Dawn of the Epoch

Chapter LXI - An Imperial Audience

Tiyana chimed in, “What do you want? Yes, we came here to find out what was going on, yes, we wanted our associate, Shenouda, back. We heard that you did some horrible things, and we heard that you planned on beginning a war that would cause widespread death and destruction.”

Ghaelvord smiled, “You heard this? Interesting, I think that I know who told you these things. What did he tell you?” Ghaelvord addressed Virgil, “What did you tell them?” He turned his attention back to Tiyana, “Did he tell you that I destroyed the Aldenduenum, that I plan on enslaving the human race?”

“Something like that.” Tiyana responded.

“Well, allow me to set the record straight. I love the Aldenduenum. I use their technology every day. It’s great.” Ghaelvord sighed, “but they forgot about us. We, the Dahjaat, have evolved to a level of self-awareness that humans will never reach. They simply cannot. The gap between the human and the Dahjaat is no different from the gap between the human and the ape. While the downfall of the Aldenduenum was a great tragedy and in a perfect world, would not have had to occur, the world that we live in is imperfect and they had to fall before we could rise. But, come now, we are rehashing tired old debates. It is just so much water under the bridge at this point. The time has come…”

Ghaelvord’s eyes looked as if they would pop right out of their sockets as he made methodical eye contact with each of the three prisoners.

“The time has come for the Rise of the Dahjaat.”

Ghaelvord took his longest dramatic pause yet.

“You mean the enslavement of the human race?” Tiyana asked.

“Enslavement? Absolutely not. Are the earth’s animals slaves to humans? Mankind was evolving once. Unfortunately, science and technology outpaced evolution. Synthetic evolution outpaced natural evolution. This event was unprecedented.” Ghaelvord paused for effect. “And what did the humans do, celebrate? No, they became frightened of themselves. They put limits on their faculties. They prevented themselves from changing, from adapting, from using their natural abilities. They relied solely on their machines. They supplanted their work for God’s. Our planet is constantly attacked from without and from within by cosmic and geologic forces. Despite all odds, however, life burgeoned here on Earth.It burgeoned on its own, without the artificial limits put on it by the Aldenduenum. They wanted to stop that progression, the progression that defines who we are and where we are going. The Tower of Babel was their downfall. It was not a physical tower. It was merely the supplanting of their works for God’s invisible hand.”

“So, you are some sort of hero?” Tiyana asked with disgust.

“I am only a vessel, sent to correct the imbalance, to clear the obstacles, to break the dams. I will make technology work for us and not the other way around. Under my reign, no impediments to the progression of life will be erected. That, dear guests, is the aim of the Chthonians. So, you see, the Aempyreans are living in the past. They cannot see the big picture. They are hypocrites really.” Ghaelvord shrugged his shoulders and pointed at Virgil. “Look at him, the wizard. Did he ever shirk his abilities? No. No Dahjaat, Chthonian or Aempyrean has ever given up our superhumanity. We always progress while mankind stagnates. We accepted a life of exile and unfair degradation in exchange for our right to be who we are. Our goal, the goal of the Chthonians, is only to give humanity the same freedom that we have.”

“Freedom by conquest is no freedom at all.” Tiyana said.

Ghaelvord heard her, but he looked as if he was deep in thought.

He addressed Virgil in a slow, questioning tone, “They say that you were born to a human mother and fathered by Dahjaat.”

Virgil said nothing and refused to make eye contact.