THE COMING OF
THE LIGHT
(This being the best preserved document out of several hundred
recovered after the penetration of Ninevah. It appears to be the
last written work produced in that city.)
By His mighty hand will the bodies
of the unworthy be shattered.
— Damian’s Song, v. 2.
Hear these words of your Minister of Light and be thankful for them.
Be it known that in the third millennium of Our Lord the earth was plunged into the darkness of sin and debauchery and the righteous cried out in fear of body and soul. The shield of the Earth was broken so that the plants that fed the masses withered and died and millions of the unworthy perished and dissolved into dust. In the great cities which housed our forebearers the streets were unsafe, day or night, ruled by human predators which bred like rats, murdering and pillaging at will, for those in power had ceased to adhere to the Laws of Our Lord.
The righteous cried out and there arose a man named Damian Isaacs, a man of God chosen to bring light to our World, having been visited by Our Lord in a vision. In this vision The Lord sat on a golden throne surrounded by the prophets and he said to Damian, “You will separate the evil from the righteous and smite the land, cleansing it.” And Damian went forth to preach The Word of Our Lord on the television and those who still believed took his admonitions to their hearts and repented, sending him great gifts for his work. But those in power ignored his words, thinking him a simple charlatan. And Damian condemned those who brought terror to the streets and those who took from the righteous without producing anything in return. He condemned the weak, forgiving laws of the land, the impotent courts and prisons that returned evil to the streets instead of destroying it, the permissiveness that encouraged slothfulness and corruption. And those who believed said, “Hallelujah, a leader has come who will rid us of this pestilence, and we will make sacrifice to achieve his goals.”
“Hallelujah!” they cried, for they had sudden hope.
But those who were evil and unfit in the sight of Our Lord opposed the ministry of Damian Isaacs and made violent acts against him. When he sent his ministers into the streets to preach repentance, they were scorned and beaten and William, his only son by his first wife, was foully murdered by gunfire. Then in grief did Damian pray for strength so that Our Lord came to him in another vision, promising that in time would all evil be eliminated from the face of the Earth. And the faithful gathered around him, arms banded with the symbol of the cross and they did smite those who would defile the ministry of Damian Isaacs, and blood of the evil ones flowed in the streets until The Word of Our Lord was heard unchallenged. And the people cried out, “Lead us, for those who govern are corrupt and impotent. Rule us under the Laws of Our Lord and rid the land of pestilence.”
Damian pondered these things in his heart and prayed for guidance, and in a dream, Our Lord gave him a vision of three crosses on which were nailed the bodies of a murderer, a derelict and an unbeliever, and then a flash of light and the crosses were consumed in flame. He awoke with the knowledge that he must rule the land and went forth to announce his candidacy for the highest office. And those who were righteous rejoiced and made sacrifice, emptying their coffers to bring Damian Isaacs to power. The people shouted, “Hallelujah! Our savior has come!”
And Damian traveled far and wide to tell them what must be done to rid the land of pestilence, and an army of believers followed him to crush those who attempted to do him harm. The people responded to his words and took up arms against his enemies, causing the predators, the slothful and the unbelievers to flee into hiding to escape their wrath. But the evil ones fought back and those whose wealth derived from chemical defilement of the youth plotted his death. And on election eve they did foully murder his beloved Ellen and daughter Sarah and burn his dwelling to the ground, thinking he was also there. But he was spared to do the work of Our Lord to create a new world.
Then did all people cry out in rage and elect Damian Isaacs as leader and ruler of the land. Filled with grief over his murdered family, he was lifted up on the shoulders of Our Lord and given strength to seize power and cast out those who did not follow The Law. And he gathered the faithful and the righteous around him, those who had been elected by supporting his goals, and they made plans, and among these plans was Ninevah.
Damian Isaacs ruled the upper lands for ten years and his justice was swift and sure. His laws protected only the righteous and he sent forth his armies to gather up all known evildoers: murderers, thieves, rapists, those who sold or used the drugs that destroy the mind, and all manner of fornicators, including those who abuse children. He emptied the prisons of evildoers and placed all on ships which sailed to islands in the western ocean and trains which rolled into the deepest, uninhabited deserts of the land. In those places were the evil ones forced to work so that their sweat was like blood, doing penance for their evil deeds by building their camps and living quarters and raising great towers containing vessels of the Light of Our Lord. And the people rejoiced and said, “Hallelujah!”
Within a great hollow beneath the midwestern plains did Ninevah take form, built with the hands of the chosen, the faithful, the righteous, with buildings and streets of whitest purity. And in its center arose the Cathedral of Light.
Again did Damian send forth his armies, this time to gather up all those who did not work, those living from the fruits of their neighbors’ labors and thus unfit in the sight of Our Lord. These did he gather up: the lazy and slothful who refused all work, the mentally deficient produced by inferior parents, the mentally ill who walked the streets babbling and eating refuse, the chronic recipients of welfare and all manner of derelicts. He emptied the hospitals of the inferior ones, sparing the elderly who had a history of work, as instructed by Our Lord in a dream. In all cases did Damian protect the righteous, but all others he placed in trains and moved to seven great camps constructed by evildoers in the southwest deserts, there to become a part of the penance for those who would be predators. And in each camp there arose a tower containing a vessel of The Light of Our Lord.
Those who were righteous and believers in The Law rejoiced and said, “Hallelujah!” But there were others who grumbled and complained and demonstrated in the cities, saying, “You have gone too far,” and they committed riotous acts so that Damian sent forth his police to enforce The Law, and the streets were red with the blood of the unbelievers. Those rebellious leaders who were not killed did he gather up and send to the camps of the slothful and the witless, for there was need of labor in those places.
Still there was rioting among the unbelievers, among those who did not accept the ministry of Damian Isaacs, those who believed in false gods and would free the evil and unworthy, and Damian cried out, saying, “Lord, give me a sign that I might know I follow your will,” for his tasks lay heavily upon him and there were so many in rebellion with no further place to which he could banish them. And that night in the twilight before sleep, Damian beheld a beautiful man in shining raiment who said to him, “Damian, my most worthy servant, the hour of reckoning is come. Gather you therefore the chosen of the faithful and righteous unto you, as I will indicate, and take them below to The City of Light called Ninevah, for the work which is undone there may be done in the future. And when you have sealed yourself from harm, you will release My Light upon the land and cleanse it forever, and those who survive My Wrath will be deemed worthy in My Sight.”
Then did Damian gather the ones chosen by Our Lord:
Those who had supported his ministry with all their worldly goods, the ministers of The Faith, those in high positions who had enforced The Law, the faithful who had labored hard to create the City of Light, and also their families. Four thousand souls did he gather unto him, from all corners of the land, and took them to Ninevah. And when the great shafts were sealed and he was assured that all was in working order, Damian went to The Cathedral of Light to pray and then to open up the altar, now sealed forever, wherein lay the transmitter which would send the Message of Our Lord. With one hand did he send the command to release the Light of the Lord from the vessels in towers on hundreds of camps across the land and the oceans, and there appeared the light of a billion suns and pillars of fire, dust and the vapors of the unworthy, and the rumbling of the Earth was felt even within Ninevah. And Damian shouted: “Hallelujah!” for he had done the work of Our Lord and the land was cleansed of pestilence. The day of cleansing he called Atonement, which we celebrate with prayer and thanksgiving, for by Our Lord’s grace we have been spared a harsh and short life on the upper lands where even those who may be deemed worthy fight hard for daily existence.
So should you remember these things which I say to you on this fiftieth anniversary of my father’s passing over to the keeping of Our Lord. The City of Light is only for the worthy. Woe unto you whose faith is weak, for whom the laws of rationing and birth control are not convenient, the malcontents among you who spread false dreams of the flowering of new life on the upper lands, for the black doors are eternally sealed and the great shaft filled with rock by the hand of Our Lord to keep us safe in The City of Light forever. Cursed be those who point to the rumblings above the vault of Ninevah and talk of great digging machines descending upon us, for they shall feel the fires of The Cathedral of Light consuming their flesh, and their ashes shall be scattered in the streets. Blessed be those who believe in the handiwork of Our Lord, for the sounds you hear are as the ringing of a bell as the Earth continues to settle after the cleansing of the upper lands.
We are the faithful of Ninevah!
We are the righteous!
Hallelujah!
— Damian Isaacs II, Minister of The Light
June 7, 2123