Chapter 2

(Where in the shit hits the fan and our soon to be hero begins his journey. Also I amused as all get out that this song came up on Pandora as I began this chapter.)

Depeche Mode Blasphemous Rumours.

We all walked to the hall of the sanctified as families. The kids were quiet and doing their best not to get the attention of any of the adults. All of whom looked like they were bracing themselves for some coming storm, which to be honest had been something we had all been doing since we knew enough to know the end times were here.

We all filed into the hall as Elder Clayton walked to the podium at the front and pulled out the great book. The book was very important. Apparently there were only 7 copies in the world. Every chapter of the New Dawn had their own copy. Each copy passed to the new elder when the previous one passed.

The hall itself was the one place on the island that was ornate. The elders had spent the last 60 years building the place and then doing their best to add more and more to it over the years. The interior was all a kind of grey, with gold and silver designs flowing over the walls. Later someone said they looked like tribal tattoos. No actual images of any sort were allowed, as God had commanded their by no idols present in the of the Chosen. God was a thing to not be experienced in some paltry statue or picture.

The pews were all made from felled local trees. Some of them so large that the first five rows were made from single trees. Their excess carved away and sanded until they made the shape the elders desired. The wood was left unpainted and instead a varnish was added to it to preserve it over time.

The process of people walking in was orderly and deathly silent. No one dared speak as Elder Clayton looked over the assmbled throng. Dad Mom and I took our usual seat toward the back. Dad had joked that we had that spot so often that the wood over time would meld itself to our bodies.
Sitting next to the aisle I kept my eyes forward and tried hard not to meet Elder Clayton's gaze. Behind me I heard the rest of the Chosen taking their seats.

Meanwhile I had no idea what to think. This was it, the end of the world, or at least the beginning of the end of the world. How was I suppossed to feel at a time like this? Happy? Soon God would descend and take us all to our reward for fighting on it's behalf. Sad for the outsiders? I had met them from time to time, when the state would send someone to inspect the schools and our living conditions. Or when Dad would go on a trip to get supplies we couldn't find or make for ourselves. They were people too, not chosen by God, but yet I heard them Laugh and talk and such just like my own people.

Scared? I mean Let's face it God and I had what could only be called a strained relationship at the time. Maybe I among the Chosen would be left behind to fend for myself as the world collapsed.

From behind me I heard something familiar. "Mew?"

I didn't look behind me. I knew if I did Elder Clayton would see it and bring me up as an exercise in discipline for the rest of the kids. But if Mew came in right then Elder Clayton would lose his temper. A year ago he had grabbed Terry Morris's cat in front of all the assembled Chosen.

Leaning over I whispered to Mom. "Mom I need to pee."

She rolled her eyes. "You cannot be serious, why didn't you go before we left."

"I didn't need to pee then." My eyes were desperate. "Mom please."

"Sigh you would be the only child to show up to face the end with his pants all wet." She shrugged. "Go but hurry."

I got up stiffly and walked calmly to the door and turned toward my house. Mew was sprinting there. "Ohh God please Cat." I thought. As I ran after her. I had to get her in the house so she wouldn't interupt the Service of the end times.

She ducked into a drain pipe, and I reached in to get her. My fingers just barely touching her front paws. I could hear her hiss from inside the pipe. A rare sound, Mew was usually a very even tempered cat.

"Mew please not now, I need to get you inside." I said quietly. She hissed again, and at about that time Something happened. The sky had darkened.

Turning my head I looked up and gasped.

Storm clouds were forming over the hall of the Chosen. Not like they usually do, rolling in over the horizon. These were appearing from the sky right over like they were pushing out through a hole in the blue sky. As the cloud spread out it began to be internally lit with a green glow.

I sat back in utter awe of what I was seeing. My jaw on the ground my hand came out of the drain  and a second later Mew followed. She looked at the sky and hissed.

Meanwhile I sat there, torn. It was obvious it was happening, the apocalypse was real! God was coming to us. Somehow though it all felt wrong. The sight over the hall was less an appearance of angels and more the announcement that something very bad was coming. I felt my skin crawl as the whole of the clouds turned a near sickening shade of green. As it did it looked like something was fluttering down from the clouds.

Surely this would be the mana that Elder Clayton spoke of so often. The food that God provided the faithful that would fill our bodies and souls.

As it landed though I could see each piece was like a piece of black grey ash. Were it landed the plants withered and died. Slowly all of the years crops began to crumble in front of my eyes.
Mew climbed into my lap as I took it all in. I scooped her up in my hand and stuck her in the breast pocket of the jacket Mom had made for me.

With her safely with me I ran to the hall.

Chapter one.

(Here's where I beg you to let me get to the good stuff, opening chapters are difficult. Establish a world establish a character etc. So the first three chapters might be sparse but will be edited later.)

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that my life was saved by me being a naughty child. Well to be honest, naughty, had a very wide meaning in the community where I grew up. My parents were members of a strict religious order that had moved out onto an island in Puget Sound decades ago.

All of which would have been news to me on the day it all began. This community had been my whole world. For nine years and change I had lived among the Followers of the New Dawn. Raised by them and taught in their ways.

I'm told by other kids who had what some would call a "normal" upbringing that mine was odd. I mean Went to school and learned the basics. I could read better than Dad, and I was good at what math the teachers gave us. On the other hand we were also taught things a normal school would have blanched at.

Once you were old enough to be considered in the age of reason you were given classes in first aid, and foraging, going out into the Forrest to hunt for mushrooms and herbs. By the time I was 8 I had a small rifle and was sent out to get rabbits or other small game for food.

All this training was to make me and the other children in the community into "warriors for the end times." A phrase Elder Clayton loved to say over and over again. As he reminded us of our great mission in life.

Elder Clayton led the whole of the Islands congregation. To us he was the world, and as far as worlds went I wished I was on a far different one. Elder Clayton loved to tell us all about God's love. Usually as he asked us if we were worthy of it after some minor infraction. After a while I was beginning to think that God was some mean spirited guy who didn't like anyone having any fun.

Mom and Dad were nicer. Dad was a tall long man with a handsome face. He kept his blonde hair cut short. He worked repairing stuff around the community. Engines, pumps, the water system etc. Anytime I wasn't in school, or taking care of some errand the elders wanted done I was following him around learning his craft.

Mom was a pretty woman of what looked like average height. Her long Dark hair framed a face that was often locked into a look of concern or worry. Before she came to join the New Dawn she had been a nurse in a hospital out in the sinful world. Today she handled everything from skinned knees to child births. And when she wasn't doing that she was teaching the kids about first aid, and other medical stuff. She was so proud of me when I moved up from the little ones group to the acolytes. There we learned more than just the basics of putting on bandages.

All the while we we were told of the coming apocalypse and how it was our role to not just fight in the name of the New Dawn but also to make sure the apocalypse happened on time.

It was a month before my birthday when Elder Clayton got excited. That was never good. Every time he got worked up he'd get happier to enforce the silliest of rules. If one of kids stepped out of a line by an inch we'd find ourselves hauled into the elders office for an ass whipping.

He'd been in touch with some of the other New Dawn chapters, and they were now all convinced that the beginning of the end would happen at the end of the month. Right on my birthday. I didn't know who this God was who start the end of the world on the day of my birth, the one time where I was cut loose from the most trivial rules, but I was sure he was looking down on the situation and laughing.

So we all did our best to do more and better before the end began. We studied harder, scoured the island for food to stockpile and above all spent most every hour in prayer or meditation.

Well they did. My best friend and I usually had other plans.

My best friend was a tiny little orange and white kitten I had named "Mew". Because that's what she usually said when she saw me. We had found each other while I was out hunting. She kept following me despite my attempts to shoo it off, and by the time I came home we had developed a mutual fondness.

Mom agreed that Mew could stay with us, especially after the little kitten took to hunting any stray vermin in the area. Leaving proud evidence of her hunting prowess for us all to see. The island was over run with Mice and rats, and periodic rat bites weren't uncommon. So a good hunting cat was a prized member of any family.

So while everyone else went to their rooms to pray, Mew and I would sit in my room and I would play quietly with the little animal. I'd talk in low tones to her about how some day she would become a tiger and hunt bigger creatures on the island. Mew would sit there and soak it all in purring happily as I petted her.

The month couldn't pass quickly enough. Everyone was more serious than usual. Laughing became discouraged among the children and  it seemed like any sort of idea of fun was now considered a sin. The attitude infected everyone. Mom and Dad seemed more tired than usual and their tempers were getting shorter even with each other.

Seriously at this rate the end of the world couldn't come fast enough.

Preface

Sometimes you're sitting on an idea for a long time and it morphs and meets a few other ideas and they all decide to hang out and form a band, this story might be my personal example. It all began naturally enough with me studying myths and mythologies of the name and concept of Lucifer. The Morningstar and came to discover that those mythologies branched out into different belief systems. Along the way a friend of mine and I stumbled upon the notion that is best layed out as the question. "If there was a war in heaven, and history is written by the winners, how do we know the good guys won?" So, having now searched for what used to be forbidden knowledge, and found a question that could offend a good chunk of the Western World. I moved on to create ideas and characters around the idea of a survivor of an apocalypse cult a an invasion of Earth and the galaxy by creatures from beyond our dimension humans meeting races from outside our solar system and then added a soundtrack of Industrial and cold wave music to it. It's been through a lot of stages but now the pieces seem to fit. Maybe. Sorta. So if you're reading this, WELCOME!! Watch a first draft happen in front of your eyes!! Prepare to be dazzled by words, and ideas and suggestions of music to listen to. I do welcome suggestions and edits, if you've ever read any of my previous work you know I have clumsy fingers and a brain that loves to cough up ideas faster than my body can type. So feel free to send comments. Now then off we go. Meet Jordan, a child whose life is going to take a very big turn. (Somehow I highlighted the text when I started this and it won't un highlight, all other posts should be more black text on white background.)