Chapter 8

Jasper

The next morning, I had everyone gather around the shore and told them of our situation—that there was no more food and no way for us to get across safely.

After I'd finished being transparent with them about the situation, there was a hush that fell amongst the group. Quite frankly, I was surprised. I thought for sure there would be yelling and gnashing of teeth.

Then, some random person came forward and said, "Jasper, we trust you. We may not know much about you, but we know that you care and that you, along with everyone else, want nothing more than to get to the New Promised Land."

"Alright then. If you trust me so much, then I need us all to do something a little crazy. I need us all to sit down, close our eyes, and pray. There's really not much else that we can do."

I turned away from the group and faced the large body of water in front of us. This seemed absolutely impossible, but we had to try. I knew that on the other side was a way for us to get to freedom.

I sat down on the sandy shore and closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I felt a shift in the sand around me. Noah and Meesh were sitting down on either side of me. I turned to them and asked, "What are you two doing?"

"We're doing what you asked," Noah said.

"Yeah, you told us to pray, so that's what we're doing," Meesh said defiantly.

I gave them both a smile and turned to look behind me. Everyone else was following suit—the group had all sat down and closed their eyes as well.

I turned back around and closed my eyes again.

Great Light, we are in desperate need of your help. Come through and help us like you have done in the past. Moving forward, I place my trust in you.

I opened my eyes once more and allowed them to adjust to the bright sunlight. As I was looking into the horizon, I saw a strange shape floating over the water. The current continued to carry the strange shape toward me, and I realized what it was I was actually seeing.

It was a medium-sized vessel made of wood and sails—large enough to fit everyone on there.

I immediately got up and started running a little out toward the water. I started to shout, hoping to grab the attention of anyone who was manning the boat. Soon after, the rest of the group splashed into the water with me and joined me in hailing the vessel.

Cheers amongst our group rose up as we all realized that we now had a way to cross over. The vessel came all the way up onto the bank of the shore, and we walked around it to see if there was any of the crew who could help us up.

That's strange. Someone should have come to greet us by now.

I told the group to wait on the beach as I took Aaron and one other person to come on the ship with me. As we walked around the entirety of the boat, we could tell that the ship was still in good shape, but there was not a single person we could find.

It was unnerving, to say the least. But perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.

"What do you think about this?" I said to Aaron as we walked onto the main deck.

"Honestly, I say we take it. Does your book tell us where we need to go?"

I pulled out the Book of Light from my pocket and read some of the words out loud.

"Yeah, it says that once you have reached the end of the desert, sail on the winds over the Sea of Thanatos due northeast. Head northeast until you reach the Jungle of Serene."

"Alright, sounds easy enough," Aaron said nonchalantly as he started heading toward the exit.

"Wait, what do you mean, easy enough? Does anyone in our group know how to sail a boat?"

Aaron turned around with a mischievous grin on his face and pointed at himself. "You're looking at him."

We took what little supplies we had with us, and all got on the vessel to head toward what we were hoping would be a place that had food. Since we'd eaten our last rations this morning, we honestly had no idea how we'd make it. The Book didn't say how long the journey would take, just that we had to go northeast.

We were completely blind.

Trust me.

There was that still, small voice yet again.

Well, I didn't have a choice now, did I?

I slowly headed over to the bridge—I found it difficult to walk on a moving ship—where I saw Mishael and Noah running around playing. I chastised them and told them to be careful. They looked at me with blank stares.

I sighed. Yeah, they're just gonna do what they want.

I waved them off, and they scurried off to some other part of the ship. I took a few more steps to where Aaron was steering the ship and giving some commands. I asked him how I could help since I felt useless. He directed me to the starboard side of the ship to help the others manage the sails.

Looking toward where we were going, I couldn't help but enjoy the serenity of the moment. The sound of the water washing against the hull of the ship, coupled with the reflection of the clear sky—it was stunning.

A certain sense of peace came from looking at the beauty of nature all around me. As dark and evil as reality was, I couldn't help but come into a sense of awe at the majesty of what we had left.

I closed my eyes and just breathed in the fresh air all around me.