Renegade Rising (The Renegade Series) (34 page)

“The mystery of how our planet, as well as the universe, started has been debated for countless centuries with many different theories and beliefs surfacing. None of us know for sure and every man inherently asks himself at least once in his life: where did I come from? What is my purpose? Is there a purpose? Did I arrive here just to work, die and become dirt, or is there something more? Is it wrong to dream of a perfect life after we die? Or right to accept where we are and live for the now, knowing nothing else? Should we simply ‘grow up,’ disband the fairy tale notions and accept that truth, as harsh as it is? Or, the counter argument goes, shall we ‘wake up’ and realize there are forces at work beyond our understanding and know this isn’t our true home? You have to understand that with philosophy, such questions often lead to more questions that become unanswerable, and there is a fine line between knowledge and insanity. Keep in mind also that the biggest book we as a people could ever write is the book of everything we DO NOT know. That should at least ease your mind,” Perry said. Most of the class muttered “not really” in unison. Perry continued.

“Picture with me the sands on the beach. We as humans fully understand just maybe one kernel of sand. What we do not understand is the entire beach. The human brain is a very limited place and has a short time to learn only so much. For example, close your eyes and I will attempt to show you the limit of the mind. I will ask some questions and you will do all that is in your power to think of the answer when suddenly your mind will find it can’t go further. Don’t beat around the bush, don’t answer a question with a question. Try to find a simple answer for a simple question. Now close your eyes and observe,” Perry requested. The class did as they were told.

“Colors are a wonderful thing. I can say the word 'red' or 'blue' and you can immediately picture it in your head, the things that concord with it, except, of course, for the blind or colorblind. Anyhow, you all know the color schemes of a rainbow and new colors can be formed by mixing them with other existing colors, so I want you to do this for me: imagine a color, a brand new color, in your mind to add to this rainbow without mixing any of the colors you know, including black and white. Black and white aren’t necessarily colors, but can certainly alter colors. I will immediately pass anybody who can,” Peary teased with a smile, watching his students struggle to picture something. Gisbo promptly gave up and opened his eyes, for it made his brain hurt. Rolce tried for a bit longer and opened his eyes in surrender as well.

“Now I want you to envision with me what ‘nothing’ looks like in your brain. Close your eyes and do so, then tell me what you see,” Perry said as Kennis raised her hand.

“I see blackness; that’s what nothing is,” Knob said aloud. Perry smiled.

“Ah, but that cannot be true; blackness is something. But one can also argue that if you give something a name, does it necessarily make it something? If you call it 'nameless,' isn’t that still a name? If you picture 'nothing,' are you still picturing something in place of nothing? I could go on and on and you can give up now if you like. I know of a man who caused his brain to erupt, dwelling on such thoughts for days. Well, just kidding, but seriously, he did,” Perry said, causing Gisbo to grab his head.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. What I’m trying to help you understand is that our minds our indeed limited, but why? Our biggest flaw as humans is our desire to become gods without the means to do so. We can imagine a better life, imagine what perfection may be because we make mistakes and therefore know the opposite of a mistake. But alas, we fail, day after day. Is this because a creator purposely made us reach a limit? Or simply that we just haven’t evolved fully to our potential yet? Either way, it's time for more questions. For something to appear, does there have to be ‘nothing’ before it? How did Thera get here? How did we get here as humans? One theory, backed by much scientific research, proposes that the elemental stones contained all the requirements of life and they birthed us into existence from a variety of sources and we evolved from the smallest of microorganisms over billions of years to what we are today. Life is simply a great accident, nothing more and nothing less, and somehow intelligent life came to be spontaneously. It certainly offers much to think about and several recent discoveries add much credibility to such a theory. This is the theory that Karm embraces,” Perry stated.

“But a handy question to ask is where did the stones come from? Did proteins and organisms make the stones and if so, where did those come from as well? Where was the start to it all? Things can’t be birthed from nothing, there had to be a beginning, a source and center and start to these ingredients. Were atoms, the building blocks of life, always here and one day, on a whim, just decided to form proteins and organisms that would eventually start intelligent life? Not only that, the atom in itself, following scientific law, isn’t even supposed to be allowed to exist! Positively charged electrons as well as negatively charged circulate the atom and somehow they do not repel each other. How can this be? What holds the atom, which in turn holds everything together?” Perry asked with a grin, enjoying the stupefied expressions on his student’s faces.

“To stretch this a little bit further, ummm, Rolce, why don’t you come up to the front of the class for a moment,” Perry said, Rolce obeyed as he stood next to his teacher.

“Good, good. Now, I want you to slam your fist, not too hard of course, against my desk,” Perry said. Rolce did as he was told and he slammed his fist against the wooden desk, then returned it to his side.

“Very good, now what happened?” Perry asked.

“Not much of anything,” Rolce answered.

“Exactly! To our eyes, nothing, but something did indeed happen. Your fist, as your entire body to your bones, to your blood, to your brain tissue, are all made up of atoms. This wooden desk is all made up of atoms as well. Now, when you slammed your atoms against the atoms of the wooden desk somehow, they repelled each other. Fascinating, isn’t it? Now, as your brains are thinking, let’s think about how your brains are even thinking. Oh, and you may return to your seat, Rolce. Thank you,” Perry said. Rolce obeyed once again.

“As I just told Rolce, your very brains are made up of atoms as well. How is it that simple brain tissue can emit a thought? Are the atoms telling you what to think also? If we combined brain tissue with this desk, will it think also? What about your personality? Do atoms make up those as well? Something tells me it can’t be possible. So why is it that we can even utter a thought? Is there something else inside us that we cannot see or comprehend that makes us, well, us? Why do we think? Why do we all think differently if we are made up of the same substance at the core? Many nowadays try to answer the question of ‘how’ something came to be rather than “why” something came to be and to ask such questions of what came before must be done beyond the realms of the scientific method. Which is why, my friends, philosophy is our friend and one of the best tools to find meaning within ourselves and the world around us - as long as we all stay sane and away from extremes, of course, for we cannot possibly know all the answers until it is our turn to die. However, should there be nothing after this life, we won’t ever know it,” Perry said with a smile, as he paced around the room, taking time to look into the eyes of every student in his class as he spoke.

“Just know that whatever you choose to believe, do not ever break from the quest for truth, no matter how grim it may be. Never stay ignorant for the sake of comfort alone. As a great writer once said, ‘If you seek truth, you may find comfort in the end, but should you seek comfort alone, you will find neither truth nor comfort.’ So let us return to the debate and the dangers that are fast approaching with it,” Perry said as he lifted his head up in a grin, clearly enjoying himself.

“A great danger is approaching at an accelerated rate within Karm’s realm and, as I mentioned earlier, Karm is doing all he can to demand that science produce absolute, factual law without philosophy to aid it. Therefore, these extremists still believe in an all-knowing entity; they just call it science instead of a God. On the counter argument, others believe entirely in a God, constantly ignoring the intelligence science has to offer, remaining absolutely ignorant, closed-minded and selfish to the world around them. They would rather force people to believe in IAM than let them decide for themselves. The Strifes stand very firmly in this category. It is pathetic. It does not have to be one or the other, Black or White, Strife or Renegade, God or Science. We as Renegades need to maintain the middle ground, pulling the best things from both sides and discarding the extremes to better ourselves and those around us. Extremes are a very dangerous and unstable position, for opinions need not be on a seesaw. I can attempt to show you what I know, but in the end it is you who will have to decide and who is to say I have it right?” Perry said rather clearly. Gisbo got an odd déjà vu of Falcon’s earlier lecture. It seemed to sink in much better hearing it twice.

Maybe it was his authoritative voice or perhaps it was the content; either way Gisbo listened and applied what he learned. He found his brain did not hurt as badly upon this explanation, even though all it did was introduce new questions, as Perry had promised it would.

“I’m sure you all have heard this story as children, but I believe it begs repetition for clarity. As the story goes, there was but one all powerful entity in this universe. No one really knows what this being’s name was or even if it was a being at all. It was just there, existing outside of reality itself, which begs the question once again. How could there be something without nothing? Possibly this rule applies only to this universe. If this force or being existed beyond it, the rule wouldn’t apply. No one knows for sure. To many, this is just a story, but to many more, it’s fact. Anyhow, most speak of this force as the ‘Nameless one.’ The universe was null and void; absolute nothingness. All that existed was this nameless one who I believed existed outside our very own reality until he created what we know. Because of this, his creations, the two deities, are bound by set laws as well as you will see. The nameless one birthed into existence two dieties known as the brothers, called IAM and Appolyon. It is here that the story is somewhat lost to us, but the nameless one, who the brothers called ‘Father,’ revealed to his sons that they were each given all the power that he himself had, other than the power to overthrow him or create other dieties. He told his sons he was off to create new realms with new worlds to fill the nothingness with life and beauty. He told his sons that they would be each in charge of a realm all their own and ordered that they should use their power to bring about the gift of life as they were in turn given and that one day he would return to them and reward the one whose creation best reflected beauty. So the brothers parted ways and began to enact their creations. What comes as follows is an account passed down through the generations of the creation of our planet, Thera. We do not understand much of Appolyon’s creation in the alternate realm from us as for the sheer fact none of us have ever been to the Reath and those that reside there now, well, we do not wish to hear their opinions. As we know, IAM’s first creation was a heavenly host of helpers known as Seraphs, winged spirits and absolute warrior servants. IAM then created the four elemental stars, each glowing their own color. He created water first, which pulsated a translucent blue color. In turn, IAM put forth his power through the star and concentrated water into a gigantic sphere, then filled the waters with every form of aquatic creature imaginable.

“IAM then created the elemental star known as air that glowed a yellow color. IAM put forth his power through the star, creating the substance for all life and sealing the water in a layer of ozone. When water and air combined, they brought forth thunder and lightning to replenish the ozone and formed all flying beasts of the air.

“IAM then created the elemental star known as earth, which pulsated a green color. In turn, IAM put forth his power through the star and formed masses of land to encompass the sphere of water. With this, all the beasts of the land were formed to occupy the landmasses. When earth and water combined, all plant life came to root, covering the brown terrain in a sea of green allowing for the creation of the amphibious creatures. IAM looked on all that he created and saw that it was good.

“IAM then created the final elemental star known as fire and it glowed red. IAM put forth his power into the star and with it the sun and moon were formed, giving birth to night and day; the sun for the day and the moon for the night as Thera rotated on an axis. It was then that two, and only two, creatures of fire were created: a large bird of fire and a scaly winged lizard. Both dwelled in the planet in unknown places, constantly bickering and fighting one another throughout time.

“Lastly, IAM put forth his power into all the elemental stars at once and their powers together created human life in IAM's own image to give reign over the beasts, the skies, the waters, the lands and each other. It was then that IAM advised his Seraphs to look after the humans, giving each human a Seraph to watch over him or her for as long as he or she lived. IAM looked down upon all that he created, saw that it was good and rested.

“It was during this time that Appolyon traveled from his realm over to his brother’s to investigate the odd new presence he felt and when he arrived, he witnessed all that his brother had created was far superior to anything of his own. In his rage, Appolyon lashed out upon the elemental stars, destroying them as the remains crashed to the planet Thera below. Appolyon then called to his aid multitudes of his own followers known as Maras, frightening looking creatures, and began to invade upon IAM’s unprotected creation.