Prolugue
Prolugue
ZIGGURAT OF UR, SUMERIA, 2050. B.C DURING THE REIGN OF KING UR-NAMMU
It was a lunar eclipse in the summer solstice, and in the twilight hour beneath the celestial alignment of the seven stars, Aethera's fate was sealed.
The sky was darkened with a thick cloud, and the great god of the tides and oceans, Zha'thik stood above it. The humans below bowed and gave him praises.
"Nin-šul-ur-sa,
En-lil-la itima,
Nin-sub-ur-ra!
Ka-ga-lá-ni,
Ku-gi mu-šen, ku-gi šul,
A-ši-i gi-ša-ra,
Ni-te-ga-lá-ni"
Which translates to:
"Oh, Devourer of the Innocent, Thou who hast fashioned the lunar cycles,
Stirrer of the Ocean's Depths, hear our praise!
Thou hast provided for us, granting abundance from the sea:
Fish and crabs, seaweed and sustenance, that we may serve Thee."
Aethera, preistess of Nanna, Sumerian god of the moon was about to be offered as sacrifice to Zha'thik, the god who was banished from the realm of the gods because of his chaos and deep water floods in the hellish realm. Because of his hunger for power, he ordered his worshippers to get him the ancient texts of Nanna, hidden in the Zuggarat of Ur, Nanna's temple.
The cursed knowledge of Nanna, also known as "DUMUŠDA NA-NNA ŠUHULHALA", or 𒁾𒈬𒉿𒊏𒄭𒉿 𒊭𒄭𒉿𒊏𒄿𒇻 meaning the Cursed Texts of Nanna, was originally a forbidden script made of virgins' skin for it's pages and bound with black, iron clasps. The script had 333 pages in total, as it is a number associated with darkness, chaos, and the occult. It was 3.3 pounds or 1.5kg and 8.5 x 11 inches.
The first part of the script, a total sum of 11 chapters, from page 1 to 111 focused on stars, planets, Lunar spells, moon phases, invocations and moonlight rituals.
The second part, a total sum of 11 chapters, from page 112 to 222 focused on chapters exploring the mysteries, and origins of darkness, shadows and the Voidborns.
The third part, a total sum of 11 chapters, from page 222 to 333 focused on prophesies about beings and most importantly, the Divine One, who was Nanna's tool which he would use to cleanse the earth under the light of the moon, and the rest of it was written in shifting ink.
There were three special pages, page 13 which was blank except for a mysterious symbol, page 222 holding a message written in invisible ink, and finally page 333, a hidden prophecy, only visible under moonlight.
Written by the first god's Preistess, Ninsuna circa 2500 BCE, who was obsessed with the moon and the knowledge of the stars as she believed that it's movement affected the lives and fates of humans on earth, later discovered that the script was eventually consuming and required the sanity of it's reader. After it was completed, she hid it away from the world in the deserts of Ur, and committed suicide by bashing her skull repeatedly against the walls of the Zuggarat since the dark knowledge and energy emitted from the book wouldn't allow her have peace of mind and proper sleep.
However, years after her demise, the script was later discovered years by the Babylonian King Nabonidus in 550 BCE, during the war against Ur and Babylon. He got the secrets of the book and used it to summon the creatures known as Voidborn. Smoke-like spirits that purge the realm they are summoned into, stealing and destroying all that they find unclean. After the death of the king, the script was hidden by his trusted servant but was later discovered years after by a medieval alchemist, Nicolas Flamel, 1400 CE, who bound the script in a leather cover, giving it the form of a book, attempted to unlock the book's secrets resulting to his mysterious disappearance. Centuries later, the occultist, Aleister Crowley 1900 briefly possessed the book, claiming it had divine power and began trying to translate the texts to English. Exactly what happened to him was unknown. From then on, the book was passed down in the hands of many other people, covenes, cults, and simple humans who had no idea what the book was. But the story was always the same. Each owner was always driven mad or met a terrible fate. The book was hidden, lost, and rediscovered multiple times, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos. Now it was gotten back to it's homeland, Sumeria by the preistess, Aethera who was strictly bound to protect it.
The powers of the moon god was only limited to the night. Aethera couldn't even communicate with her god in the daytime, and was left defenseless even at sunset, in time which Zha'thik's worshippers attacked the temple. She was to be more than powerful during the lunar eclipse in about an hour, but they were to much for the woman and she was captured. The book was discovered and dug out of the temple.
The ritual began during nightfall and Zha'thik began to absorb her essence. She screamed in torture, but his worshippers kept praising their god. And, immediately the lunar eclipse was completed, Aethera instead of growing powerful, died. Almost immediately, Nanna, in his shinning glory stepped down from the moon. At the sight of him, all of Zha'thik's worshippers fled, one of them taking the book.
Nanna faced Zha'thik, who knew fully well he was too powerful to face the god of the moon. Nanna, in his anger of his fallen vessel cursed Zha'thik.
He spoke the words clearly;
"Na-nna u-zal-la, Zha-'thik! Nin-šul-ur-sa,
Ka-sa-la-ga-lá, u-sa-ga-la-še,
U-mu-un-da, u-mu-un-si-še,
Ni-te-ga-la, u-te-ga-la-še,
U-sa-ri-a, u-sa-ri-si-še!"
Which translates to:
"By Nanna's radiant light, I bind thee, Zha'thik! Devourer of Innocence.
May thy power grow, yet forever remain unfulfilled.
May thy darkness spread, yet never find peace.
May thy heart burn with fervor, yet never know warmth.
May thy soul wither, yet never find form."
Immediately, the curse binded the god of the tides to the Abyssal realm, cut from the mortal world and limited his power.
Nanna mourned his vessel. He buried her body in the Zuggarat, but sealed it with ancient runes, which can only be unlocked under the celestial allingnment of a lunar eclipse.
2000 A.D. (21st CENTURY)
"Arcturus wait, listen to me!" cried Azrael. "We can try again - " "Enough!" The cult leader screamed. "How many times do you want us to keep trying? Hm?" he's asked. Azrael remained silent. Frustrated, even. "Years after Nanna bound Zha'thik in the Abyssal, we tried to bring him back, remember? We went to the New Egyptian Kingdom thinking it was a great point of power, yet we failed, and some of us even died attempting that day..." "I remember like it was yesterday," said Azrael. "that was 1456 B.C." "Yes. Let me finish. Then we went to medieval Europe - " "1210 A.D." "... thinking it was not just about the power point, it was unworthy vessels, and yet we still failed with those groups of humans." "...And finally," Azrael completed. The Industrial Era. 1889. About a hundred and a year ago. Yet we still failed, because the energy was unstable and it wasn't just about vessels, yes I know but - " "But what?!" The old man screamed. "Do you want us to keep losing out members this way?" "What I'm trying to say is that we can try to use the book again in another country - " Arcturus stared at the young man. "Get out of my office." Azrael opened his mouth to speak. "I said GET OUT!" And, without another word, Azrael left the office.
Centuries after the imprisonment of Zha'thik, his cult had been thrown into a constant state of confusion and panic. Their power of immortality had began to wane over the years. If something wasn't done quickly to free the god of the tides from the Abyssal, then sooner or later, they would die. And, if there was anyone who was frightened by the concept of death, it was definitely Azrael. He was always so repulsed at the pace of Zha'thik's cult. Plus, their leader, Arcturus was always so careful and tentative in doing processes. He really hated people like that. And, he couldn't afford to die. Just last morning, he had found a grey strand of hair sticking out of his waves. He still hadn't recovered from the shock. As he headed to his house, he began to conspire on how to steal the book and release the god back to earth in his own way. Once that was done, he could regain his immortality, and, if Zha'thik was as pleased, he could rule side by side by him after the Great Flooding of the Earth. Yes. Also, the cult believed it was Zha'thik who flooded the earth, that Noah was his vessel. They thought Christianity as a misinterpreted sum of Zha'thik's miracles.
After much thinking, Azrael decided to steal the book. He waited till nighttime and decided to strike.
It was late at night, almost midnight, when he strapped himself with knives and an invisibility cloaking spell. He headed down to their leader's tent, being careful not to make noise.
The guards noticed something was wrong, and wanted to cast a spell, when the neck of one of them was slashed. Before the other could raise an alarm, he found his stomach cut, his intestines and organs pouring out. He didn't even get the chance to scream because his head soon rolled across the floor. Luckily, the cult's leader was not inside the tent to face him. Just like every night, he would go to a solemn site with a trusted guard, carrying a jar of sacred ocean water and begin to pray to his god, hoping he could reach him and speak to him, hoping that Zha could hear his prayers.
Azrael's magical energy was almost drained when he tried to break the spell keeping the book away from intruders. However, when he finally managed to break it, Arcturus who was alerted spiritually, suspended his prayers and hurried to his tent, the guard following after with the jar.
Yet, they were too late. Azrael had escaped with the book. Immediately, the guard raised an alarm. All the cult members were summoned together for questioning. Arcturus pretended to be calm, but later lost it when a guard reported that Azrael was nowhere to be found. All spells cast to reveal his location failed. A search party had been assigned to hunt him down, but hours later upon their return, they brought news that he had left a fake trail for almost three miles.
Arcturus broke the sacred jar and screamed. He knew that he couldn't leave the book in Azrael's hands, knowing fully well the kind of dark knowledge he could obtain. Eventually, he dismissed the camp, instructing more search parties to leave the cult by the next morning in search of Azrael. He assigned them according to the East, West, North and South. Later, when the selection was finished, everyone went back to their tents discussing about the traitor and the price he was going to pay for betrayal.
Meanwhile, about eight miles east the camp, Azrael was busy running, invisible with the book in a leather bag heading to anywhere. He could rest for the night, but by the break of dawn the next morning, he would be out and head over to another country, anywhere he could find a great focal point of power to use the book. He slept a little bit peaceful under the roots of a fallen tree struck by lightening, while Arcturus was busy all night trying spells that could locate Azrael and possibly bring the book back to him. He failed miserably and wasted a great deal of his magic trying.
The next morning, as the search parted headed out, Azrael was already on the run again. This time, he came across a group of merchants. The merchants, feeling that Azrael was lost and needed a way home, offered him a ride over to Europe, as that was where they were heading. Azrael wasn't really sure that Europe had enough magical energy to focus on, but if that meant him getting away from Zha'thik's cult, then he was ready to try. He agreed and followed them along the journey, hoping to succeed this time.
Hours later, the search party headed East discovered that he had camped under the dead tree in front of them and had set out again by around dawn. They were too late to trail him, still, they kept going on, and later discovered from the trails of wheels that Azrael must have gotten on a cargo heading to another country. While they prepared to go back and tell Arcturus, Azrael was far away, happy that he had gotten away with the cursed texts.
Unfortunately for him, just when they were passing through a thick forest, night fell, thick rainclouds covering the sky when unexpectedly, the merchants were robbed by a group of theives. Before Azrael could find a suitable spell to cast on them, one of the thives snatched the book and flung it into the darkness, hitting Azrael with the butt of his gun. They threw him out of the wagon and began to search frantically for any valuable item. While they were busy, Azrael manged to get up and began to search for the book. The merchants tried to fight the theives, but when one of them got shot, they all began to beg for mercy and asked them to take whatever they needed. The theives didn't need permission. When they found out that everything on the wagon was of high value, they just entered the wagon and began pushing the horse to their camp. Azrael finally got hold of the book and began to run into the dark, thick forest. The merchants thought he had also stolen from them, maybe a bar of gold or two, so they shot him at the back before the darkness covered him from sight. Azrael screamed. He tumbled over the hill he was unknowingly running into. The roots of the trees were so hard, they broke his ribs. Eventually, he kept rolling and screaming and rolling till he bashed his eye on the root of a tree and went instantly unconscious. The book, however was flown across the trees to a foxhole under a tree, covered with leaves.
The merchants were too scared to go after the man, because they thought a wolf or a bear could kill them since it was already dark. They headed out of the forest into the city to ask for help in retrieving the lost wagon. They left Azrael in the dark, bleeding, as good as dead.
Very soon, the police was already searching the forest, as the merchants had already reported to them. They came to the scene of the crime in hope to track the wagon's trail from there, but it was already covered with leaves. However, they found Azrael's unconscious body lying helplessly and checked if his vitals were still running. Luckily, they managed to take him to the hospital.
Hours, about 3:33 AM, when the cloud had settled and the air was chill enough, the moon, full, in it's glory shone down on the earth. It's shimmering light slowly illuminated the forest, giving it life and energy, as all the animals came out to have the sense of adventure and bloody meals.
In the split second of the moonlit forest, the wind became wild, blowing away the leaves covering the foxhole and giving way for the moonlight to have direct contact with the cursed texts.
Immediately, in a form of an energy explosion, the book blasted it's dark energy as it went across the skies of the city around it.
In the city, at such a dark hour when the kids would have been asleep and the teenagers would be clubbing, the first wave of energy travelled across the streets and settled down on 11 years old Aria, who had gotten tired and sleeply after her school prom. She had decided to dress like the Princess From the Moon and had her silver moon necklace on before she slept off.
About some blocks away, the second wave of energy settled on the 12 years old Mia, who had a lunar themed phone case that she slept with by her side, which somehow resonated with the dark energy.
In the next street, 7 years old Wren snuggled in her moon and crescent designed bedsheets, dreaming of playing on the beach sands with her crush Danny, when the third wave of energy settled on her. She woke up instantly, but went back to sleep almost immediately.
The last wave of energy, with full force was attracted to a particular building. Luna, 11 years old and the daughter of the infamous astronaut Max Dane was having nightmares of aliens destroying and killing her father and his colleagues tearing their spacesuits, leaving them grasping for air. She held the moon rock her father brought for her from the moon tightly while asleep. The energy settled on the rock, then, slowly but steadily, began to seep into her veins.
