MARC

Darkness had taken hold of many on earth, especially those who were supposed to be the bringers of love; and not just any love but God's love. Darkness was moving over the face of the earth and hatred was becoming the order of the day. When it broke out governments would claim The Third World War had been fought over oil and waterA" and at least on the face of it, certainly there were issues over who had right to what and who was profiteering out of whose misery but there was quietly and insidiously another battle being fought out. A battle that was far more selfish, self serving and hypocritical than any of the other reasons put together, a fight for religious supremacy. Things came to a head when a small faction, nobody knows if they were Christian, Muslim, Jewish or what, all that was known is that they were a small group of fundamentalist idealists, who were being goaded on by the darkness, this group gained possession of a small nuclear device which they planted it deep in one of the oil fields of Iraq. A larger conflagration could not be imagined both physically and politically. Immediately governments were outraged and began to blame their opposite faction for the explosion, other oil fields were targeted and soon the world was lit up by the glow of burning oil fires. Vast areas of the world was laid waste and the air was poisoned with toxic chemicals from the burning oil and radiation. The world seemed to have gone mad, everyone that had nuclear weapons used them, old scores were settled, and new ones created, for two weeks the world seemed hell bent on its own destruction. That is in fact what would have happened had it not been for a group of dedicated souls who had discovered a metal that only existed in certain types of lava; they were originally working on this metal to produce a new weapon but the other properties of this metal affected the men and women in a completely different and unexpected way. Global leaders were told of this metal and all over the world it was being discovered, many initially thought to use it as a weapon but the more that was refined the more people's hearts were changed. The war ceased nobody really knew when or at what point, that was no longer of importance but as the people of earth looked at their world they could not believe what they had done. The darkness was still there but the difference was the world knew it was there and was determined to be rid of it. Religious leaders looked out over creation and saw they had despoiled it far more effectively than anything done by Adam and they were shamed, they wanted to confess their culpability and beg for forgiveness from God and the world. A meeting was arranged where Rabbis, Imams, Brahmins, Bishops, Priests, Pontiffs and Shaman could come together but the secular world wanted also to recognise its own culpability and they wanted to come too. This was no mean feat as the radiation and electromagnetic fields had rendered cars and anything electrical useless. In the end however a large gathering met, a few were compelled to come but most came freely and a system of world security was set up. This system has managed to build a peace that has lasted for many hundreds of years, knights were appointed to oversee administrative areas, monarchs were set to oversee the knights and the world council was set to oversee the monarchs. The first task was to identify and share sources of uncontaminated food and water, for many years people lived off synthetic foods made from fungi and water deep underground was pumped to great holding tanks and eventually to sailing ships that carried the precious cargo to those places that had none. Gradually and very slowly the world recovered, and areas became green once more and farmers began to till the earth. The first harvest was greeted with great rejoicing and the first world harvest was set down as one of the pivotal moments in earth's history. To begin with what people there were concentrated in small pockets of land that remained uncontaminated, as the contamination reduced more land became available and people began to spread out into the world once more. However this good fortune brought along with it a curse, in the areas of deepest contamination the darkness was dwelling, licking its wounds and biding its time, soon people will come near enough for it to make that all important toe hold and begin its domination of the world once more. The pain of the war had receded in people's minds, small jealousies over acquisition and distribution of land gave the darkness inroads, the world may have had hundreds of years of peace but soon it will know the anarchy of war and hatred unless the knights of the seven stars prevent it.

About the Author :
David Burrell was born near Norwich in 1956 and spent his formative years there. His summers were spent playing in an old marl pit with lakes and banks of shingle, where many a castle was defended or stormed. Educated in Norwich and after sixth form David went to Trent Polytechnic to study applied Biology. After leaving Trent he got his first job as a Geotechnician working for May Gurney a local Civil Engineering company. It was here that he met Anita, she attended the local church Wymondham Abbey and so tagging along with her, eventually he joined the choir and was confirmed. In 1982 Anita and David were married and in March 1985 their first born, Adam was born. Eight months after this they moved to Salisbury where he attended Theological College. In 1986 their second son Daniel was born and in 1988 they moved to Suffolk where he was ordained and has lived since then in Suffolk as the rector of Seven Churches just outside Bury St Edmunds.