“The ALLFATHER of MAN is what a MAN wishes his ALLFATHER to be. The ALLFATHER of MAN is what a man wishes himself to be. What matters to a man is what his ALLFATHER is.”

Thrones 8:13-14, Priest’s Codex Version

“What of the Midwives?”

“They’ll have to leave with the rest of us.”

“Will they go with the ones they work with?”

“Of course, why not?”

“But the monks, what are they going to do?”

“They too will leave. What makes their worth different from ours?”

“The ValKing stated-”

“He decreed that everyone has to leave, and you know that.”

“But, you see, the thing is-”

“There is no difference. All will leave. All will be safe.”

“I do not think you understand what I am trying to say.”

“No, I completely understand what you are trying to say. The only thing is that if we do not leave no one will be safe, and that is why we can not leave anyone behind.”

“The ValKing said that those who are weak-”

“Must go with those that are stronger so that they may be protected. He did not say to leave anyone behind.”

The sound of their footsteps echoed through the long, high-ceilinged hall. Light poured in through the glass windows that line it, at times being blocked by pillars that went along the sides of the room.

“If we do not get out in time-”

“We will all die. Face it.”

“I do not want to.”

“Everyone here has something to live for, and I and the ValKing know that, but if they care more about their lives and their loved ones than the place that they have lived in for all of the time they have been alive they will go. They will leave. They will not come back, just like the rest of us.”

One of them stopped.

“But what if someone is left behind.”

“No one will be left behind.”

“But what if they are?”

“The light is growing farther. We must go.”

“No. I will not leave until you answer my question.”

“They die. If they stay here or if they are left behind they die.”

“But what of the Queen though…”

“We have not seen her for almost an eternity. What do you mean ‘what of the Queen’?”

“I mean, what if we leave her behind?”

“She will make the choice to get out of hiding and she will be the one to get herself off of this planet.”

“Should we tell the ValKing?”

“No, it will hurt his heart.”

The other one turned back around, continuing on his walk down the hall.

“I must speak with the ValKing.”

“Why?”

“I must speak with him.”

“Do as you must, but please leave here. They will be here soon. Oh, and please remember. She is not a Queen. She took her political power and nobility with her when she left. She has no purpose being called ‘Queen’. She is the female ruler of nothing.”

“Of course. Farewell.”

“Farewell.”

“You see, appre, we can see our past and our history in everything. We can also see the history of others and other things in them. My mother, or your great-grandmother, knew that at some point, either her daughter, or her granddaughter, or any female relative in the generations that were to come after her would need teachings, and thus she gave my mother this book. You have seen this book before, yes?” The old woman said this as she took a book from the belongings that she had in the cave.

“Yes, mother read parts of it to me.” He looked at the book that she was holding her time stained hands. Its cover was dark brown and it had become ragged. “I am surprised that you were able to keep it intact and that it has not fallen apart yet.”

She smiled at him. “So you know that this book is old, or were you able to discern that from just looking at it?”

“A bit of both.”

“I believe my grandmother had this before my mother did, and I also believe that my grandmother’s grandmother had it.”

“Do you know where the book came from?” Tomki leaned in for a closer look at the book as he sat on the stone ground.

“Oh, no. I have no idea, though I know that at one time a very, very old monk used to own it, and I know this because parts of the Book of Eden are written inside of it, along with parts of other religious texts.” Tomki’s grandmother opened up the book, after which she attempted to blow the dust off of its fragile pages. “You have read from the Book of Eden, correct?”

“Only the parts that mother has allowed me to.”

“As she should have. Not all of it is true; penned by man, told by man. You know what that means?”

“Yes grandmother,” he said as he rolled his eyes. “It means that if something is written by man or told by man then in some way it has fallacies in it.”

“Exactly. Not everything is truth, even if it has parts of truth in it.”

“Then what is the truth?”

“That is a question that people have been wondering for a long time. Discerning between what is the truth and what is lies is very hard to do, and that is something that many people before me and you have tried to do.” The old woman set the book to her side, patting it once and then looking back at her grandson. “Do you know the Curses of Man?”

“Yes.”

“At one point I believed that you were going to become a monk.”

“Really? Me, a monk? Do you think I would have fit the lifestyle?” Tomki thought that the idea of him being a monk was quite odd and in a way, almost absurd.

“I think that you have the intelligence to do so.” After the old woman said this she closed her eyes for a moment as if she was deep in thought, and then a second later she opened them. “You still have the potential to be one, even if it does take a lot of learning, discipline, and self awareness.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “But I do not think I am that attuned with my ‘spiritual life’.”

“Oh, of course you are not. You have not put much thought into that aspect of your life, have you?”

“Not really.”

“A boy like you should.” She looked at the book next to her. “The monk that owned this book started at an age close to yours.”

Tomki sighed, almost bothered by the fact that she was bringing this up. “I do not mean to be rude but I personally do not believe that one’s spiritual life is that important.”

“In time you will realize the importance of it. Meditation is a great way to start connecting with your spiritual side,” she said as she stood up from the ground. “The thing is though is that we do not have any sort of incense to burn, given our situation right now.”

“None of that matters. What matters is if we get off of this planet at one point. That is what I am mainly worried about right now.” As he spoke the woman walked back over to the area where they kept their belongings, putting the book back where she took it from.

“We will get off of this planet at one time or another.”

He looked towards the direction of the exit. “How can you be so sure?”

“Someone will come looking for us, or someone will stumble upon us just as we stumbled upon this place.”

Tomki thought to himself before changing the subject.

“I would not be able to be a monk at this time, right? I thought the Old Order was destroyed and that no one followed it any longer.”

“No, people still follow the Old Order. You know that I do. Though I am not able to be a monk, nor can I be a Priest or Archpriest, nor do I even have the ability to be a Bishop or anything like that, I do have the ability to be a follower, and if I dedicate myself to thought, I could be a Priestess; however, my age may be a challenge for me in my journey of becoming something of stature.”

Tomki looked back at his grandmother. “What all is there? What are all the ranks that you can be?”

“Well, the highest rank is an Archpriest, and you know that; below that is a Priest or a Priestess; after that comes a Archbishop and a Bishop, and after that is a Druid and a Bard. What comes after that is too many to keep track of.”

“Why is it so complicated?”

“That is something that I will never be able to tell you because I do not know myself. All I know is that what matters is not your title nor what people think of you, but what instead matters is what your spiritual life is like and how deeply connected with that you are. People can have all sorts of interesting titles that mean things to man, but compared to anything else they mean practically nothing. They are useless.”

“That makes sense. So, do you go by the titles?”

“Out of respect? Yes, I do. But I do not do it to a point where I begin to think that that person is greater or higher or more exalted than me.”