E. Ryan Goodson
‘Twas many eons ago, when humanoids shared the land of Tarcan with mighty beasts, that there arrived a group of ancient beings—beings not of their world. These large-eyed visitors had been forced to leave their home planet in Andromeda, victims of a race war that devastated their planetary mother. It was during the race war on the Andromedan’s home water world that their relationship with the Spirit of Light would develop. The Spirit of Light had a grand plan for them, and he was silently guiding—and protecting—them in their battles. Thus began the journey of the Andromedans across the universe, a mission to locate a new star system to call their home. In their trip across the universe, their delegation became subject to many ethereal attacks from life forms they were not prepared to handle. These life forms found a way to manipulate and deceive them, and many of the delegation would perish along the way. However, their relationship with the Spirit of Light was a great strength for them, even though their leader, Anax, had also allowed himself to be ethereally manipulated. This wasn’t the first time Anax had been deceived, and it wouldn’t be the last. It was, however, a strong relationship with the Spirit of Light that helped Anax get the delegation back on track. This relationship with the Spirit of Light is what allowed them to escape their war-torn world—and survive as a unique species.
As the Andromedans continued on their journey traversing galaxies, stopping in individual star systems, Anax was presented with a grand vision. In this vision, he pictured the planet of Tarcan, a world with large swaths of land separated by wide, deep, crystal blue waterways. Upon awakening from his vision, he was immediately overcome by the Spirit of Light. It seems that this vision had been implanted by the spirit for a reason, a purpose which would soon become very clear to Anax. Then the Spirit of Light spoke directly to him: “Anax, my humble servant, I trust that you have seen the vision I have sent you. I know that you and your people have suffered greatly, and I have shown you a planet, Tarcan, where you might settle and grow in a peaceful environment—a place that will ease the suffering of you and your people. The only requirement I have of you is that you oversee the development of the many species already co-existing upon this planet. It’s important that you act as guides, but do your best to maintain distance from the humanoids, such that they may develop naturally—without interference. It is imperative that these beings not become aware of you. If these beings should begin to war with each other in great numbers, I ask that you discover a way to divert their attention to other matters. Will you accept this mission and do as I have asked?”
“Yes,“ said Anax, “we will accept this mission of light. How might we go about finding this place you have shown to me?”
“I will guide you there,“ said the Spirit of Light.
And so the Andromedans set their sights on a journey to Tarcan, excited about the prospects of their new world. Upon arriving within their new home star system, Anax ordered a group of crafts to explore the outer planets and moons of the system. When returning from their exploratory mission, they reported the location of a pure water world in an uninhabited area of the system. This was exactly what Anax had hoped for, an outpost where they could establish a base to both monitor the outer reaches of the system for interlopers, and to establish a large home base away from the humanoids. With the finding of the location of their outer base, Anax and the main body of the Andromedan formation made their way towards Tarcan—the blue planet nearest to the star. As they approached Tarcan, Anax became more excited; he couldn’t believe how beautiful the planet was, even from space. As they approached the outer atmosphere, Anax notified the others that they would be immediately moving into the sea, that there would be no land interaction: he especially forbade any interaction with the archaic humanoid natives. So as they moved through the atmosphere, the last crafts within the formation hesitated after noticing movement—and they were sighted by a large group of the humanoid native population. The pilots of the sighted crafts were decidedly reluctant about notifying Anax—they didn’t see what the problem was. These humanoid beings would surely forget about what they had seen, given the way Anax had described their rudimentary nature. So they continued into the ocean and joined the others without saying a word. Within a short period of time, the Andromedans docked a few of their large, civilization supporting crafts in a singular location off the coast of the humanoid homeland. This area was chosen primarily because Anax wanted to be close enough to monitor the humans, but far enough away where the entry and exit of their ships would not be seen or heard. Once these crafts were sufficiently entrenched within their new surroundings at the bottom of the sea, the remaining crafts from the delegation departed for the outer solar system water world. And time would pass with great accord among the beings of the Andromedan civilization; they rejoiced at their newfound home and the peaceful surroundings it had afforded them. What happened next, however, would turn the tides of the local humanoid population forever.
The humanoids who spotted the Andromedan delegation did not forget about what they saw. In fact, the word about the sky visitors began making its rounds across the many species and tribal groups of the humanoid homeland. Many of these groups began recreating rudimentary images of the Andromedan crafts that had been seen. Because these crafts had come from the sky, they began to associate the ships with the sun. Some began praising the sun, with some even developing complex rituals with both sounds and visuals—including human sacrifice and divination. These humanoids had caught the attention of shadow commanders in the service of Ariel (the dark lord), and they provided an ethereal path for these bastards of the abyss to manipulate humans into worshipping Ariel. This would ensure that their ethereal energy would belong to Ariel forever—that their core energy couldn’t be returned to source from the solar system. Ariel was well aware that the Spirit of Light had a call-to-source mechanism that he used in order to return the ethereal energy of his favored beings upon the expiration of their material selves. As Ariel’s actions within the ethereal realm became apparent to the Spirit of Light, he again came to Anax, pulsing through his body-mind. “Why have you forsaken me?” asked the Spirit of Light.
“I don’t understand. How have I forsaken you?” Anax asked sheepishly.
The Spirit of Light replied, “I have found Ariel to be using a sustained campaign against the humanoid spirits within your new physical reality. Their ethereal energy is being captured by Ariel due to some form of manipulation that has led them to follow and worship him. I have ascertained that this is your doing, or at the very least, due to the actions of your faction.”
Anax responded, “I don’t understand, Spirit of Light. I gave very clear orders, and I have had no reports of anyone wandering from my orders over the course of these last 10 full cycles around the sun.”
“I suggest that you query your captains. I have peered into the cosmic mirror and it has revealed an anomaly,” answered the Spirit of Light. So Anax quickly sent out an all hands telepathic meeting with each of his captains, querying them each one at a time. Anax knew that the telepathic communication link would ensure universal truth in each interaction, thus allowing him to get to the bottom of the mystery at hand. When he questioned the two captains who were responsible for the humanoid sighting, it quickly became apparent that they had not followed his directions. Anax immediately outcast both of them from their Tarcanian base, and they were reassigned to their base in the outer reaches of the solar system. After speaking to the Spirit of Light again, Anax realized that life would likely never be the same for him and his people again; this problem had manifested in such a way that it would be a large undertaking in order to secretly convince the humanoid beings that worshipping Ariel was enslaving their ethereal energy for eternity.
After pondering the situation regarding the humanoids for what seemed like an eternity, Anax continued to find himself distraught by the situation the Andromedans now found themselves within. Much of the distress Anax felt was due to his own experiences on their original home planet. He knew that these types of situations could quickly spiral out of control. The only solution he could envision was one in which he placed the humanoids on an evolutionary path towards full cosmic enlightenment. By doing so, the humanoids would not only be saved from that bastard energy collector, Ariel, but they would also have the capability in order to return to source. So Anax told the Spirit of Light he had a plan, and that he would ensure its successful completion. The Spirit of Light warned him that if anything went wrong, that he and his entire species would suffer the same ethereal fate as the humanoids.
Anax lost much sleep while he plotted how to enact the change that he must now make. He eventually decided that he and several of his captains would quietly kidnap a small group of beings, study them, and then utilize their scientific knowledge of genetics in order to effect a change in them—a change meant to evolve them towards full ethereal enlightenment. And thus Anax hatched his plan of humanoid enlightenment—choosing a group of 2 men and 2 women—knowing the Spirit of Light would not sanction such a manipulative action, but seeing it as an opportunity to enact the changes necessary to solve the problem. Anax knew his plan did not follow the rules of the cosmos set forth by the Spirit of Light, but he decided to proceed, nonetheless.
After the humanoid individuals were captured—and their genetic codes manipulated—their memories were wiped, and they were returned to their tribes. The tribes immediately turned on each other, causing a major split in the leading humanoid species of the day. One group would stay in the homeland, the other would be outcast to a distant land—and would ultimately end up in lands far beyond. Anax found himself in agreement with the humanoids who remained in their homeland, seeing them as the true and pure manifestation of humanity—even though they had been secretly modified. Anax would have many chats with the Spirit of Light as he contemplated his next actions. While the Spirit of Light was concerned about the path Anax chose to take, he still had faith that Anax could manage the situation as a chosen one of the light. The Spirit of Light reiterated that Anax should trust the cosmic mirror, that it would not lead him astray, as long as he properly formed his query. So Anax—after querying the cosmic mirror—made his decision, and the Andromedans allied with their chosen tribe, the group that remained in the humanoid homeland. This decision by Anax would lead to a disastrous series of events that caused great suffering, and the Andromedans would again find themselves in a battle of survival—a battle for the survival of their new home planet.