(I'll come up with a description of Excellionism when I can. Do note this is only a fictional religion and in no way reflects existing religions. If there are any, it is purely by coincidence or due to the fact I refer to real religions to make Excellionism more believable)
Lahayne quickly bolted the door behind him as his guests entered, hurriedly ushering them into the comfort of his living room.
The five newcomers – Rainier and his family – took their seats, with Rainier himself and his wife, Nadia, sitting on the couch. Lahayne sat on the single sofa close to them, pouring them some warm viridian tea.
“It’s good to see all of you safe here,” Lahayne said, proffering the first cup to Rainier. He took the cup with a nod of appreciation and a warm smile.
“What of the others?” Rainier asked worriedly, taking a quick sip from his drink.
Lahayne sighed and shook his head dejectedly. “I only heard Zachand, Damien and their families were caught. They were executed in front of a firing squad at Hymorrah Square, much to the delight of many onlookers.”
Rainier couldn't hide his disappointment, while Nadia covered her mouth in shock. Their three kids sitting around them paid no heed to their conversation, lost in their own little world.
Lahayne sighed again. “Of the others, I do not know. None of them have come to my house, save Barry just last week, and I and Isabella were beginning to worry. But now that you’re here, I feel quite relieved.”
Rainier rubbed his temples. “I really don’t understand, Lahayne,” he asked his old comrade. “Why do they persecute us? What have we done to them that is wrong in their eyes?”
Lahayne frowned, passing another cup to Yvonne, the eldest of the three. The nine-year old took the cup with both hands, and softly said her thanks to him.
“Rainier,” he began, stirring his own teacup, “you know how the Raqhana is: you don’t follow their teachings, you’re asking for trouble.”
“But what about Frythan in the Yossana Galaxy?” Rainier asked. “The majority of the populace are Raqhana, but yet they accept other religions to be freely practiced on the planet without any constraints. Why not here?”
Lahayne sighed again, a little surprised his friend didn’t know better. “This is not Frythan, Rainier. This is Radrankyr, birthplace of the Raqhana. Don’t forget that the people here still cling on to the old Code, and they perceive the outer branches of the religion as being divergent from their own.”
“So does that give them the freedom to punish our people like this?” Rainier was clearly furious about the whole thing. Nadia remained quiet, still unable to accept the fact Zachand and Damien were killed mercilessly.
Lahayne sat forward in his seat, placing his hand lightly on Rainier’s shoulder. He looked at his old friend straight in the eyes with a gentle look.
“No one dares disobey President Kamarron, Rainier,” he whispered. “You of all people should know that very well. He doesn’t take Excellionism kindly, and he even once said that we Excellionites are nothing but miserable cretins worshipping a false idol!”
Rainier was taken aback by those words. “He dare say that?”
Lahayne shook his head. “Yes indeed.”
Rainier put his empty cup down and leaned back in his seat. “Ever since the crackdown just three weeks ago everything has changed, brother Lahayne.”
“I know, Rainier,” he replied. “All the people we knew have suddenly turned on our brethren. Where they once supported our cause, they now look upon us with hate.”
Rainier looked to Lahayne. “It’s good you are still safe,” he said with relief.
Lahayne smiled. “No one but you and the other Excellionites know of my true religion. It’s probably just my luck.”
Rainier nodded solemnly. Moments later Lahayne added, “Look, what matters now is that you need to get off this planet. I managed to arrange a private ship for you and your family to flee to Chancery, some ninety thousand light-years away from here. When you get there you can start life anew.”
He took out five shuttle tickets from his pocket and handed them to Rainier. Rainier took them all and showed them to his wife. She smiled at the sight of it.
“Dear friend,” she said to him. “How can I ever repay you?”
“It can wait for another day,” Lahayne answered with a smile. “In the meantime –”
There was a loud knock on the door. Seconds later, Lahayne’s wife Isabella appeared from the front door.
“Khnarai!” she hissed at them, warning them that the religious police were at the front door.
Lahayne cursed under his breath. With no time to lose, he got up from his seat and told Rainier to follow him. As he rushed into the kitchen, Rainier and Nadia took their children and followed him quickly. When they arrived, they found an open trapdoor with Lahayne at the top. He waved towards them.
Rainier approached him first. Lahayne said, “This will lead you to Roche’s safe-house. He should be there waiting to pick up all the runaways and give them the directions to the spaceport, along with extra supplies, clothing and false passports. Go swiftly, Rainier!”
Rainier took his hands, his eyes welling with tears. “I pray we will meet again, Lahayne,” he said sadly.
Lahayne shook his hand firmly. “Excellion watch over you, brother.”
“And you too.” Rainier stepped down the ladder into the secret tunnel. The door was banging loudly now, and they could hear some muffled shouts.
Lahayne waved Isabella to delay the guards. As she went off, Nadia whispered to her children, “Say goodbye to Uncle Lahayne.”
The three of them waved him goodbye, and he waved back with a jolly smile. Nadia nodded her thanks to him, before the four of them went down. He quickly shut the trapdoor, just as he heard Isabella open the front door to welcome the soldiers.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. Calm down, Lahayne, he thought. You can do this. For Excellion, for Rainier, for Damien and Zachand, and for the others as well.
He stepped out of the kitchen, and in the living room he saw nine khnarai troopers. Sitting on the single sofa was Major Gerrin, an infamous Raqhana fanatic and close friend of the President. Lahayne hoped Gerrin wouldn’t suspect anything.
“Zhanala, gentlemen!” he greeted them with his trademark grin.
Major Gerrin nodded. “Zhalana to you, brother Lahayne.”
Lahayne took his seat directly opposite the Major, while Isabella cleared away the teacups. By His hand, he almost forgot about the teacups. Gerrin would probably ask about it.
“What brings you here to my humble abode?” he then asked Gerrin, his grin unwavering.
“I come looking for a family of Excellionite infidels,” he replied, stressing on the word ‘infidels’. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen any?”
Lahayne stroked his chin. “Unfortunately, I haven’t,” he said with a frown. “I was here at home entertaining some guests, friends of mine from Kathan.”
The Major noted the cups as Isabella took them away. “Ah, I see,” he said, seemingly reassured. “They left not too long ago?”
“An hour, about,” he lied. Still, he knew he could count on Jenth and her family to impersonate the guests if needs be. It was good that she offered to help him in the event of a sudden incident like this.
Gerrin nodded. Lahayne put on his smile again. “I heard that two families have been executed, Major,” he then said to Gerrin. “What of the others? Have they been found?”
Gerrin shook his head in clear disappointment. “Ah, unfortunately not. Those crafty fellows managed to sneak past the patrols sometime at night. But they wouldn’t have gone far.”
Lahayne nodded. “Might take them at least three days to get to the spaceport,” he added. “Maybe even longer if they want to avoid detection.”
Gerrin sighed, and poured himself a cup of tea from one of the clean cups there. “You know, Lahayne,” he began, “I cannot fathom why these infidels do not want to accept the calling of the Raqhana.” Here, he took a sip from his tea before he continued. “Rather than obey the Code that has been laid down by our Great Founder – bless his soul – they’d rather believe in some dogmatic martyr figure, whose stories are nothing but lies.”
Lahayne nodded in agreement, although he was loath to do so. “It’s truly perplexing, Major,” he commented sadly. “Those friends of mine whom I reckoned were firm believers of the Code turned out to be practicing some other faith. It truly is disheartening.”
“Reminds me of the tale of the red eagle and the Eastern condor,” the Major remarked, his eyes now on Lahayne. A suspicious look it seemed to be.
Lahayne knew what he was playing. The moral of the tale is to be wary with the people you trust, but it is also an analogy to the fate non-believers will suffer when they were brought to justice. Just like what happened to Zachand, Damien and Excellion knows who.
“Indeed,” he then opined. “They all deserve the fate of death for their heinous crimes, and they will burn eternally in the Avenging Flames until they know their mistake.”
The Major laughed upon hearing this. “Truly, brother,” he said delightfully, “now I know why the locals say you’re quite the preacher.”
Lahayne laughed with him. “No, Major, it’s just the truth that I’m stating.”
Gerrin set his cup down and stood up from his seat. “Well, I must be taking my leave, my friend. Duty calls.”
“I wish you well then, Major,” Lahayne replied, offering his hand.
The Major looked at him for a while, before he took it. They made a firm handshake, before Lahayne and Isabella followed them to the door.
“I’ll be taking great delight in the interrogation later,” the Major suddenly mentioned as he left the door with his men.
Lahayne’s heart skipped a beat.
“Interrogation, you say?” he then ventured, still smiling.
The Major put on a pair of sunglasses before he looked back at him.
“Why yes,” he simply answered, adding, “We caught another runaway around the Miridine district, and we took him to the local station for interrogation. Hopefully, he might provide us with some clues as to where the cultists are headed and who their agents are.”
Before he walked away, the Major suddenly paused. Turning back, he asked Lahayne, “Do you know a Gordon Karhis?”
Lahayne was beginning to feel tense. Gordon was a devoted Excellionite, but everyone knew what a wimp he was. If he spilled the beans on all of them, then he would be on the top of Gerrin’s hit-list.
“No, I don’t,” he answered calmly.
Gerrin nodded. “Well, that’s the chap we caught.” He made a curt bow to the both of them. “Zolluya, brother Lahayne.”
Lahayne grinned. “Zolluya, Major.”
As the Major walked off, Lahayne closed the door. And for some added security he bolted it too. Next to him, Isabella looked extremely troubled by what she heard too.
“If Gordon breaks, we’ll be next,” she whispered to him.
Lahayne just patted his wife’s hand reassuringly. In his mind, he wondered if Rainier and Nadia had arrived at Roche’s by now.
“I’ll be in our room,” he told Isabella and strode away.
Entering his room, he closed the door behind him and walked towards his desk. He unlocked the lower drawer and took out a large ornate wooden box from it. He put the box atop his bed, unlatched it and opened it to reveal an intricately detailed figure of Excellion the Righteous. He looked proud as he stood boldly with his sword in his right hand, his left hand holding the holy tome that is the Word of Excellion.
He put the statuette on top of the box. Then, clasping his hands together and bowing his head down, eyes closed, he began to pray.
“Dear Lord Excellion, I beseech you to grant my brethren your wisdom in these dark, troublesome times…”
* * *
Radrankyr’s planet-wide purge on Excellionism lasted three months and killed a total of fifty-two thousand Excellionites in numerous bloody crackdowns. Soon after, the Radical Thrandian Army of Excellion, outraged by the remorseless Radrankyri Purges, launched a full scale invasion on the planet and within nine months they succeeded in annexing the world. The entire planetary administration – save for a few covert Excellionites who secretly aided the runaways – was executed in cold blood, and the Raqhana was banned from being practiced. Over a hundred thousand hardline Raqhana believers were put to the stake, and the newly appointed government allowed the remaining populace to take up any other religion they chose, except Raqhana.
James Lahayne, who had saved close to a few hundred runaway Excellionites, was exposed by a fellow Excellionite, Gordon Karhis, after the latter was taken for interrogation during the purges. He and his wife Isabella were executed in public the day after they were brought in to custody by the khnarai. After the Thrandian forces annexed Radrankyr, Lahayne was posthumously awarded the Silver Star of the Order for his efforts to save his brethren.
Rainier Del’Ryol, a former commando of the Droican Special Ops Forces, was formally inducted into the Army as Senior Tactician of the Army’s Fiftieth SpecFor Brigade. He has distinguished himself in numerous SpecFor operations within the Carrha Galaxy, and earned the Silver Crown of the Martyr for his brilliance in routing Warlord Zhang da Longtoof’s forces at Krodin III, Hurath Galaxy.
