Chapter

RC Hood, Jr.

Warrior Son 

When they were all together in a circle around Ni-Mah and Ya-Weh, they bowed down in unison, kneeling on one knee, right hand extended, and heads bent down in a gesture of respect and love for their High King and Queen. The Elfin king gave Ya-Weh a special nod, a brief half-smile. Ni-Mah raised her arms above her head and closed her eyes. Another moment goes by then a golden star ship appeared above the center of the twelve ships, dwarfing them all with its vast size. Then Ni-Mah gave her husband one last lingering kiss before stepping out of the circle of kings. “Good-bye my love, and be careful,” she called to Ya-Weh as the thirteen men began to slowly disappear in a shimmering array of colored light. “And watch well over our son.”

The golden star ship rose slowly up into the atmosphere, tilted toward her as if to say good-bye, then darted off toward space. Once in space they went into warp speed breaching the barrier which separated the two universes. They emerged into the Milky Way galaxy. The star ship sped on through the inky black space, stopping just at the edge of our solar system. As it hovered there, an iridescent ball of pure energy shot out of it, speeding past the cold, silent outer planets to the troubled planet Earth. Its speed was so staggering it went undetected by the metallic satellites mankind had so proudly placed around our planet.

As the diamond blue ball of energy entered Earth’s atmosphere, its speed decreased to that of sound. Without slowing its flight, twelve smaller balls of energy of different colors shot out from it and moved off at great speed in twelve different directions. The larger ball of energy began a long arc down, heading for the city that some called “The city of entertainment. An oasis in the desert or as those who felt a need to condemn, it is called, “Sin City,” but to those who live there it is just called Las Vegas.

On Earth it was the year 2028. It was the wee hours of the morning when nearly the entire city was quiet. The sun was just peeking over the tops of the mountain, which would bring the dawn of a new day and the warmth of spring to this still sleeping city.

No one noticed the ball of energy as it sliced through the half- lit sky. Incredibly it descended from the sky and passed through the walls of a luxurious home in Red Rock as easily as a hot knife passes through cold butter. The diamond blue ball of energy at last came to a stop in the bedroom. It hovered in one of the corners of the room and began to glow brighter and brighter, pulsating as if it were alive, and so it should have, for in a way that man wouldn’t come to understand for a thousand years, it was. As the blue ball of energy pulsated and became blindingly bright, lights flickered, circuits hummed, and switches turned on. The large screen of the close circuit television came on and the camera scanned the pushily furnished house. When the tour was completed, the camera focused on the ball of energy. The screen was filled with the blue ball of energy. Ya-Weh’s voice amplified through the state-of-the-art speakers seemed to fill the room with life.

“Awaken my son.”

Jade, a honey- colored man in his early thirties rolled over in his king size bed causing a small wave of motion, but he didn’t respond to the voice.

“Awaken Jade, for the time has come for you to save this world from its own madness and the greed of an alien race.”

Jade woke and winced at the bright light surrounding him. Jade had a confused look on his face, and who wouldn’t have. Any lesser man would have jumped from his bed and ran from the house in horror, but not Jade, for he was more than a man and his curiosity had been aroused. He continued to stare in astonishment as he finally registered the transformation of his large bedroom. His heartbeat wildly as he waited to see what would happen next.