Prologue
"Elder Luis."
I looked up from the manuscript I'd been
reading, trying to find a way to help Tristan Janick. I had searched the
archives and the journals my predecessor handed down to me. So far, I had
discovered nothing that would help the boy.
"Yes, Sasha?"
"You have ten minutes before you
meet with the elders for the Janick inquisition."
"Thank you."
I had always thought that being the
guardian of the King's Library would enable me to find the solution to almost
anything but for the last two days, all I had found were more questions.
I read the forty-eight hundred year old
document again. It was the oldest translation of the diary of Shamhat, the
priestess who'd brought our ancestor Enkidu out of the wilderness and civilized
him. It recorded the start of our people and culture. Within the pages, she
detailed the illness that had befallen our ancestor and the blessings that were
handed down to Enkidu's children.
When I took over the guardianship, my
predecessor had impressed upon me that this was where the king's trouble began
but as many times as I had read it, I couldn't see the correlation, and because
of my inability to discern the danger, I was afraid I would fail my Xenres.
I looked at my watch. Five minutes to
go. It was enough time to read it once more. I could not fail him.
As
recorded by Shamhat, high priestess of Inanna, consort to Enkidu, in the book
of The Origins of the Tribe of Enkidu and translated for the book of
Remembrance of the Origin of the Twin Flames of Bashert. Circa 2500 B.C.E.
Enkidu had been ill for many days. It
was difficult watching him waste away from the vibrant man that he once was. A
warrior he may have been in the defense of his consort, King Gilgamesh, but his
soul would ever be as gentle as the animals he'd once grazed with. All of their
sons, now grown, had gathered at his side, vigilant in their attendance to him.
It was heartbreaking to watch Enkidu soothe his beloved children, to wipe away
their tears as they gathered in his bed like they once had as children.
Gilgamesh, Enkidu's love, had not given
up hope that one of the Gods would intervene and save his beloved. He prayed
nonstop. He had gone to the temples and made extravagant offerings to all but hers. Hers, Gilgamesh ordered dismantled
and destroyed. King Gilgamesh, once high priest to the Goddess Inanna, had
disallowed worship of her and none could speak her name.
As a former priestess of hers, the one
who had tamed Enkidu and taught him of bodily pleasure, I should have been able
to avoid this disaster. Given her fickle lust and Gilgamesh's pride, all that
had happened may have been preordained. Inanna had had other consorts and it
never ended well once her attention waned. Gilgamesh denied her. He told her he
would not be consort to a Goddess as fickle as she, and then he chose Enkidu as
his lover and consort.
I will never forget the day the Goddess
found out Gilgamesh took Enkidu as consort. Many priestesses died by her hand
that day because of her wrath. I also remembered the day she returned to the
temple in triumph.
In her quest to crush Gilgamesh, she had
coerced the Gods to allow her to send Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, against
him. If the bull had been allowed to freely walk the Earth before his time at
the solstice, he would have killed thousands of innocent people. How could she
be so blind in her obsessive love for Gilgamesh? If he and Enkidu had not been
victorious against Gugalanna, seven plagues of disease and pestilence would
have been unleashed on the kingdom of Uruk. So many senseless deaths just to
assuage her pride over Gilgamesh's refusal.
Maybe the Goddess would have left
Gilgamesh alone and found another to adorn her bed if Enkidu had not challenged
her in his anger. I know why he threw the haunch of the bull at her and bellowed
he would kill her next. Enkidu was furious at the continuous attempts on the
king's life. But he forgot Inanna's Godhood and she used his impiety to condemn
him. It was because of her that he was on his death bed, surrounded by his
children and his beloved Gilgamesh.
I heard the whispers of the court, but I
was not jealous. Gilgamesh and Enkidu shared a strong love. I doubted I would
see the likes of it again before I died. I know Enkidu was fond of me. To be her priestess was to be a priestess of
sexual love but not of commitment. His love gave me the twins. Although my
twins are older than Enkidu's children with Gilgamesh, and did not answer the
call to be with him at his bedside, I still have them now that Enkidu is gone.
Shamash, the God of Justice, was here to
see Enkidu. Gilgamesh was sure Shamash would save his consort but it was not to
be. Gilgamesh should have stayed but he stormed out in a temper. He would have
learned Shamash had saved him from the same fate. He would have known he was
now free of retribution from Inanna. Because Gilgamesh did not remain, he did
not hear the blessings Shamash bestowed upon his consort Enkidu.
When Enkidu was near death, he had
terrifying visions of an afterlife alone in Irkalla, the Realm of the Dead,
without Gilgamesh. He cursed me for the sorrow brought upon him. If I had not
gone to the wilderness and tamed Enkidu, if I had not brought him to Uruk and
introduced him to King Gilgamesh, he would not be dying, facing eternity in the
underworld of Irkalla without his beloved consort. As an immortal demigod,
Gilgamesh may go to Anunnaki, the home of the Gods, when he wishes to leave
this world. Irkalla was for mortals and barred to him.
The God Shamash scolded Enkidu for
cursing me and reminded him I may have introduced him to civilization, but I
also brought him to his beloved Gilgamesh and the greatest love and joy of his
life. Enkidu looked at me with tear-filled eyes and apologized. I know he did
not mean to be angry with me. He was afraid Gilgamesh's divinity would keep
them apart in the afterlife and he could not bear the thought of them being
parted forever.
Enkidu had stood up to the injustice
caused by the Goddess Inanna. He had defied the Gods for the sake of his
beloved and he helped save lives from the plagues Inanna would have unleashed.
The God Shamash would therefore ensure justice was done and blessed Enkidu and
all his progeny.
Enkidu was created as the balance for
Gilgamesh. Shamash promised he and his descendants would not go to Irkalla but
would be reborn from the Earth as long as their souls had the strength. The
children would carry the same blessing as their ancestors and recognize their
Twin Flame, the one who would be their Bashert, their destiny. They would be a
kingdom unto themselves. Their direct line of firstborn would never be broken
and they would be kings over all their joint descendants. They would become a
mighty race and answer the call of the God Shamash whenever he needed their
service as warriors to dispense his justice.
Shamash brought forth the Goddess Anat,
a mighty and bloody Goddess of War from the north. She was the patron Goddess
for the warriors of Enkidu. She would teach and guide them in the art of war
and it would be through her teachings the descendants of Enkidu would dispense
the judgment of Shamash's laws.
Unable to stay away for long, Gilgamesh
returned to Enkidu's side before Enkidu breathed his last. And yet, Gilgamesh
still believed Enkidu would rise. Gilgamesh refused to let anyone touch him and
would not hear of the God Shamash's decree. When he finally realized that
Enkidu was truly gone, Gilgamesh keened over the body of his beloved for
several long and anguished days. I hope to never hear those aching sounds of
desperation ever again. Even now, as I finish writing this, I hear his sobbing
wails.
WOW!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Pat! I'm glad you liked it!
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