1.5 – The Offspring (Book1, Ch5)

Lucifer’s treatment caused Eve great pains – both physically and mentally. Suffering immensely, Eve had wandered off alone and waited for death to find her. It would have – if not for my intervention. But I had other plans for the woman and as a result I secretly nursed Eve back to health — appearing to her in the form of her mate Adam and pretending to lovingly care for her. It took me nearly a century to heal Eve (1) but eventually I not only wiped the woman’s memory clean of her ordeal with El but also rejuvenated her body (2). Meanwhile I needed Eve to be a fully functioning vessel — one capable of conducting my next great experiment — and once I was satisfied she was ready, I moved the process forward.

What Eve didn’t know is that, as a result El’s rape, she’d become pregnant (3). And while El was ambivalent to this consequence, what the Dark Prince also didn’t know is that I had, at the moment of conception, secretly forced two hand-picked souls from The Void into the zygotes (4)— souls that I had been torturing beyond measure for some time, bending the spirits to my will, and getting them ready specifically for this occasion. The combination of the soul and the zygote, along with a portion of El’s essence, would eventually cause Eve a nightmare of a pregnancy when once I let it proceed. Yet she did not have to endure the process alone — with her body healed, her memory clean, and never knowing she’d been separated from her mate, she didn’t resist when I returned her to Adam prior to any physical changes in Eve’s body. For his part, although Eve had been gone for over a century, Adam was all to grateful to have his sole companion back. Having lain with Eve before and after their separation, when Eve’s body finally began to change and it became apparent that the woman was with child, Adam harbored no suspicions about who the father was and thus happily cared for his pregnant wife. Adam played the midwife for Eve, and although it was a difficult child birth, both mother and children came through just fine (5).

And so about a year after her reunion with Adam, Eve gave birth to twins – the first to emerge was a boy — whom they named Kane — and the second was a girl — whom they named Debor. I rejoiced in their birth because it marked the culmination of a successful experiment (6) that had taken me millions of years to complete — i.e. producing a human vessel capable of holding a soul inside.  It seemed that the fruits of all my labor were finally about to pay off. Meanwhile, never knowing the truth, Adam raised Kane and Debor as his children; he showered them with love and attention — for Kane and Debor were the first children that Adam truly could play the father figure to (7), since the man’s prior ‘children’ (The Amorosi) had all emerged from the goddess Alyssa’s womb full grown and had quickly gone off on their own. Adam doted over Kane and Debor.  Yet Adam was a fool – he had no real chance to parent Kane or his sister (8), and try though he might to reign them in, the boy was particularly rebellious, even as a young child.

Yet Adam continued to lay with Eve and she quickly became pregnant again. Later that same year Eve gave birth to triplets: first to emerge from the womb was a girl — they named her Aklima — then a second girl  — whom they called Kala — and finally a boy — they named him Kabyl. Although he was but a toddler, it was clear Kane was not happy to more children, particularly another male — a potential rival. Yet someone else was also upset about Kabyl and his sisters— for it so happened that, like Kane and Debor, Eve’s triplets were also born with souls, but unlike Kane and Debor, I was not able to force a soul of my choosing into Kabyl and his sisters – instead I was horrified to discover that three of the stellarum that Zebub had taken from Illyria had already entered the triplets of their own will! (9) I raged at this unexpected nuisance, but never did I give up hope. Getting control of myself, I simply devised a new plan.

At first I merely watched as the children grew – keeping Adam and his family separated from the Mylars and Amorosi and making them believe they were the only people on the planet. Within this sheltered existence I kept an especially close eye on Kane and Debor — for, although they didn’t know it, these demon spawn were now the linchpin of my sinister designs. By the time all the children reached adolescence, I was confident that Kane was fully under my influence and Debor was not far behind – although given their lineage this is probably not hard to fathom. I spoke to Kane and Debor on the wind, whispering voices always on the edge of their hearing, tempting them with the allure of the dark side, and making sure that they good things happened for them whenever they followed my advice. Without much effort, Kane and Debor became my pawns — a feat made all the easier because of Eve: for although she would not admit it to Adam — or perhaps even to herself — it was clear that Eve loved the triplets more than Kane and his twin (10). Although Eve always made sure to try to love her first born, especially when Adam was present, I made sure that the twins could always sense something different between the way their mother treated them versus their younger siblings – for I wanted Kane and Debor to be acutely aware of where their mother’s love resided — which was not with them. My voices in the wind continually stoked the twins jealously as the children grew. And all the while, I made sure to fill the void in Kane and Debor’s lives – pulling them ever closer to me.

“Tell not your parents about my voice.” My aura often warned Kane and Debor whenever they were was alone. “They would not understand. And I would be forced to desert you. Remember me. Worship me. I will take care of you.”

Meanwhile, ever since their expulsion from Eden, my master had paid little attention to what I was doing on Terra. I think Zebub’s son viewed me as a bit of a lunatic and not worth Its time. I was all too happy at that, because with my master gone from the scene, I was free to play any role I wanted on Terra. Thus it was that ever Adam was cast out of paradise I continued to assume the same godlike male form that El used to use when he had visited with the man — this allowed me to offer Adam wisdom and even a path to redemption (11). It was here that I introduced the concept of ‘sin.’

“You shall call me Y’AH.” I instructed Adam. “I am your creator. And I offer you The Way back to me – once you are washed clean from the wrong you committed in Eden. That wrong is your ‘sin’ – let us call it the Original Sin, for because of your foolishness your lineage has been stained. It will take much effort for you to erase this stain, Adam, but if you do, eventually you will return to me, and yes, even to Illyria. But you must follow The Way I show you — the first step is to understand that you must have no other gods besides me, for I am a jealous god, and I demand all of your praise and worship.”

Adam was deep in thought. “Y’AH. The God who shows me The Way.” Awed by the presence of the deity I had conjured up, he stuttered. “Y’Ah. The Way….Yah-way…Yahway…May I call you Yahway? ”

“If you so choose.” I was amused, for my plan to get the man to love A’H — and eventually to hate him — was working.

Over time, acting as Adam’s “Yahway,” I continued to drive home the concept of Original Sin to the man — instructing Adam that he and his offspring must work hard to atone for their wrongs. One part of this atonement was the concept of Sacrifice.

“You and your male children shall give to me the first fruits of your fields and livestock as a sign of your submission to me and as appreciation for my blessings.” My Yahway advised Adam. “Fail not to remember this, for if you falter, vengeance shall be mine.”

For their part, Adam and Eve complied with my instructions — and taught Kaybl and Kane to do the same — hoping that all of their sacrifices would eventually douse Yahway’s ire with them and compel the god to let them back into Eden. Obviously it never worked, but that didn’t stop me from stringing them along. And as the concept of sacrifice became engrained in the psyche of my beloved human pawns, eventually I was ready to move events forward again.

When the children reached puberty, Adam and Eve noticed the way their kids began to look at one another — it became clear that they were going to start breeding soon. The man and his mate were thrilled by this prospect (12) and were eager to have their children produce more offspring  — since this was merely a natural progression of the species, such as all Adam’s livestock had done for centuries. As Yayway, I instructed Adam to pair his children as follows: Kane with Kala, and Kabyl with Debor.

“But what about Aklima?” Adam asked me, as we sat on a hillock overlooking the family’s farm.

“Ah, Aklima the beautiful.” My Yahway smiled, observing the fair maiden as she gathered herbs with her mother.

“I fear Kane and Kabyl both want her.” Adam advised, although he failed to admit the obvioust — hat he lusted for his daughter too.

Here it was that I laid my trap. “The solution is simple. Have Kane and his brother make an offering to me. I will judge their work and whoever pleases me more shall be awarded Aklima.”

Adam took the bait. Both of the boys worked hard to prepare their best sacrifices. By this time Kane was a skillful farmer and that season he had produced a bountiful crop (13). From this bumper crop Kane offered a beautiful sacrifice to his father’s god. Meanwhile, Kaybl had become a sheep herder and he chose to offer one of the many fattened calfs from his herd — one which his mother helped him select. As the fires rose in the sky over ours gifts, what none of the family knew was that I made it appear that Kane’s offering was not accepted, while at the same time, causing Kabyl’s to seemingly receive Yahway’s divine favor. The result was as you might expect – Kaybl received the praise of his parents, he was given both Debor and Aklima, while Kane was stuck with only Kala and left to wallow in disillusionment and jealousy.

As Kabyl relished in the pleasures of having two teenage girls to amuse himself with, Kane soon became depressed – exactly as I had planned. I then made sure that Kane understood just where his life was heading: focusing on the powerful significance of being rejected by his father’s god, that he’d been unloved by his mother since the day he was born, and that most likely he would soon to lose his father’s birthright (14). All of this proved too much for Kane to bear and he soon gave vent to his wrath — murdering Kabyl in a blind rage (15).

Yet much to Kane’s chagrin, not only did his actions not prove fruitful, but instead only further served to alienate him. To begin with I disguised myself as Adam’s creator god yet again and forever cursed Kane with The Mark of Immortality – making it impossible for him to die a natural death or to be killed by his own hand or anyone else’s. In addition, Kabyl’s murder caused great pains to Adam and Eve — Eve never looked at Kane again, while Adam, with a broken heart, cried as he cast his son out of their presence, forcing Kane to fend for himself in the wild lands of the world. Yet it was Kane who had the last laugh (16) — he secretly returned to his parent’s farm and kidnapped Aklima.

So it was that Adam and Eve were left to wallow in grief, while at the same time trying to console Debor and Kala. Yet it only got worse from there — just a few days later Debor drowned her sister in the river (17) and while her parents were busy retrieving Kala’s body from the water, Debor ran to the top of a cliff overlooking the family farm and threw herself off it (18). Adam and Eve were a mess — and to add to their remorse I had Yahway visit them to remind them that all these woes were yet consequence of their original sin back in Eden, hoping these recent disasters would make them hate their creator god.

“The pain is too much to bear.” Eve cried at the feet of god figure I presented to them.

As Adam tried to console his wife, he asked “When will it all end, my Lord?”

“That is for me alone to know.” I was stern in my reply. “I don’t think you fully understand the pain you caused me back in Eden. Until you atone for that, your misery will continue. Remember, I am a jealous god – you shall worship none besides me. That includes your children – you doted over them too much. You took your focus away from me. You forced me to take your children away from you. Therefore it is YOU who are responsible for their deaths.”

The conversation crushed Adam and his mate to their core. Eve was distraught at my words, yet rather than question his faith, the stubborn man replied, “Y’ah. The Way.” In a stupor Adam continued, “I will find the way back to you, Lord. Don’t give up on us.”

Realizing they were not ready to hate A’H completely yet, I strung them along, “It will take much sacrifice for you to atone for these new sins. Do not let me down.”

After that, I left the couple alone for awhile — who knows how many animals Adam sacrificed to his god yet little did he know that no one was listening. This is because I had important work to do with Kane. I allowed him a few brief moments of pleasure with Aklima (19), but since my plan required Kane to continue to know pain and suffering, I had to disappoint him further — I caused Aklima and her baby to die in child birth – then it was that a disillusioned Kane cursed his father’s god Yahway — which was the very step I needed him to take.

Now it was time to introduce Kane to a new god…

 

Nektar’s Notes

1. I had to slow her aging process down to a crawl.
2. She was even stronger than when God and I first made her and in reality my genetic tampering with Eve would result in far reaching consequences even I didn’t foresee, but that’s a tale for another time.
3. Exactly as I had planned.
4. Yes I meant plural.
5. Oh, you didn’t know Eve had twins? Sorry to once again contradict what you’ve been told in religion class, but remember I’m telling you a true story here, not the fairy tale you’ve been fed all these years. I needed Eve to produce twins for a variety of reasons – not the least of which was faster procreation of a species that was already forced to play catch up in a world that was threatening to leave humans behind.
6. Or so I thought.
7. Nurturing them even as babies.
8. Not given their lineage.
9. It seemed my earlier celebration of success was a bit premature.
10. Truth be told, if you must know, I may have left some hidden scars in Eve’s psyche related to her torture at the hands of Lucifer so that, even though she could never put her finger on the cause, there was always something inside her that caused Eve to reject Kane and Debor.
11. Or at least pretend to.
12. Remember as far as they knew they believed they were the only family on the planet.
13. Although admittedly it was with my help behind the scenes.
14. As I told Kane, “Surely your spiteful mother Eve will convince Adam to give these benefits to her beloved Kabyl – especially since your brother is sure to produce more offspring then you and that will make him more valuable to your father.”
15. And with that my plans were back on track.
16. Following my instructions.
17. I wonder who gave her that idea?
18. Debor wasn’t part of my long term plans so this was a rather convenient solution for me, don’t you think?
19. Aklima really was beautiful in the flower of her youth.