A Dance of Two Worlds

The Other World

Chapter Six

Solomon and Moses

Humans are closest to the Creator but inclined toward destruction

Elisium

The Fifth Loop, Year 491, 1st January (5L/491/1/1)

"I'm Moses, not Solomon," Moses said through clenched teeth.

What's this Solomon, Solomon? First Joseph and now this man.

I'm tired of hearing this word.

Yeah, the Crossing sometimes makes people go nuts. You're surrounded by crazy people.

"Hello, I am George," The leader of the group said extending his hand towards Moses. "Welcome to Elisium. Your captors had certainly planned to send you directly to heaven, but quite miraculously you survived the journey."

Moses rolled his eyes. "But I'm still as confused as before."

"Son, you will have all the time in two worlds to get your answers, but right now we need to get moving. We don't want any of those looters to return and throw you all back into the river."

George looked at his men. "Brothers, each one of you will carry a person on his horse. We should reach the Refuge before sunrise. Son, you come with me."

Going with strangers. Is it a good idea?

They look friendly and what other options do I have in this hostile world?

What if they kill you? Or torture you? Haven't you heard stories about the man-eating savages of Tenebra?

Those stories are fiction, poorly written by some horrible author. I would rather take my chances with them than become a feast for the beasts.

All the other survivors were on horseback by the time Moses had finished arguing with his echo. Just before dawn, they entered a beautiful valley surrounded by rugged mountains. A large lake adorned the center of this valley with thousands of shanties built around it in a disorganized manner.

Their caravan stopped in front of a dingy building. "Friends, I thought I must first bring you all to this place. There is a chance that here you might find someone you know," Geroge announced to the survivors.

Some old men were seated around a dining table inside the hall. Joseph went near a person, with freckled skin, greying hair, and wearing a worn-out suit accompanied by an ancient-looking hat. Joseph had last seen this man four decades ago when he was just three years old, but his photo wearing this same suit and hat was framed in his house. "Father," Joseph said in a quivering voice.

The old man looked at Joseph from top to bottom. "Joseph!!" He cried and embraced his son in a tight hug. "Well, I had lost all hopes of seeing you. I thought you might be amongst those consumed by the Drowning in the last few decades."

"Yet he never gives up wearing this suit at every Crossing," George added with a smile.

"Father, how did you recognize me?" Joseph asked Jacob. "I was a toddler when you were banished."

"Yes, but you have turned out to be a copy of me in my younger days. And dumb-head you are my only son, who else is going to call me Father?"

George's eyes were moist seeing this father-son reunion. "Your father's Banishment was the last instance in which Aden's soldiers did pull the prisoners out of the river."

"What did they do after saving them?" Moses asked.

Jacob answered his query. "Well, they took us deep into the jungles and set us loose to die in the wilderness. No one had ever made out of that forest alive until these lovely Elisians started rescuing the prisoners and bringing them here."