The Merchant and the Menace by Daniel F McHugh Page A

history?” asked Ader
somberly.
    “Yes, a bit,” answered Kael hesitantly. “My mother
tried to keep us well educated.”
     “Do you know of ancient history?” questioned Ader,
“The time when the world began.”
    “I ..... I’m not sure what you mean by the term
’history’,“ said Kael. “I know the story of creation and other religious
tales.”
    “You call them ‘tales’. Don’t you believe in them?”
    “Who’s to say what is truth and what is fancy. I’m
sure they’re just stories to explain how things are the way they are,” returned
Kael.
    “What’s the story of creation?” asked Ader
abruptly.
    “Avra decided to create man,“ said Kael. “So he
fashioned the world and all things in it as a place for man to dwell. Then he
set man on the world.”
    “Good, but what of the Elves?” coaxed Ader.
    “I’m not sure about the Elves,” said Kael. “I never
really considered them.”
    “Well then, what about me?” asked the old man.
    “What about you?”
    “How do you explain my existence?” said Ader.
    The boy looked puzzled.
    “I am not an Elf,” continued Ader.
    “No, you’re not.”
    “Am I a man?”
    “I ... I’m not sure. Until yesterday I would have
said yes, but no man is able to do what you did today,” said Kael.
    “No man can do what you did today either,
Kael. Did you think of that?” asked Ader.
    “Yes.” whispered the boy dropping his head. “That
only adds to my confusion.”
    Ader did not press the issue and they cantered
forward in silence. Kael kept trying to make sense of all he had seen and done
in the last day. However, images of his brother intruded his musings and filled
him with sorrow.
    “We’ll take this slowly,” said Ader. “You need to
know many things now, and some things may wait. Therefore, I’ll start at the
beginning and I do mean the Beginning .
    “Nothing. Darkness. An abyss. Disorder. It was and
had been. Eternal. Limitless. This is how I can best describe it. Then,
something stirred in this blackness. Something separated itself from the chaos
and formed a pattern. Something that had been and will be. Something that was
both part of the void, but distinct from it.
    “From disorder came order. The something took shape
and forced its will on its surroundings. Avra, my Lord and Father let himself
become. Like a whirlpool in a raging river, he was a constant. As the rapids of
Chaos rushed by in random surges, He spun and held his place.
    “There is a duality in all things. Just as there is
an up, there is a down. Hot and cold. Light and dark. Duality is the nature of
the world. You have two eyes, two arms and two legs. Why not seven, four and
three? The root of all the universe is two. Just as Avra was born from Chaos,
so was Chaos born from Avra. When our Creator separated himself from Chaos, he
not only gave himself an identity, He gave an identity to all that He left
behind. That identity was Chaos. Have you ever paddled a boat through the
water, Kael?”
    “Yes,” answered the boy furrowing his brow.
    “Then you must notice the wake you create behind
you. A uniform replica of the prow of your boat, etched in the water by your
passage. Before the vessel arrives, the water slides about haphazardly.
However, once the boat passes, the water in its wake is given shape, an
identity all its own. When Avra allowed himself to form, the duality of all
things created his opposite, Chaos. There are two forces at work on all things
in this universe, the order of Avra and the disorder of Chaos.”
    “If Chaos is an equal force taking shape in the
universe, why do people worship Avra? Why not worship Chaos as well?” asked
Kael.
    “The simple fact that you exist answers that
question,” answered Ader. “Chaos by its nature does not create. Chaos strives
to break down order, to tear apart anything cohesive. Chaos corrupts and
defiles. We show our gratitude and obedience to Avra simply because we wouldn’t
exist without him.
    “Once Avra