The Sworn Protector: From Tragedy To Glory

Reality or just a Dream?

     I was standing in the middle of some wide flat plain, surrounded by a thick mist. It was so thick that I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me. It was also daytime, but the sunlight only helped to decrease my visibility. How nice!
" Hello? Anybody there?" I called into the hazy mist."Hello?" I called again. " Katie? Anybody? Anyone?" Lonely silence surrounded me. "Where am I?" I asked myself outloud, shivering slightly because of the coldness of being alone and of the temperature of the place.
"Is Anybody here?!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the fog. Suddenly I heard flapping of large wing coming toward me. I heard whatever it was land a little distance in front of me, but I couldn't see it because of the fog. I could hear its breathing and feel the footfalls of this creature as it headed toward me. It got closer and closer. I glanced up and saw the outline of a huge reptile like head with red glowing eyes and two large curved horns glaring down at me. I quickly shut my eyes tight, expecting to wake up. It had to be just a bad dream.
   Someone's hand laid on my shoulder. My eyes snapped open,my heart beating fast. Nothing had change except that now I wasn't alone. In front of me stood an older looking Chinese man. He had a long,black braided pony tail. Also, he had a short grayed braided beard. He wore a red shirt with a small symbol of a black coiled dragon on the front. He also wore black pants with long, wide yellow strips going down each side of his legs. On his back was strapped a brown leather sheath that housed a black handled sword. He had put his steady hand on my shoulder and had a very kind and compassionate look in his eyes.
"I am here." He said softly to me."I am Isachar, the rejected lord of the Milky Way Galaxy. You must be......" He paused, looking straight into my eyes as if searching for my name.
"Jenny." I said after a pause. "Jenny Gray. You must be the guy who wrote The Battle of the Golden Fairy?" He nodded, taking his hand off me. " Well, you did a great job describing the scene, the fight, and everything! I've always wanted to meet you. Your imagination is so......" I tried to continue but a sharp look of displeasure darkened his face and a flicker of red fire burned in his eyes.
"Imagination!" He cried," those lives that died, the story,it's all true! All of it! But no, to you it's just imagination!" He stopped and turned away from me with his eyes shut, his head bowed as if he was meditating. When he turned his back, I saw a symbol of a large coiled black-scaled dragon covering his back similar to the smaller one on the front of his shirt. I couldn't believe my ears. Everything in the book actually happened!
"I'm......I'm sorry." I said putting my hand on his shoulder," I didn't know......"
"Nor do you believe." He interrupted. He turned around, his eyes not flaming like they were,his voice softer." But there is evidence all around you that my story is true."
"Like what?" I asked, a little sarcastically.
"If you will open your mind and receive instead of being so hardheaded, I will show you." He said.
"Okay," I sighed," show me."
        He took his whole arm and wrapped it around my shoulders. I felt like he was leaning on me. I started to move out from under his weight when,
"Look out, straight ahead of you." He told me.
I looked out into the mist, and wow! The mist around us turned into a living movie screen. Images of the Councils and Fairies armies clashing flashed before my eyes. Then, the Protector killing Alice's parents, and then about to kill her. The Protector's son picking up the baby, Naming her Alice. Then the screen showed a battle between the Protector's son dressed like his father whom he had killed fighting a boy who had the same sword he had used to kill his father. The boy was about to lose when a girl, with the necklace that the Protector's son had taken from the mother and with the bow strapped on her, encouraged him to get up. Which he did, killing the Protector's son. But all of a sudden the boy yanked the Protector's son's visor and wept like he had lost his only friend in the world.
     The scene flashed again and it showed the boy descending to earth in a large cloud funnel. Water whipped around and a ship was caught in the storm. The boy's feet touched the water and land, a castle, and several soldiers formed. The storm carried on as the boy fell on his knees, still crying. The ship in the water was approaching a large white rock. A man whispered in the boy's ear and the boy quickly stood up and drew his sword. Blue flashes of lightning emitted brightly from the blade. He stuck the blade in the water and the bright blue lightning spread out all over the water. The storm stopped instantly, but not fast enough. The ship struck the rock and blew up in a ball of fire.
   The scene changed again and this time showed a girl running in the woods, being chased by a tall, well built boy. She his behind a large tree before he saw her. He came to the small circle of trees and glanced around. Then, as if he could see right through the tree he began walking towards the girl. But before he glanced behind the tree, a dark hooded figure with the bow that the girl with the necklace had, stepped out and aimed at the boy. The boy turned around and the girl sent a arrow straight through his heart. The boy fell to the ground and disintegrated, the arrow still laying where the boy had fallen. Then, the scenes stopped, as Isachar took his arm and weight off my shoulder.
"The truth." He said solemnly.
"The girl.....that's Alice isn't it? I asked.
" You are correct." He responded." And the who killed the Protector's son is Johnathan, her adopted brother. Johnathan is the son of the one he slew. Alice had made a promise to kill the Protector and his family, which the Protector at the time was the one who saved her life. You must stop her,before she kills the wrong person. You see, they have an uncle named Walker. Johnathan's father was the adopted brother of Walker. I saw the Death of Alice's parents and honored Johnathan's father for his actions by making him the Protector. But then Walker also knew about Alice and accused me of breaking the rules of battle. So, the board banished me from being lord and now I'm stuck here, replaying the story over and over in my mind. You need to tell her the truth by using truth."
"What?!?!" I said, now really confused," How am I to tell truth by using truth?"
"Johnathan's sword has two secrets." He responded," The secret of love and the secret of truth. It has two sided blades and together its power is unstoppable. But separate them, and they will work by themselves just as if they were still connected. In order to unlock the secret of truth, you need to get truth by itself." He explained." Now how to do that, that is what you need to figure out."
   "But I'm not smart enough to do that! Besides,that sounds like an algebra find the "x" problem. I hate math. Don't you have anything to say that could help me?" I pleaded.
He thought for a long moment. Finally he reached into one of his pockets and produced a half-pint glass bottle filled with a light greenish juice.
"The bottle of Wisdom." He said solemnly." Drink this, and you will be Wisdom. You will figure out anything your heart desires." He handed the bottle to me. I just stared at it,my eyes narrowed in unbelief.
"It was made by Alice's mother. This is the only juice made of its kind. It will give you enhanced learning capabilities and will make you the fastest learner in the whole galaxy." He added, motioning for me to drink it. I opened it and took a whiff. Ewe! The smell was terrifying! But I bravely pushed the smell aside and put the glass to my lips. I felt the liquid touch my mouth. Hey! It tasted great! I tipped the whole glass and drank deeply of the sweet tasting juice.
"It will be sweet in your mouth, but it will disturb your stomach greatly." He said after I poured it all down into my stomach. The moment he said that my stomach knotted up in severe pain. The pain was so great that I fell on my knees. I barely could breath even though I was gasping in truckloads of air.
"It will only last a little while." He added, trying to be encouraging." But I must go now. It's up to you now to do what is right." He said,turning like he was about to walk away.
"Wait!" I gasped in pain," Are you really a dragon?"
Isachar didn't answer. In fact he didn't even turn around. He kept his back to me.
"Isachar?" I asked now laying on the floor behind him because the pain was so great. He then stretched his hands out sideways as if he was a bird.
    "I am." He said simply. "Go." Then a bright white light from Isachar blinded me. When it dimmed, I saw the coiled dragon that was on Isachar's shirt now coiled up in front of me, except much bigger. Its gigantic head was next to mine and our eyes met. I was in awe.
   "Go." The dragon told me in a voice exactly like Isachar's. The stone ground I was laying on broke underneath me and I fell down and down into absolute darkness.