Andrew, Kaya, and Jacob watched as Marcia and her band of six stood in front of the outer archway, straining to read the words above it.
“Is it a warning?” Sakra asked.
“I don’t think so,” Marcia said reassuringly.
She turned to face her little band of Travelers, and announced, “We have nothing to fear. Trust me my friends. We are all here for a reason.”
Everyone, including Andrew, Kaya, and Jacob, nodded in agreement.
“Follow me a while longer and we will all be home.”
Marcia and her team stepped into the towering doorway. Inside the letters atop the portal, a cobalt-blue liquid swirled and rippled.
In the time it took each of them to walk under the archway, their inner-selves had been revealed, and the swirling within the letters quieted.
Simone, a thin, tall, leathery looking man wearing little more than dirty rags walked up behind Marcia. She turned toward him as he approached and smiled. Her yellow, broken teeth betrayed the inner giddiness she felt deep within her soul.
“Marcia?” Simone asked.
“Yes, my friend.”
“That was truly the strangest thing, I cannot describe it.”
Deep wrinkles flared from around Marcia’s pale green eyes as tears welled up. She blinked, and they spilled over onto her cheeks.
“Do you feel like you just got recognized for being a good person?” she asked.
“Yes, but it was more than that,” he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands.
Sakra had taken up her post on Marcia’s right, and added, “It feels like I just opened the front door to a house I could call my own. I feel welcome.”
“Yes! That’s it. I feel welcome here,” Simone jubilantly agreed.
Marcia beamed with joy. Her months of traveling had taken her to exactly where she was supposed to be.
With every step, a scene too impossible to believe revealed itself, and the little band of seven kept pointing and gasping; never once taking notice of the lettering above the final, inner archway. As Marcia stepped out of the sand and onto the smooth stone, the towering spire dominating the City ignited with blue-white Light, calling to the world.
“Wow! I didn’t see that coming!” Andrew said as the Light surrounded them.
“And that is how it all begins.”
“So they just showed up, and the Kingdom came to life?” Jacob asked.
“You’re vastly oversimplifying things Jacob, but yes. When Marcia and her group finally arrive at the City, it all comes to life.”
“When you say it comes to life, you’re speaking metaphorically, aren’t you?” Kaya asked.
“Not at all, this City is very much alive.”
“Alive like a tree or alive like a person?” Andrew thought to them all.
“There is no difference to me. How do you see yourself as different from a tree?”
Andrew started to speak, then stopped. He thought about what he might say, and it was heard well enough.
“So the tree doesn’t feel, and you do? The tree has no voice, and you do? The tree is alive, but not as you are?”
“You know it’s very disconcerting to have all my thoughts overheard by everyone, all the time.”
Kaya reached out and shared herself with Andrew. It felt like she had taken his hand into her own.
“It’s also very disconcerting not to have a body,” Kaya added.
Jacob agreed with both of them, and asked, “Is it possible to do all this in our regular form, as people?”
“Each of you would clearly like this more than your current state,” and in a flash of brilliant color, they regained their human form.
Kaya floated next to Andrew, holding his hand. Jacob was across from them, and the kindly, wise face with the twinkling eyes took them all in with His sweeping gaze.
“Let’s go to the Fountain at the east entrance, where we can sit and talk.”
Marcia sipped from the water of the Fountain just as the landscape around them blurred.
“Wait,” Kaya insisted. “I want to see how each of them responds to the water from the Fountain.”
“There will be plenty of time for all that after you’ve lived a little.”
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the Fountain of Knowing on the east side of the City. Falling forward on unsteady legs, they grabbed the edge of the Fountain.
“It always takes time to get used to that,” their Creator said with a good spirited chuckle as He stepped up to the base of the Fountain.
“God?” Jacob asked.
The man cupped His hands beneath the shimmering curtain of water and began splashing water onto His face.
“It will be easier if you just call me Father,” He thought to them all. “Having someone call you God creates all sorts of issues.”
“Don’t you like being God?” Kaya asked, hopping up and sitting down on the edge of the Fountain.
Father laughed aloud, sending waves of pure joy ringing through their souls.
“That’s wonderful, Kaya,” He said, with water dripping down His face and off His beard. “I can’t remember a time when anyone has asked me that.”
He wiped the water off with the long sleeves of His robe and hopped up next to her. Andrew and Jacob backed up from the Fountain until they were all facing each other.
“Water is such a beautiful thing,” He said, playing with a small drop between His fingers. “So simple and yet so versatile. You would be amazed at the messes I’ve seen cleaned up with this stuff.”
He looked up into their anxious faces, and said, “When you’re “God,” people think you’re going to solve all their problems. But that’s just not how I do it. Father is a much more appropriate title. I see to it that you arrive, then it’s up to you.”
“Is that why there is so much suffering?” Jacob asked, unconsciously rubbing his arms.
Father’s eyes lit up at the question, and He tugged at His beard as He answered. “You know Jacob, I get that question a lot.” His forehead furrowed with deep thoughts, and He stared off into the distance, “It seems strange to me that my creations look at their lives or the lives of others and see suffering. To me, there is only cause and effect. There isn’t any one thing in this whole universe that doesn’t have to come to terms with something, but that’s not suffering, that’s just how it works. I don’t create suffering, it’s all based on your perspective. Actually, that brings me to the very reason we’re together right now.”
He brought His gaze back to each of them, and said, “My precious cargo, you have a lot of living to do if you’re going to make it through five hundred years of the real thing.”
“All of this still feels like a dream,” Andrew thought aloud.
“Well, it’s about to get even stranger, but there really isn’t any other way.”
“What is it, Father? What do we have to do next?” Kaya asked.
“You have to become wise.”
“But the Fountain taught us more than I ever imagined possible. If that’s not wisdom…,” Jacob trailed off as Kaya cut in.
“Nobody who drinks from the Fountain gains wisdom Jacob, all they ever get is knowledge. That’s what I know from my grandmother and our stories. That’s what I know from the Fountain, too.”
Jacob and Andrew looked concerned because they knew her words were true.
“Wisdom is harder earned than any cup of water. Wouldn’t you agree?”
They all nodded.
“But I thought that’s why you brought us back to the first Kingdom, so we could learn from those mistakes,” Andrew insisted.
“Oh, we’ll get to that part soon enough, but watching someone make a mistake isn’t quite as good as the real thing. If it was that easy, I could have you witness a million bad decisions, and you would be the wisest people ever, but it doesn’t work that way. Wisdom only comes from creating cause and effect, and working through all the gritty little details. This is something you each have to do on your own.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Kaya said.
“Neither do I,” Jacob and Andrew agreed.
Father stood up from the edge of the Fountain and walked between Jacob and Andrew.
“Have a seat please,” He said to them.
When Jacob, Andrew, and Kaya were all sitting on the edge of the Fountain, He turned around and looked at them.
With His hands behind His back, He looked over their heads at the splashing, playful water of the Fountain. He took a deep breath and slowly brought His gaze back to them. He smiled reassuringly, brought His hands around and rubbed them together like a coach ready to call out the game winning play.
“Once we all go back to your time, to the seventh Kingdom, everything will be up to you. I can’t meddle in your affairs, and I won’t be there to give you advice. So, we’re going to practice.”
“We’re going to practice living?” Andrew asked, sounding very confused.
“Brilliant, that’s it exactly! You’re each going to have a few practice lives. That way you can get the hang of it. You know, go make a bunch of mistakes, maybe learn a little something and you’ll all be the wiser for it.”
Jacob reached his hand back into the cool water of the Fountain and wiped it on his face. He looked at Andrew and Kaya, and said, “My brain hurts. Are you getting any of this?”
“A practice life?” Kaya asked.
“That’s right. I’m going to send each of you out into a different part of the universe. You’re going to live a life among people you never even knew existed. I’ll remove any language barriers, and you’ll know the basics of how your new body works, then you’re on your own.”
“This sounds like a horrible idea,” Andrew said. “We’ll be clueless. We won’t fit in. We’ll be just like babies.”
“Do we get to keep our memories? I mean, will we remember, this time, here with you?” Jacob asked hesitantly.
“Of course, you will. Nothing will fade from your minds.”
“What else?” Kaya asked with a little enthusiasm.
“You get to keep your power to heal, your gift of perspective and all the knowledge gained from the water of the Fountain.”
A smile spread over Jacob’s face, and he pumped his fist in the air, whispering, “Yes!”
Andrew was still skeptical, and he asked, “What about when we die?”
“You’ll naturally come back to me, to this moment.”
“But we’ll never be the same again, will we?” Kaya asked, sounding sad.
“Nothing ever stays the same, little one, but how you change is up to you. This is also the kind of thing we could talk about endlessly. You’ve all got excellent questions, but the important thing is to begin. I’m quite sure all your questions will be answered in no time at all. I’ll give each of you a few hints before you arrive in your new bodies,” He said, raising His hand.
He went to snap His fingers and paused. Not because of the protests being issued from Andrew, but for a chance to offer one last piece of advice.
“Nobody really gets to do what you’re about to do. Try to enjoy yourselves. This is only the first time, not the last.”
With that, He snapped His fingers and Andrew, Kaya and Jacob disappeared.
“First, you’ll hear your mother, then you’ll hear the doctor, then you’ll hear your sister,” Andrew kept repeating to himself. These were the only instructions he had received. That and his name was still Andrew, which he found very comforting.
The light around Andrew was fuzzy but bright. He blinked, but it didn’t help much. Reaching up, he rubbed at his eyes and a woman next to him started screaming hysterically, “He’s awake! He’s awake!”
The blurry face of a man hovered above him, shining an even brighter light in his eyes.
“Normal pupil dilation, that’s good.”
“Is he going to be all right?” the woman asked.
“It’s still too early to tell, but this is a good sign. A very good sign.”
“He’s awake?! He’s awake!” came the voice of a young girl running into the room.
Andrew turned his head away from the doctor and saw two blurry faces, both with golden blond hair.
His mother was holding his hand now, and his sister looked like she was hugging his mom, but it was too hard to see them clearly.
“Water please,” Andrew managed to whisper from his parched mouth.
“A very good sign indeed,” the doctor declared. “Jean,” the doctor said to the little girl. “Please go to the nurse’s station and get your brother a cup of ice chips.”
With a squeal of excitement, Andrew’s sister disappeared from view.
The doctor removed the stethoscope from Andrew’s chest and pulled the blanket back up. Everything was still fuzzy.
“He’s been gone from us for five days,” the doctor said to Andrew’s mother. “There is no telling if he’ll be the same boy who left. We’re going to need to give him time. Don’t expect too much right away.”
Her hand squeezed Andrew’s, which felt small and weak, then she let go and grabbed his face. A shower of kisses and tears fell over him. His mother hugged him and gently stroked his hair.
Jean came running back into the room with a small plastic cup of ice. She quickly handed it to her mother and took Andrew’s hand.
“I knew you’d make it back Andrew. I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault.” Then she started crying and buried her head into Andrew’s chest.
In two more days, Andrew left the hospital. His five-year-old body felt small, and he was heading home to a place he had never been, with a big sister he just met, and a mother he had never known.
Kaya opened her eyes in a panic. She lifted the arm of a dead man off her chest, sat up, and clumsily removed her small dented helmet. Feeling the stiffness in her hair, she wondered how long she had been lying on the battlefield. The flies had started to gather around the bodies, the taste of blood filled her mouth, and the sounds of wounded and dying men filled the air.
She was cold, her hands were sticky, and she was afraid. She sat among corpses; waiting for the voice she knew would come.
“Take the boy, if he can walk. If not, end it here and now,” the Slave Master yelled.
That was her cue. She got to her feet, felt a little woozy, fought against it and turned to meet the gaze of a man dressed in rags. His name was Slop, and according to Father, she was going to have to kill this man if she wanted to live this life.
Jacob woke up in a wet field of grass. His legs were a bit twisted, he was cold but other than that he felt fine. Turning his head to the right, he came face to face with a large rock. “Sorry about that,” he whispered to the rock.
Turning away from the rock he watched his brother nervously pacing next to their horse.
“What will I tell Mother and Father?” he sobbed. “He can’t be dead, he just can’t be!” he cried, looking over at Jacob.
Jacob lifted his hand, smiled at his brother, and said, “I think I’m going to make it. Maybe you could help me up?”
“You’re alive?!” his brother gasped, rushing over to Jacob and sliding in on his knees. “Jacob, I’m forever sorry I let you fall off the horse. Can you ever forgive me?” he begged between sobs of grief and elation.
“I think I’m going to be fine,” he said reassuringly, “but I don’t remember anything about how I got here. What’s your name?”
“What’s my name!” his brother exclaimed. “Oh no, you’re not fine at all! What have I done?!” he wailed to the heavens. “What have I done to my brother?!”
“You’re being a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Poor Jacob,” he proclaimed. “Let me help you to your feet, come off of this wet ground and ride home with me to Mother and Father.”
Jacob’s brother got to his feet, and Jacob took his hand. With a soft, but firm assist, Jacob was standing. Straightening his clothes, he felt their rich embroidery, their softness, and the bulk of layers covering him from head to foot.
“Come quickly my brother, I must get you back to the castle before more harm comes to you.”