The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning by Harold Straugh (best e reader for academics TXT) 📗

“Because it’s Jehovah’s son.”

For some reason that sentence struck me as odd. I remembered the time when Jehovah had loved me as a son, “So, he mated with a mortal did he?” I asked.

“No, not necessarily, he sent Michael, who I hate, to become one with a woman named Mary. Michael was reborn as Jesus, but now Jesus is in trouble.”

“So, Jehovah sent Michael down to become one with this Mary woman, and Michael was reborn as Jesus, who is now in trouble? That makes no sense to me,” I said.

“It’s the truth,” Lucifer said, he had no reason to lie to me, but it wasn’t him I was suspecting of lying.

“Why should I care about this Jesus?”

“He doesn’t deserve what is happening to him, there are people coming up against him. He has followers, people to help him hide but the Romans always seem to find him.”

“The Romans?”

“You’ll find out, they believe him to be the King of Jews, a blasphemer.”

“What is all this you speak of?”

“You’ve missed in a lot in the time you’ve been gone, you will have to go to Judea opposite side of the area that used to be Sodom and Gomorrah,”

“Those wretched places ever came back?”

“No, they have long been destroyed ever since…that night.  The lake no longer holds fish, nothing grows, its hot there, always, hardly any wildlife or plant life.”

“Good,” I said, “I’m far away from there, I don’t want to go there anyways, this really isn’t my problem. If you care so much about Jesus, you deal with him.”

“Once again, I can’t, I can only look from a distance never intervene,” he said.

“You’re pointless, aren’t you?” I asked, he was upset, I could tell.

“I saved you, didn’t I?” he said, serving up a painful reminder, “Help me and I won’t ask for your help again.”

“You say that now, but like I said, I’m a long way from there and don’t feel like using my speed or leaving my horse behind.”

“I can get you there in four days of travel, since you don’t want to leave your horse.”

“Have you heard from Mylicious?” I asked suddenly.

“Not for a long time, he’s still beating himself up for not helping you out, he truly was chained up you know?”

“He could have gotten out if he wanted to,” I said, I still had some hurt in my heart towards him.

“No, no he couldn’t have, I know I was stuck between helping him and helping you,” he said.

“I didn’t know that,” I said.

“I never told you, so will you help me?”

“I guess so, if you keep your promise and never ask me to do something again.”

“I will keep my promise,” he said and gave me a piece of parchment with a path drawn on it. It was a map with the quickest path

It was after that night that I began my journey back to the place where it all began. I didn’t have the tent just my furs, a rolled, lamb’s wool, pad that I would tuck behind my head when I used to lay down with Noemi, and my bow and arrow.  I only stopped when my horse needed to rest and when he rested, I would stare up at the sky, whether it would be night or day. Lucifer was off, the trip took seven days instead of four. I ignored all graves as much as I didn’t want to.

The scenery started changing for the worst, the air took on a heaviness, the trees and plants started to disappear and nothing, but sand appeared.  I stopped at tip of Dead Sea, I looked to the left, where Gomorrah would have been, it was barren, not even a single hut remained. I looked at where I was heading and could see some decent buildings.

It took me a while to reach the buildings, but I surprised with the advances.  They were all stone with some of the roofs made of a whitewashed stucco.  There were some that didn’t have the roof at all, but a white sheet instead.  The people around were darker than I remembered, and it was a lot hotter than I remembered.

I got the typical stares from people, but nothing to severe, no one yelled at me or even tried to talk to me.  I simply just strolled around, listening to chatter, getting their language.  It had changed a little since I had been in the area last.

A large crowd formed at the edge of town and more and more people went running there once they noticed the crowd. Curiosity got the better of me and I went to where the people were at. There were thirteen men there, twelve of them seemed to gravitate towards one.  He wore a beige robe, with hood, which instantly got my attention.  The hood part of the robe and the cuffs of the sleeve of the robe were outlined with shiny, red fabric. Someone yelled, “Jesus!” and he took his hood off and this may come as a shocker, he wasn’t white. Jesus was born in the middle-east therefore he looked middle-eastern.  His hair was long, dark and wavy. He had a beard that was oddly well trimmed, he smiled and had the whitest teeth.  He looked right at me and nodded, and I nodded back, it was like he knew who I was.

It was then, I noticed I was being glared at by one of his followers.  He had long hair as well, but it was thinning, it looked like it started inches off his forehead, almost in the middle of his head and he had it drawn back in a ponytail.  His cheeks were sunk in, as so were his eyes, he looked as if he hadn’t eaten in a long time.

I realized