She nodded. “Come closer, Wil Johnson. There is something you must see.”
Wil moved around the edge of his bed, eyeing her cautiously. She waved her hand. A glowing orb of light appeared out of thin air and hovered over them. His eyes widened in amazement as she reached up and scooped the orb into her hand. Bringing it to eye level, she instructed him, “See the past, Wil Johnson.”
He gazed into the orb. The brilliant light faded away until only a soft, moonlight glow emitted from it. Inside the sphere, clouded images appeared, muted and milky at first. As he watched, the images began to take on form, and Cassia narrated for him:
“Many thousands of moons ago, when the first cloud appeared in the great heavens, there rode upon it a mighty power. This power flowed across the skies, absorbing all knowledge of life blossoming on this planet below. The more knowledge the power gained, the easier it was for this power to assume a shape, a form not unlike that of the cloud upon which it resided. This form pulled pieces of life from all that it witnessed and eventually created more clouds to fill the great heavens, and from those clouds this form created others like itself. As other forms were created, so too were other clouds and more forms and more clouds until the vastness of the sky was filled with a plethora of life.
“The original form became known as Olin, father of my people. He took his knowledge of this world and that from which we were created and schooled his children in the art of observation. Olin knew no malice and did not pass on such to his children. Rather, he passed on gentleness and respect for all life forms. As the moons passed, newer life appeared on this planet, and with the coming of each new species, Olin and his children studied and learned all they could, for he had prophecied the coming of a species with which communication would one day be possible. He believed that would be the key to bridging the gap between this world and his; he longed to give the species of this planet the knowledge that he and his children had acquired over the many phases of the moons, for it was not just an astuteness of the brain which Olin’s children held, but a knowledge of the elements, of the trees, of the sea itself.”
“Magic,” Wil breathed, watching the images dance across the orb.
“Yes,” she smiled. “Magic, only there was no species which Olin felt could understand its depths. So he waited, and his children waited with him, until such a time as man first walked on this planet. It was in man whom Olin recognized the ability to reason, the ability to understand and learn and adapt. So it was to man Olin bestowed the acumen of enchantment and the supernatural.
“During this time, great peace reigned over this world, for Olin had blessed the human inhabitants with such fortune. Some humans were even blessed with the knowledge of magic. They were called Secret Keepers, for it was their task to keep secret all they learned about my people and the mystical realm.
“But man began to become sloven, selfish. He no longer appreciated the beauty of the trees or the warmth of the sun. He began to complain when it was too wet or too cold, when the ground was too hard for planting or when he was called to aid his neighbor. Olin’s children tried, but they had no means of communicating with the humans who could not see magic. Understanding what was happening did not come easily to my people. Only Olin noticed, being the keen observer that he was. A malice that was both dark and strong had been born out of man’s use of fire. It was very subtle at first, a puff of smoke, a flicker of blue flame. But this malice had determined itself to live, to take on a form of power that was much greater than the light and heat established by the fire flames.
“It took many moons, but the malice succeeded, as had Olin, in taking shape. This form slipped into the crevices of the planet where the molten rivers flow, ash, soot, lava rock. And there, this form pulled life from the ashes to create more forms like it. The difference was these forms did not study the planet to learn from it; they studied to find its weaknesses. Olin believes that the smoky soot burned away any conscience the new life form had. So up from the core rose Meslo and his children. Wherever they laid hand or foot, ill will fell.
“Man’s strength had weakened during this time of sloth and selfishness. Meslo’s children did not have to try too hard to poison one against another. As Olin and his children watched from above, the venom that was Meslo’s spread, and man began to turn against his neighbor, his planet, and himself. Olin called his children together, for he had foreseen the destruction of the planet that he had come to love, and he knew man could not withstand the forces of malice by himself. That is when Olin met Meslo over the great plains. It was a clash the world has not seen since. The father of the clouds battled the father of the fires for many moons. Light battled darkness, love battled malice, all in the sky, on the sea, and upon the crevices of the earth.
“Olin’s children blew their breath upon the humans. Some recovered from their bouts of cruelty and joined the fight, spreading love and peace. Others succumbed to the rigors of hate and fought for the other side. Creatures fled into hiding, the trees pulled into themselves, the seas seemed to dry up. And then, when all hope had appeared to vanish and your Earth was at its darkest, Olin managed to maim Meslo. With the Fire King defeated, Olin’s children were able to push the figures of malevolence down into the core of the planet and seal them inside forever. Thus, the Great Battle ended, and Olin had grown a little wiser for it.
“You see, during the Great Battle, Olin had an epiphany: the fighting existed because he and Meslo were opposites. One was good, the other evil. Man would submit either way, either due to weakness or great understanding. Once the fighting ceased, many humans returned to the old ways of hard work and discipline, of aiding one another and seeking higher knowledge. Some humans continued on the path set forth by Meslo. But what was important was the realization that this world had righted itself somehow, and now the energies flowing up from the planet seemed stable. That is when Olin understood that his people and Meslo’s people existed for a single reason: to maintain the existence of the other.” Here the orb went dark, erasing all images from Wil’s eyes. Cassia waved her hand and the lifeless ball vanished.
“It is at this point that the Balance was established and kept in check for all these many moons by my people. Olin recognized that good cannot exist without evil, that if the humans of this planet were going to appreciate the benevolence in this world, they were going to have to be made aware of the calamity that existed as well.”
She paused. Wil stared at the spot where the orb had been. His head whirled with all of this information. He rubbed his eyes and when he opened them, he spotted his notebook lying on the floor. To think, just a few short hours ago, he had been concerned about a paper on the properties of rocks!
“So, then, all of that stuff about the forces of good and evil, it’s all true.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. He seemed disappointed, though he didn’t know why; he never expected it to be any other way. If there was no evil, no malice, then his dad wouldn’t be dead, Scott’s dad wouldn’t be a drunk, Andrew wouldn’t be a bully. Still, he couldn’t deny that he had hoped she would tell him differently. After all, if one dream could become a reality, was it too much to expect other dreams to become real also?
“Yes.”
“And your people guard the Balance and protect it. From what?”
She sat down beside him. Her nearness warmed Wil. He felt strange and light. If she told him the world was ending tomorrow, he doubted he would have cared.
“From the animosity that still exists. The Balance cannot tip either way.”
Wil shook his head. “But wouldn’t it be better to strengthen the good, to lessen the amount of evil in the world? Why does it have to exist?” He looked into her face and felt his breath come short. Her skin had a lovely ivory tint to it in the glow of his lamp, and her eyes had converted back to crystal blue.
She smiled gently at him. “How would you know something is good if you have nothing by which to judge it?”
Wil shook his head, his eyes lighting on the picture of his mom and dad on vacation.
As if sensing his weariness, Cassia stood. “And now, Wil Johnson, I will bid you farewell. I have given you much to think about, and I believe the time for your meditation has arrived.”
He glanced at his window. The blind was mysteriously up, and a large yellow moon gazed down at the sleeping neighborhood. He was surprised by the lateness of the hour. “Will you be in school tomorrow?”
“Of course. I am only just beginning in my tasks. Rest well, Wil Johnson, and do not worry about all I told you. It will make sense in time.” She touched her hand to her forehead, then to her abdomen in a small arc. “Til we meet again.” Then she faded into a wispy mist and drifted out of his window into the night.