Beginning the First
Alone. I am alone, now, my earthly brothers and sisters long since gone back to Him. By all rights I should be an old, old man, living out my final days here in this sunlit land, surrounded by seas the color of Heaven’s shadow, waiting for that time when I close my eyes for a nap, and never again open them. But I am not an old man. And I never shall be.
I thought when I Fell that I would become a man as He did, able to die as He was destined to. In retrospect, such an assumption was foolish- after all, Lucifer didn’t become a man, nor did his followers. But I thought that since my Fall was voluntary (more akin to a Jump) and my circumstances different, the results would be different as well. And they were- but not in the way I thought they would be.
Oh, I appear to be mortal to any who might see me- I inhabit a body of all-too-human flesh, without wings, without celestial fire. But I do not age, and I will not die. I may hunger or thirst, but these things will not kill me. You may beat me, or even crucify me, but I will not bruise or bleed, and my bones will not break from any force you can apply. I do not need the air in my lungs for anything more than speech- and even that I may do mind-to-mind, if I so desire.
Of course, there are so few worth talking to since He left.
Begining the Second
It is funny how none of the books mentioned bedraggled young man who showed up in the stable a few days after the child’s birth. Of course, he was neither shepherd nor king, which made him difficult to fit into the narrative, so maybe that explains it. No one really knew what to make of him- he didn’t ask for anything, just seemed to like being around the baby, caring for him and for Mary, and Joseph too when he’d let him. All Mary knew was that she liked him immensely.
“He reminds me of someone,” she told her husband, who was quite frankly growing irritated with the curiosity their child was arousing. “And I feel better when he’s around. Don’t be so rude.”
So Joseph tried to curb his rudeness, but he could not help but feel strange about the young man who- when pressed- called himself Johnael. The truth was, Johnael reminded Joseph of someone, too- but the thought didn’t comfort him the way it did his wife.
Johnael disappeared the day they headed back to Nazareth. Mary was concerned about him, but Joseph pointed out that the young man had obviously survived over two decades just fine without Mary mothering him, and doubtless he would continue to get along just fine from here on out.
“Besides which,” he added, “Don’t you have more than enough to worry about with little Joshua, there?” Mary conceded her husband’s point: this was her first time as a mother, and as shockingly easy to handle as Joshua was, she did find her hands full (sometimes literally) keeping away all the small animals that seemed to want to curl up with him.
“The angles never said anything about this,” she muttered as she removed two sparrows and a hare from her son’s makeshift cradle.
Before long they were settled back into their lives in Nazareth, and they forgot all about the strange, quiet young man. Joshua matured swiftly, and it seemed as though hardly any time at all had passed before he had left home to strike out on his own. But Mary knew that time had passed- all she had to do was look at her once-smooth hands, now somewhat gnarled, and beginning to stiffen with age as she entered the middle of her fourth decade.
She found herself glancing down at her hands the day her son brought home a group of his friends- for there amongst the young men was one who appeared younger than them all- but who looked just exactly the same as he had when she’d last seen him, thirty some-odd years ago.
Johnael was back.
Beginning the Third
What do you do when the love of your life- of your very existence- decides to split Himself away from Himself, and send that part to become a mortal, destined to suffer and eventually die? Do you stay with the immortal part in heaven, and observe the unfolding of time as you have done for millennia? Or do you cast off your own semi-divinity to follow the mortal part to earth- to Fall?
At least my Fall did not hurt, as Lucifer’s is said to. I think that is because it was done to him against his will, whereas I gave up my wings and took on flesh of my own free will.
Free will- some mortals say we do not have it, but we do. We just have a better insight into the consequences of our choice- and such knowledge usually leads to better choices.
But not always.
So there you have it- three potentials. And I might not even go any of those routes. What do you think?
I think this may be the best story yet. The concept (to me) is pretty new. It may have been told before, but if so I have yet to read it. Anyway, about the paths, I think of the three I prefer either the first or the second. Though hearing the story with an intertwined version of all three would work just as well.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely can't wait for more. Seriously, are you writing now? ;-)