Solutions: The Dilemma for the Gods, James Gerard [top 10 books of all time .TXT] 📗

the Gods for the children to emerge from the underground fortress had shined for years.  He knew the second light was lit in response to Terrance’s rebellious act of defying the Gods and their prescribed tenets regarding the pairing with Rita, and it was made known to the high priests the transgression and the consequent punishment.   The third light was alit when his beloved Rita wandered away from the life of banishment and was ravished by the cold bite of winter.  It was this, the third light and not the fourth, that sent terror throughout the town.

 

The inability of the high priests to offer an explanation for the failed search for one of Gods’ children produced panic and fear amongst all since the tenets prescribed a most horrific, yet unspecified punishment for such a transgression.  Terrance vividly remembered the rush to judgment as the storekeeper handed him the keys to the Lesser Temple, then commanded him to quickly prepare its inner world as prescribed by the tenets.  In two days Terrance had rushed about preparing the inner world, however, its state of condition had not complied with the tenets.  The high priests in their panic, the panic of the children too, dismissed his further transgression as minor in comparison to the severity of Rita's disappearance and took their places on the altar that stood high above the children.

 

After the high priests had begged the Gods for mercy, Terrance was summoned to the seat of judgment at the base of the towering altar.  The high priests shouted out the accusations to the Gods, pointed down at the transgressor, and blamed Terrance for the act of disobedience.  Terrance could only laugh at the memory.  He found it funny that the Lesser Temple’s main purpose, as prescribed in the tenets, was for the direct communication between the high priests and the Gods.   The Gods, however, never answered.  They could not or would not utter a single word.  But to Terrance’s amusement, the high priests faked their reactions then fell to their knees.  They shrieked terror in response to a pretentious, thundering voice chastising them, and abided by the unheard renderings of the Gods.  But the children believed.

 

Throughout the judgment proceedings, Terrance, as much as the temptation urged him to a defense, compelled him to end the lunacy.  He simply chose to forego the vengeance.  Even before the rendered verdict Terrance squirmed in the judgment seat, muscles twitched, heart raced while the high priests prolonged the thorough interrogation.  Terrance bit the tongue to seal the lips tight as the lack of evidence backing up the accusations became apparent.  He desperately wanted to scream out the absence of any self-incriminating statements but the urge to do so was squelched.  And as much as his heart ached to stand up against his accuser, he never stood.  His thoughts yearned to make known the absurdity of the trial, but they remained contained within. 

 

After the high priests assigned the transgression to Terrance, the transgression that angered the Gods, further punishment was withheld: for such a punishment would be extended to all the children, even the high priests, since the responsibility of Rita’s disappearance fell on all.  Because Terrance chose to stay quiet, three out of the five lights illuminated from the pinnacle of the Greater Temple; there was not further punishment handed down by the Gods.  Questions concerning the power of the Gods, the breaking of their tenets, irked Terrance even more after the judgment.

 

He wondered why the high priests were not commanded to sit in the judgment seat to explain the absence of the cameras’ eyes that would have tracked Rita from her leaving the cabin on that woeful day and the direction of her flight from misery.  After all, Terrance reasoned, how could the Gods’ dismiss their rebellion against the tenets by the disrepair of the prescribed system of eyes?  Or, for that matter he thought, how could the Gods ignore that the responsibility was put on one man alone when, as prescribed by the tenets, everyone should have been assigned the transgression?  Whatever the answers, Terrance concluded it was a dilemma for the Gods alone.

 

When the fourth light came on, Terrance knew that the Gods had finally spoken out against the havoc he had wrought in the secret pasture.  Sitting amidst the warmth of the sunny spring day, body stretched out on the loamy soil of the outer world, he concluded that an immediate admission of guilt should have been offered.  It should have led to a direct confrontation with the high priests and that would have been a better decision.  Such a decision would have eliminated the pomp and circumstance of the goings on of the Lesser Temple.  Further, he considered if he had just invited the high priests to the Greater Temple to come see all that angered the so called Gods, it would have halted the judgment process as prescribed by the Gods.  Then again, he contemplated the high priests would not provoke the anger of the Gods by daring to take one step towards the Greater Temple.  In the end, after the great and pompous display at the Lesser Temple, a non-confession to the rebellious act that lit the fourth light led to no further punishment. 

 

Terrance sat up and stared at the secret pasture.  He desperately longed to plea for the presence of the Gods, but reasoned it was not time just yet.  The part of him that wanted to see the Gods, the Gods as the accusers who then could accuse the accused and fulfill the passions of their rage in person existed in the thoughts but not in the heart.  In the mind also existed the demands for an account of their actions, of their deceptions, and of the truth that ran contrary to their truth.  He wanted an explanation as to why they were allowed to violate their tenets while the children had to heed every word.  He wanted once and for all to be pointed out by the Gods as the only transgressor of their children, thus relieving the utter fear of all others. But in his heart the wishes of his parent's commitment not to reveal the little information they knew about the truth lived.  They had assured him that a day would come when the heart would lead him down the path of truth; the heart softly moaned but it was the mind that cried.

 

Walking over to admire the beauty of the rose bush, the thoughts of his parents having choosen to stay silent about the truth they had learned because they saw it as incomplete, a puzzle with missing pieces, troubled the heart.  Each had a sense of a long lost memory of a life they once knew.  It was of a life spelled out by their respective parents, but the memories were fleeting.  Terrance, on the other hand, attained the incomplete knowledge from his parents directly, but was raised in a world where the Gods’ tenets ruled.  The everyday life imposed on the children by their Gods became entangled with the parent's knowledge of the past and the vague recollections of their former selves and the former selves of his grandparents, which made the truth hazy.  Terrance had been wrapped up in the life around him.  He could only see the truth related to him by his parents once he had aged, but like his parents conception of a past reality, there was much missing.

 

Terrance came closer to the truth day by day.  As gatekeeper having access to the Greater Temple, he took advantage of the position and soon discovered many of the missing pieces of the puzzle that were needed to make the truth whole.  But one of the two of remaining mysteries was the identity of the Gods.  The absence of any solid evidence indicating their identity was still lost and far from being found.

 

With nothing better to do, weary of both the outer and inner world of the Greater Temple, tired of the Greater Temple and its secret pasture, Terrance rose and stared at the horizon eastward.  The horizon was limited.  The vastness cut off from view by a slope gently rising in the landscape.  Puzzled as to what lay beyond the view, Terrance set out to satisfy the curiosity.

 

Plodding through the piles of waste in the secret pasture, careful to avoid any venomous snakes hiding and coiled to strike a quick strike, Terrance was about at the halfway point to the rise.  Something all of a sudden drew the attention away from the slope and to the air.  High in the sky he spotted what appeared to be an eagle, but as it swooped down towards him he could see that it was much too big and travelling at a much higher rate of speed than that of the bird of prey.

 

Panic set in.  He dove behind a pile of waste.  Having thought it discovered his presence, he shuddered as the unknown object dived on his position.  Eyes were transfixed on the craft that suddenly and smoothly glided over and moved along in silence.  The vehicle suddenly slowed and landed effortlessly in the outer world of the Greater Temple.  He could have sworn that something, someone, even two or more had exited the flying apparatus, but he was too far away to see clearly.

 

Terrance sprinted through the secret pasture to attain a closer observation point.  He was now very close to the scene, but whatever came forth out of the flying vehicle could not be seen strolling around the grounds of the outer world.  Seeking yet a better position, he snuck his way into the secret garden and hid behind the wire mesh protecting the broad base of the rose bush.

 

Hours passed without any detection of the mysterious strangers whereabouts.  He felt compelled to go search, but at the same time felt it was too much of a risk to do so.  Terrance just patiently waited and finally footsteps were heard.

 

Terrance peaked in the direction of the unknown vehicle.  To his astonishment it seemed as some of the Gods revealed themselves.  At least, from what he figured, there were two of them before him.  They walked towards the vehicle silently, yet acted as if they were carrying on a conversation by the movements and gestures they made to one another.  They were giants.  Terrance estimated one to be ten feet tall while the other, towering over the smaller, must have been fifteen feet tall.

 

The apparel worn by each looked to be made of the fine tanned leather the children provided to the Gods.  Each sported the same ensemble of a tight fitting gloves, coat, pants, and boots, with a body length trench coat left unbuttoned that flapped in the breeze.  Their faces were somewhat obscured by the hood of the trench coat covering their heads.

 

Terrance’s heart beat accelerated as the two walked towards him.  The shorter one moved much slower and was less animated than the taller as they moved in on his position.  A sigh of relief came as the two passed by without taking notice.

 

He observed the movements closely.  They stopped and stood at a vantage point overlooking the secret pasture.  The shorter one pointed out to a specific area.  He speculated that the shorter one was indicating that they indeed discovered his hiding place, but as they strolled back towards the rose bush neither scanned the area to discover his presence.

 

As the two began to enter the vehicle, the taller one stared at the rose bush.  Terrance could not be sure if the giant was curious as to its presence or the stare was meant as a warning, an indication pointing to their awareness of him as an intruder.  Nevertheless, he had seen some of the Gods, and if they were as powerful as claimed, held true to their own truth, then they would have carried out the punishment of death right there and then.

 

Terrance froze.  He carefully monitored for sounds of air exiting the lungs, then fixed his eyes on the flying craft.  As he remembered, the Gods’ tenets, in their writings concerning the history of