Test The Awakened: Book Two, page 1
The Awakened: Book Two
Jason Tesar
Published by 4shadow Publishing at Smashwords
Copyright 2008-2010 by Jason Tesar
Books One through Three are available in a single print edition at most online retailers. For more information, visit http://www.jasontesar.com
Scripture quotations taken from the Authorized King James Version, Public Domain, 1611
Quotations taken from the Book of Enoch, Not in Copyright, Translation by R H Charles, 1917
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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The History and Prophecy
(a)…the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation…wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
(b)And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them…
(c)And they were in all two hundred; who descended.
(d)And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them…
(e)…taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them…
(f)There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
(g)…whose height was three thousand ells, who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood…
(h)…and as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven...
(i)Therefore, I will raise up one from among those you despise. And I will awaken his eyes to the mysteries which I have hidden from men since the foundations of the world. His feet will I make to tread upon the paths of destruction and his hands to make war. He will uproot the seeds of corruption which you have sown throughout the earth. And then you will know that I am the Lord and my justice is everlasting.
The Book of Enoch 6:1-2(b), 6:6-8(c), 7:1(d), 7:2-6(g), 8:1(e), 8:3(h)
The Epistle of Jude 1:6, 1:13(a)
Genesis 6:4(f)
From the writings of Ebnisha(i)
Chapter 1
The feeling of falling was gone, replaced by a suffocating presence. Adair was conscious of his limbs moving sluggishly around him. At first, there was only the feeling of pressure against his body. Then his skin began to detect temperature.
I’m cold!
The awareness that he was under water suddenly dawned on him and caused an initial panic. But his years of conditioning as a soldier took over. He stopped struggling in the water and held still, trying to determine which direction was up. A bubble escaped his lips and rolled sideways across his face, telling him the way to the surface.
He opened his eyes and felt the stinging saltwater. At first, his vision was cloudy. Then a flashing light drew his attention to his left. He turned his head and peered through the darkness.
There was another flash of blue light that turned white at the edges, illuminating something next to it. As Adair watched, the object moved.
It was the head of some creature.
Adair suddenly felt vulnerable and kicked his legs hard. He grabbed at the water and pulled himself upward. Without being able to see, he had no idea how fast he was swimming, but it seemed too slow.
Something crashed hard against his head and he winced, letting out a mouthful of air. Instinctively, he lashed out with his hands and felt a smooth surface above his head.
I’m trapped!
Again, panic threatened to overtake him.
He glanced in all directions, then noticed that the darkness was less intense to his right. He moved toward it and as he did, the water began to grow lighter. He swam faster. Then the light was above him. He swam upward again, but this time, nothing was blocking him.
Starved of air, he began to move the air from his mouth down to his lungs and back again. It didn’t help, but seemed only to distract his body from the fact that it would soon drown.
Faster and faster he swam and the light above grew more intense. He looked down into the darkness below and could now see a black shape coming up through the murky water beneath him.
He kicked his legs harder, then looked again.
The dark creature was gaining on him. Bubbles were coming from its distorted face, as two long fins propelled it through the water.
Adair looked up and saw the surface. He was only ten feet away, but it felt like a mile.
He broke through the surface into a hazy sunlight that instantly blinded him. He gasped for breath, taking in large quantities of air. Without the benefit of sight, he randomly chose a direction and began to swim as fast as his limbs would carry him, dreading that at any second he would be pulled under by the creature below.
It took only a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. To his surprise, he saw land.
That’s not possible! I shouldn’t be anywhere near land.
He turned around and saw that he was in the center of a muddy bay, roughly a mile across. There was land on every side, covered by lush, green vegetation.
Then he saw the creature. It was only ten yards away, its head sticking out of the water. Light reflected off one giant eye at the center of its black face. Its breath hissed in and out. All of a sudden, another head popped out of the water…then two more.
There’s four!
Adair turned and swam for the shoreline. His heart was racing from both fear and exhaustion. Though he struggled with every ounce of his being, his progress seemed terribly slow.
Something grabbed his ankle from behind.
Without looking, he kicked hard and broke free of the grasp.
A second later, something clamped down hard on his legs.
Ready to fight to the death, he spun around and punched the head of the nearest creature with all his might. The hit landed on the side of its giant eye and it reared back.
Adair’s hand exploded with pain and he knew instantly that he had broken bones.
But he was free again.
He backed away quickly, grabbing at the water to get some distance between him and these things, whatever they were.
The one that he punched reached up to its head with two arms and began to pull its face apart.
Adair flinched in horror, then stopped.
It was a man. He was removing something like a shield from his eyes and lifting it over his head. He spit out something from his mouth that was connected to a rope running over his shoulders. His head was covered in a tight black fabric of some sort, with an opening that only revealed his dark-skinned face, now covered in blood from a gash in his forehead.
The man spoke harshly in a foreign tongue.
Though Adair didn’t understand the language, he could tell that the man was cursing.
The other man who had grabbed him, turned around and raised one hand into the air, waving it back and forth.
Adair looked over the man’s shoulder and could see a dark shape floating on the water a hundred yards away.
Is it a boat?
Then, there was a bark, followed by a faint growling sound that got louder as the boat raced across the water. Adair watched in amazement. I’ve never seen a boat move this fast. What’s driving it? There’s no wind. I don’t see any oars. What kind of boat is this?
The growling ended abruptly as the boat veered to the starboard and came to a stop. The wake moved past Adair, lifting him slightly as he treaded water.
A man aboard the boat stood up. His strange clothes were mostly green, with patches of different colors all over. He wore pants and a tunic that covered his arms all the way to the wrists. He yelled at Adair in the same language that the other men had used. Then he waved his hand and beckoned Adair to come to him.
Adair kept still.
The man aboard the boat reached for something hanging from a strap around his neck. He raised it to his shoulder with both hands, then leaned his head to the side and closed one eye.
He’s aiming!
Adair looked at the object in the man’s hands. If it was a crossbow, he couldn’t see the arrow, or a bow string for that matter. There was nothing intimidating about it. There were no sharpened points, nothing to impale him. He thought briefly that he should be alarmed, but somehow he was not.
A few seconds of silence passed as the man peered at him through one eye.
Then the man moved his weapon a few inches to the left. A flash of fire exploded from the weapon, accompanied by ear piercing claps of thunder in rapid succession.
The water next to Adair burst into numerous fountains, reaching up to the sky. Adair flinched. When the water settled, he looked back to the man in the boat.
He was st
This time, Adair obeyed.
When he neared the boat, another man reached down and grabbed hold of his tunic and pulled him from the water and into the boat. He dropped Adair to the floor, then backed away toward the stern.
Slowly lifting his head, Adair noticed that there were a total of three men. The other two also had similar weapons on straps around their necks, pointing them in his direction.
Adair looked to the empty prow of the ship, then back to the men. They want me to move. He obeyed, moving cautiously. When he had gone as far as he could, he stopped, leaning against the soft side of the boat.
What is this? The boat appeared to be made from a pliable skin of some kind, stretched over a rigid structure of bones. He had never seen anything like it.
A low growl startled him and he turned toward the stern.
Two of the men were still pointing weapons at him, while the third was sitting down and holding on to a handle.
That must be the rudder control!
Without warning, the boat lurched into motion and Adair fell to the deck. When he adjusted to the motion and regained his footing, the two men guarding him looked suddenly tense.
It should have worried Adair, but instead, it comforted him. He had seen the same thing, time and time again, with inexperienced soldiers who guarded prisoners. Any sudden movement brought them face to face, in an instant, with the prospect of having to kill a man. Most of them just froze with a look of intensity on their faces.
…just like these men.
Adair couldn’t suppress the smile that came to his face.
But this only angered one of the guards, who started cursing at him.
Adair turned away and looked out across the water. It seemed as though they were skimming over the surface of the ocean, faster than any horse could run. The constant growling from the back of the boat told Adair that it was somehow linked to their movement. He had no idea where he was or what he had gotten himself into. These men were not the same as the ones he encountered off the coast of Bastul. As he looked around, everything was foreign. He didn’t recognize a single feature of the landscape.
He retraced the events in his mind, running from the enemy soldiers and ending up in that large cavern. He ran across the bridge over the moat and onto the circular stone area. That’s when he started to feel a great pressure upon his body. Then he was in water.
What happened? Am I dead?
Then he looked down. His sandal hung uselessly from his right foot. He raised his foot slowly and looked underneath, seeing the deep gash that was still bleeding. His two small toes were numb and unmoving.
Well at least I haven’t gone insane!
They reached the shore in only a few minutes. The growling sound lowered to a whisper and the boat coasted in the shallow water, coming to an abrupt stop on the dark sand. One of the men jumped into the water and moved around to cover Adair’s flank, aiming with his weapon. The other man, also pointing his weapon, nodded for Adair to get out of the boat.
Adair stepped cautiously over the prow and onto the sand.
One of the guards walked up on to the bank and started toward the forest.
Adair followed, with the second man behind him, aiming at his back.
The third man turned the boat and headed back out to the middle of the bay.
A few yards ahead was another strange sight—an iron chariot with thick, black wheels. It too, was green, just like the guards’ clothes. Adair couldn’t tell which end was the front; there were no reins and no horses. One end of the chariot had a large flat area that looked like it was made to carry cargo. This was where the men herded him, pushing him forward while keeping a tight grip on their weapons.
Adair climbed into the chariot and sat down on the deck.
One man followed him into the cargo deck and sat against the railing.
The other man climbed into another tight compartment where there was a chair of some sort. Reaching down, he touched something in front of him and the chariot barked like a dog, then proceeded to growl in a similar manner as the boat, though the pitch was lower and sounded more powerful.
Adair stared in fascination. Was there an animal inside of this chariot? Or was it something worse? Perhaps these men were sorcerers and moved about by demons. As it jolted into motion, Adair lost his balance again, but quickly realized that he was at the back of the chariot. After only a few seconds he was amazed. The ground would have been impassable to any other chariot he had ridden in. But somehow, this one rode over the ditches and holes in the road as if they were sitting on a cushion.
As they ascended the shore of the beach, Adair took note of his surroundings. Trees were down all along the shore and the low vegetation was covered in mud. In fact, it looked like this shoreline hadn’t been a shoreline for very long. Looking back at the bay, Adair could see that the vegetation ran all the way to the water, and even into the water in some areas.
Flood, he concluded. This water hasn’t been here for very long.
Moving uphill away from the water, the muddy terrain gave way to a wide, smooth road. Adair looked down and noted the black surface that spread for perhaps twenty feet on either side of them. There were no cobblestones. The chariot picked up speed on the smooth terrain and Adair scooted closer to the deck as he began to feel unsafe.
Shades of green flashed by as they nearly flew through the forest, made up of trees with leaves bigger than a man’s torso. Occasionally, they passed an open meadow with grass taller than a man. The air was incredibly humid. He remembered his first such experience when being stationed in Bastul. He and Maeryn had moved to the coast from the mountainous inland terrain in the north and noticed a difference in the air. But this was different. It was as if the air was actually wet. Adair wondered if it rained in this foreign place, for it seemed that the ground would always be full of water. And that explained why the trees and other plants were as big as they were.
They rode for nearly an hour, winding through the forest, all the while climbing. Adair became mesmerized by the rhythm of the chariot and the passing trees. He was exhausted and could have fallen asleep in an instant. But a sharp popping sound brought Adair out of his trance as he instinctively flinched. The popping was immediately proceeded by a horrendous squealing as the chariot skidded to a stop on the road.
Adair grabbed hold of the railing to keep from being thrown to the side. Out of the corner of his sight, he sensed movement. Before he could react, the guard at the head of the chariot seemed to flinch as one side of his head exploded in a shower of blood. His body slumped sideways in the seat.
Adair turned to his right and looked at the thick treeline on the side of the road. There was nothing but a tangle of vines and thick leaves.
The guard next to him pointed his weapon into the trees. It flashed with fire and jolted in the soldier’s hands as he waved it back and forth.
Adair covered his ears and lowered himself below the railing.
As he watched the guard, plumes of blood sprouted from the man’s back as his body convulsed. The life left his eyes and his body dropped to the deck. Adair could see small wounds on the man’s chest and wondered how something so small could kill instantly.
Adair’s heart beat quickly in his chest and the fear of being chased returned. He peered carefully over the railing and was shocked by what he saw.
Man-shaped objects were moving slowly out of the trees. But it was as if they were partially invisible. Adair squinted, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. As they spread out, he could see that they were men wearing multi-colored clothing that made them blend in with the forest. He counted five of them and they had now formed a semi-circle only twenty feet from the chariot.
Adair ducked down below the railing and tried to think of how to get out of this situation. After only a few seconds, one of them yelled something. Adair stayed where he was, listening.
Again, the man yelled something.
The language was foreign to Adair, but sounded different than his former guards. There was also no hint of anger in the voice, which was again different than the guards. Nevertheless, Adair stayed where he was.
A few seconds later, a face peered over the rear of the chariot. It was a man, but like none he’d ever seen before. He wore a hat with a brim that was curled upward on one side. His skin was smooth and multicolored, like his clothes, with patches of brown and various shades of green. But his eyes looked normal and despite the strange situation, Adair didn’t detect any danger.
