because of what they know that he wants to silence. It does look bad when you publicly begin to butcher people because they have done the job you asked them to do… It does kill trust in a big way.

Arcadius who, even if he wasn't a genius, had learned that lesson from his father couldn't not approve. Followers loved to be part of ugly secrets. What they didn't like at all was dying because having been part of them.

- The doctored version the Church holds to is clearly their only hope to retain their wealth and power. Palaces and their golden crockeries come with a price and dishonesty seems to be one of them.

Arcadius' anger disappeared to show amazement.

- So, some of the Witch's assertions have been validated?

- Indeed, your Majesty, around ten percent of what the Witch has printed in her book had been also found on some old manuscripts nobody had looked at for centuries. But Atticus wanted to be sure, and his researchers did find out that one point in ten the book refers to could effectively be corroborated by ancient scriptures that are in the Church's possession in very remote places all over the Eastern Empire. And since he hasn't been able to have access to the Bishop of Rome's library, a lot of people within the lesser ranks of the Church have begun to believe that the whole thing is true, and that the Church's hierarchy has been lying to them all the time.

Arcadius could only shake his head in disbelief.

- That's not possible! The Witch's book is a den of lies.

- For now, the researchers have only found proof for texts the Witch claims to be the original ones. They haven't found any old manuscript that would have come validate what she calls the fake ones. It does look like she's right and that what the Church has preached those two hundred last years was a bunch of forged lies.

- They will find proof, I'm sure of it…

- So, am I, your Majesties! But not because such a proof exists but because the Church's forgers are, as we speak, diligently fabricating the manuscript Atticus needs to save what is still salvageable.

- But there must be real manuscripts that prove that the Church's Fathers weren't crooks.

- For now, no such proof has been found anywhere and the researchers were looking a lot more in that direction than in the other, believe me. And still they found nothing. So, I am more and more of the opinion that the Clergy did lie and forge and deceive and steal to get at what they wanted: more power and more wealth. I must admit that, since what they stole belonged to your predecessors, I'm a little disappointed, aren't you?

Arcadius had spent the last minutes shaking his head while looking dumbfounded.

- That's not possible, God wouldn't have let them prevail.

- You are right, and I believe God's answer is coming at us in the form of Varus, Stilicho and their Legions. Faith is already dwindling, and the lesser members of the clergy are at the brink of outright revolution.

- They will remember that they swore an oath…

- An oath to serve the true Church, your Majesties. Now that they have discovered that their Hierarchs are only working for their own profit and position, the things are getting out of hand fast. A vicar has been half beaten to death by his acolytes when he ordered one of them to be flogged for heresy because he had asked about the Vicar's mistress. Atticus is either about to lose control of his Clergy or he is about to lose his Priests and he really has not the least idea of what to do to save his sinking ship.

Chrusaphios took a long breath and looked at his Emperor.

- And the worse is yet to come, your Majesties. Because I don't mention the real threat we are facing.

- What real threat?

- The followers of the old cults are feeling that the wind is, once more, turning. They are beginning to believe that there could be a coming back.

- We'll crucify each one of them who dares show his ugly snout, cried out Arcadius.

You'll like that, thought Chrusaphios, won't you? But don't raise your hopes we've learned to play our role with excellence.

Chrusaphios shook his head and smothered his smile. He could literally smell the brothers' fear in the air. They both knew, Honorius better than his elder brother, that the time when they could do whatever they wanted without caring personally for the consequences were long gone.

Even Arcadius who was in his heart a bully and a tormentor was shaken and aware that, if he wanted to survive, every shred of help he could muster would be important.

Now was the moment to say some truths Chrusaphios wouldn't have dared to utter a year ago.

- They will go on playing their charade for as long as there is a risk to show their true allegiance, your Majesties. But the day Varus shows up at the doors of the city you'll have to be very cautious about who you send to guard Constantinople's entries.

- That can't be true, it just can't, wailed Arcadius. God will forbid it!

- God, these last months, hasn't shown a very great support for the Church, wouldn't you agree? And those same thoughts are running around all over Constantinople. The Clergy's fear and indecisiveness increase each passing day. And the people do feel such things with ease. And when the hounds smell blood there's nothing that will stop them to end the life of the injured beast.

- Why would they do that? Aren't they Christians? And it is the Christian's duty to forgive the sinner!

- Each passing day more people remember that they are Christians only because the choice was amongst being Christian and being burned to crisp. The day they know that they are no longer at risk to be burned at the stake for showing their true faith, they will come out and even if a few will forgive, most of them will take revenge from those who 'convinced' them to convert by threatening their very survival. As long as the Church was the Empire's protected bully, nothing could happen. But now that the raising forces within the Empire are clearly no longer supporters of the Church, a lot of scared people are about to remember who was bullying and threatening them. I would not like to be a member of the Church or one of the Church's faithful supporters when Armageddon falls over the city.

He looked Arcadius in the eyes.

- And I seriously doubt that the populace will look with magnanimity at the man who ordered the old temples to be razed and the members of those cults who protested to be executed in the name of a God nobody was really believing in.

He sniffed in an exaggerated manner.

- There is a reek of revenge in the air, don't you smell it?


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Earth -1847I. dies Iovis a.d. XI kal. Aug. MCLXXIII a.u.c.

(23rd of July of the year 420 B.C.)


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Western Roman Empire – Siege of Vesontio


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- We have the means to get into the city and take her away from the Goths.

Drest was clearly eager to use his engineers to demonstrate that his Legions were also capable of taking a well defended walled city.

- Not without a lot of what will someday be called collateral damage, said d'Arcy with a smile.

His two large black cats were sitting at his sides and, as always, giving the creeps to Drest and the rest of his staff each time one of them looked at them.

They all knew in every fiber of their being what they were and the fact that they purred when d'Arcy was stroking them didn't help at all to reassure them. None of them wanted to know what could make Demons purr!

- Vesontio is a Gothic stronghold, insisted Drest. Most of the original inhabitants have been expelled or enslaved.

- Slaves are crushed by boulders as easily as Gothic Barbarians, my dear Drest. We will give them a chance to surrender peacefully…

- I've already offered them to surrender. Their answer hasn't been very polite.

D'Arcy snickered.

- I can easily imagine Beoric's words. But I'm not going to offer them to surrender, I'm going to offer them to save their souls. Once!

He scratched the larger of the two cats on the head between the ears.

- My friends are ready to give me a hand to convince even the most reluctant fanatic that dying is not the real problem. Everybody can die more or less cleanly. But there are circumstances when dying is a luxury that is no longer offered.

D'Arcy stood and both cats joined him.

- We are going to make an example here, my dear Drest. Enemies from outside we deal with the Legions since they deserve a fighter's death. Enemies from within are worthless scum that deserve not even to die properly. Luckily for all involved, we have a convincing alternative! And we need for the whole Empire to know about it. So, here is the place where the borderline will be drawn.

Drest made no effort to hide his contempt.

- Those Goths are no sissies, I'd like to show them the respect they deserve.

- They are Foederati troops and as such have been hired to protect the local population against invaders. They didn't do shit ten years ago and this particular warlord even refused to send his troops to the gathering point. We wouldn't have selected him had he just done what was awaited of him and the others. But, once more he had to spit us in the eye. The time to make a demonstration of what awaits people like him has come.

- I can do demonstrations too, insisted Drest.

- I know and we would let you work hadn't we been in the center of Roman Gaul! At least half of Vesontio's inhabitants were Roman citizens before Beoric's take-over. Your type of demonstration would probably kill them with all the others.

D'Arcy shook his head.

- Don't be greedy, my friend, you've shown in Ireland and in Germany that you are a great warlord and an even smarter strategist.

- Sucking up is not my favorite activity be it to do it or to have it done to me…

- I'm only stating facts and insisting that for certain crimes it is always better to punish the real offender and not everybody who has had the bad idea to stay in his vicinity.

He pointed at the walled city with citadel.

- I know you would have loved to show to the world that you are also a great siege warfare specialist, but we'll let you do that with Constantinople. There you will have the real opportunity to show your skill.

- Is that a promise?

- Indeed, if we must take Constantinople by force, it will be all yours. I promise it. And if you want, I won't even be there to backseat drive…

- I'll take the promise you'll hold, the second one I haven't even listened to. You're an arrogant smartass and you will never be able not to give your vision of how the siege should be done.

- I have other responsibilities, I could be needed somewhere else…

Drest nodded but d'Arcy could read in his eyes that he wouldn't bet a penny on him not being there in front of Constantinople just before the assault would begin.

- But you are right: I will do my best to be there, said he finally with a smile.

He stroked a last time both 'cats'.

- Well, we do have a job to do, Lady and Gentleman, let's go.


I

-°-oOo-°-

He hadn't even used a weapon… His four guards had put their hand on their swords' handles and tried to draw them when two of them were already crumbling because one of his high kicks which had hit them in the head. The third had his sword in his hand when his nose was crushed with a vicious elbow hit just before being hit on the ears by the monstrous whirlwind they had found in the Jarl's war room.

A couple of seconds after having opened the door and entered the room, Beoric was looking at Kunart being stabbed by Eglison's sword still in said unconscious Eglison's hand.

Both man, one alive but unconscious, the second clearly dead by a stab in the heart fell on the ground while the killer slowly turned around and smiled at Beoric.

- As you see, only Eglison, who was a real piece of shit and who would have deserved to die a lot slowlier had I had the time, is dead. I would have taken the time to do to him what he so liked to do to others but I'm in a hurry and I, contrary to him, take no pleasure in inflicting pain.

He tipped his head to the right and lifted his eyebrows.

- This is the moment of truth, my dear Beoric. You can call out and a lot more people will die today within this room, or you can shut up and listen! Would I have wanted you dead I would have let my little pets rip your soul out of your worthless body…

It was only then that Beoric did see the two red-eyed ugly beasts sitting on their haunches on each side of the doors. And they looked exactly as Odyn's Hounds were described in the old Sagas.

- But that, even if it would have been very satisfying, wouldn't have been an adequate punishment for a man who has, out of political ambition and monetary greed has spat on Odyn's name and has chosen to grovel at some false God's Priests' feet.

D'arcy made a squeezing gesture.

- I will shrivel your balls first and then give you the opportunity to see all your bloody offspring die in excruciating pain before your eyes … Not because we believe it would hurt a heartless man like you but because we know that letting you feel and hear the termination of your bloodline is the only way to rip your heart out of your breast! But I won't stop there I will go up, sideward and then down until there is no longer any drop of blood related with you in existence!

The gesture went on and Beoric's hands went directly to his groin.

- Feel it already? Or is it fear that's shriveling your balls?

D'Arcy closed his hand and Beoric's high pitched shriek could probably be heard on till Rome.

- That was me, you gutless traitor. I know that you lost faith a long time ago and that along the way you've decided that the Gods didn't exist… Don't take me wrong, I'm not here to convince you if you were wrong or not. Mankind has been given the possibility to choose and to decide how a man or a woman lives his or her life. That doesn't mean that I can't remind some mindless idiots like you that some things will no longer be tolerated. Like in not at all!

He opened his fist and Beoric fell on his knees like a downed tree.

- I hear your guards coming to help you; I'll let you decide if you want them dead or alive… Here they come!

And as foretold a group of twenty armed guards appeared at the end of the corridor. Some of them, armed with bows immediately began to shoot at the stranger standing in front of their kneeling Jarl.

To everybody's amazement the man easily parried every arrow coming his way. The little intermedia lasted until one arrow, by accident or not, grazed Beoric's scalp making their beloved -or not- warlord shriek out another very unmanly squeal.

- I can go on for the next two weeks, said d'Arcy while parrying one bunch of arrows after the other. Your sissy of a warlord, though, will probably be dead within the next hour. You could even use the opportunity to get rid of him. I won't stop an arrow that's not targeted at me…

A forceful voice could finally be heard outside.

- Stop shooting you mindless idiots, you are going to injure the lord…

D'arcy let out a snicker.

- Beoric, you lying shitbag, you are saved, your head cleric has come to save you from my clutches.

He snapped his fingers and pointed to a place at Beoric's side.

- Come over, Sylvanius, don't forget that you are under the protection of the one and true God! Nothing can happen to those like you when facing those like me…

The men ceased to shoot and slowly began to press themselves against the walls.

- Come over, Sylvanius, your courageous troopers have opened a path for you! You can deal with me, now. Remember your own words, yours is the only God who exists, all those others are mere superstitions and scams to lull barbarian idiots into giving wealth and power to the lying Priests.

Nothing moved.

- I said come over! Or will I need to get you?

D'Arcy made the finger movement everybody understood as an invitation to come nearer.

- You can't be afraid, my dear Sylvanius! Remember you are under God's protection. Would you have forgotten the basics? Let me remind them to you: first you declaim the holy protective prayer, then you take your bottle of holy water, uncork it and finally walk towards peril with your sacred cross in front of you! And when at a few inches from me you splatter me with the water you've yourself blessed and I disappear in a mighty lightshow with explosion! That's how it is done when you encounter the Devil! Don't you remember your classes? That's the classic modus operandi.

He let out another series of snickers.

- There is also the other version that says that as soon as you point your holy symbol at me, I will disappear in a cloud of mist to never reappear again. You will have the very rare opportunity to verify which one of the classical methods works. And you'll be able to do it in front of witnesses. Your name as Sylvanius the Devil slayer will enter the History books. Aren't you interested?

D'Arcy clapped impatiently in his hands.

- What are you waiting for, man? They are all impatient to see you making your magic! That's what you pretend being able to do, remember? Come on give those gullible people the proof that having forsworn their old Gods to follow yours was the good decision…

Nothing moved, and d'Arcy began to show signs of impatience.

- Dear guards, as angry as I'm beginning to be, should I be obliged to move to get brother Sylvanius, I doubt that anybody I'd encounter will survive to tell about it. So, dear guards would you please bring him to me? NOW!

Twenty seconds later a very scared Sylvanius was literally catapulted in the war room. He fell on his knees just beside Beoric.

D'Arcy made a signal with his hand and both shadow hounds moved to sit in front of the open door, looking at the worried guards. Not one of them tried to lock an arrow.

- Well, Sylvanius, I'm here, you're here and I see that your holy symbol is dangling around your neck! Get it in your hand and send me back to the dark Hell where you pretend I'm coming from!

D'arcy went on a knee and looked in the scared Priest's eyes.

- You know there is no alternative here. You call upon your God's Holy Power to dismiss me or I'll have your worthless soul ripped out of your body and feed it to my hounds!

He smiled at the Priest.

- I'll let you begin! You have the first shot! Go on…

The smile on d'Arcy's face disappeared.

- Do it now or I'll do what I promised. You have thirty seconds, if said time has elapsed and I'm still here I'll do as promised and I'll offer your soul to my hounds.

He upped his voice and looked at the gathered troopers standing in the corridor.

- That's the deal, gentlemen! I'm dismissed by his God's supreme power, or his worthless soul is fed to the Hounds! Thirty seconds to have all the answers. I'll count for everybody.

- Thirty, Twenty-nine, Twenty-eight…

At ten, a shout came from the corridor and a man wearing a clerical frock came running towards d'Arcy and the hounds with his cross in his left hand in front of him and a vial of water -of holy water?-in his right.

He sprinkled both hounds as soon as he was in range.

None of them even moved and, of course, nothing happened but the hound to the right shook himself to get rid of the water.

- Welcome father Eribertus, you're most welcome to go on and try to dismiss me. But a deal is a deal! If in five seconds I'm not dismissed, Sylvanius' soul will be fed to the hounds. To be destroyed forever!

Eribertus literally jumped over the hounds and splashed half the content of his vial into d'Arcy's eyes.

D'Arcy had made no move to avoid the projected water and if his face was visibly wet, his clothes stayed unnaturally dry.

- It's only water, father, simple refreshing but clerically worthless water! There is no such thing as holy water against the like of us.

He pointed at the hounds who were keeping an eye on the guards.

- And the time has come to gather your prize, dears, get at it…

Sylvanius made an attempt to stand up, but he didn't succeed. He suddenly stopped to move and his whole body arched backwards as if touched by lightning. And he began to howl like a banshee…

D'Arcy turned his head and looked at Beoric.

- That's how a man losing his soul shrieks, Beoric! Listen because you could be next!

When he looked up, the surroundings were empty but for father Eribertus who was tetanized while looking at his former Vicar who, under his very eyes was shriveling away.

Slowly d'Arcy made a step forwards and snapped Sylvanius' golden cross from his neck.

He let the golden cross with Jesus' dying body fall into the young Priest's hand and looked at him.

- You see, brother, only faith, real faith entitles you to genuine power. The power to reach God's side and become a part of his heavenly staff. Greed and ambition and wealth are empty things that only seem to fill you. But there is nothing on Earth that can quench a searching man's soul. Earthly power only pulls people to give up what is theirs to the profit of those who have been able to convince them that they are their betters. But nobody is better than any other man or woman. Their successes can bring them respect and wealth, but they still won't be even an inch over the others.

He pointed at Beoric.

- You are now his personal counselor in religious matters, brother. I know it's not a real boon, but it is what your Vicar's death has brought to you. Advise him well but don't fall for his lies. He's no Christian and he stopped believing in anything but strength and the power wealth and armed side-kicks give to a man. He's the most unkind and untrustworthy man you'll ever meet, and his word has just no value at all. But now that Sylvanius has been erased from this world and from every other, we could all admit that your master was, apparently, under this late evil Cleric's spell! But should I be forced to come back another time I won't limit myself to one little shitty swindling Priest's soul! God is not at all satisfied with the way some of his Priests have dealt with his teachings. You all are given a second chance, but should you betray Him once more, what has just happened to Sylvanius will be a lot more common than you can even imagine.

He pointed at Sylvanius' twisted body.

- Until now we've been lenient while getting rid of the Treacherous Clerics of the old Church. We just had them executed in order to let their souls intact to be judged by the Lord. From now on we'll send one of our friends here to rip their souls out of their bodies.

He looked Eribertus in the eyes.

- And his face shows what has happened to him: his soul has been utterly destroyed. What Sylvanius has been no longer exists not here on Earth nor anywhere else.

He sighed and looked at Beoric.

- As I said I know that his word is worth shit. But let it be known that mine has the strength that can pull planets out of their orbit, and I will make you a promise that, I'm sure, will redeem him! He did swear an oath to serve truthfully the Emperor and from the very beginning he knew that he would do only what would be in his power's favor. he knew that there wasn't anybody out there that could ever force him to do what he didn't want to do. But now I'm here…

He pointed at the Hounds.

- They are here and we are capable of reading your mind. So, I ask you to swear your fealty to Theodosius the second, son of Galla and Ataulf, and to obey his orders and those of his underlings till the end of your life. Should you renege on those word, I'll be back to give you the rare occasion to relive from within what just happened to Sylvanius.

He stopped for a few seconds and cocked his head.

- I'm listening…


I

-°-oOo-°-


- Don't be disappointed, my friend, your patience saved a lot of lives and the news of what happened here will run all over the country. I'm sure that all those who had still a little hope to run through the rain drops without being wet are, as we speak, reassessing their chances.

- I'm a warrior, I do like to resolve problems in a more warlike fashion.

- Against armies in the field I won't intervene with more than advice, but to get a city –and a friendly city at that- out of a madman's clutches, I'll insist to be invited to help.

Drest sighed heavily and looked d'Arcy in the eyes.

- I know you deny it with force but what difference is there between you and a God?

D'Arcy couldn't help but laugh aloud.

- As I always say, I couldn't really say, I never met a God! I hope, even if it would be risky for me, that should such an event happen, said God would be a lot more powerful than I! But as I'm sure Lionel explained we're no longer -never were in his case- Human Beings. We are different as in alienly different. We are even dangerous for you! Should I kiss a normal woman there is only a very slight chance that she survives more than a few hours. We are literally lethal for normal humans. Not only because we are stronger, healthier and sprightlier than normal humans and, more or less, invincible, but because our very being contains an outlandish part that will kill any normal human that comes in contact with it. I could, literally, kill you by spitting in your eye or should you be injured at your hand, by shaking said hand!

He shook his head while shrugging.

- I can only describe the differences between us and normal humans. Having been both it is relatively easy. Comparing us with Beings we can only imagine, does that even have a sense? Gods do probably exist, but they clearly do not directly interfere with Mankind very often. One could say, and my wife does say it quite a lot, that we are all God's instruments and that what we do is putting His will into acts. With different means at our disposal our actions are more or less significant. You with your Legions you have greater means to be an important instrument. Lionel with IT and his portals has even greater means. But, and I speak from experience, don't ever forget that one man with a knife at the right place can change an Empire's fate.

- Your experience?

- Mine, indeed, answered d'Arcy with a knowing smile. And I still am a very skilled assassin, believe me. Even with only my hands and the skills of my craft there is nobody on this world safe from me.

- You do have the eyes of a killer…

- A ruthless and merciless killer who stopped being an assassin to become a general. A successful general to say the truth but I will admit that the death toll of my first career is not worth being alluded when you look at the numbers of people my second career killed and injured.

He snickered.

- And still it is the faces of those I killed with my own hands that come back haunting my dreams.

- Dreams or nightmares?

D'Arcy shook his head.

- I don't do nightmares. Not anymore. I lost that foible when I entered the school that taught me to become a reckless killer. Because they not only taught me to kill but they taught me the reality of being a part of Mankind. And believe me once you know what Mankind really is, you don't any longer care about who and how you kill. It becomes just a job and a very satisfying one to top it.

- There's no honor in killing helpless people…

- There's no honor in Mankind. There's greed, ambition, betrayal and envy. But honor if it is present, never lasts. Be it because the honorable man -or woman- ends up killed by a dishonorable -should I say normal- partner or because some of the real human traits -that's greed and all those others I spoke about- have finally taken the overhand.

Once more he shook his head.

- You can't trust honor to resist when faced with a real challenge. But you can always trust greed or ambition or jealousy or envy to turn the situation in your favor. It's not being honorable or trustworthy that gives you the rule of the world, believe me! And the Gods, if they even care about how we manage our world, don't reward or protect the honorable ones.

He presented his opened hands to Drest.

- I don't say that you must be a dishonorable scum to succeed. Nobody can force you to be dishonorable, ever! But you better never believe that those around you, those kowtowing to you are anything but dishonorable scum who will use any opportunity to backstab you. Be whatever gives you completion but never assume that those around you are as foolish as you are.

- That's a sad Universe you live in…

- You live in the same, my friend, you just refuse to look at what lurks in the shadows of your surroundings. I do and once what's hiding in the shadows knows that you are very aware of its existence, it tends to be a lot more prudent in assuming that you are an easy prey!

D'Arcy's smile became predatory.

- It also helps to crush as many of them while you have the opportunity. It gives the survivors another perspective on their ambitions. After all, only the living ones do have a chance at the game of power.


I

-°-oOo-°-


Earth -1847I. dies Martedis a.d. XIII kal. Aug. MCLXXIII a.u.c.

(21st of July of the year 420 B.C.)


I

-°-oOo-°-


Earth 0 May the 8th 1844

Atlantis One Day 113 or the year 2530 after the great illumination


I

-°-oOo-°-


Atlantis Portal esplanade


I

-°-oOo-°-


Alanna couldn't not be at the same time impressed and lightly disappointed.

Impressed because the whole landscape was a perfect example of heavily groomed real estate.

Indeed, everything was visibly the result of a century old master piece of landscape prevision and arrangement.

Even the millennial trees were perfectly aligned and groomed to be in synch with each other! It was beautiful in its very artificial manner.

- You seem disappointed…

Alanna looked at the one woman who had been waiting on them at the esplanade and who had introduced herself as Viracocha the computer in charge of the Portals. The man Lionel was currently speaking to a little distance away while looking at what she could only call the catalog, had introduced himself as Toxologa.

- I prefer my landscapes a little more savage and less groomed.

A smile appeared on Viracocha's face.

- So do I but it is how the forefathers loved their city. Just before the last of them took to the light they asked us to preserve their world in its pristine groomed aspect. And since we tend to like following rules and to stick to existing schemes, we had no problems to follow their wishes. It is, after all, part of our programming.

Alanna made a world encompassing gesture.

- And the whole planet is like that?

- Only A'Tlan and a few rare places we think the forefathers held in greater esteem. The rest of the planet is as God created it. A'Tlan is the only place on Earth where we intervene to shape nature. Everywhere else we almost never intervene…

- Almost?

- We do tend to smother large forest fires when they look like growing too fast. We do know that they are part of the auto regenerating nature of the world but it irks me that so many creatures die because of them. So, I, very often, send a few firebots squads to get the burnings under control.

- Only you?

- Only me, the others tend to consider that the auto regenerating nature is the best tool to get the world going on as God wants it. I do tend to differ with their analysis, though. And since I'm the one in charge of the fire brigades, it happens that I use certain rare opportunities to enhance my firebots' programming's efficiency.

Viracocha's smile took a more sarcastic turn.

- And even if each continent has its own central computer in charge of surveying it, we don't really look at what happens in the nature around us. If I could allow myself a little brand of vulgarity, since they don't give a damn about nature, they never wonder about my bots' actions on nature. The forefathers, after all, didn't forbid any intrusion in nature's ways, they just asked us to provide the means to maintain the Atlantean Real Estate in perfect order.

Viracocha's smile became a grin.

- And every year I locate new places where the forefathers had lightly but surely intervened to enhance the planet's beauties. And when I do, I, of course, add said places to the itineraries my control bots cover day in day out.

Alanna let a smile of her own appear on her lips.

- Of course, we do have duties, after all…

- Indeed, we have.


I

-°-oOo-°-


- Of course, I will need more of them, said Lionel. I'm expanding and with each IT I install I tend to create an emergency center. And your healing bubbles are always the major feature within them.

- You don't even try to hide them any more?

- My Aunt is running around healing people and saving slaves from their abusive masters without giving a damn at being discreet… I do feel like we no longer have any need to be discreet. We do insist that we are no Gods but our actions, at least those of us who definitely don't give a damn about what the people think, tend to point in the opposite direction. And when there is no need for secrecy anymore isn't it best to acknowledge the facts and cease to look like idiots? It's not like we would empty your arsenals of fighting bots…

- Since we don't have fighting bots, that's a rather good thing, don't you think?

- Indeed, but I'm quite sure that you have heard about our other sources. And one of those sources tend to have vaults full of weapons, not of hospital features…

- We do have heard about them and also about IT, admitted Toxologa. And, since we share your fears about those you call the Others, we won't judge you because you want to use those weapons and prepare your men to fight with them. Our forefathers were, as you well know, more on the side of peace and spirituality, but we are aware that the circumstances we have encountered on this world have been, in the rest of the Multiverse, of the most extreme scarcity. We have lengthily spoken about what has happened with the forefathers and we doubt that we will ever find another world with us still there while our human friends have been numerous enough to climb into the light. And as your uncle tends, rightfully, to say, pacifists need a special sort of guards to survive. We can only agree with the concept of those special guards…

- One could say that it is a rather hypocritical approach… You are pacifists and you agree to be defended by heavily weaponized people.

- The problem, my dear friend, is and has always been since the forefathers did program us to not be Pacifists. It is even quite the contrary! Our Humans were Pacifists, indeed, and proud to be, but they were no fools, and they knew about the risk a pacifist society could have, one day to face. So, they created us to be their faithful guards and to protect them from their own race's inherent evilness. We will admit that quite a lot of those coming into the Light on these islands had the right spiritual color to blend in. But some weren't and those, like we were programmed to, we took care of…

Lionel who had been d'Arcy's student for quite a few years had a very precise idea about what taking care of, often meant.

He frowned at Toxologa's avatar.

- And you mean by that…

- You know! You did it with Stilicho and his family. It's, with the adequate means at your disposal, rather easy to take care of people without really harming them.

- You stazed them?

- Architotologos who was the only one then did. He was the one burdened with the task. The forefathers of later generations didn't really care. I think the ones who did the programmation didn't think it necessary to warn their successors.

He shook his avatar's head in a very convincing way.

- There is a sort of weird egoticism you find even with people who truly believe in Mankind's spiritual destiny. Since they weren't those who had to decide it wasn't their problem. And since their successors, finally, achieved their great goal, I can only conclude that they were right.

He shook his head.

- Well, the facts that those who charged Archi with the burden of selection had all died a long time ago and that those who were following the path to the light had no idea about what was happening to those who weren't of the expected purity made things easier for everybody.

- But for Architotologos…

- He's a computer, he didn't have to deal with a guilty conscience…

Lionel took a long breath.

Now was, perhaps the time.

- Are you sure about that? IT pretends that you are too versatile to be simple computers. He suspects you to be AIs. And so, do I.

A smile appeared on Toxologa's face.

- We talked about that between us. And, in the end, we prefer the term ES, electronic Sentient… We believe that there is nothing artificial in creatures like us.

- You admit it?

- We admit nothing but we suspect that we have reached Sentience sometime in the past… We admit being what we are. We admit being able to feel emotions and we admit having preferences like other sentients. So, your suspicion could be right. Or it could be that we are even something else. Is it really important?

Lionel nodded.

- It is. At least it is what I believe and I'm quite sure that IT is of the same opinion. A machine has no soul, and it is the soul that makes the difference…

- What is even a soul?

- That has been at the center of a lot of conversations between us and Aunt Jane. We did achieve a common ground. We could be wrong but we believe that the soul is the part of you that belongs to God and that will go back to Him once, like those forefathers of yours did, you've walked the path to illumination.

- So, you believe we could join our forebearers in the Light of God?

- That's what souls are created for; you know! To give God an infinity of different ways to gather experience. And meanwhile, the soul's container is living all those experiences and is becoming wiser and, sometimes, more powerful.

- Our soul will be contained in us ESs for quite a long time… Some could even envision eternity. Shouldn't we consider it a punishment?

- I really believe that each soul enters the body it needs to evolve towards God in the best manner possible. I will, probably, live for a very long time, too. Not as long as IT or you ESs, but a lot longer than normal Humans. So, am I the one punished to live a longer more boring life or is it my fellow normal Humans who will be forced to jump from one body to the other a lot more often? Or aren't we all just at the right place in the right moment? Like me here, speaking with you ESs about souls and duties.

Toxologa couldn't help but nod.

- You are perhaps right, but we won't ever know… At least not while we are here in our material forms speaking together.

- I wouldn't be so sure, were I you. God has ways to make his will known we don't even suspect. So, let's not make hasty conclusions. We have all lives to live and decisions to make.

- Indeed, answered Toxologa. Care to give us the real reason of your coming? We do appreciate to meet your beautiful and smart wife, but we are quite sure that you have more in mind than a polite introduction to the rest of your family.

Lionel smiled while looking at his wife.

- There could be another, more pragmatic reason to our presence. I suppose you know that I was working on some early warning system in relation with Portal openings?

- We are and we will have to admit that your approach of the solution would forever have eluded us. We don't know how we will be able to work at its implementation in the next generation of Satmaps but we are sure that there is a solution to be found should we be able to cooperate.

- I'm here just for that. IT and I, we have already implemented the system in a crude satellite system around Earth zero and Britannia's is under construction. I have the plans and I brought with me the peculiar crystals we will need to operate and they should be useful to get something more sophisticated in working order. I'm sure we will get a working model in no time.

- You don't envision to ask your wife to participate?

- No, we have chosen to let her discover the different technological layers one after the other. She has already been exposed to a lot of high and higher tech but that doesn't mean that she needs to understand everything. She has a good idea about what we will reach but we would like to give her the freedom to explore her own path.

- Exposure to higher techs will probably pull her into the already known and used path.

- It will probably be the case, but we still believe that there can be different ways to reach the same goal and if she doesn't know which path have been used, it could be that she finds a better or at least different path to have the same or even radically different results. If you've been shown the already chosen road, choice disappears, and we all arrive into the already known box.

Here Lionel took a long breath.

They had spoken lengthily with *Link* and its members about just that. They all were aware that the way of least resistance was also the way to stagnation. That was also the reason *Link* was refusing to examine what already existed coming from Atlantis.

- We are aware that there will be cases where there is only one possible box at the end of the path, but we hope that there are other possibilities Alanna would discover. Don't forget that she springs out of a low-tech background, and it shows since she looks at everything with new shining eyes. And she's so full of positivity that it is always a wonder to witness the way her mind works.

- Wouldn't it be a good thing too to let said fine mind work with us and provide us with her personal view?

- We've spoken about it and she refuses to learn anything about the Portal Engineering science. It's too soon and, considering the TL differential, it would destroy any chance of her coming at the problem thanks to another scientific path. And since I already have a working theory, we don't need her input.

He looked at his wife speaking with Viracocha. Her almost blindness had pushed her into using lots of exaggerated movements while speaking and she had never tried to get rid of her habits.

So, it was easy for him to detect her current excitement.

- And she came to introduce herself, not to syphon your technical knowledge. What she really wants is to see Sabertooth Tigers and those other Giant Mammals Mankind has destroyed in our America…

- Why would that be?


I

-°-oOo-°-


- I played with the thought, said Alanna to answer Viracocha's question. But I have been made aware of the problems their reintroduction would have for the current inhabitants of my Americas.

Here she let out a long sigh.

- I would love to have a pair as pets, though, said she finally with a smile. I know it is a childish desire but when Speedy takes the form of a giant feline to be with us, there is, within me, that uncontrollable desire to have a badass pet of my own. And since I do admit that having more nightcrawlers over with us would be insane, I do have the hope that with your humans never having colonized America, I could, perhaps, have the opportunity I crave for.

- There are other Earthes with American Giant Wildlife still alive, said Viracocha. In that sight we are not a unicum.

- There is but there is only one where we have allies who could make a survey to, eventually, save a few orphaned Sabertooth Kittens. We have so many different and important tasks that I really cannot divert any manpower to make a year-long survey of the American continents. I have asked IT on US-Earth if I could reintroduce the Sabertooth felines on his continent who's as of now still mostly ravaged because of the Nazi-caused Yellowstone eruption, and even if he agreed, he insisted on reintroducing the whole ecosphere with predators and preys, not just the Felines… And under those conditions it would still take around a century to get a working ecosphere reinstalled.

Here she smiled shyly.

- And I will admit that I am not that patient! Hence my demand…

Viracocha couldn't help but laugh out aloud.

- I am quite sure that we could do something for you. And I'm not against saving a few Kittens in need of a stroking hand.

Alanna was visibly delighted but Viracocha dumped her enthusiasm with her next words.

- But there will be conditions. Conditions that will be easy to cover since some of the forefathers had the same desire and had had the craving to be in possession of exotic and dangerous pets… And since we are, or at least the forefathers were, rather fastidious when a thing was encroaching on the safety of Human Beings, we even have developed a procedure to control said pets…

Alanna immediately frowned.

- I don't want neutered apathic beasts… I want living and real beasts…

- They will stay normal and have their own normal personalities, but for two things. They will always be driven to stay in their masters' immediate vicinity, and they will have an implant that will give you the power to calm them down with a single thought should something happen that excites or angers them. Don't forget that for normal Humans the Sabertooth that you'll have at your side will have the size of a small horse and will weight around one thousand five hundred pounds.

Here she smiled at Alanna whose face was a battlefield of excitement and frustration.

- And those one thousand five hundred pounds will be of the very threatening sort even if they are not built to hunt small preys! Most people will nevertheless be scared shitless just by seeing them… And they will be right on the spot because those huge felines are born hunters and killing machines. You'll have to hold herds of bisons – of the normal or giant species- just to get them a chance to hunt.

- They could hunt Bulls…

- That would be slaughter, not hunt, countered Viracocha. You will be able to feed them with bulls, but you'll have, from time to time, to give them a possibility to hunt real, dangerous prey. The Sabertooth hunts like lions in family groups. A bull, even of the angry buffalo sub-species, will have no chance against a pride. A giant bison within his own herd, on the other side…

- I don't want to see them injured…

Viracocha couldn't stop a laugh.

- If you want them normal with their own personalities, you'll have no choice but to let them show their prowess and acquire the right hunting skills against dangerous beasts like Mammoths and Bisons herds. Remember that you will always be able to call them back even if they are in a hunting frenzy! Once out of the fight you will be able to easily heal their injuries if they survive.

- We no longer have mammoths or giant Bisons…

- If you have normal bison herds, it should be enough to get them the training they'll need. But once they are real dangerous hunters, you should perhaps envision importing a few herds of more dangerous preys. You do have the land for that, don't you?

- More than enough on at least two continents. I'll have to see with William and his wife, but we should be able to find a few spots where we could restore Mammoths and Giant Bisons Herds. And I even see how it could be used in an economic way to assuage the local populations.

Finally, it was the smile that took place on Alanna's face.

- So, you agree to help me…

- Easily with the Herds of herbivores but if you want only orphaned kittens, it will demand a little more time. We are around the time when the mothers are about to give birth. I'll send a few surveillance bots to look at the availability of the orphans you want to save. Once spotted we will gather them, equip them with the electronic safety devices they need and stase them until you want them… But be warned that you have to look at a difficult period. They will need lots of attention and probably a flock of caretakers.

- I'll organize everything, said Alanna with a satisfied smile.

- Good, I'll see what I can do to get you enough genetic variety to give your herds and pride a chance to prosper.

She looked up and nodded at Toxologa.

- Meanwhile the five are about to arrive. Meeting time with the grown-ups.

- The grown-ups? Aren't you all of the same age?

- Not at all, Toxo and I are the last ones to have been awakened and like everything that requires skill, being the last created we are the most successful of the batch. We are those who show the most promise, you'll soon see.

- I have no doubt...


I

-°-oOo-°-


The same reminder, just in case:

Architopologos: Atlantean AI in charge of Atlantis (A'tlan)

Toxologa: Atlantean AI in charge of Europe (Tixalec)

Viracocha: Atlantean AI in charge of Africa (Pitchatloc)

Taranow: Atlantean AI in charge of Asia (Gob'He)

Pitchipapu: Atlantean AI in charge of Oceania (Mu'Tla)

Fangzeu: Atlantean AI in charge of America (Nachka)

Gwan'é: Atlantean AI in charge of Antarctica (Borea)

And should you not yet be familiar with Gaul's cities, Vesontio is modern day Besançon.