Leviathan by Vaughn Heppner

Author:Vaughn Heppner [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Published: 2010-06-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

From Dreams to Nightmares

Fear of man will prove to be a snare.

-- Proverbs 29:25

Joash gasped with pain, and released Irad’s hand. Joash opened his eyes, tried to stand and fell onto the wooden floor. Lord Uriah helped him up, and sat him on the stool where he’d received the vision. He tried to speak. His stomach cramped and he curled over and groaned.

“Lay him on the floor,” Zillith ordered.

Lord Uriah did so.

Joash felt the timbers shift underneath his back. A heavy blanket was draped on him, and a cool cloth put on his forehead.

“Drink this,” Zillith told him, as she put her hand under the back of his head, and tilted him up.

Joash sipped. The liquid was hot, but soothing. His guts no longer knotted with pain, and he was able to relax. The sweat that had oozed from his skin began to dry. His eyeballs, however, felt scratchy. It bothered him each time he blinked.

Before Joash could complain about his eyes, Irad made a noise. Zillith turned to him. Joash saw that the Arkite’s breathing seemed nonexistent. Suddenly, Irad gave a convulsive shudder. Then Irad the Arkite, he who wore a necklace of cave bear claws, skilled hunter of the Snow Leopard Tribe who had gone to the east gate of Eden and back, was no more.

Zillith solemnly pulled the blanket over his head.

“He was a brave and mighty man,” Lord Uriah said.

Zillith spoke no words, but kept her hand on Irad’s covered head as she bowed her own head.

Lord Uriah helped Joash to his feet, and with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Joash was propelled into Captain Maharbal’s room. Soon, Joash found himself retelling what he had seen. Captain Maharbal entered as he spoke, as did Herrek, and later Adah. They listened with awe, glancing at one another, but mostly staring at the floor, as they heard the awful truth.

“What does it all mean?” Herrek asked, when Joash stopped.

“They yearn to eat the fruit from the Tree of Life,” Adah told Herrek. She strummed her harp, and spoke in time with it. “The first man and woman were driven out of Eden, lest they eat of the fruit and thereby live forever. For if they lived forever with sin in the world, they could never be reunited with the Creator. Elohim had made man for many reasons. Like any good artist, He desired to create, and what a noble thing he made the Earth, and man, to be. Nor did He make us so we would feel pain, sorrow and gloom, but that we would know happiness, joy, love and usefulness. But He did not fashion automatons, things without will or a mind. He desired that we worship Him freely, that we have fellowship with Him, that we love Him and enjoy His company. How could humanity do those things unless they had the freedom to choose otherwise? Thus, He planted the Tree of Knowledge in Eden. Then, because of Morningstar’s cunning, and man’s disobedience, sin entered the world.

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