Jack Staples and the Poet's Storm

by Mark Batterson

  “I know,” Jack said sadly. “But what choice do we have?” He tossed Ashandar forward so it landed at the feet of the Assassin, clanging on the black stone.

  The demon let out a gurgling laugh. “Kneel. Worship your new god, and I will spare them.”

  Jack met Alexia’s eyes and nodded. She grabbed his hand, and together the Children of Prophecy stepped forward. Jack embraced the ring of Time, and he and his sister soared back a few seconds to appear just in front of the Assassin. Jack caught Ashandar before it clanged at the demon’s feet. Beside him, Alexia’s sling was already spinning as she hurled the vial of the poet’s blood at the demon’s chest.

  Belial moved quicker than lightning and swatted the vial to the ground. Before Jack’s blade could strike true, an unseen feeler swept his feet from under him while another feeler yanked Ashandar from his hands and hurled it away.

  Jack and his sister tried to scramble away, but the demon’s appendages wrapped around their legs and yanked upward so both children hung upside down next to their parents. Alexia hurled her pale blade at the demon, but Belial shifted away and the blade tumbled down the mountain.

  “Pathetic,” the demon rasped. “To think that the two of you were the last hope for humanity.”

  Jack and Alexia shared a look of horror. This had been their only plan.

  James Staples and Madeleine Dreager kicked frantically as the demon lifted them high into the air. “No!” Jack and Alexia screamed in unison as their parents dropped into the darkness.

  “No,” Jack moaned.

  “Now, witness the fullness of my power,” the demon croaked. “See what it is I have truly been fighting for.”

  Hanging upside down across from his sister, Jack felt as if he could see forever. Everywhere he looked, the world crumbled. Hundreds of stars streaked from the heavens. The earth buckled as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions destroyed Awakened and dark servants alike.

  “Honi!” Arthur screamed. Fifty Shadule surrounded the old man. The Awakened no longer held the base of the mountain. The line had broken, and everyone was scattered. Honi screamed and dropped to his knees as the Shadule overwhelmed him.

  “No!” Arthur shouted. Andreal charged through the fray, but groupings of spiny trees intercepted him. Within seconds the giant was gone.

  Parker ran toward the trees, screaming in rage, but before he could get there, the ground split open, and he disappeared into a deep crevasse. Sage shrieked just behind Arthur. He spun to see her swatting at a swarm of flying and crawling insects that buzzed around Aliyah. Arthur sent a wave of light to clear the insects away as Sage and her sister dropped to the ground, covered in swelling bites. Sage struggled to her knees, trying to revive her sister.

  “Get down!” Wild shouted. Arthur ducked as a flaming arrow passed just over his head. Wild tried to run to them, but a tornado smashed into him, hurling him away.

  Arthur used the little strength he had left to form a shield around the five of them who remained. Sage, Aliyah, Arthur, and his parents were the last remaining Awakened in the valley. Dark servants attacked from every side.

  His father dropped to his knees beside him as his mother wrapped her arms around all of them.

  “I have never been so proud,” his father whispered.

  “Oh no,” his mother said.

  They turned to look.

  A wave half as high as the mountain swept the valley, destroying every living thing. “It’s over,” Arthur said, hugging Sage close. The wave buried the dark servants and crashed into Arthur’s shield. He only held it a few seconds before the shield buckled inward. The last thought Arthur had before he died was one of regret for not being strong enough to help his best friend.

  “I don’t understand.” Tears stung Jack’s eyes. “You’re destroying it all. Not just the Awakened but your followers and the land—all of it!”

  The demon’s eye never left the destruction. “Did you truly think I cared about fame or riches?” the demon hissed. “I am a god, and those you call my followers are less than ants. This world is nothing. In destroying you humans, I have ripped out the Author’s heart. If I cannot kill him, I will crush everything he loves.” The demon turned its eye on Jack and Alexia, studying them a moment. “Yet maybe I was mistaken. If he truly loved you, he would never have allowed you to die at my hands.”

  Jack gasped as a tentacle pierced his chest.

  “I am done with you,” the demon crooned. “The war is over.” Jack’s eyes landed on Alexia; a tentacle protruded from her stomach. Her eyes glazed over even as she looked at him. “This mountain will be my throne, and I will spend eternity gazing upon my handiwork.” The demon dropped Jack and Alexia to the ground.

  Jack groaned as his eyes focused on his sister’s body. The demon hunched over Jack and took the poet’s pen, then slumped over to Alexia, where it retrieved the coffer.

  While he lay dying, Jack realized his mistake. For the first time since this had all begun, he understood that he’d always had the wrong of it. Jack had fought the demon on its terms. He’d accepted Belial as the monster he claimed to be. The Assassin told the world he was all-powerful. He told the world it wasn’t strong enough to stand against him, and the world had believed him. Though Jack had fought the Assassin before, he’d always accepted that he was the rabbit and Belial was the lion. And so they’d played out these roles as expected.

  The world crumbled in a blaze of fire. Jack peered from the edge of the cliff. The oceans overflowed their banks, and he understood he was too late. The end of all things had come.

  “It is finished!” the demon roared at the heavens. “The Children of Prophecy are dying, and this world belongs to me! Do you hear me? I have won!” Jack’s and Alexia’s stars had faded and were no longer visible above the slithering sky.

  It’s over. Alexia had fought as hard as she could, but the Assassin had been too powerful. There’s nothing more we could have done. She felt death approaching. But Alexia Dreager held on. She willed herself to stay alive just a few more seconds. She’d never been one to give up, even when all was lost. The world had been destroyed. There were no more Awakened and no more Shadow Souled. There was nothing but fire and darkness. If Jack wasn’t dead already, he would be any second.

  The Assassin had deceived his followers into thinking they would be kings and queens in his dark new world, but it had all been lies. His only desire had been to hurt the Author.

  Alexia couldn’t feel her body. She was eyes floating in a decaying world. The demon no longer stood over her, though she couldn’t move her eyes to see if it was still nearby. “The Assassin only has the power you give him.” The thought was dim. Alexia barely noticed it. Death cradled her in its arms. She could feel its kiss. “THE ASSASSIN ONLY HAS THE POWER YOU GIVE HIM.”

  Alexia blinked. She’d forgotten she knew how to blink. So what? It was a tired thought. Even if that’s true, it’s too late now. Again the thought pounded through her heart: “THE ASSASSIN ONLY HAS THE POWER YOU GIVE HIM!” She’d heard it said many times by Elion and Mrs. Dumphry. But she was dying. What did it matter now? All she needed was to let go, and it would finally be over.

  “No.” Her lips didn’t move, and her voice came out in the whisper of a whisper. Yet the word hung in the air. It had no more force than that of a butterfly’s wings, yet inside Alexia it resounded with the strength of a hurricane. She blinked again as death loosened its grip.

  “No!” she said more strongly this time. “I don’t …”—she stopped in exhaustion—“I don’t give you the authority to kill me.” A ripple ran through the pool of blood surrounding Alexia. Her chest heaved a deep breath as a trickle of blood flowed back into her body.

  Jack would have gasped, but he had no strength. As his sister stood, the wounds in her body mended themselves, leaving only scars. There was a radiance about her that hadn’t been there before. She looks j
ust like Mother.

  Alexia stumbled over and knelt beside him, grabbing his hands. She was speaking to him, yelling, but he couldn’t make out the words. The end had come, and Jack was far too tired to fight on. He didn’t know how she still lived, but it was too late for him.

  The last thought Jack Staples had before he died was one of love. Love for his sister, Alexia. Love for his best friend, Arthur Greaves. Love for all who’d died in the fight against the shadow—his father and mother, Parker, Mrs. Dumphry, Elion, Aias, Wild, Andreal, and all the people he’d met along the way. With his last breath, Jack Staples was grateful.

  Alexia pounded on Jack’s chest. “He doesn’t have the power! You just have to see it. Just believe! The Assassin doesn’t have any power over us! Jack, please! You can’t leave me,” she cried. For a very long time, Alexia wept into her brother’s chest. But Jack Staples was dead.

  Alexia stood and looked around. The sky was slithering darkness, and the world was bathed in explosions of fire. There were no oceans, just fields of bubbling lava and black stone. Alexia Dreager was the last human on earth. She’d been too late to save anyone.

  She clenched her fists. The Awakened might have lost the Last Battle, but she would not stop fighting. She would find the Assassin and put an end to him once and for all. She turned her gaze to the mountaintop. There was only one place he could have gone.

  Alexia Dreager began to climb.

  There is a space between life and death, a brief moment when the soul is detaching itself from the body. It is the space of a single breath where the body is not quite dead but is not really alive, either. And though it is only a breath, it can feel like a lifetime. Jack Staples looked down upon his body to see his sister collapsed atop him, weeping.

  “I think that was my new favorite part!” A child’s voice giggled in his ear.

  The world flashed a brilliant white, and Jack was suddenly sitting on the greenest grass he’d ever imagined. Time sat Indian-style in front of him, giggling and looking at the sky. She wore a frilly dress, and her emerald eyes sparkled. Jack looked up to see a vision in the sky. Alexia Dreager wept over her brother’s body as the world burned.

  “What are you talking about?” he said. “The world is gone, and everyone’s dead.”

  “Oh yes, that was terrible, all the fighting and whatnot. But I’m not talking about that part, silly. I’m talking about what just happened with Alexia! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so beautiful.”

  “What’s so beautiful about it?”

  Time giggled again. “Alexia just realized who she is for the very first time. Not even Mrs. Dumphry or Aias, not even Elion fully understood who you humans truly are. Not since the poet himself has anyone fully embraced their true identity.”

  Jack shook his head. He had no idea what Time was talking about. “So I am dead. And it’s all over, then. We lost?”

  “Oh no! You haven’t lost, silly! Didn’t you hear what I just said about Alexia? He can’t possibly hurt her now. And you can’t be dead, or you wouldn’t be here with me.” Time snickered. “But, yes, your soul is leaving. Soon you will awaken in Siyyon, where you will begin a wonderful new adventure.”

  “But what does it matter if Alexia manages to kill the Assassin? The world is gone. The Awakened, the Clear Eyes, all of them!”

  “What does the poet’s blood do when it touches something?” A small smile curved the edges of Time’s lips.

  “But we lost it. The Assassin swatted it away, and it’s lost. It’s too late, don’t you see? Mrs. Dumphry spent three thousand years searching for it for nothing!”

  “What does it do, Jack?”

  “It transforms whatever it touches,” Jack said irritably. “The poet’s blood gives life.”

  “And didn’t he tell you his blood runs in your veins?” Time leaned forward, watching Jack with a mischievous smile.

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with—”

  Time’s eyes widened. “Now you see it too,” she said. Her smiled deepened as she looked up at the sky. Jack looked up to see his body lying on the black stone. Alexia was no longer there. The world flashed around him, and when he opened his eyes, Jack Staples was back on top of the mountain, and the vial of the poet’s blood was lying beside him.

  Alexia Dreager’s star blazed in the dark sky. Besides the fires far below, it was the only source of light. The demon Belial lurked at the top of the mountain with its eye glued to the star just above. “Why do you still burn?” the demon sniveled. “She is dead! I don’t understand. Why do you still burn?”

  Jack’s star exploded into life, its light bursting across the darkness. The light from the two stars grew even brighter until they blazed like the noonday sun. “No!” the demon gurgled. “It is not possible!”

  From her hiding place, Alexia smiled. Jack is alive. And if he is, he also understands the truth of it. She stepped boldly from the shadows. “Belial,” she said. She didn’t shout, and she wasn’t shaking.

  The demon lurched around. When it saw her, it puffed out its chest and shrieked. At one time it would have caused terror to rise in Alexia, but as she saw it with true eyes, she was amazed at how puny the demon was.

  “I don’t know how you are still here, but this time I will make sure you are dead!” Belial lurched forward with beaks and spiked feelers outstretched.

  Alexia almost felt pity as she watched the feeble thing. It truly believed it was a god. But now Alexia understood who she was. The Author’s blood was in her veins. She stretched out her arm, and the demon stopped in midair.

  “Impossible!” it gurgled, squirming like a squid. “You don’t have the power to stop me.”

  Alexia walked slowly around the hovering demon, examining it. “It was all a facade.” She shook her head at the absurdity of it. “You never had any power at all. But we believed what you told us.”

  “I won,” the creature whined. “They are all dead. Even if you kill me, I have ripped out the Author’s heart.”

  “Not true,” a voice said.

  Alexia smiled. Her little brother had come. When she turned to look at Jack, she almost gasped. Light radiated from him, and as he stepped forward, the demon whimpered.

  “You almost won,” Jack said, “but the power to destroy is nothing compared with the power to create.” Jack walked over and reached inside the demon’s ragged cloak, retrieving the Poet’s Coffer. “I finally figured out what you trapped in here.”

  The demon’s eyes grew wide. “No,” it bleated, “you must not!”

  Jack placed one hand on the top of the coffer and one hand on the bottom and then twisted. A small hole appeared in the top. “I was in the throne room five thousand years ago when you killed the poet. I watched you slam your fist into his chest just before he died. I didn’t realize what you were doing until now.” Belial wept as Jack reached back into his cloak and pulled out the feathered pen. Alexia watched in wonder as he placed the pen in the hole. “You understood that a single breath of the Author holds more power than you ever dreamed. So you used the coffer to capture the poet’s final breath.” A trapdoor in the side of the coffer slid open.

  Alexia’s heart sang as a small breath of wind left the coffer. The breath of the poet grew into a light breeze as it swirled around them. The blubbering demon snarled and hissed. “It burns! Please, it burns!”

  “Is this really him?” Jack asked. “This is the thing we’ve all been so afraid of?”

  Alexia nodded. She couldn’t understand how they hadn’t seen it before. The breath of the Author grew to the strength of a hurricane. Alexia was sure the wind would blow them off the mountain, yet she felt safely rooted to the ground. The demon howled and shrank in on itself, trying to escape the otherworldly gale.

  Jack stepped up to the creature and looked it in its weeping eye. “This new world will be one of joy, laughter, dancing, and love. T
here will be no fear or death. And you are not welcome here.” He reached into his cloak and produced the vial of the poet’s blood. He smiled at his sister and then threw it high into the air. Lightning struck the vial, and the blood of the poet entered the storm. Blue, crystalline light filled the air as the storm grew ever stronger.

  The demon snapped at the furious wind. “No!” Its beaks frothed and its tentacles squirmed. The crystalline wind whipped at its cloak. “No! It burns!” the demon screeched as it began to disintegrate. “It burns!” The final shriek came out in a keening whisper before the demon faded into nothing. For a long moment, Alexia and Jack stood in the midst of the gale, not saying a word.

  “Not even Mrs. Dumphry realized what it means to be one of my children,” a voice said. Alexia and Jack turned to see the Author standing in the midst of the hurricane. Radiance shone from him, and his eyes shifted through a rainbow of colors as they gathered the light. “My blood runs in your veins, and this war was won the very moment you embraced the fullness of who you are.”

  The Author walked to the children and knelt between them, placing an arm around each of their shoulders. He feels like home, Alexia thought as she leaned into him. The storm grew ever larger, but though she stood on the edge of a great precipice, she felt no fear of being blown from the mountain.

  “May I ask you something?” Jack said to the Author.

  “You want to know why I chose to show up now, when the war is over. You want to know why I let the world crumble.”

  “It’s just that I don’t understand,” Jack said. “There was so much pain, so much loss, when you could have stopped the Assassin ages ago. You could have ended the war in the blink of an eye. He never had any power at all.”

  The Author’s eyes gathered even more light as he smiled. “I could have, but there’s nothing more beautiful than watching your children become who they’re meant to be. I was by your side every moment of this battle. I lent you my strength when yours failed. I whispered encouragement to your hearts, and my hand guided your steps. But if I had fought this battle for you, you’d never have learned the truth. This life, this world was merely a beginning. And though the Assassin caused great pain, you and your sister have found a faith that’s unshakable, and that’s more beautiful than anything in all of creation.”