[The Cathedral, Sector C, The Syndicate, 4:13 PM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
Arata glanced up at Jack, noticing the tension in his face as he waited for him to begin reading.
He then began.
[Primordia, The First Book Of Merlin, Chapter One]
In the beginning, The Lord was abounding in love, he had remained in the outer darkness and had no place or thing to share the love with other than Himself.
The Father: "Let us create… It shall be a good thing."
The Lamb: "And let us live, so that there may be more life."
The Spirit: "And let us love, so that all may be united to us and that all may be one."
The Father then created High Heaven and The Void, speaking it into being.
The Father: "Let there be love!"
And love was, and He saw that it was good.
It took the form of a golden atmosphere of white light over the surface of The Void, a place perfect for His dwelling, separating The Outer Darkness from The Inner Darkness of The Void.
The Father: "May the love be filled with life and life with matter, and this matter shall be called ground and the life shall be called sky, and the inner-dwelling of this dimension shall be called High Heaven!"
Thus, The Father had spoken High Heaven into being, filling the outline, and created The Garden within.
Then, The Lamb said unto The Father.
The Lamb: "Come now, let us make a large throne befitting our Divinity."
And thus He spoke The Throne Of Life into being, as an expression of His love to The Father.
Likewise, The Spirit stretched out his mighty wings over the endless green of The Garden.
The Spirit: "We will spread forth our glory from one edge of The Garden to the other, and the living water from the throne shall spread forth throughout it, giving life abundantly to everything within. I will make the first life, they are to be givers of glory unto life itself and unto us, this is a good thing."
He went over to the very center of The Garden and He made two trees.
Yggdrasil, The Tree Of Knowledge, from which came forth all Holies into existence, and The Tree Of Life, Ymir, from which came the twelve firstborn fruits of creation, The Primordial Divinities.
Then, after seeing that High Heaven was good in all of its glory, pertaining unto the joy of The Lord, The Spirit stretched out his mighty hand, His breath was over the face of The Void.
The Spirit: "All you darkness, hear my words and be gathered up! Give up your will and may greatness now reside within you, for this is my glory, that which will hold onto ages of ages, and this truth you shall not cover up. Now, let there be light!"
And from His word, light was, and He knew it was good.
The Lower Heavens were made and the boundaries therein. All that which was within them from one edge of existence to the other.
The Lamb, having seen the beauty of The Heavens went forth into The Lower Heavens, standing over the face of The Void.
The Lamb: "May the darkness be separated from the light and the light from the darkness, may the light be called Day and the darkness Night!"
And it was so.
The Moon and The Sun had been created. And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.
And The Father called it good.
On the second day, The Father separated High Heaven and Lower Heaven by a great firmament, being beaten into submission to withhold His glory, creating a divide between High Heaven and The Lower Heavens.
Then, The Spirit went forth over the face of The Void.
The Spirit: "May The Heavens give up their mighty water, and the life from which they came and may the be poured out like matter!"
And the waters were formed.
The Spirit stood over the face of the deep, deeply pleased by His creation, then, The Lamb came to Him on the surface of the waters.
The Lamb: "Let us create forth monuments of matter from the face of the deep, springing forth life abundantly."
Then the ground came up out of the deep, resting comfortably and forming Tera.
And it was so.
There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
On the third day, The Father was with Him over the face of Tera.
The Father: "Let Tera spring forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on Tera bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them."
And it was so.
And Tera brought forth all kinds of vegetation and plants with seed in them after their own kind, and The Father saw that it was good, there was morning and evening, a third day.
On the fourth day, The Lamb noticed the great darkness all around them, and He did not see that it was good.
The Lamb: "Let there be lights in the expanse of The Heavens to separate the day from night, and let them be signs for years and months and weeks and days, and let them be for lights in the expanse of The Heavens to give light on Tera."
And it was so.
So The Lamb made two lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, and also the stars. And He placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon Tera, and to rule the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and The Lord saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
On the fifth day, The Spirit went across the surface of Tera, loving and caring for all the land and vegetation that inhabited within creation, but it wasn't enough.
The Father then came to The Spirit consoling Him.
The Father: "Look, let us create more. Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above Tera across the face of the expanse of The Heavens."
And He created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and He saw that it was good.
Then The Father blessed them.
The Father: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on Tera!" And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
On the sixth day, The Father looked upon Tera and the seas, but saw that there needed to be more life.
The Father: "Let Tera bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of Tera after their kind."
And it was so.
The Father made the beasts of Tera after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind; and He saw that it was good.
Then The Lamb gathered with The Father and The Spirit in the wilderness of Tera.
The Lamb: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all Tera and over every creeping thing that creeps on Tera."
The Spirit: "This is a good saying, let Us make them in Our likeness with Our wisdom and power."
The Father: "Then it is so."
And The Lamb created man in His own image, in the image of The Father He created him; male and female He created them.
The Father blessed them.
The Father: "Be fruitful and multiply, fill Tera, subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on Tera."
Then The Lamb rejoiced over them with singing.
The Lamb: "Behold, I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of Tera, and every tree which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of Tera which has life, I have given every green plant for food."
And it was so.
And The lord saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.
On the seventh day, The Heavens and Tera were completed, and all their hosts. The Lord completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done, and He walked through The Garden.
These are the generations of The Heavens and Tera when they were created, in the day that The Lord made Tera and The Heavens.
Now no shrub of the field was yet in Tera, and no plant of the field had yet grown, for The Lord had not caused it to rain upon Tera, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a stream would rise from Tera and water the whole surface of the ground.
Then, on the sixth day, The Lord formed man out of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being. And The Spirit planted The Garden in High Heaven, calling it Hyperion; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground The Lord caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; The Tree Of Life, Ymir, also in the midst of the garden, and The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil, Yggdrasil.
Now a river went out of The Throne to water The Garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Love; it is the one that went around the whole land of Kion, where there is gold. Now the gold of that land is good; the birium and the onyx cross are there. And the name of the second river is Faith; it is the one that went around the whole land of Hana. And the name of the third river is Providence; it is the one that went east of Ur. And the fourth river is the Presence. Then The Spirit took the man and set him in The Garden of Hyperion to cultivate it and keep it.
And The Father commanded the man.
The Father: "From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil, you shall not eat from it, lest you become weak; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."
Then The Lamb noticed that the man was alone and incomplete.
The Lamb: "It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
And out of the ground The Lamb had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and He brought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. They spent many days, and the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but for Edom, the man, there was not found a helper suitable for him and he felt very sad.
The Father: "This is not good, the man must not remain incomplete."
The Lamb: "I will fashion a special one for him, one whom he may love."
So The Lamb caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And The Lamb fashioned the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
Then the man exclaimed in joy and embraced her.
Edom: "This one finally is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh! This one shall be called Woman, Because this one was taken out of Man! Her name shall be Eva, for she surely is the mother of all the living!"
And it was so, and The Lord saw that it was very good.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
There was morning, and there was evening, and many days passed.
The Father sat on the throne of High Heaven, The Lamb and The Spirit were in High Heaven with Him.
Looking out at the entirety of creation, feeling an inexplicable love and joy, this dwelt among Him. He walked across the seas of Tera, walking throughout all the lands of Tera. He even went out into the many expanses of The Lower Heavens which He'd created, seeing how most were incomplete and not good.
The Lord loved Tera the most, spending most of His time in The Garden.
He spent time with man and his woman, whom Edom called Eva, whom The Lamb formed out of the man's rib, who was formed from the dust of the ground, breathing into him life and therefore extending it to the woman.
Tera was chosen as a first fruit belonging to The Lord, among all of the worlds. The Lord loved Edom and Eva dearly and rejoiced over them.
Tera dwelt in High Heaven, within The Garden Hyperion, they had been fused together as to not be incomplete. And The Lord saw that it was good.
Edom, the man, and his woman, Eva, loved taking care of The Garden. They spent many days walking and talking with The Lord. They rejoiced greatly together, and all was good.
Now in The Void, there was an outer darkness not belonging unto creation, or the many known worlds, and it was a large mass of shifting material, black and oily but not as a liquid that dwelt in The Second Sea, nor the vacuum therein.
Then, the darkness came forth and materialized in the favorite place of The Lord, The Garden, and crawled on the ground until it found the man. It watched the man from afar, feeling a deep sense of envy at the love and life in him, and so he came up with a plan to overtake him and corrupt the Holies and Divinities of The Lord.
So one day, when the woman was walking alone in The Garden, it took the form of a serpent, who had four legs, and came up to her.
The Adversary: "Indeed has The Lord not said 'You shall not eat from any fruit of the tree in The Garden?'"
Eva looked at him in surprise, she did not know of any talking beast other than The Watcher who dwelt with The Lord and she stepped closer, with great bewilderment.
Eva: "From the fruit of the trees in The Garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of The Garden, The Lord said 'You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, for in the day that you do so, you shall surely die.' How can you ask this, do you not know the law of The Lord?"
She was very curious of the strange black serpent, dropping the apple she was eating from and crouching down to look at it.
The serpent was enraged by the love she had for The Lord and her loyalty to Him.
The Adversary: "You surely will not die! For He knows that in the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like Him and gain life and power of the spirits and you will be like The Lord, knowing both good and evil. See, I have the ability like The Lord, and this is not the life you know but something else, come now, I will lead you to the tree and you shall see it is good to strengthen yourself and gain power like me!"
So the serpent led the woman to the center of the garden, she saw Edom sitting above on the cliff where the river Love was going downstream from, where Ymir was, and the man sat under the tree talking to many beasts and caring for them, they could not speak back but understood him perfectly and they loved him dearly as they loved The Lord.
The woman looked up and saw Yggdrasil in the center of the garden in the large clearing, a giant tree with bruised purple leaves and beautiful orange bark. The fruit upon it looked nothing like she had seen, glowing and swirling with many lights and different from any matter she had previously touched, between liquid and solid, she saw that it smelled good and it was good to eat and it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate a spirit, not knowing the serpent had bitten the tree and infected it with darkness, causing the spirits upon the tree to rot and darken in effect.
So the woman gained the first three Holies and she felt herself wisened. She hurried over to her husband.
Eva: "Edom! Edom! Soul whom I love, come and see the gift the serpent has given to me!"
So the man got up from under the life giving tree and followed her to the midst of The Garden and looked at Yggdrasil.
Now the man was likened unto The Lord the most out of any other creature, and because of this, he was more discerning than any other creature, so he saw that the tree was infected with darkness and stepped closer.
Edom: "Serpent, see? The Lord has said that no one may eat of this tree for it is poisonous! Why have you done this thing and hurt my woman by lying to her?"
The serpent became even more irritated at his discernment and crawled over to the tree, looking between them.
The Adversary: "Son of Life, why are you so dismayed? Do you not see that there are two trees and this one is for wisdom? You are a wise creature, likened unto The Father, and your wife desired to become like The Father, so she did. Now you, having been wise and learned, why do you not want to become strong like The Father if you already possess wisdom? See, have you partaken of the life-giving tree?"
And the man shook his head, pointing to Ymir.
Edom: "I have not."
The Adversary: "Come then, you shall eat of this tree and become strong like The Lord!"
So the serpent led both of them to the cliff where Ymir was and as they were not looking, the serpent bit into it and infected it with darkness.
But the man did not notice, and the woman reached up, grabbing the shiniest fruit she could reach, the one that bathed all the others in many colorful lights and handed it to the man.
Eva: "Eat this and it will make you wise! We can be like The Lord!"
The serpent felt a great deal of joy at seeing her try to convince the man and he joined in.
The Adversary: "See, listen to your wife. This one will make you infinitely strong like The Lord!"
The man did not know about the corruption and ate of it, and he received the first Divinity, Infinity.
And the eyes of both of them at that time, since they were connected, opened, and they saw that they were naked and quickly rushed to sew fig leaves together and made for themselves loin coverings.
The serpent fled out of sight, changing back to its former darkness and fleeing High Heaven. The Lord had seen it flee but did not pursue it.
The Father: "See now, the outer darkness has finally manifested itself within this world and corrupted our beloved, we must go down at once."
The Spirit: "We will leave the outer darkness for now, as it does not have dominion over The Garden, it is banished. The Watcher will see to it if it acts, it can do nothing of its own accord. For now let us focus on our creation. Everything else is attended to."
The Lamb: "I will go down and speak to them at once."
Then, The Lamb came down onto The Garden, and the man and his woman heard the sound of The Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from his presence in the midst of the many other trees of the garden.
The Lamb called out to Edom.
The Lamb: "Edom! Where are you?"
Eva then turned to her husband, quietly whispering.
Eva: "No! Do not show yourself or we will surely die!"
Edom: "How can you say this of The Lord? The One who has given us life? Surely He will have compassion on us… I will not lie to Him."
So Edom stood up, revealing himself to The Lord.
Edom: "I heard the sound of You in The Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself from you."
The Lamb then looked him up and down, noting the fig trees they've sewn together upon his loins and chuckled, feeling a great deal of compassion for him.
The Lamb: "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
Then Edom turned, grabbing Eva by the shoulders and pulling her up onto her feet.
Eva: "No, please!" She shrieked in fear of The Lord.
Edom: "Look and see! The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate."
Then The Lamb, felt a deep sense of anger at the amount of deception and corruption present within them, he calmly stepped up to the woman, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead and resting his palm there.
The Lamb: "Do not lie to me, woman, what is this that you have done?"
The woman broke down crying, kissing his hand and affectionately rubbing her forehead into it.
Eva: "Lord! The serpent which you have made, the cunning beast, has deceived me and I've eaten of the tree!"
And The Lamb seeing her distress, turned to a nearby serpent and said to it.
The Lamb: "Because you have done this, cursed are you more than any of the cattle, and more than every beast of the field! On your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life; And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. But you will perish and I will remain! I, The Lord, have spoken!"
The Lamb cursed the serpent, and it lost all of its four legs and slithered away, and all other serpents in The Garden and on Tera also lost their legs and slithered.
But The Lord was not talking to a mere animal, He was speaking to The Adversary of The Outer Darkness and a cosmic covenant of Life and Death between Himself.
And The Adversary felt His words and was terrified of them, so he ran to other worlds until this one was well-formed.
The curse that befell all serpents was both as a punishment to them and for the consolation of man and his woman.
The Lamb then turned, looking back at the woman.
The Lamb: "I will greatly multiply your pain and conception, In pain you will bear children, and your desire to control your husband will be over you, yet he will forever rule over you."
And Eva was overcome with great sorrow and fell to her knees at His feet, sobbing greatly.
Eva: "Lord have mercy on me!"
The Lamb: "I am."
The Lamb then turned to Edom, kissing his forehead and patting his shoulders, The Lord looked angry but it was overshadowed by His love.
The Lamb: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken. For you, oh son of mine, are dust! And to dust you shall return!"
Edom was greatly troubled by his saying and fell down at his feet next to the woman, both sobbing and begging The Lord for mercy.
The Father and The Spirit also gathered together, feeling great anger at The Adversary and yet greater compassion for them.
They turned to whisper to each other.
The Father: "The evil one has brought forth sin and evil into this world, it is now incomplete and tainted like the rest. We will go forth with the plan to save it."
The Spirit: "Let Us show them Our might and love that they might fear Us and not sin again. For through Edom, Death has come into our world and through him We must save it."
The Lamb: "Come now, they are naked and brokenhearted, let Us slaughter a sheep and make fine garments for them to cover their nakedness. This will be the first sacrifice of Our love."
Then, He went out and gathered a sheep and The Spirit went into it and took back its life and He took the skin off of it and fashioned garments of skin and wool for Edom and his wife, and He clothed them.
The Father: "Behold, the man and his wife have become like one of Us, to know good and evil, to control the elements of the world; and now lest he send forth his hand and drink from the rivers of living water and live forever—Let's have compassion onto him so he may not struggle in life forever, but that he may die according to his own sin."
Therefore, The Lord sent him and his woman out from The Garden Of Hyperion, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the East of Hyperion He stationed The Watcher and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to The Garden and to the two trees and to the rivers of eternal life.
So thus, High Heaven was separated from Tera and The Lord cast it down towards The Lower Heavens, and it took place next to the other celestial bodies and The Sun orbited it.
And the entire creation groaned in birth pains of sin.
[The Cathedral, Sector C, The Syndicate, 4:20 PM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
Arata stopped, looking up at Jack Daniels who had hopped off the altar and began standing next to his left-side.
Jack Daniels: "Why… Why did you stop?"
Arata looked up at him, seeing his eyes red and his face puffy from crying.
Arata Touma: "You know… This book is probably one of the last in the world, only a handful of Ultra-Humans and other strange beings are left alive that know of The Lord's existence. Everything was wiped from history."
He glanced around and gestured with his hands.
Arata Touma: "Sure, there are historical sites every now and then scattered across the world but the information is never complete. They just don't know what it means… This is all that's left."
Jack looked around at the various painted murals of people on the walls of the cathedral.
Jack Daniels: "So how come you know about all of this?"
Arata chuckled, shutting the book as he looked out into the center of the cathedral, seeing Obadiah come from the large doorway to the right of the room.
Arata Touma: "Let's just say I have some strong connections, a lot of people in The Syndicate do, actually… I'm glad you came here Jack."
Arata's smile suddenly faded, his expression became deadly serious and he leaned closer, whispering into his ear.
Arata Touma: "Never tell anyone this, but I'm working with a few people to overthrow The Syndicate."
Jack's eyes widened, he stumbled backwards, but before he could fall Arata wrapped his arms around him pulling him, smiling again right as Obadiah came over and stepped up onto the stage.
Arata Touma: "Ahaha, what a silly boy! Mr. Ariston, I was just telling him a bit about world history… He was so shocked he fell over!"
Obadiah crossed his arms and stepped closer, smirking.
Obadiah Ariston: "Oh the whole tree thing? Yeah, that'll shock most people… Freaked me the heck out the first time I heard it, couldn't sleep for three days and three nights! Haha… Alright, it's time to go. We have to continue the house tour, remember?"
Jack glanced between the two of them, feeling a strange new feeling he couldn't describe, not quite joy, not quite sadness, not quite anything at all. But a deep sense of acknowledgement of what The Syndicate means, and a new sense of curiosity to find out more.
He nodded, his ponytails flipping over his head with the force of it.
Jack Daniels: "Uh… Y-yeah, I'm ready!"
Arata reached over, flipping his hair back with his hand.
Arata Touma: "No you're not! I knew something was up with your hair… You're meant to have three ponytails, right? Not just two? Hold on… Giyu always leaves her things near the altar when I'm not looking, there's probably a hair band here…"
He bent down, reaching into a small cupboard underneath the altar where a few strange items sat, some kind of ashy white rock, a bottle of mysterious iridescent liquid that surprised Jack at first glance, a strange looking dagger and finally a green hair band.
Arata Touma: "Aha! Here you are young Jack!"
He pulled it out and went behind him, quickly tying his hair.
Cathy had undone his ponytail back at the mansion, he hadn't noticed because of the grief and the adrenaline and the lack of love within him.
The loss of Erika.
Now, he was practically put back together, he reached up, tugging on his newly tied ponytail, a smile creeping onto his face.
Jack Daniels: "Wow… Thank you, pops. You're pretty cool…"
Arata patted his shoulder and waved his hand dismissively.
Arata Touma: "Oh it's nothing, now remember what I've told you… Go now, you're disrupting my routine."
Obadiah went back down the steps on the right side of the stage, gesturing for Jack to follow.
He ran over, feeling gratitude for Arata and the spark of hope he's given him.
He looked back towards the altar, grinning and waving to him.
Jack Daniels: "Bye! I'll be back here whenever I can!"
Arata Touma: "Good, I'm expecting it! Take care!"
The words "Take care!" sent a jolt through him, but this time he wasn't filled with dread or anxiety, but with understanding. Arata Touma was a friend, and he knew enough.
Jack Daniels: "Yeah! Take care!"
He grinned, walking back with Obadiah towards the entrance.