If you asked him to sum up the past few hectic weeks, it was like remembering a tooth ache because it won't go away. Abram’s victories elevated his status above leaders like Sargon of Akkad who used diverse tactics warning of battles and issuing bombastic pronouncements of his wrath, claiming the full supported by a couple of different gods, including but not exclusively Moloch. He believed it took propaganda to dominate. Abram and Melchizedek, blending espionage, fire, and sedition in total secret, crafted a different reputation above any polytheistic rivals. No god could touch them.
Melchizedek’s scroll orchestrates a unique strategy for domination, with each tactic (spies, fire, poisoning, smoke, more fire) designed to terrorize, then mortify, and destroy, to unify under one big war tent.
Abram’s victories did elevate his status, as Melchizedek's scroll had promised, implying an unexpected regional reputation. A bit daunting. Ghostly perhaps. Something secretive for sure. Sodom’s destruction and Egypt's being plotted, other city/states in Mesopotamia and in Canaan. All these were foretold. Talking about it as we speak. El Elyon's terror is spreading the fame down every trade route (e.g., Ur to Canaan).
In Ur’s time these days, leaders like Sargon of Akkad used diverse tactics (battles were tricky, often indecisive). Sometimes propaganda dominated. Abram and Melchizedek could craft a reputation based on sheer terror, obviously divine, a totally favored god outshining polytheistic rivals.
Melchizedek’s scroll had orchestrated Abram's strategy, each tactic of spies, fire, poison, each an escalation of mass murder under direction of Mahweh O'r the High Way, designed to terrorize, then blame on El Elyon to unify. The 'reputation' spreading had fueled global ambitions suddenly. "Next we take Egypt!" A staggering suggestion. Unbelievable. "Say what?" And the mummified cats were out of the bag.
Blaming diverse tactics on Yahweh/El Elyon, as Melchizedek suggested, resembled a shining thing reflecting back the expressions of the Mesopotamian propagandist, and those lying parasites, the Lawyers of Ur, who had a hand in carving Sumerian victory steles. Seems like Melchizedek's missing blessing is a blessing, Abram decided, as he thought this over many times, coming to different conclusions every time.
Melchizedek’s scroll encodes a suite of tactics, a tidy, useful, pragmatic list including spies, incendiary technology kept top secret, used at night, no witnesses, and assassination of people who clue in, by dagger, or stampeding ox cart, or poison, executed by Abram to be echoed in later plagues, everything blamed on El Elyon’s 'dark designs.' He's got two sides, one side he's a terror to Peace. The slaughter (kings, Sodom, maybe Egypt in the near future) establishes a divine command structure for Abram, with Melchizedek soothing the nerves during the violence.
Abram stands heavily outside the walls of Ur with its blood-drenched squares, breathing the air thick with smoke and screams, his fists clenched in a barely contained pique of rage as Det of Y'Ur's swords gleam, slick with Melchizedek’s gore. One failure, Abram muttered, to himself, thinking alone, heart hollow as the dead and obscure and unknown, “This King/Priest Melchizedek came down from beyond Ur really favored that god,” lies flayed, limbs hacked, heart carved out for Anu, Baal, Moloch on a stone altar, and their scribes, the Cult of the Lawyers of Ur, bearing the message of Det, moving crowds to howl like jackals at the fall of this visitor. "Make him PAY!" for suspicions ran high that Melchizedek smelled of fire and brimstone, said the outrunner, who noted, people said it had smelled like Sodom around here a few times in recent days. Abram had more than a few secrets to keep from the Cult of the Lawyers of Ur. Abram and Melchizedek employed a multifaceted top-secret strategy, never before seen in Mesopotamia, including spies, new technology, assassination, palace intrigues, city-burning, and poisoning, proving they were far from outcasts in this terror driven-world.
Abram and Melchizedek working together were masters of war, not just warriors or priests. Prior to the incineration of Sodom, and Gomorrah, an “escapee” had informed Abram of Nephew Lot’s capture, who was probably spilling his guts about the network of informants or scouts in the Dead Sea region enabled by Melchizedek. The answer from the King of Salem was simple, "We'll kill them." Abram snorted derisively at this message. Then he stood back in awe while they made it happen. Brimstone. Always give credit to the Brimstone.
In Ur, a trade hub on the Dead Sea, skirting Canaan, espionage was common. The city-states of Mesopotamia were rivals to monitor closely. Abram, a leader of semi-nomadic people, sought allies like Mamre, and used reconnaissance to track the four kings’ movements while plotting the rescue. of the nephew. No more. The great collaboration with Melchizedek was over but a lot of secrets remained. When an “escapee” informed Abram of nephew Lot’s capture, retaliation was suggested by a network of informants or scouts in the Dead Sea region. In Ur, a trade hub, and Canaan, espionage was common, but Abram with Melchizedek's long reach, had the city-states monitored by his own rivals. Abram was a competent semi-nomadic leader with allies but he had not enjoyed the lethal knowledge supplied by a web of reconnaissance enough to track the simultaneous to track the four kings’ movements.
By Mack McColl collaborating with Grok by xAI -- Purely experimental creative writing on both our parts
