Page 52 - Brugger Karl The chronicle of Akakor

The Chronicle of Akakor
And they set out. They reached the edge of the ocean, the ships of the White Barbarians. The
bearded strangers received them kindly; they were clever. They gave them fine clothes and
shining pearls. They gave them these as tokens of friendship. And the Wan-derers lusted so
much for these gifts that they forgot the bequest of the Gods. They submitted to the White
Barbarians. So their alliance with the Chosen Servants came to an end. Lhasa had established
it; it had been sacred. Now it had lost its value, and only bones were left. But the bequest of the
Gods is greater. It is stronger than the betrayal of the Allied Tribes. Its essence is not lost, nor
can it pass away. The image of the Former Masters cannot be extinguished—not in a thousand
years, never.

The betrayal of the Allied Tribes endangered the lives of the Ugha Mongulala. In order to confuse the
superior forces of the enemy, Akakor used cunning. Chosen warriors in the war paint of the rebellious tribes
attacked the advance posts of the White Barbarians. They killed the enemies and left behind them signs of
the deserting tribes. The White Barbarians took cruel revenge for what they believed to be the attack of their
allies. Soon a great and confusing war had broken out between the White Barbarians, the tribes that had
deserted Akakor, the savage peoples, and the Ugha Mongulala. The Tribe of the Wanderers suffered the
heaviest losses. Almost all of the people were butchered. The Tribe of Tapir Killers fled to the mountains
north of the Great River. The Tribe of the Glory that Grows had no choice but to submit to the rule of
Akakor.
Terrible was the fate of the rebels. Their faces and their bodies, their very souls, were red with
blood. Their shadows roamed the land restlessly. They suffered every kind of pain. They were
killed. No one’s life was spared. The penalty for their falseness was death. They had false
hearts, black and white at the same time. And they paid for their betrayal with death.
The final decline of my people began with the desertion of the Allied Tribes. Like a horde of ants, the White
Barbarians advanced ever further. If a hundred of them were killed, a thousand followed. They built cities
and settlements and established their own empire on the lower reaches of the Great River. A new order
emerged, which excluded the people of the Chosen Servants and was against the bequest of the Gods. A
time of darkness began in which only the terrifying sound of the flying dogs’ wings and the hooting of the
owls could be heard. But before the darkness spread to the borders of Akakor, it descended on the sister
nation of the Ugha Mongulala, the Akahim.

The Struggle of the Akahim

Since the time of the Exalted Son of the Gods, Lhasa, Akakor and Akahim, the sister city in the mountains
of Parima, had been allies. For thousands of years, the Ugha Mongulala and the people of Akahim had
exchanged gifts. Embassies regularly visited one another’s courts. Their warriors fought together against
hostile tribes. Only the arrival of the Goths in the twelfth millennium brought some tension to the fraternal
bonds. The Akahim were afraid of the terrible iron arms and thought the Ugha Mongulala wanted to subdue
them. Akahim broke off practically all relations. Scouts of the two empires met only rarely to exchange gifts
and sacrifices and to reconfirm friendship and peace.

The landing of the White Barbarians at the mouth of the Great River gave a decisive turn to the fate of the
Akahim. Allied Tribes betrayed their empire to the alien warriors. They equipped ships and went in search
of the mysterious city. The Akahim were faced with the same dilemma as the Ugha Mongulala eighty years
before, when the empire of the Incas collapsed: The choice was war against the White Barbarians or
withdrawal into the mountains of Parima. In order to avoid a bloody war, the high council decided on
withdrawal. But when the 130 elders of the people gave the order for peace, something unheard of
happened: The women resisted this decision. They overthrew the high council and assumed power
themselves. Under the leadership of courageous Mena they forced the men to take up bows and arrows and
to meet the White Barbarians.

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