Chapter 1
“In the beginning, the universe was dark and empty, nothing but dark nothingness. But there was someone in the darkness, known by many names: some call him the Supreme Being, others call him the All-Pervading Reality, but he is also called the I Am, the Being, the Creator, the Father - but we just call him what most people call him: God. With a single movement, he called forth a great light, and out of nothingness came everything. Over millions of years, the atoms that were born from the light gathered together into stars that filled the dark cosmos. The masses of stars gathered together into galaxies that slowly began to move away from each other. Over millions of years more, planets were born from the dust around the stars. Then God looked again at the universe he had created, but he was still not satisfied. Even though he had filled the void with starlight, he was still alone, so he decided to create life. He searched the universe for the most ideal planet for life. He had been searching for millions of years, and finally he found it in the center of the universe, in a small galaxy: a small rocky planet around a yellow giant star, just the right distance from it to form liquid water on its surface, which covered more than 70% of the planet. God named the planet Eden and sowed the seeds of life in the deepest part of its ocean. However, evolution took place much faster than in later periods of the universe. In just a few million years, the seeds sprouted and the first single-celled organisms appeared, then multi-celled organisms, plants, and finally the first animals. However, these living beings were completely different from those we see on Earth or on the planets of the known universe today. These living beings were born directly from God. They were unimaginable and incomprehensible to the human mind. Furthermore, they living beings did not yet have the gift that we do: they did not have their own will. Everything they did was programmed into them by God, they depended on Him at every moment. However, among the many, many unconscious beings, three races developed that surpassed the rest in strength and intelligence. Therefore, God singled out these three races and made them the rulers of the planet. These were the Seraphim, the Thrones, and the Cherubim. These beings formed the first generation of angels. Their task was to continue the work that God had begun on the planet. Millions of years passed, and during this time countless new generations of angels were born, among whom a strict hierarchy existed. But after a while there were too many of them, so God decided to assign all angels, except for the members of the last three generations, to Heaven - an incomprehensibly beautiful and infinite place located somewhere beyond the boundaries of the universe. The princes, who were thus the angels who remained in the universe became leaders, they received the order from God to plant pieces of Eden on the habitable worlds of the universe, so that life could germinate not only here, but in as many places as possible. The angels did so: the princes directed their subjects from Eden, the archangels supervised galaxies, and the simple guardian angels, who were at the bottom of the hierarchy, took the seeds of Eden from one planet to another and watched over its development. However, this was not an easy task. Eden was indeed an exceptional planet, God himself chose it and sowed the seeds of life on it. However, the angels were not gods, they were not perfect. The planets on which the seeds were sown could easily become unsuitable for life. All it took was a distant supernova, a large asteroid-comet, or a strong solar flare. Therefore, they had to protect the chosen planet. And if animal life did appear, it was often only It stagnated and stopped evolving. On many planets, amphibians never developed, so life was stuck in the oceans. On other planets, even vertebrates did not develop. It took millions of years for the angels to realize that sometimes catastrophes were needed for life to develop further. After this discovery, they could easily have done the same for intelligent life to appear outside Eden. Hundreds of millions of years passed, and the universe began to take on the form we know today. Everything was perfect—until a prince named Helel rebelled against God, because he did not like the fact that the living beings they had helped to create were given the gift of free will by God, while they, the princes, had to blindly follow God’s commands, which were occasionally given to them by powers descending from Heaven. Helel, who was henceforth called Lucifer, set up two other angels with him. princes, Persia and Hellas, who took the names of Beelzebub and Asmodeus, and the other princes were killed. Lucifer proclaimed himself the new god of the universe and brought it under his rule. The primitive civilizations of the time regarded him as a god, and the myths and legends of the ancient alien races that still exist today preserve the story of the ‘False God’. The majority of angels. All of them submitted to Lucifer—except for four archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, and a handful of guardian angels loyal to God. These four and their followers rebelled against Lucifer, and the longest and still ongoing war in the history of the universe began: between Good and Evil. The war lasted for millions, perhaps billions, of years, and in the end the archangels prevailed. The rebel angels who fought on Lucifer’s side were banished by God to Hell—a place in extra-universe space similar to Heaven, but unlike Heaven, it is a dark, gloomy, and terrifying world, far removed from both the universe and Heaven, and farthest from God. Over the millions of years, the fallen angels transformed into demons and forgot everything except pain. However, Lucifer himself did not end up here: since he was too powerful and would have only caused trouble there, God took his wings and chained him to an asteroid, which he released into the infinity of space. According to some, Lucifer is still drifting tied to the asteroid somewhere in a distant corner of the universe, waiting for someone to find him, or to crash into an inhabited planet and turn life there upside down. According to others, he has already crashed and is just getting ready to continue his senseless war against God. According to a third camp, the whole thing is just a silly story, and if Lucifer really exists, he is in Hell with his servants. I don’t know what the truth is, but one thing is certain: Evil exists, it is there, it has nested itself in the heads of all intelligent beings, and at every moment it is trying to persuade them to do evil. “That’s why we have to resist him and focus on what God wants, because He always leads us on the right path.”
– This story was really cool, Uncle Őrs! – exclaimed Mark, the only 10-year-old boy, who had admired the way Uncle Őrs told him this story until now.
– Please, my son, this wasn’t a story, this is a true story, let me go blind here! – the old man got angry.
– Come on, I’m a child, not stupid. I know very well that no one lived that long ago who could have written these things down. We also learned in school that we only have theories about the early periods of the universe, but it’s certain that intelligent life only appeared a few million years ago – Mark said grumpily.
– Come on, don’t believe everything they say there. I’m already over 100 years old, and during that time I’ve seen many things that completely overwrote what we learned in school – replied Uncle Őrs.
– What? Tell me more, please, but this time about things that could have really happened! For example... tell me about how we humans first met the aliens! We only mentioned it in passing at school, and when I asked the teacher about it, he got angry,- said Mark.
- What did you learn about this at school?” asked the uncle.
- Only that the Thalnians attacked Earth 2,000 years ago, but we humans defended ourselves on our own, and using the technology of the invaders, we got out into space and met the other alien races, who at first showed themselves to be kind, but then they all wanted to write us off. 100 years ago, thanks to Leader I, we expelled all the aliens from the Solar System, and today the humans work for us on the colony planets - answered Mark.
Uncle Őrs shook his head and said: – That’s only a quarter of the truth, or not even that much. But now I’ll tell you what really happened. But promise me that you won’t share what I’m about to tell you with anyone, especially not your father the next time he visits.
– I promise! – Mark shouted, putting his hand on his heart.
– Okay, then I’ll tell you. The aliens didn’t first visit here 2000 years ago, but much earlier, more than 10,000 years ago, before history. The ancient alien races had already found Earth. The names of these aliens have become part of our mythology, just like elves, orcs, goblins, trolls, dwarves, etc. These were not figments of the imagination, but aliens, some of whom came to our planet with good intentions, some with evil intentions. At that time, the Earth was ruled by the Nephilim, who were beings with divine powers – according to the scriptures, the children of fallen angels and human women. There were both good and bad among them. Eventually, the good aliens joined forces with the good Nephilim and humans, and the bad ones did the opposite. Eventually, a huge 2,000-year war broke out between the two sides, which was ended by the flood more than 8,000 years ago. After the flood, the aliens left the Earth, knowing that this was God’s will. The Nephilim perished along with most of the people. Only Noah and his family survived, whose story you know well. However, the story does not end there: 6,000 years later, the Thalnai did attack the Earth, but not without reason. The planet Thalna is inhabited by three races, whose collective name is Thalnai. They are called orcs, goblins, and trolls, respectively.Mark was very surprised by this. He had no idea about it, and he didn’t know how old Uncle Őrs knew this. But he didn’t want to bother him with his questions yet, so he stayed silent.
– So you understand why they came: they saw the time as ripe to try to take over Earth again. However, it’s a big lie that humanity could have stopped an alien threat tens of thousands of years more advanced than them on its own. We wouldn’t have had a chance without the League of Angels.
– League of Angels? I’ve never heard that name – Mark was surprised.
– I’m not surprised. Nowadays, only old people like me who learned about them back then remember that name – said the uncle with his head bowed.
– But who were they? – Mark asked curiously.
Uncle Őrs then got up from his chair and walked over to the desk in the room, where he pulled out a small, palm-sized, circular holoprojector from one of its drawers. He then sat back down in his chair and said: – With the help of this little device, I can show you what the people who made up this team looked like, because this was truly a superhero team at its best.At that moment, a large hologram appeared, showing eight people. Uncle Őrs, moving from left to right, described who was who.The first person looked most like a Polynesian warrior. His body was covered in tattoos, and he held a golden spear in his hand. He was Te Rukura, a demigod who commanded the waters and their creatures, a human woman, and the son of Tangaroa, the powerful sea god of the Polynesians.The second person was a woman wearing a hijab, a long, green, Middle Eastern dress, and a green glowing bracelet on her arm. She was Moonlight, a member of an ancient Arab assassin clan who used her magical bracelet to kill the weaked.Next to him was a blue-skinned Indian man named Ramanyata. He was originally a powerful warrior and demon hunter in ancient India. However, around 3000 BC, he fought Kali herself, and was mortally wounded in the battle. However, the gods, seeing his heroism, had mercy on him: they transferred their power to him, which turned his skin blue, gave him the ability to fly, and from then on he could take the form of Hindu deities, and could use their power to a limited extent. However, the power came at a price: he fell into a sleep of more than 5000 years, and slept in an underground temple until the 21st century, when archaeologists found him. After awakening, he put his power to good use, and thus became one of the most powerful heroes on Earth.The next hero was named Shinko. Originally, she was a Buddhist monk in China who came into contact with an ancient sacred object, which gave her super speed and time manipulation. She also used her powers to serve humanity.The next hero was a beautiful Asian woman, wearing red armor reminiscent of samurai armor (in the female version), and a katana hanging from her side. She was Kitsuhime, the princess of a lost Far Eastern island, the heir to the power of the nine-tailed fox spirit, and possessed superhuman abilities. After a Japanese pilot crashed on her island, the world opened up to her. For a while, she protected Japan from various threats, and then the entire world after meeting the rest of her League.Next to her stood Nox Sancta, a mysterious hero dressed in black knight armor who had no superpowers. Her greatest weapons were her wits and agility. Nothing is known about him, but some say he was a religious billionaire genius who put his money and intellect at the service of humanity.He was followed by Archangel, an angelic winged hero with magical powers but a heart of gold, always smiling, about whom not much is known either. He wore white armor with a golden scale symbol on it. Last but not least, the strongest member of the League, Heros, who had divine powers: he was invulnerable, could fly, had superhuman physical strength, and was even said to be able to shoot lasers from his eyes and fire from his hands. He wore gray armor with a cape with a golden sun symbol on it. Almost nothing is known about his origin either. Some say he was an alien being from another world who was sent to Earth to protect humanity; Others say he was a real angel who came down from Heaven. I don’t know what the truth is, but he was the strongest of the League members, and people were fond of him.After showing this to Mark, Uncle Guard continued:- The eight of them, along with countless companions, faced the Thalnai. It was a huge battle. The heroes not only fought, but also saved lives so that as few innocents as possible would die in the battle. Heros fought the troll king, Molguth, himself, whom he defeated, but with the last of the monster’s strength, he triggered the self-destruct mechanism of his spaceship, the explosion of which would have killed millions of people. Therefore, the heroes made a huge sacrifice: they herded all the Thalnai onto the ship and launched it into the infinity of space with them. They had no choice but to keep the aliens inside, which required everyone. They had accepted death together for a tomorrow they would never see. The ship eventually exploded somewhere beyond the Milky Way, and they were all lost. Their memory was preserved by humanity for 1900 years: statues were erected in their honor in every major city. The truth, from what you learned in school, is that with the help of the technology left behind by the Thalnians on Earth, we reached outside the solar system and developed the first hyperdrives, which allowed us to travel faster than light - something scientists had previously thought was unthinkable - and with that the galaxy opened up to us.- But is the League really dead? Couldn’t they have somehow survived? You said they were very strong, and that Heros was invulnerable? the boy asked worriedly.
– The fact that a lead bullet couldn’t pierce his skin, an explosion of such power that would have wiped all of Europe off the map, even he couldn’t survive – the uncle answered sadly.
Mark looked down sadly at the ground. Then Uncle Őrs continued:– But that didn’t mean that the heroes disappeared forever. After we humans went into space and made contact with other alien races, it turned out that individuals with special abilities were not only on Earth. Barely a hundred years later, in the 2100s, the League of Angels was re-formed, but now not only humans, but also alien peoples were represented in its ranks, and for 1800 years they protected peace and security in the galaxy. Barely over 90 years ago, however, when the Great Galactic War II ended, all the heroes simply disappeared. And after the war, as you learned, the Galactic Union ceased to existnt, and its place was taken by the Holy Earth Empire II. But I still saw heroes – oh, yes! Many of them fought on our side in the war, and I saw with my own eyes how they beat the soldiers of the Collective into piles.
– That must have been very cool! But I don’t understand: if the majority of them were not human, and at that time there were many aliens fighting on the side of the Union, why do they teach about them in school that they wanted to write us off, that they are all filthy monsters, and that they are inferior to us humans? – asked Márk with sincere curiosity.
Uncle Őrs sighed heavily at this and answered with a question: – Tell me, do you think your teachers and those who write the curriculum have ever met other intelligent beings besides their fellow humans?
– I don’t think so. After all, there have been no aliens on Earth and in the entire Solar System for about 90 years. They were all relocated to the colony worlds because they posed a threat to us humans, Mark answered uncertainly.
- And then anyone born in the last 90 years and who hasn’t left the Solar System could have met aliens?” the uncle asked another question.
-No, Mark answered directly.
-Yes. I am one of the few who have not only met aliens, but have also had classmates, friends, and even lovers among them,” the old man said with a smile, looking up at the ceiling.-Well, uncle, you shouldn’t say that, you shouldn’t even think that!” Mark exclaimed in disgust.- Have you ever seen an alien?” the uncle asked in a calm voice.-Well, they showed us a few holograms: of locust-like humanoid monsters and large, talking octopuses,” the boy scratched his head.
Uncle Őrs laughed heartily at this, so much so that even tears flowed out, and said: – Jesus, I would have thought that they would scare you with thekras and nokhirs. You know, the aliens are not all ugly monsters. Many of them are not much different from us humans, in fact, some are even more beautiful than us. For example, have you ever heard of the anigens?
– Yes, I know their name, but I have no idea what they look like – Mark answered shyly.– They are like us humans, only more beautiful – at least they are very similar to the idealized depictions of people in old Far Eastern cartoons. Porcelain white, completely smooth, flawless skin, large, deep, almond-shaped, charming eyes, the iris of which can be any color – just like the color of their hair. Slim, airy, short, but proportionate body. Now, call that ugly! – said the uncle with a smile.
Mark couldn’t say anything for a few seconds. He imagined what an anigen might look like, then suddenly he grinned and said to the uncle: – These anigens might be interesting. I hope I’ll meet one in person someday. But you seem to know them all too well, uncle.
– I won’t deny that I courted many of their ladies back in the day. We human boys could impress them with our height. But that’s history, and you’re still too young for these stories anyway. The point I want to make is that the aliens were neither better nor worse than us. They lived on this planet just like us humans. The war was what changed everything. During the 1,000 years of the Galactic Union’s existence, there had never been a major, galaxy-wide conflict – until the Collective attacked us. Since the Union did not have a unified army, the soldiers were mostly provided by the member with the largest population and the most advanced militarily. And that was Earth and humanity. We made up two-thirds of the Union’s population. That was the reason why 90% of the Union’s army was made up of humans. After that, everything was legal. The average person only saw that people were fighting and dying everywhere in a war that we had little to do with. The Arrow Cross thus became very popular with their previously unpopular, anti-xenophobic ideas - they first entered the Earth Parliament and then the Galactic Parliament. In the last days of the war, they also seized power, after the last president of the Union, Elaron, was captured and executed by the collectivists at the end of the war. The Arrow Cross won the special elections with a two-thirds majority, and shortly after the victory, the Empire was born from the ashes of the Union. Xenophobia has been flourishing ever since, even though they were just as much victims as we humans. Not all of the orcs who make up 99% of the Collective’s army willingly took up arms against us and installed cybernetic implants. Believe me: nothing is ever black and white, my son Mark. Don’t let what you hear or learn define you, but your experiences. Engrave this in your heart, and be careful about this even when you take over your father’s place.
- I will be careful about this, Uncle Őrs, I promise - said Mark.- I’m glad of that. And what was said in this conversation, if possible, don’t tell anyone else - especially not your father, if he’s going to look at you at all in the next few years - said the uncle.- I promise, Uncle - said Mark.- Come on! Now go out and play – the storytime is over, and I still have something to do here alone! – said Uncle Őrs kindly.
After a quick goodbye, Márk ran out of the room with a smile. Őrs then slowly got up from his chair, darkened and locked the room, then sat down at his desk and took out a communicator. He turned it on, and a hologram of a bald man of about 40 appeared in front of him. The old man smiled and said:– Andor! My dear son, are you on your way?
– Hello, uncle! Yes, we are already heading towards the moon, we will soon reach the hyperspace jump point, and after that I can no longer talk – replied the man.
– Right. I hope you managed to take care of everything, and neither your father nor your brother knows anything – said Uncle Őrs mysteriously.
– There is no need to worry about my father. He is so weak right now that he can barely speak, he doesn’t have much left. But I can’t wait for him to die – I have to act now, as the next Leader, Andor Veres! – the man exclaimed.
– Your brother is the bigger threat. We all know what he is capable of. He won’t hurt me, because I am no danger to him – after all, I am just a weak old man who has a few more years left at most. You, on the other hand, are a candidate for the title of Leader, which he wants more than anything for himself, and besides, he hates you with all his heart – Őrs said sadly.
– Don’t worry, uncle! I made sure that Konstantin didn’t find out about anything, and I brought my family with me – Andor reassured Uncle Őrs.
– I still don’t think this is a good idea. The road is long and dangerous – they could have come here to me too. Mark misses his cousins anyway,” the uncle insisted.
- It would have been too suspicious if I had gone alone. This way, everyone would think we were on a Florax family vacation—which I arranged to make it appear in the system that we were there—and not that we were heading to Aurevaláar to negotiate with rebels and representatives of alien worlds about the regime change that followed my father’s death.- Andor said.
-Just be careful. The resurrection of the Galactic Union depends on this whole thing. I would like to see this evil empire my brother created crumble to pieces by our family,” said Őrs resolutely.-It will happen, uncle! I have no doubt about that. It’s so strange now to think that I once believed in all this blindly, and it took that horrible night 15 years ago for me to start doubting and then pursuing the truth, - Andor said.
-We’ve all been through this. It could be someone, sooner than you think,- the uncle said with a smile, and looked towards the window.
-You don’t mean Márk? Really, how is the little bastard? - Andor asked.
-Excellent! It’s already clear that he didn’t hit on his father – which must have a lot to do with the fact that he only sees him once a year. But he’s a happy child. Me, his mother and the droids take care of him. It’s also good for him that he can live here in the countryside, close to nature, and not in bustling Budapest, or God knows which Metropolis,- Őrs said.
-I’m glad to hear that. When we get back, we’ll visit you. I have to hang up soon, because we’re about to reach the jump point. But before that, let me ask you: are there still no signs of the boy - Andor asked mysteriously.
- Thank God, there aren’t any. Maybe we’ve been freed from this curse for a few generations - answered Őrs.
- God willing! But don’t forget: the tendency is also there, and it can come out at any time - said Andor.
- I’ll make sure of that - said Őrs.
- Okay, uncle! I’m saying goodbye now. When I get back, I’ll look for you. Until then, may God take care of you! - said Andor, and raised his right hand with an open palm. Then the line was cut.- With you too. Especially with you, my Andork... - murmured the uncle softly, and clasped his hands.
