In the twelve hundredth year after Fragapatti, in the east colony of Haraiti, one Ctusk, a former Lord of Jehovih‘s host, renounced Jehovih, the Creator, and falsely proclaimed himself Ahura, the All Master; and he took with him three Lords of grade eighty-eight, as well as twelve sub-Gods of grade sixty-four, and one thousand six hundred students of eight hundred years‘ resurrection, none of whom were less than grade sixty, and were sufficient to pass as Brides and Bridegrooms. And these students took with them thirty-six thousand teachers, factors, physicians and nurses, all of whom were higher than grade forty.

And Ahura appropriated to himself one colony of one hundred and ten million angels, together with the colleges, schools, factories, and all the things belonging in them. And the three Lords took their kingdoms, and by annexation made them part and parcel with Ahura‘s kingdom. Now these three Lords‘ kingdoms comprised the largest habitable places of mortals in Vind‘yu and Jaffeth, and the greatest heavenly places of angels in the first resurrection.

And Ahura divided up the regions he thus obtained, making confederate heavenly kingdoms, sufficient in number to give place of dominion to his Lords and Gods, and to make sub-Gods out of all the one thousand six hundred students. And after that, Ahura counted his people, and there were more than three billion souls in his heavens!

God sent messengers to Ctusk, who had assumed the name, Ahura‘Mazda, admonishing and inquiring: My Lord, whom I have loved, whom by my own hand was crowned in the name of Jehovih, why have you deserted the Father‘s kingdoms? In what way have you had cause to complain against Jehovih? Or against me, your God? O my son, my Lord, do not say you have gone so far you cannot return! What can you ask of me that I will not grant you? No, even judge me, and if you desire all the heavens and the earth in my place, I will abdicate to you, and become your lowest servant, or whatever you will put upon me.

Ahura returned this answer: Because I have nothing against you, I have alienated myself and my kingdom from you. I do not desire your kingdom, nor even my own. Behold, I looked upon you, and you were pure and holy. I looked upon the kingdoms of heaven and the kingdoms of earth, and they were impure and unholy. Then came certain brother Lords to me, most wise Lords, and they said: A less pure God, a less holy God, would be more efficient. So, I was persuaded to my course.

God replied to this, saying: Behold, we have a Diva! Why did you not speak thus before me, face to face? And your three great Lords were also Divans; and they likewise were silent on the matter. The Div would have decreed whatever was all wise. Because I was in darkness, I did not see your thoughts, nor those of your Lords, and you have heaped shame upon me. How shall I send my record to etherea? Shall I say: Behold, certain Lords consulted clandestinely,706 and then concluded to overthrow the Creator; and in fact they have gone and set up a kingdom of their own, calling it the All Highest?

Hear me yet, and I will endeavor to speak wisely to you. Some days ago your messengers notified me that you had repudiated Jehovih, saying: There is no All Highest Person; I can make myself high as the highest! Then your messenger gave me a map, saying: Behold, here are the boundaries of the kingdom of Ahura‘Mazda, the All Sufficient High God!

I looked over the map, and saw its great extent; and I surmised to myself: He is a great God who can rule over all that! For I knew you and your education, which is as great as any Lord‘s in atmospherea. But you know you cannot control even a plateau! Can you raise your hand and stop the a‘ji, or the ji‘ya, or the nebulae! You can barely change a single current of wind; nor can you cast a drought on any land. And yet you know there are Gods who can do these things by a motion of one finger! How, then, do you dare proclaim yourself an All Sufficient High God?

But I will not rebuke you, for I desire your love and your help. I would win you by any sacrifice I can make. Behold, there is great darkness in heaven and on earth. Whatever I may be short in, I will rebuke myself in after ages. I pray, then, return to me, and make exactions upon me and my kingdoms. With your loss, behold, Diva is broken up. With your dismemberment of heavens, others will follow. Alas, I will not look upon even that which my soul sees. I plead for your love and assistance. Nevertheless, if the All Highest Light, for the All Best Good, shows you that you are right, do not come to me! I know the Great Spirit will sustain me, even though my soul is well nigh crushed to pieces by the loss of so fair a love.

To this Ahura replied: If it were not the wisest, best course to do as I did, how did the thought come to me?

God replied: Because of the long reign of ji‘ya, you were inoculated with darkness; even as a mortal, on a rainy day, loses his patience to be wise.

Then Ahura sent the following: I have been patient in my answers; but now I will speak plainly. First of all, you are All Pure, and Most Wise, above all other Gods. For more than two hundred years I have been a faithful Lord to you and your kingdoms. At first the Great Light came to you, and a voice came out of the light! Then I was afraid, and awe-struck. Because I believed you were so near the Creator, your every word and act were worshipful to me.

At last I rebuked myself, saying to myself: Fool! Giving worship to man born of woman! Remember your Creator only!

But the times changed; ji‘ya fell upon heaven and earth. Our glorious kingdoms were cast down by the great darkness. Then I reasoned with myself, saying: Behold, when we were in light, Jehovih‘s Voice spoke to us. When the darkness came, the Voice no longer came. || We sat in the Diva, in the altar circle, praying for light from the Father, but it did not come. And I said: We need the Voice in darkness even more than in light. || For a hundred years we did not see the light of the Voice, nor hear the Voice speak. You have said you heard in your soul! Who is there in heaven or earth that cannot say as much?

In my soul I no longer believe there is an All Person. There are great Gods, a thousand times greater than I; but that is all! Yes, some of those great Gods may have cast the ji‘ya upon us. But that is not my concern. There is room for you and your people. Here is room for me and my people.

Jehovih spoke to God, saying: Do not answer Ahura anymore. Behold, I will interpret him to you: He will eventually persuade angels and mortals that it was he who inspired Zarathustra. But he himself does not foresee this. Permit him, therefore, to go his own way; nor should you take sorrow to your soul because of it. Have I not given to all men, from the lowest to the highest, even that which they desired? Behold, I can use even bad men in the far future!

Jehovih said: For a long season Ahura will strive to walk upright, but because he has cut Me off, he will also cut himself off in time to come. Behold, a mortal man strives for riches honorably, and when he is rich, his riches cut him off from Me by the ruin he casts upon his competitors. Nor can he extricate himself. Even so will it be with Ahura: His kingdom and his sub-kingdoms, and his multitude of officers will cause him to enslave hundreds of millions of drujas, and they will draw him into a vortex from which he cannot escape. ||

So God answered Ahura no more; but nevertheless, his heart was full of sorrow. Now when the time of the meeting of Diva came, God foresaw that not more than one-half of them would be present, and he feared the questions that might come up.

But Jehovih said to him: Do not fear, My Son; for even though many more leave you, yet you shall preserve the Diva to the end of this cycle. So it came to pass that Jehovih stilled the tongues of all the Gods and Lords of the Diva in reference to Ahura, even as if they had never known him. And Ahura sent quizzers to different Gods and Lords afterward, to learn what action the Diva had taken in his case. But when he was told that he had not been mentioned, he became angered and swore an oath that he would build the largest of all heavenly kingdoms.

Because of the great darkness on heaven and earth, God sent hope and promise into all the kingdoms, urging his Lords and his sub-Gods to maintain faith, not only within themselves, but also within the hearts of their respective inhabitants. Now, from the time of the secession of Ahura to the next dan would be three hundred years, and God knew this, though the multitudes in heaven and earth did not. And God commanded great recreations and extensive labors in order to prevent further dismemberment. But in the course of a hundred years many were carried away by the extravagant stories told about Ahura‘s kingdoms being places of great delight, and of ease and idleness.

Ahura‘s Lords said to him: You shall adorn your kingdom, your throne and your capital; Ctusk shall be the largest and most ornamental of all places in the universe; and our subkingdoms shall be places of great delight. And Ahura was persuaded, and so, began his self-glorification, and his Lords with him.

And in another hundred years Ahura had withdrawn and annexed to him the following provinces in heaven, along with their sub-Gods: Etyisiv, with seventy million souls; Howwak, with one hundred million souls; Hyn, with twenty million souls; D‘nayotto, with eighty million souls; Erefrovish, with one hundred and ninety million souls; the whole of the kingdom of Gir-ak-shi, six hundred million souls; the whole of the kingdom of Soo‘fwa, with eight hundred million souls. And all of these confederated in the lower heavens, making the kingdom of Ctusk the central kingdom, with Ahura as MAZDA IN CHIEF.

This reduced the Diva to seven members, but these remained faithful. And God kept up the standard of resurrection for one hundred years more. And then Jehovih sent a region of dan to heaven and earth, and the Most High heavenly hosts descended in fire-ships and took God and his harvest up to Jehovih. And with all the misfortune that befell God and his Lords, there were, nevertheless, six billion Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovih raised up to the higher heavens.

Now when the etherean hosts came for the resurrection, knowing the darkness that was upon the lower heaven and the earth, they sent otevans, with heralds and trumpeters around the earth, proclaiming the resurrection at hand, and asking all who chose, to go to Mouru, in Haraiti. And the word was whispered throughout Ahura‘s kingdom: What! Then, in truth, there must be higher heavens than this! Alas, had we been faithful till now, we would have been Brides and Bridegrooms! || So strong was this disaffection for Ahura, that five of his Lords broke membership, and re-affiliated with God and his kingdoms.