Chapter 14: The Seraphim
"Rule?"
"Ahh, that's the expression I wanted to see on you." Sol was confused on what was happening at that moment.
The word uttered by King Jubilee didn't make sense for him. As, far as he was concerned, winning the Culling in itself would already a miracle.
"I know that you are a bright and intelligent kid. That was proven by our chess matches last night because, you were able to do some pretty nasty things. You finished the book which I labeled 'Chess For Dummies'. Where in fact, it was a medium difficulty book containing various strategies and methods to the game. You not only read that. You were able to execute the moves based on what that book offered."
"I knew there was something wrong with that book's title." Sol commented, feeling good about himself.
"Hahaha. Yes, indeed. And adding to this accomplishment of yours, you were even willing to go beyond the boundaries. To go beyond what the rules offered and, that is exactly what I will require of you in this moment." King Jubilee snapped his fingers again and the terrain began changing. The ground beneath them shook and the skies blew as they were rapidly brough back to the scene with the toweringly enormous buildings.
"I need you to disregard everything that you think is logical. Go beyond what is presented at face value because, only then would you gain the wisdom that you need."
"Is that a plea?" Sol asked with a smile on his face.
"Oh you very well know that I won't be asking things from you boy. This is a command."
"Understood my liege."
"Right then! Please give me what you know of our history."
Sol began narrating the contents of all the history books he could get his hands on. How the world they lived on was once called "Earth".
Things were peaceful until the stronger countries began a heated dispute and, with the launching of one nuclear missile, the world began a fight that was referred to as the [Great World War].
"Why did they call it so?" King Jubilee asked.
"Because all the nations knew that, no war could happen after it. All the lands and seas were destroyed by the weaponries used. Many lives were taken as collateral. It was a hellish event my liege, so much so that they made an irony out of it. Saying that it was great, when in fact, it was the last and most horrendous of all the world scale wars."
"Tremendous Solomon! I'd expect nothing less from you." Many of the information Sol said was not on the history books. He was just able to piece together the information based on the words used and, some underlying meaning to them.
"Now this is the crucial part of history. What happened at the peak of war?"
"Undeniably, there were those that were weaker than the other nations. They did not have the firepower, technology, nor the forces required in order to upset the war into their favor. And, this was when something happened to them. Because of some unknown chemical reaction, their bodies began mutating. Some died. Some went into coma. While the few that survived, they were the ones who gained much out of it." King Jubilee changed their surroundings accordingly, giving Sol a firsthand look on what humans felt when faced with the unknown at that time.
"From flames to inhuman physical prowess, to ice and other abilities. Humans were gifted these things and, after taking out the main nations that caused the war, they used their powers in order to establish safe zones. The ten domains. Using this same power, they constructed the [Garden of Eden] where there would never be any shortage of food and other supplies."
"Terrific! You have everything memorized from the first pages of the history books until the last." King Jubilee mentioned.
"My liege, the books are wrong, aren't they?" Sol's words took the King by surprise. Nobody has ever questioned what was written on the pages of history with as much certainty as Sol had.
"Oh? What makes you say that?"
"Even with all the events they've put together. The things just don't add up. Chemicals won't do that to your body. It isn't something random after all, those were weapons of mass destruction. Not miracle workers." King Jubilee smiled after hearing this. Not even his son could conclude something so simple on his own and, the King simply had no energy to explain it to someone as dull as his own son.
"That actually makes it less difficult for me to explain things to you." King Jubilee snapped his fingers again and, soon enough they were returned to the scene of the battlefield.
"We have, in actuality, made contact with beings who refer to themselves as Seraphims."
"What are those?" Sol asked, looking at the visual representation created within the room.
"Creatures which bend reality to their will. You see, what happened was that in the middle of the battlefield, these creatures descended. And although they looked like saviors, their intentions were far from that."
Sol saw firsthand how every male person in the battlefield got consumed in flames. White, bright flames that didn't even leave any ashes behind. They screamed and fired their weapons in that terrifying moment but, not a single bullet ever reached the Seraphims.
"In the span of five minutes, the Seraphims burned down the whole male population of earth. Not even the boys nor the babies were spared from this massacre. They were burned with gentle looking flames nonetheless. And, what do you think would happen then?"
"The war would stop."
"Exactly. Of course there were female soldiers, rulers, and other partakers of the war. But the majority of it was played by the male species. They took us out and just like that, the war magically stopped." Sol was beginning to piece together the information, asking based on the strongest possibility he could think of.
"My liege, they did it to mate with the females didn't they?"
"Oh my aren't you a smart one?"
"The primary reason was to cleanse earth but that is also a main goal of theirs. But it wasn't for sexual pleasure, nor were they even aroused by the female species."
"Then why?"
"Why exactly. Have you ever heard of a book referred to as the bible?"
"No my liege."
"It's fine. That's normal. They destroyed all copies of it after all."
"Then how do you know of it?"
"All in good time my boy."
"Anyway, like I said, they mated with the women with only one purpose in mind. They were trying to create an individual that was the culmination of all the powers possessed within that book."
The strength of Samson
The battle prowess of David
The magic of Moses
The tongue of Elijah
And, the wisdom of Solomon
"All these powers, they wanted to place it on one person."
"But why?"
"Oh it's pretty simply actually." The king said, pausing for a minute as he gazed at the starry night above them.
"The all powerful Seraphims wanted to give birth to a god."