by Bruce Burk
God is in the Rain
Bruce Burk
Copyright © 2017 Bruce Burk
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-10: 149360290X
ISBN-13: 978-1493602902
Cover Art by Nicole Luckie
Godisintherainbook.com
@bruceburk
DEDICATION
For my daughter, whose imagination knows no bounds.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Stargazer
Chapter 2 – Searching
Chapter 3 – Missing
Chapter 4 – Arrival
Chapter 5 – Freedom is Security
Chapter 6 – X-42
Chapter 7 – [Deleted]
Chapter 8 – Candidates
Chapter 9 – OS
Chapter 10 – Comrade
Chapter 11 – Wanted
Chapter 12 – A Book
Chapter 13 – Remembering
Chapter 14 – Trees
Chapter 15 – Ice
Chapter 16 – Stone
Chapter 17 – Mayans
Chapter 18 – Water
Chapter 19 – Science
Chapter 20 – Soul speak
Chapter 21 – Quantum
Chapter 22 – Mu
Chapter 23 – Gaia
Chapter 24 – Shadows
Chapter 25 – Proclamation
Chapter 26 – Transformation
Chapter 27 – Fray
Chapter 28 – Bob
Chapter 29 – Revolt
Chapter 30 – Valkyries
Chapter 31 – Crusade
Chapter 32 – Provocation
Chapter 33 – Providence
Part 1
CHAPTER 1 - STARGAZER
No tree is so foolish to let their branches fight among themselves. If we follow the laws of nature and revere the tree, there would be no fighting. There would be no war. John Shepard read these powerful words from the engraved sign in the nature square.
John stood and read those words every day on his way home from high school. There, in nature, the words were not the only thing that spoke. It was the smell of the air, the poetry of the trees, and the birds singing that breathed life into his day. He would graze his hand across the flower petals as we walked, allowing the texture of each flower to draw him out of the emptiness inside. However, on this particular night, he felt a presence that was different. It was a discomfort felt but not understood.
John was average in height, wearing the standard issue gray button-down shirt and black pants from Suprimo High. He walked in a contemplative disposition as if his mind was elsewhere. Around his shoulder was a brown messenger bag where he would carry his tablet with his assignments in it. John had large brown eyes, and when you looked into them, you could see peace and anguish struggling in an internal war that formed the darkness in his pupils.
John grew up in Staten Island when he was not removed from reality by his Grandfather by being taken to his strange house in the woods. He attended school in New York City a place that had become the technological center of the world as the years passed. Central Park had been renamed the Nature Square many years ago at the request of an anonymous donor who revitalized it with beautiful plants to balance the lifelessness of the skyscrapers.
He reached for the crucifix around his neck and held it tightly in his hand like a child clings to the shirt of their mother. As the gold finish pressed against his palm, it gave him comfort; a reminder that God was always by his side. As he looked frightfully over his shoulder for this mysterious presence, he saw only the flowers. Light droplets of rain began to fall upon a group of Stargazer flowers. His eyes were filled with awe as he stared at them briefly before shrugging his shoulders. As he turned to walk into the city, he saw a strange flicker of light from deep within the nature square. It flashed on and off inconsistently, with a strange purple tint.
“Must be my imagination,” John said to himself as he crinkled his forehead and massaged his head. Then, the light flickered again. It followed John’s eye movements as he looked from left to right as if to call out to him with a luminous taunt. John let go of his cross and took off running towards the light. The forest became denser around him. Twigs broke as his feet scurried through the woods. The moon added just enough light for him to see a few feet in front of him. Everything else faded into shadows and shapes.
Suddenly, a startled dark figure hovered away from him. John took off running after the mysterious creature. He took a sharp turn around a group of trees, looking around the forest and trying to catch his breath. But the dark figure vanished. But now he could see the purple light was close. His heartbeat increased with every step. John felt the same dark presence he had felt on his way home.
“What the hell are you?” John whispered to himself. Finally, he came up close to the purple light. It was a strange and mystical glowing orb. He walked around it a few times. “Gavin has to see this,” he said to himself as he was hit on the back of the head and knocked unconscious.
After some time, John’s eyes flickered open. He awoke on a hard metal floor and had no idea where he was. It felt as if he was inside a prison cell. His head felt sore as he slowly and cautiously walked to the door. He looked through the bars of his cell to see another cell across the hall from his.
John was not ordinary man, who by now would be fearing for his life or being consumed the uncertainty and discomfort of being held prisoner. John’s reaction was only to turn to God. He clung to the crucifix around his neck, knelt down to the floor, closed his eyes, and spoke to the Almighty.
“Dear God, I praise you in my hour of darkness. You are my everlasting fountain of peace, my rock, my shield, and my tranquility. You are my shepherd. You lead me beside still waters. In the darkest of valleys, I will fear no evil because you are with me. Anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Let your goodness and love follow from me all the days of my life. I ask that you would send your angels to be beside me in my hour of need. No matter what happens, I pray that your will be done,” John said as he fell into a deep sleep.
Then, suddenly, John awoke surrounded by the brightest blinding light. It was brighter than any light he had ever seen. He was in a forest, but all the trees were constructed of the stars, and the mountains were formed of all the wonders of creation in the universe. Close to him was a single bush that began to burn with the light of a thousand suns. Then there was a voice.
“John, my son,” the voice said. “I have heard your prayer and my angels are with you. Earth is in danger.” “What danger?” John asked.
“A grave darkness descends upon Earth. I anoint you, my son. As I have been your shepherd, you shall now be Earth's. Protect the Holy Words on Earth. Protect man’s means to discern good from evil. Protect life on Earth, including people, animals, and plants, for a force is coming that seeks to destroy them. Do not fear, for Iam always with you.”
“Protect them from who?” John shouted. Suddenly, all the galaxies in the trees swirled into themselves. The fire burnt out. The whole forest morphed into light and disappeared. “Wait. Hold on!” John shouted.
John awoke from being slapped firmly across the face. They tied him to a chair in a small room. The dark figures bound his hands with handcuffs that illuminated with purple. John attempted to kick and shove them away as they drove needles into his arm. It was as if they were using him for some sick scientific procedure.
“Get off me! Let me go!” Soon, the strange substance in their needles had done its work. Though
he could still see, his body became paralyzed. They took samples of his hair, skin, and blood so that they could observe his biological structure. Then, they attached wires to his head. Lights pulsed down the long metal tentacles as they performed neurological tests on him.
After they had completed their cruel test, they pulled John from his chair and dragged him into another room. His feet slid across a metal floor as the dark figures carried him. They attached him with his arms above his head to a post in another large gray room. The dark figures circled him in strange, ceremonial way. Sparks began to come from the pole structure he was attached to. The dark figures repeated phrases in an unrecognizable language in unison as they circled around him. Suddenly, swirls of language and DNA oozed from John into the post he was attached too. The dark figures sang in praise and began to chant, to John's shocking surprise, in English. John was horrified.
John was beginning to understand the darks for what they were during his captivity. It was as if he could sense what was inside them after they took his DNA. They gave off this aroma of arrogance and cruelty like they had never known the good. They began shifting between dark and human form as if they were enjoying their new skin.
“Eidolon! Eidolon! Eidolon!” they chanted. Fear shook through John’s veins. John whispered to himself asking for God to intervene but heard nothing.
“Eidolon! Eidolon! Eidolon!” the dark tribe chanted. Eidolon entered the room where John was being kept. He was a god-like figure that stood six foot and eight inches tall wearing a black robe with an Egyptian like headdress that was black and gold. The front came to a point like the head of an eagle and carried a staff as tall as he was that also had the eagle's head on it. Eidolon sauntered up to John, picked him up by the neck, and looked directly into his eyes.
“Tell me where your grandfather is!” Eidolon said to John. “Where is the Knights’ base?” Eidolon said in a deep raspy voice. John stared at him in silence. “The Knights' base. Where is it?” Eidolon asked again.
Eidolon laughed to himself menacingly and then said, “Don’t worry we will find Bellos Shepard soon enough.” Then, he threw John across the room against the wall and walked out. While he was passing, he saw other cells with people in them. Cries filled the prison as people were being dragged to and from their cells. Sheer terror was on their faces. He knew that the dark must have been experimenting on them. Why would they be doing this? The dark closed the door of his cell and laughed as he walked away. A woman's voice echoed through the prison area. He looked out his cell door to see a young woman being dragged toward him. She showed spirit and resisted the dark's grasp around her. He threw her in her jail cell and left. John waited to hear weeping, but there were no tears.
“Hello? Are you ok?” John asked. She remained silent. “What is this place? What did they do to you?” John continued to ask. Still, she said nothing. “Why do you not answer? What is your name?”
“Sophia,” she said turning around slowly. Sophia was a beautiful young woman with long brown hair, big blue eyes, and pale skin. She had a pin on her jacket that symbolized the Red Party - one of two major political parties. Sophia had a black eye and had clearly been roughed up bad by the horrible darks.
“Sophia, I am going to get you out of here, I promise,” John said. A guard slowly approached John's cell, looked at him sinisterly, and began to unlock it. “We have special plans for you, Shepard,” the guard snickered. All the guards appeared now as humans dressed in dark, electronic clothes. Sure enough, they were all speaking English. The guard took John out of his cell and began to escort him down the hallway. His arms were crossed tightly next to his abdomen.
Although it was clear to John that the darks and Eidolon were evil, John still went through a mental process of moral calculation for determining it was permissible for him to hurt or even kill them to save himself and Sophia. He could hear his conscious speaking to him audibly inside his head in a gentle whisper.
“It is justified to use any means of escape to save Sophia. They have demonstrated no value for human life. Therefore, their lives should not be valued,” the voice said to him. “The ends justify the means,” he said to himself. “Who knows how many more people could to captured or killed?” He recalled lines from The Prince by Machiavelli, as well as lines from scripture. “Deadly force is permissible to confront the threat of deadly force,” he heard.
“Save the girl,” the voice said. “Time is running out.” John opened his eyes and grabbed his crucifix tightly again. A droid walked passed them carrying a prototype weapon: a matter sword. It was bent at a large angle near the handle and glowed with a sharp blue finish. It seemed to contract into itself and extend into its full form from the handle. With grace and courage, John swiped the matter sword from the droids electronic fingers and with his hands still bound, turned, and ran it through the dark. The dark fell to his knees, and a strange purple fog exited from his body. John quickly cut himself free. He grabbed the dark’s e-belt and blaster. He wanted to free Sophia quickly, but there were too many guards near. John jumped into a room and quickly closed the door.
He was catching his breath and looked up slowly to see where he was. It was a meeting chamber. In the center table was a holo-screen a map of Earth. There were pinpoints of strategic locations and holo-words displaying information about Earth’s culture, history, language, religions, politics, and ways of life. John asked himself what this all meant.
“What are they planning? This can’t be happening,” he said to himself. He turned to see another hologram of another area of the ship: the barracks. He saw thousands of troops training to attack. He saw them studying humans and explaining their weaknesses.
“As you can see here, humans will easily betray each other for power and wealth. They can be corrupted and torn from the principles if they are distracted by simple vices. They run from conflict and can be easily controlled,” one of the darks said while appearing to be teaching a class.
“This is an invasion army,” he said to himself. Their numbers were large, but they did seem to have enough to withstand the full force of every country on Earth. Footsteps resounded on metal floors outside the meeting room and faded off in the distance. “Find the prisoner!” They shouted. John opened the door. He knew he needed to get off the ship with Sophia as soon as possible. He searched his stolen belt and found some keys that seemed to open her cell. He opened the door and walked into the shadow cast by a large group of supply boxes. He paused and waited behind the boxes as darks and prisoners moved by. When he came to Sophia’s cell, he saw that it was empty. “They took the girl to one of the brainwashing rooms,” said an older prisoner. “Three floors up from here,” he added. “Thank you, sir,” John said as he took off running.
The darks had secured Sophia to a chair in a white room. In front of her flashed images from all throughout her life as a virtual reality. She was walking in nature squares with her mother, she felt the touch of her cat’s paws and could hear the sound of her violin. She thought she was walking through her house. However, these images were spliced with evil images that were subconsciously turning her life upside down.
Her mother ripped her away from her childhood friends. “Look, Sophia, if you really love me, you will obey Eidolon. I don’t want you going to those Church meetings anymore,” her mother said.
“But mom … you taught me to be a Christian,” she said. “Those were all lies! You have to obey Eidolon. You love me, don’t you? I need you to do this for me,” her mother said. Images flashed and manipulated her subconscious into compliance.
“Mom! Please don’t do this,” she said with tears in her eyes.
John went from room to room trying to find her. He checked the dark’s belt for a map and was able to find a mind-medicine room cellblock. John put his ear to the door where Sophia was kept. With all the fury a man’s soul ever could have, he cut the door open with his matter sword. It slid through the metal with ease. He sensed the two guards on the other side of the door. H
er mother was in an intense argument with Sophia on the screen. Her mother was saying that she must obey Eidolon or be disowned by her family. Sophia was resisting, but every time she did, the chair shocked her with great pain. John leaped forward through the door, pointing the sword straight. When he had made it to the other side of the door, he swung the sword quickly, decapitating the two guards. He then threw the matter sword toward the holo-screen. The matter sword flung in a circular motion towards the projector, puncturing it and destroying it. Sophia let out a loud scream. John quickly stood up and removed the mask and wires from her brain.
“Come Sophia. We must leave at once,” John said before he escorted Sophia’s weakened body out of the room and tossed her over his shoulder. He pulled a blaster from his belt and peaked his head out the door to see if there were any darks around. He ran for the escape pods. Two darks began firing upon him. Laser blasts stained the walls near his shoulder and knee. John hit the lever on the wall, which opened the door to the escape pod. John dodged another laser blast and shot one of the darks in the chest. The other dark sounded the alarm. Red lights flashed above John’s head, and orders were given to send squads to the escape pod area. The dark dove forward from cover and blasted John right in the shoulder. He yelled out in pain and continued to return fire. Then, he laid Sophia down inside the escape pod, fired several more laser blasts, and jumped inside the pod with her. He kicked the lever inside, and they jettisoned from the large ship towards Earth. John held Sophia in his arms as the small metal capsule entered the atmosphere. John felt a hurricane of emotions. Never the less, John’s most prominent emotion was a sense of duty to carry out what God asked him to do. That was the last thing he felt before gas filled the escape pod and John passed out holding onto Sophia.
CHAPTER 2 – SEARCHING