"The Eosa are the oldest of the three orders. They arose - according to their texts - approximately six hundred years before we came to be. There were other beliefs, gods and systems before them, but they somehow managed to make them taboo and convince everyone to think their way. They made a lot of laws - which was good at the time because many of the great cities were coming of age and they needed direction. You had a lot of wandering peoples, farmers and country folk moving into the cities. They needed guidance on how to get along with one another, sanitation and cleanliness. There were still those who clung to the old ways but they tended to remain outside the cities then. They knew they would be persecuted for their refusal to become part of the Eosian herds. The Eosa also fought many wars against those who refused to convert to their way of thinking. They literally had their own armies in those days. "Once things settled down and they'd converted everyone they deemed 'necessary', they began to ferret out those enclaves of the old ways and actively persecute them as examples for all to see and witness. They were very holy in their righteousness and condemnation. The 'Light' was on their side you see, and gave them the right to do these things. They saw themselves as cleansing the world and her people of corruption. Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with such ideals, but the ways in which they did this left much to be desired," Phosfera sighed. "You had only to look at one of them cross-eyed and you were doomed. Anyone who was deformed or imperfect was an abomination that had to be destroyed. It was terrible. And then, as if corruption required a place to go when driven out of the people, it came to stay in the temples of the Eosa. Their power was not enough for them. They wanted control of everything and everyone. They fabricated texts and rewrote others to give them the authority to do whatever they pleased. Those were dreadful times if you had nothing. If you were wealthy, you could buy your way out of any crime or trespass - even murder." She shook her head and was silent for a long moment. "It was into the thick of this time that Phosfera One came into the world and eventually came to see what I told you previously." "Phosfera, you must eat," 7 chided her. "Please, have some food and then continue." She took some bread and fruit to make 7 happy. The others, who had been eating while she spoke finished their meals and 7 refilled the goblets around the table. Once she had satisfied 7's concerned request, Phosfera went on. "In the meantime, about one hundred and fifty odd years before Phosfera One was born, the Noctians arose as a more or less reactionary cult to the persecutions of those who still believed in the old ways. At first they simply wanted to coexist, to be allowed to believe what they believed without being persecuted for it. A pipe-dream, to be sure!" Phosfera laughed softly, staring into her wine as if she would see some portent in it. "The Eosa refused, of course. They sent their armies to teach these upstarts a lesson. It backfired on them and some of those who were still versed in powerful dark magics of old banded together and joined the Noctians virtually taking them over. They could, for they knew well how to impress, fascinate and terrify people all at once. This became the core of the Noctians...those we call the Black Sorcerers. "One in particular rose to power. He was called Baaloch. He undertook a journey into the darkest depths of his soul and emerged within the Abyss of Night, where it is said he came face to face with the Chaos of Potentiality where no thing was any thing definable or formed so as to name it or count it. The experience of this utterly destroyed his mind as it had been and there it was re-made. When he returned, he himself had become a part of that Chaos, knowing the dark and terrible secrets of how all things were created and destroyed, and from what it was all created. He found the whole process...elegant. And it is," she allowed, "otherwise nothing would be as it is! Baaloch became what is called 'the Soul of the Abyss' and he exists to this very day, for he transcended the limitations of materia in that journey. It was he, who was the undoing of the Phospherans, as well as the Eosa. "All of this took many years, but time no longer meant anything to Baaloch. His Black Sorcerers died and were reborn - and those he found to hold great potential, he educated them himself. Like me, some of them are continuing incarnations of their previous selves as their ancestors...and they remember everything, making them more and more powerful with each rebirth." Phosfera paused here. She regarded Ka again with her scrutinizing gaze. "I know that you too have seen things that would make another mad and survived them. I know too the same things Baaloch knows, but I learned them here - for I know a secret that Baaloch either never knew or forgot. What is here is everywhere and conversely, what is everywhere is here. One has only to observe the processes that take place before one's very eyes and meditate upon them to know what he threw his soul, his mortality and mind away to gain. The processes of creation and destruction can be applied anywhere to any thing. It doesn't matter if it is here or on another world with a different set of life forms or problems. Help us defeat Baaloch, and I will teach you these processes. I know too that you have your own battles to fight, and perhaps this knowledge would be of use to you." Ka scratched at his head, and one brow cocked in bemusement. "I'm really more of a guns and knives kind of guy, Lady Phosfera.... Magic...magic...I don't know about that stuff." His face contorted in consternation and he shrugged telling her, "Besides, what possible use could I be to the likes of you all? I mean if 19 here is any indication of the kinds of things you can do, why me? I'm impressed that there is someone who can pluck me out of a ship light years away and put me down on another world. Don't think I'm not. But me, I'm just a man with a strong instinct for survival." "Don't sell yourself short, Ka. You are an exceptional warrior, and we as passable warriors are mightily impressed with that. We are however far better mages than warriors. We need you to teach us how to be better warriors, for one. As for what I will reveal to you in return for your help to us, it's not magic at all. It's what you call 'common sense' and it's right in front of your eyes every day and every night - most people simply don't 'see' it." "You said I could teach you to be better warriors 'for one'," Ka retorted shrewdly. "What's for two, and is there more?" Lady Phosfera laughed, glancing at 7. 7 shrugged, "You knew he'd be like this, my Lady." "Aye, that I did." There was admiration in her eyes for the stranger. "No one can pull anything over on you, can they?" "Are you trying to?" Ka asked with a wry smile. "Because you can send me back where I came from if you are. I've learned - the hard way - not to trust anyone. The only person I did trust is dead. If you want my trust, then you need to lay all your cards on the table Lady and gentlemen...otherwise, no deal." "You're rather at our mercy here, you know," 7 pointed out. "Nah. Me being at the mercy of anyone is an illusion at best. I am never *really* at anyone's mercy." tbc ***** Baaloch is SRG_Seth @ YURDigital Those eyes don't come with him. I just made them today. His face is also somewhat modified. ***** Thank you so much for your visit, your comments and faves dear friends! They are always appreciated. Have a wondrous Wednesday! Ray