THE
END OF THE WORLD???
I am Philabe, the Keeper of the Book of Ascent,
from the House of Sweepers and Keepers. I am a vampire, but was born a human. I
became a monk when I was ten and four at the dawn of Christianity. When I was a
middle-aged man, I was a devoted priest in a monastery where we created
illuminated manuscripts, until an arch vampire came looking for secret information
hidden in our scrolls. When we monks refused to give this creature of the night
what he came for, my brothers were taken one by one. Each night those of us
left thought we had secured our lodgings from him, but their screams would
rattle the monastery walls as he took their blood. I was the last among them.
He was not merciful enough to kill me, but instead he made me his immortal
servant. It was many lifetimes before I was able to escape him, but I became
the most learned among the House of Keepers and I have often been called upon
in the darkest hours of human and vampire existence to explain the workings of
the world.
December 21, 2012 is the start of the winter solstice and this is Yule,
a time of higher consciousness. It is also the day the Mayan calendar says that
the word ends. But a closer examination of the source materials reveals that
the true meaning of the prophecy is that “The world will not end. It will be
transformed.” The only other unusual event that day is that the sun will be
aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in nearly 26,000
years. The Mayans never intended the calendar to end in 2012, but that instead,
another cycle begins afterward. Modern Mayan’s say there is no such concept as
an apocalypse in their culture.
The ancient Mayan’s were clever, they discovered that vampires existed
and at first they viewed us as Gods and they gave ritual sacrifices of their
own people to keep my kind from their villages. The Mayanʻs
made sacrifices believing that the only way for the sun to rise and for us to
stay to the night was for them to forfeit someone to the gods. But more and
more of the ‘gods’ came, and once the Mayan’s determined our true natures and
our unquenchable desire for blood, they started hunting and sacrificing my
vampire brethren. Many of the vampires scattered to the winds, but these
rituals had become so popular among the Mayan people that they had to sacrifice
humans in our stead. The
vampire slayers known as inquisitors and monks, tried to stop the ritual
bloodletting of humans but the Mayan’s would repent for a bit, but always
searched further and further afield for our kind and the entertainment they
craved, for a vampire can withstand torture for much longer than a human. Finally, one
among our Clans of Cain, a very powerful vampire, tired of the Mayan’s pursuit
of him, and he set the nosferatu upon the Mayan’s. A great plague spread among
their people and finally destroyed their entire civilization.
Philabe
You can learn more about the stories of the Clans of Cain in the Descent
of Blood, The Red Veil Series, The Prequel. And then about the Seven Houses of
Vampires in Ascent of Blood, The Red Veil Series, Book I.
Thanks so much
for visiting my world,
Elizabeth Marx
Windy City writer, Elizabeth Marx, brings
cosmopolitan life alive in her fiction—a blend of romance, fast-paced Chicago
living, and a sprinkle of magical realism. Elizabeth resides with her husband,
girls, and two cats who've spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs.
She grew up in the city, has traveled extensively, and still says there’s no
town like Chi-Town.
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