Tatum's War

Tatum gazed at the woman with white hair blowing gently in the breeze created by the fire and knew beauty. Skin as black as a moonless night captured the fire light, making her appear indistinguishable from the darkness. But despite not seeing her actual face, somewhere in his mind’s eyes, he could see the gently shaped cheekbones, the delicate chin, the flawlessness of her skin and the warmth and intelligence in her black eyes. He couldn’t explain it if you were to ask him, but he knew that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

“It isn’t polite to stare,” coughed the man, “but I understand it.”

“Stop, Ishmael. You’ll make me blush in front of our guest.” The voice from the darkness protested.

“Vadell, you make me blush every time I look at you.”

“You’re from the second tapestry.” Tatum stated. “But how is that possible?”

“Very perceptive of you. That is part of why we ask you here. The other concern is your friend.” Ishmael rubbed his hands by the fire. “She may have become a complication.”

“Alexa? How can that be? I don’t understand what makes her so important to the Draco Conclave. She isn’t special.” Tatum told them.

“Why don’t you think she is special?” Vadell asked.

Tatum stared at her. “I’m not saying she isn’t special. She is very special to me. But all she does is draw. I’ve never seen her do anything else. It isn’t like she can do magic or anything.”

Ishmael grinned. “Let’s leave that topic for now. Instead, let’s talk about you.” Ishmael poked at the fire with a stick. Embers floated towards the ceiling. “Why do you think you are here?”

“Well, I’ve been told that I might be able to understand why the Draco Conclave is attacking the way they are. I’m not sure that is true, but I will do my best as long as we try and get Alexa back.” Tatum watched the embers disappear near the ceiling.

Ishmael nodded. “We’ll get to that too. But why did Ran…I mean Mr. Chance train you anyway? What did he see in you?”

Tatum shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not particularly good at anything really. I’m not stupid or anything, but when he introduced me to GO, I just found that I had a knack for the intricacies of it. It was a fun game. But I don’t know how that qualifies me more than someone who is trained in strategies.” He answered honestly.

Ishmael chuckled. This brought an amused expression to Vadell, who clearly enjoyed his laughter.

“If I know Random, Mr. Chance, then he clearly understands that you have an insight that others are lacking. He doesn’t do anything out of chance. The only trouble will be in finding what you have that might help us.” Ishmael became very serious. “We are at war with a vicious adversary. Her army will stop at nothing to return the universe to a state of chaos. And it will be imperative to stop her.”

Tatum shook his head. “I’m not sure how I can help. Besides MeerRhonda beating the tar out of me, and learning how inept I am at hand to hand combat, I still don’t have a clear understanding of what is going on. And I don’t understand what Alexa and I have to do with it.”

Vadell smiled as she placed a restraining hand upon Ishmael’s arm. The anger growing upon his face threatened to spill over, but as soon as Vadell touched his arm, the tempest that had been growing subsided like the calm after a storm.

“What did you think of the tapestries outside?” Vadell’s musical voice asked.

“Very beautiful.”

“Did you understand the story they told?” She asked.

“Not really. It appeared that you were a part of a group together. Then someone took Ishmael, if I can call you that?”

Ishmael nodded. “The Two title never really suited us, but when you oppose a force as powerful as Her, a certain amount of rumor and mystery surrounds you. I don’t particularly like it, but it has its pragmatic uses.”

Tatum nodded. He liked the fact that they were more personable then the self-important T.V. preachers he had seen. “Then someone took your place. Then there was a war it looked like, and the girl from the first tapestry was leading the army and appeared to be winning. Were those real dragons?”

Vadell smile. “Very real. Her name is Piccolo. She was our friend, companion and leader of our team.”

“Team?” Tatum frowned.

“A story for another time.” Ishmael shook his head at Vadell. “Just understand, the girl from the first tapestry is not same one in the last. Our friend,” Ishmael forced out, “changed after my death.”

“We all did.” The darkness surrounding Vadell’s face darkened with the sadness in her voice. Cleary the memory deeply troubled her.

“But you didn’t die, did you?” Tatum asked. “Cause you are here.”

Ishmael nodded. “Even in the beginning, Piccolo was very powerful. She didn’t understand her power nor could she consciously control all of its intricacies. Nor could the fools that pushed her to this point. But I wonder off topic.” Ishmael chuckled like the statement had an absurd hidden meaning. “But at the time of my death, she…” His voice trailed off.

Vadell squeezed his hand.

Tatum wondered what it must be like to love someone that much. Ishmael gave her a reassuring smile.

“In our pain, Tiberius became our new protector. That’s the other Shadow Protector you saw.” Vadell continued. “He is a loyal servant to her now. As are many of our previous friends.”

“Shadow Protector?”

“The name given to a special order who protected the dragon mages, and priestess.” Ishmael held up his hand. “It’s a long and involved connection that doesn’t really have anything to do with the present situation.”

Tatum smiled. It appeared Ishmael was very pragmatic and to the point. Tatum liked this quality. “So, if you were all friends. What started the war?”

Vadell clasped her hands together. “Our home was being invaded by beings from a world called Terronous and lead by a rouge wizard named Mekvar. Mekvar allied the Consortium Wizards, my people, the Dark Elves with the Devils of Terronous in a bid to rid our world of the Dragons and the Dragon Mages. Unbeknownst to us, this was actually a war between gods for territory.”

“Gods?” Tatum appeared skeptical. “You have to be kidding. Gods, Devils. They’re real?”

Ishmael nodded. “Very, but not how your culture perceives them. They didn’t create the universe as most religious doctrine teaches. They are products of the universe.”

“So, the universe created them? Then who created the universe?”

“No one. It just is.” He said.

Tatum shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Ishmael eyed him with sympathy. “Then you are just like us. Somethings are even beyond our understanding. And our culture has been around for a very long time. Needless to say, when Piccolo found out what the gods were doing, her anger consumed her. We lost many friends in the war on our world. But once the war had ended, and our world lay in ruin, Piccolo turned her anger not at just those that had been party to the war, but to the very gods themselves, and vowed to rid the universe of them.”

Tatum’s face slowly fell into utter disbelief. “You have to be kidding. I know I’ve seen some pretty spectacular things, but how does one kill a god.”

Vadell smile a motherly smile. “Don’t think of them as gods, but more like highly evolved beings something like a super hero on your world. They live and die just as any other being. It’s just that their understanding of the universe is far above most. Like your intelligence to a dog’s.”

“I don’t know. I’ve met a really smart dog recently.” Tatum muttered.

“Yes, Shadow is not your typical wolf.” Ishmael agreed. “Nor is Snow, the white wolf depicted in the tapestries. Both are certainly unique, even for their kind.”

Tatum clapped his hands together. “I knew it! I knew Shadow wasn’t a typical dog. She is a wolf. I thought she just had wolf genes in her, but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew she was a different.” He laughed to himself. “Does that mean you are gods?”

“Some think us so, but no. We are just versed in things about the universe that the lesser civilizations haven’t discovered yet.” Ishmael explained.

“Is Piccolo?”

A worried expression crossed Ishmael’s face, but Vadell only smiled. “No. Nor does she think herself one.” Vadell put a finger on Ishmael’s lips to forestall his protest. “My husband may think so, but I know Piccolo best. Her power is unrivaled by any being in the universe, but she doesn’t not think of herself as a god.”

“Then she doesn’t want to become the supreme ruler of the universe?” Tatum felt funny asking the question.

“No. She only wants to rid the universe of them.”

“And then?”

“As I told you. Only she knows.”

“Then I don’t understand what this war is about. Why are we fighting her?” Tatum asked.

“Without the gods, civilizations would crumble. No matter how advanced a culture may be, they need something to believe in. Very few cultures can thrive in the knowledge that when they die, they return to a perfect state of energy. Gods are the crutch that keeps a civilization alive. Without Them, cultures lose focus and purpose. They decay and die.”

Tatum scoffed. “Why? Isn’t the truth better than a lie? Lots of people get hurt over religion. Plus, over fifty percent of the cultures haven’t returned to their previous religions. ”

“Very perceptive. And fifty percent of them have de-evolved into conflict and reverted back to a baser culture full of war and death.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing.”

Ishmael’s eyes narrowed. “Do you not believe that you will see your mother again when you die?” Ishmael asked.

Tatum felt his face flush and a deep anger and sadness welled up in him. He was always hoping to see her again, but never really tried to let those thoughts move to a place where he would have to question the validity of his feelings. He dropped his head, unable to look at Ishmael.

“How do you know that?”

“Random told us the story about your family and Alexa’s. I’m sorry if that upsets you, but we needed to know who you are.” Vadell calmly explained.

Tatum nodded. “Are you saying I won’t if Piccolo succeeds?” Tatum whispered.

“No. I’m saying, can you imagine the crushing emptiness that would invade every cultures’ psyche knowing that they cannot see the ones they love again. Those feelings you are having now are just a taste of what a world would feel. People deny the existence of god, they choose to follow their own beliefs, but they all accumulate in hoping that there is something beyond death. That life isn’t a passing thing that just happens. That there is some meaning to its existence and that all the pain and joy we endure has a meaning. If she succeeds, then all those things will cease to exist and chaos will reign.”

Tatum was silent. The feeling of this mother’s death still turned inside him, but Ishmael’s words were ringing true. He did hope to see his mother again.

“What’s the truth? Hers or yours.”

Vadell smile sadly. “Neither.”