Chapter Two

<< Previous Chapter  Next Chapter >>

Awakening, The Prophet

 

Download

The morning of Moses Lawd’s birthday brought with it the sun. Moses woke as it rose above the hills that lay east of his house.

Moses began to get up, reaching for his watch. It was while doing this that he remembered.

The day of my birth. How sad.

But strangely enough, Moses didn’t feel sad. He felt a little bit excited. He felt anticipation, although he couldn’t work out why. He stopped his hand from getting the watch. He got up and walked toward the doors that led out onto a balcony.

The sun was now visible above the hills. There was a refreshing chill in the air. Moses stood back and sucked it through his nostrils.

Ahhh. What has changed?

It was his birthday of course. But more than this, it was the day that things did change.

As he walked into the kitchen, Moses thought he’d try something different. There was nothing but wheatbix in the way of cereal .. He always ate wheatbix. Always. But not today.

He opened the fridge and saw the eggs that Jasmine had dropped off yesterday. She loved him, that much was sure. Better than his own mother, that too was sure. Jasmine had looked after his house for the past nine years, and had taken to this shy skinny (although pot-bellied) writer man.

She was selfless in her efforts to take care of Moses. Once a week cleaning the house, but always keeping an eye on him, making sure the man still lived, still breathed. She had even invited him to Christmas dinner once, with her numerous family members, but that is another story.

Moses took the carton and went to the stove. Cooking eggs had once been a joy for him, like a lot of things. He found out that it still was, and had a wonderful breakfast of eggs, toast and some lettuce and tomatoes.

An hour later Moses was driving into the city, towards the offices of Hendent Publishing.

What is happening to me?

The feeling of excitement and anticipation had not dimmed since waking. In fact, it had grown, and was continuing to do so. His vision was fresh. The clarity of his senses was different.

Something has changed. Or is changing.

Perhaps that was it.

Maybe it is the present. I’m not sure, but it seems that way.

Moses parked as he always did, on the rooftop parking. It was further to walk, but he’d always tried to convince himself that it would do him good. More than that, today, he wanted to look out over the city.

Standing against the railing, Moses looked out across the expanse that was Jericho City. It hadn’t changed, except that it had. His eyes saw more, ears heard more, his mind took more in. It was alive like never before. Or perhaps,

Maybe it is me that is alive. What is happening?

As he turned away, for the briefest of moments, Moses caught a glimpse of gigantic walls surrounding the city. He stopped and looked back. They weren’t there. And all of this was very strange.

Travelling down to the bottom floor in the well-oiled lift, Moses wondered what it was Ted wanted him for. And why the question about killing off Jesse King? There wasn’t anything Moses could see, unless Ted was getting pressure from his superiors. Ted didn’t have many superiors, and why would he get pressure anyway? Moses Lawd’s books were selling more than ever. Time Magazine credited him with bringing back the love of reading into the population. People now read more than ever. And it had begun with him, or so they said. And other authors had written and called and visited, all with words of thanks.

The first event was close. Not so much an event, but a shaking of fabric. A rippled that foreshadowed something far greater. As Moses stepped outside, through the doors of the parking garage foyer, he looked upwards. Hendant Publishing was across the busy street. It was a few minutes wait at the lights. But Moses wasn’t thinking about that. He looked up, and saw the garishka. Straight out of Jesse King’s world.

The garishka were part of an ever-growing presence of evil in the world that Jesse King inhabited. They looked something like a gigantic bat, but also had been affected by Peter Jackson’s vision of the Nazgul.

In my mind, I see them .. But here, it cannot be.

It was. As Moses watched the garishka hover above the Hendant tower, it’s long sinewy neck moved around, and Moses knew it’s eyes were on him.

Moses had written the garishka as hunters, malevolent beasts that were driven by their need to feed. All the time. There wasn’t any downtime for these beasts, once a kill was finished, they went to the next. But the trick was that they wouldn’t attack people that didn’t run, or who weren’t afraid. What they truly fed off was the chase, the fear. And so, like the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal in Douglas Adams’ book, if you pretended they weren’t there, they would generally not even know you were there.

But this one knew. Moses’ only chance was to show no fear, and continue on his way. The garishka could cover the distance between the top of the tower and the street in moments. Propelled by gravity and magic.

What if the magic doesn’t work the same way here?

Moses waited at the lights for the green man. The Green Man. Another creature out of his books. Jesse King had met the Green Man on a couple of occasions. The symbol at the pedestrian crossing had nothing to do with this being, but it brought the remembrance nonetheless.

I mustn’t look up. I am no Jesse King.

Jesse King had looked into the eyes of a garishka and survived. He had taken the beast and beaten it down, forcing submission. The most recently published book had ended with the garishka at Jesse’s side, as he stood amidst the wreckage of burning cars and buildings, after the battle with Daerin Sarvant.

Daerin Sarvant.

The nemesis of Jesse King, Daerin first made small appearances in the books, but it soon became apparent to the reader that Jesse truly had an equal in Daerin Sarvant. He was a complex character, marked by his experiences as a child and a young man, and driven by his calculating need to become King. Not Jesse King, but King in word and deed. Ruler, Lord (not Lawd), and most probably to ursurp the place of God Himself.

The last book concluded with the general agreement that Daerin Sarvant was dead. Killed in the battle. But alas, his body could not be found, apparently burned to a crisp. It wasn’t the truth of course. Daerin Sarvant could only die properly when Moses was ready to finish the stories of Jesse King.

“Are you ever going to kill off King?”

All things were possible with storytelling, but this could not happen. Too many of Moses’ dreams had gone into the creation of Jesse King, creation and evolution into the character he was now.

I cannot kill off King any more than I can change who I am.

This may have been true, but Moses Lawd was soon to experience great change in his life. And so, anything was possible.

<< Previous Chapter  Next Chapter >>