and allowed it to them, and they became his people and joined in
brotherhood to learn at his feet, and his totem is the owl.
And Torak is God over the Angaraks, and sweet to him was their
adulation and their worship and the smell of the burning of their
sacrifices. And the Angaraks bowed down before Torak and called
him Lord of Lords and God of Gods, and in the secret places of his
heart Torak found the words sweet. And behold, he held himself
apart from the fellowship of the Gods and dwelt alone in the worship
of the Angaraks. And his totem is the dragon.
And Aldur caused to be made a jewel in the shape of a globe, and
behold, it was very like unto the size of the heart of a man, and in the
jewel was captured the light of certain stars that did glitter in the
northern sky. And great was the enchantment upon the jewel which
men called the Orb of Aldur for with the Orb could Aldur see that
which had been, that which was, and that which was yet to be
yea, verily, even that which was concealed even though it were
in the deepest bowels of earth or in darkness most impenetrable.
Moreover, in the hand of Aldur could the jewel cause wonders no
man or God had yet beheld.
And Torak coveted the Orb of Aldur for its beauty and its power,
and in the deep-most crevasses of his soul resolved he to own it even
if it came to pass that he must slay Aldur that it might be so. And in
a dissembling guise went he even unto Aldur and spake unto him.
‘My brother,’ said he, ‘it is not fit that thou absent thyself from the
company and the counsel of thy brothers. I beseech thee that thou
takest unto thyself a people and return to our company.’
And Aldur looked upon Torak his brother and rebuked him.
saying, ‘It is not I who have turned from the fellowship and sought
lordship and dominion.’
And Torak was shamed by the words of Aldur, his brother, and
was made sore wroth, and rose he up against his brother and smote
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i
‘ and reached forth his hand and took from his brother the jewel
which he coveted, and then he fled.
And Aldur went unto the other Gods and spoke with them of
what had come to pass, and the Gods rose up, and each of them
besought Torak that he return the Orb to Aldur, but he in no wise
would do it. And thus it came to pass that the Gods caused each his
own people to gird themselves for war.
And behold, Torak did raise the Orb of Aldur and did cause the
earth to split asunder, and the mountains were cast down, and the
sea came in and did engulf the lands of the east where the people of
the Gods dwelt. And the Gods took their people and fled from the
great inrushing of the sea, but Aldur and Belar joined their hands
and their wills and did cause mountains to rise up to set limits upon
the sea which had come in. And the Gods were parted one from the
other, and the people also. And men began to reckon time from the
day in which Torak caused the seas to come in.
Now it came to pass that the six Gods went even unto the west
with their people, but Torak took the Angaraks unto the east, and
the sea that had rushed in separated the Angaraks from the other
peoples.
Not without hurt, however, did Torak crack the earth, for such
was the virtue of the Orb that in the day when Torak raised it against
the earth and against the mountains did the Orb begin to glow.
Faint at first, the fire of the Orb waxed stronger with each of the
commands of Torak. And the blue fire of those distant stars seared
the flesh of Torak. In pain did he cast down the mountains. In
anguish did he crack the earth asunder. In agony did he let in the
seas. And thus did the Orb of Aldur requite Torak for putting
its virtue to evil purpose – Behold, the left hand of Torak was
consumed utterly by the fire of the Orb, and like dry twigs did the
fingers thereof flare and bum down to ashes. And the flesh on the
left side of Torak’s face did melt like wax in the holy fire of the Orb,
and the eye of that side did boil in its socket*
* The maiming of a god has no obvious counterpoint in the mythologies of this world.
Milton, however, did lock Lucifer permanently into the form of the serpent after he used
that form in the temptation of Eve. The branding of Cain may also be an equivalent.
And Torak cried out a great cry and cast himself into the sea to
still the burning which the Orb had caused, but it availed hhnhim not.
Truly it is written that the pain of Torak which the Orb had caused in
punishment will endure until the end of days.
And the Angaraks were dismayed by the anguish of their God,
and they went unto him and asked what they might do to end his
pam.
And Torak spake, calling the name of the Orb.
And they sought to bring the Orb unto him, but the fire which
had awakened in the Orb consumed all who touched it, and they
devised a great iron cask to bear it in.
And behold, when Torak opened the cask, the Orb burned with
renewed fire, and Torak cried a great cry and cast it away from him.
And the Angaraks spake unto him, saying, ‘Lord, wouldst thou
have us destroy this thing or cast it even into the sea?’
And Torak cried a great cry again and spake, saying, ‘No! Truly
will I destroy utterly him who would raise his hand against the
jewel. Though I may not touch it nor even behold it, I have dearly
purchased it, and never will I relinquish it.’
And behold, Torak, who had once been the most beautiful of the
Gods, arose from the waters. Fair still was his right side, but his left
was burned and scarred by the fire of the Orb which had requited
him thus for raising it against the earth and the other Gods with evil
intent.
And Torak led his people away to the east and caused them to
build a great city’ and they called its name Cthol Mishrak, which is
the City of Night, for Torak was ashamed that men saw him marred
by the fire of the Orb, and the light of the sun caused him pain. And
the Angaraks built for him a great iron tower that he might dwell
therein and that their prayers and the smells of incense and the
smoke of burning sacrifice might rise up unto him and ease his pain.
And he caused the Iron Cask which contained the Orb to be placed
in the top-most chamber thereof, and often went he and stood before
the Iron Cask and stretched forth his remaining hand as he would
touch the Orb. And his remaining eye yearned to behold its beauty,
and then would he turn and flee weeping from the chamber lest his
yearning become too great and he open the Iron Cask and perish.
And so it prevailed in the lands of the Angaraks which men called
Mallorea for a thousand years and yet another thousand years. And
the Angarak’ began to call the maimed God KAL-TORAK – a name
signifying at once King and God.
Of the six Gods who had with their people gone unto the west
thus was their disposition. To the south and west to jungles dank
and rivers sluggish went Issa, the serpent God and the snake people.
And Nedra went even unto the fertile land to the north of jungle,
and Chaldan took his people, the Arends, unto the northwest coast,
and Mara sought the mountains above the Tolnedran plain.
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But Aldur, in the pain of the loss of the Orb and the shame over
what the jewel that he had made had wrought upon the world
retreated even unto the Vale which lay at the headwaters of the river
bearing his name, and shut himself away from the sight of men and
of Gods – and none came nigh him but Belgarath, his first Disciple.
Now it came to pass that Belar, the youngest of the Gods and most
dear to Aldur, took his people unto the north and sought they for a
thousand years and yet another thousand years a way by which
they might come upon the Angaraks and overthrow them and
regain the Orb that Aldur might come forth again and men and