The History of our Future

PART 3: THE OLD HOUSE ON THE HILL: NEAR A LITTLE VILLAGE IN THIS SMALL COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE'S FATHERLAND OF DEMOCRATA, SURVIVED AN OLD HOUSE, THE ONLY ONE LEFT FROM BEFORE THE DARK TIME CAUSED BY THE NATIONALITY WARS. NO ONE KNEW HOW OLD IT WAS OR WHO HAD BUILT IT. THERE WERE STONE FOUNDATIONS ON EACH SIDE OF THIS OLD HOUSE, INDICATING THAT IN THE PAST IT HAD BEEN MUCH LARGER. ITS TALL, CRUMBLING OLD COLUMNS STILL LOOKED IMPOSING WHEN SEEN FROM THE BANKS OF THE RIVER THAT FLOWED IN FRONT OF IT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL. EXCEPT FOR THE NEARBY VILLAGE AND LARGE MILITARY BASE, THE HOUSE WAS SURROUNDED BY A DENSE FOREST WITH ONLY A FEW LOGGING ROADS THROUGH IT. ANCIENT GRAVE MARKERS, OVERGROWN WITH MOSS AND WEEDS, AND MOSTLY UNREADABLE, FILLED THE FEW CLEAR SPACES NEXT TO IT AND COULD ALSO BE SEEN ALL THROUGHOUT THE WOODS. PEOPLE WERE ORDERED BY THE OVERMASTERS TO AVOID THIS HOUSE. IT WAS SAID THAT STRANGE THINGS HAPPENED THERE. WHY THE GOVERNMENT HAD NOT TORN IT DOWN WAS A PUZZLE TO THE VILLAGERS, FOR IT WAS RUMORED THAT A SECRETIVE RELIGIOUS SECT, LONG SINCE OUTLAWED, MET THERE WHEN THE MOON WAS GONE. IT WAS ALSO RUMORED THAT THE MEMBERS OF THIS SECT DRANK EACH OTHER'S BLOOD AND ATE DEAD BODIES, BUT NO ONE REALLY BELIEVED THAT. ON ONE OF THE COLUMNS OF THIS HOUSE HAD BEEN CARVED TWO LARGE, CROSSED LINES, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WHICH NO ONE KNEW. THESE LINES HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE, AS FAR AS ANYONE COULD REMEMBER. THE VILLAGERS HAD ALWAYS CONJECTURED WHETHER OR NOT THE LINES WERE MAGIC SYMBOLS MEANT TO PROTECT THE HOUSE OR THOSE WHO HAD ONCE INHABITED IT, BUT THERE WAS MUCH DISAGREEMENT OVER THAT. ONE OLD MAN HAD EVEN CLAIMED, MANY YEARS PREVIOUSLY, THAT THE SYMBOL WAS RELIGIOUS, BUT HE HAD SOON BEEN ARRESTED BY THE ENFORCERS WHEN OTHERS REPORTED HIM FOR SPREADING FORBIDDEN SUPERSTITIONS. THE OLDEST MEMBERS OF THE VILLAGE, THOSE OVER FORTY, TOLD STORIES PASSED DOWN THE GENERATIONS OF A GREAT MAN WHO ONCE LIVED IN THE OLD HOUSE, BUT WHETHER HE WAS A RELIGIOUS FANATIC, A GOVERNMENT ELITE, OR AN ANCIENT TRIBAL CHIEFTAIN, NO ONE KNEW, SINCE ALL OF THE RECORDS AND ALL OF THE BOOKS FROM THOSE ANCIENT TIMES HAD LONG SINCE BEEN DESTROYED IN THE WARS OR BY GOVERNMENT ORDERS. IT WAS FOR THEIR OWN GOOD, THE PEOPLE HAD BEEN TOLD, SINCE EVERYONE KNEW THAT ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE WAS UNRELIABLE AND HAD CAUSED THE CHAOS KNOWN AS THE DARK TIME.   INSIDE THE FRONT HALLWAY OF THIS ANCIENT HOUSE, ON ONE OF THE WALLS, HAD BEEN PAINTED A FLAG WITH A RED BACKGROUND AND DIAGONAL BLUE AND WHITE LINES. THE WORDS, "SAINT ANDREW'S CROSS", WERE PAINTED UNDER THE LINES. AN OUTLINE OF A FISH HAD BEEN CARVED INTO THE WALL ABOVE THE FLAG. THE FEW WHO HAD VENTURED INTO THE OLD HOUSE OVER THE YEARS DID NOT KNOW WHAT THESE SYMBOLS AND WORDS MEANT. TO ASK ABOUT THE ANCIENT THINGS MEANT DRAWING ATTENTION TO ONE'S SELF--USUALLY THE ATTENTION OF THE OVERMASTERS AND THEIR ARMED ENFORCERS. BAD THINGS OFTEN HAPPENED TO THOSE WHO DREW ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES. ASKING ABOUT THE OLD WAYS BEFORE THE DARK TIME WAS NOT OFFICIALLY FORBIDDEN, BUT HISTORICAL QUESTIONS WERE CONSIDERED "SPECIAL RESEARCH": AND HAD TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE GOVERNMENT. THE QUESTIONS WERE SELDOM ANSWERED, SO THE PEOPLE HAD STOPPED ASKING THEM. THUS, THE PAST HAD VANISHED, ALONG WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO CHANGE THE FUTURE. THE OLD HOUSE, IN ALL ITS CRUMBLED GLORY, REMEMBERED THE PAST. HOW, YOU ASK, COULD THIS HOUSE REMEMBER ANYTHING? I DON'T KNOW. IT JUST COULD. THE ESSENCES OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAD LIVED IN IT OVER ITS MANY CENTURIES OF EXISTENCE HAD PERMEATED ITS WALLS AND BEAMS. IT REMEMBERED THE FAMILY WHO BUILT IT IN THE EARLY 1800'S . IT REMEMBERED THE GREAT MAN WHO MARRIED INTO ITS FAMILY. IT REMEMBERED THE PARTIES, THE BALLS, THE CHILDREN. IT REMEMBERED THE LONG, AGONIZING NIGHT, ONE OF THE LAST EVER SPENT IN IT BY THAT GREAT MAN. WHY HAD HAD NOT RETURNED THE HOUSE NEVER KNEW. THE CRUMBLING OUTER WALLS REMEMBERED A GREAT WAR WHEN BROTHER KILLED BROTHER, AND THOUSANDS OF DEAD BEING BURIED AROUND IT. IT REMEMBERED BEING HATED. THEN YEARS OF EMPTINESS, WHEN NO ONE LIVED IN IT, BUT UNTOLD NUMBERS VISITED IT. THEIR ESSENCES BEGAN TO PERMEATE ITS WALLS ALSO. IT REMEMBERED MORE VIOLENCE AND FIGHTING ALL AROUND IT, WHEN ITS SIDE WINGS HAD BEEN DESTROYED. IT REMEMBERED THE LARGE CITY OF WHICH IT WAS A PART BEING SLOWLY DEMOLISHED BY EXPLOSIONS, DISEASE, FIGHTING, VANDALISM, AND FEAR. IT REMEMBERED BEING SURROUNDED BY TREES AND THICKETS OF VINES. BUT THROUGH ALL THESE YEARS WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE OLD HOUSE HAD REMAINED MIRACULOUSLY INTACT. THEN, THANKFULLY, THE FISH PEOPLE HAD COME AND RESCUED IT FROM THE FOREST.     PART 4: THE FISH PEOPLE: THEY HAD BEEN DIFFERENT--HAPPY, SMILING PEOPLE WHO DID THEIR BEST TO REPAIR THE OLD HOUSE.... THEY HAD EVEN RESTORED THE EIGHT LARGE COLUMNS IN FRONT. THESE PEOPLE HAD CLEARED AWAY THE BRUSH AND TREES FROM SOME OF THE OLD GRAVES AND FROM AROUND ITS WALLS. THE OLD HOUSE FELT BETTER THAN IT HAD SINCE IT WAS BUILT CENTURIES EARLIER. ITS NEW PEOPLE HAD CARVED TWO LARGE CROSSED LINES ON ONE OF ITS MIDDLE COLUMNS, AND THEY GATHERED IN IT SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK, DURING THE DAYLIGHT FOR A LONG TIME, BUT THEN, TOWARD THE END, ONLY AT NIGHT. THESE PEOPLE SANG A LOT. THEY TALKED TOGETHER IN HUSHED VOICES. THE HOUSE REMEMBERED THAT ITS PEOPLE IN THOSE DAYS SEEMED TO BE VERY ATTRACTED TO A WOODEN SYMBOL OF CROSSED LINES, AND TO SEVERAL VERY OLD FLAGS. THE HOUSE REMEMBERED THAT THESE PEOPLE HAD PAINTED A COPY OF ONE OF THEIR FLAGS ON ITS HALLWAY WALL, ALONG WITH SOME WORDS. THEY HAD ALSO CARVED A PICTURE OF A FISH ON THE WALL ABOVE THE FLAG. THE OLD HOUSE ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT THESE THINGS MEANT, BUT IT NEVER KNEW. IT WAS ONLY AN OLD HOUSE, AND COULDN'T UNDERSTAND. BY THE YEAR 2415, IT HAD BEEN A HAPPY FIFTY YEARS FOR THE OLD HOUSE, FOR THE FISH PEOPLE HAD TENDED IT LOVINGLY. THAT ALL ENDED THE NIGHT THAT THE VIOLENT ONES CAME.