ENIGMA

PART 1 OF THE EPOCH APOCALYPSE

PROLOGUE.

Serenity, Lord king of the universe that all his people
knew of, sent his evil, jealous brother, Thanatos to the
forth and final unknown.
  He wiped his sword down with a cloth and pulled off his
heavy metal armour with his bruised and battered hands,
placing it beside him on the rocky terrain. Blood stained
almost every part of his body. He sustained deep gashes
that pained him as he stood there, breathing heavily,
mourning the unfortunate loss of his dear brother, turned
sour. 
  Miraculous powers he had, but wounds inflicted by
another God was not fixable, and could only heal in time.
A most annoying law of Nature, he thought, but one that
he could do anything about. 
  He wiped the sweat from his aching forehead and
squeezed most of the hard work out of his white beard,
turning towards home in the proceeding shadows that
gloomed that hateful day furthermore. He felt good inside
knowing that he had finally found the final seal to close
off the endless universe. But yet he felt bad he had to
sentence his own blood with the job of eternal damnation
for the rest of his immortal life.
  His brother, Thanatos, represented the forth dimension 
of time that had been added to the first commonly known 
three; the past, the present and the future. It was these 
four periods of time that closed off the cosmos, as was 
foretold. And thus Serenity’s kingdom was safe. 
  The victor returned home to a frenzy of congratulations
and celebration. His home, a molten lava estate inside
the empty pits of a volcano within the clouds, was
residence to some of the worlds former deprived and
neglected. For the rest of their lives, these fortunate
few would live the life of luxury and indulgence they so
missed in their earlier years.
  For an untimely amount of years, the ageless ruler
moped around his domain with his beloved people and
surroundings, pondering the great things that could have
been had Thanatos been more loving instead, of going
about his corrupt and evil ways. A void had been
instilled within him. So he sought other manifestations
aimlessly.
  The ruler would review earths progress every now and
then. Everything was running smooth, as he had hoped.
People lived with people, interacted together, joined in
family things - everything that was supposed to happen.
One of the more finer projects, Serenity concluded.
  Soon, he realised doing nothing wasn’t going to achieve
anything at all. His previous and un-finished studies of
the development of cancers was scrapped in favour of a 
new found curiosity of time. 
  Never before was he able to gain the secret of travel
between different time frames. He could never quite
figure it out. It was bound to be an interesting subject.
  Serenity kept his burning questions, answers and his 
analyses in a journal, and he kept it with him at all 
times for the safety of humanity; for they were not ready 
for Nature’s secrets just yet.
  For the next countless centuries, Serenity withdrew
himself from the growing world, exploring the depths of
his interest. He left a worthy and noble man to running
and looking after the castle. Serenity along with his
childhood friend, Ksid, set off to a quiet and peaceful
place in the mountains of Eht. 
  Ksid was Nature’s gift to Serenity when the almighty
Lord was born. With an endless plane as his playground,
and with no one to play with, Ksid was adequate. They
shared everything together. Everything Ksid knew,
Serenity knew, and vice versa, including their
discoveries extracted from their studies. 
  Meanwhile in the castle, the noble man was defiant. He
went down to Earth to on regular occasions, spreading the
word about Serenity - an array of untruth’s and lies
about he and his sibling, preaching mostly in favour of
the banished god. Believers of this man formed a
revolution and non - believers were rebelled against. Not
only was the king unaware of these happenings, but he was
also oblivious to the fact that someone had been watching
them the whole time.
  Whilst Serenity and Ksid never changed, everything else
around them did. The once vast friendship shared all 
across the world soon diminished. The populace separated 
from each other forming groups. These groups soon 
experienced what no one had ever experienced before - 
hatred. Disagreement and inconsistency soon aroused 
amongst tribes. This eventually lead to the dividing of 
the land, and war.
  The noble man had a child and his child had a child and
so on. The forbidden knowledge was passed down from
generation to generation along with details and
instructions of the Special Event - an incident that
would change the lives of everything that ever lived. 
  ‘I have another question for you Serenity.’ Ksid
announced one day. ‘What if you focused all your powers
on the past, the present and the future?’
  ‘It’s a thought.’ Serenity agreed. ‘But no one knows
the dangers that could arise. What if something went
terribly wrong? It could jeopardise the whole universe,
including us.’
  ‘But you should know if there were dangers involved.
This is your universe, surely if there were any danger,
you would know about it.’
  ‘I created this universe, but I do not have any power
over the course of life. I’ll think about it though.’
  Danger, there was certain to be. Thus all consequences 
of this new suggestion needed to be covered. Eventually,
after many seasons of pensive decision, their
inquisitiveness won them over. 
  ‘Let’s do it.’ Serenity declare, one holy Platinium
night. They’d waited long enough, and it was time to put
speculation into action. 
  ‘When?’ Ksid asked
  ‘After we feast this great night. It is the time of the 
Platinium. This great phenomenon only comes once every 
five millennium. It’s a tradition.’
  They feasted generously. Steamed vegetables with juicy
roasted chicken, smothered in hot, tasty gravy, pleased
their aspirations as the first course meal. They took a
trip to the orient as they munched on fish with leeches.
After the next several course dishes, they finished the
banquet with dessert: chocolate cake, apple pie, and
their favourite - mouth watering, moist mud cake.
  ‘I think it’s about time we got started.’ Ksid said as
he polished off a tankard of ale. 
  ‘Good idea.’ Serenity replied as he rose from his seat. 
‘I’ve been thinking about this a lot. To do this safely,
it would be best if we got away from the trees and out
into the open. Lets go to the top of the mountain. I’ve
been there a couple of times. It’s flat and free - except
for the grass and a few bushes - from any kind of
growth.’
  They made their way beneath the brightness of the three
full moons, to the level pinnacle of the mountain. 
  Everything was moving swiftly now.
  ‘Ready?’ Serenity asked, mentally preparing himself.
  ‘Ready.’ Ksid replied.
  ‘I think it would be best if you stood back a little.
Who knows what might happen.’
  Everything was in place. Serenity closed his pale,
green eyes, descending into deep, deep concentration. 
  The icy wind picked up as Serenity’s power and focus 
increased. 
  A large space above Serenity’s head began to swirl,
distorting the space and it’s many colours. The space
spun, faster and faster, ultimately weaving into a white
hot disc of light.
  Serenity’s eyes opened wide with fright. He knew he was
in trouble. He was to involved, unable to break away. 
  The ground started to shake violently. ‘Foolish
brother.’ A voice rumbled. With an ear piercing pitch,
and a thunderous flash of light, Ksid’s master was gone. 
  A descendant of the noble man stood, mouth agape,
beyond the bushes on the outskirts of the plateau. In
blind vein, Ksid grabbed the descendant by the neck,
tossing him towards the opening. Like Ksid’s king before
him, the descendant was gone, taking with it the evil
presence that had arose.
  Lingering clouds roared their rage with violent
lightning. It struck everything that dared defy it. 
The mortal’s scattered with fear as the heavens blinked
with fury, their disgust.
  The earth experienced many other natural disasters,
including some never before seen, for the next several
months. Many thousands of lives were lost with but few 
left to recreate and rebuild everything that once was.
  Only the extremely lucky could survive such a terrible
tantrum. Ksid, in his scurry away from the plateau,
tumbled down an empty cavern in the side of the mountain.
This was his home until it was safe to return above 
ground. 
  As everything died down, the survivors returned from
their hiding.
  Ksid returned to the top of the mountain, his last few
moments with his master - his friend - running
continuously by in his head. 
  Serenity was gone. There was nothing Ksid could do
about it. With no further business there, he turned
towards the blazing fires of disaster to lend the humans
a humble hand.

    Source: geocities.com/hath69