Chapter 6 (A Part of Adonai)

As soon as I wrote Chapter 5 I thought of this one, but I didn't have any time to write it.

Chapter 6

Ben woke up early the next morning, not being able to sleep for some odd reason. He tiptoed out of the room and snuck out the door leading to the village.

He looked around. The sun was just coming over the horizon; the clouds in the distance were a gold/silver/pink. There was dew on the ground, and Ben's sneakers were already wet.

A noise made Ben jump and whirl. There stood Hans, who had just come around the corner of the house.

"Greetings, Ben," Hans said quietly, so as not to wake the people in the house. "What brings you out here?"

"Oh, nothing much. I couldn't sleep." Ben hesitated for only a second before asking the question that had been on his mind last night. "Hans, who is Yeshua. Why do you call him master?"

The older man sat down on the stone steps and motioned for Ben to join him. Then he explained. "He is our Master."

Ben blinked.

"He's the son of Adonai, the great Maker of everything. Because we're sinful, Adonai sent Yeshua to come down to us and make us clean again. Though me, nor the rest of the followers, are sure how he will."

Ben nearly gasped aloud. "Then, Yeshua is the son of Adonai?"

"Well, he is Adonai." Hans told him. "I know, it's sort of confusing. But Adonai promised that he would send his son to save us, and here he is."

"So, Yeshua is the son of Adonai and is Adonai." Ben wasn't quite getting this.

Hans smiled. "Exactly."

"Oh." Ben pondered this for a moment. Then he exclaimed. "I get it! Sort of like, Yeshua is a part of Adonai. Right?"

Hans cocked his head to one side. "Yeah, sort of like that. It's very hard to put into words."

The boy nodded. I need to tell Kaela this. Then he remembered something else he wanted to ask.

"What's going on in this area?" he asked. "Who's in charge?"

"Ah. That...is rather depressing." Hans' smile faded. "But let me explain. Many, many, years ago, a being (I would say man but I don't think he was) named Daran ruled over Elandai. He was cruel and heartless, and Adonai's sworn enemy. But then Adonai raised up two children (their names are lost to history, unfortunately) and through them and a man named Nolan, Daran was defeated. And then Nolan became king over Elandai, under Adonai.

"But Daran was not defeated for good. He never will be until the end of time, and my master Yeshua will give him a mortal wound, and he was only down for a little bit. When Nolan died, his eldest son ruled after him. Even though both were good kings, the son was not half as good as King Nolan (an excellent king, may Adonai bless his memory), and the kings after them got worse and worse. And now king Nefshar is on the throne, and a weaker and more...easily turned aside man there has never been before ruling. Though he is only a figurehead. The real one in charge of everything in the kingdom is Daran."

Ben felt a chill run through him. On their last adventure, Klii had said that Daran would not be so easily defeated. How right the old man had been.

"Daran, under Nefshar's name, has placed his soldiers all throughout Elandai. We are lucky; the only soldiers stationed in this village are humans. Many others are ogres, or other horrible monsters."

"Wow," said Ben heavily. Not that he wanted to say anything, he just wanted to break the depressing silence after Hans had finished talking. "I guess this isn't Elandai's golden age."

Inside, he was thinking. Man, guess I'm going to have to tell this to Kaela, too. Guess this wasn't a good time for Josh and Lindsey to come. This isn't going to get very pretty.
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Izori