Chapter 15
In which Jesus cures lameness, and rocks are apparently buoyant
TAMASHII
I asked, "Alright, so you say that we need the Knowledge of Good & Evil from the fruit of the Tree in the Garden of Eden. But ummm, where exactly is it on this map?" And I pulled out a world map that Mom had used in her journeys.
Jesus took a look and then said, "Okay, you see how we're right here in Kushiyama?" Jesus pointed to the town near the top right, then traced with his finger all the way down to the bottom left. "It reads «Here Be Draygons» (sic) there though," I said, "Are you sure you want me to go there?" Jesus explained, "Yes, that's right. This area, obviously, has not been explored by any mapmakers. Until a certain event in history, the island containing Eden and the Knowledge of Good & Evil wasn't even visible. That area was just a sort of wave triangle."
I was puzzled, "What could have changed to reveal an entire island?" Jesus told us plainly, "Your mother changed the world when she made it real." I looked over at Mom. She was still catatonic, but our words were still affecting her, as I saw a heavy blush cross her face. From my own medical research, I knew that schizophrenic people were perfectly capable of hearing the world that we live in.
Ages ago, psychologists weren't trained to consider the possibility that the patient might not be crazy. They were trained to help the patient “get better,” so any suggestion that the patient might actually be, for example, hearing voices outside of themselves will never be considered. But in this world, when magic existed and demonic, angelic, or ghostly possession were legitimately known about, nothing was discounted. My own powers as a Soulfire allowed me to connect with disturbed people who I touched, but there was a real art to treating them. If I tried it, I would wind up sucked into her mindset and be struggling along with her, unable to break free of what I saw or heard. About all I could do was calm Mom with a touch. Her condition remained. I gave her one more touch, making her pass out so she would not have to watch us leave her.
And then, we boarded the ship. I grabbed Ambrosia's map and stuck it in my satchel, and then Dad, Portia, Sastraneth, and I boarded the ship. We raised anchor, unfurled the sails, and headed out. Although it was possible for Bahamut to take us there quickly, we didn't know what we were looking for. If it was a small island, we might even pass it by from the air. Besides, the ship had all of our supplies, including fruit and pickled vegetables. I didn't fancy flying around aimlessly with no provisions.
But there was another reason not to fly. The New Earth had changed quickly since Mom was a child. After the war between Phoenix and Kushiyama, nobody wanted one country to invade another, so there was limited air traffic control. These were mostly guards in hot air balloons using magic to shoot down flying objects, but occasionally you got the heavier duty version of this. That one involved big blimps with cannons or ballistas. While Bahamut's scales were capable of making runes slide off of her, heavy weapons were still able to knock her back. It didn't really hurt Bahamut seriously, but with us on her, it wasn't so safe. After all, it's one thing to be a large dragon and fall from a height with scales and muscles large enough to cushion her body, it's quite another to be a human riding on such a dragon and fall from this height. Even though she was taking the damage directly and we were only getting secondary damage, we'd be dead while she'd be bruised. Without permission, we couldn't just wander up and down the map hoping to find it the island.
But not everyone in the group was pleased with riding in the boat. Sastraneth was a strong swimmer and often got seasick. She could only cope with the motion sickness while sleeping, and she was too restless to do this the entire trip. And so, while the boat sailed along, she kept pace with it, swimming for several days straight, then resting aboard the ship, only to dive into the ocean again.
JESUS
I started my mission to heal the land of Pangaea. I cured the blind, lame, and so on and my disciples were sent out to do the same. While my disciples wandered the land, each had their share of challenges. Thomas and Thaddeus were paired, even though elves and dwarves classically do not get along with each other. Nathanael and Philip, James and John, and Peter (who at this point was still called Autumntwig) and Andrew all were old friends but they were sent on difficult missions. James the Lesser and Matthew were the only group that was entirely made up of humans, but I sent them to ghettos where a growing number of hybrids who had been persecuted had settled. I never said missionary work was easy.
But my most troublesome group were Judas (Rena) and Simon the Zealot. They didn't understand each other, as Rena had been abused by medical science as a young child, while the demons were those who sought to support their military power and to create unrest after seeing that would fail. Demons were often driven by violence, while as a foxgirl Rena spent her life running and hiding. Rena was able to heal others, while his demonic powers seemed to qualify him only as a bouncer. And then there was his reaction to some of the healing itself, where he cringed and trembled, as she reported later. She insisted that he shouldn't belong in this group, but I told Rena that none of them should see themselves as greater or others as lesser (aside from James the Lesser, who was literally called James the Lesser, but I insisted they not take that as measure of his worth), and that at any time, one of them might betray me. That seemed awfully paranoid, I know, but I knew what would happen to me.
And no, despite what Rena thinks, Simon's issue wasn't the lepers. He couldn't get past watching the lame be healed. You see, Simon had grown up in a small town, a strong demon who was orphaned in one of the many wars between demons and angels. The battles were pointless, for every demon who was killed was the other half of some demon. Except the occasional Seraphim, there were no losses and nothing about this could be called a win. He grew up in an orphanage, seeing humans as his brothers and sisters. Then the occupying troops rolled through to oppress Ancient Israel, and one of their vehicles smashed the legs of a fellow orphan. The poor kid became like a brother to him as he nursed him back to good health. But his legs were totalled, and it seemed as though he would never walk again. Simon swore revenge, and though the Jews were frightened of him as a demon, he was a little like Hellboy, a demon that nonetheless wanted to fight on their side. And so, when Simon wanted to join the Zealots, he found none to refuse him. Day after day, he practiced and prayed and trained. Then the day was coming, an important official in the oppressing army was coming, and they had a little skit, setting up several people to react just so in order to get him into position of assassination. But that day, in the same town, the boy from the orphanage was at a pool of Siloam. He was kinda whiny actually, complaining about how his legs were broken, and he was waiting for someone to move him into the pool, as periodically an angel would stir up the waters (actually, it was a hot spring with intermittent flow). Actually, I had regrown the bones of his leg as soon as I saw him, but he was still carrying on like some sort of loafer on welfare. Dude, your leg has been healed! Why haven't you noticed yet? Finally, I told him, "Do you want to be healed?" He told me some more about how people kept pushing in front of him in the pool, but I brushed this aside, "Your childhood friend from the orphanage is here in town. But he will leave forever if you do not hurry. Move your bed mat and walk." His faith made him well. This motivated him in a hurry, and soon he was on his feet, before realizing that his feet actually worked.
The carefully orchestrated skit suddenly fell apart about the point when he showed up on the scene. The other players had all done their part, but here was something real. Simon walked off, and sought after me. In the next few days, he found me from a limited description from the friend.
GOD
Most humans go through life as though actors in a play. I gave them existence, so they are obviously part of me, but they like to pretend as though they are a separate existence. Then they die, go to the Afterlife, and briefly touch into unity with me before becoming souls again, and being reborn. But Jesus was different.
I recall watching a stage play called Noises Off. This play showed the audience the front of the stage and the backstage, and obviously it was a farce that emphasized the the challenges of productions. But in this particular night, the actor who played the stage manager became sick, and wound up being replaced by an understudy, a gal who was the actual stage manager. In other words, for most of the play, she was dramatic but she wasn't acting.
I also could compare him to Neo in The Matrix, and how he just ignored the virtual reality program entirely, as though it didn't exist. In any case, Jesus promised to have great potential, and I had plans for him. The other humans were caught in sin, while Jesus could see through reality, and thus was a candidate to overcome sin. I was proud of what Jesus would do.
And so it was that Jesus was able to walk on water. His faith was more real than the water was, and so he was able to walk on its surface, just as I was able to walk upon the waters of the Void.
RENA
After we returned from our mission trip, Jesus was suddenly popular. Like, "bigger than the Beatles" popular. He told us to get away in the boat because he was worried the crowd might push us to the ground trying to get to him. But I was worried the crowd might be too much for him. He said that he was headed to pray and be alone, so we left him to it.
Then a storm came up, and the lot of us were reciting hastily remembered prayers to bail out the boat, and push water away from it. But wind and water were coming from all sides, with constant downpour and strong wind pushing waves in faster than we could bail it. It stopped raining, so we stopped needing to bail, but the wind and waves were pushing so hard that we were stuck in place. And then, Jesus moved along the surface of the waves. Thaumaturgy could do this. So could ninjutsu. But if it were ninjutsu, we would see a glowing blue aura near Jesus's feet. And if it were thaumaturgy, he would be chanting, "You who are Lord over the natural world, let me overcome this water. Water Walking..." at a constant rate. Even the best of these wouldn't be able to sustain either more than about fifteen minutes. Enough to cross a pool or even a large river, but not a lake 13 miles long by 8 miles wide, and we were halfway across it.
Autumntwig, who was still not yet known as Peter, wanted to come out on the water. Jesus asked her to go ahead and try. And she did, focusing on chanting those words, while she worked to figure out precisely how Jesus was doing this. But she never managed it, as well she was chanting, she was becoming more tired and distracted and then the rough waves caused her to gasp in fear. She stopped chanting for just a few seconds but it it was enough. She suddenly sunk like a stone, and might have drowned by for Jesus reaching a hand down to her. Also calmed the storm to some extent, and we made it to the other side. Jesus's mission took him away from this area for awhile so it was abandoned.
Jesus picked this time to explain that Autumntwig's name Peter, explaining that he was to be the rock on which he would build his church. Uhhhhh, rocks can't float. They don't have any buoyancy. Was Jesus teasing us?
GOD
The Sea of Galilee underwent a number of droughts and other issues over the years, at one point nearly drying up during a severe drought and over-irrigation. There was a legitimate concern that the lake that Jesus walked across would permanently be dry enough for anyone to walk across, not just the Messiah. It was predicted to replenish only with a lot of pumping, expected to manage by 2026. But that very year, a combination of environmental stewardship and a heavy rainstorm, the water level went from the black line of irreversible drain to just short of the red flood line (that was me, by the way).
Meanwhile, that boat they left behind? In 1986, during another drought, the wreckage of boat they named the Jesus Boat was found.
