Zuhair was in a strange stupor, judging by what he saw and felt. It was his body, his damn body. He felt intense pain and heavy weakness, like near death. He felt his arms, legs, and wounded body. Yes, he was wounded. Memory immediately flashed back to that day. Toshdarra, Orhan and his fall, then death. Or maybe it wasn't death. Maybe this complex soul transfer wasn't necessary. He mentally called the Guardian, but he was silent, his aura absent. Arsun's presence likely scared him off. The scene from that day reappeared: him stepping into the abyss, seeing Orhan's distorted, surprised face as if frozen. But he wasn't drowned or broken on sharp rocks. He was in a forest he knew, with rocky clearings. And he remembered those bottomless blue eyes. A girl, there was a girl! An image of a golden-haired beauty with unearthly eyes. Something celestial and distant about her. Her skin, her face, she wasn't from Arat. Zuhair tried to recall details. She held his head, as if to lift and wake him from a long sleep. She asked him to return, and she said her name was Shisu.
How could this happen, and who is this Shisu? A familiar feeling arose, as if he once knew her. A vague, distant, and blurred memory. Questions arose one after another, and Zuhair urgently needed answers. He hadn't been in his old body long. It felt as if he hadn't entered it himself, but had been drawn to the wounded body lying in the forest on Arat. He needed to concentrate and put the recent event on a shelf in his mind, and when necessary, reflect on it with the Guardian.
The noise in his head began to subside, calming his consciousness, highlighting and materializing memories, both his own and events from Misak's life. Zuhair's soul was like an open book, exposed, and he felt vulnerable because of it. Like a bleeding wound that needed to be cauterized, the feeling of fear, of anticipating pain before that moment, seemed to last forever. He wanted to cover himself, as if ashamed of his nakedness. As if a door was open and someone would enter it now and understand everything, his entire essence, thoughts, and even hidden desires. Suddenly, the anxiety disappeared. Zuhair floated in darkness, only his hands, feet, and body were enveloped in bright light. This spiritual light tried to break through the blackness, but it was impenetrable. A point of light appeared in the dark space, quickly approaching, and with this approach, pain gradually began to appear. The pain grew simultaneously with this window of light. And this window in space widened, helping vague outlines to become clear. A deep sigh was heard, and then a voice cut through the void. Arsun's mental speech invaded his mind and his open sea of consciousness:
------ Listen closely to what I'm about to tell you, and know that my confession contradicts all the truths upon which Neberum's history is based. By telling you this, I go against Lanu, and that means death.
------ Almost half a million years ago, according to the Aratian calendar, a system of planets with a star at its center was discovered, and Sidar and I were in the first group to explore these planets. I witnessed the discovery of Arat. We were there almost from the beginning. We were young, and we burned with the fire of knowledge and adventure. Youth is ambitious. Initially, everything was supposed to happen according to the old scenario, as always. On Neberum, as you know, there is a clan of high priests, or as they are otherwise called, the Starwatching Clan. This clan is one of the oldest and primary clans to have arisen on Neberum. Representatives of this clan pave the way in the universe to other stars. And the supreme deity is also a descendant of this clan. This is the highest elite of the Lanurians. Possessing the power to change space and alter time are the strongest skills upon which this clan relies. They find planets and systems, study them in detail for a long time, calculating whether we can swallow it. Yes, it sounds sinister, but that was originally our purpose. You can never build a balance on the opposition of good and evil. What is good is a relative concept, just like evil. We did our job, as our fathers and our ancestors did their job from generation to generation. And Arat was not the first planet we landed on. Before Arat, we conquered and annexed many other worlds, planets, and systems. But Arat turned out to be the first planet that even the supreme deities were shocked by. It was a bright and green miracle in the cold darkness of space. Beyond the diverse flora and fauna, life teemed here like a fountain of wild energy. The air was thick with ether and cosmic power, as if this were the original cradle of life in the universe. We, the discoverers, numbered around fifty souls. We entered this pristine cradle, absorbing and being saturated by the ether. We couldn't believe our eyes, seeing and feeling the harmony of nature and cosmos. The air was breathable, like on Neberu, but here it was crystalline. The initial team included specialists in various skills: Star Gazers, Soarers, geneticists, spiritual priests, and alchemists. Paramount to our mission were the alchemists, who were to determine the planet's chemical composition, the purpose of various materials at the subatomic level, and most importantly, whether or not orichalcum was present in the particle structure. Alchemy is an innate skill of the Elohim, though they are lesser, their bloodline has always been strong. Once an unconquered race, for millions of years they were forced to surrender to Neberu, having lost a thousand-year war. Thus, the proud Elohim became part of the Lanurian people. You know the problem with our home planet. We can shift Neberu's phase, and for a safe shift to another phase, we need external protection from all factors and irritants. A shield that constantly requires renewal and replenishment in the form of orichalcum. Entering this system, we discovered eleven planets orbiting a young, burning star. It was a sun bringing both life and death. Neberu positioned itself into orbit around this sun, becoming the twelfth star. Discovering Arat, an unusual planet full of life force and energy, the deity Lanu changed his plans. According to our primary metadata, arichalc was absent, but the Elohim found a universal component: gold. A metal previously unknown to us. Soon after minor experiments, we realized gold could easily replace arichalc. Besides gold, there was a unique ecosystem we decided to exploit. After brief hesitation and debate on Neberu, we decided not to miss this opportunity. We decided to turn Arat into our second home, populate it with Lanurians and other subservient races, and eventually create a mechanism to remove Arat from its orbit, minimizing damage. We had vast experience, power, and the greatest minds in the galaxy. We could use ether to enhance our spiritual powers and overcome the cosmic laws of space and time. We considered ourselves invincible, as always. Then, a major and unexpected problem arose. Our geneticist clans, including us, discovered a life form. It was an emerging civilization in its early stages, but this aboriginal race was progressing and could become a great race in the future. For clarity, we'll call them the supreme race, but besides them, there were other indigenous races on Arat. Hominid tribes with rudimentary development, far behind the supreme ones, were not Neberu's headache. Arat was home to three extraterrestrial races, equal to us in development. The most powerful were the Meruids. Our future home was already occupied. They initially observed us to learn the purpose of our invasion. The Meruid race understood our intentions and tried to reason with us. Knowing our policies, you can guess how that warning ended. The head of the Meru clan, the venerable Irichtey, was a powerful immortal with two cultivated souls, reaching unprecedented heights, potentially equal to the deity Lanu. He effortlessly materialized before Lanu across vast distances and threatened him if he didn't leave Arat alone. That was Irichtey. Lanu wasn't intimidated and offered a deal, which he later broke. The Meruids long ago lost their planet, succumbing to the cataclysms of the universe. They found a home on Arat, living without interfering in the natural evolution of the planet's native inhabitants. They were harmonious with nature, preaching a peaceful path and not hindering the coexistence of two other races. The main rule "do no harm to another" worked for many thousands of years. The Lanu and Irichtei agreed that the Lanurians would extract only gold and orichalcum, and only a certain amount. The Meru clan possessed information about the location of small deposits of orichalcum. After extracting the resources, the Lanurians would have to leave Arat. In exchange for assistance and non-interference, the Meruids were promised Lanurian cloning and biogenetic technologies. The Meruids' dependence on the aquatic environment created certain difficulties for them. In the end, the Lanu still attacked the Meru clan. But this happened after our expansion.
Zuhair drowned in his sea of mind, absorbing a piece of Arsun's soul. He saw the wondrous world of his native Arat. A world unspoiled by cataclysms and chaos. He saw the world through Arsun's eyes, absorbed the smells, shielded himself from the scorching rays of the sun, and took shelter from the cold northern winds with sparkling snow. Images changed one after another, and with this change, Zuhair's perception also changed, as if he were there, among the first to set foot on the virgin planet. He did not recognize it, inhaling the clean air with thick swirls of ether. At the same time, the guy began to feel the full weight of the Lanurian's burden with his majestic history of conquests. This ancient race, which had plowed through outer space for millions of years, possessing an immeasurable store of scientific knowledge and discoveries, and having conquered death itself. Zuhair was pressured by the very legacy of this people, and he was a grain of sand in a huge mechanism that could turn him into nothing. The very concept of the boundaries of the universe disappeared before his eyes, making it clear the boundlessness of the power of this race, which could step over the event horizon. Arsun, meanwhile, continued:
------ To mine gold and arihalk, we needed labor, and we decided to use the indigenous people. We decided the Highborn were perfect for the job. The most acceptable and best solution in such matters is to create a religion and a cult. The priests got to work. We entered the lands of the Highborn tribes as gods. We were taken for higher beings, and the cult of the deity Lanu was created. We began to introduce faith in our god into the tribes, and things took off...
Suddenly, Zuhair felt incredible pressure, and time stopped, recreating exceptional silence. He felt that Arsun and his mind were frozen, like mosquitoes in resin. The amulet on Zuhair's chest rattled and instantly turned to stone, like a piece of granite. The boy sensed someone's presence, someone incredibly powerful. The silence was shattered by a low voice, speaking quietly and deliberately. The very timbre pressed on the mind, as if tearing it to pieces:
"Boy, Arsun is being deceitful when he says the cult took effect. It was much more prosaic."
In the space of the sea of mind, a figure began to form from billions of particles scattered in a vacuum, and suddenly, as if remembering something, this mass began to unite. It was a blurry silhouette, as if created from many moving particles, which resembled either ants or termites, because everything in the outline of the creature was in chaotic motion. The silhouette floated in space, exuding unprecedented power, by its mere presence.
"The boy the Keeper of the Manuscript himself chose. That's you, Zuhair, isn't it? Do you know why you were chosen by the Keeper, and why he waited so many years for you?" the being said slowly, but with overwhelming force, unaware of its own power.
Zuhair couldn't open his mouth, tense as a raw nerve, trying to escape this viscous tar of hopelessness. Meanwhile, the voice continued, pressing down with its mighty weight and addressing the head of Betaros:
"Arsun, why haven't you gotten to the heart of this narrative? What's with this prelude?"
Suddenly, the pressure vanished, and at the same moment, the entity's timbre was interrupted by another, no less powerful and calm voice:
"Enough with the pressure and tormenting the young. Can you finally stop and get to the point yourself?" It was the Keeper, spreading an equally mighty aura and finally standing up for Zuhair. A light laugh was heard from the being, and a satisfied voice said:
"Ah, the venerable Keeper. You've been silent and hiding your presence for a long time, Master M. How are you, esteemed Keeper?"
The Keeper laughed in response, but his tone immediately turned serious:
"You haven't changed at all, still as impudent as ever, venerable Irichtei..."