Yet even the Children of Light have become divided among themselves and one institution became two. The institution of the East claims it is the true guardian of the written records, but now we have books written even before those copied by the scribes of Hoskiah. We are not the Children of the Lesser Light and we know the mysteries of the Hidden Light. Only we in the cold north will survive, for did not Amos write. “Our destiny lies in a much bleaker land where our seed will be planted in strange soil. It will lie within the bosom of an untamed land, until quickened to growth by the warmth of the desires of men”.
Keeta taught that this means we should not seek to spread or reveal the light until our day of destiny, which must lay ahead. Therefore, those who say we must multiply our strength or be lost like a bead among the wheat harvest, are mistaken. They talk against our destiny, which is written and unalterable.
We know nothing of our first leader in Light, except that he was a priest warrior skilled with the spear, and he lived in times of war. His name is not recorded, for he said, “True Masters are to be known by their works and not by their names. They who seek to stand forth from other men and raise themselves up to increase their stature before the generations, seek vain glory”. He said, “I am no more than the storehouse into which the harvest is gathered. The good grain within comes from many fields and is produced by the labours of many men. If I said all this is my own growing, I would lie. Therefore, so that men cannot attribute undeserved greatness to me I make myself faceless and men may see as they will.”
In those days the Children of Light were sought out and persecuted, and no man knew another by his name, for the tools of the tormentors awaited them. Many were hung by the riverbank, feet uppermost, for the governors said, “These people read their books upside down”. The women, they consigned to houses of pleasure, so that many died in their degradation.
We know that the first Leader of Light was among the highborn of Egypt and his name was struck on marble pillars. He was cast down because he carried the lamp of Truth and his name was removed from the records of Egypt. He raised an army, but it was like a goat attacking a wild bull and he was slain in the great marshlands lying near Ethiopia.
He wrote the book which is known to all and the Book of Rites and Ceremonies, which is known only to the elect. He did not write the three books in the Lion Urns, which we alone know, or the Book of The Secret Way. He may have written the Book of Instruction For The Children of The Written Word Within The Children of Light. The manner of keeping the book is taught from generation to generation. The books are our foundation, our shield and our sword. They are our promise and our hope, our guide and our defence. It is said now, as in the days of our fathers and their fathers in the generations before them, that men steal our words and light their lamps from our flame. This may be so, but we have gathered seeds from the flowers of wisdom wherever they grew and planted them within our own garden. Shall we then deny to others what we ourselves have taken? Is it not written that no man can make Truth, but many can find it if they seek? Therefore, is not Truth the property of all men, even though most spurn it? For Truth is not a pleasant draught. Nevertheless, it is true also that we may keep the Truth, as we find it, secured to ourselves. If a man seek for unwrought gold and find it, he has not made it, yet it is still his. Is it not also written, ‘Gold is the treasure of a lifetime, but Truth is the treasure of eternity. Gold can nourish the body, but it may poison the soul’. Which do men treasure most in this place, gold or wisdom? Is it not the earthly thing they can hold in their hands and not the treasure they can safeguard in their hearts? The things they hold in their hands and hearts are already being weighed on the Scales of Fate and our destiny decreed accordingly. Many in this place, who seek the light and have gone so far and no further, declare this is not what they sought and go back discarding what they have. Yet if a man seek gold and find silver, does he throw it away? Better half a loaf than no loaf at all. If gold were as plentiful as copper it would be valued less than silver. Only the things hard to obtain have value, and what is more difficult to discover than Eternal Truth, which must be sought beyond the boundaries of Earth? Only the beginning of the long road towards it is here and it is this beginning you must seek. Every journey has a beginning and an end, and you can make your way only in one direction. If you are dispirited, be comforted by the knowledge that you need only find the beginning of the road. Then, having found it, let every step you take be in the right direction. The journey is long and the road rough and stony, but do not turn back before you reach the first staging post, you will find new strength and encouragement there.
Our light was lit in the land of our beginnings. Many books were made and kept in four places, and we were in truth Children of The Written Word. There were scribes and readers, officials and guardians. There were servants and those who served in the courtyards.
Strangers came into the land of our beginnings and brought practices which were different but more acceptable. They promised an easier road, they displayed deceitful marvels, the usual baits thrown to the ignorant. Their hands were heavy against us, and what could we show except Truth arrayed in her earthly robes of simplicity? Even the princes turned against their own customs and the twin priesthoods of the undergods became earthlywise and corrupt. Few were ready to undergo the perils of initiation, no more were prepared to accept the austere life prescribed. As spiritual barrenness spread, evil practices crept in to fill the places vacated by the Sacred Mysteries. The candidates accepted into the body of light became fewer and fewer. As the name, The Children of Light’, is written in the old characters, it may also be read as The Children of The Written Word’ and this is a truth. We alone preserve our secrets in this manner. The Children of Light followed a destined course by abandoning their altars in the land of their beginnings, and went to dwell among strangers where many ate at one table. We do not know what befell of their books, for those we have are rewritten. We know the Children of The Written Word went Northward after the scattering, but we do not know what were their journeyings.
We know about Lothan and Kabel Kai, designer of houses, who sailed around the edge of the Earth. With them was Raileb, the scribe, who knew hidden mysteries. They gathered the records, which were in Kindia, and carried them the long sea journey, believing the records safer among the barbarians than among those who sought to destroy them. If the records are destroyed by barbarians it will be done in ignorance and not in the knowledge of wickedness. Many books were laid open to the eyes of ignorant men and destroyed.
They came to the Harbour of Sorrow, which lies by the Hazy Sea, away from the Land of Mists. There great trees grew and smaller trees upon them, and moss hung from them like door curtains. It lay near the great shallow waters South of the Isle of Hawhige and North of the Sea Pass. Green pearls are found there. Many died in the Harbour of Sorrow, for it was a place with a curse upon it, which caused an evil sickness. The Sons of Fire came with Hoskiah and saved them, and they came to this place and built a city. Labrun, the son of Koreb, was governor.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE ROLLS OF RECORD - 8
(This was originally transcribed in full, but many portions of the written pages are missing.)
The sister of Kabel Kai was born in the House of Sothus and her name was Amarahiti. There were four children
and one still remains among us. Amarahiti was said to be a lovely-faced woman.
In the days when the city was being built, the barbarians came and went freely among us Many came but stood off and watched from afar, for they did not understand our ways. Among those who came was Cluth, the son of Cladda and brother of Cladwigen, and he talked with Amarahiti in the days when she was still in her father’s household. In those days she sat at the Place of the Talking Stone, which still stands in its place, for she was among those who sought to know the speech of the barbarians.