Hi, everyone. Man, it's been a LONG while since I last wrote in this awesome discussion page.
We have a while to wait until the next act in Chronicles of Eden appears, so I'll try and keep us entertained with the occasional question/guess/theory that I come up with for the series.
For today, I thought we could talk about what may be Daniel Sorres' GREATEST challenge in the series. And no, I'm not necessarily talking about the three remaining Dark Queens or even the mysterious and God-tier Ancients. No. I'm talking about a particularly giant obstacle to Daniel's dream of peace for Eden: The Human Race.
As we've seen, Daniel's had to do a lot and say a lot to get people to believe in his dream of coexistence. However, everyone we've seen so far have all been monster races.
The only time we've seen Daniel try to persuade humans was in the very first chapter of the very first book in the series, and it went pretty bad. Mind you, this was before Daniel gained his real-world experience with the many races AND before he learned to use Synergy, so it's understandable why he didn't convince any of the humans in Edgewood at first. He was still hesitant and uncertain and lacked the evidence he needed. He still had to grow as a person.
But, even with his victory and defeat of the Gemini, and even with his huge family and being made a leader to the elves and centaurs, has Daniel's odds with his own race, the humans, improved at all?
Let's think this through: the humans of Eden have been terrorized and victimized for hundreds of years by many of the non-human races. This has left a lot of scars, bad memories, and negative emotions. Some humans can't forgive such actions; it's either too difficult or too painful.
And some humans are consumed by their anger, fear, and hate. To them, the very idea of humans trying to co-exist with "monsters" is blasphemy, and anyone who thinks that way would probably be punished most severely. Humans, as we know, can be monsters as well.
Imagine the following scenario: Daniel is preaching his goal AND the proof of his beliefs to a group of highly skeptical and very prejudice humans. He's also arguing against a trusted member of that community whose hatred of monsters is unchangeable and will never be convinced no matter how much evidence and proof Daniel pushes in front of him.
The man laughs and shakes his head. "Oh, you poor, deluded fool," said the man, grinning cruelly. "You really should've devoted your life to being a clown. At least then you would get PAID for making a total embarrassment of yourself! HA HA HA! But seriously," he said, his expression become dead serious, "take your $#*%-brained ideas and shove them up the orifice that you pulled them out of. You have NO chance in Heaven, Hell, or ANYWHERE else of convincing any humans to side with you. Anyone who hears you will more than happily choose to hate you, just like they hate the monsters you support. And as for anyone who's crazy enough to believe in your nonsense, they won't want to help because that would mean they, themselves, will be demonized and subjugated.
"Face the facts: It's far easier for people to hate than it is to change. And why SHOULD human change? It's not like WE'VE been doing anything wrong throughout the last hundred years. Right?"
See what I mean? In a way, Eireen is correct about the hate and discrimination that exists in Eden. Daniel hasn't yet travelled to a human town to talk about his ideals, and he hasn't faced such a challenge as convincing groups of humans to give non-humans a chance.
And if skepticism isn't bad enough, a lot of people will be willing to tell lies in order to discredit Daniel. One perfect candidate I have for such a person would be Queen Leanna. Or, to be more precise, the Beelzebub imposter standing in her place. Beelzebubs thrive on misery, fear, and hopelessness, so the idea of someone whose desire is to bring peace and cooperation between races of people is simply unacceptable. Given Leanna's influence and cunning mind, she could easily have Daniel's wanted poster slapped on every wall and every town from the loneliest farms to the most bustling marketplace.
She could also promise something like a One-BILLION gold prize. She'd probably have no intention of paying such an outlandish prize, but still, it's a good motivator. If so, Lizelth and The Sisterhood would soon be competing with mercenaries and bounty hunters who desire to bring Daniel to Leanna in chains.
So, that's doubt from fearful humans, deceit from spiteful ones, and greed and bloodlust from those looking to wipe out this wonderful, blessed being in such a crazy, chaotic world.
Daniel will certainly have his work cut out for him, and it'll make one heck of an awesome story to read!
Whatever you choose, Mr. Gordon, have fun writing it!