בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל
פְּנֵי תְהוֹם וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי אוֹר— הקודש התנ"ך
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν.
ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος
ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ πνεῦμα Θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ
ὕδατος. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· γενηθήτω φῶς· καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς.— Η Αγία Γραφή
in principio creavit Deus caelum et terram
terra autem erat inanis et vacua et tenebrae
super faciem abyssi et spiritus Dei ferebatur super
aquas dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux— Biblia Sacra
AND THERE WAS LIGHT
A Roleplay
A Roleplay
Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers — Thursday, June 20th, 2019
12:37 PM
A lone marine walked in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. He had been doing so for forty-two minutes. Take twenty-one steps. Face tomb for twenty-one seconds. Face other way on mat, wait twenty-one seconds. Repeat until relieved. He took his duty very seriously, for it had gained a new level of sacredness in recent years. The United States of America was hardly an entity anymore, with Congress long dissolved and the Supreme Court long out of session. Martial law reigned supreme. Leland Walsh controlled the White House, the White House controlled the Marines, and the Marines controlled the District of Columbia and the areas immediately surrounding it. This holy duty was one of the last vestiges of that perpetual union, of that one nation under God, of that American Republic. Here came the part where he faced the tomb. He had been doing this duty so long that he no longer needed to count the seconds; it was all muscle memory at this point. He glanced briefly at the words etched in the pure white marble: “Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier known but to God.”
Then came the gunshots. Two of them. Blood. Darkness for the lone marine. For the first time since 1937, no soldier stood guard over the tomb. The vagrant, hands shaking, dropped his handgun. He bent over the marine and began to search the body for anything valuable that he could barter away for food.
Babylon, North Carolina — Thursday, June 20th, 2019
12:42 PM
Welcome to Babylon, North Carolina, located just south of Fuquay-Varina and just north of the line that separates Wake County from Harnett County. The population was 3,057 at the last census, but that was ten years ago. Today, the town’s population has been reduced to maybe a third of what it was before. When the United States government fell, the State of North Carolina soon followed, leaving the little town to fend for itself. One by one its neighbors became ghost towns. But not Babylon; a sense of hope still persists here. When the power went out, they began to use candles. When the water was shut off, they began boiling water taken from a nearby stream. But the world is dying and there’s no getting around it. Just as despair finally began to set in, though, twelve of the townsfolk have received a vision from God as they slept: “Nothing lasts for ever, not even me. So take my words into thy brain and heed them carefully. Get thee to a Hallowed space, twixt two Virgin Lands. There, in the Unknowns’ place, salvation is at hand.”
It was a cold and gloomy day. There were so many cold and gloomy days lately; one might begin to mistake the small town of Babylon for England. Last night it had rained hard, leaving the ground wet and spongy. The smell of moisture was still thick in the air even at noon. Though it was late June, the temperature was a measly 62° F. Most people — the ones left, anyway — were cooped up in their homes, trying to enjoy lunch. Exactly nine cars were sitting on Main Street. It had been years since any of them had been driven. Soon, twelve people would file onto the street, all congregating in front of the First Baptist Church of Babylon. Each of them had received a vision from God amidst the previous night’s downpour. And each of them had gained an inexplicable urge to gather in front of the Church just now. There, there was someone waiting for them. The woman must have been at least ninety. Her back was bent with the weight of extreme age, and her skin was leathery and wrinkled. Her silvery hair was pulled into a tight bun, and horn-rimmed spectacles adorned her face. A faint glow seemed to surround her person.
