3.10 The Great Revolt

Only because she had seen the powers of the weapon herself could Zara even consider opening her mind to the bizarre history of Vikkar's sword. As unreal as it sounded, it was at least an explanation of how he ended up with it, another detail that was missing from the textbooks in school which no one ever asked about.

         "As the people gathered in the Grand Courtyard for their performance" Nahash continued, "the rebels used the Sword of Lightning to blast open the locks and free the dissidents from their underground cells. Apart from the missing children, the plan to reclaim Solaria was working and the rebels were able to send the elderly and ailing dissidents to the safety of Lemuria through the tunnel.

         And alas, above ground things weren't going great at all. Half way through the musical performance Atalon shut down the show. Then with mighty fanfare, the soldiers dragged Neter onto the stage and bound him to the podium. Then they brought Sapparu onto the stage for his sacrifice, and it was a terrible, terrible sacrifice…"

         The friends closed their eyes as Nahash told the story of Sapparu’s sacrifice, so painful it still pained them today. It took I'm a moment to compose himself.

         "They skinned him alive on the stage, right in front of Neter's eyes."

         "Why?" Zara gasped in horror.

         "To teach us a lesson" Nahash explained. "Atalon pointed to Neter and told everyone to blame him for Sapparu's demise."

         "How?" Nel couldn't believe the cruelty.

         "Atalon claimed Neter was a Grim Reaper, that Sapparu perished because he was looking at him, that it was his eyes, looking at him which skinned him alive."

         "What?" Zara couldn't believe it "That's ridiculous! Why would he do that?"

         "This way, he could escape responsibility for Sapparu's demise."

         "I don't believe it!" Unbelievable as it was, Zara knew it could perhaps be true. Her textbooks did depict the god of Death as a Grim Reaper, and so far she had seen no truth in that. She felt sick now. Even though the story explained so much, it was all too crazy to be true.

         Nahash continued with the devastating chapter. "The people in the courtyard panicked and ran for the gates, only to discover the soldiers had closed them, they were trapped inside, there was no escaping the sacrificial nightmare. And as they realized they were trapped, the panicking got worse and a riot began to break out.

         Then the soldiers poured oil down the courtyard walls. As their beloved Solarian king let out his final scream, they ignited the fuel and within seconds the entire courtyard became engulfed in flames reaching up beyond the statue of Elon."

         "WHAT???" Zara and Nel were equally aghast. Never could they have imagined anything so terrible as this, this wasn't the Atalon either of them knew, at all! How could Atalon be so deceptive?

         "From his place on stage Neter could see the gods disappearing through a trapdoor in the floor" Nahash continued. "The flames burned the rope behind the podium before they reached too much of his body. Because of a miracle he managed to struggle free from the burning rope and was able to escape death by following the gods through the trapdoor on stage."

         Flashbacks of the Green Room under the stage, whirled back into Zara's mind, illustrating the scenery below. It was true, there was a whole underworld right below the royal stage!

         "When Vikkar and the rebels emerged from the underground to rescue the people from the courtyard they found the grounds engulfed in flames, only a few people were still fighting for their lives, screaming for help at the gates.

         Armed with the Sword of Lightning, Vikkar swung the weapon into the air and blasted the gates open, freeing the burning survivors. But they had arrived too late, most of the people had perished, most of them were too burned to make it very far. The rebels had no choice, they had to flee the chaos of Atlan and admit defeat."

         "Oh... My... God…" Zara was stunned by the untold horror story of their past. "They set fire to all the people in the courtyard?" Images of the enormous crowds at the Graduation Ceremony flooded her mind, illustrating the magnitude of such a scene. It was incomprehensible.

         "Yes." Nahash replied with a heavy heart. "They were your ancestors" he continued. "Most of the rebels and freed dissenters made it to Lemuria, but there were very few survivors from the courtyard, most of our families died there that day. And that's the story of the Great Revolt.... It was... Revolting."

         Zara just couldn't comprehend the scale of the tragedy, she turned toward Nulu, searching...

         "I was one of the dissenters that Vikkar freed from the cells" the ancient goddess winked with a smile.