The Additional Story of His Dark Materials
Disclaimer: I don't own the trilogy of His Dark Materials. I am not Phillip Pullman. I wish I was, but I am not.
The world was coming to an end. Lt. Rusty inhaled the rich oxygen in the air. Over the small valley, smoke was billowing from the wreckage of the APC's and the tangled mass of helicopter parts. Does it have to be this way? wondered Rusty.
The time was April 10, 2020. Lt. Rusty was in his prime. He worked for an organization called the WAFCO. He was a Search-and-Rescue officer with three others, but also did some tactical military work...more like the bitch jobs that the Navy SEAL's wouldn't do. But, there was something distinct about Rusty that only he and two others shared. He was an archangel. So were two others. Where they were, he had no idea. But none of that mattered. Only stopping this war did.
"Lieutenant. Lord Asriel wishes to speak with you." Rusty sighed ruefully. Lord Asriel was the head of the Republic. The Republic was a group that was fighting Heaven for control of humans. The Republic wanted all humans to be free to make their own decisions. The Dictatorship of Heaven, the ones currently in power, were all the angels and the Almighty himself. Lord Asriel thought that the Ancient of Days could be defeated. Only a few things got in his way. One was Metatron, the Almighty's Regent. Another was his daughter and her unsuspecting lover. And the third was the three archangels. Rusty made his way to Lord Asriel's chamber, contemplating these three problems with Asriel's plan.
"Lieutenant. Good to see you. Have a seat." Lord Asriel boomed his welcome. "Have a cup of coffee. Make yourself at home. We need to talk."
Rusty found a seat and faced Lord Asriel. "What is it that you need Lord Asriel?"
"Well, well, well. Don't you cut to the chase. Well, if you wish to know, I may have found the key to one of my problems. Do you know that I found one of the archangels?"
Lord Asriel looked at Lt. Rusty passively, watching for any reaction.
"That could be a good thing. Who is this archangel?" Rusty wasn't surprised at this. Lord Asriel was always blundering around and he knew that eventually, he would have stumbled on something important.
"His name is Dragon Overlord. I found him in a parallel universe. You do realize the principle of this parallel universe theory?"
"It is called the many worlds theory, you told me. But in my universe, that has never been heard of. Will you refresh my memory?" Rusty knew exactly what Lord Asriel was talking about, but he did it because he knew that Lord Asriel liked to hear himself talk.
"Well, at the beginning of time," began Lord Asriel. He started to lecture. "there was one beginning. Gradually, through a process unknown, the world split into many parallel universes." He swept his hand through the air. "I have just touched over one million different universes. All are similar, but profoundly different. Evolution took different paths, much on Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest." Rusty nodded as Lord Asriel continued. "When I discovered this amazing theory, I sought a way to access these many universes. I did research, lots of it. I found that some philosophers had created a special knife to cut through worlds, along with everything else. It was called Æshatter, or The Subtle Knife. But, I also found that if you look at the Northern Lights, you can see the different universes. I figured that if enough energy is produced, then I can create a rift or bridge between the worlds. And it worked. I sacrificed a child and a dæmon from my world. The energy produced in the splitting of them created a bridge and opened more than I could have imagined." Lord Asriel paused to see how his audience was taking this information. Lt. Rusty just stared back at him expressionless.
"Lord Asriel," Lt. Rusty started. "I am happy that you have started to solve one of your problems, but why are you telling me this?" Rusty was indeed wondering why. Even though he had telekinetic and telepathic powers, destiny prevented him from seeing inside this man's mind.
"Because, Lt. Rusty. I can trust you to find Dragon Overlord. To find him is your mission." Lord Asriel glared hard at Lt. Rusty. "And I don't want ANY screw-ups. If you do, I'll send you back where you came from!" Lord Asriel smiled inwardly as Lt. Rusty left. He thought about this mission. Lt. Rusty would get it done, but why didn't he act surprised when I told him about finding the archangel? he wondered. He shrugged. He didn't know Lt. Rusty's story, but he had historians working on it now. He didn't like knowing very little about his officers. He would find out eventually. But, what he didn't realize that it is very difficult to find information on a person that didn't want to be found in his own universe, or didn't have a story to begin with...
To be continued...
