Lura Syllana
I must start by saying the hard truth that was told to me by the Angel Akrasiel himself. The Guardian of the Light pulled me aside and told me this truth of reality and existence. Most of the gods of the other religions exist and are real. There is not just one god, but many. Some are benevolent and peaceful. They seek to protect and nourish. While others are malevolent and violent. They seek to corrupt, conquer, enslave, destroy and consume. They are the agents of chaos, destruction, and death. We must be wary of these gods, both benevolent and malevolent. Some pretend to be kind and compassionate but only seek to lie and deceive so they can cause more chaos. Others may destroy for the sake of the greater good, or at least what they perceive it to be. Some hope to bring peace through war while others speak of peace, but truly desire war. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between gods and monsters.
Akrasiel himself speaks of his own experiences dealing with gods of other religions and how he knows them to be of different cosmic energy from other universes. He speaks of his own alliances with the gods of Celestial and Arcane origins. He speaks of himself meeting gods of pure love and compassion who only seek to spread it. Gods unleash hope like a rain, watering the mortals of the worlds with renewed strength. Gods that inspire and ignite the hearts of mortals. He mentions relations between gods of the different religions and even offspring between gods of different religions.
But he also speaks of gods who seek only to conquer. Demons that desire all that exists. They rampage from world to world, enslaving mortals and destroying what is in order to form the lands in their image. They are greedy and desire only for more. Then there are those who only seek to snuff out the Light and leave existence in eternal darkness. They are the darkness and hate the Light. They feed on fear and extinguish love and all that shines under the Light. Some are gluttonous, with hunger and desire only to consume all that is. They will devour everything they see. And others burn with hate and anger. They only want to destroy and leave the universe with nothing but ruin. Others still seek utter chaos. They delight in anarchy and see mortals as instruments to incite violence, fear, paranoia, and hysteria, Corrupting the minds of mortals and causing them to go mad with delirium. They flood their minds with delusions and lies. They cause brothers to turn against brothers, mothers to turn against children, and husbands to turn on their wives. These gods are the enemy of the Light.
However, things are not so apparent. The face of dark may disguise itself with Light. Fear can look a lot like hope. Wrath can be seen as righteousness. Corruption and greed are presented as purity and generosity. Violence and war are used as excuses to bring peace. These are all lies. Lies only seek to keep the truth hidden in the dark. We can’t allow these lies to keep our eyes blinded by darkness. We must shine the Light down and see the truth hidden in the lies of the dark. Do not let yourself be deceived by the lies of the corrupted. Seek the Light of truth within the darkness of lies. Be the Light of the truth that shines through the darkness of lies.
If that wasn’t bad enough, even Angels of the Light are not immune to corruption. There have been many angels who fell into darkness when their hearts became corrupted. To make matters more complicated, not all demons are evil either. Some are trapped in the dark and wish to live in the Light. Things aren’t always as they appear on the surface. Akrasiel himself has befriended demons before. Even speaks of one who walks the thin line between good and evil, rarely ever stepping into either.
If your leaders preach about peace, prosperity, and justice and then proceed to bring war, hoard the wealth, and allow wrongs to go unpunished, then they speak lies and are agents of chaos. Do not trust words when actions don’t align. Never trust a person who makes empty promises without deliverance.
We must always be vigilant of the lies that seek to cover the truth in darkness. Let your Light shine, and speak the truths of your heart that you know to be right. Do not let the lies of the corrupted defile the innocent who seek the Light. Be a shield of truth and lead the innocent into the Light. Allow the truth to shine.
Words of the Angel Akrasiel.
I shut the book. I don’t know what to say or think. Do other gods exist? We were always told to believe that the god of the Light is the one true god and all the other so-called gods are false gods. But this… this speaks of the existence of other gods. Not only evil gods, but other benevolent gods. What am I supposed to do with this? Am I to continue following the Light? What about the gods our people used to follow? Are they real? Are they benevolent? He even mentioned that the Angel Akrasiel himself befriended those of the Arcane, which were the gods we followed before we came into the Light. Who do we trust when the dark disguises itself as the Light? I… I don’t know what is true and what is a lie anymore.
A knock at the door makes me jump. I quickly hide the book and answer it to find Ralodan. He smiles. “Ready for our first class as Accepted?”
I open the door and let him in, nodding. “Yes. It feels weird to wear these yellow robes. They feel a lot better than the brown ones of the Novices.”
He laughs. “Why would it feel weird? You’re Accepted. You earned the right to wear those robes.”
I shrug. “I don’t know. So… I started reading the first book.”
“And?” he asks.
“Everything we were made to believe is a lie!” I say.
“Perhaps. We were told that there is only one true god, but this book tells us differently. That statement of one true god is a matter of interpretation and perception. We follow the Light, that is our true god. To us, the Light is the one true god. However, to others, another god is the one true god, or there are many true gods. Certainly, something wrong is going on within the church; for them to claim that all other gods are false seems to certainly be a downright lie. I suppose that’s why these books were written. For those who seek the truth to stand unified and fight the lies,” he says with a shrug.
“How are you not shaken by any of this?” I ask.
Once again, he shrugs. “I guess, deep down, I knew the truth all along. I see it everywhere I look. Lies may try to hide the truth within the dark, but the truth is a light that could never be truly hidden by the darkness of lies. You just have to look deeper to see the Light of the truth. Then no lie will deceive you.”
“Light, you speak like you’ve written a few of these books yourself. So philosophical,” I say with a smile. He laughs hard and I can’t help but join in. “Thanks. I’m glad I have you and the others to talk to about everything with.”
“That’s why we’re here, trying to become servants of the Light. Helping people is the entire reason the Light exists. It’s the beacon that finds the lost. The star that guides the wanderer. The shield that protects the innocent,” he says, and his face so absolute.
“Spoken like a true priest of the Light,” I say, and that earns another chuckle.
“Come on, let’s not be late for our first class,” he says. I follow him out, and we join Biremeril and Melyis. We arrive at our first class. There are not as many people as there are in Novice classes. And this class is taught by a Sister. Sister Jereno welcomes us to the class. She’s a beautiful, amber-skinned woman with long, curly, brown hair and eyes as blue as a cloudless sky. She hands us each a book. However, unlike the Novice books, there are no notes within it. Just instructions about the spells we are to learn.
After she gets the rest of the class going, she addresses the four of us separately. “Welcome, newly Accepted. Within this class, you will learn the basics of channeling your energy and focusing it within the crystals you’ve been given. Because you are using magic, you will all be given learner’s permits to use magic by the Church. This allows you to channel magic within the confines of the church while being supervised. Magic can be quite dangerous, so we need to take these requirements seriously. It is quite easy to lose control when you are dealing with magic. And the consequences are dire. You could lose your own life or the lives of others. So, I plead with you to use caution when channeling magic, and use restraint.”
She looks at each of us to make sure her point is understood. “Now. Specifically, to gain level one, you must first learn how to channel your natural Arcane energy. You will produce a light. Once you’re able to do that, I’ll show you how to focus that energy within the crystal to purify it into Divine Light. Divine Light can heal, cleanse, purify, shield, and smite. But hopefully, you will never need to use that last one. Or any of them, for that matter. Magic isn’t a toy, it’s a tool we use to help those in need. Therefore, you may never use it as an aggressor to attack unless it is against enemies of the Light. That doesn’t mean you can’t use magic to defend yourself. That is perfectly fine. But you may not attack with it. We will always try to seek peace and provide service in healing. That is what it means to be a priest or priestess of the Light. To serve the Light is to serve the people.”
We all nod and listen. “Now, in order to channel your natural magic, you have to clear your mind of all distractions. In order to do that, you will want to master meditation. So, for your first lesson, you will meditate for a total of one hundred hours. Once you do that, we will move on to the next step.”
My jaw drops. One hundred hours of meditation? Is she serious? That’s… That’s absurd. She sees the look on our faces and smiles. “Don’t worry, once you start, it only takes a few tries before meditation becomes natural and peaceful. Soon, once you find that inner peace, that flow, you will seek it; mediation will become a part of your daily life. You just have to endure the awkward first attempts. Also, you can take breaks from mediation by reading your books. It’s always good to read how a thing is done before you try it yourself.”
Sister Jereno seems like a nice and reasonable person, but a hundred hours of meditation is so unnecessary. Though I suppose at least we don’t have to do a thousand hours of labor. That took over more than two cycles. Especially since we didn’t get serious about it until we reached level four.
Sister Jereno heads over to a special cupboard and brings back hourglasses for each of us. She smiles as she hands them to us. “These hourglasses will keep track of your hours. They are enchanted to only begin when you are in a meditative state and are connected to a bigger hourglass with a total sand of one hundred hours. These hourglasses are also enchanted to continuously keep track of your mediation and won’t stop when the hour is up. So, when the sand reaches one end, it flows up to the other side and will only stop once you leave your meditative state. They are extremely accurate and are unable to be cheated. Like the ones you were given for labor, you just have to place your finger on the top. Then it will activate once you begin to meditate. It can tell when you begin meditating; that means when you have entered the trance of meditation, not when you get into position. That means you won’t be able to sit there and pretend to meditate. Okay?” We all nod. She smiles. “Good, now you four are excused to go practice meditation or read your books. If you have any questions, feel free to come back and ask me.”
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