The other day I was on Facebook when I got a notification that someone liked a video I reposted a while back. It was an interview with Neale Donald Walsh author of “Conversations with God”. Honestly I had completely forgotten about it until I clicked on the link and rewatched the video. What struck me was the part where Neale told of how God spoke to him about thinking about your universal or cosmic self. Basically, the point was to think of yourself by thinking of others. If you want to feel joy in your life, bring joy into the lives of others. If you want to stop feeling depressed or angry, help others out of their depression/anger. Too often in life, we approach things with the attitude of “What can I get out of this?” Rather than “What do I have to give?” I admit as an author I’ve often fallen into this trap. “What can I do to get more reviews? How can I boost sales and make more money off of my work? How do I get more followers on social media?” The problem with this mentality it you’re coming from a mindset of lacking. What you’re really saying is “I don’t have enough sales! I’m not making enough money!” As the law of attraction states, when this is your sponsoring thought, God/the universe (whatever higher power you believe in) responds, “Yes, this is true,” and thus sends you more feelings of lacking, of not having enough. As I’ve often said, the problem with this is that it becomes easy for greed to set in. Eventually, it doesn’t matter how many sales you’ve made, or how many followers you have, it’s always “NEVER ENOUGH!” The key is to not concern yourself with sales, or followers. I’ve learned this the hard way (and still am). When I began posting videos on Tik Tok and YouTube I checked my analytics and found most people stopped watching after 30 seconds. I’ve looked up various things on how to create more engaging videos, how to get more followers and so on. I realized that most of what they were suggesting, such as following the latest trends in videos wasn’t something I was interested in. Much like my writing, I could just forego crafting an interesting narrative and simply churn out some piece of fluff based on the latest fad du jour, but that’s not who I am. I read an article a while back about people (like myself) who are “old souls”(here’s the link to the article in case you’re interested) and one of the things it said was that “You’d rather talk about dreams, ideas, or even the meaning of life instead of what’s trendy right now. For an old soul, deep conversations are like a breath of fresh air. They help you connect with people on a real level…But it might also make some people think you’re too serious or hard to talk to… it could also scare some folks away if they’re not ready to dive in so deep.”
I acknowledge this, as it would explain the lack of engagement I’ve gotten, also why I don’t blog or post online as much as others. I’m the type of guy who’d rather wait until I find something meaningful to say rather than simply post/blog away about nothing simply for likes, clicks and follows. It might gain me more followers but the person they’d be following wouldn’t be the real me. I’d be forcing myself to live a lie. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to say for the moment, plus I needed to fill my monthly blog quota (I don’t actually have a quota, I try to post something at least once a month but as I said above, I don’t post just for the sake of posting). Either way I…. honestly can’t think of anything more to say, or how to end this post, so I’ll just end with…
You’ve all heard the term ‘Mystical Force’, but what exactly does it mean?
“All beings radiate a life force, but some have an additional ‘Mystical Force’. Mystical Forces are divided into three main categories: Magical Essence, Demonic Aura and Spiritual Powers. Though on the surface these powers seem identical and indistinguishable there are subtle differences between them.
Magical Essence:
Is the generic term for beings with magic powers (called mages), regardless of what type of magic it is. The characters of Mystic and Noonien are two examples of characters with Magical Essence as their Mystical Force. Magic powers may be hereditary, natural to the species/race or from other/artificial means (magic potions, objects, and so on) Depending on the exact nature of the powers it may be necessary to recite incantations to engage specific spells. However, if one is powerful enough in their magic skills, they need only to think of the desired effect to make it happen, such as Mystic or Noonien simply casting a spell with a wave of their hand, rather than performing an elaborate ritual, or even saying a specific magic phrase for different actions to be taken.
Demonic Aura:
The generic term used to describe the powers demons have. Demonic Aura, like Magical Essence, can be natural to the race/species but is also hereditary and is passed down from one or more of the parents. Thus a human with a demon for an ancestor can inherit Demonic Aura via it being passed down through the generations, though in that case their Demonic Aura is generally weaker and may even not be noticeable (the individual may not even be aware that they have it). Unlike magic, the powers of Demonic Aura are less direct. Demons generally use their powers to enhance their abilities (strength, speed, stamina, healing). In some cases it may allow the user to change their appearance and or form (gaining claws/wings and so on) Any other powers/abilities their Demonic Aura gives them are more general in nature and unlike Magical Essence they don’t require spells or incantations to work. Tokijin is an example of a character with Demonic Aura as his Mystical Force. Despite the name, individuals with Demonic Aura don’t get their powers from the Devil, as the Order of the Cross claims, it would be more accurate to describe their abilities as natural traits of their race/species. Demons are simply another species living on Earth. Despite their appearance and abilities, they’re not much different than humans. Like humans, some are kind and compassionate, some are malevolent and hostile and most simply want to live normal lives. It is simple prejudice for being different from humans that makes people fear and hate them.
Spiritual Powers:
Is the generic term used to describe the third main type of Mystical Force. Characters like Shi-ria, Sister Rose and the other members of the Order of the Cross are examples of characters with Spiritual Powers as their Mystical Force. Spiritual Powers are more vague than the other two and are the most difficult to achieve. Unlike Magical Essence or Demonic Aura, Spiritual Powers take years of training and discipline to master. Most people who have these powers usually have strong spiritual/religious beliefs. They also tend to be monks or nuns (though this isn’t necessarily a requirement) and they tend to live simplistic non-materialistic lives in order to strengthen their spiritual beliefs and powers. Like Demonic Aura, Spiritual Powers are used to enhance one’s abilities (strength, speed, stamina, healing) as well as providing a form of ESP (such as visions of the future, a warning or ‘feeling’ of danger and so on). Some (like Shi-ria) believe that these powers lie dormant in everyone and with proper training and practice, anyone can learn to harness these powers. Others (like the Order of the Cross) believe this power only appears in certain people chosen by God and by extension, those who aren’t ‘chosen’ by God who have similar powers must have gotten them from the devil. While Spiritual Powers are developed through training, the time it takes one to develop such powers and their skill level may vary based on the individuals. Some have to train long and hard to master Spiritual Powers while others are just naturally gifted.
It should also be noted that these three categories are not mutually exclusive. For example, if a mage and a demon were to conceive and child then that child could theoretically have both Magical Essence and Demonic Aura. So which would choose? What’s your Mystical Force?
DISCLAIMER: IF YOU’RE OFFENDED BY WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO READ, THEN YOU’RE PROBABLY ONE OF THEM…
I received this email which I just had to share. It makes a very profound point:
What do we know about humanity?
That humanity can take literally anything and ruin it.
Take modern day American evangelical Christianity, for example.
They managed to take Jesus-a wine drinking, peace loving hippie who loved the poor and preached about loving your neighbor-and made him into a symbol of hate. They took Jesus and made him a symbol for transphobia, homophobia, and islamaphobia, not to mention not liking immigrants, poor people and being against free healthcare. Which is absolutely insane, considering:
1.Jesus never preached against being trans.
2.Jesus literally never once condemned homosexuality and never taught that gay couples went to hell.
3.Jesus was literally an immigrant himself.
4.Jesus was poor. In fact, he was at times borderline homeless.
5.Jesus literally gave out free healthcare. He never charged for his healing services, not once.
Modern day evangelical conservative Christianity is one big fat lie. It resembles nothing like the true teachings of Jesus, and if Jesus were here today, he would be ashamed and shocked that these people even call themselves Christian.
Jesus preached love, not hate. Remember that.
This statement makes a valid point, even God says so. In the book ‘Conversations with God’, God outright states:
The Bible was written hundreds of years after Jesus died, the people who wrote the new testament never actually met Jesus.
Many so-called ‘devout’ Christians wouldn’t know Jesus if they bumped into him on the street.
This is why I consider myself a spiritualist. God, again in ‘Conversations with God’, says to seek spirituality not religion. Because spirituality teaches us to look within to find the answers. It shows us that the answers we seek are already inside of us, we’ve simply forgotten them. Religion by contrast teaches us to ignore our instincts, our inner wisdom and blindly accept what others say as indisputable truth. The reason many people do this is because it’s easier that way. It means you don’t have to think for yourself.
Now I should point out that this doesn’t apply to all religious people (not just Christians). I’ve met some religious people who are perfectly descent people. People who love and accept others regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious beliefs (or lack there of), politics and/or income level. The one’s I object to are those who feel a sense of moral superiority and feel it’s their right to force their beliefs on others, ironically while using arguments of ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ to justify it while simultaneously trying to deny that same ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ to anyone whose views don’t conform to theirs.
Ironically the same can be said about atheists. I’ve met some atheists who are descent people, who love and accept others and don’t care what their religious beliefs (or lack there of) are. I’ve also seen atheists who like these devout conservative evangelicals, think themselves superior for not believing in God and openly mock anyone who believes. People who can’t or simply refuse to see the difference between spirituality and religion and lump them both together. I’ve heard people debate whether atheism should be considered a religion with some arguing that it isn’t because there are no rules to follow. I find it ironic that there are those who would argue in favour of the later because of the lack of rules yet still insist that spirituality is no different that religion when there also are no rules in spirituality.
I suppose what I’m really trying to say here is it’s all about accepting others for who they are. It’s not a question of what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ but ‘what serves you’. If your beliefs serves you than keep them. If they bring you happiness, then enjoy and cherish them. If your beliefs however, cause you problems or distress, then perhaps it’s time to look within and re-examine those beliefs. Also, if others have beliefs or viewpoints that you don’t agree with, that cause you distress, then may you should ask yourself, “Is it because their view is ‘wrong’ or is because I’ve chosen to label it as ‘wrong’?”
“When you see beyond yourself than you may find peace of mind is waiting there. And the time will come when you’ll see we’re all one and life flows on within you and without you.”
I received this email from my father and thought it was so profound, that I just had to post it and share it with everyone. The following words are my father’s, not mine, however I do agree with what he’s saying. My own words are the brief snippets in bold, encased in brackets “[ ]”. I wanted to share this with you for the same reason I am writing both “Mystical Force” and “Liberator: the People’s Guard” to help encourage you to think for yourself. As the “Complete Conversations with God” says, most people don’t want to think for themselves. That’s why they follow religion, people on social media and elect certain politicians because it requires no independent thought. We’ve seen it with these Trump supporters/Capitol rioters whose only defence seems to be “I was only following Trump’s orders.” When people choose not to think for themselves, it removes all responsibility from them (at least in their minds). Then they sit and wonder why their lives haven’t turned out the way they wanted. They’re left wondering “where, when, why, how did it all go so wrong?!” Again, as the “Complete Conversations with God” says, It all went wrong when you abandoned your mind, the greatest creative tool you were ever given. Now with my foreword completed, I give you the email I received, courtesy of my father:
“A Journey of Souls” A must read book for those interested in what happens when you pass over to the other side. Why am I recommending this book? Because it verifies, clarifies and explains the things my father-in-law [my maternal grandfather] told me after his visit to the other side [the afterlife/spirit world, call it whatever you like] after his heart attack. Doctors and scientists call it a “near death experience” because they can’t accept the fact that someone can die for a few minutes or 40 minutes or more and then be revived or come back because it’s not yet their time to leave the earth plain. Someone can be clinically dead for a few minutes but have spent hours, days, weeks, or even months in the spirit plain. Time has no relevance between the two realms.
After his heart attack, my wife [my mother] and I went up to visit him. My mother-in-law [my maternal grandmother] came to me and said “Dad wants to talk to you alone in the bedroom and lock the door” He was recuperating from his recent heart attack and so spent most of his time in bed. We had a nice long talk about his experience. He told me “I love my girls (he had five daughters [my mother and four aunts]) but they don’t mean anything to me. They’re not my family on the other side.” That statement intrigued me and this book explains it. There was a women in the book who when she passed over was expecting to be met by her father from this incarnation whom she loved and was very close to. Instead someone else met her and later she saw her father in the background. He eventually came up to her and greeted her, but explained that he could only stay briefly and she couldn’t follow him because she was not part of his family. Once she met her own family (soul group) and her memory of her previous lives returned to her, she understood and was happy to see all her friends and family in the spirit plain.
We had a nice long talk about how the church is all wrong and actually keeps people away from God. The Christian Bible has been rewritten so many time by various ecumenical councils to say what the Church leaders wanted in order to maintain control that it no longer has any relation to what Jesus taught 2000 years ago. For example, the Book of Joshua which is referenced in the Bible and was once part of the Bible has been removed because it told the truth and that was something the church leaders couldn’t allow. In it Joshua tells how Moses and his council (the leaders of the various tribes) decided that they needed a set of rules or laws to govern their people. They went up into the mountains and created a set of rules and decided that in order to give them some authority, they would say these were commandments from God. In “The Complete Conversations With God” (another book I recommend) God tells the author “There is no such thing as the Ten Commandments”.
AMORC (The Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis) traces its origin to Mystery Schools established in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III 1479 – 1425 BC. According to the Rosicrucian records after the incident at Calvary, Jesus went to the arcane school that the Essenes had at Mount Carmel and taught his wisdom to the students there. He lived a long life and when he passed, the buried him in a secret spot. Jesus did not die on the cross until some centuries after his death when Constantine had the Bible rewritten to say that Jesus died on the cross because the church needed a martyr. The current Christian Bible only has 12 disciples and they are all male. Whereas Jesus had over 120 disciples and almost half were women. The most prominent was Mary Magdalene his partner and wife. I don’t know what Constantine had against Mary or women, but he had the Bible rewritten to say that Mary was a prostitute and so the Roman Catholic churches campaign to subjugate women and relegate them to second class status and servants of man began. How is it that I’m familiar with Rosicrucian literature? I’ve been a member since 1975. [my father is a member, I am not. Also I wasn’t born until 1982].
In the “Complete Conversations with God” there are several discussions about the current bible. The author questions God about the bible, he quotes “Vengeance is Mine, sayeth the Lord” and God replies “I never said that. One of you made that up, and you believed it”. God also discusses about how he is portrayed in the bible. He says “These behaviors are the behaviors historically demanded of their subjects by monarchs – usually ego-maniacal, insecure, tyrannical monarchs at that.” He explains that the God in the bible does not represent Him at all. He tells the author to “Return to spirituality. Forget about religion”. When the author asks why, He replies “Because it is not good for you”. And that is obvious. One only has to look at countries where religion is dominant such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Taliban in Afghanistan with their control over women. And then you have the Taliban’s Christian cousins the Roman Catholic church and the Evangelicals with their extreme conservative views on controlling women’s bodies. But everything discussed in the book matches what my father-in-law and I talked about.
These two books I recommend for your reading. Why? To make you think, to open your mind, to free your soul so that in can evolve, grow. You have free will. You can ignore this or you can read the books and make up your own mind. Either way makes no difference to me. God says to “Love everyone”, and I love everyone and wish the best for them. And some people I know who mistakenly sincerely believe that they are faithful Christians [“Conversations with God” even states that most so called Christians wouldn’t know Jesus if they bumped into him on the street, even those who wrote the Bible never met Jesus. The Bible was written hundreds of years after Jesus died], I wish the best for them. And the best thing that could happen to them is that they have the same beautiful life changing enlightening experience that my father-in-law had. What their reaction will be when they discover that their church has been misleading and lying to them I can’t say. But it will do them good to learn the truth.
Shi-ria is a Taman Knight who was born and raised on the planet Thalia. As a young child she was orphaned and found living on the streets of the city of Kalshiya, in the Dekanta province with her adopted brother and sister Rirk and Kurai. As children, the three of them made their living stealing whatever they needed to survive. Thinking only of themselves, they believed the rest of the world didn’t care about them so they saw no need to be concerned with how their actions harmed others. One day they had been caught stealing by a group of merchants who were prepared to take revenge upon them. Fortunately they were saved by a Taman Knight named Kalai-Udon, who sensed within the three of them a strong ability to tune into the Taman. He gave them a choice: remain on the street as thieves where they’d either wind up in jail or dead, or become his apprentices and train to become Taman Knights, an ancient religious order of Thalia. Given the choice, the three picked the later, moved in to the temple of the Taman Knights and began their training.
As an apprentice Shi-ria displayed great skill and strength. However, such skills made her arrogant and caused friction due to her reckless ‘leap before you look’ attitude, which contrasted with Kuria’s more serious, no nonsense approach. Many of the other apprentices gave Shi-ria the nickname “the fearless fool”. As a result of Shi-ria’s irresponsible and immature behaviour Kurai often grew irritated with her, causing the two of them to argue frequently. This often caused Kurai to give in to her anger. It was during one of these arguments that Shi-ria managed to drive her sister into a fit of rage, drawing on the power of the Koldar (her inner darkness), Kurai overpowered Shi-ria and almost killed her, had it not been for the intervention of their master. Following this event, Kurai was abducted by a group of Koldar Warriors (dark counterparts of the Taman Knights) who believed themselves to be ‘real’ Taman Knights, while at the same time believing the legitimate branches of the Taman Knights were a twisted perversion the original teachings of Princess Alderoth, the founder of this religion and the first officially recognized Taman Knight. The Koldar Warriors, thought that negative emotions like anger and hatred made them powerful, while love and compassion weakened them. The Koldar Warriors believed that their twisted views were correct and had tried to turn Kurai into one of them as part of their larger plan to destroy the Taman Knights and create a galaxy spanning theocratic empire where all non believers would either be forcibly converted or destroyed. Fearing that her actions led Kurai to give in to her inner darkness, Shi-ria, like a Koldar Warrior, had given into emotion rather than logic. Rushing off to confront this cult and rescue her sister without a proper plan, Shi-ria found herself alone against scores of armed enemies.
Meanwhile, the Koldar Warriors had been searching for an ancient magic scroll that would have allowed them to instantly teleport anywhere across the galaxy, allowing them to spread their dark religion and destroy all those they deemed unworthy. Originally, they used Shi-ria as a test subject and sent her off to a remote, backwards planet called Earth. There this reckless, foolish Taman apprentice found a teenage girl named Chiyoko and began training her as an apprentice. Thus the sins of the teacher were passed on to the student. Originally Shi-ria would later die only for Chiyoko to later give in to her own inner darkness and become a Koldar Warrior. However a woman named Scarlet Knightwalker would later travel back in time and alter history, ensuring those events would never happen. Thanks to Knightwalker’s intervention, history had been altered and Master Kalai-Udon along with the other Taman Knights discovered what the Koldar Warriors were doing and rescued both Shi-ria and Kurai, while Knightwalker secretly took the magic scroll, thus preventing the Koldar Warriors from creating their dark, theocratic, galaxy spanning empire.
Thanks to Knightwalker’s altering the past, Shi-ria wasn’t sent to Earth and remained on Thalia to complete her training and become a full fledged Taman Knight. This incident is what helped shape Shi-ria into the Taman Knight she is today. It caused her to grow into a more responsible, more rational, more compassionate and selfless person. She quickly excelled becoming the second youngest person to obtain the rank of Taman Knight (Kurai being the youngest by only a few months). It was also thanks to the above mentioned incident that Shi-ria learned not to be so rash and give in to emotion, learning to calm her mind so she could think her way out of any situation. As a result, she has a relaxed, easy going attitude which makes her very friendly and personal. This combined with her spiritual growth allows her to act both as diplomat as well as warrior. Being able to resolve conflict by talking while still being able to defend herself and others when necessary.
Despite Knightwalker altering the past, another sorceress named Zolida is determined to prevent history from being altered any further. Thus she later sent Shi-ria to Earth. Like in the original timeline, Shi-ria would again find this teenage girl named Chiyoko whom she would train as an apprentice. The difference this time was that Shi-ria was older and more mature. Having used her Taman powers to look into the future, she saw the original future Scarlet Knightwalker came from but also saw another possible future; one where she didn’t die and Chiyoko wouldn’t become a Koldar Warrior. Now Shi-ria, along with Scarlet Knightwalker, Mystic and Noonien work to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself, despite Zolida’s attempts to ensure that it does.
For those of you who enjoyed my brief excerpts from volumes 1 through 3 of Mystical Force, I now present myself, doing the exact same thing with volume 4, Many are 1, 1 is 0. And for those of you who didn’t enjoy them… well then why are you here right now? But I digress, presenting a sneak peek at Mystical Force volume 4:
Location: Headquarters of the Order of the Cross, Vatican City, Holy Roman Empire
Panic filled Sister Rose’s heart. Just a short while ago, she had been mysteriously turned into a demon. Her fellow exorcists had been hunting her down, trying to kill her. She managed to flee to Tokijin’s house, where the two tried to contact Mystic. Instead of Mystic responding to their thoughts, they got what seemed to be an automated voicemail speaking directly into their minds. Before they could fully understand what was going on, Sister Rose suddenly found herself back at the Order of the Cross. She had no idea how or why. In fact, she couldn’t make any sense of what was going on. She had no idea 0 was responsible for all of this. All she knew was that she was back in Mother Superior’s office. Right back into the fire.
“SISTER ROSE!” a familiar voice hollered. Rose jumped at the sound. She recognized Mother Superior’s angry bellow. She nervously turned to face her, wondering how she would explain what happened. What Rose saw upon turning around was something she hadn’t anticipated. Instead of finding herself a devil surrounded by nuns and exorcists, she found that all of them were now the same. “You’re late again!” Mother Superior shouted. Rose didn’t respond; she was too stunned for words. While Mother Superior was still wearing her nun’s outfit, her skin was now as red as the devil’s. Her headpiece was gone, exposing her hair. But instead of hair, Mother’s Superior’s scalp was on fire. Yet she acted as if this were perfectly normal, as though the flames themselves were her hair.
Sister Rose looked at her fellow nuns and exorcists—Sisters Simpson, Valentine, and Rodriguez, as well as Brother Michael. Sister Simpson’s skin was also as red as the devil himself. She had two red horns protruding from her forehead, a long red tail with a pointed tip sticking out of her lower back, and her brown leather boots were gone, exposing her bare feet, which now looked more like goat hooves. Turning to Sister Valentine, her skin was now light brown and scaly like a lizard. Even her face bore subtle reptilian features, right down to having a narrow snake-like tongue. The whites of her eyes were now solid black, her eye colour was a bright purple, and her eyebrows appeared to be a small band of matching purple flames. Turning to Sister Rodriguez, her skin was now solid white and looked as if it were made of stone. Her once black hair was now bright blue and looked like crystals growing out of her rocky skin. Rose looked at Brother Michael. Physically, he still looked human with his short black hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. He still wore his uniform typical of the male members of the Order—a black shirt with a white collar, not unlike a priest underneath a blue jacket with matching blue trousers and polished black boots. Around his neck were two necklaces—one was a small silver cross, the other composed of brown rosary beads. The only difference was he appeared to be wearing a grey wizard hat on his head. Rose looked down at his hands; they were glowing green while a stack of papers, no doubt some official report encased in a similar glowing green energy field, hovered in front of him while he was reading them. It was as though he were using some magic spell to hold them in place. He looked up from his papers to see Sister Rose staring at him with shock. “Is something wrong, Sister Rose?” he asked.
Rose just stood there, staring at him. She didn’t sense any spiritual powers coming from him. Instead, Brother Michael radiated magical essence. “You’re a warlock!” she gasped.
Brother Michael scowled at her, “Well, duh!”
She then turned back to Mother Superior and the three nuns. Just as with Brother Michael, she didn’t sense any spiritual powers coming from them either. They all radiated demonic auras. “You’re … demons! You … you’re all … devils!” Rose gasped.
They just stared at her as if she were stating the blatantly obvious. “Of course, we’re devils,” Sister Simpson snorted. “What did you expect us to be? Humans?”
Rose was dumbstruck. Just a short while ago, she had mysteriously turned into a demon and was being hunted by her fellow Order members, but now they were demons and mages. Yet, none of them acted like this was anything unusual. Rose’s startling revelation was met with the same scorn and confusion as though she had just stated that the sun rises in the east. “What exactly is our mission here?” Sister Rose asked cautiously.
“The same it’s always been,” Mother Superior responded with annoyance. “To hunt down and destroy humans for tempting us to sin and leading us down the path to ruin!”
Now, Rose was even more confused. Not only had she, along with the other members of the Order, been turned into devils, now humans were the ones that had to be purified. “Are all the people of the world devils? All demons or mages? Do we still serve God? Is Satan still our enemy?”
“Have you gone completely mad, Sister Rose?” Sister Valentine asked.
Mother Superior stood up; she clearly had enough of this nonsense, “I don’t know what kind of silly games you’re playing, Sister Rose, but we don’t have time for this foolishness! We’ve gotten reports of human activity near Teikoku City.” She turned to Brother Michael, “Continue your report.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brother Michael waved his hand. Rose could feel him using his magic powers to activate the monitor on the wall directly behind Mother Superior’s desk. “Thanks to my human locator spell, we’ve detected some humans in a residential area just outside of Teikoku City.” Using his newfound magic powers, Brother Michael activated the monitor. On the screen came the image of Aanjay, Jimomaru, Zolida, and 0 at their rural hideout. Rose recognized Aanjay, Jimomaru, and Zolida right away. Aanjay and Zolida’s outward appearance didn’t look any different, but Jimomaru now looked human. All his demonic features—his wings, claws, and facial markings—were all gone. His feet, once bird-like talons, were now ordinary human feet, encased in ordinary human shoes. She looked at the fourth person. She didn’t recognize him. He was Caucasian with blue eyes and short brown hair parted to the left and was wearing charcoal grey trousers and a suit jacket over a light grey dress shirt. Aanjay, Jimomaru, and Zolida all appeared to be yelling at this man.
“YOU’VE TURNED US INTO HUMANS!!!” Aanjay, Jimomaru, and Zolida all shouted at 0.
“Boy, there’s just no pleasing any of you, is there?” 0 lamented. First, he turned Tokijin from a demon into a human; then he turned Sister Rose into a demon, and now he did the same for all the people of Earth. All humans across the planet were now either a demon or a mage. While everyone with a mystical force—magical essence, spiritual powers, or demonic aura—was now an ordinary human. Though neither Aanjay nor Zolida’s outward appearance changed, both could feel it deep inside. The magical essence that once burned brightly in their very core was now gone, as though 0 reached inside their very souls and snuffed it out. Zolida tried desperately to cast a spell, any spell, just to prove that she still had some lingering trace of magic within her. Instead, nothing happened. That was when a horrible realization washed over her; 0 had been playing her all along. She thought for sure that she could control 0 with the magic scroll. Now she realized that 0 had been playing her for a fool. He had been lying to her, manipulating her all along. While her overinflated ego couldn’t bring itself to accept this fact, she couldn’t deny the fact that her magic was now gone, and she was completely powerless. She gazed at 0 with a look of pure dread. 0 simply grinned smugly back at her. “Did you really think a puny little insect like you could control a being like me?”
Soon, another dreadful thought entered Zolida’s head; 0 must have been lying when he insisted he was “imprisoned” in the other dimension, just like he was lying when he said he couldn’t initially do what they asked because his time there weakened him. So, what else has he been lying about? The more Zolida thought about it, the more she realized that she actually knew very little about 0. She knew that his species were called “the 1” and lived in another dimension. She knew they existed beyond a physical form; they were more like pure consciousness, limitless in their abilities. Could it be that 0 had been manipulating her from the very beginning? If he were truly god-like, then there was theoretically nothing he couldn’t do. Perhaps it was even possible that the scroll she had stolen, the spell on it, the belief that she could use it to send him back if he caused too much trouble, was all a game 0 was playing. Did he create the scroll himself? Could he have planted all that information into her mind? Was all of this just some game for 0’s amusement? Was she, like everyone else, just a pawn in whatever game he was playing?
“You wanted to show humans how demons and mages were superior; now they can find out for themselves,” 0 explained. “In fact, the Order of the Cross is doing so right now.” With the snap of his fingers, 0 used his powers to switch the image in Zolida’s portal to show Mother Superior’s office. Aanjay, Jimomaru, and Zolida saw Mother Superior, Brother Michael, and the nuns from earlier. Just as they had been turned into humans, the Order members were now all mages and demons. The Order members stood there staring directly at them, as though the portal was a two-way mirror, which, thanks to 0, it now was.
Back in Mother Superior’s office, the image from the other side of the portal was displayed on the monitor located directly behind her desk. They watched in surprise as the “humans” stood there, staring directly at them.
“Brother Michael, did your spell turn my monitor into a two-way mirror?” Mother Superior asked.
“No, Mother Superior,” Brother Michael protested. “They shouldn’t even know we’re watching them.”
On the other side of the portal, Zolida turned to 0, “Wait a minute, they can see us?”
“Indeed they can.” 0 grinned before turning to address the members of the Order, “Hello bozos!” he beamed as he waved.
Mother Superior and the others stared in confusion at the monitor.
“Are you sure you got the spell right, Brother Michael?” Sister Simpson asked.
“I’ve been practising magic for years,” Brother Michael huffed indignantly. Thanks to 0’s power, Brother Michael now believed that he had been a warlock his entire life. As far as he knew, he always had magic powers. “I know my spells!”
“Then how come they can see us too?” Sister Simpson demanded.
“And hear you too, Sister Simpleton,” 0 laughed.
Mother Superior’s jaw dropped, “How is this possible?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” 0 explained. Suddenly, a flash of bright light filled both the screen and the office. When it faded, the image on the monitor was just an empty room, while 0, Aanjay, Jimomaru, and Zolida were now in Mother Superior’s office.
“You … what … how did … you … ” Mother Superior stammered. She was too shocked to think what to say.
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is 0; I’m an omnipotent being from another dimension. I have complete mastery over space, time, matter, and energy. In other words, I’m God.”
“You’re not God!” Sister Rose barked.
“Blasphemy,” 0 replied, faking being insulted. “You’re lucky I don’t smite you right now. Is it the suit? Would you expect a god to appear more ‘divine?’” 0 turned back into his form of pink goo before reshaping himself into the typical Christian image of God. He now wore long white robes with leather sandals over bare feet and had long white hair with a matching beard. “Is this more to your liking? Or maybe … ” 0 then morphed again, going back to his previous look of short brown hair, but this time, his outfit resembled that of the Pope. “Presenting his royal pope-ness, Pope 0 the first.”
Mother Superior and the others gasped in horror.
“Too confusing? Perhaps something more … uniform,” he looked over at Brother Michael, “I do like your tailor.” Once again, 0 morphed his appearance. Now, his outfit matched Brother Michael and all the male members of the Order of the Cross. “Ta-da!” he gestured toward Brother Michael. “Made in God’s own image, right?”
Watching 0’s antics, Rose put two and two together and figured that he must be responsible for Tokijin turning into a human, then her and everyone else being turned into devils. “Are you the one who turned us all into demons?”
“Yes, but I had a very good reason for doing so.”
“And that is … ?”
“I was bored.”
Rose felt immense fury building up inside her. “You turned me into a monster, had my fellow exorcists try and kill me, then turned them into devils while turning demons into humans because YOU WERE BORED?”
“And you’ve put on quite the entertaining show!” 0 laughed.
I hope you enjoyed this brief preview of Mystical Force volume 4. Coming soon. Don’t forget to like, share and more importantly by a copy of the book. Please buy a copy, maybe several. I need the money!
One of the things I’ve been debating for a while now is whether or not to expand my presence on social media. Aside from my LinkedIn account, I have no other social media platforms that I currently use. I used to have a Facebook account years ago, long before I decided to start publishing my writings. I stopped using it because I kept getting irrelevant notifications, even after going into the settings and changing it to only show me notifications that involve me. Eventually I got rid of my Facebook account because it was becoming an annoying distraction. Ironically I considered reactivating it when I published my first book. When I went to do so, they asked for identification to prove I was who I claimed to be. When I submitted my driver’s license photo with necessary the info (blocking out the information that wasn’t necessary) I got a message back saying it wasn’t valid. So I simply replied “if you don’t want me on Facebook, then fine. I’ll go elsewhere.”
I bring this story up because of the issues the world has with social media. As an author I realize that such platforms (Facebook, Twitter and so on) are useful tools to help promote my work and build buzz around my writing, however as many articles have written social media has also brought many problems with it. As we’ve unfortunately seen, when people can hide behind the anonymity of a computer or a smart phone, it tends to bring out the worst aspects of people, causing them to say things that they probably wouldn’t in public. I remember hearing a story about how conservative social media platforms (like Parler and Frankspeech for example) haven’t been doing well because conservatives don’t want to share ideas with like minded people, but rather engage in flame wars with liberals on Twitter and other such sites.
Another problem with social media is that it’s all too easy to post misinformation without the need for fact checking. How many times (during the course of this pandemic) have we seen people spreading misinformation on the virus, vaccines and so on simply because someone else online said it and no one bothered to question it.
The reason for this is due to the fact that our society actively discourages people from thinking for themselves. And the reason for this is because most people don’t actually want to think for themselves. To quote Conversations with God, “most people don’t want to have to think. They elect leaders, they support governments, they adopt religions requiring no independent thought. ‘Make it easy for me. Tell me what to do.’… Classes in critical thinking, problem solving and logic are considered by many parents to be threatening. They want such classes out of the curriculum.” Look no further than the debates raging across America about Critical Race Theory. How many parents no nothing about it (or even what it is) yet don’t want it taught in school out of fear that it’s “bad” for children. Incidentally, how many of these people don’t even have children? Why? Because if we teach children to think for themselves, they might develop ideas and opinions that are different than ours. Even worse, they might point out the mistakes our society has made and find a new solution, one that would prove the way we’ve been doing things has been wrong. As someone, I forget who, once said, “Nothing compels a [person] to argue harder than being proven wrong.”
All of this stems from the fear-based religions that the world has had for several thousand years. These religions mistakenly teach us that God gave us free will so that we could blindly follow and obey God’s word, lest we face eternal damnation. Thus why we don’t want people to think for themselves because if we all thought critically, we’d realize that such a plan (God’s so called ‘plan’) is one where failure is the only option. How can God expect us to blindly follow his will when he gave us the ability to make our own choices? Such a plan is ultimately self defeating.
So the question then becomes, “How do I deal with social media platforms that foster division and spread misinformation?” The first step is to limit the amount of time spent on such platforms. Use them when necessary, but when your phone “pings” with a notification, don’t drop everything and rush to see what it is. Stop constantly checking to see what [Person X] posted or if they posted anything recent. If your life revolves around what others are doing/saying/thinking all the time, then arguably your not really living your own life, but trying to live someone else’s life.
Secondly, always remember to THINK FOR YOURSELF. Never blindly accept what you see online as the truth “So and so posted ‘X’ online, so it must be true!” Use your own instincts, your own judgments to decide that for yourself. Even this blog. If you agree with what I’m saying, then I thank you. If however you don’t agree with me, then I hope you find a better way, one that serves you better (and I mean that sincerely). Ultimately, the only real question we have to constantly ask ourselves in life is “Does this serve me?” If this (whatever “this” may be) serves you then believe it, use it, make it work for you. If it doesn’t then find a new “this”. One that does serve you. Remember, thinking should never be the enemy. Because again, if we weren’t meant to think critically, to question everything, why would we even have the ability to do so?
The Koldar Warriors are the evil counterparts of the Taman Knights. Unlike the Taman Knights who use the Kolri (inner light) to control their Koldar (inner darkness), the Koldar Warriors see the Kolri as unnecessary and even a hindrance that prevents them from reaching their full potential. The Koldar Warriors follow the same basic beliefs as the Taman Knights. They believe that the universe is energy which is composed of positive and negative energies (the Kolri and the Koldar). Unlike the Taman Knights, the Koldar Warriors don’t believe that they need the Kolri to control the Koldar. The Taman belief that good and evil exist in all people and in order to maintain balance in life one must use the Kolri (inner light) to control the Koldar (inner darkness) to maintain balance, peace and harmony in themselves and thus the universe is not shared by the Koldar Warriors. They believe that the Kolri weakens them and that using the unrestrained power of the Koldar makes them stronger. For them, power should be used to control and dominate. Those who do not share this view are seen as weak.
Since the Koldar Warriors are dark counterparts of the Taman Knights they have all the same powers as the Taman Knights. Like Taman Knights, their powers and abilities vary depending on the individual. Since they rely on their inner darkness, Koldar Warriors rely on their emotions (such as anger, aggression, hate) for their strength. The angrier or stronger their emotions are the stronger they are, but conversely it’s harder for them to control their powers. They are capable of using all the same powers as Taman Knights but they don’t necessarily use them, especially if they feel they have nothing to gain from it. Likewise Taman Knights are capable of using all the same powers as Koldar Warriors but chose not to because they cause more harm than good.
HISTORY:
The officially recognized origin of the Koldar Warriors began during a period known as “The Dark Times”. Even before the start of “the dark times” divisions were already forming in the Taman Knights. Some felt that using the Kolri to control the Koldar had been keeping the Taman Knights from exploring the full potential of their powers. Like many new religions, the Taman Knights were persecuted in their early days for having different beliefs than the established religions. Due to this persecution and constant attacks the Taman Knights were forced to endure in their early years, many Taman Knights began using the Koldar to strengthen themselves under the belief that it was necessary to protect themselves. A Taman knight called Turai-thol believed the only way to stop these constant attacks was by launching counter attacks at the various hostile groups. He felt the only way for the order to survive was to attack and destroy their enemies first. His growing aggressive behaviour began to cause concern among the Taman Knights. He began to teach others that the Taman Knights were above right and wrong and that they were justified in doing whatever it took to accomplish their goals. Proof of this came after he and a group of students were ambushed by pirates while visiting a small coastal town. After witnessing several of his students killed Turai-thol murdered the pirates in a fit of rage. This was a main factor in the decision of the knights to expel him from the order. When he left he took many other Taman Knights with him. These dark Taman Knights began forming their own code, a twisted perversion of the Taman code, one that stated that the Koldar was the source of true power and that the Kolri was not only unnecessary to control it but also held the Taman Knights back. They used their powers to subdue those who had persecuted them and rule over them. Since they relied solely on the inner darkness of the Koldar they began to call themselves Koldar Warriors. Eventually this term came to refer to any dark Taman Knight.
The First Koldar War:
The Koldar Warriors originally were devoted to destroying their enemies but soon realized that their powers made them superior and thus felt they should rule. They soon began building their own empire by attacking many of the other nations of Thalia. Seeing the threat they now possessed the many of the nations of Thalia (which had originally persecuted the Taman Knights) formed a truce with the Taman Knights to defend them from this growing threat. This was referred to as the First Koldar War. The Koldar Warriors were now their own religion, albeit not officially recognized. Their ultimate goal was the complete destruction of the Taman Knights and the complete conquest of Thalia. Ultimately what proved to be the undoing of the Koldar Warriors was not outside forces, but their own philosophies. Due to their anger, greed and lust for power many of them turned to infighting and constant rivalries broke out as various Koldar Warriors constantly tried to overthrow each other and seize power all for themselves. This allowed the Taman Knights to defeat them, since the Taman Knights were able to unite against their common enemy, while the Koldar Warriors were too busy fighting among themselves.
While the Taman Knights were able to defeat the Koldar Warriors, they realized that as long as the temptation of the Koldar existed, the Koldar Warriors would never truly be destroyed. Thus the Taman Knights set up a strict code (the code of the Alderoth sect) which hid all knowledge of the Koldar for fear that any Taman Knight who learned of this would be tempted by its power.
While official records of the era stated that the Koldar Warriors were destroyed, the truth was that some of them survived and went into hiding, waiting and plotting their return and the destruction of the Taman Knights. They spent the next several hundred years living in secret, plotting their revenge. Since there was no united front or even common plan of action the term Koldar Warrior went from a person belonging to the original organization to any Taman Knight who fell to their inner darkness. As a result little progress was made as the various survivors like, their original order were just as busy trying to undermine each other efforts as much as the Taman Knights.
The Taman Civil War & Rebirth of the Koldar cult:
Hundreds of years later, the great reform movement began when a Taman Master named Kamatra began to publicly question the teachings of the Taman Order. He felt that forbidding knowledge of the Koldar didn’t stop Taman Knights from being corrupted by it but actually made it more appealing. He felt it was better to teach Taman Knights about the Koldar to help them see the destructive power of it and thus help them be able to resist its lure. Despite this the Taman council was still set in their ways. Kamatra felt the Taman Knights were stuck in the past and that their destruction was inevitable if they didn’t learn to change and adapt with the times. His teachings were considered heresy and he was expelled from the order. As a result he relocated to another region of Thalia and started his own branch of Taman Knights, later known as the Kamatra sect (the one Shi-ria belongs to). One that didn’t forbid emotional attachment, nor did they follow the one master/one apprentice model. Another key difference is that they believed all beings had the ability to learn and use the Taman, thus anyone could join as there was no age restriction compared to the Alderoth sect.
When word of this spread, Master Daisho (grand master of the Alderoth sect) claimed these “false” Taman Knights had been corrupted by the Koldar. He claimed they were really Koldar Warriors who just deluded themselves by following a “false prophet”. Using his position as grand master and his influence on the government he started the Taman Civil War in his mission to destroy the Kamatra sect. Eventually followers of the Alderoth sect and the government began to see that in his zeal to destroy these “Koldar Warriors in disguise” he was slowly becoming the very thing he was trying to destroy. He was eventually stripped of his title and expelled from the order. Under direct orders from the government, the two branches of the Taman Knights were officially recognized and made peace through the Treaty of Jungsai. Despite both sects being officially recognized as legitimate branches of the Taman religion and officially being allies there still remained some minor hostility due to their differing ideologies.
When master Daisho was expelled from the Alderoth sect he took many loyal followers. Despite the treaty of Jungsai, he still refused to accept the Kamatra sect. He felt that the Taman Knights were traitors for this treaty and vowed to destroy all those he now viewed as his enemies. Although they originally believed they were true Taman Knights the reality was they had strayed further from the teachings of the Taman Knights and became a cult. Meanwhile the Alderoth sect covered this up to avoid a public scandal. When Shi-ria (then still an apprentice to master Kalai-Udon) along with fellow apprentices Rirk, Kurai and their master were attacked by members of this cult, they spoke to the Alderoth council who dismissed their concerns and accused them of trying to slander the Alderoth sect.
Meanwhile this Koldar cult (currently under the leadership of master Shodo), having learned about Zolida and Scarlet Knightwalker, and their ability to transport anyone anywhere in the galaxy wish to obtain this power for themselves. With such power in their hands it would allow them to instantly transport anywhere in the galaxy, so they could conquer other worlds and destroy any who would stand in their way. All of this and more will be explained in the next exciting tale of Mystical Force: Vol. 3 the Kolri and the Koldar. Coming soon to book stores and online retailers.
For those of you who can’t wait for Volume 3 of Mystical Force (The Kolri and the Koldar), well you don’t need to wait anymore since the book is now available. However, if you haven’t read it yet, here’s an exclusive sneak peek at the book:
Location: Base of the Koldar Warriors, Planet Thalia
The base of the Koldar Warriors was old and run-down. It once belonged to an ancient cult that worshipped nature. Similar to the ancient tribe that taught princess Alderoth. What became of this tribe however, was lost to history. The Koldar Warriors didn’t know and didn’t care. As far as they were concerned, if this tribe no longer existed, it simply meant they were too weak to defend themselves and their home. This was the philosophy of the Koldar Warriors: the strong survive, the weak perish. This particular group of Koldar Warriors had originally been Taman Knights who willingly followed Master Daisho after he had been expelled from the Alderoth branch. Like him, they foolishly believed themselves to be “true” Taman Knights. While Daisho’s original mission had been to destroy the “false” Taman Knights, the Kamatra sect, they had allowed their self-righteous prejudice to expand until they saw all other religions as false and all other people as “infidels” to either be converted to their religion or to be destroyed. This was their new mission: to spread their teachings across the galaxy and to force everyone to convert to their religion, whether they wanted to or not. They wanted to build a galaxy-spanning theocratic empire.
This was how they ended up inadvertently playing a part in both Zolida and Knightwalker’s game. They had learned about the same magic spell Zolida used to send Shi-ria to Earth, and they were planning to use it to spread their teachings across the galaxy. As far as the governments of Thalia and the other worlds of the Galactic Alliance were concerned, the Koldar Warriors were criminals and terrorists. If any of them were discovered on any alien worlds, the authorities would have them arrested on sight. While the Koldar Warriors’ powers gave them an advantage over ordinary species, beings with a mystical force, such as mages, could hold their own against them. If they could gain access to the same magic Zolida used, they would be able to travel instantaneously to any world in the galaxy covertly. And once they were entrenched in said world, it would be very difficult for the authorities to have them removed.
In the original timeline that Scarlet Knightwalker came from, the cult found this spell five years ago. It was around the same time that Kurai had been taken. Having another Taman apprentice from the “false” Taman branch convert to their “true” religion was a pleasant bonus for them. When Shi-ria went to rescue her sister, the Koldar Warriors used Shi-ria as a test subject. They used the spell to send her off to a remote corner of the galaxy, not knowing where she’d end up and not really caring. They never knew she ended up on Earth, trained an apprentice of her own, only to die with Tokijin and Noonien. They never knew about the future that Knightwalker had come from. They never knew because Knightwalker had travelled back in time to prevent this incident from happening. Using the same concealment Zolida used at the police station, coupled with the potion Knightwalker used at the station, she convinced the Taman Knights to follow Shi-ria and rescue Kurai; thus, preventing this cult from sending Shi-ria to Earth. Knightwalker then used her magic to take the spell and destroy it so that it would never fall into their hands. No one knew that Scarlet Knightwalker had been there the whole time, making sure that history didn’t repeat itself. The only one who knew the truth was Zolida. Thanks to Knightwalker, the future had been altered, so Zolida was determined to make Knightwalker’s job as difficult as possible.
Using her magic, Zolida teleported directly into the central chamber of the temple of the Koldar Warriors. Unlike Scarlet Knightwalker five years earlier, Zolida didn’t bother to conceal herself; she wanted them to know of her arrival. Thus, the Koldar Warriors were genuinely surprised when this strange woman magically appeared before them. “An intruder!” one of the warriors shouted.
“Trespassing in our sacred halls is an act of sacrilege!” another called out.
The various other members all murmured in agreement. Using the same Taman alchemy that the Taman Knights possessed, they created various melee weapons. They moved toward Zolida, preparing to attack. Zolida simply waved her hand and lifted each of them up in the air and hurled them backwards with her magic. Some slammed into the walls, others into each other. Master Shodo, the current leader of this cult, was the only one not affected by this. He was a middle-aged man, though years of relying on the power of the Koldar began taking its toll on his body. His hair, what little of it he had left, was grey. His face was pale and pock-marked. His skin was saggy and wrinkled, and his purple eyes were bloodshot with dark circles surrounding them; he looked as though he hadn’t slept for days. Despite this, he was still quite muscular, though it wasn’t noticeable as he wore a bulky suit of metallic armour over a black silk dress shirt and baggy black trousers tucked into heavy black leather boots. He simply stood watching. Using the power of the Taman, he tried to read her, just as Shi-ria had when she first encountered her. All he sensed from her was her presence, nothing more.
Zolida turned to face him, “If your followers are finished making fools of themselves, perhaps we could talk.”
Various Koldar Warriors slowly got to their feet, weapons at the ready, but Shodo, without taking his eyes off Zolida, simply raised his left hand. The Koldar Warriors stopped in their tracks. Obviously, Zolida’s power had piqued his curiosity. So he was willing to hear what she had to say. “Who are you?” he demanded.
“My name is Zolida,” she responded. “I’m a sorceress. Beyond that, who I am and where I’m from is of no importance to you.”
“And what is it that you want?”
“The question isn’t what I want,” she corrected, “but what is it that you want? I know about your history, Master Shodo. How over a hundred years ago, Master Kamatra left the Alderoth branch of the Taman Knights and formed the Kamatra branch. How Master Daisho saw these heretics as traitors who distorted the teachings of the Taman Knights and how the rest of the fools on the Taman Council kowtowed to the Taman government; too afraid to stand up to them.”
“They were fools!” Shodo barked. “Cowards! Too spineless to see that Kamatra was a traitor and that his followers were perverting the teachings of the Taman Knights! Master Daisho knew this, but the rest of them couldn’t see beyond their own selfish needs! The need to appease the government to remain in their good graces! ‘Cause they were afraid of losing their favour with the government. A true Taman Knight wouldn’t submit to the whims of the ignorant masses! He’d use his superior skills and intellect to make them see they’re the ones who are wrong! That they are the ones who must be forced to submit to the enlightened!”
Zolida smiled subtly. It was just as she hoped. Like Knightwalker had done earlier at the police station, she used the same magic potion to make the Koldar Warriors more susceptible to her suggestion. Of course, there was the risk that, like Shi-ria, the Koldar Warriors might realize what was going on. Their Koldar senses might warn them something was off, but this was less likely to happen. Unlike the Taman Knights, these Koldar Warriors were ruled by their emotions, their passion, their aggression. This made them easier to manipulate. As long as Zolida told them what they wanted to hear, they’d be more inclined to do as she said. Strong emotions often tended to cloud one’s better judgment. By appealing to their arrogant assumption that they were “true” Taman Knights, a lie that they had successfully fooled themselves into believing, by telling them what they wanted to hear, she could make them do whatever she wanted. All she had to do was make them believe it was their idea.
“Just as you do,” Zolida soothed, appealing to his ego. “Unfortunately, when the enlightened are greatly outnumbered by the ignorant masses, it’s hard to make them see the light. Which brings me to why I’m here. Do you remember how five years ago you were searching for an ancient spell—one that would allow you to instantly teleport anywhere in the galaxy without using the gateways and going through official channels at Orathos?”
Shodo nodded; he remembered the incident perfectly. Normally, beings were forced to use their planet’s gateway to travel to the central hub on the planet Orathos. Without such gateways, the only way to travel from one planet to another was via a spaceship equipped with a means to travel faster than light. Since Shodo and his band of Koldar Warriors were labelled as terrorists, they were banned from leaving Thalia. Even if they had managed to gain access to Thalia’s gateways, make it to Orathos, then travel to another world, the authorities would be alerted. Thus, they’d be forced to fight off hordes of Taman Knights or other mages who would try and stop them. However, if they had the means to bypass the planetary gateways, they could sneak onto various alien worlds, spread their doctrine, recruit new followers, all the while conquering and subjugating other infidels. And by the time the Taman Knights—or other planetary governments—realized what was going on, they would already be too deeply entrenched to be removed. This was their plan. Shodo heard rumours about such an ancient spell—one thought to have been lost centuries ago. He had his minions searching Thalia for any relics that supposedly held clues as to how to find or perform this spell. It was five years ago that he had been close to finding it when one of his followers had tried to recruit a Taman apprentice named Kurai. However, it turned out to be an ambush by the Taman Knights; at least, he believed it to be one. Kurai’s fellow apprentices, Shi-ria and Rirk, along with their master Kalai-Udon and the rest of the Kamatra sect, followed her and ambushed his followers. With their plans discovered, Shodo and his followers were forced to go into further hiding.
“You remember how the Kamatra sect found out about your group and stopped you? What you didn’t realize was that a sorceress named Scarlet Knightwalker was behind it all,” Zolida lied. The truth was that originally, Shodo and his cult found the spell when Shi-ria showed up to try and rescue Kurai. In the process, Shi-ria was sent to Earth. This was how events unfolded in the timeline Knightwalker originally came from. When Knightwalker later travelled back in time to alter history, she made sure to prevent the Koldar Warriors from finding the spell. She covertly made sure the rest of the Taman Knights followed Shi-ria to stop this cult and prevent Shi-ria from coming to Earth. Unaware of this, Shodo and his followers were forced to go back into hiding and continue their futile search. So, they continued searching caves and other ancient archaeological sites for any relics that could help them. One such site was a cave. The very cave Shi-ria had been assigned to guard three months ago. Shodo had hired Dead-Eye to search and steal any relics in said cave in the hopes that there might be something there he could use to bring him one step closer to this power. Unfortunately, none of the relics there were of any use to him. “Scarlet Knightwalker used this spell to send Dead-Eye and a Taman Knight named Shi-ria to a planet called Earth,” Zolida continued lying. “With them out of the way, she took the ancient scrolls the spell was written on and hid them away to ensure no one would ever find them. Surely with your powers, you know this to be true.”
Shodo reached out with the power of the Koldar to see if she was lying. Unfortunately, Zolida’s magic, combined with the potion, allowed her to manipulate him easily. Using her magic, she allowed his retro-cognitive abilities to see the events unfold the way she wanted him to see, not what really happened. “So, this Scarlet Knightwalker is to blame for our failures at procuring this spell,” Shodo incorrectly deduced.
“Indeed she is,” Zolida said and continued spinning her elaborate web of lies. “What’s more, she’s from the future. Originally, you succeeded in obtaining this spell and spread your empire across the galaxy. She’s travelled back in time to prevent this from happening.”
“WHAT?” Shodo shouted, his anger building up inside him.
“You succeeded in your mission,” Zolida continued, “until she came back in time, altered history, and undid all your successes. That’s why I’m here. I’ve also come back in time; to try and stop her and try and set history right once again.”
Shodo stood up and roared, “This Scarlet Knightwalker will pay for her actions!”
A faint but sinister smile crept up in the corners of Zolida’s lips. “In the future, I am but one of your many followers,” she continued weaving her misleading tales. “My magic, combined with your powers, can overpower her. Together we can set things right again!”
Shodo smiled at her. Despite his arrogant belief in his superiority, Zolida had successfully played him like a fool. “Bring me this Knightwalker and the spell, Ms. Zolida, and I shall not forget your loyalty when we conquer the galaxy.”
“Yes, master,” she said, bowing. “And I know exactly how to bring her to you . . .”
To find out what happens next… well buy a copy of the book. Don’t forget to give it a good review. Please, please PLEASE…. give it a good review! I need all the good reviews I can get! Also, keep an eye out for Mystical Force Vol. 4: Many are 1, 1 is 0, coming soon…
Being Father’s Day it seems only appropriate that I dedicate today’s blog entry to my father Norbert Weidhuner, for if not for him the world of Mystical Force wouldn’t exist. My father wasn’t a professional writer. I remember he once told me that when he was in university he had to write an essay on “the sex life of two ping-pong balls” (which according to him, he got an F on). But while he may not have been great at writing he was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy. My father has a huge array of sci-fi and fantasy novels from various authors: Issac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon and many more whom I can’t remember at the moment. Growing up he also read a lot of comic books. Spider-man, Batman, The Phantom and many more. He was also a fan of various sci-fi movies/shows from Doctor Who to Star Trek to Star Wars and so on. Needless to say he passed on his love of sci-fi and fantasy to me when I was growing up.
It was this love of speculative fiction that would serve as my inspiration to become a writer. Like many children, I had many action figures that I used to play with as a child. Everything from DC and Marvel superheroes, to Star Trek, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even Godzilla. Growing up, I used to make up my own mini movies in my mind with those action figures and I guess I never really grew out of it. The only difference now is that I’ve replaced those action figure characters with my own characters, that and the stories and character motivations have matured over the years. Either way, had my father not shown any interest in speculative fiction, odds are I might not have shown interest in those genres myself, or at least probably wouldn’t have come up with any of my writing. One the most exciting moments in my life was when I saw my father read the first volume of Mystical Force for the first time.
In addition to my love of science fiction and fantasy, it’s thanks to my father that I’ve grown spiritually, which in turn has also influenced Mystical Force. I remember telling me how when he was a child he went to the Church of Religious Science (no relation to Scientology, just want to get that out of the way). He told me how the priest said the Bible was divided into three parts: The first part was the ‘begats’. “So and so begat so and so. Who begat so and so. Who begat so and so.” According to the priest that part was “95% accurate”. The second part was the ‘history’, the story of Moses leading the twelve tribes to wander the desert before entering the “land of milk and honey”. According to the priest, that part was “95% hogwash”. The third part is the ‘metaphysical’. According to the priest, “you are Moses. The 12 tribes represent 12 facets of your personality and before you can enter ‘the land of milk and honey’ the parts of you that think it’s a terrible place have to die off so you can be ‘reborn’.” (I apologize if what I’m saying doesn’t make sense, it’s speaking in metaphors).
In addition to this, I remember my father telling me how when he was in university, it was still a sin to eat fish on Friday, until shortly later when the church said it was no longer a sin. Finding it odd that something that was a sin was no longer a sin, caused him to read up on religion and spirituality. He told me how after reading up on various religions he came to the conclusion that Zen Buddhism was the closet thing to the actual truth. Dad always said that God was like the force from Star Wars; “an energy field created by all living beings. It surrounds us, penetrates us. It binds the [universe] together.” The only difference, according to my father was that in reality there is no “dark side”. Having read Conversations with God, I know this to be true as the book confirms that “good” and “evil”, “right” and “wrong” are human creations. Just look at the state of the world, we can’t even agree as a society what thoughts and actions are “right” and “wrong”. Not to mention the simple fact most religions ignore: Why would God give us free will if we’re supposed to blindly follow his teachings without question?
In conclusion I just wanted to take this Father’s day to thank my father for what he taught me about life and how he influenced my tastes in media and writing. Thank you dad! I love you!
