Changes: The Book of Elisha
Look at the Water part 2.1
“the massive power of trains yet confinement to a single path makes them comparable to angels”
-nultemp, tumblr
The businessman's name was Adam and he suspected he would be the last of his line. He'd lived his whole life in London: grew up in the south-eastern suburbs of Chislehurst as the son of a CEO and a housewife; then went to university in the centre of London, spending three years studying economics; then got a job in the finance district, some indescribable position which paid well, at the cost of fifty or sixty hours per week. At around thirty, his hairline had receded quite dramatically, and as he was too proud for a toupée or a trip to Turkey he had spent the last fifteen years shaving his head, monk-like, each morning.
He got to Joshua first, and rolled him onto his back to check his breathing, at which point he recoiled. Spreading out from the man's left eye was a partial transfiguration of the flesh into what appeared to be porcelain, or lead-white glass. The eye itself was intact but totally transparent, a perfect sphere set in a rigid socket. From the socket spread a series of hairline fractures. To his surprise, Joshua was breathing, and at this point he vomited up a moderate amount of water and started getting to his feet.
Joshua seemingly paid no attention to Adam, and turned towards the Thames, he opened his mouth as if he were speaking and pointed at it. Adam looked towards the river, but saw nothing other than the muddy-brownish water that had always been there.
At this point, Adam heard a noise, and saw that Michael had rolled over onto his back and was gesturing for him to help him up. He reached out to take the boy's strangely-shiny hand to help him up and ...
... he took out his phone to call a taxi, to take the two of them back to his home. Being of the wealthy class, he was able to afford a two-bedroom flat near Canary Wharf, and he let Joshua and Michael shower, and gave them a spare change of clothes. Neither said much, though it sometimes appeared as though Joshua was mouthing something.
They stumbled into the spare bedroom, and collapsed on the double bed. And there they slept.
In the far, far west, where all pilgrimages end, there is known to be a Great Bay. Around this bay lie hills and valleys, and in those hills and valleys are the communities of the pilgrims. The two of them were once again in the same body, and they rested upon the water of the bay. Suddenly, they felt a slight tugging in their chest, and were compelled to walk forwards, over the bay, until they reached its eastern edge.
Here stood Elisha, the last prophet, who was to travel across the Bay to perform the first of his sermons. He looked out towards the sun, which was setting over the ocean. Taking off his cloak, he struck the edge of the water once, and waited.
Nothing happened.
The two of them, in their shared body, began to see in stereo. Their left eye's vision was shattered into tiny pieces, warping and laying over one another, and in it they could see a thousand different futures. In just one of them, the waters parted, and Elisha walked across the bay's floor until he reached the southern peninsula that made up its western edge. They held out their right arm, and the waters parted. Relief spread across Elisha's face, and he began the trek across the seabed.
Elisha's journey took him the entire night. For the entire duration, they walked at his left hand side, holding up their arm like a flaming torch to light the way. Whenever their steps were a little slow and they fell behind him, the tugging at their sternum compelled them to catch up. The floor of the bay was wet and slippery, but not too muddy. Sea-stars and jellyfish could be seen drying out on the rocks; from time to time they would bend down to toss one back into the walls of water, while Elisha ignored the creatures.
When Elisha reached the other side, he took up ministry in a valley of sand. His first sermon lasted for three days and three nights, and when he had finished there were seven times seven listeners. He declared that he would return the next year to continue recanting his message, but that first he would leave them with their First Commandment, from which all else follows.
He walked down to the water's edge, where the beach was flat and the waves ambled lazily across the shore. With his staff, he wrote something in the sand. Then he held his staff aloft and shouted “O guide of mine! This is the First Commandment! Set it eternal, and may all who look upon it know that it is True!”
The angel heard this command, and they once again saw a thousand thousand futures in their left eye. In precisely one, Elisha's message was heard. They raised their hand, and from the cloudless sky called down the lightning of the heavens onto the sand, and turned the last prophet's words to glass. A wave washed over the point where the lightning had struck: the seawater boiled and frothed, sending up clouds of salt and iodine and ammonia.
Elisha reached down, picked up the fused sand, and held it aloft.
“Behold! Hang this on the highest place!”
From where they stood behind him, they could not read what it said. The crowd stood silent in anticipation.
“With this, together, we shall stand against the sea itself!” proclaimed Elisha.
The crowd whooped and cheered. Elisha smiled, and handed the tablet to one of the first listeners.
“These two, come with me” he gestured to a couple of the listeners "the rest of you, make busy with your own works, and await my return!" Then he took his two chosen disciples and climbed the nearest hill, and there he remained for a year and a day, while those who had listened waited for his return. The angel that perhaps was both Michael and Joshua or perhaps was neither of them tried to follow him, but their feet were rooted to the spot by his command, and they could not move.
One of those who waited was a man called David. As he mulled about, at the end of the sermon, a hooded man dressed in rags came up to him. Under the hood, David thought he could see twisted horns peeking out.
“David, I have heard tell of your greatness from afar. You could be a magnificent hunter, perhaps the one to save us. I am rich and powerful, I will grant you a great ship and a dozen harpoons, so that you may sail the waters, and know their depth, and hunt whatever beasts lie within. What say ye?”
“Ohoho no! I"m not falling for that one! You appear to be a mysterious figure dressed in rags, and are those twisted horns underneath your hood? Do you honestly expect me to just take your offer, which, by the way, you clearly draped in some sort of flattery, and also didn't attach any of the normal conditions to. No, I can tell this is one of those Dante's monkey's paw deals. I'm definitely going to wait for Elisha to come back so I can talk to him before I take that deal!”
“This is your last chance!”
“Nope! That"s ridiculous! If I'm so special, the offer would be just as reasonable to make in a year or so, so this is obviously just another manipulation tactic. I'm waiting.”
So the hooded figure left, and so David waited.
When David had busied himself for a year and a day, Elisha returned from the mountain. David had built himself a small hut by the place where the angel stood, and he had been coming and going to the forests and the rock-pools, bringing back parts of different animals that she had hunted or fished. A few others had joined him, and each week, he had been giving a short sermon himself.
He told Elisha of the hooded figure, and his hunts, and his fishing expeditions.
“So then, what do you think I should do?” said David. “In this past year, we've got quite good at hunting land animals, and another team has started fishing.” David showed Elisha his trophies, wild cats and boars; the skeletons of eels; the beaks of octopuses. “These are what we have to study, see this one can change color, and this one has two sets of teeth.” Elisha looked unimpressed. “I can conquer the sea, and I want your help Elisha, but if you won't help then I'll have to do it myself.”
“Fool that you are!” shouted Elisha “We are not here to hunt, we are here to hold back the sea itself!” And Elisha walked over to the hut and struck David with his staff, and chased him from the hut. He held his staff up to the sky, pointing it expectantly at the sun. “O guide of mine! Destroy this temple of foolishness!”
The angel's vision cracked again, a thousand thousand futures, et cetera et cetera, they were used to it by now, but this time something was different. Yes, they saw a future where the divine future scorched David's hut, but it did not end with victory. Instead, looking forward, they saw half a hundred bodies, drowned and pale and bloated and gently bobbing around in the surf.
Unable to move their feet from the floor, their hand rose slightly, then froze. Their vision turned cloudy. Their chest heaved and rippled, and split vertically down the middle, so that their beating heart glistened in the sunlight.
Looking impatient, Elisha went to speak again, but then the earth shook and a wave came out of the sea and washed away David's hut. Elisha seemed slightly surprised, but he nonetheless turned towards him and spoke:
“Do you understand now? We must hold back the sea itself!”
David hung his head. He listened through Elisha's proclamations, and when Elisha was done, he and his followers left.
The next year, when Elisha descended with a score of devotees, the first few ships could be seen sailing around the waters of the Bay.
“O guide of mine, watch over this folly!” he bid them.
