Eighth Circle

'He was not a naturally sad man, Thomas. He was a man who had not given up hope. Like me, he hoped that the world would change and we would be instrumental in that change. To that end, we designed a benign creature to combat the monstrosities that others were creating with their bioengineering projects.'

'You mean you made a good troll?'

'You could put it like that. We wanted something that was appealing in appearance and deadly in effect. That was sixty years ago and the outcome was a large marine creature with the outward appearance of a cat. We saw it as roaming the oceans and ridding them of troublesome orcas just as a cat would roam a farmyard and rid it of rats.

'My friend was greatly saddened when our creature was killed by the very people it was sent to protect. It was his surrogate and he experienced the tragic event just as if he had been out there in the ocean himself.'

'Who killed the creature, Father.'

'My daughter, Liala, and her lover.'

'But, they wouldn't have known it was protecting them.'

'No. Thomas. They probably thought it was threatening them. A huge creature like that would certainly have seemed threatening. That is a lesson for all of us. We must never forget that things aren't always what they seem and others might not see us as we see ourselves.'

The old man paused as if to let the point sink in.

'You will find friends where you do not expect them.'

Tom expected to learn more but the old man changed the subject.

'What do you think of the Eighth Realm? Is it anything like the Sixth Realm?'

'No, Father. But it was once.'

'You mean before The Fall?'

'Yes. I've seen the old documentaries. The similarities are surprising when you consider that our realms divided over five thousand years ago. Even the houses look similar. I guess that happens when you build out of stone and need a sloping roof for the rain. You also need doors and windows. The fact is you don't have as much choice as you might imagine.'

'Had they invented nuclear weapons when you left?'

'They had, Father.'

'And genetic engineering?'

'A start had been made but no one had produced anything like a troll.'

'Seeds?'

'What about them?

'Were seed companies manipulating genes so that farmers became dependent on their products?'

'There was evidence of that, Father.'

'Biochemical pollutants?'

'Sorry, Father.'

'Were industrial pollutants impairing the reproductive capabilities of reptiles and mammals, including people?'