Rising Son

...battles fall and fail, and there is a Time of waiting, the space between breaths as the land heals and its children retire from war. The Temple welcomes many home, the faithful and the Chosen.

A Herald, unforgotten but lost to time, a Seer of Visions to whom the Teacher Prophets sing, will return from the Temple at the end of this time to attend the birth of Hope, the Infant Avatar. The welcomed Herald shares a new understanding of the Temple with all the land's children. Conceived by lights of war, the alien Avatar opens its eyes upon a waxing tide of Awareness.

The journey to the land hides, but is difficult; prophecies are revealed and hidden. The first child, a son, enters the Temple alone. With the Herald, he returns, and soon after, the Avatar is born. A new breath is drawn and the land rejoices in change and clarity.

* * *

Something was wrong.

Jake knew it before he was entirely conscious. He groped for understanding, roaming his mind for how and why...and because he was scared, he thought of his father, and the simple, strong emotions drew him up through the dark.

"Dad "

He opened his eyes at the sound of his own soft, scratchy voice, felt the numbing cold, saw his bag floating amid a frozen snow of empty food packets, like a symptom of sleep, a detail of some strange dream. He was floating, too, facing the single, outdated transporter at the back of the shuttle, muted red emergency lighting taking the sting out of the unlovely decor. Obviously, the Venture's AG had gone out...but it was the deep chill that had tipped him to wake up, that immediately had him moving before he could think clearly. Cold was bad.

Jake turned clumsily and kicked off the port wall, aiming for the tiny vessel's decidedly dead-looking flight controls; there were no alarms sounding and even the console screen was blank, a blind eye. He arranged his thoughts on the way, ignoring the growing urge to panic even when he realized that he couldn't hear anything -- not even the soft hum of the recyclers.

I was in the wormhole, waiting, about to give up and go back to the station...and everything started spinning, the prophecy was coming true, I thought, except I couldn't control the ship; I started to black out, and...