Ah yes, the Bible! That wonderful book that's supposed to hold all the keys to life. If I said I wasn't well acquainted with it, that would have been an absolute lie.
If the hundreds of hours of mandatory Sunday school weren't enough to drive it into me, then the hundred of hours of Veggie Tales I've watched with my sister certainly were.
God, I've not no beef against you or your religion, but Veggie Tales is something we don't discuss. If I'm going to hell, then I hope that at least the creator of Veggie tales goes with me.
Hearing her mention the Bible, my mind immediately responded with memorized lines of text.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep," I recited.
"If you're familiar with the book, then perhaps this lesson will be easier. To put it simply, one specific line is misinterpreted."
"Misinterpreted?"
"You see when you get there. It's a bit hard to explain on its own. Anyways, the line I wanted to draw focus to is this:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Falls, what does this line mean? Answer that question first."
"It's saying that God gave Adam the role of leading the animals right. What else could it mean?"
"What you're thinking is just what I expected so let's change your viewpoint a bit. Think about what the word dominion literally means."
...
"It means to have control over something. Why would that—You're joking right? Surely the text wouldn't blatantly imply something like this. I mean, it goes against the entire point of the book!"
For my Christian self who had known nothing but the teachings of the church, this was an unacceptable truth.
"Yes. By dominion, it means control of everything. Every Earthly concept, every single element of the planet, all of it was handed over to Adam. That being named Adam is the person that people like me call The First. The Bible isn't wrong, it's the humans who have lost the real version over the course of history. No one knows whether the rest of the Bible is true or not, but it's undeniable that there once existed an all-powerful being named Adam who could manipulate and control everything on Earth. Now Falls, when Adam died, what do you think happened next?
"His descendants gained his power?"
"Exactly right. When Adam died, the power he possessed was scattered into humanity, the race descended from his line. That power, the ability to control specific things, is called Authority by those aware of its existence. Its advent changed the ancient world and today, all the myths and legends from across history can be attributed to the Authority passed down from Adam."
Am I supposed to believe this crap? I refuse to accept a single word of this nonsense!
"Ok, that makes sense."
Yup, I accepted it without another question. Strange what almost being blown up by concrete will do to your ability to believe. Between all the ridiculous I've seen in the past week, this was really nothing too strange.
"So, what do you assume happened next after the advent of such reality-defying powers?"
...
"War. War is what happened next. After just a few hundred years, devastating wars that wiped out entire chunks of the planet broke out all over the world. The wars were rare but they threatened the very fabric of our existence when they occurred. All the small instances of fighting eventually scaled up to a conflict simply referred to as the war. No one knows what happened and to this day, it's dangerous to even mention it. It's said that on that day, the foundations for the world we now live in was created. All of the natural laws of the world, even rules such as death; they were all established during that single conflict."
YAWN.
I'm sorry but I couldn't help but fall asleep. History was never my strong suit and when she began to ramble on about some random war, my brain just couldn't handle it. Obviously, Sophia was not happy to find her student off in dreamland during her explanation.
"Falls!" called Sophia.
"Huh? Huh? X equals thirty-four! Oh sorry, my bad Ms. Akinson."
"Hmph, I'll skip all the lore then if you're too bored to listen. It's not like I wanted to tell the story or anything like that. That stuff interests me but I guess you don't feel the same."
That last part was clearly an attempt to make me feel bad and I'll admit it worked a little.
"TLDR, most people can control things with their mind but the laws of this current version of reality greatly dampen that ability to the point where it's irrelevant for most people."
"Not for you apparently."
"Exactly. My inheritance of Authority is high enough to surpass that dampener and manifest. As you've seen, I possess the ability to control blood. Theoretically, if that global dampener was somehow removed I would have an even greater power under my control."
"What about the man then? Why was he hunting you?"
Just like before when I asked her about that certain word, she froze. Unlike last time, however, she made no attempts to hide her rage. From her eyes, a dangerous pressure began to leak out.
"Drop it."
...
"Yeah, sorry."
I didn't dare to press my luck any further so as she asked, I dropped it. An awkward silence followed but thankfully, the nurse came in to remind me that my visiting period was over. There were still questions on my mind but at least I had the beginnings of an answer.
I don't know how my mysterious powers fit into all this but there's always tomorrow to ask Sophia again. It's not like we'll be discharged any time soon.
As I passed the repeating rooms of the hospital, I thought hard about the world, myself, and the coming future. The thoughts clouded my head and absorbed my entire focus.
On the way back, I would have missed my own room, if the smooth voice of a pop star hadn't called out to me.
"Yo, Fails! Did you forget about me or something? If that's the case then I'll be glad to reuse all my material on you a second time."
"Ehhhhhh!? Why are you here!? Wait ... wait ... ARE THOSE MINE!?
"Dunno, but patients shouldn't be eating apples anyway. You'll scare the doctors away you know. Ha! Up top sis!"
Leisurely lying back on my bed while eating the apples meant for me, was none other than Gale Walter, my older brother with his twisted lack of common decency.
|
|
|
|
|
V
Yo wasup, author here for another author's note at the end of a chapter. Thanks for reading yet another few thousands words of this story. The last chapter and this one have been kind slow. I want to take the time to flesh out the world so I guess this chapter will be the sacrificed exposition one.
And yeah, comment and hit the star thingy if you like.
With that mandatory author note stuff out of the way, here's the fun part.
Chapter question: What do you think Gale will be like in the next chapter?
Well simple one so I'll say good bye now.
Peace and see you Wendsday!
YOU ARE READING
Fated to Fail: War on Destiny, Magic, and other Pesky Paranormal Phenomenons
AdventureFalls Walter does not want to be a fantasy protagonist. Magic, supernatural abilities, all of that crap belongs to the list of things Falls wants to avoid until the day he dies. All he wants is a normal high school life and up to the week before, i...
