The Black God -- Dragon's Bane Series: Book 3 by Azriel Johnson

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Present     JR Gerstung travels, triumphant, from Sunset Red intending to introduce his mother to his girlfriend and fellow soldier, Rebecca Kingsley.     On the way, a tragedy strikes the Human race and JR and Rebecca have to combat the after effects. Past     The Black God, Muerthegos, feeds on Pain and Death and is launching a plot to acquire immense power.  He needs one component to complete the plot and he needs JR to obtain it. About the author: Azriel Johnson writes the prophecy of the Dragon’s Bane Universe, in addition to other stories.  He is still cautiously optimistic about the trajectory of the Human race, but isn’t exactly opposed to the idea of Dragons trying to take over.

Stark Urkel - Meme

A little bit of throwback, combined with the most popular show on television currently, equals... a meme just in time for the season...

Editor's Note: I just came across a post I made on Facebook in December 2015 where I proposed someone make this exact meme. I totally forgot that I suggested this. Hooray for past me!!!

Free Will

I am both Writing Knights Press and BingeTV on this thread.

derp stick Free will isn't as wholly a benevolent entity as you might perceive it. Think of it this way (no esoteric talk about religion or god, I promise). 
Over millions of years the human animal has been developing inch by metaphorical inch toward who you are today. Generation upon generation has been learning from mistakes and passing those lessons onto their offspring, slightly altering DNA to make offspring that should be stronger than the generation before them. The idea was to make the Human animal better able to survive in the world. Evolution is intended to make this as efficient as possible, because before the last... 10,000-20,000 years or so we haven't been the top of the food chain even with our huge computer like brains. 
So a lot of our bodily functions, heart beat, breathing, sweating, even allergies (fucking things) have developed to happen involuntarily to help us survive. And they do a pretty good job. The most important thing that developed was our will to survive, our need to keep living. Read about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to get more background. This will to survive will make us run away from a fire, or someone shooting a gun, or from something that we know will hurt us. The will to survive will remind us of the days when our ancestors were getting chased by a lion or pack of wolves, or to not kill ourselves. 
Humans also developed a consciousness that can transcend this will to survive (some animals anecdotally have been reported to also commit suicide, but we're talking about YOU here). Human beings can fully commit to the act of ending their own life. This is in direct opposition to their will to survive. So in this act, killing yourself IS exercising your free will. 
BUT 
That is not the only way you can exercise your free will. Referring back to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, there is a slim to none likelihood you'll ever be faced with the prospect of starving to death when someone else could eat, so let's skip up one run to Safety. Let's say a friend of yours is being beaten up by someone else. Stepping in and putting yourself in harm's way is acting upon free will. 
One step up the ladder, social belonging. Let's say, a huge group of people are going to a Justin Bieber concert and you want to be accepted by those people, but you don't want to see Justin Bieber. If you don't go see Justin Bieber, you'll get made fun of and you won't "belong." Not going to see Justin Bieber is exercising your free will. 
Under Esteem, let's say you are trying to impress someone you really respect. You try and you try, but for some reason they don't respect you. A situation arises where you can earn their respect and grow your self esteem, but the thing you have to do goes against your principles. Exercising your free will in this respect is to not do the thing that goes against your principles. 
There are more examples that could be given, but this is already the longest Youtube comment I've ever made, so let's just leave it there for now. 
TL:DR, Yes, there is free will, but it isn't what you think it is. No, don't kill yourself.

Or - Part 3 by Azriel Johnson

    The elders taught the children basic skills including, cooking, cleaning, building, hunting, foraging, caring for children, combat and much more.  The children learned everything which they might need for survival in a harsh circumstance.  Every day was a new lesson with the intention of being well rounded and an able contributor to the society.
    The boy really showed no aptitude in any of the skills taught him.  It wasn’t that he didn’t try, it just turned out the other children were better than he.  The boy could eek out the bare minimum of requirements of the projects the elders would teach, but nothing more.
    Surprisingly, the boy wasn’t frustrated by this as he continued to do his best.  However, even younger children passed him in aptitude in some skills.  A contributing factor may have been his tendency to space out or maybe a lack of mental acuity. He wasn’t stupid. Maybe his talents lay elsewhere.
    The boy was most interested in girls.  One girl, Riv, was his age and he liked her.  Her black skin was showing signs of becoming a Water, which would make sense because she came from a whole family of Waters.  Her father was the current WaTem (Water Ring Master) and his father before him.  She had older brothers who were also Waters, so she didn’t expect to follow in her father’s footsteps, but it was a good lineage.
    The boy didn’t know where his family came from.  No one knew, or would tell him.  He even approached the MaTem (Matriarch) of his village.  Her creaky voice was kind, but she didn’t reveal anything that the boy didn’t already know.
    The last battle between the WhiTem and the Guardians raged outside this very village.  A young man dropped a baby boy off in the doorway of the MaTem and asked for forgiveness of the burden, then left.  The young man was never seen again, the mother remained unknown.
    There was no one else the boy could ask.  The MaTem had every scrap of knowledge in the village in a book and in her head.  It was her job to make sure everything she knew was written down so her successor could pick up where she left off, as successors had done for generations.
    At last came the New Dark’s Day was upon them.  This was the day the children who were of age would make their choices.  They would take their steps towards becoming adults in the society.
    Most children would choose from the basic: Water, Fire, Air, Earth.  Fewer children chose: Sun, Moon, Plant, Lightning.  Only one child, Slee, a girl, chose Dream.  Only one child, Hum, a boy, chose People.  He would very likely become VilTem when he got reached the age where he could best the current VilTem in skills aptitude.
    When it came to the boy’s turn.  He looked left.  He looked right.  The teacher asked him, “What element do you choose?  Earth, Wind, Fire, or Water?”
    The boy took a deep breath and said, “Or.”

Glossary
Tem – Master or Leader
Many words are shortened from English words and used in this language.
Riv  for example is short for River.
Vil is short for village.

Or - Part 2 by Azriel Johnson

    The boy escaped drowning by going to a harder to reach area of the lake.  A cliff backed the rock beach and the water there felt warmer to his touch.  The boy made his way here often when he wanted to escape torment and meditate.
    The boy was young.  The people measured age in how many times the Moon covered both Suns at once, putting the whole world into darkness.  The scientists measured this happening every six months.  The boy had just had his twelfth Lap Day.
    The scientists determined that the planet was much larger than the two Suns and the Moon and thus controlled these satellites and their movement.  Days were broken up into four segments.
    Dawn: The yellow sun was directly East, the white sun was directly North
    Noon: The yellow sun and white sun were directly over head.
    Dusk: The yellow sun was directly West and the white sun was directly South.
    Night: The yellow sun and white sun were on the other side of the planet.
    The scientists said the Moon danced with the planet in such a way that they always faced one another. One time every six days the Moon would be visible at night. The people called this Moon Day. Every three Moon days composed a Month.  Every six Months the Moon would shroud both Suns at once and the entire planet would be dark.  The people took this as an omen of good tidings and the people rejoiced the New Dark’s Day.
    The next New Dark’s Day approached and the boy felt a chill in the air.  He was nervous.  It was almost time for him to choose his specialty.  For most children it was easy.  The Earth users grew food. The Water users brought water to the village.  The Fire users kept the villages warm and lit.  The Air users worked on new ways to generate energy.  The other specialties had functions as well, but these four were the most common and most needed.
    The boy however felt a draw to all the elements and didn’t know which he would pick.  He spent days going back and forth about what would suit the people the best.  He thought about which would be the most attractive to a potential mate, as boys will often do.  This is what he meditated over.  The elders said if someone meditated hard enough they would be shown what element they should choose as their specialty.
    The boy instead would see Fire in one meditation, Water in another, Earth in a third, Air in a fourth.  He would sometimes see Sun in a meditation or Moon.  He saw Darkness or Plants or Animals or People.  Some of the meditations unnerved him, but the one that scared him the most was seeing the WhiTem (White Master).
    Legends told of a former guardian who killed and killed again. The more the guardian killed, the whiter their skin became. It became almost a compulsion to be malicious. They hurt and killed many people before the other Guardians were able to stop the WhiTem and take their ring.  The interesting part is, the legends never said which of the guardians became the White or which of the elements they used.  The legends never named the WhiTem or said if the WhiTem was a male or female.
    The unfortunate lack of specificity bothered the boy immensely.

Glossary
Tem – Master or Leader
Many words are shortened from English words and used in this language.
Riv  for example is short for River.
Vil is short for village.

Or - Part 1 by Azriel Johnson

    The kids teased him mercilessly.  They pushed him to the ground.  They kicked dirt in his face.  Some of them spit.  Some of them pissed on him.  They took their fire sticks and shot sparks at him.  The boy couldn’t handle the onslaught of disrespect, bodily fluids and insulting pre-fire.
    The problem with being an orphan is, no one gives you a name.  You have to earn it.  The boy was on his way to earning the name Spi Pi or Dir Spa or something to that effect.  He didn’t have anyone to help him learn to fight.  All the children with families has their names already and while none of them were properly trained in the ways of The Rings (they were much too young anyway) most of them were bigger than the boy.  Also, there were eight of them.
    For now they called him “Na Le” (Nameless) like it was a swear word.  He could see their black skins taking on small changes in color depending on what they did to him to taunt him.  The kids kicking dirt on him took on a brown hue.  The kids pissing and spitting on him found greenish coloring. The children who used their spark sticks took on small bits of red.
    Any changes that occurred this young were bound to fade away after a day or two.  The contact and interaction with different elements left marks on the blank slate of skin of the boy’s people, but when one is young, things are too dynamic to stay for long.
    The suns shone overhead, beating down on the people.  The black skin of their race turned it into necessary energy that food or drink couldn’t provide.
    The other children finally left the boy alone.  He stood slowly, brushing off the dirt which unfortunately stuck because he was wet.  He looked around, but only saw the town fountain.  He would get in trouble for washing off in there.  The river was about a mile away or the lake was half the distance.  The problem was, the river had animals that might hurt him.  He didn’t want to take on any white by killing something there.
    The scientists studied the changing skin color explicitly.  They determined that prolonged active interaction is what changed the color of the people’s skin permanently.  A tiny use of an element might slightly alter a color, but it would fade.  But the skin of the EarTem (Earth Ring Master) was almost entirely brown because of their consistent, active use of the Earth element.
    White was the color of evil.  Scientists determined that when the people did things knowingly out of malice, like hurting someone, lying, cheating, killing, their bodies took on a white mark.  The more white marks someone had on their body, the more dangerous they would appear to others in the society.  The marks had never been known to fade, even after much repentance.
    The elders simplified it for the people.  “Don’t take a life,” was a repeated mantra.  Even the guardians avoided killing if at all possible.  They were always on call to defend the people from various threats, but defense was not lethal as long as it could be avoided.
    But the boy was young.  He didn’t want his skin to take on white marks as long as he could avoid it, even in self-defense, he didn’t want to take a life.  Unfortunately, this meant going to the lake where the other children who bullied him awaited.  He just hoped they wouldn’t try to drown him again.

Glossary
Tem – Master or Leader
Many words are shortened from English words and used in this language.
Riv  for example is short for River.
Vil is short for village.

Are You Home? - Part 2 by Azriel Johnson

    The man pulls into the driveway about a half hour later.
    He parks the car in the garage, pulls the garage door down and walks to the back door unlocking it and going inside.
    He’s greeted by the ringing of the phone.
    “Hey this is Ron.  Leave a message at the beep.”
    Beep.
    A young male voice, “Dad, this is Phalen.  Are you home?  Julie is crying now.  Why couldn’t you have just let her in and talked for a while.  It’s not like it would have killed you.”
    Beep.
    The man snickers.
    He goes upstairs.  He takes off all of his clothes except his briefs and walks into the bedroom.  He kicks a path through at least three loads worth of dirty clothes.
    The man lies in the bed and falls asleep.

* * *

    The phone rings.  A woman answers, “Hello?”
    “Aunt Becky,” asks Julia’s voice.
    “Yes.  How are you Julia?” Becky asks.
    “I’m worried about Dad.  I went by his house last night and he didn’t come to the door.  The TV was on.  But what was the strangest of all, the garage door was open, and the back door was locked.”
    “Your dad never does that.”
    “I know!”
    “I’ve been worried about him lately too.  Maybe we should all go over there.  Your dad has been pretty depressed since your mom died.  Maybe he hasn’t felt like company.”
    “Yeah,” Julia says softly.
    “Bring Phalen along too.  We’ll go over tomorrow.  I have a key so we’ll get in whether he wants us to or not.”
    “Okay Aunt Becky.  Thanks.”
    “No problem hun.  See you tomorrow.”

* * *

    The trash has piled up.  The man leaves it.  It’s not his concern.  He throws another bag on the pile in the basement.  He inhales and the putrid stench assaults his nostrils.
    The man shuts the door and walks to the bathroom.  He grabs air freshener and walks back to the basement door.  He opens the door and empties the freshener into the basement.
    He throws the empty canister down into the basement and shuts the door again.

* * *

    The next day, Becky arrives at Julia and Phalen’s apartment.  They exchange pleasantries then all get into Becky’s car to go to Ron’s place.
    They don’t call.  They want to make sure he’s there.
    They pull into the gravel driveway.  The garage door is closed.
    They get out of the car.  Phalen checks the garage.  Ron’s car is there.
    Becky and Julia are at the back door and joined by Phalen after he checks the garage.  Becky unlocks the door and the kids go in first.
    An eerie feeling hits them.  The scent of air freshener mingles with trash and another strong scent none of them can recognize.
    The television is on.  Phalen walks into the living room.
    “Who the hell are you!” he yells.
    The man is startled awake.
    He crouches as he falls off of the couch.
    “Julia, call the cops,” Phalen says as he is joined by his sister and aunt.
    The man jumps at them, pushing Phalen, knocking Becky out of the way and knocking Julia to the ground as he tears out of the house.

* * *

    The police investigation turns up little evidence of who the man was.  However, they explore the strange smell from the basement.
    Under the bags and bags of trash, they find the source.
    Ron.

End

Are You Home? - Part 1 by Azriel Johnson

    The man ignores the ringing phone.
    He goes on about his business.  He opens the refrigerator and grabs cheese, lunchmeat and bread.  From the drawer by the basement door he pulls a knife to spread Miracle Whip.
    The answering machine picks up,
    “Hey this is Ron.  Leave a message at the beep.”
    Beep.
    “Hey Ron, are you home? ... I guess not.  Well this is Becky.  Remember?  Your sister?  Where have you been?  I haven’t heard from you in ages.  Call me back okay?  I love you.”
    Beep.
    The man finishes making the sandwich and walks through the sitting room to the living room, glancing at the flashing digits of the answering machine.
    23.
    He sits in the living room and turns on the television.  He channel surfs until he finds something interesting to watch.

* * *

    Three hours later the phone rings again.  The man has dozed off, but is awakened with a start.
    “Hey this is Ron.  Leave a message at the beep.”
    Beep.
    “Hey Ron.  This is Dave from work.  Are you home?  The foreman is getting worried about you.  It’s almost been a week since you were last here.  Anyway, I hope things are okay buddy.  And if they are you’re in deep shit.  Ha-ha.  Bye.”
    Beep.
    The man stretches and walks back into the kitchen.  There are too many dishes in the sink.  Nothing to make himself dinner with.
    The man sets to work at washing them.

* * *

    After a good dinner, the man tidies up the kitchen.
    The phone rings again.
    “Hey this is Ron.  Leave a message at the beep.”
    Beep.
    “Hey Dad.  This is Julia.  I’m in town and I thought I’d drop by.  Are you home?  I hope so.  I’ll see you soon.”
    Beep.
    The man freezes.  His heart starts racing.  He grabs keys from the key rack and rushes out the back door to the car in the garage.
    Garage door goes up.  Car turns over.  The man hits the gas pedal and throws gravel back into the garage as he quickly vacates the premises.

* * *

    A young girl pulls languidly into the driveway no more than five minutes later.  She notices the garage door is open.
    Dad never leaves it open, she ponders.
    Julia gets out of her car and walks to the back door.  She tries to open it, but it’s locked.
    Dad never locks the back door, she says to herself.
    Julia walks to the front door and tries to open it.  It’s also locked.
    “Dad!” she yells.
    She walks to the windows of the living room tapping on the panes.  The curtains are drawn, there is no way to see in, but she can see the light from the television glowing through the curtains.
    Julia grabs her cell phone and calls her Dad’s number.  She hears the ring of the phone accompanied by the all too familiar:
    “Hey this is Ron.  Leave a message at the beep.”
    Beep.
    “Dad?  Are you home?  I’m right outside.  I see the TV is on.  Please come to the door.  I haven’t seen you in so long!  Please?  Daddy?”
    Beep.
    A tear hits Julia’s eye as she stands outside the living room window.

* * *

    The man crawls by in the car, watching the young girl standing by the living room window.  He doesn’t stop.

* * *

    Julia gets back into her car.  Eyes still wet with tears.  She backs slowly out of the driveway and begins her lonely ride home.

The Geek - Part 3 by Azriel Johnson

    The van was dark brown, similar to Angie’s hair.  Jakob slid into the middle seat behind the front bucket seats.  He sat behind his mom.
    Small talk filled our conversation as Angie drove.  Occasionally Angie would ask Jakob about his project for the scouts.  He would mutter something and Angie would look at me with a ‘boys will be boys’ look.
    We turned down a long driveway.  It was admittedly spooky.  I had never seen something so eerie.  I didn’t show my nervousness, but I definitely kept up my alert.
    Angie cut the engine and turned to me, “Our leader is a remarkable man.  He’s been all over the world.  He has backpacked across Europe three times.  The boys love him.”
    I didn’t really know what to say.  My credentials weren’t to shabby either.  I had been to over 100 countries in my career, but I couldn’t tell her that.  Right now I was Jimmy James, the geek who likes historical fiction.
    We exited the van and she said, “Jimmy, I want you to meet Tony Oldman, our scout leader.”
    Tony Oldman was a man about six inches taller than my height of five feet ten inches.  However he had the body of a weasel.  His hair was long, thick and shaggy brown.  He wore a goatee framing thin lips which upturned at the edges.  Most importantly, Tony Oldman was the Agency’s biggest target.
    I offered a hand.  “Hi!  My name is Jimmy James, it’s a pleasure.”
    Tony shook my hand tentatively.  He turned to Angie.  “Where is Jakob’s father?”
    “Oh, Rog, he’s out of town on some business, so I get Johnson family business today.”
    Tony half smiled.  “Well, let’s corral the troops.  Boys!  Let’s get inside, we’re about to start the meeting.”
    Angie and I followed Tony and his slinky walk into the house.  It was a manufactured home.  One floor.  It was huge inside.
    Jakob scampered off into the living room.  The boys sat on the blue plus carpet surrounded by three beefy men and Tony Oldman.  Angie led me into the dining room and we offered me bottled water with a squirt top.  I drank gratefully and while the boys were instructed on patriotism, Angie and I discussed a number of different historically relevant novels.
    I stood up to use the bathroom.  I washed my hands afterward.  As I exited the bathroom I was faced with Jakob.  He smiled as he held a hand behind his back.  I was curious.
    Jakob asked, “Mister James, could you get that plane from the top of the shelf?”
    It seemed like a reasonable request.  I turned my back and reached.  As my hand touched the die cast plane, I felt uneasy.  I turned back with plane in hand and was quick enough to block the knife little Jakob tried to shove into my body.
    Another boy ran at me with a knife and I threw the plane at his head.  The metal rang as it met his skull. The boy started crying.  Jakob slashed at me with his knife.  I blocked his attack and disarmed him.
    What the hell was going on?
    I walked into the kitchen that connected to the dining room brandishing the knife.
    “Okay!  Why am I being attacked by children with knives?”
    No answer came… Only gunshots….

Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3

The Geek - Part 2 by Azriel Johnson

    She smiled.  “Mister James, I need to be going.  My son has a meeting tonight and my ex-husband is out of town so I have to take him.”
    “A meeting?”  I inquired.
    “Oh, it’s a scout meeting.”
    “Ah, I see.  Well, I really enjoyed this conversation.  I was kind of hoping we could do it again soon.”
    Angie smiled.  “Well, why don’t you come with me and my son to the meeting?  I never really get involved because the men are very strict against the participation of women.  So I will have time to talk.”
    “I would love to.”  I may have said that with too much exuberance.  Angie seemed delighted to hear that in my voice.  She gave me her address and asked that I arrive about a half hour before she was to leave.
    Despite my better judgment, I was walking on air, just a little bit.  I had not expected Angie to be a sharp tack, but no one in my geek circle could keep up with me when it came to fiction, let alone historical fiction. 
I was dressed well, but not too well and I had arrived at her house precisely when she requested.  The Agency had insisted I get to know her neighborhood intimately.  It was filled with mostly non-affluent people.  This was the perfect breeding ground for the sleeper sell we were after.  I stuck out like a sore thumb despite wearing my less nice clothes and skipping my afternoon shower.  I had never had to struggle and the lack of tension lines on my face showed it.  It seemed like the children were the hardest hit.  While I was graduating two grades ahead of my age, children here were held back constantly.  Many things were broken with this education system.  Lack of teachers was one.
    I pulled into Angie’s driveway.  I cut the engine and waved to her son.  Her son, Jakob looked at me strangely.  I asked, “Hey there, is your mom around?”
    He said, “Yeah.”
    He didn’t move to summon her.  I prompted, “could you let her know Jimmy is here?”
    “Sure.”  He turned his head toward the green front door.  “MOM!  JIMMY IS HERE!”
    Seconds later, Angie’s head poked out of the door smiling.  “Jimmy!  I’m almost ready.  Would you like to come in?”
    “I’d love to.”
    Jakob raced into the house ahead of me.  He grabbed his scout uniform off of the flannel pattern brown couch and slipped it on over his black ninja t-shirt.  The file said he was ten years old and one of the more popular students in his class.
    Angie stepped into the living room.  I had been scoping the house.  I noticed the lack of television as well as the super powered computer.  The house was cluttered, but not full of garbage, like the report said.
    “Jimmy,” Angie said.  “This is my son Jakob.”
    “We met.”
    “My van is out back, shall we?”
    “Certainly.”

Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3