(SXWC) Crossroads

The Fall

Hundreds and hundreds of years after their empire had fallen...
The Mayans had prayed for a stronger God, and had sacrificed many, the blood had flown across their stone alters, a homage to death, in exchange for the promise of eternal life.
Always they prayed, to the Sun, the brightness, the energy and the warmth, and yet had sacrificed, to offer life to the great ones, in exchange for their own survival.
They had made great pyramids, carted stones hundreds of miles along the old trade ways, worked their slaves to the ground to pay homage, almost crushed their own empires, mined gold and turquoise, rubies and priceless gems, just glittering trinkets for the rulers.
Their Gods remembered them, yet always they prayed for a more powerful God, one that would help them reshape reality itself, let them have ultimate, unlimited power, more than the Philosophers stone, more than miracles, more than the wishes from a fickle Jin, true eternal power.
Then white men came, from across the sea, bringing with them a more powerful God, a better God, a God of Wrath, warfare, gunpowder and science, the wheel and the horse and the disease as a weapon, but the God the white people brought along was a different God to the one the white people prayed to in their homelands...

Conquistadors...

All that mattered was money, greed, slaves, humans became a commodity, lesser citizens enslaved to the better, but what was better and what was worse, who defined that, the slaves or the owners?
There was no mercy, no kindness towards a brother, naught but hatred and villainy, in the name of a so-called superior civilization, what did superior truly mean?
They came from across the sea, they came in ships with white sails, built by the makers, designed for perfect voyaging, trade, commerce, and communication, yet lined with cannons, from a place where war was rampant, and sometimes might was right.
Here, far away from the laws of the homelands, might became right, the way of the gun meant more than a smile, and that was the corruption that grew.
They had fought over God before, Christian might versus the Moors, and had bested many, now they were fighting against heathens, no time for culture, no time to learn, just to ravage and kill and steal the gold, burning and looting the histories of the ancients, no respect, and no care.

The curse...

After the white man\'s God came, the Spanish conquistadors, bringing with them horses and disease, small pox, rape and pillage, but an end to the sacrifices, the old warlocks of the Mayans, they placed a curse on all if they ever lost their right to rule, that when the stars aligned, and the planets too, empires would fall, plagues would come, the four horsemen and more, the death to the spirit world, the oldest booby trap, and white mans devil laughed and helped them set the booby trap.
The God they wanted, they thought was gone, so they sought the devils help, and he promised, a Dead hand system, one fueled by the power of God itself; "If your empire falls, we will kill those who come next,” but the devil never finished his statement; “And help them topple your empire, help them trigger your bomb.”

The system was set for December 21st, 2012, the alignment, pure energy channeled, and like all energy, the capacity to help and harm interwoven.

Rediscovering the past...

An article in National Geographic several years ago; a man explores an ancient sacrificial well, a bodies found at the bottom, wealth, riches, turquoise and gold. Deep skin diving, water, one thinks of the desert, of the high mountains, less so of the jungles, the deep, 80 meters down they find something, a Rosetta stone almost, symbols and language, the solar system laid out, then back one, the galaxy, then back one, the many, then back one, the big bang, then back one...
No one had ever seen that far back, the archaeologist didn't see that then, but the truth was there.

(Continues, 1 of 3)

[edit on 15-4-2009 by pandorashope]

Like a computer with BIOS date 1996, wanting to work out what happened in 1995, while being inside the computer... BIOS date = 14 billion years ago, but what happened before the BIOS date...
The archaeologist never quite knew what he was holding, but someone else saw the photo of the artifact, and knew.
He'd seen the signs, revelations, a translator of the ancient languages, yet no-one listened.
The Gods had told the Mayans then, told them of many things, told them of man's free will, man's choices, but what is a choice if not biased? Virus said the bias was that a sentient being would be in favour of survival of sentient life, remove that bias, sentient beings said that was ridiculous, but for some reason the game was sickly even.

The time scales, they showed a choice, 2012, a choice, free will, mans will, good and evil intertwined in the hearts of man, one way went somewhere and the other nowhere.


“I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good, or to do evil, to save or destroy life?”

Luke, 6:9, New Testament


Maybe, 2012 meant something different once, before the curse, the Messiah returning, humanity entering a new age, learning and growing, truly prospering, but there was too much cruelty, and the old curse came a knew, tilted towards death where before there had been life; simply one ancient rulers choices, made again and anew, nothing was different, for the devils temptation, so hard to oppose when one was wished to think like a demon in service to death.

After the curse, their Gods told them, of the end times, when reality would become diseased, sick, the virus devil breaking through, perfect logic, because small pox ran on perfect logic, as does the heart beat of a baby, but one was worth having and one wasn't, it took sentience to prove that though.

Before the curse, the interpretation was different, more open ended, but actions sometimes have consequences, and sometimes those consequences ripple, an echo that goes silent over time, something into nothing.

The lead up, 2008

Nothing much had changed, the old ways powers had ebbed, psychic emanations ceasing, hard logic replacing, the equation had changed, 2 + 2 = 4 and death over life, the repercussions were immense, the old curses, power flowed to the death, but the people felt nothing, only the best psychics, feeling death where life had used to be, murder and crime and theft, a flow towards, like a river diverted, where once there was myriads of life, now stagnant waters and disease. Mankind barely noticed, kept on living, people brought their groceries, even as God grew cold to the ways of man, forgot love, and man turned on mans brother, no trust where trust had been, and the ripples continued, the dark, began to overpower the light, hatred overpowered love, but the problem was ancient, for some reason only the evil was felt, even as the world tried to change, but so many wanting a better world and yet still turning the keys to the ignition on their cars, burning petrol, a little road rage here, irritation there, and the cycle of violence grew, and the world turned towards darkness.

2012

The calamity...
The calamity was social, just a little toxin, hatred, more hatred, less resources, bickering, fighting, the last barrel of oil was still 20 years away but they weren't investing enough in renewable energy, though many had protested, “NO WAR!” “Leave Iraq!” “Legalise Drugs!” “Renewable over Oil!” the big money interests didn't change their attitudes, that was just one little ripple, and the old demons, the ones who had begged for the curse to be placed, laughed, and said “Further!” always pushing further, always pushing towards death, and even as a good man looked at his own child and wondered why he didn't love, yet gave comfort anyhow, the devil howled.
The whole planet felt it, felt death overpowering life, the darkness worth more than the light, even as the darkness saw not...

Continues, 2 of 3

The curse was unlimited, not just planet wide, but across all, across the backbone of reality.
While physicists were still examining impossible galaxies that had to be possible, the backbone of life itself was being eaten, and the curse was just another excuse for the hunger, the greed that devours all, every control panel, every sickness,
Not much happened in 2012, that anyone noticed, well, some did, but life... Life was deteriorating, and there was little time to change the equation, though ninety nine out of a hundred sentients agreed, 'life is worth having and two and two is four,' the one in the hundred, the Deadhand virus liar, always disagreed, and reality seemed to be sliding towards avenging the ancient deaths...
The calamity should never have happened, reality should have opened up heaven, helped to heal rather than encourage the evil karma, but people never learn in time.
When the weapons of pure subatomic molecular get turned on, the power of God, sometimes Sodom and Gomorrah, sometimes Mana from Heaven, sometimes nothing where there was something, sometimes something incredible, sometimes reality adjusts before reality arrives.

End, 3 of 3

Hmm, interesting. You evidently put a lot more thought in to the whole thing than me.

I also like the only implied disaster, it makes quite a comparison to actually describing the event.

Good story my friend, Thanks for contributing. I hope you do well in the contest.

wupy

Hate and greed as a sickness, a curse from the ancients, seems plausable to me.

I liked the way this was written, pandorashope. There is a 'mood' that runs through your story. It's hard to put into words, but it feels like 'judgement' is upon heads of the those who have come down with the virus.



Just desserts?

reply to post by masqua


When it comes to virus, there's no such thing as just deserts.
Virus kills, and creates circumstances to justify further killing. A self-triggering learning Deadhand virus suite with the objective to annihilate all sentience one way or another. In the old days, they called that the devil, and the myth was that to look at the devil is death, to look at medusa is death, to get black iced is death. Reality is a funny thing.
Thank you for the feedback