The Revolutions of Time Page 11

  I waited reluctantly with my ear against the door until his footstepscould no longer be heard, and then waited for fifteen minutes more,listening carefully for any noises. There were none, and once I hadconvinced myself that I was completely alone, I dashed swiftly up thestairs and jumped onto the couch. My sudden movements caused thetop-heavy tower to sway slightly for a few moments, giving me quite thescare, for I didn't realize what it was at first. But then my pilot'sinstinct kicked in and I mentally calculated the height and width of thetower and the mass of the dome that rested upon it, and came to theconclusion that it was stable, for while a swift movement caused it tosway, it would take a prolonged and deliberate pendulum-like motion tocause any real damage, and even the fiercest wind would not upset it,for it would only blow in a single direction at a time, and only arocking motion must be feared.

  Confident once more of my safety, I took the rolled piece of paper fromthe folds of my clothing and opened it carefully. Inside was a note fromBernibus, written in a legible cursive that flowed from an obviouslyeducated hand. It read as follows:

  "My Dear Jehu, it is I, Bernibus, your friend and comrade, who writes toyou. Wagner and myself are soon to set off for Nunami for a council withthe Zards about the resolution of our conflict. It was decided in acease fire treaty twenty-some years ago that whomever first came uponthe kinsman redeemer was to have a council with the other side and theancient one to decide which course to take, since either course needsthe support of both the Zards and the Canitaurs to succeed. When youfirst came among us, Wagner seemed to break the terms of the treaty andkeep you with us in an attempt carry out our plans independently of theZards, using an attack plan that had been held in readiness since thetreaty, to ensure a defense if things went wrong. When the Zardsattempted to capture us upon your arrival, Wagner declared the treatyviolated, and I assumed that it was to be entirely abandoned. I wasunder this impression when I befriended you, and once our friendship hadstrengthened, I had no fears for you, thinking as I did that new methodswere to be tried.

  "After the attack on Nunami failed and the council was once again to beheld, each having violated it equally, my fears were suddenly aroused onyour behalf. It was only then that I saw that it was the intention ofWagner not only to destroy Nunami and the Zards, but to capture theTemple of Time, which was the only part of the city to be left intact.When I confronted my brother-in-law about this, he only laughed at mescornfully and told me that I was soft, that I was a fool to put oneman's life ahead of the salvation of the whole earth. I was filled withwrath at him and still am, but I have decided that it was better tofeign compliance and let you know by letter what it was that is beingplanned for you. I am only sorry that it should come to you at so latean hour, when I could have warned and helped you before if I had onlyknown. There is not much that you can do now, but still I must warn you,for whatever it is worth, if only to prove my affections.

  "You see, my dear Jehu, the Pastites and Futurists interpret theprophecy to mean that the kinsman redeemer has come to renew the earth,as you have no doubt heard, although there is strong evidences to thecontrary. I myself have been brought up to this interpretation, as it ismore acceptable than the alternate theories that exist, though I havebeen for a time now doubting its accuracy. According to the ExternusMiraculum view, the Temple of Time is crucial to the implementation ofeither plan, in fact it is the crux of them both, the one issue that itis of as great importance, or greater, than the presence of you, thekinsman redeemer. There is an altar in the center room of the temple, agreat diamond White Eagle that is grasping an ordinary altar in itstalons, and this altar is where the kinsman redeemer is to besacrificed. If only I had suspected so before and could have warned whenthere was yet time!

  "But there is no time now for such reflections, so I will continue. Themethod of sending you back or forward in time is to sacrifice you on thealtar of Temis, the God of Time. It is not a traditional, atonementsacrifice, nor of any kind that involves the cutting of the flesh with aknife. Instead it is a molecular one. You are to be set on the altar andthen the White Eagle will start to spew forth either protons orelectrons, depending on which is chosen, past or future. When yourbody's cells absorb all of the floating matter, they will be eitherpositively or negatively charged to such an extent that theirrevolutions will be rapidly accelerated. According to theory, theincreased speed of the revolutions would cause a rift in the timecontinuum, or in other words, would change the proportion between yourexistence in the temporal and material realms and change your locationin time, thereby propelling you into the past or the future, dependingupon which was chosen, electron or proton, past or future.

  "There has been much experimentation with this process, each person sentthrough time being equipped with a matter-proof box that is basically anadvanced time capsule, lasting for millions of years. Into this box (orTAB, Temporal Anomaly Box) each person was supposed to write an accountof their temporal journey and leave it on the island that is presentlyDaem, at specific locations decided on for that purpose. We would searchfor those boxes in the present, to see if they had been delivered. Nonehave yet been found, though there are other possible reasons than death,such as a failure to find the island, or the box's removal by someone inan intervening time. Still, I am greatly afraid for your life Jehu,especially so after what I discovered just hours ago in the classifiedarchives of the Canitaurs: there was strong evidence that the processsimply disintegrated those upon whom it was tried, instead of sendingthem through time. This was kept from the public, and was forcefullyforgotten by those who knew, their reason being that Temis would guideyour travel better than the others who were not called as his servants.If it were anyone but you, Jehu, I would probably have deceived myselfin the same way, but I cannot let you be destroyed like this. You mustescape and not let them throw away our only chance of salvation in sucha way. I only wish that I had known sooner, I only wish that there was achance that you could escape,

  "Your Devoted Friend,"Bernibus"

  For a moment I could do nothing except sit in silence and ponder overthis new revelation. After I had reread the letter twice, so as to bethoroughly familiar with its contents, I ate it, so that if I didescape, or was apprehended doing so, Bernibus would not be found out andsuffer because of it, though I doubt not that he would have gladly doneso. When I had done that, I ran down to the door and attempted to forceit open, but to no avail. Neither could it be picked. And even if ithad, it would have done me no good, for there were at least two guardsalways stationed at the foot of the stairs, and many more between themand the temple entrance, and even if, by some miraculous intervention, Imade it that far, that left me stranded conspicuously in the center ofNunami. My only hope was to escape from the island completely, for Iwould be found soon enough by the cooperating inhabitants if I remainedupon their own lands.

  The land across the sea then entered my mind, and its degenerateinhabitants, but that was across a wide channel that would be hard tocross even if I had infinite time, freedom, and materials to make a boatwhich would withstand the waves, and I had none of the three. Whatlittle hope I had, then, was out of reach, lost to me like the goldendays of the past. It was then that I was overcome by despondency, thehopelessness of my situation weighing my spirits down. It is a peculiartrait of mine that in times of distress and in situations that seem tohave no possible favorable outcome I act rashly and without reason. Youwill remember how I leaned forward and peered into the dark hole when Iwas stranded on the tiny island in the sea, and how I struck the treewith a limb on the shores of Lake Umquam Renatusum. Likewise, I againdid something which would seem illogical and vain: in my frustration, Ipushed the table that I happened to be standing against with as muchforce as I could muster. It slid softly along the carpeting beforecoming to a halt a few inches from the glass wall. It made no noise orjarring of the floor, but the sudden shifting of weight in the roomcaused the tower to sway once more, as it had when I had run up thestairs to the couch.

  And, as had happen
ed on the previous occasions, the result of mysenseless actions was good, as if guided by some external force, for anidea came suddenly to my mind that would not have been there otherwise,an idea that was outlandish and far-fetched, but was at the time my onlyhope.

  I lost no time on preparing my efforts, for there was none to be lost,and set out immediately to remove the carpeting from the floor. Uponexamination I found that it was not attached to the ground at all, butonly fastened into a wooden frame at the walls that held it tightly inplace. It stretched in a circular fashion around the whole of the roomand into the center until it came to the stairs that led downward, sothat once removed it formed a circle about thirty feet in diameter witha three foot circular hole in its center. In case I haven't mentionedthe type of the carpet yet, which I must confess that I cannot remember,I will do so here: it was not a traditional carpet, that form beingapparently lost after the great wars, instead it was a silky sheet-likecarpet, no more than a quarter inch thick, and in fact greatlyresembling the sail of an old clipper ship, the painting on the glassthat I saw earlier probably attesting to the fact that it had beendesigned with that appearance in mind. Like its prototype, the sail, itcaught a lot of wind and acted in the same general manner.

  Using the bowie knife that was built into the large frontal buckle ofthe anti-electron suit, which, by the way, I was still entirely wearing,I cut the carpet down its center, making two semi-circular pieces, eachwith a moon shaped appearance, much like a wing. I based my idea in parton the observation that the Canitaurs and Zards had apparently lost, ordisregarded, the springs of my time and instead used a hammock ofspringy, elastic cords that spread across the face of the furniture.Simply put, they stretched elastic ropes across an empty frame, almostlike a trampoline made of individual cords. This created a verycomfortable springing feel, for they gave enough bounce to render thesurface pliable, but not overly soft. Taking the bowie knife again, Ithrust it into the couch, and cut away the cushioning to reveal thesupport. To my great relief, I found that it was constructed in a mannersimilar to the other couches that I had seen. There were about two scoreof the cords, each being between three and four feet long. These Iunattached and laid them down in a pile.

  Next, I took the four main support beams for the couch, one runningalong each side and two down the center in a crescent shape, with thesame curve and slope as the carpet, as they were designed to contour thesame wall. Then I disassembled the table and took from it two of itsmain beams, which were about a foot shorter than their curvedcounterparts. These I did not fully remove, instead loosening theirscrews and swiveling them to extend outwards from the table at a rightangle, tightening them again afterwards so that they were secure.

  Once that was accomplished, I went to the frame that had held the carpetdown and took the pins and fasteners which were used to secure it. TheseI placed on the crescent beams from the couch, which used the samestandard size. Once I had secured the carpet sections to the beams, Iattached the couch's beams, via the cords, to the long beams stickingoutward from the table, running the ends of all the cords throughanother cord that could, upon being pulled, adjust their height bypulling or releasing, thus controlling the distance between the upperand the lower beams, and changing the amount of slack in the carpet thatwas stretched between them. I then removed the legs from the tabletop,leaving just it and the beams together, the carpet being attached to thebeams.

  Thus my plan was completed, it being, in case you hadn't guessed, aprimitive hang glider, the carpet being a sail and the beams the wings,the whole being steerable by either raising or lowering one side or theother, and the altitude being adjustable by raising or lowering the twosimultaneously. I felt keen joy at my skills in air travel at thatmoment, and as I stepped back to admire my work, I felt that peculiarsatisfaction of having made something and finding that it was good.

  But that moment was short lived, for another problem quickly presenteditself, namely, how would I remove the hang-glider from the tower andlaunch it. It was far too large to go down the stairs and needed to bepropelled to a high speed or dropped from a high altitude to becomeairborne. Since I had no way of propelling it, I needed to launch itfrom the top of the tower, which provided plenty of altitude, but thenthe problem of how to remove it from the tower arose. For a moment I wasstumped and almost admitted defeat, but then it came to me.

  The tower's only weakness was in its lack of protection against adeliberate rocking motion. If I was able to swing it back and forth fastenough by slowly gaining speed and multiplying the momentum, it would bepossible to get it to lean far enough that the dome would snap off,leaving the room open to the air. This was possible, though ratherunlikely. But I tried anyway.

  Starting on one side I began to move from one edge to the other until afaint rocking motion could be felt. Then I increased my speed inproportion to the speed of the tower itself. It was a slow start, butthe momentum began to grow, and as it did each successive sway becamefaster and faster. Soon it was going so fast that I began to haveunstable footing, the whole tower creaking like a tree that it is blownby a heavy wind. The speed kept increasing until it reached its fastest,swooshing to and fro with all of its accumulated force.

  It was then that the break happened, for on one of the thrusts the topsnapped off and the upper dome was flung downwards to the ground. Assoon as it was off I shoved the hang-glider with all the force I couldmuster towards the edge. At first it fell, but a few feet from the edgeits wings caught the wind and it was brought up to a stable soar, andjust at that instant I landed on it, for I had jumped right after it. Ihit with a thud and felt the craft bounce downwards a little as I hit,but it soon regained its stability and sped on through the air as behindme I heard a great crashing sound.

  I pulled the left wing down and the glider began to turn in thatdirection. Since I had launched into the opposite direction of themainland, I needed to wheel around completely, and as such I held thewing down until I had done an about face towards the east. What I sawwas a striking picture: the sun had just begun to rise, and under theinfluence of its soft textures the city of Nunami looked as it hadbefore: quaint, picturesque, and inviting. But there was a greatdifference now, for the tower itself had completely collapsed under themomentum, and its ruins had fallen down upon the Temple of Time,demolishing it and leaving only ruins. It had also fallen on a strip ofthe city, taking with it several buildings and leaving only rubble. TheKing, Wagner, and Bernibus could just barely be seen amongst the crowdsthat had dashed out of doors to see what was going on, and I could tellthat Bernibus was smiling at my escape as he looked at my wind sailor athousand feet in the air. A friend who rejoices in your advancement,even at his own cost, is rare indeed.

  Turning my gaze upwards, I left Nunami and its troubles behind me andlooked ahead to my promised land, and though it was barren and devoid ofany significant foliage, it still held something equally dear to me aslandscape: safety. The wind currents were strong and my speed was about30 miles per hour. Great expanses of grassland sped by below me like thememories of yesteryear, and within half an hour I found myself over theocean.

  There is something very refreshing about the sunrise that correlatedvery well with my present feeling of emancipation, for it is a symbol ofthe new and fresh, and of the forgetting of the troubles of the past.This was true in my case, at least, for I was soon carefree once more,secure in my freedom. As the wind rushed across my body, I was relaxedin my adopted element, air, though it was slightly difficult to keepmyself firmly on the glider, as I was lying unfastened to the tabletop.Below me passed the ocean, looking generally the same as ever, thoughpaler and less alive, like a ghost of its former self, but still closeenough to bring the calm of reminiscing.

  Soon even the ocean began to give way to the fast approaching mainland,and I abandoned my restive meditations to solve the problem of how toland. I had not made any contraptions for that purpose, having notthought about it in the hurry to leave my prison. I decided to use atraditional circling approach, in th
e same way scavenging birds descendon their prey. When I was a mile or so inland, I began to circle aboutin wide spirals, narrowing them as I drew closer to the ground. In thisway I had slowed down enough by the time I made contact with the groundthat neither I nor my craft was injured in the landing.

  The terrain proved to be as desolate as it had appeared from thedistance, for the main vegetation was a weakly sprouting grass that wasonly a few inches high, though not mowed or chewed down. Every few dozenyards there was a single stunted shrub or small tree, or in some cases agroup of the same, and the spaces between these was littered withscattered rocks and occasionally a smaller, flowering plant. Thetopography of the land was mostly flat, though not in the sense of aplain or savanna, instead it was merely a gentle slope, so that theimmediate area seemed flat, but in the distance it was seen to riseconsiderably. There were also a few small hills that were no more thantwenty feet high across their whole length, but in the obtuse slopes ofthe land, even that seemed to be almost mountainous. Brown was theprevailing color of it all for as far as my eye could see, though Icannot say if that condition prevailed inland further, since I hadforgotten the telescope, which would probably have proved a useful tool.

  A slight wind blew from seaward, scattering the dry top soil about likea cloud of gnats, though there were very few actual insects, and noanimals that I could see. The only sound that I could hear was that ofthe wind howling gently past my ears. I had landed in a sort of valley,which, though not at all deep, was surrounded on all sides by slighthills that prevented me from getting an extensive look at the landscapebeyond. Before making any decisions as to which direction to set off, Idecided to climb to the top of one of these hills to ascertain my exactsituation, and although I was generally reluctant to start off intounfamiliar territory, I also wanted to put as many miles between me andthe coast as possible, in case the Zards and Canitaurs came after me,which was still a cause of great anxiety to me.

  As I rounded the top of the hill that was directly east of my landingpoint, I suddenly came face to face with two small people, gnomes byappearance, one of whom I recognized as being Onan, the Lord of thePast. He greeted me familiarly as 'My Dear Jehu', and introduced me tohis partner, who turned out to be Zimri, the Lord of the Future. Onanwas dressed the same as when I had last seen him, and Zimri was close inappearance, though his hair was long and his beard short, while Onan'swere the opposite. Zimri wore a little blue-green frock that fit rathersnuggly but not enough to be considered tight. I started our ensuingdialog by saying this:

  "I am more than a little surprised to see you upon such good terms withyour rival, Onan," giving Zimri an inquisitive glance as I did. "I hadjust assumed that you two would be bitter enemies, as your followers onDaem seem to be, but I can tell now that that is not at all the case."

  He laughed, as did Zimri, and replied, "We are brothers, and as suchthere is always a strong rivalry, but at the same time there is theclosest bond. There is no real conflict between us, but only a trivialand jovial mock conflict, the kind that means no harm and does none, tothose involved, but rubs off on others who are less informed, who takeit seriously and have a real conflict."

  "What do you mean by that illustration?" I asked.

  "Nothing. Nothing at all," he sighed, "I have said too much already, itis against the rules, you know."

  "Yes, yes, the rules. Tell me, though, how would you say I am doing sofar, am I at least doing fairly?"

  "Of course, Jehu, you are doing excellently."

  "Is it true about the revolutions of time and matter, then?"

  "Yes, in fact, it goes even further than that... Say, Zimri, do youthink it is allowable to tell him about the physical and the spiritualrealms?"

  Zimri said nothing, for he can say nothing, but he did nod his head inthe affirmative. Thus sanctioned by his brother, Onan continued tospeak, "Well, you know that physical existence is comprised of time andmatter, and that both of these are involved in a revolving motion, fromthe minutest foundations to the largest additions. While they both arerevolving within themselves, they are also revolving together, around anenigma which, as other of the centers, is completely devoid of the thingwhich revolves around it, but is found plentifully in them. In the caseof matter, it revolves around a black hole, in which there is not foundany matter, but there are places of emptiness inside of the matter, infact, most of an atom is empty space. In the case of time, it revolvesaround eternity, an enigma where there is no such thing as time, even asthere are certain areas where no time exists in physical existence, suchas a book. Likewise, physical existence, which is a combination of timeand matter, revolves around a place in which there is no physicalexistence, namely, the spiritual realm. There is no physical in thespiritual, but there is spiritual in the physical. Physical existence isnot whole without the spiritual, which binds it together in such a waythat gives it life, the ability to think and reason.

  "There is spiritual matter in everything, but it cannot be seen orsensed physically unless it is revealed to one by a force on thespiritual side. Or rather, it cannot be understood unless revealed, forit can always be seen through its effects. By this I mean that it leavesa trace in the physical realm, like a jellyfish that leaves a glowingtrail in its wake. When the brain of a human thinks, it is not theactual brain that is thinking, instead it is the spiritual matter thatexists in the brain, and this spiritual matter leaves a trail where itgoes of electric signals and such. When someone feels a certain emotion,such as love or depression, it is felt in the spiritual realm, but itstraces are seen in the physical, such as certain chemicals, but theseare not the cause of the emotion, only the effect of them. It ispossible, through certain drugs, to induce varying emotions, such ashappiness or laughter, but these are not the actual emotions, only theirphysical counterparts, so that while it appears to be happiness, it isnot, like the shadow of a man in a field: his form keeps the light fromstriking the ground beside him, but the shadow is not him, only thetrace of him. Making a shadow like the man does not make the man, onlythe appearance of the man. While the how of a situation may be inferredthrough physical means, the why is an entirely spiritual matter, and anyattempt to observe life without taking into account the spiritual matterbehind it will end in the same result as evolution, as the scientists ofyour day generally imagined it, but which was, in fact, devolution.

  "The laws of the physical realm are called science, such as the factthat energy and matter are neither created or destroyed in any naturalor artificial process, or that everything left to itself tends towarddisorder, or that life cannot come from non-life by natural orartificial processes. The laws of the spiritual realm are calledmorality. You have no doubt observed that when one does a certain thing,the end result is always good, and when one does something else, the endresult is always bad. That is because there are spiritual laws thatgovern life, and just as there is gravity on the earth that always pullsthings down to it, so there is a spiritual law that whenever someonesteals something, the result is suffering for both of the partiesinvolved. Just as it is a physical law that man must have oxygen tolive, so it is a spiritual law that when someone murders another the endresult is always suffering. Why is this, one may ask, but that is afoolish question, or at least a pointless one, for the law of gravitystates that on the earth, all things fall downward towards the center ofgravity, there is no reason why, except that it is, for it is observedcontinually to be the case.

  "Since men cannot accept that there is a power over them, they deny it,and in the process they misinterpret the various things of life asphysical things, not the spiritual things that they represent. Forinstance, love: men in many "advanced," that is to say, self-obsessed,civilizations, view it only in its physical materializations, but not inits spiritual context. When they see the results of love, romanceespecially, they do not understand that the romance is only the fruit ofthe spiritual essence of love, but instead think that the romance islove. There can be so-called romance on the physical level without itsspiritual counterpart
, but it is only the shadow of love, which willnever fulfill and will never be complete, because, by definition, it isonly a mocking of the true force of love. On the other hand, trueromance is not, as some would seem to think, a certain action or set ofactions, such as the gift of a precious metal or some colorful piece offoliage, instead it is whatever is the result of the spiritual love, forthe physical manifestation of the spiritual essence of love is notconfined to certain objects or actions, but to any that are sanctionedwith its blessings. The daily toil of a poor man shows far more lovethan a lavish gift from a rich man."

  When he had finished, I gave him a big grin and thanked him for hislecture, and then asked him how it was that this did not break therules, but other things did. To this he replied that it affected my taskonly indirectly, while the other things were all direct concomitants.Then he asked me if I had any other questions for him, and I repliedthat I did indeed have one. Which was as follows, "I know that there wasa great war directly after my departure from my native temporal zone,and that it was very devastating in its reach and effect, and while Iknow that the situation was very tense at the time, I was under theimpression that it was starting to cool down once more. What was it thatset it all off?"

  "The disappearance of an American fighter jet off the coast of China,"he replied straight-forwardly.

  My interest was suddenly aroused, for that was the very section where mysquadron was stationed, and anyone who was lost would have been a closefriend of mine. "Go on," I told him.

  "The Americans claimed that it was shot down by the Chinese, anddemanded an official apology. That the Chinese would not do, insistingthat they had done no such thing, and instead of the whole situationdiffusing, as you thought it would, both sides proceeded to warstubbornly, each thinking itself in the moral superiority. But that isas always."

  "Do you have any idea whose ship it was that went down? They were all mycomrades," I said.

  "Of course I know, Jehu, for it was your plane."

  "But how? I wasn't shot down, I crash landed on an island."

  "But you came to me and I sent you here, and since your radios went out,they had no idea that you were safely landed."

  "Still, they must have found the plane!"

  "No, you know perfectly well that those islands are brought above andbelow sea level at different times. After you left, the island wasbrought below the water, and your plane was lost in the sea, no traceswere found."

  I was confused, "Onan, does that mean that I was the cause of the war?"

  "From a certain point of view, yes."

  He was about to say something else to me when we saw in the distance agroup of about ten Munams coming toward us, being at that time a fewmiles away. He then told me that he must leave me again for the present,as he could not interfere directly with my mission. They bid me goodbyeand I did the same to them, and then they walked down the opposite sideof the hill that the Munams were approaching from. As they walked, theyslowly disappeared, until they were gone without a trace, for even theirfootprints had faded to nothing.

  During the time between Onan and Zimri's departure and the Munam'sarrival, I was left to myself for a period of inward meditation, anactivity that you have probably concluded that I am often given to,which is entirely the case. This new revelation was very troubling tome, that somehow I was the very cause of the destruction of humanityduring the great wars, while also the kinsman redeemer over 500 yearslater, who was prophesied to be the one to bring humanity back intobalance with nature, or to thrust it forever off the edge of existenceinto the damnation of the ice ages. As I told you in the beginning, I amwritten in the pages of history as the destroyer of humanity, though ifit is just or not, I am not able to judge. The name of Jehu will foreverbe a ripple on the surface of the waters of life, and when it is heardor spoken, the only feeling that it will bring will be hatred anddisgust. If only mortals could see below the surface of the waters oflife, for just as the ocean can be deceiving on its surface, so canlife. Time is like an ocean, but when one looks upon it, what oftenhappens is that all one sees is the present reflected back in itssurface, and the eyes are shielded from what lies below, focusinginstead on the surface, which is so trivial compared to the abyss whichsupports it. When one only sees the surface reflected back, then historyand its wisdom lose their meaning, and one sees not the past but onlythe present. What I mean is this: if you look to the past to justifyyour actions rather than to guide them, you will not see the truthscontained therein, but only what your presuppositions already werebefore you looked, and your ignorance will be reinforced rather thanrepudiated. Wisdom is the ability to see the past separate from thepresent, but when one sees the destruction of humanity, he will see onlyme, his vision being shielded from the true cause of it all, history.

  The actions or inactions of one solitary soul cannot bring the end oflife, only the accumulation of the wrongs and injustices of a wholerace, the human race. Forever I will be eyed as the assassin ofhumanity, and yet that is not the truth at all, for I am the father ofhumanity, I am the beginning as well as the end. If you view me only asone or the other, you do not see me at all, but only a pale shadow of mytrue self. I am Jehu, past, present, and future, I am the concentrationof humanity in all its forms and reproductions, I am the creator anddestroyer of every age of this temporal maze. Why am I the defender andexecutioner of the race of men? Why am I the protagonist and antagonistof humanity? Why am I the father and the son, the beginning and the end?Such a question is futile to ask in the physical realm, for here thereare no answers to the why's, they are only to be found in the spiritualrealm. The physical realm is left only with the how's, and it is thosewhich I am attempting to clarify.

  Chapter 12: The White Eagle