Seven Days to
Apocalypse:
The king of Calmenforde, Montaine
Flumberg, (a highly religious and spiritual man, with great ambitions to rule
much of the world, with the thought that he is destined to do so, being the
“Son of God” and rightful heir to “God’s kingdom”), is in great trouble, with
his army greatly depleted, (having gone into several unnecessary wars and
initiated invasions which have all been failures), the favour among his people
going down and much of the members of the senate turning against him (for his
reckless spending on building shrines and temples for God, when the economy is
already on the downside). Added to this, he is warned by the Oracle of Blemfl
that his time as the king of Calmenforde is about to end with the arrival of a
great deceiver, whose every action would have a superior purpose and his every
deception would lead Montaine to his downfall. Though Elis Frankton, the prime
minister and also the mentor figure for Montaine, dismisses the Oracle to be
insane, Montaine still has a feeling that the Oracle might be right. Montaine
has been warned by the men in his own senate that he might be removed from the
throne, if he continues to recklessly spend in the name of God and if he
follows Oracles and prophets to decide how to run his kingdom. Several
thoughts, doubts, worries and apprehensions plague his mind and added to that
is the arrival of this old man.
Priest
Christopher Barnaby is on a mission. He claims to have had a vision in which
God had spoken to him as a ball of light, telling him about seven disasters
striking the Calmenforde kingdom in the next seven days, with the first six
being signs for what is to come on the seventh, which is to kill thousands of
people in Calmenforde. The people of Calmenforde have to move from their
territory, through the southern gates and head to the hills a few miles away,
where they are to spend the entire seventh night, before the great disaster
strikes and must only reopen the gates and re-enter their territory on the
eighth dawn. Barnaby has the responsibility of informing the king about his
vision and convincing him to evacuate the kingdom before the seventh eve. In
his way are Wyman Francis (an ordinary soldier, who first encounters the priest
in Calmenforde along with his mates), Garret Armstrong, the army chief of
Calmenforde and the second most powerful man in the kingdom following the king,
(a non believer of God, religion, prophet and a hater of superstitious beliefs
and rituals) and Montaine Flumberg, the king himself with all his convoluted
thoughts and doubts as to what he should do about anything.
Montaine
Flumberg is on a thin line and a single terrible, reckless, irresponsible act
of his, can get him off the throne and there he is with the dilemma whether he
should do what the priest tells him to do,( if he should believe Barnaby in the
first place) or ignore him completely and stay back without evacuating the
kingdom. Garret Armstrong warns the king that the priest might not be someone
whom they could trust and if Montaine does go on to evacuate his kingdom,
trusting the old priest’s words and if nothing happens, then King Flumberg
would have to face a lot of heat from the senate members, who hate him and he
might even lose his crown. But if he does not do anything as said by the priest
and if there do occur disasters as predicted by the priest, leading to the
deaths of thousands of people, then Montaine might once again be held
responsible, for not taking any action to protect his people and save them,
when warnings were already given to him about the disasters. Elis confuses
Montaine even further saying that it might all be a test of faith by God
himself, while Flumberg is still haunted by the Oracle’s warning that he should
not trust anyone who say they could predict the future and should not fall for
the deceptions of ‘The One’.
Priest
Barnaby might indeed be a deceiver, but there is a superior purpose for his
every action and every word and all that he does, is for the welfare of his
people...to protect them from not one, but two great dangers heading towards
them in seven days time. What is this Apocalypse (the Revelation)? Do disasters
truly strike Calmenforde? Does the priest convince the king? Does Montaine make the right decision? Do the
priest’s predictions of disasters on the first six days come to happen? What
happens on the seventh night? What is this ‘superior purpose’ that the priest
has? What are the two great dangers? What are the priest’s deceptions? Do the
Oracle’s words prove to be true? Seven Days to Apocalypse reveals them all... This
is the tale of a non believer of God, who uses God’s name to manipulate the
people around him and earns a God like status towards the end.
-A.Prashanth Narasimhan
