Chapter 1

Stock© Brian Kairuz, Some Rights Reserved, Unsplash

It came to me in a dream as its magnificent glory stunned me. Why had this marvelous being chosen me? I was of no importance. I was just a poor young man of about ten and seven living with my mother and father in the small village of Ibleen. My family had been one of the lucky few that had survived the first few attacks from the invading Qurks. They had come before, stealing people to mine for copper and leaving us to wait for our chosen date in fear. The life had been drained from my village and the small roads lay still and quiet. We sat waiting, unsure of what to do or where to go. There was nowhere for us to go. Ibleen was located near a small oasis out in the Jordan Desert, and there is no civilization or water for miles around. We were trapped there to wait for the end…

To keep our hopes up, many of us turned to praying throughout the day. We prayed and asked for fate to send us a new chance and to help us along the way, and we waited for our prayers to be answered. As I helped my father with his daily work, I often glanced to the dry sky overhead to wonder if He was listening to our words. We knew that there was not much time left before another “attack” yet we were unable to act upon it.

Then, it appeared to me. As I slept, a beautiful being came to me in my dreams. His gorgeous feathered white wings protruded from behind his shoulder blades, and golden curls lay upon his head. His face illuminated a soft glow that showed friendliness within his dark brown eyes. Robes of the whitest snow flowed over his body as he stretched out his arms in a welcoming sign. This was an angel. It was an angel sent by God. Our prayers had been answered!

The angel stared deep into my eyes with thought in his expression. “Go,” he told me. “Go. Take your people. Take them away. You must leave. You cannot stay. You must leave Ibleen. Take your people with you. Leave to where it is safe. Go,” he commanded. I could see the seriousness within his face and I felt the deep urge to leave. To where? There was no place for us.

I then awoke from my dream and spoke to my mother and father of what I had seen. “Are you certain, Namir? Is this truly what you have seen?” my mother asked. I could see a light in her eye as hope began to return to her.

“Yes, Mother. An angel came to me in my dream last night. He told me to take our people and to leave Ibleen. We must do as he says! This is a message from God Himself. We cannot disobey!” I pleaded with her.

“And how are you to be sure, son?” my father asked. “How are you to know that it was just a dream? How are you to know that your long desire for good has created this illusion?”

“It was not an illusion, Papa!” I protested. “This was real. I know it! I can feel it! We must leave immediately!”

My father breathed a deep sigh of irritation. I could sense that he was tired from his day of work in the fields and that did not want any of this. “Where are you proposing to travel to? Hmm?” he questioned.

“I-I am not sure, Papa. I just know that we are to leave.”

“Son,” he started. “There is nowhere to go. We cannot leave, and we cannot take our people with us for they would surely die of hunger and thirst. There is nothing out there for us! The Qurks are to come again soon, and we cannot do anything to stop it.” I noticed the usual grayness return to his sorrowful eyes as he came to the dim realization that neither he nor his people were to have a life anymore. I decided to leave him with this, not to upset him anymore than I already had.

The angel came to me again that night. My eyes were given the privilege to draw in the sight of the marvelous creature as it repeated its message from the night before. “Go. Leave now. You must leave. You are not safe here. You cannot stay. Take everything. Take your people. Bring them with you. I command you to leave. You must. Go…”

Then, an image began to flicker to life in my mind. It was a location within the desert as there was sand all around and towering cliffs along the side. I could see a temple of some sort, yet it didn’t look familiar to me. The building looked aged and it was carved directly into the cliffs behind it.

The angel spoke to me once more. “It is not far. Head west. You must leave. Take your people with you. Take them…to Petra.”

 

/11 Comments/by
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11 replies
  1. Melissa
    Melissa says:

    Yay, I like the pictures to go with the story. The angel seemed a little redundant, but oh well, good story! (I’m starting to catch up on your millions of stories, aren’t you so proud!) 😀 well, at least I am…

    Reply
  3. Jeremy
    Jeremy says:

    First story paragraph; it should be: “…small roads lay still and quiet.”

    Paragraph after first picture; It would make more sense as “…turned to praying throughout the day.” And the last part of the last sentence of that paragraph could be reworked to make more sense. Something like “…before another “attack”, but were unable to act upon it.”

    Next paragraph, you are again using the wrong form of the word “lay”.

    I won’t say anything about what goes on in the dialogue because that may be intentional.

    As for what Melissa said, we LDS folks happen to know that our first Latter Day prophet was visited 3 times in the same night by the same angel. And once again the very next morning.

    Reply
    • Noelle M. Brooks
      Noelle M. Brooks says:

      Thank you for the tips. I reread those and thought, “I wrote that?” Well, about the whole lay and lie part, I am not sure if “lay” would be the appropriate word. To lay is to place and to lie is to recline (or to speak untruthfully.) The roads did not place anything, they were resting.

      Yes, mistakes and such in the dialogue was intentional.

      Once again, you will learn the angel’s secret later in the story.

      Reply
      • Jeremy
        Jeremy says:

        Both “lay” and “lie” have lay as one of the tenses, so I may have been thinking of the wrong base word, but it would still make more sense, and read easier, as “…small roads lay still and quiet.” and “…golden curls lay upon his head.”

        I lost my notes from last year, or I’d make a better argument here.

        Reply
  4. Hannah
    Hannah says:

    I have to say that I was a little removed from the angel when he said “Take your people. Bring them with…” the northern saying really sounds…off. ^^;;
    Just saying that it sounded weird. Do angels have perfect grammar?

    Reply
  5. Jared
    Jared says:

    I cant believe ppl arnt reading ur stories… this is good… and if either one of us is elected then we could update the Our World page… Today im gonna cruise through ur stories

    Reply
    • Noelle M. Brooks
      Noelle M. Brooks says:

      Thanks! I was wondering when you were going to catch up. I have written a lot since the last time you stopped by.

      I am also currently writing 3 rough drafts on Magic Pens. One is an English assignment, so I will do that one first. On my main story, The Horse From the Woods, I drew an awesome picture of a character introduced in the third chapter and I want to put it up so bad. I can’t until I write the third chapter however.

      Aaagh! I am going to just sit down and try to write my brains out this weekend and upcoming week. If I can of course. We have that Band thing tomorrow. Shwew… People are asking me to write Lost in this World Chapter 6 also, yet I want to write this new short story, How is this Possible? first. So much to do!

      Reply

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