54. Incarnates | Beyond the Firmament: Tales From the Cosmos

Beyond The Firmament

Tales From The Cosmos

54. Incarnates

- Written by Gift C Enyadike Jr

The Titaness, Fari Hasira, now scattered across space like ashes, would live an untold number of mortal lifetimes; sometimes two or three at the same time on the same world.

Most of these were short and violent, often ending with the would-be Jarwan worlds that failed. Those pieces of her were lost forever. The ones that remained were no less turbulent. Very rarely would an incarnation, what we who know call a Farharaat, meet the standards of old age, on any world.

As a mortal, she was more vulnerable than ever before. For the Paadlan, who had so feared her as she was, are a vengeful and spiteful lot, and they plagued the Farharaats wherever and whenever they were born.

The Farharaats were born, as we all are, ignorant of their place in creation, and these attacks sparked the inborn animus for Paadlankind that had so defined their predecessor, now turned into odium at her becoming a collective. But by now, you know what that leads to.

This cannot be overstated, my Acolytes. Demons, as pitiful as they are, are NOT to be challenged recklessly. It is one thing to invoke Da Vaada and Da Suun to drive them off; it is another to fight them as has been described in all the tales I have shared with you.

Even for one such as me, to oppose the Paadlan without the faith, the knowledge, the tools, the strength of spirit, not body, and the authority to do so will invite destruction. This was the fate of many a Farharaat who were blindly dedicated to following the Titaness' example, in spite of guardians, teachers and mentors called upon to guide them.

It was only a select few who rose to become heroes of renown, leaders of faith, rulers of kingdoms, mothers and fathers, children of Da Vaada. 

On Teyra, a great Queen known as Kandake ended a war before it even began, with the sheer strength and positioning of her army giving pause to a Great King known as Alexander, who had conquered much of the world at that point. Her story is regarded as more legend than fact, and whether or not she was truly a Farharaat, I could not tell you. I can only believe.

On Zul, a male named Rrrrt of the Levca, who had split into 12 different variants and 100s of tribes by this point, and a female named Hsssh of the Krozna, who had themselves split into 20 and 200s, not only engaged in the ritual reconciliation to regain, for themselves, their peoples' lost gifts as one from each species must do. They too would get engaged, drawn together by their shared essence. Such a coupling was considered an abomination by both peoples, but permitted as they were one person. They did not live long, but did live happily.

On Ihri, one man known as Gi-hnt, through his close relationship to the Jarwa Faatura, was the first to ever turn off his flame, temporarily. He was not the prophesied one who would restore them all to their former, but a herald, a visual reminder of what was to come. His flesh, marble-like, the first of the Igyanites whose true beauty was lost to their sin, was cannibalised in his sleep by impatient zealots as had been done to Faatuura so long ago. There was much weeping and harsh judgment.

When all of these lifetimes ended, they were taken up into Udamu, into the throne room of the almighty, and Fari Hasira was reborn.

She was far less than she was, for so much of her had been lost. Yet, she was now far more than she had ever known herself to be. 

So as she knelt before the throne at the right hand of which sat Da Suun, Da Vaada asked, "What have you to say?"

She said, with a new voice, "I pray thee, Father, by your will alone, that I would have children, and that they would have a home."

Da Vaada had heard the newly-reborn Titaness' prayer, and he stretched his hand out to a distant solar system with a bright yellow sun, not unlike your own. Within resided a number of terrestrial worlds, one of which appeared to be another twin to Teyra, only much larger.

"Take it. It is yours," said Da Suun, who was Da Vaada and sat at his right hand.

"Thank you, Father... My Lord."

And so she left the throne to undergo her own trial to join the ranks of the Jarwa.