Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:36:25 -0800 (PST)
From: JMH <trandar2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Son Chapter 31

Austin, riding the power wave produced by his new friend Will, arrived at
the gateway to Earth just in time to watch the Santor explode with the
power of a small sun.

"Are we too late?"  Will asked, sensing the fear and sadness radiating from
Austin.

"Yes... we are."  Austin said, his fear quickly turning to rage, his
sadness turning to revenge as he focused on the Fungi warships.  "Destroy
them Will... destroy every one of them."

Will did exactly as he was asked, sending wave after wave of burning energy
against the Fungi fleet, disintegrating them on contact.  While Austin was
sure the Fungi did not know who or what was attacking them, they did not
wait to find out.  Austin watched as the remaining ships dived for the gate
to Earth, jumping as fast as possible out of the Void.

As soon as the last Fungi vessel disappeared a Guild fleet made up mostly
of large Sloth transports surrounded by a heavy escort jumped in.

"Should I destroy those ships as well?"  Will asked eagerly.

"No... those are our friends."  Austin replied.

"How do you know?"

"Because those are human ships."

"So all humans are your friends?"  Will asked curiously.

"Well no..."  Austin admitted.

"Then how do you know they are your friends?"  Will said, wanting to cause
more explosions.

"They are more my friends than any Fungi will ever be."  Austin replied.
"But you're right... we better go see who they really are and why they let
Vard's ship get blown up."

Moving towards the Guild fleet with Will in tow, Austin went looking for
answers.  Looking at the fleet's formation he quickly noticed one ship that
seemed out of place... a Guild War-Liner located in the middle where it
would be useless protecting the Sloth transports that surrounded it.

Curious, Austin dived into the ship, heading directly to the bridge where
he found Vard sitting on the floor, his head resting in Joshua's lap.

"It was a beautiful ship," Austin heard Joshua whisper as he stroked his
husband's hair.

"I should have never let you talk me into letting them destroy her," Vard
pouted.

Wanting to know what had just happened, Austin concentrated hard to
materialize a transparent image of himself on the bridge.  "It must have
taken a lot of fast talking," He laughed as he appeared.

"Austin?"  Vard jumped, having to stop himself half way from trying to hug
a ghost.

"Hello oath brother," Austin smiled.

"I was hoping to see you again," Vard grinned as well.  "Any luck in
finding us some allies?"

"I did manage to find one."  Austin chuckled as he went searching for Will.

"By the light, what is that?"  Joshua exhaled as Will made his presence
known, forming a perfect sphere of blinding light in the middle of the
bridge.

"Vard... I would like you to meet Will.  Will, this is my best friend
Vard," Austin said but got no reply.  "Will?"

Turning his attention on his ball shaped friend Austin watched as Will
hovered closer and closer to Joshua, his light growing ever brighter.

"Creator?"  Will sent out in a near whisper.

"Hello Will," Joshua said as he reached up to touch the ball of light.

*****************************************************

The moment the two touched, the light was absorbed by Joshua's body, his
skin glowing a brilliant white while Will's voice rang inside his head.
"You made me! You made me!  What am I?  Who am I?  Why do I exist?  Do you
like my name?"

Joshua, his mind filled with the being's questions did not know where to
start.  Will's power, coursing through him was almost overwhelming.  "I
don't know who you are."

"But you made me.  You have to know."  Will insisted.

Just then, the door to the bridge opened, letting Drake in.  On sensing
another one of his creators Will sent half of his self into Drake to ask
him the same questions.  "You made me! You made me!  What am I?  Who am I?
Why do I exist?"

Seeing Drake and Joshua standing paralyzed, Vard began to worry.  "What is
going on Austin?"

"I think Joshua has been cheating on you Vard.  It seems he and Drake made
a baby behind your back."  Austin chuckled.

"A baby?"  Vard asked confused.

"It seems so.  When I found Will he was scared and confused, darting
through the Void, looking for the ones who created him.  Since he
remembered entering the Void near Earth, I brought him back here to help
him find the answers he wanted.  I should have guessed Joshua had something
to do with it.  Will has a Joshua feel to him."

"So what is Will doing right now?"  Vard asked.

"Trying to get his two parents to answer the questions that has had
philosophers debating for centuries... purpose of life sort of things."

"I don't think Joshua or Drake can answer those," Vard said worried.

"Yeah... Will is finding that out, to his disappointment."

"Do you know how Will came to be?"  Vard asked.

"No I don't... you will have to ask Joshua when Will is finished with him,"
Austin replied.

That turned out to be a very long time indeed.  Will, not happy with the
answers his creators were giving to his questions, kept on asking the same
ones in hope they would give him what he wanted.  In the end, however, he
had to accept the truth.  Joshua and Drake had not understood the
consequences when they had allowed their souls to mate.  They had not even
known that in doing so they had created a new life.  It was not a far jump
for Will to go from understand that his birth had been unplanned, to
thinking his existence had actually been nothing more than an accident, if
not a mistake.  Sulking, Will withdrew himself from his creators to hover
next to Austin.

Joshua, shaking his head clear, looked up at the ball of light, pain
showing on his face.  "I'm sorry Will.  I am sorry we did not have the
answers you wanted."

The ball of light quivered "I'm so alone... there is no one like me.  I am
nothing more than a mistake."

"You are no mistake my friend.  Because of you, the people I love escaped
the Fungi."  Austin said.

"We are very grateful to you."  Vard agreed.

"But..."  Will's voice whimpered.

"Will, you are no mistake."  Joshua insisted.  "Drake and I did not know
what we were doing, but I can not describe my joy in knowing that you
exist."

"Why... you never wanted me."

"But I got you and love you."  Joshua replied, reaching up to touch the
light again so that Will would know the truth of it.

This time Will slowly entered his creator and did not fill his mind with
endless questions.  He let himself flow into Joshua's soul. Finding a warm
and comfortable place he settled down to sleep... the first sleep he had
had since being created.

"Is Will alright?"  Austin asked worried.

"Yes... he's resting."  Joshua smiled.  His whole body felt as if it was
being tickled.

Drake walked over to Joshua and placed a hand on his chest, letting a part
of Will seep into him.  Drake then sat himself down on Joshua's lap,
Joshua's arms wrapped around him.  The two quickly curled up and fell
asleep.

"They sure make a pretty family portrait," Austin grinned.

"They sure do," Vard agreed.

As the two men watched, a shadow fell on them, turning around they saw
three giant eyes staring at them.  "We do not agree," came from three
different voices.

"The Watchers!"  Austin jumped.

"You know these... these things?"  Vard asked, as he reached for his gun.

"Yes... they are the Watchers.  They live in the Void observing what we do
here."

"They don't seem very happy," Vard remarked.

"We are not."  The three voices replied.  "You have disrupted the calm of
the Void with your fighting and you are contaminating the Pure One with
your physical forms."

"The Pure One?"  Vard asked.

"I think they are referring to Will," Austin said nervously.

"How can Will being with his father be seen as contamination?"  Vard
demanded.

"He is physical and therefore impure.  We demand that you give the Pure One
to us."

"And if we refuse?"  Joshua asked as he opened his eyes slowly.

"Then we will remove the impurities that threaten him."

"No one threatens my family."  Vard said as he raised his gun.

"Vard... I would put that gun down if I were you.  If the Watchers decided
to, they could destroy your entire fleet without much effort," Austin
warned.

  "But they won't," Joshua said.

"How can you be sure?"  Austin asked.

"Will won't allow it," Joshua replied, the light in his eyes growing
brighter as his son stirred inside him.

Joshua seemed to be right.  As the light grew the three eyes quivered and
shrank in size.

"What is going on Joshua?"  Vard asked.

"Will is talking to the Watchers... trying to get them to understand how he
came to be.  The Watchers don't believe him.  They can't see how an impure
could give birth to someone stronger than they are," Joshua replied.

"We will just have to prove it to them," Vard said as he began undoing the
buttons to his military uniform.

"Vard?'  Joshua asked, with an arched eyebrow as he nudged Drake awake.

"They do want proof don't they?"  Vard chuckled.  "And I want a baby."

"You are not jealous are you?"  Drake grinned as he sat up.

"Just a little," Vard said with a wolfish smile.

"Vard, you're scaring them," Austin said nervously.

"The great and powerful Watchers are scared of us mere physicals?"

"Yes... they are afraid you are telling them the truth," Austin replied.

"And why does that frighten them?"  Joshua asked.

"The Watchers, for as long as they can remember, have always existed in the
Void, alone but supreme in their control.  Once in a while someone like me
would appear, and the Watchers would care for them as they have cared for
me. Eventually, the emptiness of the Void would become too much for them,
and they would leave the Void to pass on."

"I'm sorry," Vard said as he let his finger's pass through Austin's face.

"It's alright.  I'm not leaving anytime soon," Austin promised.

"So why are the Watchers afraid of us having children? I would think they
would like the company."

"They would like the company, that is true.  What they do not want is for
you three to fill the Void with beings more powerful than they are.

"So, after an eternity of overseeing the Void, they have finally met a
power they can't fathom?"

"Yes," Austin said sheepishly.  They think emotions such as love and hate
belong only to primitive physicals.  They did not understand Will's need
for such things."

"Maybe my son can teach them," Joshua offered, reaching out a hand towards
the floating eyes.

As Joshua moved closer the three eyes pulled away as if frightened, closing
into a tight circle.  Joshua kept up his pursuit however, moving quickly
till his hand touched the ghostly bodies of the Watchers.

"Go Will... show them what you've learned," Joshua said encouragingly as
streams of white light flowed from the tips of his fingers into the three
beings who flinched at its touch.

"Stop it Joshua!  You are hurting them!"  Austin shouted.

"No... I am helping them remember... remember what it was like to be a part
of the physical world."

The three eyes contracted and merged together, forming a single body that
started taking on a physical, human like form.  When the new being had
solidified into a physical shape, Joshua stepped away and Will returned
back to his body.

"What are we?"  The creature asked as it looked down on its naked body.

"My son has given you back your bodies... the ones you cast away so long
ago."

The creature which had skin and hair as pale as white marble and eyes bluer
than the sky on Earth, spread out its white feathered wings.  "We do not
understand...  we never looked so... human."

"No, you didn't."  Joshua agreed.  "Will had very little to use to give you
these bodies.  As living energy, you did not even have DNA.  The form you
now take is less what you looked like than it is the physical manifestation
of your souls."

"So we are what you humans call... angels?"  The creature asked.  "If that
is so, where is the god we are meant to serve?"

"Is that how you see yourself Will?"  Joshua chuckled.  "A god?"

"No... you are," Will replied earnestly.  "You created me did you not?"

"I'm no god."

"One day you will be," Will promised.

"Are you our god?"  The winged Watcher asked Joshua.

"Yes he is," Vard said before Joshua could refute it.

"No, Vard I am not," Joshua insisted.

"Can a god be a god and not know it?"  Drake asked.

Vard leaned down and whispered into his husband's ear.  "Joshua... we need
the Watchers help in winning this war.  If you are their god, they will be
bound to help us."

"If Will's creator is a god... he will be able to prove it," The Watcher
decided.

"How can he prove it?"  Drake asked.

"He must give us a home world."

"That is simple enough... there are plenty of habitable worlds in human
space that you can inhabit, Vard replied.

"No... the Void is our home.  We will not leave it," The Watcher insisted.

"But there are no planets in the Void... no suns either."  Drake said.

"If Joshua is a god then he will find a way to grant us this small
request," The Watcher replied.

"We could build a space station."  Joshua offered.

"No... we want a living planet, warmed by the light of its own sun, a place
where we can fly, swim, laugh and play."

Joshua lowered his head in defeat.  "Then I am not a god, for I can not
give you the things you want."

"One day you will."  Will's voice whispered in Joshua's head.

"I will?"  Joshua sent back in surprise.

"Yes...  one day you will be able to make worlds and suns and fill them
with life."  Will replied.

"But how?"  Joshua asked.  "I don't know how to do any of those things."

"I don't know how... I don't think it matters.  I just sense that, at some
time in the future, you will have the power to do the things you need to do
for the good of everyone."

"I understand Will... thank you.  Go back to sleep now."

After he felt Will's consciousness fall asleep, Joshua turned his attention
back on the Watcher.  "I promise, when the time comes and I am ready, I
will give you the world you want."

"Until then, we will be watching and waiting."  The creature replied.
"Come Austin, it is time you returned to your lessons."

"If I may Watcher, I would like to stay here with Joshua and Vard, and help
them in their search for allies."

"Very well... we will look to you to watch this godling and report what you
find to us, but remember, you can not leave the Void without passing on."

"I understand.  I will stay with them until they leave the Void and no
longer."

"Good..."  The Watcher said as it began to fade away.  "One more thing,
something that might help your people, the Void is not entirely empty.
There are places where different races have settled, most in hope of
escaping the Fungi and Chimera.  At one such point, three months travel
from here, there is a series of what you would call space stations that
belong to one of the first races to seek refuge in the Void.  Your friends
might want to seek their help."

"Thank you."  Austin bowed as the Watcher finally left.

	   ****************************************************

      One down, another 17 to go before we reach the final climax.  In
other news Angels Ascending, Book IV of the Centurion Cycle has been
accepted by the publisher and will be out on Amazon sometime in the next
two weeks.  Will keep you all updated to when it will be released.  Books I
and II, The Centurion and The Academy are still selling and are now on sale
at over 30% off on Amazon.  The Guild and The Son were both experiments I
did to help me get ready to writer the much longer work of The Centurion
Cycle so if you are a fan of The Son then I think you will really enjoy the
Centurion series.  As for The Son, those of you who don't want to wait for
the next chapter to come out can find the complete book on the yahoo site.
If you have any comment or anything else for that matter feel free to post
it on the group or email me.  Take care.

				    JMH
trandar2002@yahoo.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/