11-07-2013, 10:37 AM
Most men think they are gods, and it appeared the Ascendancy just happened to be right. It was a sobering thought. Dozens of attempts had been made against the man's life. Atharim assassins spent months infiltrating the husk of security surrounding the CCD's leader and were never seen again. The Regus had to assume their demise. One by one, flicked away like flies swarming horseflesh.
As Mr. Smith outlined his evidence - which was well analyzed for being the basis off which to hurl the world's most ominious title the antichrist based on a single passage from an ill-translated prophecy twisted by oral tradition - the Regus folded his hands across his lap and absorbed the man's countenance during the delivery rather than the words themselves. The passage quoted was as prosaic to Armande's position as was WWJD stamped on a rubber bracelet. It was meaningless hype unless considered in the full tapestry of prophetic events. The Regus, any Regus, was the world's foremost expert on the End Times', not only described by the Catholic religion, but by all religions, including the Atharim's own. In fact, the anomaly presented in Mr. Smith's tablets were explained by a very simple truth, the one alluded to by William of Ockham's razor.
They were Atharim writings. Dated long before the reorganization beneath their first Regus, Iudas Sicarius - a Man of The Dagger in Latin, one of a cadre of assassins defined in the Arabic as Atharii, and today, the Atharim. They were popularized as Hebrew resistance fighters standing up to Rome, but their true cause was the same two-thousand years ago as it was now. As it was when those tablets were inscribed.
The true legacy of Iudas Sicarius would be unknown to Mr. Smith. The Regus and the Pope worked closely for the last two-thousand years to conceal this great matter. An assassin's mistaking the Jewish Messiah - who in the man's defense, actually claimed to BE God - for the godly Apollyon, would unhinge the balance of the world as was known at the time. In hindsight, it did not matter. If anything, it brought together two pillars of the world, the church and the Atharim, to working toward the same goal: preventing armageddon. 'At least in theory.'
One implication was not overlooked by Armande. The suggestion that his presence meant Mr. Smith's life was in danger. It was true, for Armande could snap the man's spine as soon as shake the man's hand. He was an assassin, a metaphysical servant of what NEEDED TO BE rather than any one institution. Certainly, if man or beast needed slain, he would immediately tend the task, but Armande was not needlessly violent.
His tone was not offended, merely rebuking in a neutral manner. Just because Mr. Smith respected the truth, did not mean he should speak it. Some things should NOT be uttered aloud.
"I do not appreciate the overtone you suggest, sir. The Vatican Historical Society serves the Church, and murder is a cardinal sin. If men 'ceased breathing' as you so brutally described every time I disagreed with their academic perspective, few men would remain."
He quickly moved on. As far as he was concerned, the issue was cleared and never to be brought up in his presence again. In response to Mr. Smith's arguments, Armande delved into one of the many deep pockets of his robes and retrieved a Personal Wallet.
"I will show you something."
The image of a scroll appeared between them, Words scrolled on the air between them. The language was that of Sumarian cuneiform, but beneath followed a tranlsation into Akkadian, transcribed by one known as a scribe of the kingship of Bad-tibira, a city located in what was now southern DV, previously known as Iraq, and identified by the modern name of Tell-al-Madineh. Or later called Pantibiblos by the Greek author Apollodorus of Athens.
Armande did not explain this history to Mr. Smith, but let the man study the image at his leisure. Again, he wanted to ascertain the breadth of Mr. Smith's knowledge while yet showing him how little he actually knew. Humility was the foundation on which devotion was built.
"This is merely a translation of an older record easily ten thousand years old." How Armande knew that, he did not reveal. The original was gone, and like so many prophecies, only remnants remained.
He flipped the screen, and the words dissolved into English:
“..and a new god shall rise, an abomination born in the newest of lands, essence of evil divine, he shall be the over thrower and destroyer of the human race. — And evil Power will be given him to desolate the whole earth with authority which thou hast not seen before.”
One word, again, appeared: Destroyer. Common to so many of these passages.
He transformed the selection into a table he'd spent a lifetime constructing, highlighting similar phrases across the breadth of ancient languages:
pasāsu - Akkadian, referencing the razing of a government
habāt - proto-Semitic, to be overthrown and destroyed,
and so on.
He spoke while Mr. Smith studied the work.
"Your question about slain beast and great serpent is valid, and I have an answer for you. These are the signs which mark the Destroyer. They confirm what you conjecture as accusation toward the Ascendancy. However, take care, Jesus Christ himself may have fulfilled some of those other criteria as easily as Christopher Columbus. It is a dangerous matter to allow preconceived notions define your truths. For once the suggestion is made, you will seek and over-inflate evidence to substantiate your suspicion, while dismissing the evidence against as trivialities. The Ascendancy is a dangerous man. Of this there is no debate, however the man bearing a Mark of the Slain Beast ripped from torn flesh has yet to be found."
As Mr. Smith outlined his evidence - which was well analyzed for being the basis off which to hurl the world's most ominious title the antichrist based on a single passage from an ill-translated prophecy twisted by oral tradition - the Regus folded his hands across his lap and absorbed the man's countenance during the delivery rather than the words themselves. The passage quoted was as prosaic to Armande's position as was WWJD stamped on a rubber bracelet. It was meaningless hype unless considered in the full tapestry of prophetic events. The Regus, any Regus, was the world's foremost expert on the End Times', not only described by the Catholic religion, but by all religions, including the Atharim's own. In fact, the anomaly presented in Mr. Smith's tablets were explained by a very simple truth, the one alluded to by William of Ockham's razor.
They were Atharim writings. Dated long before the reorganization beneath their first Regus, Iudas Sicarius - a Man of The Dagger in Latin, one of a cadre of assassins defined in the Arabic as Atharii, and today, the Atharim. They were popularized as Hebrew resistance fighters standing up to Rome, but their true cause was the same two-thousand years ago as it was now. As it was when those tablets were inscribed.
The true legacy of Iudas Sicarius would be unknown to Mr. Smith. The Regus and the Pope worked closely for the last two-thousand years to conceal this great matter. An assassin's mistaking the Jewish Messiah - who in the man's defense, actually claimed to BE God - for the godly Apollyon, would unhinge the balance of the world as was known at the time. In hindsight, it did not matter. If anything, it brought together two pillars of the world, the church and the Atharim, to working toward the same goal: preventing armageddon. 'At least in theory.'
One implication was not overlooked by Armande. The suggestion that his presence meant Mr. Smith's life was in danger. It was true, for Armande could snap the man's spine as soon as shake the man's hand. He was an assassin, a metaphysical servant of what NEEDED TO BE rather than any one institution. Certainly, if man or beast needed slain, he would immediately tend the task, but Armande was not needlessly violent.
His tone was not offended, merely rebuking in a neutral manner. Just because Mr. Smith respected the truth, did not mean he should speak it. Some things should NOT be uttered aloud.
"I do not appreciate the overtone you suggest, sir. The Vatican Historical Society serves the Church, and murder is a cardinal sin. If men 'ceased breathing' as you so brutally described every time I disagreed with their academic perspective, few men would remain."
He quickly moved on. As far as he was concerned, the issue was cleared and never to be brought up in his presence again. In response to Mr. Smith's arguments, Armande delved into one of the many deep pockets of his robes and retrieved a Personal Wallet.
"I will show you something."
The image of a scroll appeared between them, Words scrolled on the air between them. The language was that of Sumarian cuneiform, but beneath followed a tranlsation into Akkadian, transcribed by one known as a scribe of the kingship of Bad-tibira, a city located in what was now southern DV, previously known as Iraq, and identified by the modern name of Tell-al-Madineh. Or later called Pantibiblos by the Greek author Apollodorus of Athens.
Armande did not explain this history to Mr. Smith, but let the man study the image at his leisure. Again, he wanted to ascertain the breadth of Mr. Smith's knowledge while yet showing him how little he actually knew. Humility was the foundation on which devotion was built.
"This is merely a translation of an older record easily ten thousand years old." How Armande knew that, he did not reveal. The original was gone, and like so many prophecies, only remnants remained.
He flipped the screen, and the words dissolved into English:
“..and a new god shall rise, an abomination born in the newest of lands, essence of evil divine, he shall be the over thrower and destroyer of the human race. — And evil Power will be given him to desolate the whole earth with authority which thou hast not seen before.”
One word, again, appeared: Destroyer. Common to so many of these passages.
He transformed the selection into a table he'd spent a lifetime constructing, highlighting similar phrases across the breadth of ancient languages:
pasāsu - Akkadian, referencing the razing of a government
habāt - proto-Semitic, to be overthrown and destroyed,
and so on.
He spoke while Mr. Smith studied the work.
"Your question about slain beast and great serpent is valid, and I have an answer for you. These are the signs which mark the Destroyer. They confirm what you conjecture as accusation toward the Ascendancy. However, take care, Jesus Christ himself may have fulfilled some of those other criteria as easily as Christopher Columbus. It is a dangerous matter to allow preconceived notions define your truths. For once the suggestion is made, you will seek and over-inflate evidence to substantiate your suspicion, while dismissing the evidence against as trivialities. The Ascendancy is a dangerous man. Of this there is no debate, however the man bearing a Mark of the Slain Beast ripped from torn flesh has yet to be found."