In the Beginning

The work was done, the stores laid in, animals gathered now all that remained was the rains.  Resting between great wooden braces was the massive vessel that now waited for its destiny.  For many years Noah and his family have endured much hardship, ridicule and even threats upon their lives, the price has been high.  With one last glance into the small chest before him, Noah checked the contents.  Laid in the chest were the written works of his father Enoch.  Each leather bound volume contained the mysteries of an age coming to a close.  Beside them rested many bags of various seeds chosen for cultivation in the new world.  as valuable as these things were, the gold cloth bag nestled among the seeds was the real prize.  Noah had received the item just the day before and with it the certainty the end was near.  In the days and weeks ahead of him, Noah resolved to write the story of how the bag and its treasure came to him.  The story has so many characters, moments of importance, but this tale must be told from the beginning.

It starts with pride, pride that overwhelmed the heart of one who should have known better, Mal’ak.  Many names he has since held and no doubt with time will hold many more, but till his judgment all names will mean the same thing, evil one.  When God created men, he proclaimed them the highest of all his creations.  Mal’ak asked how this could be, that creatures of clay could be so exalted.  God replied that men were tested by desires no being in heaven could withstand and therefore were the greater creation.  Mal’ak refused to accept men as superior to him and set out to prove his point.  So Mal’ak enlisted the aid of others in heaven and descended down into the world of men.  Mal’ak and his followers fell victim to the forces of the flesh, taking for themselves females from among the race of men.  Mal’ak was discovered and summoned before the throne of God.  There he was condemned to live utterly removed from the divine presence and the heavenly places.  Mal’ak thought to rebel, but God knowing what evil Mal’ak plotted within his heart had Micha-el ready for battle close at hand.  The war was swift and Mal’ak was thrown from heaven along with all his followers bound to the realm of men.

When a pebble is tossed into a pond, its impact does not stay at the point of contact, but ripples out to effect all the pond itself and this case was no different.  Mal’ak in his prideful act would have failed to achieve much had he not found a willing partner in the females of men.  Men had been created equally male and female together in the very beginning, each from the clay of the earth and possessed of the spirit of God.  Men who had taken to calling themselves Adam, treated females who they called Lilith with foolish pride. Although equals Adam tried to play the part of lord over Lilith.  Males of all the beasts of the earth dominate their females, but Lilith found fault with this.  She most especially hated Adams place above her when lying together, forcing her into the ground.  When Mal’ak and his followers descended into the world Lilith found a partner willing to allow her equality.  To Mal’ak and his kind, who possessed of flesh were consumed with lustful desire, cared not how Lilith cared to lye with them.  So the ripples began to spread.

Lilith left Adam!  Now alone with no mate, he cried out to God.  I am alone and have no one to take as my mate.  So God fashioned “woman” from the flesh of Adam.  Now Eve has women were called were subservient to Adam as he had desired it.  Now Adam and Eve dwelled in the garden of Eden.  A place where God had arranged all that Adam and Eve needed.  All that the garden bore was food for their eating.  At the heart of this garden God set two special trees,  Knowledge and Life.  Both were forbidden to Adam and Eve, for if they were to eat from them they would die.  This was the forge of purification.  For by choosing to obey the command to not eat, they would in time receive the fruits of both trees, but it had to be by free will the choice was made.  Many years passed, but still the ripples rolled out across the landscape of time.  

In Eden dwelt Lilith, those men who were willing to accept her demands of equality and their offspring.  Collectively they became called the Rephaim, “those who are dead”, because they cut themselves off from God.  Now in the land of Eden was a great mountain and it was here that Mal’ak, now Sama-el dwelt with his fallen brothers.  The Fallen made a place of worship out of the mountain and named it the Second Heaven, setting themselves up as Gods.  They Rephaim treated the Fallen as Gods, naming them the Watchers, for they were always watching from their mountain hall in heaven.  

Now Sama-el grew ever more bitter about his exile from the divine presence.  Coming to blame Adam for his demise instead of his own foolish pride.  The resentment built until Sama-el conceived of a plot to destroy Adam in the eyes of God and he believed restore himself to favor.  To this end Sama-el plotted the ultimate revenge.  Going down into the garden of Eden, Sama-el led his brothers.  There in the garden they found many daughters of men and set about seducing them.  Having entered into them Sama-el achieved humiliating Adam, by taking yet his second wife from him.  The daughters of Eve pleaded with Adam that they did not know better, how could they they did not have knowledge of such things.  Now Sama-el saw his second opportunity and vengeance.  “eat of the tree of Knowledge and you will have knowledge to see your choices”  So it was that Adam and Eve succumb to disobedience of God.  The Watchers were further punished by God, that they might not father any more children and  the daughters of Eve, defiled by the Watchers, were sent into exile to give birth to the offspring they carried.  So it was that the Nephilim were born.   

The rest of Adam’s tribe now barred from the garden, dewell in the land of Eden.  There many children are born to them.  In time two great tribes of people emerge.  Cain who became a tillers of the earth and Abel who raised livestock.   The two groups contended with one another in the eyes of God for favor.  Cain who saw his labors as more difficult than those of his brothers who herded livestock, became angry at the favor they gained at each offering time.   So the men of Cain attacked the men of Abel.  Many were slain and Cain seeing the blood of his brothers pooling in the dry earth sought to hid from God.  God upon hearing the blood of Abel cry out from the ground, punished the tribe of Cain.  Out of Eden and into Nod they were cast.  In Nod the earth will not freely give up it fruits and you will toil hard for life.  Cain fearful that they would perish at the hands of the Rephaim begged God for protection.  So God marked them with the blood of their victims, a red rash that affected their skin.

So begins the tale of an Ark and humanities second chance.

Segment from Chapter One "When Darkness Falls"

The rising sun cast little light on the landscape and even less warmth.  Both were blocked by dark heavy snow clouds.  Fierce winds blew across the plains adding yet another challenge to the weary traveler.  Alvar-el, while immune to death by age or disease was very vulnerable to death by freezing, which made him grateful that today his path would keep the wind to his back.  The weather had done little to make this his most recent quest enjoyable.  From the moment he stepped out of Eden and into the material world, the elements of winter had plagued his every step.  Alvar-el’s stay among his fellow Elohim was shorter than usual.  Few of the Elohim went beyond the boundaries of Eden any more. All of their kind knew the price of existing in the material world of men, a price that had cost some of their kind dearly. Snowflakes fell gently to the earth obscuring his vision even further.  Alvar-el squinted as he scanned the landscape before him.  Drifts of snow lay across the wide flat lands of the region.  Bare dead looking trees broke the scenery and there on the far edge of his vision he could just make out a tree line. A river ran along the tree line and judging the distance Alvar-el estimated he would reach it by mid day. Following the river south he expected to find his target, a group of men bearing captives from a recent raid.

Alvar-el reached the river's edge where he stopped to meet the needs of his material body.  It always took him a few days to adjust to the massive range of sensations that came with the physical form of men.  As a being of spirit such things as taste, smell and touch were alien to the Elohim. Some among his kind found the experience to be too much and feared falling victim to the desires of flesh. The Fallen had been Elohim once, now exiles from the divine presence and a potent deterrent against taking flesh. Alvar-el handled the temptations better than most, a significant reason he was sent out so often to interact with men.  A quick meal and a piss, he resumed his journey moving south along the river.  Before long he saw the campsite that marked the group he had been sent in search of.  Six men wearing heavy coats of animal fur and armed with wooden spears guarded the camp. A few crude shelters had been set up in a circle around a large fire.   At the fire pits edge sat three more men, who were most likely the leaders.  As expected the armed group were raiders from a near by tribe. Often the descendants of Cain the Kinslayer raided the homesteads of the peaceful children of Abel.  The raids were usually fast and the focus was women to make their wives or give to the Nephilim.  The number of captives was large for such a small band.  The Elohim did not bother with such events usually, but one of these women was barring a child.  Often the women abducted were pregnant, but this woman carried a rare set of twins.  Why these twins were important to El was unclear.  Alvar-el was only told to retrieve her and the children she carried.  

 The band of men would soon take to drink strong wine to fight the bitter cold of night, making entry to the camp easier. He first needed to identify the one he wanted and to do that he must get a look at the bound women in the camp first.  To do that he must take the risk of separating from his material form and enter the etheric realm. Between the material world of men and the spirit realm of the Elohim lay the etheric realm.  In that between world Alvar-el can move through the camp without fear of detection, but the risk to his physical body was high.  The separation of his spirit from his flesh left his body unprotected. Should harm come to his body he would have little chance of returning in time to protect it,death could be a real possibility. For any Elohim whose flesh is destroyed in the material world their spirit separates returning to the spirit realm, but if death occurred while in the etheric his spirit would be lost.  At the foot of a winter bare tree Alvar-el laid down on the snow.  There he slowed his breathing, allowing his body to become heavy, rooted to the earth.  With the skill of a master he cleared his mind of all thought and in that void built a body of silver light.  Shaping the silver light into a form that resembled his flesh, he projected his spirit into the vessel.. Once complete he projected the image out of his mind into the etheric plane.  The silver glowing body now existed between the worlds and all the land before him now shimmered in a pale bluish light.  Looking down he could see his material body lying as if asleep in the snow at the base of a tree.  Moving forward across the drifts of snow he approached the camp.  As he grew closer details and sounds became clearer. The men talked about the raid, which woman they intended to claim and which they would offer to the Nephilim. 

 A quick count revealed twenty captives, bound by rope to one another and many bleeding from mistreatment by their captures. In the etheric men projected bodies of light. These multi colored forms were projections or auras of emotion. As he moved along the line of women he studied each aura looking for the one he had been sent for.  Each aura radiated in chaotic patterns of black and red, clear evidence of their recent trauma. Spotting the signs of life within such swirling chaos would not be easy and take far more time then he wanted. Deep in concentration reading each aura with care, Alvar-el failed to see the figure approaching the camp. Not until the aura he was reading registered new fear and hysteria did he realize someone new was on the scene. Caution swept over him, this was no ordinary son of men, but a Nephilim. Alvar-el's danger was real for it was possible for a Nephilim to detect him. The Nephilim were the result of Sama-el's Fall and those who were in league with him. The birth of these abominations was a price paid by all. The raiders acted as if they had been surprised by this visit as well, but they could do little except comply with his desires. Alvar-el studied the Nephilim certain that he recognized the one named Og. Og had come to claim his daughter of men. The women were dragged before the fire light that Og could appraise them. There they shivered before the mighty Og, who stood nine feet tall and caused all in his presence to tremble with fear. Alvar-el with time running out resumed his study of the women. As Og too studied the women, Alvar-el spotted the signs of life he was searching for. The woman was young and of rare red hair. Certain Og would chose her for this reason alone, he waited. Seconds later Og made his choice and the women he claimed was hauled from the line up. Her shrieks of terror filled the night air and sent the other women to crying. Once out of the sight of the camp, the leader of the group returned order to the band of men. Satisfied that all was in order Alvar-el started back to his body.  

Returning his spirit to his body, he rose up from the ground. He had long ago grown accustomed to mission like this taking unexpected turns, but something seemed some how not right with this. Og's appearance was out of character for his kind. More questions than answers drove Alvar-el to sneak his way back to the camp. From his vantage point at the edge of the raiders camp he watched. The woman he had identified was missing, obviously taken for bed sport by the leader. Settling in for a long watch Alvar-el was startled by a triumphant scream of rage.  From the makeshift shelter that was used by the group leader came a howl of pain.  Seconds later the half dressed leader emerged cupping his groin with both hands, blood ebbing out to flow down his bare legs.  "Bitch"!  He bellowed.  The men on guard duty appeared on the scene, while others stuck heads out of shelters to see what was happening.  "the bitch bit me". He said through clenched teeth.  Both guards reached into the shelter to drag her out, but it was already to late.  Alvar-el watched helpless to prevent what was sure to be swift retribution. Death came quick for her and her unborn children. An outcome she had likely hoped for.