The Goddess of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw
CHAPTER LIX.
THE HISTORY CONCLUDED.
I think it is right that I should conclude the history of the conquestof Atvatabar with my being crowned king of the realm.
I at once assumed my functions as ruler of Atvatabar. I was supremecommander of the army and grand admiral of the fleet. In council withthe ministers of the government appointed by the Borodemy, I causedthe adoption of many beneficent laws, calculated to make my peopleprosperous and happy.
Hushnoly soon departed, with his retinue of twin-souls, to found a newEgyplosis on the sphere of Hilar, with Zooly-Soase as goddess. It waswith great grief that I parted with these beloved friends. Hushnolyand his flock were not to be persuaded that nature herself was hostileto their esoteric practices; so, to avoid antagonism, it was best thatwe should part. I promised Hushnoly that, together with Lyone, I wouldvisit his globe some time in the future and see how his colonyprogressed. He was an enthusiast who required a great many defeatsfrom fortune before he could see the fatal defects of his social andreligious system.
The grand sorcerer, as the pontiff of Remeliorism, or the ethics ofnature, achieved a triumph in restoring Egyplosis to the reign oforder, truth, justice, benevolence, and temperance. In time I hoped tosee the Christian faith rule the souls of those who had so recentlyworshipped themselves under the guise of Harikar, the universal humansoul. I was anxious to see men and women possessing that serene poiseof passion that alone can sustain virile action. Lyone herself was thefirst to be convinced that the human soul, with its limitations, itsnarrowness, its impatience, its selfishness, its arrogance, itscruelty, was a very inferior deity. It was true that rare ideal joysmight be purchased for a brief time under the old _regime_, but theywere only purchased at an immense price, out of all proportion to thevalue received, and their possession produced a sickly sublimitytotally unfitting the soul for the practical duties of life.
Captain Adams and Sir John Forbes, excited at my good fortune,declared themselves anxious, with my consent, to explore the furtherhemisphere of the interior planet, in the interests of science,discovery, commerce, and possibly conquest. They were anxious todiscover the continents that lie above and beyond Atvatabar,surrounded by unknown Plutusian seas, and bear to their respectivecountries some signal trophies of their daring and prowess in theinternal world.
It was arranged that on their return to Kioram, the _Polar King_, withmyself and Lyone on board, should sail with the _Mercury_ and _AuroraBorealis_ for the United States. The sailing of the three vessels upNew York Bay would be a historic event, and great would be thecuriosity of the American people to see the Goddess of Atvatabar andour retinue of wayleals as proof of the existence of Bilbimtesirol,the interior world.
And now, my dear reader, we must part for the present. By a change ofplans on the part of Captain Adams, the _Mercury_, the vessel thatwill bear the manuscript of my adventures in the interior world, isalready waiting to start on her voyage. I regret that many strangethings have been left unsaid. Many extraordinary experiences have beenomitted, because I am desirous that this brief history of thehappiness that befell me and my devoted sailors in Atvatabar shouldbe published without delay, to allay the natural curiosity excited inthe outer world by the story of our discovery of Plutusia.
You may possibly feel a desire to know the future fortunes of QueenLyone and myself in a part of the world hitherto undreamed of, andwhen I again address you I hope to describe our future experiences onthe throne of Atvatabar. We purpose to apply a liberal portion of thevast wealth of our kingdom to the pursuit of invention, art, andspirituality, preserving and enlarging the existing palaces ofinvention and art and the palaces of Egyplosis as institutions for thedevelopment of the soul and its attributes of spirit power. It will beour purpose to extend to the utmost limits the empire of mind overmatter in developing invention. In art, we will, by means of itsmanifold radiant symbols, reproduce every idea of the soul shaped bysentiment and imagination, and in sounding the abysses of the heartexpress what is considered the inexpressible.
In spirituality, the science and art of soul and its manifestations inthe body, and after the temporary or complete severance therefrom,will be investigated on a much wider basis than ever before, andspirit power, apart from the worship of soul as deity, will bedeveloped and elaborated into an enduring force, possessing creativeenergy. What boundless empire of life will not such ideas realize, andhow entrancing the story of such discoveries in the interior world ofthe soul!
I may also, dear reader, request you to accompany me to otherundiscovered realms of Plutusia, where, according to report, existfairy-lands, peopled with strange, fantastic races of men and women,as well as fabulous animals, with characteristics surpassing thewildest dreams of fancy.
As shown on the map of the interior world, which forms thefrontispiece of this volume, many more continents remain yet unknownto me, to explore which will be my ambition. If the rumors I haveheard of semi-spiritual men and semi-human monsters that dwell intropical environments, where mountains rise so high that there is noweight on their summits, and where torrents of water roll upward,sweeping away villages in their path; of rocks of gold suspended inthe air; of tribes dwelling on floating islands of jewels in theempyrean, and of a thousand still stranger places and peoples, whereevery phantasy of the imagination can be produced in reality by spiritpower, then, indeed, the story of my adventures will develop the soulof the age with a profound delight.
I therefore bid adieu to you, dear reader, in the hope of meeting youagain, to feast you with these wonders. I hope to have you accompanyme on the _Polar King_, which, after a season of repair and refitment,will most assuredly be launched for a still more adventurous voyage onthe waters of the interior sea. How many books have been written onthe discovery of the western hemisphere by Columbus, while, as yet,but one has been written about the interior sphere, a region not lessimportant than the outer earth, whose geographical features are nowfor the first time revealed to human eyes! What a wonder it would beif one could travel to the moon or the planet Mars and return to theearth to tell of all that he had seen or heard on those distantspheres! Here indeed is no less a miracle that for ages two vastplanets have existed each unknown to the other, although only athousand miles apart, with the means of communication possessing butfew difficulties to be overcome. The mutual discovery of two suchworlds has opened up a future for the human race that may well strikeone dumb with its splendor. It has conferred on the meanest individuala glory, a birthright of the spirit, as vast as the proportions of thetwin-planet. I will not further anticipate the future, and for thepresent will ask you to accept from Lyone and myself a courteousfarewell.
THE END.
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"THE LOVE LETTER."]
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