Prologue: Thanos Speaks

The God of Death reveals a startling truth to his followers.

Prologue

 

Being an excerpt taken from the Sixth Black Tome, obtained at great risk for the University by the Madrana Ezanthe

 

Welcome, honored student, to the Sixth Level of Study. In past forms, you have learned much about the structure of our revered and most secret brotherhood, and what it means to truly be one of Thanos' Blades. You have passed the tests of Faith, Fire, and Fearlessness, and have been accepted into the Inner Sanctum.

This year, the completion of your studies will bring you into closer alignment with the Will of Our Lord. Your first lesson focuses on the Holy Book of Sekeris, in which He discovered a Truth that would change the course of His plans for us, and for this world.

The following excerpts are the most salient of the Sekeris text:

1.            ATTEND, O My children, for I alone shall bring thee truth.

2.            In the time before Creation was there ONE GOD, and that ONE GOD was all, and did SHE dwell in the darkness of the womb of the Universe.

3.            Then at a moment that was aright, the ONE GOD did Create the Earth and all that lived upon it, and the face of GOD moved on the waters.

4.            Yea and this tale, O My children, ye shall have learnt elsewhere, for all men have been instructed thusly, of how the ONE GOD became Nine.

5.            And the ONE GOD did become Nine, and They were called Selene the Spinner, and Nimue the Maiden, and Mysarte the Warrior, and Lachesys the Weaver, and Mordron the Mother, and Cema'at the Matriarch, and Atropos the Binder, and Hekate the Crone, and Sapetia the Scholar.

6.            And did the Nine maketh all that is and ever shall be in five days, rejoiced Them on the sixth day, and did rest them on the seventh.

7.            Know that this is NOT so.

8.            Know that there are more than Nine Gods.

9.            For at the time of Creation, there was not ONE, but TWO, and one was Lord.

10.            And the Lady and the Lord did maketh between them the Earth, and set it within the darkness around the Sun, and set the Moon around the Earth.

 

 

20.            And the Lady spake, Yea, the Earth doth perish for want of Our Presence, but for the love I do bear her shall I create one in Mine own image, that the Earth may be reminded of My love and not despair.

21.            And the Lord spake, Then shall I create one in Mine own image, for well do I know that the Earth shall prefer My love to Thine.

22.            And lo, the Lady was made wroth by the Lord, and went down unto the world alone to bring forth one in Her image.

23.            And lo, did the Lord go alone unto the world to create one in His own likeness.

24.            Thus divine discord begat the enmity between man and woman, and this enmity begat the schism that sundered the earth.

 

The Book of Sekeris, Chapter 1

 

13.            And lo, great war did rage amongst the peoples of the earth, and great was their enmity.

14.            And the children of the Lord did call Him Y'cho-ra, the One God; and warred they for His glory.

15.            And the children of the Lady did call Her Ma'anis, the One God; and warred they for Her glory.

16.            Great and terrible was the warring, for deep and unyielding was the wrath of the TWO GODS, and to Them belongeth vengeance.

 

The Book of Sekeris, Chapter 7

 

10.            For lo, the Lady did share of Her knowledge with her people, saying unto them, I am the Lady your God; from Me ye shall have wisdom and craft, and ye shall know my priestess by her Craft, and ye shall create wonders.

11.            And thus the Lord did share of his wisdom with His people, saying unto them, I am the Lord your God and from my Tree of Knowledge ye shall eat, and ye shall know the laws of the physical world, and shall Engineer from them wonders.

12.            And the Lord also said, And with these wonders shall ye maketh war upon evildoers, and ye shall know them by their Craft, and ye shall not suffer them to live upon this earth.

13.            And the Lady also said, With this Craft shall ye maketh war upon evildoers, and ye shall know them by their Engines, and ye shall not suffer them to live upon this earth.

 

 

20.            And war did rend the heavens, and in that rending did the angry Gods glimpse the Void.

21.            And at the seeing of the Void did the Gods know fear, for its hunger was sufficient to swallow the Universe.

22.            And in that moment of fear the Gods did maketh a momentary peace, and strove to seal the rift; but They could not.

23.            Thus They did enclose the earth away from the universe, that the rift should not expand and swallow all creation, and did They split the warring peoples in twain.

 

 

30.            And the Lady went out with Her peoples unto a mirrored Earth, joined along a seam to the Earth-that-was, that they might dwell in peace therein; and the Lady did leave the Earth-that-was unto the Lord and his peoples, and with Her went out all the magic from that world.

31.            And in this mirrored-Earth did the Lady become Nine Faces, so that She might better love Her children, and instruct them in their Craft; and in their hearts she placed obedience, that none but She might be worshipped in Her world.

32.            And in this Earth-that-was did the Lord become Three Faces, Father, Son and Spirit, that He might better oversee his peoples and teach them physics; and in their hands put He swords of righteousness, that no other than He might be worshipped in His world.

33.            And the Lord and the Lady did cause Their peoples to disregard the existence of the Other's congregation, until the War of Heaven and Earth did fade into the dreams of children.

34.            And thus it has remained until I,  Thanos Februus Arawn Annwn Azrael Veles Sekeris, the Lord of Death thy God, did discover the secret paths betwixt the worlds; for I am the God of Death and I do covet the dead of both worlds, and the Void shall not bar My way.

35.            And I say unto thee, O my children, that none shall know this truth that number not of your nation.

36.            And ye shall obey My commands, for I am the Lord your God, and this is Truth.

 

The Book of Sekeris, Chapter 13

 

What these sacred texts reveal unto us is nothing less than the Truth of our own origins, a Truth which our so-called "beloved" Ninefold God has striven to keep hidden; a Truth that, if known, would crack the very foundations of our world.

We are not the only Earth. We are not the whole of creation. Somewhere out there, closer than we think, there is a world like unto our own, a world right out of a children's tale.

And only the God of Death is Lord in both.