Chapter Nine
On the Mountain
They came from all over, slowly at first and then in greater number. People from all walks of life and ethnicity.
The forest and all that dwelt therein welcomed them and within weeks small thriving communities had been established both in the forest and out upon the regions of the savanna where the sky oceans did not reach. Night and day they came and a place was made for each of them.
There were rules. None of the talking beasts were for the use of food purposes. None of the treebeasts that had been on our side were to have any lumber harvested from them. Other than that, I exacted no other strictures except one and that I held above all others.
No other God would be worshiped within the realms of Angarta other than the Creator, Eloah, The Most High. The penalty was expulsion from the forest if repentance was not made. In the last nine weeks, of the thousands that had come to the forest only four had been cast out so far.
The people regarded me with respectful caution that bordered on outright fear. I had done nothing to hurt or harm any of them and yet for lack of a better way of putting it, the forest and all its creatures viewed me as their master.
Every infraction or misdeed that was made by mankind was reported on by the trees. In addition the animals that talked did likewise.
People seemed to find that unnerving and were seldom at ease around me and I did nothing to overly bridge the gap of separation that had arose because of it. Indeed most of my days I spent in isolation for the most part from the opinions of others as I went about seeing to the care of newcomers and the grievances that did arise.
It kept me busy, but always in the back of my mind was the expectation of the inevitable. Sooner or later news of an invasion into the forest would come. To that end I required that everyone that was able-bodied enough to fight was to practice on a daily basis.
My consortium of fellow children turned into men and women were the principal instructors as for whatever reason Eloah had endowed us with an uncanny ability in the arts of war. Over all the people and the training of them I set in charge my group of seven and it was them more than anyone else who helped me by dealing with matters that arose, which really didn’t need my insight. They too, were viewed with respectful caution and together we remained close as a group even though we were split up in different parts of the forest in order to oversee the people properly.
I looked out over the castle parapet that I strode upon and the clearness of the day let my eyes see over the treetops of the forest below to the inland savanna beyond. Jafina was out there.
She had stationed herself with those settling into the savanna. She had an unbridled love for the freedom of riding the mare, Soranya, who had in turn accepted her as her master.
Neither I, nor Jafina, were happy with being apart, but for now it was for the best. The day had still not come wherein it would be safe for us to step away from the demands placed upon both of us in order to focus on ourselves and in a way it was easier for us to live daily apart than to see each other daily and be tormented by what we wanted together as a whole.
The daily peace we experienced in the aftermath of the heart of the forest being won back over was deceptive. At heart we all knew it couldn’t last. In a way we were all half listening for the bullhorns of the Auranto legions to herald the approach of a great army bent on destroying us.
As expectant as we were for that reality to come to pass in a way I had become quite encouraged as very few I had met with who had come seeking sanctuary in the forest had done so not expecting to have to stand up and fight for the freedom that we currently enjoyed. The drive to come here had seemed to be founded more out of the willingness of an inner need to gather together with other like-minded individuals and to that end, if need be, we would die together. With that in mind everyone trained with eagerness and a will of determination to do what was needed in order to stay independent from the rest of the world for as long as we could.
I gazed down to a lower grassed parapet of the castle were Feveren idly grazed in the evening glow of the sun. He had chosen to stay with me and I was intensely grateful for that.
Beyond the sheer joy I had at traveling at high rates of speed over the savanna and through the forest there was the added bonus of him being available to talk to on a daily basis and sometimes in the night. In the absence of Jafina I found myself talking about my closest confidences with him more than anyone else.
He didn’t seem to mind and in general he wasn’t shy about giving his opinions on whatever the matter may be. He had given over the care of the other horses to several stallion offspring of his and they seemed to be doing well under the added responsibility, but still I could tell that it had been hard for him to step away from the free ranging lifestyle he had always possessed and yet he said nothing of it to me.
He was always ready for when I might need him next. In a word we had become the best of friends.
I had another friend. I turned back to the view that the castle walls afforded me and took in the robustly growing tree that sat entrenched along the road to the castle.
Virtrolian Pithymas was his name, but he went by Pith for short to those he called friend. From him I had learned a great deal and like most of the other treebeasts he was a wealth of information when it came to offering solutions to problems or suggestions for improvement.
I found Pith less drama conscious then many of the other treebeasts though, but I endeavored to spend time equally with the longest living members of my reign and to a one they enjoyed the attention. They, perhaps more than anyone, knew how short this era of tranquility and restoration might be, but they also bolstered my faith by being constant reminders of what Eloah had done in the past and how even the present was but prophecy being fulfilled.
I took all their words and sermons to heart and pondered on much of what they had said well into the night sometimes. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw Feveren’s head go up and his ears prick forward.
There were many noises about the castle as it was being worked on and repaired from an eon of neglect, and to my own perception not a noise was out of place within the daily hubbub of the restoration work. In addition to that I felt no evil presence and the whispers of the trees held no alarm within the rustling of their endlessly gossiping leaves.
Feveren’s gaze turned toward the horizon and I turned my gaze to focus there likewise. The brightness of the late afternoon sun made it difficult to see, and for a moment I saw nothing.
Gradually then I saw flying shapes emerge out of the brightness of the sunlit backdrop of the sky. My hands fell to my sword handles, but at Feveren’s snort I held off from issuing an alarm.
I glanced once more to him and he tossed his head negatively in indication that my alarm was unwarranted. Uneasily I let my hands fall free of my sword handles as I let the scene play out.
The shapes in the sky grew bigger and bigger. They didn’t have the bulk of dragons, but whatever they were they were huge and there were close to a hundred of them.
Pith called out in an old language unknown to me, but in a statement that I recognized as a greeting of sorts. In answer there came a shrieking cry that split through the air as if it was a lightning strike.
The flying objects were eagles. Massive eagles.
These must be the eagles of the Lost Mountains, for nowhere else had I ever heard of such birds as these existing. The legend went that they only lived in the highest peaks of the mountains that were completely inaccessible to by man, because man had lost the ability to speak to them.
The question of the moment though was, why had they come?
They soared in close to the castle now, but in the distance I saw more of them still coming. How many of them, it was hard to say, but a thousand wouldn’t have been too large a number.
They weren’t all as big as this vanguard of eagles though, which led me to believe they were of a multitude of different species of birds of prey. Again why had they come here?
In my heart I felt that I already knew why, but I wanted to hear it with my own ears. With a flutter of their massive ten foot wide wingspan to either side of their bodies the forward consort of the winged battalions came to settle down upon the battlements of the castle. One eagle in particular landed in a grand display of aeronautical might before Feveren on the grass plateau that he stood upon.
Authority lived in the strutting manner of the winged creature that stood as tall as I was. Feeling a bit of trepidation at the coming meeting I made my way down the battlements in the direction of Feveren and this leader among all birds.
As I went I passed under the visage of great eagle after eagle that sat perched along the wall top. The size of their talons that gripped down on the width of the wall top was both a thing of awe and a daunting thing to consider if ever one had to face them in battle.
I walked up to Feveren and he and the apparent leader of this winged consortium seemed to break off from a silent conversation they had been having in order to face me. I respectfully bowed to the winged creature that I desperately hoped would be an ally and never that of a foe.
I straightened up and the three of us stood silent for a long moment. The lordly king of birds blinked his massive gold hued eyes that possessed the fierceness of Feveren’s in full battle mode as if it was a permanent state of being, which I didn’t doubt in the least as being exactly the truth in regards to this creature.
The eagle’s stare was unnerving and I did my best to meet it unflinchingly. Gesturing wide I said, “I welcome you, friend of Feveren. Soar our skies at will and the forest is yours if ever your kind should wish a nesting site among the trees.”
The eagle blinked his great eyes and nodded slowly in acceptance of all that I had just offered. He turned then and strutted to the wall top that overlooked the steepest gorge of the hill that the castle was constructed upon.
Looking back he gave me a comehither look and graciously I complied by moving closer. I came up to the wall and stood beside him and staring at me speculatively through his great eyes, the eagle gestured with his beak down to the gorge below in a way I read only too well.
The eagle wanted me to jump!
I stared at him silently querying in the spirit as to what I should do. No answer came to me other than the feeling that I was in the presence of a friend.
“Sir, should we man to quarters?” Asked a warrior who had hesitantly approached from off to the side.
I waved my hand dismissively and said, “No, stand down. I’ll be back.”
“Sir?” He asked before crying out in alarm as I swung up onto the wall battlement and dove over the side of it.
‘This was crazy!’ Was my self-professed diagnosis as I cut through the air to what surely would be my death. I held my arms out to the side as if to ward off the fast approaching ground.
In relief I felt the gentle, but secure clasp of the massive talons that could gore me in half fasten about my upper arms securely. The transition from freefall to lifting up so that my boots skipped off the tallest of the trees was gradually done as the great wings beat powerfully and methodically above me.
We gained altitude and looking about I was treated to an eagle’s view of Angarta. Steadily the eagle flew to the east.
Out over the forest we went. A journey that would’ve taken me two days at a run seemed to pass by in the span of an hour.
Before long the forest perimeters of Angarta appeared and beyond lay the beginning of the lands of the outer realms from which so many had fled from to us. Abruptly the eagle headed north as a wind current caught a hold of us and northward we went at great speed.
I passed over lands I had not seen before, until with the suns fading light we were within reach of a series of mountains that I did not know the name of. What was the purpose of this flight into the unknown?
I did not know, but I was eager to once more feel my feet upon the ground again and as if sensing that the eagle gradually lost altitude and we left the fast-moving current of air behind. The peaks of the mountains grew close and my stomach rose up in my throat as we soared by rocky upthrusts only to plummet downward into a high mountain valley.
The shadows had already grown dark in this high walled valley. With a great ruffle of its wings the eagle landed me down gracefully upon the ground, only to then gain altitude and leave me behind.
Incredulously I saw it gain in elevation as it sailed away from me and out of the valley with no bye, nor leave, as to why he had brought me here. Everything was silent about me, as if held in suspense as to what would happen next.
Swallowing down nervous anticipation of whatever may be lurking in the heavy tinted shadows that were gaining ground by the moment, I waited. Suddenly disgusted with myself I withdrew my hands from my sword handles and wiped at the cold sweat on my face.
My trusting ability of Eloah’s greater plan was really lacking right now. I may not know anything about where or why I was where I was, but I could trust this was Eloah’s divine purpose and if so I wanted to learn whatever it was He wished to show or teach me.
Spreading my hands wide with palms up in surrender as I bowed my head I said, “I’m here my Eloah. I……. I’m eager to learn anything …….. everything you would care to share with me.”
Stillness reigned within the valley that had grown very dark. Patiently I waited.
Out of the silence imposed upon my emotions a voice spoke, “Sing to Me child.”
Tears fell down my face as the force of the presence of Eloah became fully real to me. Not daring to look around I whispered, “Please help me, Spirit of the Most High.”
“Always.” Breathed the Fire Spirit’s reassurance into my soul in a tingling balm like wave of comfort as to render me only desirous of more.
Softly then I let my lips fall open and I began to sing a song. I didn’t know what to sing truly and so my mind listened to and agreed with everything that poured forth out of my spirit,
“Before time began You knew me.
How can I doubt this day when I know You brought me here to You.
Eloah, You alone are my God!
I’ll serve no other, but You always.
Though I don’t see my way as I wish, I know that I have a place with You, so why should I be afraid.
You are enough for me.
I’ve seen how You work.
I know that You are good.
You are kind and I know with all my heart that You have a plan for my life.
Oh, Eloah, take my life and unfold it before You as a story that praises You!
You are worthy!
You are wonderful!
You are glorious and all Your ways are past finding out and knowing this I only want to be in Your presence more so that I might know You!
To know Your ways!
To be like You!
To serve You!
And above all I wish to please You!
Creator of my heart I adore You!
I’ve seen the beauty of Your handiwork and I want to know You like You know me.
Not that I could ever be worthy, but I love You.
I love You my Elohim and I earnestly need You!
Please never leave my heart!
Please never forget Your promise to save me from all my enemies!
Not only my life do I beg of You!
I fall to my knees now before You the Most High as I beg of You mercy for all those who desire to live in Your perfect ways even so I beg of Your lenience.
I beg You for Your intervention and the peace that only You can bring.
I need You!
Your people need You too!
So many have been lost, but I know that if You will it there will be a final harvest unlike any other ever told of.
Humbly I ask of You for Your mercy.
May Your will be done in me and may Your Kingdom come!
Here my prayer oh Ancient of Days.
There is no one else I pray to!
Bless Your Name, I bless Your Name!
Though I lose all that I have, I will bless You who gave me my breath.
To the last breath I praise You oh Most High Elohim.
Eloah, You are my everything and I sing to You with all my heart and now I wait upon Your Spirit to move me in the ways that please You.
May I always please You, Elohim, Most High.”
My voice trailed off as words left me to express anything further and quietly I knelt face down in the dark as I both shook and felt in awe at the presence of my Eloah that had descended upon this secluded valley in a range of mountains I had never heard of.
“Come to Me, Tarik. Rise my son and come.”
I glanced up shaking and watched fire that did not burn the grass that it licked across as it blazed a trail out ahead of me only to split and then trail up over a carved archway of a tunnel situated in the side of the mountain. The highlighting fire glowed brightly as it lit up the symbols written in stone that adorned all about the doorway set into the side of the mountain.
Compelled of spirit I rose up and moved forward to behold the symbols for what they were. They were the Words of Eloah and the power of them seemed to echo out at me as if the mountain vibrated with the life of what was inscribed upon it.
“Come. The way is open before you. I desire to speak with you more clearly, as much as you are able to bear. Do not fear for I love you with a love that you do not comprehend.”
Stumbling forward through the archway I beheld a staircase that spiraled upward and upward as far as the eye could see. As I looked figures I recognized as angels descended and ascended the stairs set in a dimensional aspect apart from my own, but one which for the moment was being permitted for me to see.
“Come child.” Came the reassuring voice of my Maker and I moved forward feeling completely unworthy of the honor of being in this place that I took to be a gateway to Eloah, Himself.
As I stepped onto the first stair the tread lit up with a fiery glow and there before me was yet more of the Words of Eloah outlined for me to see and believe for the truth that they truly were the building blocks of all creation. Those already upon the stairs stopped as a deeply resonating voice began to hum a deep melody that was so perfect that my ears had never known anything better as it was impossible to improve on the perfection that I heard.
As one the angelic host moved to the side of the stairs they stood upon and looked upward in wonder as the humming cadence that filled this spiraling void in the mountain turned into words. Words spoken by the Master of everything, who by His words once spoke everything that is into existence. Having no start of existence Himself, but rather one of never-ending eternity.
The Master of Time was singing! To me of all people!
Breaking down I fell in a sobbing ball as the words of my Creator echoed down to me, myself being but a recently made work of dirt and water with the eternal breath of the Almighty breathed into me that endowed me with a spirit that alone of all that was me was eternal.
“Before time, I was.
I made time to begin.
I made all of creation for My desire is to create a perfect harmony and I did.
My plan has always been that those born to women should know Me and by knowing Me and keeping My ways they will go beyond time and time will be no more in the fullness of the hour that is coming upon all mankind.
Those ways of old lost within the scope of time shall be reborn even better than before and this time it shall not end.
It is left for those of My handiwork, in whom I blessed with eternal souls, to believe in My Son whom I sent to die for you so very long ago.
So long ago and now so many have forgotten that I love them.
How can they know My love for them when they are blind and only see the things of this present time.
I made all of My creation, even you Tarik, to go beyond time, for all of eternity, but what do I see.
Only a few remain who seek My ways.
This was not My plan.
I have a plan and you have always been in My mind and now I am moving!
I am at work and know that My will shall be done!
There will be rain and many shall come to remember Me and truly I tell you that My harvest is great!
I AM that I AM and there are none before Me and none after Me!
I AM that I AM has spoken!
Now come, young man, for I see how you are knit together and I am pleased for you are a work of honor by which I will fashion to My everlasting Glory.
Well pleased am I that you’ve chosen Me.
You are blessed son.
Come and see more than you ever knew could be and know that I am near to those who call upon Me.
I hear all.
I know all.
I love you, even though My only begotten Son had to die for you.
Come see what you have believed.
Come and see how I love you.
Come and see what I am doing.
I wait for you My son.
I adore your ways as they are right before Me.
To your last breath, son, know that I am able to do all that I have promised.
You will see miracles and wonders as darkness falls to the Light of My Presence enabling you to do all of My Will that I have purposed since before time to occur before the end of time can come.
Come to Me now child!”
All along the song that came resoundingly all around me I had been crawling up the stairs. Now, at the imperative command from on high, I was driven up to my feet to ascend up the stairs at high-speed as if compelled to do so by some unseen force.
Then suddenly they were no more stairs. Slowly moving forward I stepped out through a fissure in the side of the mountain.
Fire outlined the way before me and I stepped out over the level terrain that seemed to be located on the very peak of the mountain and yet I did not feel cold. In fact I wondered if I was dreaming, but how could that be? Still nothing of the here and now was explained by previous life experiences.
A great panorama of expanse was viewable, but as it was night, all I could see was the outline of the nearby mountains. Everything else was cast in shadow.
“No, son. Look now.”
I blinked and then in astonishment I was looking through the mountains. Whether what I saw was in real-time or the imagery of a previous moment I did not know, but the sun was shining in it.
My eyes took in the sight of a great dusty plain that had dust billowing up to the sky. What mystery was beyond this dust?
A breeze blew and the dust vanished away and shocked my eyes took in the pressed rows of an enemy host to many to number. Their columns stretched out as far as the eye could see in this closed off view through dimensional time and space.
Breathing out I whispered in the anguish of spirit that I felt, “When will they reach the forest?”
“Three days, which will give you the time needed to get clear of the forest.”
Dry mouthed I croaked out still transfixed by the imagery of the epic scaled army on the march, “Where is there left to flee to, my Eloah?”
“Who said anything about fleeing son of man? No, son, you will journey forth and meet them on the way! Am I not the God of Battles?”
“You are!” I whispered earnestly even as in anguish brought about by great fear I waited to be struck dead. There was no doubting the presence of the great I AM and just as assuredly the greatness of the army that lay before me was no match and yet I had looked upon the army and doubted in my heart that such a foe could be overcome. What a wretched man I was to doubt the power of the Most High that was all about me!
“Son, all that you see in the distance marching vainly in all their fallen glory is nothing, but so that you will know My full power I am going to use you to overcome this upstart of a fool’s dilemma so that it will be said by all that hear of this event that there is indeed a God in Heaven and that I AM that I AM is He who now speaks to you.”
“Why me?” I whispered.
“Why not? As a man you are weak like any other and yet you’ve embraced My Spirit and have allowed Me to work through you more than you could’ve ever done by fleshly strength alone. Truly My strength has been made manifest through you and it has been because you have chosen to allow Me to do so. You are a chosen vessel by which I will gain a great many and yet in the eyes of those who oppose Me what I do seems as foolishness because I have hidden truth from the wise and revealed it unto children.”
Humbled beyond words I felt the certainty of all Eloah had spoken even as I reacted in surprise that simple choices could have such unexpected grand outcomes. I continued to stare out at the great host that continued to move past my field of vision afforded me in this very special place.
Time passed and yet it only felt as a short moment and then I felt my lips move and utter forth, “What are your orders?”
The ground shook beneath me as a great rumbling sound moved the entire mountain. Shaken I crouched down only to realize that what I heard was laughter.
“Oh son, how you please Me! One moment downturned of faith and yet in the next willing to shake mountains at My request. Stand up!”
I did still feeling shaken as the mortality of my form in the face of the presence of an all-powerful Elohim became only too real to me in the here and now. I waited in expectation of what I did not know as the cold winds of the mountains blew upon me.
A blast of air half turned me about and glancing that way I saw a crack in the rock.
“Go.” Urged the Fire Spirit in an easy command and I did so quickly.
I climbed into the crack in the mountain’s peak only to witness an even greater shaking of the mountain than before only this time it was not from laughter. The very rock about me vibrated as if it couldn’t contain itself even as lightning streaked all around as a cloud of heavy darkness, darker than the night settled down upon the top of the mountain.
I gripped a hold of the rock desperately as light so bright flashed all about me that it left nothing untouched. Truly, there was no place such a light could not reach whether it was to see into a man’s soul or the deepest reaches of hell.
Drawn to it from within I turned my head and started to look out of the fissure in the mountain that I was hidden in, but the voice of my Maker stopped me as He said, “No son, for you to look upon Me as I appear in form would be too much for you to bear in your un-glorified state. One day, one day though, you w