THE
THREE KEYS
Part Three: The Key of Mind
Chapter
6: The Final Decision
For hours Black16 continued his dialogue with Elohem, the great being answering
all questions the young Milchmah could ask.
Black16 looked up after thinking for a moment. "My Lord, the other
Milchmah have come to the hither. And the minions of the Dark One muster
about the city. Will open battle begin once more with the Khawlal?"
"The conflict of ages cometh to a close, My child," responded Elohem,
His voice reverberating off the walls of the temple. "The time to put
away evil for all eternity shall come upon the worlds. And in that time
all the thralls of Levah shall be set loose. The Abyss shall be opened and
those loyal to the Dark One will ascend from their prison."
Black16 was stunned. "What purpose could that serve, my Master?
How will the release of such evil benefit Your plan?
"When the time hast come Levah and his Khawlal shall be culled out from
among the Creation and those among the living who yet cling to their dark master
shall be cast into the Outer Darkness. For Creation hast seen the evil
power of the Twisted One, and Creation hast condemned him. Levah demanded
that each be given the right to rule, and this has led to chaos and destruction
upon many worlds. But the time of his trial draws near."
Black16 looked upon His master and questioned Him again. "My Lord,
why do you not simply force Your will upon Levah? It is well within Your
power, for all things are possible for You."
"This is a question I have been asked before, My child. To force My
will upon another is contrary to all that I hold dear. If I were to do
such a thing, then thy adversary would be right to say I am a tyrant.
Understand, My child, the greatest gift that I provided to My Creation is Free
Will, and without it all of My children would be no more alive than the stones
upon the ground. It is Will that makes all living what they are, the
paramount of My works."
After absorbing this, Black16 made another inquiry. "My Lord, this
new Soddom, I have felt his power before, akin to that of Selatoth Drakken; yet
different. It reminded me of Samrong, but this force felt much more
sinister, much more evil..."
"Truly Soddom and Samrong are one and the same. And yet different
still. Samrong is of the design of the Khawlal, a union between their evil
spirit and that of a human. He is a dangerous and powerful creature
indeed. Thou see, My child, Samrong hast discovered the way to access the
energies of the Khawlal spirit within him. And through this his power hast
grown."
"Will it be necessary to destroy him my Lord? Can we allow such evil
to live?"
"One such as Samrong can not be allowed to exist for very great a time, for
he may cause great harm to all life around him. Upon him are none of the
restrictions I have place upon the Khawlal, for he is living and not truly part
of this conflict of ages. As others of his kind before him, he must give
up the Khawlal spirit within him or face destruction."
Black16's eyes widened. "'Others before him'? You say this as
if there were other abominations of his kind! I've never heard of these
creatures before."
"When thy world was young, the Khawlal gathered from it life. With
this life they fled back to their own defiled world, and there tortured and
twisted it beyond recognition. But the strongest of those taken were
infused with the spirit of the Khawlal and returned to Earth. These
abominations wrought much destruction on your world before they were finally
destroyed. This cannot be allowed to happen again."
Black16 spoke one last time. "My Lord, it has always puzzled me: why
does Levah seem to focus on the destruction and conquest of my world? It
seems many conflicts that affect the whole of Creation start there. Why is
it so important?"
"There are many reasons. Thy world was the first chosen by Levah as
his, but I would not allow it. I banished Levah and his Khawlal to a
desolate world without life that could reason. This infuriated Levah, for
he had desired a people to rule and shape in his image. But there is
another reason. Every other world in Creation has chosen sides. Many
have taken the side of Levah, about one third of all my Creation. All the
others have stayed true to Me and My rule. Thou seest My child, thyn is
the only world that remains undecided. Thy people still sway between two
masters. Thy world is the only to do this. In all the other worlds,
all of those living chose Me or the Twisted One. Levah is aware thy world
is dear to Me, that I made a great sacrifice for thee and thy people, and
because of this it would bring Levah great joy to have thy world fall to him.
Thy world is last to choose. And when it hath chosen, the judgment shall
come."
