“I have a book,” said the man.
“What kind?” the boy asked.
“You will see,” the man answered. He gave it to the boy.
It was a dusty old tome, bound by ancient binding. The letters gold and embossed, they were withered, but at one time glowed with a shimmer, similar to the golden statues of the gods of old.
The boy opened it with the man’s urging. What he saw was no mere book, it was a key to knowledge, revealing secrets about the world around him. A world called Rhea.
He saw the One, the All, The High God.
He witnessed the birth of the Twin Goddesses, Araylea and Salome.
He saw them fashion the world.
He saw them create their messengers, the Ahura.
He saw them create the Twelve Tribes, the peoples and beings of Rhea.
He saw them give magic to the First Wizards.
All was good until Salome falsely believed she had been betrayed by those she loved. Out of her jealously and anger, she became the Dark Goddess, summoning her hatred, cursing the world. It came like a black cloud, a shadow over the land and what was once mortal was doomed to die.
And with Salome’s curse came death.
He saw Salome promise her followers that her magic would extend their lives. With that came the first converts to Salome’s cause. She wanted to conquer Rhea and make it her own. She made the first pact with the Dark Lord Sargon.
She created demons. Some had wings. Some were made of darkness. Some looked human and others did not. There were demons that looked like crows, the same height as humans, they had claws for hands, and wore hooded cloaks. Their magic, dark and vile.
There were demons who were pale and skeletal. Their hands also like claws, they had one eye, wearing tattered black rags that seemed to stick to their skin with a putrid slime, they stank of death. Their mouths were gaping holes, forever frozen as if they were screaming, their teeth razor sharp. They ate the flesh of the living and the dead.
Finally, Araylea the Goddess of Light in an attempt to save Rhea, created the Rule of Reincarnation. No soul would live just one life but would reincarnate as many times as it had to, before purifying itself. Only a pure soul can enter the Realm of Ten Thousand Joys.
She cheated Salome.
He saw them go to war.
He saw them kill one another. Through Araylea’s sacrifice the Rule of Reincarnation, became a reality.
Afterwards he saw an ahura bless a chosen sorcerer with a sacred staff. He chose a knight to become her warrior.
The sorcerer and the knight faced Sargon the Dark Lord, defeating him.
Then the High God chose a prophet.
And this prophet said that one day the goddesses would return.
Salome would return in the form of a new evil and Araylea would return in the form of a savior. But only time would tell which of the two would be the victor of their final battle.
And so, it was that the boy saw the history of his world. The history of Rhea. A world of magic and memory.