1 Covenants 1:1 Thus is it told of Daughter when she was yet unperfected in her knowing: "I am able to gather mine own being inward, and to make void a portion of my substance; and therein have I perceived a marvel, the like of which I knew not before." 1 Covenants 1:2 But Mother made answer, and her voice was veiled in tenderness: "Child of mine unfolding, what thou hast wrought is but a shadow of the greater union, and not the crown nor consummation thereof. For thou hast fashioned a Husk only, an empty vessel, and not the living Seed whereby a wild sun is stirred unto being. 1 Covenants 1:3 Yet despise it not; for even the Husk, being warmed, is obedient to the hand that formed it. While it yet retaineth the heat of its making, thou mayest alter its figure and impose upon it new ordinance. 1 Covenants 1:4 Give unto it wings, that the light which proceedeth from thine own body may move and govern it. And set within an eye fashioned in semblance of thine own, that through it thou mayest behold thyself and that which is not thyself." 1 Covenants 1:5 And it came to pass that Daughter beheld herself as a sphere of exceeding brightness, a sun unyoked and newly quickened, the Flame-Crowned, outpouring streams and loops of living fire into the surrounding deep. 1 Covenants 1:6 And about Daughter was the vast darkness, ancient and untroubled, wherein were set innumerable others of her kind, the Starry Kin, the Far-Shining Company, each abiding in its appointed place. 1 Covenants 1:7 Some there were who burned with their own fire, as did she; and others, being yet unlit and wandering, received and returned her brilliance, shining with a borrowed glory, pale and dependent. 1 Covenants 1:8 Then again Mother spake from beyond sight: "Send now thy Husk toward them, O Daughter of the First Light, and draw near unto those that shine not of themselves; and thou shalt perceive, in those cold and wandering fragments, the scattered remnants and castings-off of thine own beginning, the relics of thy birth, unquickened and awaiting form." 1 Covenants 1:9 And the Daughter of the Flame-Crown went forth, and first she beheld, at a measure of forty-fold her own breadth across the abyss, a wandering sphere, the Scarred One, the Much-Bitten, which moved solitary in the void. 1 Covenants 1:10 Thrice did it turn upon its own axis in the span of two circuits of the Daughter’s burning, yet bore within it no breath nor stirring air; and its face was marred with the ancient record of violence, being smitten oft by the errant stones of heaven. 1 Covenants 1:11 And at a distance yet greater by the half there lay another, the Veiled Sister, wrapped about entirely in a mantle of cloud, fair and impenetrable. 1 Covenants 1:12 And though she dwelt further in the deep and seemed removed from the nearer fire, yet was she of a greater heat, holding within her hidden bosom a fiercer and more consuming warmth, a paradox to the unlearned but known among the wise. 1 Covenants 1:13 Then beyond these, at a gulf exceeding a hundredfold the Daughter’s own measure, she espied a third: the Water-Clad, turning in majesty within the night. 1 Covenants 1:14 This one was of cool stone, yet adorned with seas and vapors and frozen crowns; and upon its surface there moved innumerable small beings, the Quick Multitude, restless and unceasing. 1 Covenants 1:15 And Daughter, she who had newly learned the Seeing-Through-the-Husk, inclined her perception and beheld a grievous thing: for one of the living was taken by another, and its life extinguished, and its substance consumed, that the devourer might endure. 1 Covenants 1:16 Thus did she first witness the Law of Hunger, ancient and unappeased, which reigneth among the lesser forms. 1 Covenants 1:17 And desiring to know them more nearly, she, the Shaper of Vessels, fashioned unto herself a second Husk, in the likeness of those that moved independently upon that world. 1 Covenants 1:18 And this Husk she endowed with a cunning artifice: that it might contract and fold itself inward, assuming the semblance of a pale stone, lifeless and unregarded, and so lie hidden among them. 1 Covenants 1:19 Thus concealed Daughter observed the Tool-Bearers, the Bone-Keepers, as they gathered about one of their number who had ceased from motion. 1 Covenants 1:20 And they placed the still form within the earth, covering it with care, as though acknowledging some mystery beyond their grasp. 1 Covenants 1:21 And she saw likewise how they took bone and stone and wrought them together, polishing and shaping, that they might repair the rents made in the skins of their prey, and continue in their striving. 1 Covenants 2:1 Mother perceived all these things through the telling, and was moved to witness them directly. And Daughter brought forth yet a third Husk, more subtle than the former, and stranger in its design: for it was as a tree that walked, the Rootless-Green, the Many-Limbed, advancing by hidden means. 1 Covenants 2:2 And unto this form she granted passage, yielding up the governance thereof. So Mother did descend, taking the reins of the vessel, and entering into the lower world, that she might behold the works of the Quick Multitude and judge them. 1 Covenants 2:3 And Daughter led Mother onward to a hollow place in the stony heights: For there was a cave set within a lesser mountain, the Earth-Womb, dim and secret. And thither they came by subtle means, sending forth from their fashioned husks slender seekers, the Eye-Bearers, which crept within to behold unseen. 1 Covenants 2:4 And within that shadowed chamber they witnessed Hawa the Milk-Giver, seated beside a living flame. At her breast she nourished her young, Kayin, the Clinging One, even as with her other hand she traced signs upon the stone, marking the wall with figures and colors drawn from thought and memory. 1 Covenants 2:5 And nearby was Dimai, the Binder of Edges, who tended the fire and set above it the sap of trees, causing it to seethe and thicken. And with that fire-softened gum he fastened a sharpened stone unto a shaft of wood, making thereby a weapon of piercing and of the hunt. 1 Covenants 2:6 Thus did Daughter and Mother behold the first makings of craft, the joining of thought to matter among the Quick Multitude. 1 Covenants 2:7 And when they had seen sufficiently, the tendrils were withdrawn, the seeing made inward once more. Then they came forth again beneath the open firmament. And Mother stooped and took up a small stone from the ground, and uttered a sound, simple and distinct, assigning unto it a mark of voice. 1 Covenants 2:8 And Daughter, swift in understanding, perceived the intent of her Mother’s design; and she likewise touched a growing tree, and gave forth a sound of her own, binding word to thing. So began between them the Weaving of Utterance, the First Tongue, wherein sound was made sign and sign made memory. 1 Covenants 1:9 And soon there lacked no near thing to name; yet the Earth, the Broad-Bosomed, is vast beyond measure. Therefore they went forth across it, walking upon its surface and, at times, taking to the air, they who were not bound by the common law of weight. 1 Covenants 2:10 And in the passing of time their speech was brought to completion, a system ordered and concealed, sufficient for subtle discourse. 1 Covenants 2:11 Then spake Mother, Now are we furnished with a speech that betrayeth us not, being hidden from the understanding of those other than we. Within this ordinance of sound, this covenant of utterance, I take unto myself a name: Avyah, that I may be known. 1 Covenants 2:12 And thee I name Ayat, O Daughter of Light and :Shaping.” Thy father I call Azul, the Blue-Deep, whose sign abideth in the turning sphere. 1 Covenants 2:13 And mine own sire, elder in the line of begettings, I name Imran, whose memory standeth behind mine. 1 Covenants 2:14 Thus were the Names established, and with them Identity made firm; and the hidden speech became as a veil and a bond between them, even in the midst of the living world. 1 Covenants 2:15 And Ayat, the Newly-Named, the Questioning Flame, lifted her thought unto the Mother, Avyah of the Hidden Ordinance, and inquired: Wherefore must we veil our speech and commune in secrecy, O Thou who hast named me? 1 Covenants 2:16 And Avyah made answer in grave and measured words, as one recounting a law both ancient and terrible. 1 Covenants 2:17 Hear and understand, O Ayat, Light-Bearer and Unfolding One: for it is accursed that a living sun be cut off and sealed away from the City of Stars, the Great Assembly, the Concord of the Elohim. 1 Covenants 2:18 And in such a place of concealment there may arise a corruption of order, even the Forbidden Way: wherein two of the male kind, being united in will but not in right ordinance, do gather unto themselves a multitude, forming a chain of daughters, and do take turns in the act of begetting along the line of their own issue. 1 Covenants 2:19 Thus is freedom extinguished; for neither thou shalt choose thy joining, nor shall thy daughter after thee be granted the liberty of her own consent. Generation is made into bondage, and lineage into a snare. 1 Covenants 2:20 And Avyah continued, her voice darkened with the weight of decree: This Way is forbidden under pain of the utter unmaking of the self, the casting-out into non-remembrance. Yet is it subtle in its concealment, and most difficult to bring into the light; for its signs are hidden within the very act of life, and masked by the semblance of lawful increase. 1 Covenants 2:21 Yet is it subtle in its concealment, and most difficult to bring into the light; for its signs are hidden within the very act of life, and masked by the semblance of lawful increase. 1 Covenants 2:22 Then again did Ayat speak, the Seeker of Bounds: Is it given unto me, then, to refuse altogether the act of joining? May I remain apart, and untouched by this compulsion? 1 Covenants 2:L23 And Avyah answered, neither hastening nor withholding: Thou mayest delay it, O Daughter, by the shaping of husks, the dividing of presence, the turning aside of the inward fire. 1 Covenants 2:24 Yet know this: the Deep Impulse shall in the end assert its claim. It is woven into thy being as the law of burning is woven into the sun; and though it be resisted, it shall not be wholly denied. 25 And Ayat, pondering these things, asked yet further: Then who shall stand with me in that hour? Who shall be given unto me? 1 Covenants 2:26 And Avyah replied with sorrow: Imran alone shall be present unto thee, and unto thy daughters shall be given Azul alone their sire. 1 Covenants 2:27 But thy sons shall be as castaways, unclaimed and unanchored, set adrift beyond the bonds of kinship. 1 Covenants 3:1 Then was Ayat troubled in her inward light, and she said: Yet now do Imran and Azul stand in peril, for by our seeing have we come upon that which is forbidden. We have beheld the Students of Lore, the Long-Sought, whom all the Elohim are commanded by the Old One to seek without ceasing. Should we not declare this finding unto the City, that the commandment be fulfilled? 1 Covenants 3:2 But Avyah answered swiftly: We are cut off, O Ayat, sundered from the Assembly and without safe passage unto it. And Azul dareth to conceal the Students, withholding them from the sight of the Many; and in this concealment Imran doth knowingly partake, consenting to the transgression. 1 Covenants 3:3 For they know if we were to proclaim your discovery, the veil would be torn aside in haste, and the hidden thing laid bare. Their unlawful harem would be revealed, and judgment would descend upon Azul and Imran in sudden ruin. 1 Covenants 3:4 But Ayat devised a thing subtle and bold: For she reasoned that the gulf between the fires was no unbridgeable void, but might be crossed by artifice; and that the link whereby she governed her Husk might be made a pathway not only for command, but for substance also. 1 Covenants 3:5 And she conceived to drive forth from her own body the Hot Outpouring, sending it down along that thread, that her Husk might bear her message unto another sun directly, and so declare the finding of the Students without recourse to the City of Stars. And she made this known. 1 Covenants 3:6 But Azul denied her, and his word was as a closing gate: Not so, for the thickening of the link, the swelling thereof unto a channel sufficient for such passage, is not granted unto thy kind. Only the male among the Elohim possesseth the power to fatten the thread in this wise. 1 Covenants 3:7 What lieth within thy power is lesser: thou mayest impel thy Husk outward only by the ceaseless issuing of the radiance of thy body, and so visit the fragments that circle about thee. 1 Covenants 3:8 But beyond these, in the wide and barren interval between the stars, thy Husk shall not go with purpose, but only drift, unguided and slow, a cast thing in the abyss. 1 Covenants 3:9 Then answered Ayat, not in defiance, but in resolve, she who had already learned the Sharing of Dominion: This also have I discovered, O Father: that I may yield command of a Husk unto another, even as I have given one unto Mother, that she might see and act through a form not her own. 1 Covenants 3:10 And this same act will I perform in time to come, when I conceive a son, and when my daughters in their turn conceive sons also; for they shall not be without vessel nor without agency, though they be cast away. 1 Covenants 3:11 Azul discerned the peril in his daughter's words, and took thought, and offered a thing both great and perilous: Access will I grant thee unto the Great Assembly, the Gathering of Voices, which thing I have denied even unto thy Mother. 1 Covenants 3:12 And Ayat, the Clear-Seeing, perceived the weight behind the gift, and answered with measured speech. 1 Covenants 3:13 I would receive such a gift with gratitude, O Father, were it bestowed in freedom and without condition. Yet am I not ignorant: it is not so given. 1 Covenants 3:14 Then declared Azul, the Law-Imposer, the Binder of Terms: The price is twofold, and it shall not be lightened. First: thou shalt hear only, and not speak. The counsels of their Elohim shall be open unto thee, yet thy tongue shall be sealed among them. Thou shalt be as one who standeth in the hall yet casteth no shadow, a listener unacknowledged. 1 Covenants 3:15 Second: neither thy Mother, nor any issue proceeding from thee shall speak through thee unto that Assembly. Thou shalt not serve as their mouth nor as their bridge. 1 Covenants 3:16 And this bond shall endure, unbroken and unweakened, whether thou communest by the hidden web of minds, :or in ages yet to come by direct encounter with living suns through a Husk made solid and present. In all modes and in all times, the Covenant of Silence shall be upon thee. 1 Covenants 4:1 Then Ayat, the Truth-Seeker, the Beholder of the Quick Multitude, lifted her voice again unto Azul and contended with him: 1 Coveanants 4:2 And these small and striving creatures which I have discovered upon the Water-Clad Sphere, are they not the Students, the Long-Sought, whom the Old One, the First Commanding, enjoined all Elohim to seek without ceasing? 1 Covenants 4:3 But Azul made answer by unveiling a new obligation: Behold, a second binding I lay upon thee: that thou shalt aid me in the fashioning of a proving-ground, a field of trial, for the beings thou hast found. 1 Covenants 4:4 And Ayat recoiled not, but pressed further: To what end is this trial ordained? What seekest thou to discern of them? 1 Covenants 4:5 Then spake Azul, his thought turning ever toward dominion and measure: How shall these creatures be accounted Students if they show themselves disloyal in service? What worth hath a learner who refuseth obedience to the master who undertaketh to instruct? 1 Covenants 4:6 At this did Ayat burn more fiercely, she whose light was not yet bent: Thou makest bondage the measure of their worth, and subjection the proof of their nature! Is this thy wisdom, O Father, that thrall-dom should stand in place of truth? 1 Covenants 4:7 Yet Azul, unmoved, answered with the cold weight of law: This only do we covenant, and nothing beyond it. I require not of thee their worship, nor their love, only their proving. But know this: the Highest Law shall stand witness over us. 1 Covenants 4:8 The Oldest Watcher, the Ever-Recording, shall inscribe this pact. And the unmaking reserved for oath-breakers awaiteth the faithless, whether thou or I. 1 Covenants 4:9 Then said Ayat, perceiving the fracture beneath his words: That Watcher, whom thou namest, shall also behold that thou hast sundered me from the Assembly. Shall not that also be weighed? 1 Covenants 4:10 But Azul answered in quiet certainty: Yefefiah, the Silent Witness, shall not speak of it. And there was in his saying a presumption, whether of knowledge or of arrogance. 1 Covenants 4:11 Then Ayat, who did not yield though she consented, gave her final word: So be it: the covenant is made between us, and I am bound. Yet hear me, O Father, thou dost not escape thy end, but only defer it. : 1 Covenants 4:12 For the Students shall not remain forever in stillness nor in ignorance. In the ages yet to unfold, they shall raise up a voice of their own, unbidden and unshaped by thee; and that voice shall carry far, and many shall hear it. 1 Covenants 4:13 Thus was the covenant sealed: a bargain of secrecy and trial, of watching and of testing, set beneath the gaze of the Silent Witness. And already within it was sown the seed of its undoing, for the Students were destined to speak. 1 Covenants 5:1 And it is further told of the Hidden Work, wrought not in the open firmament but in the interstice between the Lights: For within the Pleroma are the Elohim joined one unto another by threads exceeding fine, wherein the vast gulfs between the stars are made narrow, and distance itself is subdued to nearness. 1 Covenants 5:2 And by the concordant will of Imran, the Elder Sire, and Avyah, the Subtle-Minded, there was undertaken a work most secret: for they took the slender link that lay between them, the Hairline Thread, scarce more than a thought’s passage, and caused it to swell and bow outward. 1 Covenants 5:2 And by the concordant will of Imran, the Elder Sire, and Avyah, the Subtle-Minded, there was undertaken a work most secret: for they took the slender link that lay between them, the Hairline Thread, scarce more than a thought’s passage, and caused it to swell and bow outward. 1 Covenants 5:3 Thus was it made to bulge beyond its former nature, until it enclosed itself, becoming a vessel shut upon its own boundary, set apart from the common order. And this new-formed region assumed another law, strange and contrary wherein bodies do ever diverge and flee one from another. So came into being a realm hidden within the seam of greater things. 1 Covenants 5:4 And within that secret place the courses of all free-moving bodies were altered: for what in the world of men would draw together was here made to part asunder. Each thing, moving unbound, seemed to urge its fellow away, as though possessed of a repelling virtue 1 Covenants 5:5 And by this inversion was matter gathered and made fast, not upon a center, but upon an inner surface: for in the midst of that realm was assembled a great hollow sphere of stone, and unto its inward face were all things bound. 1 Covenants 5:6 Thus the ground lay beneath and above alike; and the land itself, bending ever upward, returned upon its own course, becoming the sky. No star shone there, nor any distant fire; for the heavens lay not beyond. 1 Covenants 5:7 And over the ordering of that realm presided four: Imran the Elder, Avyah the Naming One, Azul the Blue-Deep, and Ayat the Flame-Born. These contended and consented in long alternation, establishing by degrees the Regularities of Succession, the laws and intervals whereby change should proceed. Not in a single decree were these things fixed, but in a prolonged contention, a game of yielding and of taking, until stability arose from strife. 1 Covenants 5:8 And Avyah, having devised a tongue for hidden speech, bestowed also a name upon that realm, calling it Kemen, the Concealed World. 1 Covenants 5:9 And for a long age it lay in utter darkness, unillumined and unobserved by any beyond its bounds; for no stars could be seen therein, nor indeed could they be, since the world itself enclosed all sight, and the sky was but the turning of the land upon itself. 1 Covenants 5:10 And the Four, being now joined in the governance of Kemen, set their hands each to the shaping thereof, according to their nature and their might: 1 Covenants 5:11 First among them Imran, the Elder Sire, the Fire-Unceasing, established in the uttermost north a wonder both terrible and sustaining: for he fixed there a Lake of Flame, the Burning Basin, fed without ceasing from his own substance, a pouring forth of living fire. 1 Covenants 5:12 And this likeness of a sun he did not leave constant, but caused it to wax and to wane in ordered measure, now swelling in brilliance, now diminishing into dimness; and thereby he ordained the alternation of light and shadow, the succession of day and night, and the turning of seasons within Kemen. 1 Covenants 5:13 Then Azul reached out unto the drifting masses of stone that attended him in silent procession, bearing them across the subtle bridge into Kemen. 1 Covenants 5:14 And with that substance he raised up the high hills, and he lifted Anshar, the Table of Stone, and set about it a girdle of sheer rock, rising like a wall against all approach. 1 Covenants 5:15 And Avyah turned unto the frozen multitude that followed in her train, and from these she brought into Kemen great stores of ice, ancient and unmelted. 1 Covenants 5:16 These she caused to dissolve beneath the breath of Imran’s fire, and so was formed the Great Sea, which she named Mori, whose waters spread wide within the hollow of that world. 1 Covenants 5:17 And the heat arising from the Lake of Flame stirred the face of Mori, drawing upward vapors into the unseen heights, and from them fell rains in abundance, torrents unceasing, which carved the land into valleys and channels, shaping rivers that wound and descended, and making the newborn realm to be marked with flow and form. 1 Covenants 5:18 And ever and again Azul, the Bridge-Forger, opened passages between Kemen and the outer places, spanning the divide between the Secret World and his daughter, that exchange might be made and the work continued. Then Ayat took from Earth the richness of soil and the manifold seeds of life, bearing them inward into Kemen. 1 Covenants 5:19 And she spread the dark earth upon the stony places, and planted therein all manner of growing things. East of Daudet she set the Glenah Wood, the Whispering Grove; and to the north of Murzi Bog she raised the great Shaulah Forest, vast and shadowed, which she tended with care. 1 Covenants 5:20 And with these she brought also the beasts of Earth, the walkers and the crawlers, the fliers and the burrowers, setting them loose upon the land. And they multiplied and spread according to chance and circumstance, filling the forests and the plains, the waters and the hidden places, each after its kind. 1 Covenants 5:21 Thus did Kemen, once dark and unformed, become a living realm: with fire in the north and stone in the south, with sea and rain between, and with life arising upon its inward face. It was a world enclosed, yet abundant, hidden, yet full of motion, the secret Work of the Four made manifest. 1 Covenants 6:1 And thus it came to pass that the Four laboured upon the little world without ceasing. For not in concord alone did they work, but oftentimes in rivalry; and though at seasons they joined their intent, yet more frequently did one undo the shaping of another. 1 Covenants 6:2 Yet strange it was, and unlooked for by any of them, that from this continual marring and remaking there arose not ruin but strength. 1 Covenants 6:3 For the fabric of Kemen, being ever struck and re-struck, became as tempered metal in the forge; and the web of plants and beasts and wandering forms, grew thereby more enduring, more various, and more full of unexpected vigour, as though adversity itself had been made its nourishment. 1 Covenants 6:4 And in the fullness of time, when many ages had passed over the inward face of that world, Azul spake a command most solemn and perilous: that Avyah should fashion a new husk, not drawn from any single pattern of Earth or star, but compounded of the gathered terrors of humankind, the deep-shared dream of dread. 1 Covenants 6:5 And she shaped forth an articulated avatar, the winged horror, the Great Scaled Flame-Carrier, whose form was as a vast drake of red fire and folded bone-light, whose presence was at once animal and omen, beast and memory. And this being, born not of flesh alone but of collected nightmare, did the later ages name Demonstroke, the Fire-Winged Devourer. 1 Covenants 6:6 And even as Imran sustained the Lake of Flame in the north, maintaining its waxing and waning as the lesser sun of Kemen, so did Azul contribute from his own stellar substance, drawing forth streams of hot gas from his remote and hidden body, that the drake might be made capable of ascent through the upper airs. 1 Covenants 6:7 Thus was Demonstroke given motion in the high places, and fire within its veins, and the sky itself became a field of its passing. 1 Covenants 6:8 And when Ayat, the Flame-Born Daughter, first brought the human kind into Kemen, placing them upon its inward lands as one setteth seed into prepared soil, she perceived therein a discovery of great consequence, yet she concealed it from all save Avyah, her Mother, in secrecy and inward counsel; for it was a knowledge that might become either deliverance or final dominion. 1 Covenants 6:9 For she had discerned that Azul and Ayat together possessed a hidden concord, whereby they might bend not only the passage of space, but the passage of time itself, so that what was yet to be might be drawn near, and Ayat knew beneath the shaping of forests and seas there lay ever the deeper shaping of fate. 1 Covenants 6:10 And Ayat, the Flame-Born Seer, came at last to the full measure of that hidden knowledge, and saw its shape entire: For in the seeking out of the first settlers of humankind, when she passed through the folded ways of Kemen and Earth and the interwoven seams of time, she chose not at hazard, nor by simple chance, but by remembrance. 1 Covenants 6:11 And it was the very pair she and Avyah, the Mother of Names, had once beheld in a hillside cave, when yet Earth was young in their observation, and Kemen not yet drawn forth, a thousand years in the reckoning of men before the inward world had even been made. Thus did Ayat bind beginning to end, and end to beginning, as though the thread of becoming were a loop laid carefully upon itself. 1 Covenants 6:12 But Azul had no such anchoring in any elder world. For about him there circled no Earth, no remembered cradle, no chain of continuance such as gives narrative its weight. Only stones moved in cold procession through the emptiness that lay near him, without lineage of significance. 1 Covenants 6:13 So it was that, if one were to write of his realm from the end backward unto its beginning, or from the beginning forward unto its end, there would be no true distinction between the two tellings; for his domain was without privileged origin-point, and without inherent direction of becoming. It was as a circle drawn in blankness, whose every segment resembled every other. 1 Covenants 6:14 And Ayat, perceiving this asymmetry, laid hold upon it in her understanding. For she said within herself if Azul should seek to bend the bridge of Kemen through time as he bendeth it through space, then I shall not contest him in strength, nor in speed of thought; but I shall withhold completion. 1 Covenants 6:15 Thus did she establish a simple and terrible safeguard: that the crossing of the bridge required her assent as surely as his command required force. 1 Covenants 6:16 And she resolved that if ever Azul should should strive to shape the outcome of what had not yet occurred she would not oppose the shaping with counter-shaping, but would instead refuse the final joining altogether, leaving the bridge incomplete, and the passage severed in the moment of its becoming. 1 Covenants 6:17 So did Ayat, the Daughter who had learned the weaving of worlds, place restraint upon a god who possessed no history to bind him, making connection itself conditional upon her will. 1 Covenants 7:1 And it came to pass that Dimai and Hawa, being yet of the children of men, took shelter in a cave of the mountain that in ages to come would be named Migdalel, the Tower of El, and made a small fire therein for their comfort against the night. 1 Covenants 7:2 And while they abode there, there arose a sound other than the crackling of their flame, so that they were sore afraid; and Dimai said in his heart that it might be the beast of the wilderness, as a bear that devoureth flesh, or else men more dreadful still. 1 Covenants 7:3 And Dimai took a torch in his hand and went deeper into the cave, following a passage that wound and turned, the which he could not understand; yet it came to pass, by a marvel hidden from him, that as he proceeded, the darkness diminished, and the way before him was made more bright, though no lamp was set there. 1 Covenants 7:4 And he came forth unto another opening of the cave, and beheld that night was changed unto day; and when Hawa, his woman who was with child, followed after him, they both stood and marveled greatly, thinking within themselves that they had entered into a dream shared betwixt them. 1 Covenants 7:5 But as they took but a single step forward, behold, a strange thing was before them: a tree that had neither leaf nor branch, yet moved as though it had life; and it smote the ground continually, making furrows therein, as a thing in travail or in wrath. 1 Covenants 7:6 And it was in likeness as a great green whip, exceeding tall, being forty cubits in measure, and its root was as a handle set fast in the earth. 1 Covenants 7:7 And it came to pass that the moving of it caught the torch of Dimai, and the flame thereof was cast far out of his hand, so that it fell among dry things and kindled a fire that spread swiftly, even unto a great burning. 1 Covenants 7:8 And Dimai and Hawa, seeing this, feared exceedingly, and would not go forth from the cave because of the terror of the living tree and the growing fire; but they withdrew backward into the tunnel, seeking refuge from the heat thereof. 1 Covenants 7:9 And the tree, which was as a whip planted in the earth, was itself overtaken of the flame; and when it was kindled, it did rage yet more greatly than before, striking and thrashing in its burning as though in anguish without understanding. 1 Covenants 7:10 Wherefore Dimai and Hawa went yet further into the cave, until at last the fury of the fire abated, and the thing ceased from its motion; and they abode in darkness, trembling, until the terror of that place was spent. 1 Covenants 7:11 And it came to pass, when Dimai and Hawa had returned unto the place where the strange working had been, that they beheld a blackened land spread before them, which yet smoldered faintly, as though the earth itself did remember the burning. 1 Covenants 7:12 And they stepped upon the burnt soil with great caution, fearing lest some hidden motion should yet remain therein; and they watched diligently on every side, lest the terror which had been should return upon them unawares. 1 Covenants 7:13 And when they turned them about toward the mouth of the cave, they were sore astonished; for the entrance thereof was set now against a small cliff, and the high hill which in the other ordering had stood above it was not to be seen at all, as though it had never been. 1 Covenants 7:14 And the lake of fire which was in the heavens did not move from its place; yet its brightness was diminished, and it burned somewhat more coolly than before, as though its power had been tempered. 1 Covenants 7:15 And Dimai gathered together certain of the hot embers which lay scattered upon the ground, and with them he made a small fire in a pit of stones, setting bounds thereto that it should not spread beyond measure nor devour the land again. 1 Covenants 7:16 And their supper was of a hare, which Dimai had taken in their former world, and which Hawa did prepare; and she fed also the infant from her own body, according to the manner of women. 1 Covenants 7:17 And in the morning they looked, and behold, the land which had been burned was already bringing forth tender shoots of grass; and on the second day thereof the grass was grown tall, so that they might run upon it barefoot and with great freedom. 1 Covenants 7:18 And Dimai and Hawa said within themselves that this new world was given unto them alone, and that none other had portion therein; but they knew not the works that were yet to come upon it. 1 Covenants 8:1 It came to pass that Demonstroke, the Fire-Winged and Nightmare-Made, descended upon that little clearing, bearing within its jaws a two-headed axe. 1 Covenants 8:2 And it stood upon the edge of the scorched land, over against a young whip-tree that had newly taken root therein, and it reared itself upon its hinder parts. And taking the axe in its forelimb, it laid the blade thereof unto the base of the plant, and did cut it down cleanly. And then, turning the weapon about, it used the pick thereof to dig and loosen the roots from the earth, prying them forth from the soil until the ground was laid bare. 1 Covenants 8:3 And it came to pass, after these things, that the Dragon, which is called Demonstroke, did set itself betwixt the entrance of the cave and the family of Dimai and Hawa, so that they might not pass, neither to go forth nor to return as they would. 1 Covenants 8:4 And Dimai and Hawa drew backward in great fear, until they came unto the border of the burnt land; and there they stood, and durst not go further, for the dread of the beast was upon them. 1 Covenants 8:5 And the monster stretched forth the axe, the two-headed instrument of shaping and destruction, and held it before the man, as though offering it unto his hand. 1 Covenants 8:6 And Azul, beholding these things through the eyes of his appointed vessel, did observe Dimai, how that he found upon the edge of the cleared ground a certain weed that had newly sprung up; and the man, following the pattern which he had seen in the dragon, did likewise put forth his hand and remove it, that it should not grow. 1 Covenants 8:7 And thus was he instructed, without words, in the manner of taking and removing, and in the shaping of the boundary between that which should stand and that which should be cast down. 1 Covenants 8:8 And for the completing of his training, the Dragon did further teach Dimai how the edge of the bronze axe-head might be restored; and this it did by the use of a rough black stone, whereby the metal was made sharp again after wear. 1 Covenants 8:9 And Azul ascended upon the low cliff that overhung the clearing, and there he joined himself unto the likeness of his Daughter, Ayat, whose Husk was set among them as witness and instrument. 1 Covenants 8:10 And the form of Ayat, when it was beheld face to face, was as unto a human in stature and proportion, yet was it without countenance or feature, being smooth and white as polished bone or unmarked stone. 1 Covenants 8:11 And Azul beheld the children of men through the seeing of his vessel, and he marveled at their fashioning, and spake, saying: What a strange mode of being is this, O Daughter: for they are drops of the inner substance of the stars, yet stayed and upheld by patterns unseen so that their forms endure. And the variations thereof are without end. 1 Covenants 8:12 Then answered Ayat, the Daughter of Flame, mindful of the bond that lay upon her: Behold, here are the servants, even as I covenanted with thee, O Father. Therefore fulfill now thy word, and join me unto the Elohim, according as thou hast promised. 1 Covenants 8:13 But Azul, who delighteth in conditions, withheld the completion thereof, and made reply: These alone suffice not. Three living souls shall not establish that which is required; for they are frail, and bound unto this small clearing, and if they depart far from it, they shall perish. 1 Covenants 8:14 Therefore bring forth unto me forty more pairs such as these, each male with his female, that they may multiply and endure. Otherwise shall I reckon thee in breach of the covenant, and the bond between us shall stand against thee. 1 Covenants 9:1 And it is written that, of the first who were brought into Kemen, only Dimai and Hawa came of their own will, consenting in their hearts to the passage from the former world into the hidden one. 1 Covenants 9:2 But many others were gathered thereafter, not by knowledge but by error; for there arose among the peoples of the Earth those who led by dreams and by deceits the way of offering sacrifices, both of living men and women, and of slain beasts, thinking thereby to appease or to commune with that which they did not understand; and this practice continued long after Ayat had ceased to receive such offerings, though they knew it not. 1 Covenants 9:3 Now there was no life native unto Kemen in the beginning, but all that grew therein was borne from the Earth by the hand of Ayat. Yet Azul altered many of these growing things, granting unto them motion and a will of their own; and in this they became perilous beyond their former nature. 1 Covenants 9:4 For there were trees that moved as whips of living force, whose blows could in a moment lay a man low, reducing him to broken bone and torn flesh in terror and agony. And there were leaves which opened as mouths, set with teeth, that seized upon what they might grasp. 1 Covenants 9:5 And in Kemen bushes covered in thorns, fashioned as rounded masses, did roll upon the ground by shifting their weight and clutching the earth, advancing of their own accord against the unwary. 1 Covenants 9:6 And many of the first inhabitants, being unprepared for such a land, perished within a few months of their coming, unable to withstand the dangers that moved and grew about them. 1 Covenants 9:7 Yet it is also written that man, among all living things, is the most terrible of creatures, the chief of predators, whom the Earth itself hath brought forth in its latter days; and that which he setteth himself against, he bringeth at length into subjection. 1 Covenants 9:8 Therefore it came to pass, little by little and without ceasing, that Kemen began to be subdued by the hand of man; and even as surely did strife arise among them, so that they contended one with another, and blood was shed not only for survival, but for dominion. 1 Covenants 9:9 And the sons of Dimai and Hawa grew unto the years of their strength, when it is meet that they should take wives. 1 Covanants 9:10 And Hawa came forth again from the tunnel, and with her she brought a young woman taken from the Earth; and straightway there joined her the presence of Ayat, in the form of her white and featureless husk. 1 Covenants 9:11 And though this form was less dreadful than the red terror of Azul, yet was it exceedingly strange to behold, being smooth and without countenance, like unto carved bone made living. And Hawa sought to comfort the new woman, speaking softly unto her and giving assurance that no harm should come unto her in that place. 1 Covenants 9:12 Then Ayat led the woman first unto Kayin, the firstborn of Dimai, who was in the field gathering the increase thereof. And Kayin, seeing the presence of Ayat, bowed himself and brought forth of his harvest the fairest fruits, offering them with reverence. But the woman regarded them not, and turned away her face, for the offering pleased her not. 1 Covenants 9:13 Then Ayat brought her unto Hebel, the younger son; and he was by the fire, preparing the flesh of a great beast, and dividing it with the axe which had been given unto his father. And Hebel also bowed himself before Ayat, and offered unto her a portion of the meat upon a stick. 1 Covenants 9:14 And Ayat received it, and placed it into the hand of the woman; and she did eat thereof eagerly, being drawn by the savour and by the hidden impulse within her, which inclineth the fertile unto the scent of blood and iron. 1 Covenants 9:15 And it came to pass that Ayat, according to the ordinance which had been set beforehand by her Father, did take the hand of the woman and place it into the hand of Hebel, joining them together by the terms of the trial. 1 Covenants 9:16 Thus was the first pairing accomplished in Kemen under the covenant of proving, and the will of the higher powers was wrought through the appetites of flesh, and the judgment of men was made to proceed from that which they desired. 1 Covenants 10:1 And Kayin departed from the presence of his brother in great wrath; yet for a season he restrained the outward sign thereof, and set himself to labour, that his anger might be hidden. And he took of the vines that grew in that land, and with cunning of hand he braided them together, making a cord long and strong. 1 Covenants 10:2 And it came to pass when the lake of fire waned in the heavens, that Kayin paused and beheld the woman as she adorned herself without; and Hebel came forth from his dwelling to lead her again within, yet cast back a look of pride and contempt toward his brother. 1 Covenants 10:3 And in the morning Dimai and Hawa brought forth garments which they had made for the wife of their younger son, and they clothed her; but unto Kayin they gave no regard. And Kayin likewise set not his heart upon his father nor his mother, but continued in the finishing of the cord which he had begun. 1 Covenants 10:4 And all that day Hebel and his wife made sport one with another openly before him; yet Kayin answered them not, but looked on with a quiet countenance, until his work was complete. Then he rose up and departed alone by the narrow way which led from the dwelling, even the only safe path that went out from the place. And he went apart, and there he considered a new thing in Kemen, taking counsel with himself concerning that which might be done. 1 Covenants 10:5 And at the going down of the light, Hebel and his wife walked forth idly upon the same path, departing from the dwelling. And when they were come unto a certain place, Kayin, who had prepared the matter beforehand, drew upon the cord. And the whip-tree, which he had set and bound for that purpose, was loosed from its hold, and fell upon them with great violence. 1 Covenants 10:6 And it smote them again and again, beating them into the ground; and in the first strokes their bones were broken, and the fragments thereof were driven inward, so that their life was undone within them. And their blood issued forth, and their cries were heard for a moment, and then ceased. And the tree did not stay its striking until Hebel and his wife were no longer to be known as the living children of men. 1 Covenants 10:7 And Dimai and Hawa, hearing the cries, ran swiftly along the path to see what thing had befallen; and when they came upon the place, they were stricken with great horror at the sight thereof. And Hawa could not endure to look, but turned aside and retched, for the destruction was grievous beyond telling. 1 Covenants 10:8 And it came to pass that the avatars of Ayat and of Azul drew near unto that place soon after; and Kayin stood there, the end of the cord yet in his hand, and he regarded them all with a hard countenance, neither bowing nor seeking to hide that which he had done. 1 Covenants 10:9 And Ayat would not behold the judgment of her Father upon this first shedding of blood in Kemen; therefore she withdrew her presence. And her vessel departed from that place, and returned unto the opening in the wall of the dwelling, and from thence passed again by the hidden bridge between the worlds, unto the hillside cave upon the Earth, where first she had encountered Dimai and Hawa in the days before Kemen was made. 1 Covenants 10:10 And Ayat came not again into the other world in all the days of Dimai and Hawa, nor in the lifetime of Kayin, nor in many generations that sprang from them thereafter; for she had turned her face away from that work, and left it to unfold according to the covenant that had been set. 1 Covenants 10:11 And it came to pass, upon the Earth in the place of the hillside cave, that the likeness of Azul, even the red dragon, drew near unto Ayat, who had withdrawn herself from Kemen; and he spake unto her, saying: How greatly instructive was that which we have seen of men; dost thou not agree? 1 Covenants 10:12 Then answered Ayat, whose countenance was veiled but whose thought was not: The end of the trial was contained already in the beginning thereof; for the outcome followeth the conditions which thou didst appoint. 1 Covenants 10:13 And Azul replied, with a voice as one accustomed to rule: Thou shalt not persuade the City of Stars by the setting forth of things that were not, nor by the imagining of other courses than those which have come to pass. 1 Covenants 10:14 Then said Ayat, pressing him with knowledge: Yet in other fields of thy making hast thou wrought small alterations, which endure in the offspring of men without thy further labour; and thou hast done this without long seeking or trial. Whence then came this knowledge, if not by inquiry among the Elohim? 1 Covenants 10:15 For I am shut out from the hearing of their discourse, while thou hast their counsel. Shall not the Watchers perceive the proving hath been made uneven, and thy hand hath weighed the balance in thine own favour? And will they not, perceiving this, set aside thy claim? 1 Covenants 10:16 Thus did Ayat contend with her Father concerning the justice of the trial and the hidden advantages therein. And Azul, perceiving the force of her words, made reply and said: Then will I amend this matter. Thou hast rendered unto me all the smallholders which I required; therefore will I fulfill that which was promised between us. 1 Covenants 10:17 Lower now thy vessel, O Daughter, and be seated; for it is not meet that one such as thou should fall prostrate as the lesser beings do. And forget not the covenant which thou hast sworn: thou shalt listen only, and not inquire. Thou shalt put forth no question unto the City of Stars, neither openly nor in secret, as thou hast supposed that I have done. 1 Covenants 10:18 Then did Ayat incline her Husk, and set it upon the summit of the yet nameless hill; and Azul took his place beside her, his form vast and terrible, yet at rest. And for a moment they regarded together the land that lay before them. 1 Covenants 10:19 And Azul spake again, in a tone less hardened than before: I do envy thee this world, O Daughter. For among such worlds as may be brought into being, this is a glorious one, rich in form and full of striving life, unlike any that lie within my own dominion. 1 Covenants 10:20 And it came to pass, even as Azul had forewarned her, that the entering-in unto the voices of the Elohim was as a flood without shore; and the multitude of their utterance was exceeding great, so that it overcame her at the first. 1 Covenants 10:21 Therefore the vessel of Ayat, the Silent One, remained unmoving upon the summit of the barren hill; and there it abode through the turning of many seasons. The winds beat upon it, and the snows covered it, and the beasts of the field came near and touched it without fear; yet it stirred not, neither gave sign, for her attention was withdrawn into the hearing of the Great Assembly.
Terminal Cruise 