Chapter Thirteen

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Awakening, The Prophet

Jenn led him wordlessly. Things were different. Alive perhaps (like a crisp summer morning). The song had receded, not quiet, but not loud either.

People watched as they walked walked through the streets. Cars drove by. Jenn stood out, not just because of the clothing, but she was more real than those they passed, who seemed grey and shadowed. He hadn’t seen it before.

These people are under thrall.

This thought was followed closely.

Pharoah. He lords them. they are his slaves, and he is god in their world.

They were walking along the pavement, a small flocked of sparrows gathered crumbs up from the street, when the air around them thinned. Swirled and rippled like water in a breeze. The world faded as they walked through, into another place. The people and the sparrows were gone.

Moses looked around. They were in a desert, sand moulded underneath his shoes. Heat shimmered the land around them. A walled city sat close by. Blue and green clothed men and women walked around the battlements of the city. Spears in hand, they marched. Marched with spears in hand.

I wonder if they have ram’s horns?

Jenn pulled him gently towards her. She spoke close to his ear.

“This is our place of refuge. We war against the Sarvant and others from here. You must guard yourself in this place, although it is almost home to me, there are others that would soon as kill you as listen. And more .. There is always darkness in the brightest of places. We have traitors here. The Sarvant is strong, and there are others, as and maybe more powerful.”

Moses nodded. He was still enveloped with a strange peace, Jenn’s face still distracted his thoughts. And something else.

“Go down Moses. Tell Pharoah to let My people go.”

Who are these others? There was always and only the Sarvant. What if he is not the Pharoah? What if there is someone else? Some thing else?

He was about to ask Jenn about the other beings, but was distracted at the sight of the city gates opening. A horn sounded. Long, long, short. Long, long, short.

As they approached, a group of long-cloaked (think Neo from the Matrix) men and women came towards them. Black sunglasses. The men, short-cropped hair. The women, tight-clasped single braid.

A man moved to the head. The others stopped as a single beat. The man came up to them. He tucked a knee and bent towards Jenn. She, in turn, took his hand and kissed it.

Strange ceremony.

“Jenn the Crimson. You bring hope. Jason has reported. Sadness is ours, but joy too.” He turned to Moses.

“Welcome Prophet.” He didn’t bow or even nod. Instead of these things, he closed his eyes and began to sing softly.

Within him, although the man’s words were barely discernible, the song rose in greeting. It’s music jumped for joy on hearing whatever it was the man sang. Again he recognised it after a few moments. His grandmother’s voice joined the song.

Joshua fit de battle of Jericho.

I can’t remember the words. Walls and ram’s horns.

He realised the people in suits had fanned out around them in a circle. The place they had arrived at was (of course) a gateway, grey rock marked with blue symbols and pictures. Marked, flowing, pulsing through it. This was all new to Moses. He hadn’t written of a place like this, or even thought about it.

The man stopped his song, and the song within Moses dropped low.

“Prophet. You come to us in our dire need. Although there is some contention,” Jenn glanced towards the city. The man went on. “I believe you to be our single hope in this world. There is in you that which will defeat the darkness.”

He stood (at some point in the song, the man had dropped to his knees) and touched his eyes with his thumbs. He opened them shortly.

“I am Heran. There will be festivities tonight, but for now .. The Assembly awaits. I am to bring you before them. Steel yourself Prophet, if need be. And come follow me.”

Jenn grasped his hand, squeezing tight. There was no time for any kind of goodbye as they walked through the walls, under the stones. The front gate was massive, but behind that was more wall, then another inner, smaller gate.

This opened into a city bustling with activity. People walked and ran and sat and stood. Vehicles drove down one street and up another. The group boarded what seemed like a cross between a train and a bus, and stood around him and Heran. Moses turned to speak with Jenn (who had let go of his hand earlier, but whispered words into his ear), but she was gone.

I didn’t even feel her leave. What kind of connection is that?

The bus/train moved along the streets. The city was massive, far bigger on the inside than it seemed on the out. In the distanced Moses saw farmlands. Turning, into another distance, he saw industrial buildings. A river ran through the entire city (as far as Moses could see), winding through each part.

This is new.

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