Genesis (Prophecy Rock Series, Book 1)

Chapter Nine

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9

The morning was grey, washed out like a rock beaten by the crashing waves of the ocean. Drops of dew still wet with perspiration that only the start of a new day could bring.

Raden arrived at the main gate an hour before the scheduled time. He always needed the extra time to mentally prepare himself for a mission, especially one as significant as this. He stuck to the same routine: find a tall tree, heavily shaded, and climb up to the first branch where he would sit and stare into everything and nothing all at once. He tried visualizing the mission in his head, moving from one point to the other along his imaginary map. When he’d reached the final point, indicating the mission was complete, and his return home had come, Raden’s heart felt at ease because he knew he had kept his promise to Kimi once again.

He had told Kimi last night that he would be going on another mission. He left out the details and told her he would return as soon as possible. She never asked why or pestered him about more information. She was so mature in that way. She simply gave him a big hug, told him to become a hero, and to come back home safely, where she and Lulu would have a big bowl of hot porridge with pickled vegetables waiting for him. He held her tightly before leaving her and Lulu with their neighbor, Mrs. Keo.

On this morning, he found his favorite tree; a large white oak that sat between the crevices of three large boulders whose natural formation led people to dub it the Great Trident. He sat on the branch, back leaning against the trunk, comforting him like an old broken-in chair, right leg extended out while his left arm rested upon his left knee. He reached for his silver necklace, holding the sun-shaped medallion between his fingers. Raden stroked the pendant softly, feeling every detail of the engraved image of a sunflower on the backside. As he visualized the mission, Raden cracked his knuckles, wrist, neck, and back. A bad habit he had developed when he was a child, perhaps the sensation of cracking equated to a release, or an escape from his difficult childhood, he wondered.

The sound of the flowing river brought back a flood of memories. He remembered struggling to hold Kimi afloat while the rushing water carried them downstream like a paper boat. He tried grabbing a hold of oncoming branches that jutted out into the river, but his every attempt ended with an empty handful of doubt. Doubt that he could make it to the next village alive. He resolved that if only one of them were to survive, he would do everything within his power to make sure it was Kimi. She was still too innocent to be tainted by the hardships and horrors of war. She was the one that deserved to live. At his lowest point, when his body seemed to fail him, his head bobbing between gulps of water and gasps of air, Raden suddenly felt the rush of the water pushing him downstream at a rapid pace. The water carried the two of them swiftly down the River Fate, somehow expertly navigating the winding turns, and delivering them at the foot of the next village. Was it pure coincidence that they had made it to their destination, or something more profound? Raden still struggled with the answer to that question.

The memory faded and Raden watched the morning mist softly rise off the earth and evaporate into nothing, visually bringing into focus the beautiful snow-capped peaks of Mount Iwai in the far distance. The sounds of the streaming river nearby, the rustling of leaves, and the morning call of hidden animals made this hour Raden’s favorite time of day, a calm before the storm that a new day always brought with it. But this morning felt different. Perhaps it was the strange sensation that his future mornings were not going to bring him such peace anymore.

Kara arrived exactly at 0600, punctual to a Tee; Raden knew she’d be ready to go. He had known her since she they were children, befriending her while in elementary school. Unfairly ostracized by the other students simply for her unique appearance, Raden was the one person to offer her any kind of friendship, himself shunned by his classmates for his odd behavior. Other students had nicknamed him Ghostface because he was always staring blankly at a tree or rock. Little did they understand the confusion that he was going through, and over time he began to care less about their opinions.