Unraveling Worlds

The words from the OB's filled everyone's mind, everyone heard or saw them, not one person was left untouched or without understanding, even the very young somehow had a simple understanding of things being different. The proof they offered was irrefutable in every sense of the word. They sent visions of their placing the writings and books, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail... every great item written about in books of religion was placed at the various capital buildings.

Everything was shown, everything was revealed as they raised up ancient lost civilizations to further prove their powers and placement of lies that we believed in. Atlantis was raised from the ocean, as it became clear that they have destroyed civilizations on Earth throughout history time and time again just to recreate a new existence of “Gods” for people to worship and wage wars in the name of. They created it all. Everything we believed. As the spaceships disappeared one by one, a further nightmare ensued as humankind began to destroy itself over the realization that there was nothing to believe in... there was no faith left to hold onto.

My father and I – as unsure as we both were regarding the existence of a “God” or “Gods”, were not prepared for this truth. We didn't exactly believe in religion and the 'all powerful' beings that each religion prayed to but for some reason found out that it really was all a bunch of bullshit created by the OB's to cause turmoil for humankind... it just... hit differently. My parents acted quickly even as we were all in shock, they knew that we had to leave home and get away from any big areas of people because looting and violence was already spreading like wildfire all over as people saw no further threat of punishment from their “God”. There was no sense of moral and immoral, it became a 'free-for-all' on committing crimes and doing whatever you wanted.

The Government leaders in each nation tried to give speeches demanding control and structure, even some police and military members stayed true to their oath to serve and continued to attempt to stop the looting, violence and discord that was spreading. None of it helped, people did not care. The lawless and already morally compromised persons went on crime sprees doing whatever they wanted without fear of punishment – earthly or celestially. Those who were truly innocent, moral persons who once believed in heaven and hell, karma or some type of system to punish those who did wrong, they were lost and felt like they had no where to turn. Many of those very loyal believers of their religion committed suicide after finding out the truth. Others turned weapons on their priests or religious leaders as they blamed them for misleading and lying to them.

My parents and I quickly packed up some bags and then got into our car and left, heading down back roads as they tried to avoid any areas that might have mobs of people around them. They knew our house would be a target because it wouldn't be long before every house was a target as the lawless mobs or the Government forces searched for weaponry, food, and things of value. It was lucky for us that we lived near the ocean as we headed there, my parents saying that we needed to get off the land. We made it to a less traveled houseboat docking area as my dad began to search for one that was unoccupied and in decent shape for us to “borrow” as he put it.

He found one fairly quickly as we cleared out everything from our car, moved it to the houseboat and dad quickly hot-wired the houseboat as we untied from the dock and headed out on our way. My dad tried to get as far out of view of any of the mainland areas as he could, but we knew that there would be pirates out on the seas too, it just might be slightly harder for them to find us but we still had to eventually find somewhere safe to dock and use as a 'home-base' so to speak.

I was surprised by my mom's behavior as I expected her to be in a panic over her beliefs being taken away from her, so I asked her if she was alright. Her answer shocked me even more.

“Hey Mom... are you doing okay? I mean, like are you really holding up okay with what those beings said?”

I asked her while leaning against her shoulder for comfort as she and I relaxed on the boat deck while dad manned the controls.

“I'm fine, Ananke, just worried about getting and keeping us safe but I have faith that things will eventually be okay.”

My mom answered and as she did I looked at her with confusion in my eyes as I heard her say she had 'faith'.

“Faith? But... I mean... mom – those beings... you heard them right? None of the Gods or Goddesses that you pay favor to or do rituals to honor... none of it is real, everything is just... bullshit.”

I said as I tried not to sound too harsh but I began to worry that maybe she was having a mental breakdown and blocking out the reality of what happened.

“Ananke, you of all people should never lose faith. You are named after the Goddess who was the personification of fate and necessity. I heard what those things said just as you did, as everyone did, but they can't make my choices for me on whether I believe in something greater or not. And you shouldn't let them make that choice for you either, Honey. You have always gone by your own rules and beliefs, creating yourself to be your own person... making your own fate and destiny as you lived each day. Only you can influence your thoughts, behavior and actions unless you give that power to another person or being. Faith is a necessity and fate is inevitable. Never let anyone take either away from you. No matter what they say or do to “prove” their side, trust in what your inner Goddess tells you.”

I listened to the words from my mom's mouth as she answered me with such strength of conviction despite everything that happened just hours ago, I was just amazed by her continued faith.

“I wish I could see things the way that you do, mom.”

I responded back to her as I just shook my head and gave her a hug while trying to process her ability to continue holding onto anything, let alone faith.

“That's why I'm an agnostic theist, Honey. You and your father both are more agnostic – or were I suppose. You two never were sure of the existence of a God or higher powers. I believe through my faith, and that is where I can be agnostic but a theist as well. I have faith in the existence of a higher power, Gods, Goddesses, the Universe... however you want to put it, I have faith in the existence even without having a true 'knowledge' of the existence. I just... have faith.”

I couldn't fully understand my mom's ability to believe but I admired her in that moment as I saw how unwavering her faith was.

We managed to keep up on what was going on all over the world with our phones which somehow seemed to have unlimited range. My dad said it was probably something that the beings did to make sure people were able to see everything going on, to ensure a continued fear and chaos in the world. It was terrifying to see all of the madness going on everywhere as people were lost and angry and placing blame at religion and Government leaders. We traveled over the ocean for a few days as we did our best to try to stay away from any mainland areas.

We stopped at a small island that appeared to be uninhabited, as my dad tied up the boat and mom and I just enjoyed sitting on land again after several days on the sea. My parents and I looked around the island to make sure no one else was there, and that we couldn't find any signs of people having been there recently, once we were confident that we were alone and should remain that way for a little bit, we built a small fire and grabbed some of our food rations and sat down on a little beach area on the island to eat together.

None of us spoke really that night as we ate and then just sat in the darkness before getting back on the houseboat to sleep. I think we were still trying to process everything, feeling like it was just a bad nightmare and we would wake up and things would be normal, we'd be home and everything would just be fine. That was far from the case though, as we realized when we woke up and checked the news reports for any updated information and saw the continued destruction all over the world. The Government was in hiding and anarchy was taking over in every country of the world.

This continued for several months as my parents and I tried to do our best to stay away from other people, sailing between various uninhabited islands, we would fish and eat plants that we were familiar with and able to identify, and collect rain water when our water rations ran out. Things were difficult as we struggled to try to remain unseen but the longer the discord around the world continued, the harder it became as factions developed around the world with groups laying claim to different countries and pirate factions laying claim to the ocean and seas.

The world had descended into lawless chaos which allowed the perfect opportunity for these factions to rise up, recruiting people to join them and using violence and promises of protection to get others to follow them and recognize their leadership. Little did they know that the Governments of the world were very prepared, having known about the OB's for apparently much longer than the rest of the human population. They had been working over several decades to prepare for the day that the OB's would arrive and reveal their truths to humankind. They had all been working together to ensure that their regimes still kept control – honestly even more control than they had before the OB's arrival.

They waited for the first year to pass after 'The OB's' came before they came out of their secured bunkers to try to regain their control over each of their former countries. They thought that waiting 12 months would give people time to kill off a good number of the population, mainly the part of the population more likely to fight and resist, since they assumed that they would be the ones out trying to lay claims to areas, building factions, using violence, etc. Most of the population left in the world would be the persons hiding out, laying low and keeping quiet – like my parents and I.

They saw us as more likely to obey rather than fight and resist. They were mistaken.

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