A Spell, A Prayer, & A Wish: Prequel of The End of Fate Trilogy

A SPELL, A PRAYER, & A WISH

Copyright © 2015 by Parker Hennegan

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Printed in the United States of America

First Edition, 2015

ISBN: 9781310358746

ISBN-13: 978-1508590040

ISBN-10: 1508590044

THE END OF FATE

A SPELL, A PRAYER, & A WISH

PREQUEL

PARKER HENNEGAN

PREQUEL | A SPELL, A PRAYER, & A WISH

It is 4993 B.C.E., in a valley called Mesopotamia…

Making him look weaker does not make you look any stronger—not to anyone else. Instead, it makes you seem lost inside. Are you?

Marwan blinked slowly, deliberately, and crossed his arms. He sighed and wanted to say, no, but couldn’t seem to vocalize the word. He sighed again and looked at his mother, wishing she would hurry up with her lecture.

You need to treat Tyre better, even if he doesn’t have the same respect for you. Everybody sees how big you are and knows you’re strong. Everybody knows how good you are at throwing the copper knives. Your physical appearance is obvious without you having to say a thing. But humiliating Tyre makes you look weak. Since you’re the bigger person physically—and, I hope, mentally—you need to start acting like it. I hope someday you find the kindness and gentleness I see in your soul, Marwan’s mother, Maji, said in a gentle tone.

Marwan replied, Ma, he can just be so arrogant, untrustworthy, wasteful and sometimes I think he’s barely fit for life in our gracious land. If it were up to him, he would destroy everything in his path and leave burnt fields in his wake.

Maji never turned her gaze as she narrowed her eyes at her son and said, To me, you sound like the arrogant one. If you are to be ensi someday when your father travels to the Afterlife, you should know that it’s not up to you to find good people and champion them, but to find the good in all people and champion that. Tyre’s a soul in human form like the rest of us and he’s here for a reason.

Ma, his soul is rotten. He’s a bad person, pure and simple.

"Nonsense. There is no such thing as pure anything unless you take into account the entire Universe as a singular thing. Tyre is not bad, Marwan. He just has a lack of love in his life—but there is still love deep inside him, even if it is hidden away from the world. Love exists everywhere, in all things, even if your perception can’t tune in to it. You have it in you to be more aware of this fundamental aspect of the Universe—I can see it in you—even if you can’t find it in yourself right now.

Enough of my lecture. You have things to do before I leave. These water jugs need to be filled. Unless you’re not going to be thirsty tomorrow?

Marwan was glad the lecture was over and started to say, Okay…

But Maji just kept talking as though she had more to say and not enough time to say it. And make sure to give thanks to the river as you are filling the vessels. Also, please remember to bring water while I’m gone, too. At seventeen years of age, you are far too old to have your mother reminding you of everything. You’ll need to take care of a woman someday and most people your age have already found a partner.

Marwan rolled his eyes and awkwardly, nervously, grinned for a moment. Then he turned serious and earnestly said, I want to find a woman who captures my heart the way you captured father’s. You two have a love—a connection—that no other couple has. It is truly something special. As your son, I know it. People in the village speak about it. I hope someday I find the perfect someone waiting for me out there. Marwan pointed at the wall like he was gesturing outside.

Then Marwan grinned again and playfully said, Aren’t you the one who told me that time and space aren’t an issue as long as I’m in the right time and the right place?

Marwan cocked his head like a know-it-all, while Maji arched her left eyebrow and spied him like a detective, but in a loving way only a mother could.

She said, "Go get water and while you’re at it, think about how the river is in many places at once and yet all places are the right places and the right times. You have to want to find love, Marwan, instead of being so distracted with always being right and strong. I don’t want my young man to grow up into a hardheaded ensi.

The ‘right place’ and ‘right time’ are the real moments of life—they are the moments when you first visualize an idea or experience. This reality comes before you start trying to think so hard about it. All your smart ideas just muddy up the clarity.

Marwan said, Okay. I think I’ve heard enough lessons for the day—no, actually I’ve heard enough to last me forever. I’ll see you later, Ma.

Maji was the one who rolled her eyes this time as Marwan left their clay brick abode with two large, copper water jugs, one in either hand. Marwan’s family was part of an old tradition that stretched back as far as anyone could remember. There in Mesopotamia, many tribes had gathered their resources together for economic and military benefits. There had been talk for many years about unifying the tribes with some sort of central government, but for now, each tribe still had their own priest-leader, called an ensi, and they each practiced their own customs. As far back in time as anyone could remember or any story was told, this was the first and largest village ever.

These days, Marwan’s tribe, the Sumerians, and the other tribes in the valley were mostly a peaceful farming and fishing community. The wonder of such large-scale cooperation between the people living together in the valley was truly spectacular and prosperous enough for everyone to want to further a peaceful existence together.

When Marwan was just a baby, there had been one small battle between his village and a neighboring tribe, the Akkadians, but miraculously Marwan’s mother was able to secure peace between the two with her wise, diplomatic words. Captives were exchanged and there had been no skirmishes since. And for all of Marwan’s memory, they had maintained peace. In fact, the Akkadians had recently settled nearby to Marwan’s village and there was talk that they would now peacefully join the community as well. These were good, prosperous years in Mesopotamia.

While many of the tribes in the village had workers to help with their ensi’s daily and mundane tasks, Marwan’s family insisted on doing their own chores. Marwan’s father, who was referred to as Ensi Pa, declared that his tribe would follow the natural order, or ‘the way’, of life above all else. Pa claimed that the daily tasks were to be celebrated and not to be looked down upon. They were a reminder of the stewardship each and every human being had with the Earth. Without complaining, Marwan brought his family’s water from the river every few days or so. He actually enjoyed doing so as he prided himself on being one of the strongest men in the tribe, and even in the entire valley. He always carried large copper jugs that he had made himself years ago when learning the art of copper smelting from Pa.

While walking to the river, Marwan’s thoughts drifted as he pondered life and love. Marwan was told that many of his fellow Sumerians had come to Earth from a world far away in the Orion constellation. They were souls reincarnated on a mission to help propel the Earth’s creative, synergistic energies through a transformation. Pa had explained that it was like a phase transition for the entire Earth, as though the planet was being reborn. Human beings were a key element to this transition.

Marwan was told that one of a few reasons the Orion soul group had decided to incarnate here were because Earth