Balada : When From My Square Of Window Pane I Draw The Curtain To One Side



  When from my square of window-pane I draw the curtain to one side.

  by Solea Razvan

  Copyright 2015 Solea Razvan

  3498th Chapter, 1463st volume, 4th library, 7th universe, 974.593 cycle of eternity.

  When from my square of window-pane I draw the curtain to one side.

  *Excerpt from the works of Grand Scholar, and The Great War expert Djanus Todomari from the Imperium Archives*

  During ancient times, even before the First Commonwealth, the most fascinating of all stars was the one called the Gate to Paradise. It was the brightest star that one could view from the sky of the Old Capital Planet and true to its name, the ancestors thought it to be the path to paradise.

  As one era passed into another and our tools became more advanced, a man called Triremus Triariaty, who was a famous statesmen, poet, mathematician and soldier, who during one of his many ‘retirements’ from public affairs discovered that if you put several pieces of a convex, transparent crystal or pieces of glass in front of one another, you see things closer up, than you could with your bare eyes.

  This simple invention was the first recorded telescope, giving birth to the start of the age of exploration and ushering in the era of ‘The Eight Renascence of The Twelfth Age’.

  Upon viewing the Gate to Paradise, he discovered that it was not a single star, but a collection of stars, numbering in the thousands. This group of celestial beings was located at such a great distance from the Old Capital, that it created the illusion of a single body of light.

  This revelation, while it was the start of modern science and sorcery, also had the unfortunate effect of producing a schism in the various religious and political groups that inhabited the upper echelons of power on the Old Capital.

  The extremists of the conservative faction, declared this new discovery to be ‘blasphemy’ at worst, or a waste of time and of no importance at best, while the more radical liberal elements had an almost explosive reaction, bordering on zealotry. Becoming convinced, that this was the proof/divine sign that change was needed, and if the current body of power had been wrong about this, then what else have they’ve also been wrong about or had kept hidden from them?

  But, regardless of how much merit their accusations had, it was a good enough excuse for both sides to launch a powerful political attack against the other, even though most historians nowadays agree that the conservative administration was a decent one, the liberal opposition, although not entirely cooperative with the government, did maintain a working relationship.

  The ‘reformists’ on both sides ignored this, along with the fact that there was no economic or social need for reform and continued their agenda, regardless of how much opposition or lack of support they encountered.

  Unfortunately, that change, although welcomed by some, was achieved trough bloody means, with the schism devolving, in about five generations after the invention of the telescope into civil war, with the liberals eventually triumphing, but at an extremely high cost.

  They had used such immoral and barbaric means that, although effective, had as an unfortunate side effect, the degeneration of the once forward thinking group that won the struggle, into a dogmatic and unyielding almost cult like organization. It reinstituted measures like: slavery and serfism, extreme prejudice in their policies, and a vast network of espionage, that in the absence of a war, would gradually take over the state and turn it into a such nightmare, that even the most extremist conservative would have rather died than even imagine, let alone live in such a hellhole.

  And considering that they were all beheaded along with their spouses and children, there was no one to argue with that counterpoint.

  As for Triremus Triariaty, the poor soul had the fortune of not living to see his noble intent of scientific and spiritual discovery be twisted by what was to come.

  And so, he made what was to be his ninth retirement from public affairs a permanent one and focused all of his attention on mapping the sky.

  He would continue to do so, for at least eight more standard years, before old age and his deteriorating health forced him to interrupt it and he passed away shortly after that.

  On the final day of his life, he had a conversation with his dear wife Dalaria, in which it is rumored that she asked him, if he would have liked to be reborn in an age where you could journey to the stars.

  ‘Certainly not!’ he replied to his better half, of which she inquired why.

  ‘You see what we are capable of doing now, with just a single world in our mitts; can you even imagine what we could unleash, if the very stars would be in our grasp?’