He was a young Dragon, and liked nothing more than to lie in the sun on a grassy hill and daydream about his favorite fantasy. His favorite fantasy involved traveling into the past to live in another age, where he would travel about in the guise of a dashing young man. The young Dragon drifted off to sleep in the warm sun, and found himself dreaming about his latest fantasy culture. Unlike his usual fantasy, however, things began to happen in his dream that were completely beyond his control. He found himself running from one doorway to another in town, looking for someone he didn't know. After fleeing from a particularly nasty brawl at the local tavern, the young Dragon entered a forest which had never appeared in his fantasies before, and came face to face with the stranger. The stranger was sitting absolutely still and quiet in the darkness, his luminous eyes shining brightly with intent.
After several moments of shocked silence on the young Dragon's part, the stranger softly spoke. "What mean you here, lad?"
The young Dragon stiffened, and in a haughty tone, replied:
"Sir, I may look like just a lad to you, but I assure you I am really a Dragon!"
The stranger raised one eyebrow, and slowly studied the young man before him.
"Why, so you are, young man, so you are."
The young Dragon felt that the stranger was only humoring him, and started to get angry.
"Don't get your bowels in an uproar, youngster. I believe you. No one else would have the nerve to just stroll into my domain."
The young Dragon thought this stranger was behaving most oddly. His domain, indeed! Who did he think he was? Only Dragons created their own domains; everyone else just inhabited them. There was no way this could be the stranger's domain, unless of course... The young Dragon looked speculatively at the stranger. He did look very odd, sort of glowing in the darkness, but his scent was all wrong. The stranger certainly was no Dragon!
"Not yet, anyway," the stranger said.
The young Dragon was startled to realize that the stranger had read his thoughts and responded to his unspoken speculation.
"What do you mean, not yet!? Either one is a Dragon, or one is not! And you, sir, are not!"
The stranger looked at the young Dragon for a few moments, as if assessing something.
"Where do you think Dragons come from, young one? Do you remember your birthing? Do you know your parents?"
Now the young Dragon was getting angry. How dare this mere mortal question his origins? As if a mortal could understand the Mysteries of immortals like himself!!
The stranger went on,"Let me tell you something you don't know! Dragons come from mortals who manage to become immortal. In order to do this, the mortal must be willing and able to change his consciousness until he becomes something other than mortal."
"I don't believe you! I have never been a mere mortal! I have always been a Dragon!"
"At least, that's all that you can remember. After a long transformation, immortals become so different from what they once were that they can no longer remember their beginnings. Dragons don't have parents, because they are their own parent!"
The young Dragon was disturbed.
"Why haven't any of the Elder Dragons told me of this if its true?"
"I think they have their own reasons for not wanting to talk about mortals. Why do think you're so fascinated by mortals that you're always building mortal cultures in your fantasies? Intuitively, you feel the kinship that exists between mortals and Dragons."
The young Dragon was quiet for a moment, reflecting. For Dragons, even young ones, have wisdom far exceeding that of men.
"If this is true, then just what are you doing in my fantasy?"
"What makes you think this is your fantasy? You're asleep and dreaming! Your consciousness has moved into my fantasy, but now I need to continue my Work of attaining full transparency. So if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave now."
The young Dragon was just about to become furious at the impudence of this 'request' when the stranger moved his hand in a gesture, and the young Dragon suddenly found himself waking up on his grassy hill with the sun just beginning to go down. The young Dragon sat up quickly, alarmed by the events in his dream. He paced around his hill for hours, wondering who the stranger could be. Suddenly, an Elder dragon appeared before him.
"What has disturbed you, young one? Why have you abandoned your responsibilities?"
Stung by the implication of the Elder, the young Dragon could only stammer.
"I, I, I... "
The Elder Dragon's countenance changed suddenly, and a softness replaced the hard edge of his demand.
"Come, young one, no one is going to harm you. Tell me why you have deprived your mortals of your presence."
The young Dragon was puzzled by the Elder's words.
"What mortals, Elder? As far as I can tell I am alone in my realm."
"What about the mortals you create in your imaginings?"
"But, surely they aren't real! They're only imaginary, figments of my fantasies." The Elder Dragon sighed and slowly shook his head.
"Don't you realize that what you fantasize is drawn from other realms, where mortals who already exist are seen by your inner eye? By fantasizing about them you are creating connections with them by which inspirational energies are fed to them; consequently, these mortals come to depend on your continued fantasy to continue their growth in knowledge."
The young Dragon was taken aback, and said,"Elder, I was disturbed because the stranger told me that mortals created Dragons, but now you're telling me that Dragons help to mold mortals. Please explain these things to me."
All at once, the Elder became demanding again.
"What stranger? All of the mortals you think about should be known to you."
The young Dragon explained what had happened to him after he had fallen asleep on the grassy hill, and why he had stopped his usual daydreaming. When he was finished his explanation, the young Dragon looked at the Elder expectantly, hoping for some easy answer to his confusion.
The Elder seemed distracted, and said,"This is a matter that needs to be investigated, but you should not have left your mortals. You could have sent a message, instead. You need only have me in your mind and I will know of it and come to you. After all, the Council of Elders appointed me to be your Guardian when you came among us."
"But, Elder, exactly where did I come from?"
The Elder Dragon sighed again, and looked away a moment before looking directly into the young Dragon's eyes.
"You shouldn't know this until you're much older, but since someone has seen fit to bring it to your attention I'll have to tell you now. There are two kinds of Dragons: Elders, who were created with the first universe, and young ones, Dragons who came among us from the realms of mortals. In the Early Days, some of the Elders discovered that mortals had been created by All-That-Is from the same essence as Dragons, but the knowledge that they were potentially immortal like us was kept from them. As a result, the Elders decided that fair was fair, and they made contact with mortals and left them with information by which they could realize their heritage and become immortal."
The young Dragon was in shock; his mind reeled with the implications of this revelation.
"But, if All-That-Is creates mortals, why am I responsible for them, too?"
"We discovered that All-That-Is left the human mortals to figure out as best they could how to become immortal, so we decided that if we created mortals also they would be more likely to feel our presence and seek us out through the methods we gave to them. Afterward, we were blessed by the arrival of young dragons from the realms of the mortals. Unfortunately, some of the other immortals didn't think we had the right to do this and they warred upon us, destroying many of the mortals we had created, and imprisoning some of the Elders in the ABYSS. Those Elders who had participated in the creation of mortals were tracked down one by one, until the last remaining Elders fled in desperation to a mortal world and hid in the only place left to them, in the consciousness of mortals themselves! The Elders who remained decided not to get directly involved with mortals again, but they found that the new Dragons could cultivate the mortals without any repercussions. The truth is, you were once a mortal. But not just a mortal. Only those mortals who carry within them the essence of Dragons can become Dragons. However, other mortals can become immortal also. You were just lucky to be a Dragon."
"Why was I lucky to be a Dragon, instead of some other kind of immortal?" asked the young Dragon.
"Because," said the Elder, "Dragons are the oldest and wisest of all immortals. There are things known only to us about the beginning and ending of All-That-Is, and one day this knowledge will be our redemption." "Will I ever know what you know, Elder?"
"One day, you will know everything there is to know, young one. For now, though, you must return to your realm and continue to help your mortals. Don't worry about the stranger; I will take care of him."
The Elder Dragon vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the young Dragon to his thoughts. The Elder wanted him to go back to his fantasies as usual, but the young Dragon knew he would never feel the same about mortals again.
The Elder Dragon touched down lightly at the edge of the brood, trying not to disturb anyone. Nevertheless, a stir went through the mass of dark bodies as the Elder's thoughts were picked up by those Dragons paying attention to his arrival. Any news involving Dragons and mortals together always had an electrifying effect on the normally quiescent brood. The others made way for the largest Elder Dragon in the brood, as he came face to face with the arriving Elder.
"What brings you back so soon, Lord Barael?" came the thought from the Great Elder.
Lord Barael paused to put his thoughts in order, then shared his thoughts with the entire brood about the stranger. The brood suddenly became highly agitated, as the Elder Dragons all tried to share their thoughts at once.
Ignoring the subject that had stirred up the brood, the Great Elder turned his back on Lord Barael, and said icily, "Tell me, Lord Barael, by what right have you revealed the Great Truth to a young Dragon? Do you have any idea what the consequences of this action will be for all of us?"
Lord Barael was silent, and the brood seemed uncertain what stance to take. Having made his point, the Great Elder moved his arm in a gesture of dismissal of the subject.
Then he turned back to Lord Barael and thought briefly and pointedly, "Go, and find out the stranger's true identity."
Lord Barael silently bowed assent and turned to leave immediately.
Days and weeks passed, and the young Dragon had no more contacts with the stranger. However, the fantasies of the young Dragon had taken on a decidedly different tone; the mortals began to be less preoccupied with each other and more interested in spiritual matters. In some cultures, the Dragon came to be thought of as the creator of all things, and myriad religious cults involving the Dragon began to spring up in culture after culture that the young Dragon thought up. One such cult, calling itself the Celestial Immortals, began to spread through all of the young Dragon's cultures. Leaders of the cult unearthed ancient teachings hidden in long abandoned temples, and members of the cult began to develop various spiritual powers as they applied the teachings. The young Dragon had settled into a new fantasy when he was startled by a series of searing lighting bolts ripping through his thoughts. He began to search for the origin of the disturbance, when a glowing circle appeared before him and out of it stepped a creature out of myth: the fabled Unicorn. Two things were immediately apparent to the young Dragon; first, that the Unicorn was an immortal like himself, and second, that the Unicorn was very angry.
"Why do you give forbidden knowledge to the mortals, Dragon?" came the Unicorn's thought.
Suddenly, the Elder Dragon known as Lord Barael appeared beside the young Dragon.
"Why are you here, Lady Daniella? The realms of the Dragons are not part of your domain!"
"I am here, Lord Barael, because your young Dragon has been teaching forbidden knowledge to his mortals."
"How can he teach that which he does not know himself, Daniella?"
"The ancient knowledge is buried in the consciousness of those mortals once touched by your kind, Barael, and it needs only to be prodded to reappear."
The young Dragon listened to the two immortals communicating and knew without a doubt that they knew each other very well. The Elder Dragon turned to the young Dragon with a frown.
Lady Daniella said, "He must pay the price for this transgression."
Before the Elder Dragon could react, the young Dragon felt himself falling through a vortex which sucked him down farther and farther, though he strove with all his might to break free.
Down into utter darkness the young Dragon was drawn, until he found himself floating in a place unlike anything he had ever seen or imagined. Chunks of rock, trees and debris of all sorts floated all around him in complete chaos. Things moved in all directions at varying speeds, sometimes changing course erratically or vanishing altogether! As far as he could see, it was the same in all directions. The young Dragon chose a direction and started flying as fast as he could, but he soon became completely disoriented and couldn't even tell if he was still moving in the same direction. He noticed an object not following a random path like everything else; this was coming straight toward him, no mistake. The young Dragon waited as the object grew nearer, and was genuinely shocked when he saw that it was the seated figure of a mortal man, the very stranger who had turned his life upside down.
"We meet again, young one," came the stranger's thought.
"What are you doing here? And where are we, anyway?" asked the young Dragon, a trifle more shrilly than he would have liked.
The stranger chuckled, but volunteered, "We're in the junkyard of the cluster of universes we inhabit. It has many names: the Disordered Realm, the Ring-Pass-Not, the Lost Confusion. Not many beings come here because they want to do so."
The stranger had been studying the young Dragon, and he said, "I see you've had a run-in with the self-appointed Masters of the Universe. Would you like some help getting out of here?"
"Why would you help me? Besides, I don't know where I can go. I've disgraced the Elders, and probably gotten them in trouble. I may have started a whole war!"
"Don't be so melodramatic, young one. The war has been going on for millennia and the Elders can take care of themselves. You haven't done anything wrong, and I'm sure your friend is looking for you even now. As to why I would help you, I have discovered that you hold secrets unknown even to yourself and you are far more important to the Elders than they realize. By the way, your friend Lord Barael has been looking for me; when you see him again, tell him I said that I'm not the one he thinks I am."
The stranger raised his arm to gesture, and suddenly the young Dragon was back on his grassy hill. The young Dragon was wondering what the stranger meant when Lord Barael materialized beside him, looking very surprised.
"How did you get back here, young one? Daniella sent you so far away, you shouldn't have been able to find your way back for hundreds of years!"
Events had unfolded around him, putting him through one change after another, always with someone else deciding what would happen. The young Dragon was getting just a little tired of feeling like everyone else's pawn in a game he didn't begin to understand. He decided it was time to make a stand of some kind.
"Why does everyone always call me young one?" he said petulantly. "How come you have a name and I don't?"
The Elder Dragon considered the young Dragon for several long moments, then said, "Dragons receive their names when they come of age to enter the brood of the Elders. So far, none of the new young Dragons have done so. Circumstances have resulted in you knowing far more than any of the other young Dragons, so perhaps it is fitting for you to have a name of some kind. The naming ceremony must be approved and presided over by the Great Elder, but until he decides you are ready for it, maybe there's a name you would like me to call you?"
The young Dragon thought for a few moments, then said haltingly, "I kind of like the name 'Samael.'"
The Elder looked startled, and he said in a low voice, "Where did you hear that name?"
The young Dragon was nonplused, but said, "I don't know, it just kind of feels right."
"Very well, Samael, but this is only between you and me, understand?"
Happy to have his name, Samael rushed past the Elder Dragon's strange reaction to his choice and asked, "Lord Barael, if the immortals were created without parents, why are some male and some female?"
The Elder Dragon considered his answer, then said, "All of the Elders created with the first universe were created female. Their interaction with the mortal humans revealed part of the Creator's cosmic design. You see, male consciousness is rare in the universe and highly prized because it can develop a spiritual power unknown to female consciousness. Once we discovered that we had a small part of male consciousness within us, many of us found a way to reverse the manifestation of our consciousness from female to male. The spiritual power of the male consciousness fills a void in us we didn't know existed until we discovered humans. That's why Dragons have continued to interact with the mortals. This is a Mystery we are fascinated with trying to unravel, since we believe it is tied to our own destiny. The Unicorns mostly believe that the Creator meant us to be what we were, so most of them are still female. Now, tell me how you managed to get back here from the Place of Chaos."
Samael smiled broadly, and said "It was the stranger I told you about. He showed up and sent me back here. He told me you were looking for him and to tell you that he isn't the one you think he is."
Barael jumped up and started pacing back and forth excitedly, all the while muttering to himself.
The Elder stopped in front of Samael. "How did the stranger know I was looking for him? How did he know who I thought he was?"
Samael looked steadily at the Elder and said, "I don't know. The stranger told me that he knew you were looking for him and he knew what you were thinking. Who did you think he was, anyway?"
"I thought," said Barael slowly, "that he was our Leader, who hasn't been seen since the beginning of the war."
Barael looked right at Samael when he said, "Our Leader's name is Samael."
"I, I,...I'm sorry, Elder. I didn't know! It just sounded like a good name to me."
Lord Barael smiled tiredly, and said, "It is a good name, Samael, and you may use it as long as you like. You act more like our lost Leader than any Dragon I know. Maybe you'll grow into it."
"But won't the Great Elder be angry with me?"
"We'll worry about that later. Right now, there are more important things to do. I'm supposed to be identifying the stranger for the Great Elder, but I think I'll keep this latest piece of information to myself for now. We're going to have a hard enough time explaining your punishment by Lady Daniella. In the meantime, I want you to stop infusing your fantasies with the knowledge that the mortals can become immortal."
"I'll stop adding it to my fantasies, but that may not help."
"What do you mean by that, Samael?"
"The last several times I fantasized about my mortals, they were already pursuing the knowledge on their own. The cult of the Celestial Immortals shows up in all of my fantasies now, even when I haven't thought about it."
The Elder started to say something, when suddenly there was a flash of light and an implosion of sound, and a very young Dragon appeared right beside them on the grassy hill.
The young Dragon looked around as if getting its bearings, sighted Samael, and said in a reverent tone, "Great One! I bring you greetings from the Celestial Immortals!" Samael was speechless, but Barael covered his eyes and shook his head, then said, "Now things are really starting to get out of hand!"
"That's an understatement if I ever heard one!" said Lady Daniella, coming out from behind a nearby tree. She looked hard at Samael, who looked at Lord Barael, who could only shrug. Before the Unicorn could say anything else, a clear light suffused the entire hill, and the stranger appeared floating in the air cross-legged before them.
"Well, well! The gang's all here! We have the oldest and the youngest, the wisest and the most foolish. Problem is, none of you know who is really whom!"
Daniella exploded, "You! But you were destroyed!"
"Yes, its me. When you try to kill someone, you should make sure that you have succeeded."
The Unicorn lowered its head, and said nothing.
Barael said excitedly, "So, you are Samael, after all!"
The stranger smiled, then said, "I'm afraid not. The Ancient One has been in your care."
Startled, Barael looked with large eyes at the young Dragon, Samael.
"But, how...?"
"Samael hid from his enemies in the consciousness of a mortal, and guided that mortal through many incarnations to take up the path of immortality. Now that mortal has himself become a Dragon, and the consciousness of Samael has become welded to that of the mortal. When he undergoes the Ceremony of Naming, the power of the brood will reawaken the Ancient One."
Barael looked up and said, "But who are you, then?"
"I am the first mortal created by the Ancient One. The Ancient One created me with capacities extraordinary for a mortal, and guided me personally to become the first immortal created by the Dragons. At the moment when I would have become a Dragon myself, he interceded in the process to make me keep my human form. The Ancient One then told me the truth about the War in Heaven between the immortals, and he enlisted my aid to help him carry out his plan to end the war. My task has been to remain an immortal man to guide human mortals to the knowledge of their immortality, in the hope that one day the war between immortals may be ended. Then the Ancient One and I shall reunite, and the first shall be the last!"
Samael burst out, "But if you're helping the mortals to become immortal, what have I been doing?"
"That's the fly in the ointment, Ancient One. Your plan didn't take into account that once you had submerged your consciousness in that of a mortal, the remaining Dragons would hatch their own plan to create immortals. Being the first-created of all immortals, you had greater knowledge and vision than any of the others, and you realized after my transformation that mortal men were meant to eventually become immortal Humans, not Dragons. As a result of the continued cultivation of mortals by Dragons, the predestined balance of immortals has been upset. What the outcome will be is anyone's guess."
Samael liked the fact that someone was talking to him as an equal, and explaining things at the same time. He thought that he should try to keep up with the conversation, so he asked, "How many kinds of immortals are there, anyway?"
The stranger smiled, and said, "As you once explained to me, Ancient One, in the cluster of five universes we inhabit, there are four types of immortals: the Dragon, the Unicorn, the Phoenix and the Human. All of the immortal spirits have to go through a period of growth and development, and man is the last. If the Soul and its companion, the Will, are to realize their destiny of redeeming the original Paradise, they must become aligned with the Creator. Once all of the immortals come of age, an apotheosis will occur which will merge all of the immortals into a new type of being who will inherit the fifth universe, called Eternity."
Samael was speechless after this revelation, and the look of astonishment on his face was mirrored on the faces of Lady Daniella and Lord Barael. It seemed that the Ancient One knew things about the immortals that the immortals didn't know themselves. The newest arrival from the mortal realm had been forgotten until he suddenly spoke up.
"You mean the Great One is not the ultimate Creator of All Things?"
The stranger looked at the youngest Dragon and smiled gently.
"I'm afraid not; the one you call the Great One was himself created, although no one has ever been able to discover who or what the Creator of All Things is, or looks like. However, your Great Dragon is more likely than anyone to make that discovery."
At this, Lady Daniella burst out angrily, "We may not know who the Creator is, but we Unicorns have been faithful to the work of the Creator and we know what the Creator wants everyone to do!"
All three of the Dragons tried to speak at once, but the stranger waved them down and turned to look directly at the Unicorn.
"And what of the Phoenix?" he asked, pointedly.
Lady Daniella looked defiant, and said "What of the Phoenix?"
The stranger gestured and suddenly a blinding burst of flame engulfed the hilltop, incinerating Samael's favorite tree. The immortals were unaffected physically by the fire, but they all felt an intense wave of energy wash over them, and then, standing among them, was the fabled Phoenix. Standing taller than anyone, its gleaming gold and red feathers looking like they were made of fire, the Phoenix moved its head slightly until a piercing eye looked directly at Lady Daniella. The Unicorn shrieked in fright and moved back several steps, shaking uncontrollably. The Phoenix looked at the stranger and spoke, "Why have you summoned me here, Lord Jarod? It is not yet time for the Gathering."
"A matter has come up which may have a bearing on the Gathering, and I seek your counsel for an understanding. I have found the Ancient One, but the Unicorns are still harassing him. And the other Elder Dragons have been creating new Dragons from the mortal human realms."
The Phoenix surveyed the Dragons, nodding in recognition to Lord Barael. The Phoenix ignored Lady Daniella, and spoke again with the Human.
"The cosmic balance requires the Dragons to retrieve the soul energies they gave to the humans, so they will have to continue to cull all those Humans who carry their essence. The energies of my kind and the Unicorns which have been mixed with the Humans also have to be recalled. The mixing of our energies with the Humans was not the crime the Unicorns make it out to be; it was ordained by the Creator to help the Humans recover their heritage of immortality."
Lady Daniella overcame her shock and fear to shout, "Liar! We Unicorns have never mingled our energies with anyone! The Creator would destroy us!"
The Phoenix said in a level voice, "You are quite wrong, Daniella; you yourself were once a mortal Human before you became a Unicorn."
Lord Barael looked startled and the Human looked amused, while Lady Daniella stood shaking, with tears running down her face as she said softly to herself, "Its not true, it can't be true."
The Phoenix said to the stranger, "Things are as they should be. The Unicorns cannot overcome the Dragons, so don't worry about it."
With that, the Phoenix vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the gathered immortals to sort things out. Lady Daniella turned and walked slowly away without another word. Lord Barael let her go without speaking, feeling sorry for her. The Phoenix was rarely seen by the other immortals, and the sheer magnificence of its appearance had made it an awe-inspiring mystery to most. Lord Barael was fortunate enough to have been in the presence of the Ancient One once when the Phoenix had appeared to speak with the Ancient One, so he knew somewhat what to expect. Lady Daniella, on the other hand, had never seen the Phoenix and she was devastated by both its appearance and its revelations.
Lord Barael turned to Samael and said, "I guess its time to take you to the brood so you can officially be named and we can once again have the wisdom of the Ancient One to guide us. Also, I guess I'll have a new charge to look after, now," he said, looking at the littlest Dragon confusedly holding onto Samael. Lord Barael appraised Lord Jarod, who was apparently on speaking terms with the Phoenix, with new respect.
"I'll come with you, Lord Barael, so I can confer with the Ancient One when he re-emerges."
The Elder Dragon nodded his assent. From now on, Barael would accord the Human his due as Lord Jarod, an immortal Human destined to become the Last True Dragon.