Shroud of Doom
Page 1
Shroud of Doom
Book 2 of the
Tarizon Saga
by
William Manchee
Top Publications, Ltd.
Dedication
The Tarizon Saga is dedicated to my grandchildren, Joshua, Alex, Isabella, and Andrew. They are too young to understand them now but, hopefully, will enjoy these adventures when they get older.
Tarizon: Shroud of Doom
Volume 2
Tarizon Saga
© COPYRIGHT
William Manchee
2013
Cover Design by Dan Silverman
Top Publications, Ltd.
Dallas, Texas
ISBN 978-1-935722-88-5
No part of this book may be published or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or information storage and retrieval systems without the express written permission of the publisher.
This work is a novel and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
Prelude
Tarizon’s historical manuscripts claimed there was a much larger and greater human civilization far away in another galaxy. It was said that these humans occupied a planet called Pharidon and that their civilization was so advanced that people there sometimes lived nearly a thousand Earth-years. Consequently, Pharidon became overcrowded and the planet’s natural resources could not support the growing population. When the situation became critical explorers began searching for other inhabitable planets where their citizens could relocate. One of these groups of explorers came to Tarizon and another to Earth.
It is believed that these settlers brought with them many animals, plants, insects, and other organisms from Pharidon. They were raised and nurtured by the first settlers and then released to live and evolve on their own. Although Earth and Tarizon were settled about the same time and brought with them Pharidon’s advanced technology, their civilizations developed quite differently. At the time of Tarizon’s Unification it was the early twentieth century on Earth. While Earth was about to experience its first World War, Tarizon had already endured seven and was about to embark on one last world war that would destroy 80% of the planet’s population.
During this time Tarizon was divided into thirty-one separate nations. These nations had been fighting amongst themselves for thousands of cycles, a cycle being Tarizon’s equivalent of an Earth-year. In the twenty cycles before the adoption of the Supreme Mandate millions of soldiers and civilians had lost their lives and much of the infrastructure of the planet had been destroyed. From out of the rubble a peace movement was born led by a charismatic holy man named Sandee Branh. Sandee had been elected Chief Minister of Lyon, the largest nation of Tarizon. Sandee claimed as a child that God had chosen him to save Tarizon from self-destruction.
When Sandee was a boy he lived with his parents in Lecton which is situated on the continent of Azallo. They were poor farmers who barely survived in the barren land that is characteristic of that part of the world. Sandee was eleven years old and had no brothers or sisters. He had to hike many kylods, Tarizon’s equivalent of an Earth-mile, every day to go to school and when he returned home in the afternoon there were many chores to be done before he could have dinner and go to bed.
It was a time of near anarchy. Lecton was at war with its neighbor, Serie. Soldiers from both sides often raided each other’s territory and plundered and pillaged everything in their path. One day the A while farm was overrun and Sandee’s parents were murdered. Sandee himself would have been killed except that he was on an errand for his father when the soldiers came. When he returned home, he was devastated to find that he’d lost everything that was precious to him.
Unknown to Sandee the soldiers had left two men behind to be sure they’d taken everything of value. When these men saw Sandee they vowed to kill the last witness to their murderous venture, but God had other plans. Upon seeing the men Sandee fled along the river trying to outrun them, but they were stronger and faster and soon overtook him. This is when the rhutz appeared.
A rhutz, to an Earth-human, would look similar to a wolf. But the Rhutz, besides being ferocious hunters, also had strong telepathic and telekinetic abilities which made them formidable adversaries. Fortunately, the Rhutz had always been peaceful and kept to themselves, but they were proud and had strong survival instincts. If they were pushed they would not only stand their ground but punish those who challenged them.
The rhutz came out of the brush and nearly ripped off one of the soldier’s legs. The other soldier tried to shoot the rhutz but couldn’t get a clear shot. He finally decided to flee while he had the chance, but after the rhutz finished off the first soldier he went for the second. The second soldier never had a chance.
This is when God appeared to Sandee who was lying on the bank of the river in great shock and sorrow over the death of his parents. God told Sandee that he’d been one of many victims of the evil that was choking Tarizon. He told him He wanted him to bring peace and justice to Tarizon and that He would give him the strength and power to do it. Of course, this eleven year old boy was shocked and confused at this. Nobody believed him at first when he told them God had spoken to him, but the rhutz staying with him and becoming a constant companion gave his story credence. There were other miracles too and within a few years it was clear that God was indeed with this boy and he quickly became renowned for his intelligence and wisdom.
From the day He first appeared to him, Sandee devoted his life to spreading God’s message of peace and unity. Sandee told his followers that the petty national governments should be scrapped in favor one worldwide authority. Since so many were weary of war and feared the destruction of civilization on the planet if something wasn't done, Sandee's movement gathered momentum until there was enough support to call a World Council.
At the World Council, representatives from all of the thirty-one nations hammered out the Supreme Mandate and then called for a worldwide referendum to ratify it. All of the nations agreed to abide by the decision of the people. If the Supreme Mandate was ratified by a majority of its citizens, each nation agreed to subject itself to the World Council and abide by the Supreme Mandate. The World Council set the referendum date off six cycles to allow plenty of time for debate. On the day of the referendum nearly seventy percent of the population voted and the Supreme Mandate was ratified by sixty-one percent of the popular vote.
The government was called Central Authority and it ruled in accordance with the Supreme Mandate which guaranteed the right to assemble, to speak freely, to vote, and a fair trial for those accused of crimes against the public. It abolished slavery and provided many other civil liberties as well.
Unfortunately, Central Authority was initially only able to maintain order in the major cities of Tarizon. Huge domes had been constructed over these large cities so water and air could be filtered and purified. A controlled environment allowed the urban population to go about their daily lives without protective clothing and fear of radiation poisoning. Some areas outside of the domes were governed by local town councils or regional governments who were pledged to uphold the Supreme Mandate but only loosely controlled by Central Authority. Much of the rural area had no government and a state of anarchy persisted.
The dominant populations of these rural areas were mutants who hadn’t enjoyed the protection from radiation that the domes provided and suffered the consequences. Whereas there were some mutants in the domed cities, the
vast majority were unspoiled humans. Two political parties emerged during this time, the Purists and the Loyalists. The Purists represented the unspoiled humans who believed they were superior to the mutants and all other life-forms on Tarizon and should rule over them. Their opponents, the Loyalists, considered themselves loyal to the intentions of those who had written the Supreme Mandate. They believed all life-forms, tainted or not, were protected by the Supreme Mandate and should be treated equally.
It’s now 25 AU (after unification) in the City of Vaceen, State of Tributon, on the continent of Lemaine Shane. Vaceen is a small city ruled by its Town Council.