ENOCH
In the times in which the world was not connected, and when the sun was believed to be the mighty God of the universe, the one that healed people and told earth when to have good weather and when to punish, Enoch lived. He lived among the slaves and the poor, among the old people that couldn’t carry hard tasks, and among the people that would die in a few years time.
Nobody thought that he could manage to achieve greatness, as he had not been born into a family of wealth and powerful connections. He was born to be a slave; he had been born to live in the fields, the only place where his hands were useful was for the Pharaoh. His habits were the same as the ones that worked with him. He would wake up early in the morning, go to the field, and stay there until noon; then he would get ten minutes to eat so that he could get enough energy to complete the whole day working. If his hands didn’t respond, he would push himself to the limits until his job were done. Enoch lived in a time when hard work was rarely rewarded; he ought to work every day, but despite the Pharaoh’s tough way to rule, he let him get a day of rest a week.
The Pharaoh, in turn, had been the same for ten years. He was only twenty-five years old but had a boy of ten and a five-year-old girl living under his roof. He was named Hatu, the first of his name, and the first of his generation in proclaiming his family as the only ruler of Earth and the Planet. He was an egoistic man whose only concern was his family, money, woman, and power.
His wife, loving and caring, had been the same for the years he had been ruling. And as for the Pharaoh’s needs of having different women in his beds, his wife wouldn’t dare to say anything, as she could get herself killed. She, knowing how he would act, looked for younger girls who wanted to be with him. And that was an absolute honor for the damsels; she wouldn’t have any troubles finding girls.
Enoch had spotted the Pharaoh’s look on a day of great wind and a pale sun that was hidden between two clouds. At first, they were assured that the sun would come out soon enough, as some of the Pharaoh’s foreseers had seen the night before, but as time passed and the sun didn’t act as they had predicted, most of the people were worried that a disease or calamity was about to fall over them. Enoch kept working, ignoring the people’s concerns, and so the Pharaoh thought that he knew something in particular.
The Pharaoh Hatu commanded Enoch to come to his presence, to explain why he was the only person working without the worries that the people had. The Pharaoh was astounded by the way Enoch spoke, with words that were not usually spoken by the common people.
“If I were to be you, I would ignore the sun and the clouds. They are not of our concern. Earth’s problems are not the same as the Sun’s, so, if he is busy, it is not because of the Earth. We are not as self-important as we think we are; the Sun will come out, and it will tell us how to act. Soon enough, our people will be the same as they were the morning in which I woke up.”
The Pharaoh, staring at him, said: “How are you so sure that the Sun, our beloved and benevolent God, is not planning an attack against us? Do you mean that, living under his watch, we ought to ignore what he’s saying?”
Enoch, not wanting to upset the Pharaoh, said: “What I fear is that he is silent; he is not saying a word to us, and that’s what he is trying to communicate. Perhaps we should keep working, and in a day, it will be once again the same Sun we have got to know.”
The Pharaoh was not pleased with Enoch’s words, but he commanded the room to be silent as he kept talking with him about what he predicted for the future. Enoch never used the word prediction or any of its kind, but when the day passed, and the people thought that animals would lie dead in the fields, as that was the Sun’s prepared vengeance, Enoch went to work the same as he would do the day before.
Nonetheless, the day was different; their God was in the sky, with a dazzling light that meant that they could begin working. The Pharaoh understood that sign as a power of Enoch. He was the only man that wasn't worried about the barring situation of the sun’s disappearance. Its pale light was there, but nobody could see it; this has never happened since Hatu was their ruler. Enoch knew, without a doubt, the Sun’s activity, without missing in his prediction. He was solely a member of the working class, those who would work under their whips until their flesh was red and vivid. However, the Pharaoh, looking at the normal scenery that could be seen from his chambers, commanded Enoch to come to talk to him.
When Enoch arrived, the Pharaoh was half-dressed, leaving a piece of his clothes to show a glimpse of his manhood.
“I want you to work with me, foreseer.”
“I’m afraid I’m not what you call me.”
“You’re humble. What’s your name?”
“Enoch.”
“Fine. You’ll be my personal foreseer; I want you to do your best.”
“And if I fail?”
“Then you will pay with your life.”
“And how do I know how to do my job?”
“You will, as you have already predicted something profound. If my current personal foreseers do not do their job well, I’m going to get a better one; and that’s you.”
Enoch nodded, and so a new task was given; one that he never thought he could have; to spend every day around the Pharaoh, giving him counsel about the things that developed around him. At first, he was not the man the Pharaoh thought he would be; but after some days, Enoch predicted a big storm; a success that caused him recognition among the wealthy that lived around Hatu. Enoch didn’t take it as an accomplishment but as a fortunate success. He was humble, different from the Pharaoh, and needed by Hatu for the special abilities that the Gods had given him.
Great times came when Enoch would help the Pharaoh in the wars that occurred close to them. He was not an expert in the theory of wars, but he managed to tell the Pharaoh the things that would lead to a better outcome. The moment in which the Pharaoh knew that Enoch needed a better life was when he told him to sacrifice an army of a thousand, in a strategy that would lead the war to an end. The outcome had been as Enoch had predicted, so he started to gain recognition among the common people as well. He would help them in the art of knowing where it was best to crop the land, and when the sun would be high in the sky warming everyone’s path.
Enoch had another ability; he warned the Pharaoh about his enemies. As other influential men often threatened the kingdom, they needed to take care of riots and bad-intentioned men that wanted to see him fall. Death was often around, but with Enoch’s help, that didn’t happen.
Enoch was ruling the kingdom in silence; he was the one advising each of the members of the Pharaoh’s Council; he was the one talking with the common people and the slaves, as he couldn’t forget what he once had been. He would work without the people’s intrusive eye, and, as the Pharaoh had been happy with his abilities, he was free to act as he pleased.
But, although he was famous for his advising and foreseeing abilities, he could heal as well. He started training that talent when he found out that a pigeon was dead in the middle of his path, and with a touch of his hand and a thoughtful prayer, the pigeon started breathing again. He was sure that the pigeon was not dead but badly injured, but the result was the same; he was the one sent by the Gods.
Since he started working on that ability, recognition became fame, and fame translated into wealth and power. Enoch soon became as powerful and egotistical as the Pharaoh, living among many women, with riches and luxuries that being a slave he could not afford. Now, he could afford a life; he spoke miraculous predictions every day, but as he was still a human being, death could come the same as rain could fall.
Enoch lived that life during eight years. However, when the son of the Pharaoh that had just turned eighteen years old became overwhelmed with sickness, Enoch was the first to be called. The Pharaoh commanded him to heal his son, and although they had become the best friends, his harsh tone made Enoch feel uncomfortable. Enoch, knowing his past with healing people, assured the Pharaoh that he could do it.
The Pharaoh was utterly concerned, as he was the last son of his living. The thing he wanted the most was his son to be saved, and for his son to gain the throne he ought to have. Although Enoch assured the Pharaoh that he could heal him, unfortunately, he couldn’t. The Pharaoh’s son died before the sunset, and so the Pharaoh’s rage was felt across the kingdom.
The Pharaoh had thought once of Enoch as a dear friend. He had saved them from enemies that were believed to be friends, and from armies that threatened his rule to fall. There had been times in which Enoch saved the people from starving to death, as he could predict the times in which the land would be fertile, times in which drought would come, and times in which storms would destroy the people’s hard work. Providing Enoch did his job, he would keep rising until he was the same as the Pharaoh.
However, he was still only a man. Perhaps, the reason for his failure was because he would think himself as a person with God-like powers; he had forgotten everything about his past, and about who he was. He didn’t forget about his people, but he started to think at some point that he was not that man anymore and that he could never be around those people once again. He thought himself to be the same as the Pharaoh.
And still, he didn’t have the power to command the kill of anyone. The Pharaoh, once he found out about his son’s death, was devastated about his legacy. He had no other son, and his wife could not bear any other children. He was incensed, knowing that the Gods would be mad at him, and if he, one day, would be in front of them being judged about his rule on the Earth, they would condemn him to the worst of the punishments. As he couldn’t think properly, and as the death of his son replayed in his mind over and over again, he commanded his soldiers to kill Enoch in his chambers that very night; one in which the moon was high in the sky, lighting the fields beneath his window.
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