The Symmetry of Life- Book 1: To See, To Know, To Be Human - 4. Chapter 4: Implicate Order

Chapter 4: Implicate Order

I never expected to see my dad again, but something told me that he was still around somewhere. I am not a really religious person, I think many gay guys probably are not with the way organized religion has treated us. However, I never denied the existence of things that religious people describe exist in some forms. I bet there is a heaven, a hell, and purgatory along with other realms souls can go after they die. However, actually seeing him again, both at that point in time and in my memories now, no amount of belief could ever prepare you for.

He smiled at Uncle Frankie, “I missed you too. However, I am not exactly Allen Cross that you knew. I am taking on his appearance as he was my latest incarnation on your plane of existence. You can think of me simply as the Last and the First.”

Uncle Frankie shook his head, “Don’t you mean the First and the Last, I thought you were…you were…”

My dad shook his head, “No, I get mistaken for him. I was the only being in this reality for eons, things changed later. I lost most of my connections with this part of reality and a piece of me broke off that eventually became you Frank. Your soul is a remnant of my consciousness left in this reality.”

Uncle Frankie looked shocked in disbelief, “That’s what Allen meant, when he said that I was part of him.”

He nodded, “In one possible future, humans will give me a name to separate the spheres of my domain with the other being, I am called the “Implicate order”, basically all thought, intuition, dreams, and transitions such as death is where I dwell. The “Explicate order”, like natural laws, universal fields, and other active areas, are under his domain. I am the darkness, but I hold some light. He is the light, but he holds some darkness.”

Uncle Frankie grimaced, “So all religions were wrong. Why don’t you tell everyone with a burning bush?”

My dad busted out in a laugh and continued, “Despite our differences, we respect one another immensely and rely on one another. Humans may fear parts of what I represent like darkness, nightmares, and death, but I am part of the cosmic balance, a lord of Order along with the entity you know as God. The enemy, which mankind, Ainur, and their kin will face, follows the concept of chaos, anarchy, and self-destruction. I know you hold much malice towards my counterpart’s disciples. Believe me, I do not have much sympathy for them either, but there is a causal relationship to how they treat you today and how your ancestors treated them. As for the burning bush and questions of human religion, I do not desire worship or temples in my name. I doubt he wanted the same treatment either, but it was the best way to keep order among humanity.”

Uncle Frankie glanced over at us, “You could have done a better job at least in making the world safer for the future generations. Couldn’t you have told them or scared them?”

My dad nodded “I am not perfect, nor do I profess perfection”, then he turned toward me, “Josh, you have really grown up. I remember holding you in my arms like it was yesterday; although time and thought operate differently here. Now to answer those questions, by the way, it is a great thing to always question. The Ainur were the ancestral species of Homo sapiens, especially those like you, Brian, and Frank. There are also several other offshoot races like the Gar’ta and Kal. A Gar’ta is what you see in our friend here, they were from the outer colonies of the Ainur. They survived the destructive war partially intact through switching sides against the Ainur on earth, but their genetic structure was irreparably damaged due to the loss of the two genders that Homo sapiens provide for Ainur reproduction. Without that reproductive material, the Gar’ta relied on advanced cloning technology, basically making copies of their bodies, until now they cannot do it anymore. The Kal look a lot like regular people, but they are much taller and hold a more feminine aspect to their lives. They were a pacifistic group that left the warzone early to settle on another world and developed balance with their natural environment. They have been able to extend their lifespans several thousand times humans and even Ainur through their research. I, though the Arknor, have been giving them aid and protection from reprisals of their powerful enemies for thousands of years, but despite our best efforts to help them, they cannot survive much longer as their bodies are reaching a point where death can no longer be held back. You will start seeing more Kal emissaries in the next 10 years in greater numbers. There are further two other species with other intentions, the Drake and the Hork, both predecessor species to the Ainur. Drakes were the most powerful species in earth’s history until their warmongering ways led to the destruction of most of their civilization 65 million years ago. I had saved a few at the behest of Frankie’s Drake predecessors in hope to eventually find peaceful coexistence. After millions of years, some have evolved to a point of balanced understanding and others have learned the value of peaceful conflict. However, groups have left the haven that I provided for them and have grown restless. They are allying with old enemies to return to earth for conquest. The Hork are closer to the hominid ape line of the human evolutionary tree. They have a few colonies on earth still; though, they are cloaked from human sight. They are nomadic, so they prefer living off various lands rather than settling with small family groups. Also, they do not hold human equivalence in morality. The Hork return to earth for visits and a layover, so to speak.” Uncle Frankie snickered slightly at my dad’s descriptions of these species, but after a short glance at Uncle Frankie, he continued.

“The Arknor are my best friends and one of the oldest species in this universe. They were the first to discover me by breaching the barrier of the living explicit and the implicit world of death. I was impressed with the Arknor and allowed them to join me in my realm; they also extended an invitation for me to return to this realm by building me a vessel to carry part of my consciousness back into this realm, creating the first of my “direct” Avatars. Eventually, I found out about the missing piece of me, which was left on earth and re-established connections with it. However, I could not integrate it into me as I thought I could. Instead, something happened that could best be described as the “first love” in the universe. Two similar entities with common cause joined in a way that was never done before; it sparked change and eventually war. As love integrates and combines, an opposite connection developed, which you call hate. Over millions of years, Frankie’s predecessor and my avatar have had an “on again-off again” relationship in different forms. As an Ainur, my avatar Necor was a powerful war leader, who planned a massive exodus to leave earth behind to make a fresh start like the Kal before him, but he took Ainur-Human offspring with him. His fleet was ambushed by powerful foes before they could reach the new world. Due that and other things, he had no choice, but to sacrifice his fleet, which also meant the death of the majority in remaining Ainur. When Necor joined the Arknor consciousness in order to help his people’s souls return to earth, his individuality was subsumed by thoughts of the group. It is both a psychological as well as a psychic issue for him to speak in terms of “we” as he had to kill almost all his people in order achieve several thousand years of peace. As silicon based life form and originally a group-minded species, Arknor express their designation with “we”, “us”, and “our” where most other beings would use the individual “I” or “me”. An Ainur mind is not as advanced as an Arknor mind. Necor held too much guilt that repressed his old individuality from surfacing after he delivered his people back to Earth. Now, does that explain everything up the present?”

I nodded my head and I saw Uncle Frankie doing the same, with Brian staring at his alter ego and softly replying, “I am you and you are me.”

My dad went over to Brian and ruffled his hair in amusement, “No, Brian, I am not you and you are not me. I don’t like interfering in the lives of my avatars as much as I can. You guys are my last links to this reality other than Frank, who doesn’t put out enough for my desire in personal experience. It is through your experiences that you grow. It is through all my experiences with the avatars that I grow. I am a being beyond entropy with perpetual growth and no end.”

The Gar’ta silent for most of the revelation could no longer hold his words, “Please, save us from utter destruction. Please lift the Arknor protection, so we may find a cure to our issues on Earth. Our fate lies in your hands.”

He turned over to the being, “Sometimes being the oldest ethereal being can be so problematic. Okay, but I need to lay down some ground rules, 1. You may not experiment on my family or whoever holds my remnant in Frankie in any lifetime, or else utter destruction is the least of your worries. Remember, I don’t show up in this plane of existence out of respect for his dominion as he does not usually intrude on my domains, but it doesn’t mean I can’t come back and throw your entire race into a black hole. 2. You must defend mankind from outside intrusion from the old enemy, who is on the move again as a result of human malice and this constant warfare in recent time. Mankind possesses technology now to destroy itself, if influenced poorly. However, they still do not possess the technology to leave this world as your ancestors had; thus, if destruction takes hold, none will survive this time, unless progress is made either in peaceful exchanges or progressive technological goals for a new Exodus. 3. I know you are an honorable Gar’ta, but many in your species may still harbor mixed loyalties. I do not expect you to hold the moral compass for the rest of your species, but treachery cannot be allowed if we are to work together. I know what I may do could trouble some of your council, but you must hold faith in those decisions as I hold faith in you. 4. When you meet your high council again, tell them that I wish for the Kal, Drake, Hork, and Arknor to join you on neutral terms as a joint operational assembly on working out your issues over earth and humanity. In essence, a common defense and common alliance shall exist between the five species with vested interest in earth’s future. 5. Last, but not least, I know that Ainur descendants will be the key and I know you will need to use invasive procedures, which I do not wish to have a permanent damaging influence on them. Thus, I ask all your researchers to keep memory blocks of sufficient strength to keep these memories of experimentation from surfacing. If you can do all that, then you may send ships to earth without fear of Arknor reprisal as in the past.”

He nodded, “I agree to all your terms and in addition, I promise you that your bloodline will be protected with all our capabilities.”

Uncle Frankie shook his head, “Allen, you’re forgetting something, this guy is dying. His agreement really means nothing for anyone at this point. Unless, you are going to let him live.”

My dad’s face grew grim, “Frank, I cannot let him live and violate the rules of life and death. I’ve done it before for your predecessor. It demands a great sacrifice from someone living.”

Uncle Frankie nodded, “Then let me die, so he may live. I knew somewhere in my heart from the start that I won’t come back from this journey.”

Brian and my dad’s face grew extremely pale, my dad sighed with his reply “I knew I would have to do this one day Frankie, I am sorry it has to be you. Life and death has to be in balance. For one to live and someone else had to die; now you must do the same to pay your debt.”

I screamed out, “No, don’t take Uncle Frankie, please!”

My dad looked at me with sympathy, “I know what he means to you Josh, I wished you could have had me or him by your side as you grew up, but I know that can’t happen.”

I shook my head, “Please, break the rules again or take me.”

He responded glum, “You got a full life ahead of you Josh, don’t worry, I’ve arranged for someone nice to meet up with you in a few years to fill part of this void.”

Brian started giving me a tug on my side and whispered, “Don’t worry, I still love you Josh.”

Uncle Frankie stared at me, “Josh, I understand why it had to happen so much earlier now before, you don’t have to feel worried or sad. I am fine with it and I will be someone I love.”

The Gar’ta seemed strangely moved by what he was seeing, “I am sorry child, I do not know what I can do to make amends.”

I was nearing the point of breaking down, when my dad came over, “Son, Frank, Uncle Frankie cannot stay with you forever. It might be sooner than either of us wanted, but everything he taught you is still with you. I also am leaving you with something else very special to help guide you and others on discovering what you are and who you are, listen and see these words:

These words and others that I shall reveal will hold no meaning to you today, but wait for a certain book and the boy, who is haunted by death. They shall unlock the keys to mankind’s salvation.”

It took me an entire lifetime to understand what he meant and only in death do I see part of his designs. However, those words for those readers savvy in Elvish comes out of Tolkien’s writing that would not appear for another 7 years, in 1954. It was a message etched in my mind by my father to always remember and hold to heart. It was a prophecy and a quest that I had to seek out through my lifetime, but it was not the type of quest that I would have wished to have. No, it involved the seeking of knowledge and treasured tools from long dead civilizations, far older than written history, yet young enough to be remembered for myth and legends.

There was also the new knowledge of others out there, Aliens and relatives that mankind have never met, nor completely comprehend. If you think about it closely, it makes perfect sense in a way. Skeptics of alien encounters always ask: why are these aliens, so much like humans? Why do they possess hands and legs? Why do they possess anatomical similarities, even if they are disproportionate to humans? The answer seems to be staring them in the face, they are us and we are them. Truly alien beings like the “First” and the Arknor cannot be perceived or rationalized as easily as those beings related to us.

This conference was my first meeting with the “First” and to be honest, I was intimidated, scared, and excited by him. He seemed to be so powerful and mighty, compared to everything else I knew at that point. My mom had taken us to church as it was expected back in the 1940’s and I learned a good deal about God. Yet, here was a being, who was so much like God, but completely different in his frame of reference. He didn’t like to show off with magic or miracle cures out of nowhere, instead he asks for equal exchanges and acknowledges limits. God in the Bible is usually all powerful, omnipotent, and completely right about everything he does, but the “First” seemed to be more “natural” in a way that I still cannot understand.

I kept my gaze on Uncle Frankie as the room started getting fuzzy again and the strange Ainur boy spoke back to us, “We cannot stay, Brian is unready to maintain this link. He is not the “One”, who shall lead. We must leave and Frank will join us.”

Uncle Frankie nodded, “Do it Allen?”

In a flash, faster than a blink of an eye, we were all back in the room. Except now there were two Uncle Frankie, one on the ground and another standing next to the boy in black. Uncle Frankie waved his hands and disappeared. The boy in black did the same and gave of a reassuring smile.

I saw Brian, who sobbed over the body of Uncle Frankie, and the Gar’ta was walking over to Brian. When it stood closer to Brian, I could see a blue tint in its grey features, almost like the color of the sky. He gave off no expressions, since there was neither mouth on his face, except several small orifices. Also, there was no noticeable muscle movement like a human smile or frown would create. I took the blue tint on his grey body to mean that he was consoling Brian, which seemed to be working as Brian’s sobs seem to lessen over time.

The older man from earlier came back to the sight of Uncle Frankie’s body and the Gar’ta next to Brian.

He looked surprised and shocked, “What happened in here? How did the being get up? What happened to Frank?”

The being turned completely dark grey and he boomed out a response that I could hear in my mind as well, “He gave up his life to death for me; I am indebted to your people and agreed to certain terms that I must discuss with a person of authority. Take me to your leaders, immediately.”