In the long ago times of the world, when it was still young and humanity only in its infancy, life was good and life was well. Humans and gods mingled, the divine spirits striding upon the earth before retreating to their heavenly chambers when the sun set. This was a time long before Uruk, before Gilgamesh and Enkidu, before champions and villains had a role to play in the world. Of these times little can be said when speaking of the phenomenon known as “Heroic Spirits”, for there were none who could fairly be called heroes. But despite the lack of heroes there was one who might be considered worthy of a tale or two, for the things that he endured, the tasks he faced and the challenges he overcome were truly of a heroic nature, though the concept had yet to ferment within the conciousness of humanity. This man was Ziusudra, He Who Found Long Life.
In his life, Ziusudra born long before Gilgamesh would rule Uruk, long before the remembered civilisations formed and became great. It was a simple time and people lived simple lives. However, these times were also difficult, for man had strayed too far from the gods that graced them. Rumours swept back and forth through the villages, up and down the rivers, on the backs of the beasts that rode from town to town, that the gods were displeased, that they felt humanity had become capricious, wilful and destructive. And in a way, it had. Humanity had forged its own path, had defined itself as something great, something valuable and dangerous, something that the gods could look upon and feel a flutter of concern about. It was this awakening of awareness, of humanity realising that the gods did not perhaps look upon them as favourably as they once had, that caused a schism unknown even to the divine spirits. By recognition that the gods were concerned by it, humanity realised that it had defined itself as something beyond the divine, beyond nature. And so Alaya was born. The Will of Humanity, the Consciousness That Stretched Beyond Akasha.
It was in these rumblings and in this genesis of Alaya that the seeds of Ziusudra’s own tale begins, for Alaya, timeless as it was and insightful as humanity had the potential to be, already bore within it an understanding of what was to come. And so humanity invested itself in a single man, the man who would become Ziusudra. He was not a king, nor an advisor or a priest, simply a common man with an uncommon sense of foresight, understanding and knowledge. He was a hard worker and an honest man, and was well-liked by man and god alike. His well-mannered nature and his honest sincerity caused a boon to manifest within him, an unconscious act of the will of humanity as a whole, the desire to have someone who was as wise as the gods, but as humble and understanding of hardship as any other person. This was the Discourse of Alaya, all of human knowledge buried within him, though it would not become apparent until later in life. During his early years the Discourse would occasionally bubble up within his subconscious and emerge as sage words of advice, gentle yet firm words setting his fellow man upon the correct path. And so this man became known as Atrahasis, the Exceedingly Wise.
Atrahasis lived a full and solid life, until one night, as he rested within his thatched hut with his wife by his side, he heard movement outside the house. In these days darkness was absolute, an Authority that imposed Recognition of Rest upon all, so to hear anyone moving outside was a rare thing. He moved closer to the reed walls, pressed his ear to a gap and heard conversation. This was not conversation that should ever have been heard by any man, but it appears Alaya was already acting to shape the situation, in its own subtle ways. For the conversation was not one of men, but of gods. The great sky god Enlil, lord of all in heaven and on earth, spoke with his favoured companion, Enki. This talk of the gods was fierce and heated, for Atrahasis quickly came to understand that it was a debate on the merits of mankind itself. Enki supported the ingenuity of humans, whilst Enlil felt them to be a threat. A threat great enough to have prepared a final solution for. Atrahasis listened with horror as Enlil described to Enki his plans to bring down a cataclysm of rain, waters that would burst the banks of every river and cleanse the land of the taint of mankind. Enki begged Enlil to reconsider, but he would not. Atrahasis listened with growing horror as Enlil set the date, the very time that humanity would become no more.
And as that knowledge, that simple understanding of humanity’s own expiration date, seeped into the consciousness of humanity, Alaya reacted. Humanity’s will was to survive, and so action had to be taken. Unknowningly, unconsciously, every man, woman and child in the world felt the need for someone who would save the species, and that will empowered itself within Atrahasis. The power and the knowledge of all of mankind was unlocked, and the first of the Counter Guardians was born. A prototype to the Guardians who would follow later on, Alaya’s first Counter Guardian was self-aware, in control of his actions and conscious of the deep-seated power that welled within him. Fortunately, he did not squander this newfound wellspring of Humanity’s wishes, and immediately set to his task. Within his mind ideas arose unbidden, complex diagrams for a boat of a scale undreamed of, which would take every ounce of the ingenuity of man to construct.
And so man built.
As the date of annihilation grew nearer Atrahasis rallied his fellow villagers and drove them to build, faster and faster, even as he directed others, the shepherds and the hunters, to go forth and gather animals, a mating couple from each species. Atrahasis collected them all together, loaded them into his construction, and then sealed it with clay and pitch.
The rains began to fall.
The vessel, more a containment cell than a true boat, groaned and strained as the waters crashed against it. And then it rose, floating gently. Atrahasis wept with relief and christened his vessel the “Preserver of Life”, and even as the rest of mankind drowned, screaming and crying, they pounded the vessel and cheered. Individuals wailed and felt bitter remorse, but humanity felt relief as the Preserver braved the storms. That cheering, the subconscious revelation that all of mankind felt even as it was wiped away, embedded a new name into the consciousness of Atrahasis: Utnapishtim, He Who Found Life.
Utnapishtim lived aboard the Preserver with his family and his fellow villagers for many months, until finally the waters receded. The cradle of life settled upon the muddy ground and mankind set foot upon the Earth once more. Up in the heavens Enki saw this and was pleased, and the other gods, who had been shocked and cowed by Enlil’s wrath, rejoiced in kind, for without humanity to shape them and to raise them as Divine and Higher they would be naught but nature spirits scrabbling in the dirt. And in the end even Enlil himself smiled, for mankind had proven itself and had set itself apart from everything else within this World.
Utnapishtim became the chief of the survivors, re-establishing order and law, and teaching the knowledge of antediluvian humanity to those who came afterwards. He lived a long, forthright life, always doing what was right for mankind. And then he became old, and he withered, and he lay upon his deathbed. And in his dwindling twilight, as his life and his spirit flickered like a guttering flame, the gods came to him. These Divine Spirits, representations of the World shaped through humanity itself, blessed Utnapishtim by showing him a path that would lead him not back to the Root that he had emerged from, but to another land, a vibrant kingdom which celebrated the efforts of humanity, a palatial monument upon which all of mankind could gaze and dream of and seek comfort in when times were hard. This was a land not created by the gods, no Divine utopia, nor any island forged by the World itself. It sat, pure and pristine, outside of the Supreme World Egg, a throne for all humanity. And as Utnapishtim took his wife in hand and stepped over the border the gods celebrated, chanting yet another name, his final name. Ziusudra, He Who Found Long Life, The One Who Lived Long Days.
Originally Posted by Daneel Rush
