So all of the _druj_ must
be destroyed. Yes, yes, he waved his hand. It is necessary. A child full of
_asha_ is dangerous. The mind must be disciplined and rigorously trained all
its life. But the _druj_ cannot be undone. A right handed twin must be killed
on the fourth day after birth. It must be done quickly by an Elder who knows
how. The reason we wait for days is because that is how long the guardian
spirit stays with the new life after it is born. You cannot kill an infant less
than four days without inciting the revenge of the guardian who protected the
soul before it was born.
Once the guardian
spirit is gone, the soul must disposed of properly or the _druj_ will come out
and affect the world. The same process is followed that Healers know. The soul
is immediately cursed. This prevents the body from coming back to life. The
water and fire spirits are tempted back into the body if the curse is not
performed correctly or at all. The air spirits will go anywhere at any time and
do not listen to any commands, so they cannot be controlled. The body must
remain still for four days to prepare itself to gather in the earth spirits and
for the guardian spirit to be summoned back to guide the soul in the death
realm.
On the fourth day, the
body is laid out somewhere in direct contact with the ground. In the spring,
the grass must be cleared. In the summer, a dusty spot must be found. In the
fall, the leaves of the trees must be cleared. In the winter, snow must be
cleared. The body must be in direct contact with the earth so that all four
primary spirits can be in complete balance and rest. In this way the body will
be absorbed back into the earth and the soul will be reunited with the guardian
spirit and taken to the death realm.
Four days of life and
four days of death is the shortest possible time that a soul can exist. That is
the eight days, or _spenta_, signifying bounty. Every soul is given at least
eight days in this world as a generous gift from Ahura Mazda. This is why the
Healers must execute their craft perfectly each time. There cannot be any
mistakes or we will incur an excess of _druj_ in the world. Water can become
undrinkable. Food will become inedible. Animals will die. Plants will wither if
we do not understand the rules and follow them exactly.
9001 had known these
rules and practiced them on corpses during her training, but she did not know
that these rules applied to one of her own flesh relatives.
2711 continued, the
reason that the Healers follow these rules and pass them on from generation to
generation is because we have an excess of _asha_, or order. Disorder, or
_druj_ is what we combat. We protect life and health by killing and properly
disposing of death.
There is another
purpose that Healers are bound to keep. We train in the deadly arts to protect
the lives of the common people by fighting the Masked Ones. Occasionally when
we are in the town, walking in the market, you have seen them. They wear masks
and hide behind them because they do not want their faces to be known. They
operate in secret behind the walls of the palace. The Masked Ones live in
unimaginable wealth and luxury. They dress in the finest silks and cloths. They
wear shiny jewels on their wrists and around their necks.
Their opulence is
produced by taking every output from the workers and regular people who trade
and build and create things. They levy taxes and collect them with loyal
minions whom they recruit and train to do their bidding. Any leader from all
the great nations is led by the Masked Ones. In Mesopotamia to the west, the Anatolians
are ruled by Masked Ones who live in castles on hills. In India to the south,
the Maurya Maharajas for each area live inside walled cities devoted to their
pleasure. In China to the east, the Zhou Huang Ti is never seen and to even
look upon his face without him wearing his mask is a death sentence.
There are a few
purposes to wear a mask and most are evil. The first is a death mask, which
interferes with the guardian spirit joining the dead soul and guiding it to the
death realm. This angers the guardian and causes _druj_ in the following ways:
the guardian might enter the wrong body and be trapped in the earth; the
guardian spirit might be angry and enter into a living body, causing madness
and violence; or the guardian might wander the earth lost, seeking a host and
bothering the living who do not know they are being accosted by a lost spirit.
As a healer, we never hide the face of a dead person.
The second purpose is
even worse. A person wears a mask so they can protect their face in battle.
Just as armour and jewels protect against our blades, a mask can protect the
eyes and mouth during battle. Ahura has forbidden rulers to wage war and cause
disorder. To do so is to engage with Ahriman. A true warrior would defend their
homeland against invasion and has no need to hide. With so many dead and
wounded in a battlefield, there is no way to process the bodies carefully and
correctly. This spreads _druj_ into the earth, air, and water. Sometimes fire
is used to dispose of so many dead. This just spreads the _druj_ farther in the
wind. Thus, gearing up for battle with armour and masks is evil and spreads
disorder and injustice.
The third reason to
wear a mask is as a barrier. The Masked Ones hide their identities and
intentions. If you know someone’s identity, you cannot question their bona
fides. You do not know if the person is a Farmer, a Healer, a Butcher, an
Elder, or a Merchant. The Healers do not wear masks even though that might make
our jobs easier. When we visit the old or the infirmed, they know who we are.
They are afraid in most cases. However, we know that it is better to allow them
to know who we are so that their soul will not be surprised when the guardian
spirit comes to meet them. This allows the souls and guardian spirits to have a
smooth transition to the death realm.
The other barrier the
Masked Ones use is vanity. They want to protect their faces to preserve their
supposed beauty. The masks and their protected lifestyle ensure that they do
not get exposed to the aging effects of the sun, wind, or dirt and sand. This
is why you look upon the face of a Farmer and see that they appear much older
than they are. They also do not want anyone to tell them they are not
attractive. If you look at someone and say they are unattractive, they will
believe you and feel that they are ugly – even if they are not ugly. If they
hide their face however, you assume they are more attractive than they actually
are.
I have seen several
Masked Ones up close, but never their faces. It is rumoured that Elders handle
appointing Masked Ones and servicing their dead, even though that is our
domain. It is a mystery why the Elders support the Masked Ones and no one knows
exactly how the palace operates. The only thing we know is that the Masked Ones
rule over the populace and send out edicts on how to behave and what laws to
observe. They also divine the rites and times of events such as the festivals
and planting and harvesting seasons. There is one smaller palace in the east in
which Masked Ones consult with families on the best time for reproduction and
birth. They can divine when a child will be born and what profession they
should choose when they grow up.
They can prevent the
birth of twins through various prediction rituals and medicines. Whenever it
happens, though, they are at a loss to prevent it and the Elders step in, as
you already know.
Another class of
people you know about are the Miners. They collect the rocks and ore that are
the basic earth spirits that can become metal. The Miners are trained from a
young age to pick rocks with certain qualities: green for copper malachite, red
for iron laterite, yellow for gold nuggets, black for lead and silver galena,
and so on. They Miners also operate the bloomeries and forges for many
purposes. The most important to us as Healers is the production of blades.
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