11 Aurae

Aurae

When the noblest of intentions are mixed with personal vendettas they always lead to a disaster

Aden. Year 4L 21/15

Aden was like a sick child, sleeping in the lap of its mother nature. And just as the sick child doesn't want to wake up, Aden didn't want to come out of its slumber as well. But the time for mother nature to wake up her child had arrived with Solomon starting his wave of Renaissance.

Solomon began visiting different settlements around Aden and discovered that life in Aden was in complete shambles. In the second cycle of this loop, people of Aden revolted against the Usurper who had killed John, the Generous, to seize the throne at the turn of loop. Intoxicated by the ravenous greed and absolute power the Usurper had turned into a horrible tyrant. During the rebellion his own army turned against him and he was executed in the courtyard of his own palace. Since then nobody was able to hold on to the throne and slowly Aden disintegrated into small fragments. Every settlement had their own sets of rules. People rarely wandered out of their villages. With the passing of time every village and settlement had become a small kingdom in itself. No one from outside was allowed to enter a settlement. There was a complete lack of cooperation between these towns and villages. Mistrust and suspicion were the most prevalent notions in the environment of Aden.

When Solomon travelled to the nearby settlements with Peter, quite expectedly, they weren't welcomed there. People looked at them with utter disdain. Some settlements didn't allow them to enter their towns for days, forcing them to stay in the outskirts weathering all kind of difficulties. Sometimes they even ran out of food and had to sleep on empty stomachs. But these stern examinations made them more resolute in their goal of uniting these settlements. With their every visit to a different town they came to know of some completely new downside of the prevalent system. In an effort to survive on its own, every settlement was suffering from within.

During every Crossing some low lying settlements were flooded by the river Mel. But people preferred the risk of drowning rather then moving to another higher place, as they were afraid of getting killed if they tried entering another society. Some villages were regularly hit by tornadoes, some by severe thunderstorms. Some settlements never had enough food-grains to feed its people, whereas stores and stores of grains were laid to waste in the neighboring villages. In smaller villages, people got killed by petty infections due to the unavailability of healers, when the healers in the neighboring larger settlements sat idle as they had no patients to treat. Aden had become like an ailing body whose organs were not ready to support each other. Solomon had to revive this ailing body, which was almost on the verge of death, and make it stand on its feet.

Solomon had come to Aden from a much developed society. He had seen how mutual co-operation was absolutely necessary for the betterment of the world. He tried to break these barriers between all these settlements and turn them into one big world. This was no easy feat, as cycles and cycles of isolation from one another had fortified these barriers of mistrust. These people lived in the same world but were aliens to each other but Solomon had a strong will and he had all the support he wanted.

The Creator, the Supreme Beings, the nature and the Two Sisters themselves wanted him to succeed. They wanted the wheel of loops to go on. They all came to his aid, whenever he required it.

Just like the tornado in Peter's village had people bow down to him, a lightening strike absorbed by the amulet made people of another settlement believe in Solomon. Diverting the waters of a flood added another village to the list of his followers. Miracles continued, but it was his compassionate nature and a pious heart that won people over. To add to that, he was a very skilled diplomat and a shrewd administrator. He started filling the shortages of one settlement with the surpluses of other. The surplus grains of the settlements which lied in the delta of Mel, were exchanged with the tools and weapons of the villages which had minerals at their disposal but always had shortage of food-grains. Healers from larger settlements were brought in to treat the patients in small villages. Villagers started to travel to larger settlements to sell their fresh fruits and vegetables and in return got items for their household. Solomon started to unite the settlements of Aden at an unbelievable pace.

This feat would have been very difficult to achieve, but the amulet in his neck played its part to perfection. Every now and then he had to do something which counted as a miracle. And even in this disconnected world, the tales of miracle traveled very fast. People had heard from their ancestors the legends of the Amulet of Transition. Many started following Solomon when they saw the amulet in front of their eyes. Others started believing when they witnessed the miracles. Various others joined his movement because they clearly saw that staying in the group was much more beneficial than remaining isolated. The settlements, which once used to stop him from entering, now started greeting him with open arms and welcoming hearts. The common people now started to realize the advantages of co-operation and was keen to join this revolution. In four years more than a hundred settlements and villages had come under his fold.

To hasten this process, Solomon decided now it was time when his emissaries started to travel to different villages and invited their leaders to come and see Solomon's community and become a part of this fast developing world. No one was forced to join the empire, but after seeing the rapid transformation of Aden, no one wanted to be left behind. Sooner or later everyone decided to join the mix.

That is when Solomon decided to build a city which would become the center of his fast growing empire. He selected the same spot where his forefather, Abraham the Believer, had built his capital. That place was now in ruins, only a large gateway and a long fortified wall had miraculously survived the tests of time, but Solomon deduced that its central location would provide for smooth administration for the whole Aden. The small settlements around that place were merged into the capital. All types of services and facilities were provided to people who came to this place. Large markets were built on Solomon's order, where people from different settlements flocked to sell their goods. Healing centers were built for patients. Gradually people started to move in, houses and shops started to crop up and the city started to grow in size. Solomon made sure that the houses and markets were built in a very organized manner. Some opulent monuments, like the House of Almighty, the central administrative building, a large amphitheatre and the Grand Palace of Solomon were built on his orders. Very quickly they became the jewels of Aurae and its main attractions. Beautiful fountains and artistically designed gardens dotted every corner of the city. Aurae, the splendid capital of Aden, had very quickly risen out of the ruins. Solomon had made sure that his Aurae was in no way inferior to the Capital built by his ancestors in the other world.

Solomon had also strategically selected this location for Aurae, because he knew this was exactly where the Capital was situated in Elisium. This place was very close to where the whirlpool, the Eye of Tenebra, appeared every seventh year. The end of the loop was near and Solomon wanted to stay close to the portal. He had completed his mission and established a huge empire in this world in a very short time. It was now time to take care of some unfinished business in his own world.

Solomon wanted to take one last trip to Elisium to fully complete his task. To settle his account. Because he felt only then, the Transition would actually be complete.

Solomon eagerly waited for the Eye of Tenebra to open so that he can take the leap for one more time.

But when the noblest of intentions are mixed with personal vendettas they always lead to a disaster. Or, as in this case, a Catastrophe.