Epistle from Abigail Weaver to Zacharias Albrecht
Dear Zach,
God be with you. I do not have your talent for crafting stories and words as you do, and I do not know if I will ever be able to send that letter to you, but I have faith that one way or another, these will reach you, not matter what happens to me…
It should have been you to have been… transported to that magical place, I know you would have loved it as much as Johanna, and not have been as… confused, lost and afraid as I was.
But perhaps it is God giving me a chance to re do well by Johanna, that child deserves to be happy and to have more time to find her place in the tapestry… I worry about her, she is so young for everything that is happening to her…
I hope some day you can see the wonders of these places, meanwhile, I will do my best to draw an exact picture of all of it !
But back to Johanna. It all started with her… or perhaps even sooner, but there must be a Beginning.
I) Johanna : The stars our destination
Remember how much trouble she always was ? Even at 6 years old when she was just starting at school ! Always running around, unable to stay still, easy to anger and even to get into fights, asking questions you are not meant to ask… but always with a good heart underneath all that tomboyish energy, always wanting to correct what she felt was unjust and wanting to improve things for her loved ones…
A real will-o-the wisp, it was comforting to watch. I know the other teachers would probably disagree, they often got cross with her antics, forgetting that we were all children and we are all sinners sometimes…
I hope I have helped her these last few years. I know she can grow up to be a wonderful person, better than I, she has so much potential and she is so brave ! But she is still so young… God is merciful, perhaps he may have heard my prayers and offered her.. another path, a new path that could fit her better…
Remember how curious and adventurous she was, surprising us that day in the forest, how teasing ? She also loves your stories, even the most… unusual, it is no wonder she took to the whole situation like a fish to the water.
We are… somewhere in the stars, perhaps God’s sky daughters can make new calculations for her and… but I must not presume. Things are so uncertain still, and demons also abound in the sky…
I am sorry, I am rambling. I told you I was not good at crafting words. Let me go back to that fateful night.
I was awoken in time. Thank to God, I saw Johanna running away that night, about to get into serious trouble and even danger. So, I ran after her, just taking my herbs in case she would be hurt.
And then… I saw something strange, almost invisible on the way to town. But Johanna was on her own, and I know God would not let anything happen to so many good Christians.
So, I went on and I saw… a kind of large magic box. Or… something alien, probably ? A flash of light came from it, but Johanna was inside.
Inside, it was even… weirder, with the phantom of a lady talking to us… there was another person with me.
She was strange enough, but the phantom and the invisible demon laughing maniacally were worse !
The phantom did not seem immediately evil, though, and told us she had told Johanna about “The Ellowyn”. After some obscure explanation, it seemed the ghost sent Johanna to another world ! And she did say it would be bad if Johanna stayed there… so, we went out with Mrs “Jo Six” (these aliens have strange naming conventions) that seemed to know more about other worlds and “technology” (a kind of alien magic).
I… even you, with all your imagination, would have trouble believing how strange that place looked. I have made some drawings, but I am not sure I will be ever able to… capture the feeling of the room. Or of its occupant…
She is quite tall, she has lavender eyes and hair and a pink skin… remember the floss candy on Haven’s Day ? She seems a bit like she is made of that. Given her voice and manners, the way she talked, I presume she is a woman, even if she is an alien, but I am not even certain.
I was scared she was some kind of demon at first, or at least some very strange dream… but “Tellene” seems like a good person after all, some alien priest wanting to help the others, including Johanna… but I am getting ahead of myself again.
We were all a bit lost, even that alien woman. That magic box had brought all of us there, including Johanna, who had been chatting with “Tellene”, telling her she wanted to stay and “get rid of attachments… she was really upset and lashed out at everyone and everything, but was clearly hurting very much. She was even blasphemous, it was horrifying to hear… but also showed the intensity of her suffering. After all, did not our good Lord himself had doubts in the heart of Gethsemane ?
That place almost looked like a strange Heaven, designed to take care of the needs of its “attendants” and to adapt to their every wishes… but the Serpent was not far.
Johanna’s emotions manifested in a way that was not “normal” for that place, as they seem to be link to a rock that kept growing while she became more upset. Even Mrs Tellene was starting to worry.
So, while Mrs Jo 6 and Mrs Tellene were talking in an almost unintelligible way about what was happening (I believe), I Some Johana and I went to look after the weird invisible creature I had seen near Penn’s Rest, and then in the Magic Box… while trying to calm her down and finally understand what had upset her so much. With the rock and everything, it became clear : she was Gifted. And naturally, for all her rebellion and pretence not to care, with her heart, she was devastated at the idea of leaving us. I must c
Unfortunately, we did not have more time to talk the matter over as Johanna’s rock had only grown bigger and could now fly led by her mind, and Mrs Jo 6 accepted to race with Johanna. She is also quite strange : she looks almost human (especially when compared to Mrs Tellene !) but has some magicology directly in her body ! Another kind of alien… but she did bravely protect Johanna later so she cannot be that bad.
I talked a bit to Mrs Tellene during that race, she is actually some sort of alien priest. She does believe in helping others whenever she can and understood why Johanna would be upset.
I know that Jezrah said that it was harder for an alien to enter God’s kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, but I do believe that Mrs Jo 6 and Mrs Tellene are good people that could, if only they were taught about God. After all, it is our duty to convert any heathen we can in order to save them; is it not ?
And the fact that we are together through that magic box, God’s hand is at work… and we have a mission ! I will not let any harm come to Johanna !
Perhaps because she is quite Gifted, and from what the invisible laughing creature told us, she is linked to “time travel”, but apparently, she is important and may change things for the better… if all goes well.
It is thus inevitable that some terrifying time demons are after her to stop her doing her potential good work.
With the help of Mrs Jo 6 and Tellene, along with Johanna’s gifts, we barely managed to take refuge into the magic box. But the laughing being swore to us that Johanna could not stay here and had to be parted from us “for her own safety”, mumbling something about “seeing her future self” and “two possible roads”… was he talking about the wide, easy road to Hell and the narrow way to Heaven ?
I will do anything to help Johanna be all right, but how could I do that if I was not with her ?!
Was this being a demon in disguise, some Azazel or Belial trying to make us fall from the stars ?
But then
Le chaudron créatif 