by Jamie Ott
~~~
They sat a long time on the ground.
“Will the orchard live, then?”
“The orchard will be fine. You gave it strength, and he was pleased, I could tell.”
“How did I give it strength? He looked pretty weak to me.”
“Your blood and tears, Jacko. The blessing is sealed with a blood sacrifice; he was, further, pleased because, through your tears, he saw your sacrifice. Part of your energy resonates with the orchard now.”
They sat in silence a while longer.
“Does this mean we go to war now?”
Lucem stayed silent.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get this over with!”
“We are waiting on a sign.”
“Why do you always leave me hanging like that? Are you gonna tell me what the sign is, or what?”
“There is something you do not know, and that no one has told you yet. There is a demon that you are destined to fight. He is your dark opposite, like you born into the human race when a dark god possessed a dark man.”
“You mean the demons sleep with humans to produce demonic children, just like the gods?”
“Well, of course. Why else are some men bad while others are good? Think, Jacko, think.”
“Will he be as powerful as I?”
“Yes, in their world, it is the burning yard of embers that he must walk through, and then he will go on a hunter’s journey.”
“Why must we wait? Let’s go over there and kill him now!”
“We cannot. I know you are impatient but we have ways of doing things. We do them honorably. We agreed to let our champions get their chance to train.”
“But they tried to kill me before I received my strength!”
“Because they are evil, conniving demons; a lower life form, if you think about it. We must be better than they are, if we are to remain good.”
“You know, I really don’t feel all that different. Are you sure the blessing worked? I don’t think I have the power of a god.”
“Try it, now. Go ahead heal your arm.”
“How?”
“Just think about it.”
He looked at his arm and imagined it was whole, like before. A gold light gleamed from it, like the way the tree did, and it was gaping no more.
“I suppose I always knew there was more to this than just going to war, for me. I’m not totally surprised that I have to fight some evil creature, as that’s how it always goes in the old Greek tragedies,” he sighed. “So what do we do in the meantime?”
“In the meantime, I want to take you somewhere, and then we can visit your family on the mountain; there, we will get you into training.”
“Oh so I’m invited to the mountain now?”
“You are a god now, so they cannot deny you.”
“Where will you take me, first?”
“I will show you my life, and my world; how things came to be. It is important that you understand who I am, and who you are, and what we must represent.”
“Take my hand,” but Jacko hesitated.
“I will bring you back. You are my son, and I would never hurt you.”
Reluctantly, he extended his arm and as the tips of his finger touched the back of Lucem’s palm, they were off in a whirl, like being swept away in tornado.
Due to the length of the original novel, the story has been divided. The second part to Jacko’s adventures is scheduled for release in 2012.
All rights belong to Jamie Ott.
To contact the author direct, please email her at [email protected], or check her author page on Facebook.
More about the author:
Jamie Ott is passionate about the fantasy genre of young adult literature. She has been sketching out this story for years. Currently, she is the published author of young adult novel, Maternal Absence and, soon to be released, Funk’s the Chocolate Loving Demon. Last year, she published her first romance novel, Misguided Trust.
