The Writings of Eric Stahl
The Writings of Eric Stahl
I don't really know how else to share this, but I feel like it should be said. I was having doubts about the presentation. I knew it as this great discovery. I know it's important, but I the audio-file I intercepted is so garbled, I've decided to transcribe my discovery. From here on, all text is formatted as such: (My own interjects will be parentheticals); italics will be another voice; bold will be a new entry; unmarked will be the writer's original words. Let me know if this makes sense. I'm so sorry that the original file is too complex; a file to contain the voices from beyond can sometimes be too much for modern comprehension.
Entry 1
“Out of the depths of the Earth I cried and the most high heard my voice. And when I asked, God lifted me up from the pit.” My wife quoted that once. I wonder if any of it is true. I don’t think so, but I remember pretending.
(I think this the beginning is a text from old mythology? I put quotes there, but again, I'm not sure.)
Hopefully, they won’t see through the disguise or discover why I am here, following them to the end of it all.
(The recording here to cuts to an empty space. Only static to fill the void of nothing. Then, quite suddenly, a snap of the fingers spikes into the microphone. The voice that spoke the opening lines returns to it, bewildered and somewhat unsure. I'm guessing this is the author)
Should I cut that part out? Feels a bit dramatic?
(A silence once more, then the man speaks)
Ah, I’ll leave it in for now, edit it later. A better introduction would be to explain why I’m here.
(After another snap, hear clears his throat, crack his neck, and then breathe deeply. The air goes through the nostrils and then is returned to the world from the mouth. After his sigh, more words are summoned)
My name is Eric Stahl, and this is a personal project. A journalistic escapade. If you have not been following my project this far, and I assume most listeners have not, then I can get you up to speed.
(I hear that he shuffles here; it feels as though he is straightening himself before embarking on the following array of information)
My current goal is to find Heaven, or, rather, Heaven as it is identified by the group we know on Earth as the People of Dupre.
Now, those of you back home should be well aware of their presence, the jokes in the media, and the nutjobs you meet on street corners.
They are a strange bunch, these folk, enigmatic, and I’m sure that hasn’t changed much since I’ve left. No, I imagine most is still the same since I’ve departed.
Nevertheless, I believe that this venture is important as their prevalence and dominion in our society cannot be understated.
But, in case you are not an initiate of the way things are:
The People of Dupre are a cult—a force embedded deeply in our world, shaping it in ways hard to ignore.
For the social buffs: They’re similar to how the Mormon movement grew in America during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Now for the layman: who are the Mormons? Well, history tells us they were the second to last among the American Christian movements, outside of New York Catholicism.
Despite this, the sect was largely eradicated when Yellowstone erupted. When the fire rained down, the Mormons were no more.
(He snaps into the mic)
Now, what point was I making? Oh, right...
(He snaps again)
My working theory is that the people of Dupre are an underground offshoot of the Mormon religion and perhaps an extension of historical Christianity as a whole.
They reject the overt association, yet despite that, though I believe their beliefs echo a vanished past—a strange mix of these Mormons and other Christian sects — they’re also more than that; they’ve also drawn from ancient Islam and modern Buddhism, the latter still practiced in isolated pockets today.
Since Christianity declined globally during the early twenty-third century, this faction is the most significant portion of our population to have resurrected aspects of that belief system, particularly the ladder of ascendancy found in most Orthodox and some medieval Catholic traditions.
They think of God as the top of some sort of food chain, and by practicing both asceticism and temperance, they believe they will one day look down upon those who were once their peers.
Their faith builds their rungs, and they climb their way up, proximity to God bought by the treasure of humanity being left behind.
While many of the core tenets of Christianity and the Cult of Dupre are the same (for instance, sexually abstinent, communally minded, and moralistically domineering), from what I can tell, they have adopted other aspects from other ancient Abrahamic traditions, particularly, the idea that one can become holy through personal sanctification, hence why they practice each of the former.
Yet, despite following such traditions, they do so without understanding the history of their own dogmatics.
Unknowingly, or at least from what I can tell, they practice certain Christian forms, and yet, unlike their hypothesized Mormon forebears, they claim not to be Christian.
Whether or not this is a farce, I cannot tell — it is hard to know anything particular with these people.
You see, they have no sacred texts, relying entirely on oral tradition, and every single one of them must pledge to make a pilgrimage to end their lives to fully become recognized as members.
For personal reasons, I want to understand this religion better and find out exactly where this pilgrimage leads. As far as I can tell, it’s their holy land.
To accomplish this, I have accompanied them on their sacred pilgrimage and have learned that it is not simply a holy land, but something greater: their Heaven.
While it is not a place on Earth, it is a physical place across the cosmos. Now, we are charted to a Star in the Andromeda Galaxy, far away from the Earth we know.
As most of you understand, this is a one-way trip, even with the modern amenity of Faster than Light Travel. Regardless, I felt the purpose of this testimonial was a worthwhile exploration. If I have not returned and you are listening, understand this:
We have to know.
All of us should know why we have lost loved ones to Heaven. And if my body is the price of that understanding, then I, as a journalist, am happy to surrender my life for the cause of discovery.
(Another pause)
For clarity, I do not wish for this fate, but I am being as frank and realistic as I can. No ships have returned from the nebula we have charted as our course, nor have any transmissions been retrieved to tell us what became of them.
Tomorrow awaits me, and I go to it without a forecast. If I’m facing a dark day, the least I can do is give the warning I wish she’d received.
(A snap)
…I’d received…
(Another snap; dude really likes snapping, I guess.)
To further understand the journey, over the next few weeks, I will interview the crew and passengers aboard this vessel to understand their motivations for making this trip. Likewise, I hope to chronicle the anecdotes and stories from their religion.
If they refuse to document their God, then I will make myself their prophet.
To the zealots, I am masquerading as one of them, but perhaps to the more open-minded, I will be honest with my intention.
In either case, I hope to tell a story of earnest people. I hope to tell the story of those misguided souls who yearn for something more.
After all, faith is a strange thing, and I hope…
(The recording here pauses; the Eric is clearly chooses his next words)
…I hope this story will help someone understand.