The Elder Origins Read Free

it.”
                  He brought her to the deck’s edge and she slowly lifted her head. He took his arm around her shoulders and waited in anticipation as she saw the expanse of water that surrounded them. The colors within the sky as the sun set and the shimmery lights that cascaded on the water were indeed as he had described them. They were stunning. But the knowledge that no one was around for miles, and that they could be swept away to the darkness beneath them at any moment did little to help her to enjoy the beauty of the sight before her. Jamison merely took her silence as a moment of awe.
                  “You see now, do you not? It is as if God placed it here just to comfort us,” he spoke into her ear. “He knows we are journeying toward a land of great mystery.  You must have faith now that we are safe. God would not have willed such a beautiful sight if our journey had not been blessed by his grace.”
                  Madison wished that she had his faith. As beautiful as the sky was, her mind drifted to the impending nightfall. She knew Jamison wanted her to see the sky after dark. He would probably wake her from her slumber to come gaze upon the stars with him. He described the night sky as she had never seen it, with tints of blue and purple, and more stars than one could possibly behold. He had said that the night sky on the sea is unlike the night sky anywhere else in the world. It held mysteries that man has been desperate to uncover for centuries. But she did not want to see it. She could see it in its glory once they arrived to where ever it was they were going. She did not know how Jamison could be so confident that they were blessed in their journey. How could sailing blind by night be blessed? She trusted that the men in charge had a greater knowledge of the ocean’s power than she did. But all their faith was within a god she had never felt the presence of. She looked to Jamison with faith and trusted in him. All she had ever known through their small chapel and their visits to hear the word of God given every week was the sense that she was always committing sins. She had always felt as though her mistakes taught her more of life and how to be kind to others. And those she was meant to follow in guiding her to better faith only made her feel like she was failing. Her sins in the eyes of the men giving sermons were inevitably damning her soul for eternity. She hoped against hope that they only helped to show her a better way to live. But on these waters, she did not feel as though her brother’s will to move forward was toward finding a better way. All she felt was the darkness that would likely await them.
    Jamison repeatedly told her that God had c learly meant for them to have a peaceful existence, yet they had to find their own way. He claimed he knew it the moment God had granted him a sister, and that she would be his guiding light.  She knew of no other brother in the world who had been so accommodating and doting upon a younger sibling. And she was grateful for it as most brothers would not see the use in educating and teaching a young woman, particularly one not of noble stature. Yet his faith told him that the land they were headed toward would be one of great prosperity and truth. He placed everything they had built into the hands of this one ship and the others that followed surrounding them nearby. She only knew how to place her faith within him, and that he knew what was best for her. But nothing about the expanse of sea surrounding them gave her comfort.
    The air around them was too quiet even with all the men working behind them. The sea was too calm, yet rocky, and the sky was too broad. Any force that lay ahead of them could propel their lives any way it chose. And these forces lingered on her subconscious more than any words of comfort Jamison could give her. Dark forces lived beneath the water’s depth. She knew her brother would not