by Peter Hartz
“Additionally, if there was only one video, only one source for footage of the… Minotaur, it would be easier to say it was faked. But there are just as many clips of the creature on the Internet, and every one of them is from a different perspective, because they all were shot by different people. Not to mention, footage from multiple cameras from the mall security monitoring system also shows the creature. While not as close up, obviously, the footage from those cameras is completely consistent with the other videos online, and all of it overlaps. The creature is real. And, apparently, is highly intelligent and speaks excellent English.”
“Hmmm. Ok, I have no idea what to do with that situation. What about the other being that you are talking about from that same mall?”
“Well, you’ve seen the footage?” The President nodded.
“I don’t have any idea what to make of it, or of her. This Goddess, this Anaradelle, is also some unknown being that we don’t have any information about.”
“Has anyone done a search to see if the name has been mentioned in anything or anywhere in myth or legend anywhere on the Web?” The President’s question was anticipated, and Kirkpatrick nodded.
“I sent requests over to the NSA and the Smithsonian, and they came back saying there was nothing anyone could find anywhere. We sent some people over to the Library of Congress to see if there was anything in any ancient literature, but that will take some time. Usually, we will see something on the Web if there is anything to discover. This Anaradelle seems to be a mystery.”
The president started to speak up, when the room began to glow. The glow localized to one area beside the main desk in the room, and when the glow disappeared a brief moment later, the Goddess herself was standing there, looking over the men in the room.
“What place is this? And why have you been speaking about me?” The voice was gentle, and filled the room with the feeling of warmth and comfort.
The four secret service agents stationed in the room were in motion towards the President when the glow appeared, and had just started to pull him aside and towards the nearest door, when Anaradelle spoke.
The President stopped the men from pulling him from the room, and turned to face the newcomer. She was dressed the same way as she had appeared in the video footage they had seen, and her incredibly beautiful face and deepest blue eyes seemed to mesmerize everyone in view.
“Who are you?” The words came from Attorney General Glickh, and he seemed to be speaking before he was aware of it.
“I am Anaradelle, the Goddess of Children, Fertility, and Nature. I am here to restore my order to the peoples of this plane. For thousands of years, your people have had no Gods and no Magic. You have also not had a voice to the Elven Throne to help you resolve your differences with your fellow humans. I am here to restore the Elven Queen as your arbiter as well.”
The men of the room all started talking at once, except for the President. His eyes narrowed, and he held up his hand to the other men, without saying a word.
“You are telling me, telling us, that we are supposed to be subjects of the Elven Queen? The one that was seen at the Mall of America earlier today?”
“No, I am saying that you are supposed to have the Elven Throne to help you in your troubles with your fellow men. If you refuse to allow The Elven Throne to help you, then the being on that throne will ask the Gods to sit in judgement of the conflict and decide who shall prevail. Of course, the Gods may resolve your differences a way of their choosing and disregard mortal counsel, including having your mortal lives ended so you may start anew in the next life, thus giving you a chance to get back on the Path. That is the purpose of this existence here on this plane: to mature mortal souls so that they may ascend to the next plane where you continue your travels on the Great Path of the Soul.”
Shocked silence filled the room for a while; then President Morrison spoke up once more.
“We do not believe in you or your Great Path of the Soul. We believe that when we die, if we have been good and followed God’s teachings, we ascend to Heaven, where we live out our eternal lives in God’s love and grace.”
“Your disbelief is childish and blind, and is based in false beliefs in an equally false God that has been dreamed up by leaders desperate to control humans for gold and power. The True Gods are here to make sure you follow the Path. If you do not believe in this life, you obviously need to see the House Between Worlds for yourself, when next you die, and learn what you must before starting over in another mortal life,” Anaradelle said matter-of-factly, in a tone of voice that might be used to lecture a wayward child. More than one man in the room bristled at the woman’s attitude, but no one had any idea what to do about it. Or about this woman who had appeared in the room when they had said her name.
Anaradelle looked at the mortals in front of her, and sighed internally. She was certain that they did not believe in her. And that wouldn’t do. She allowed the full force of her presence to come to the fore, something to which she rarely resorted. To the mortals in the room, it was as if her glow was suddenly as bright as the sun. It could be overwhelming for the weak minded, but this one man in front of her was a leader of his people, no matter how he had come to it. He must know his place in the way of Gods and mortals. It could not be any other way, if her will would be obeyed.
The President, the two senior senators, an aide to the President, and the several Secret Service agents in the room were suddenly overwhelmed as the woman began to glow. Every sense, even every bit of exposed skin suddenly was overloaded with sensory input as the ancient Goddess held nothing back for a moment. The men in front of her cried out, and fell to their knees, then to the floor, just as she held back and restored the hold upon her presence once more.
“My children, you must understand. My Will must be. As a Deus, I have a responsibility to do what is best for you, as you follow your soul’s immortal path to reincarnation and ascension. There can be no other way.” The men groaned as the pressure abated and they struggled to come to grips with what had just happened.
The doors flew open as other men entered the room, summoned by the sound of people in distress. The President was first back to his feet, followed by the others, and shock at the experience took his voice from him for a time. Then he found it again, and spoke up while half the other occupants of the room turned to the men that had just stormed into the room, waving them off, before turning back to the woman who still glowed, but only at a fraction of before.
“For the moment, I am willing to accept that you are... something more than human. You certainly appear to be a mortal human woman, but that was the most incredible experience I have ever had. But it brings up a question; several, in fact.”
“Ask your questions, mortal child. I may answer them.”
“What are we to you? Toys? Pawns? Ignorant children who must be led around by the nose until we do what you say?”
“You are impertinent, human. I was old before the first human left his cave to plant seed and herd beasts for food. I am a Deus, and I have been given dominion over mortals so that they might learn and grow. Nothing will turn me aside from that which I know I must do. Each of your mortal lives is simply a brief spark against the light of time. It is only after you live many lives on this plane that your soul begins to have wisdom. Then it is time for your soul to ascend to the next plane on the Great Path of the Soul, and continue onwards once again. Deus such as I are placed in dominion over mortal children to ensure that you follow the Path.”
The President thought about it for a moment as his Secret Service detail shifted uneasily, uncomfortable with this strange being in the presence of the man they whose safety was the most important thing in their lives. But it was obvious as they looked around the room at each other that none of them knew what to do. The default position they fell into was to wait and see, while no overt or threatening moves were being made by the strange glowing woman. But they slowly closed up the distance to their President, moving their posit
ions ever closer until they had effectively encircled him. He moved slightly more towards the center of the open space in front of the desk to make their job easier, while they, in turn, moved somewhat subtly to try to place themselves in between their Primary and the strange woman that had somehow invaded one of the most heavily guarded locations in the country, or anywhere on Earth.
Anaradelle saw what they were doing. She understood that these people had no idea what she was, let alone who she was, and responding to it, while logical, was completely pointless. She was an ancient, immortal being of immense power, and nothing they could do would stop her if she was here to harm their leader. And he must be an important leader, indeed, if he was protected in this manner. Most human kings she dealt with, especially on the west side of the bigger continent of Delara’s plane, had guards that protected their liege, but not from her. Whether from knowledge of how pointless it truly was, or out of concern at insulting her, she never bothered to determine.
This one, however, and his guards, had no such understanding, and she amused by it, much like an adult might be amused by watching the antics of very young children. Or young goats.
“What if what we want runs counter to what you think we should be doing?” The question came out calmly, without emotion, much the way one might ask what one thought of the weather.
“You must learn to bend your knee and your will to what I say. I am a Goddess. I know what is best for you. I have directed and shaped your kind for many thousands of years. And I have watched souls come and go to the House Between Worlds, and spend time in the Land of the Dead.”
“You would force us to behave the way you want? What about free will? What about having the right to choose our fate, even if it is something that you don’t agree with?”
Anger and frustration colored the Goddess’s face slightly as she stared at the human in front of her. No mortal had the right to challenge her in this manner.
“You do not have the right to free will, nor the right to choose your fate. Your Path is chosen for you. You must obey that which is told to you. You are a child to me, and children are expected to follow the wishes of those who know best for them!” Her voice raised in anger at the last sentence.
“If we do not have free will, and the right to choose our fate, then anything we do must be what the Gods want us to do, since we are not choosing it for ourselves. So according to your statement, I could go out today and order my military to use weapons of mass destruction on every major city across the globe and kill billions of people, and make every city I destroy unlivable for hundreds of years, and it would be the right thing to do, because we cannot choose a path other than what the Gods have set out for us. Is that what you are saying?”
The words came out calmly, in the tone of voice of a man making a simple statement, and the Goddess was taken aback by the argument and how complex the logic was in the statement. She was about to speak up, to try to form an argument against the horrific statement he had made, but he continued.
“I don’t have any way of knowing for sure if what you say about yourself is true, but let’s say that you are hundreds of thousands of years old, for the sake of argument. And also, let’s just accept for a moment that you are in fact a Goddess. To anyone, especially an immortal such as yourself, any mortal who would live a hundred years would seem like a child to you, even one who lived to be a thousand years.
“But I am not a child to the people of this country who have chosen me to serve them in this office, and to serve the other human mortals living on this planet. I am an adult, and as an adult, I am expected to make choices for myself; to choose my own destiny, to decide my own fate. And I am expected to live with the consequences, both good and bad, of the decisions I make and the actions I take. Moreover, I have been elected to make decisions for the fate of our nation, and the citizens and people that live here, all three hundred and thirty million plus of them.
“You say that you know what is best for us. I disagree. I say that you have no perspective on our lives or anything about us, and therefore have no idea what is the right thing for us to be doing. When was the last time you had anything to do with the people of this planet? How many thousands of years ago was it that you last set foot on this planet, and talked to the people here, to learn what their lives were like? And have you ever asked any mortal what they wanted or needed in their lives?”
Anaradelle had no words to respond to the statements this human was making. It simply was not part of her makeup any longer, if it had ever been, to consider an opposing viewpoint, and because of her humble beginnings and the much simpler nature of mortals when she was ascended to godhood, Anaradelle lacked the mental skillset and experience to work her way through what was being said to her, and to comprehend the messages and the meanings behind them that she was receiving. It had been too long since a mortal had ever challenged her on an intellectual basis, and she was not prepared to fundamentally change enough to have that happen now.
“You will obey the Gods. Or you will suffer your fates.” The words were ominous, and as cold as the depths of space.
“If your advice is not in our best interests, we will not obey. If you try to force us, we will fight you. And, if we suffer the fates you make for us, the consequences of that fate will be on your head and the heads of those Gods and Goddesses too arrogant to consider other points of view that clash with their thinking. I will not take ownership of something that I have no control over.
“This country was founded on the right to think for ourselves, and to determine the path our lives will take. We have fought wars against foreign powers and even against ourselves to defend that right for us and for others in this world that were not able to do so for themselves.
“One of our states has a motto: Live Free or Die. It means that I would rather die fighting to be free, than to live for one moment as a slave to someone else who will only tell us how we are expected to behave, and give no consideration to our lives and our desires to be free and choose our own destiny.
“Every man to hold this office in the more than two hundred and thirty years since the founding of this country has taken the same oath when they take up the mantle of responsibility that comes with it: ‘I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ The Constitution of the United States of America is our most sacred document of state. It defines us, and establishes a framework for the Rule of Law, not the Rule of Man, nor the Rule of God. It clearly intends and states that all men, women, and children of this country are subject to those laws in an equal way – no one is above the laws of the land.
“Additionally, this country was founded on the principle of Freedom of Religion, which states that all men shall be free to follow whatever religion they believe in. To ensure that all religions are treated equally, we do not have an official state religion, so that one religion may not be preferred or required over any other. This also means that we do not allow leaders to use religious doctrine to decide the secular fate of our citizens.”
The President was finding the entire situation he was in to be impossible, but that did not lessen his belief that what he was saying was right. Before Anaradelle could interject, he continued.
“We raise armies of volunteers from our citizens, train them, and give them the greatest weapons and tools of war this world has ever known, to defend our citizens and our way of life; our right to be the masters of our own fate.
“The Armed Forces of this country also swear an oath when they take up the responsibility of the safety of this country: ‘I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Cod
e of Military Justice, so help me God.’
“Should you attempt to force us to change who we are, or to take away our free will to decide our fate and destiny, you would be an enemy of this country and our way of life, and we will fight you every step of the way. And if we die, we shall die knowing that we have done what is right, just like the millions of young men and women who, in the history of our country, have fought for and died to protect and defend our freedom and our right to self-determination and free will.”
The Goddess stood almost in awe of this human, this mortal leader, as he spoke to her in a way she had not heard since the last time she set foot on this plane. He was a child of only a few score summers, and yet he made his arguments as eloquently as any Deus she had ever heard. And some small part inside her was horrified at his statement that hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, had died to defend this country and the beliefs of those that lived here, at the orders of humans like this one in front of her. A small part of her wondered if it was something about this plane that caused such humans to come into being.
But the message this man made to her confounded her. She could not find the words to refute his statements, and his convictions seemed to be honorable and selfless. Even his aura showed that he was not fundamentally evil. She sighed internally. This was not going well.
“I shall go about into this world and, as is my Divine Right, impose My Will upon these mortals as I see fit, in their best interests. Those that oppose me shall receive none of the blessings I have for them.” And she simply vanished as if she was never there in the first place, startling the occupants of the Oval Office once more.