Scrolls of the Prophet
Book I
◆◆◆
◆◆◆
Camels without Humps
While dreaming, the winds of the world seemed to echo to me with their primevil voices of destiny, and I could almost hear the ancient stirs of the Nile river as it flowed into my thoughts and brought me to awakeness.
I began to think of my path as one akin to that of Tut-Moses—an orphaned child who had been left to the whims of pure chance, and who was guided by an unseen force from within. He was drawn toward a destiny that would be far grander than any normal birthright could bestow. And just like him, I too had also felt the uncertainty of my place in this world. "Had I not been chosen by the gods just as he had been, a rider forced to wander these misted paths of illusion in search of some unknown truths which were far beyond my comprehension..?"
But, unlike Tut-Moses who had been drawn into the arms of both king and a kingdom, I was but a lone traveler—an orphan of the earth, one who was separated from the world that I so greatly sought to understand. The gods seemed to have laid this road out before me not by birthright, but by divine will, and so far they were keeping everything hidden within the very dreams that had just been visited upon me. And these three paths—they had arrived in sequential order, the first-path of realism, the second-path of nature, and the third-path of knowledge—what was their purpose? And what truths lay in the intersections which spanned out between them?
My spirit-body trembled at the weight of these questions. This new path I was on it felt slippery at best, like the earth beneath my feet had been pulled away quickly by some invisible hand. The answers I sought were burdening and possibly buried somewhere between these three roads, and the gods had not gifted me out with the proper mapping to find them. But here, it was clear in the quiet surrender of my soul that I must follow them wherever they might lead—through the mist, through the stars and into the very heart of the universe itself.
As the morning light broke over the horizon, it began to spill its first golden rays onto the earth, I understood one thing with perfect clarity: I had not merely wandered into this journey by accident, but I felt as though the gods themselves had called upon me in ways that I could not yet fully grasp and I would be bound to them now, bound to these paths which they had offered out before me.
Whether I was portrayed as an orphan of fate, or the seeker of truths, or even a child of destiny, I knew this adventure would not be one of just simple revelations. The gods had not provided me with any easy answers. They had selected me to become something more—something unknown. But no matter which one, I would have to continue in my walk forward, for in the uncertainty of the world lay the only truths that I had ever known.
With a heavy heart and soul slightly more awakened than before, I shouldered my pack and set forth on the first of these three paths—the path of realism.
Still, as I lay there in the shade of my modest tent, laughing to myself at the thought of such revelations, I could not shake the deeper unease which had settled in my chest. Despite the humor that danced through my mind, the reality of these foreign beliefs and their peculiarities held a weight I could not deny. Their presence in the marketplace, the people who traveled from distant lands and who spoke in assorted tongues that I could barely understand—these were the currents of change, the very winds that whispered of the up and coming unknown.
I turned my thoughts back to the teachings of the great masters—those who had left their mark upon the threads of my mind. Tut-Moses, he had led his people out of their bondage and I wondered how much of that story I truly understood. "Was it possible that there was a deeper meaning in the lives of these men..? Had they too faced the same turmoils in life that I felt pressing me now, a struggle to reconcile the old ways with the winds of new change..? Were they too torn between their current faith in the gods which they had known all their lives and the strange new doctrines of late that had promised a different kind of salvation..?"
The more I pondered the idea of this nameless, formless god who had commanded such strange and foreign things, the more I felt the echo of something within me as it pulled at my senses. There was something to be said about a god who was not bound to the earth, and one who did not demand the great weight of sacrifices or the blood of the innocent. Yet, what would be the cost of forsaking the tangible, the known, all in exchange for something invisible? How could a god without form, without substance, inspire true devotion?
I glanced over at the clay tablets which I had set aside earlier, the ones Master Netramie had previously deciphered for me with such given care. They held secrets, mysteries, and hidden knowledge that had been passed down through the ages. Each symbol etched into the plates had spoken of the gods—gods who could be touched and who could be seen and worshipped in rituals that connected their believers to the cycles of the earth. They were gods who had faces, forms, and stories that could be told.
Yet, here I was, facing something else entirely. A god without shape, without identity, and one which demanded little or nothing but simple faith in the unseen. "Could I accept such a thing? Could I embrace a faith that offered no images to venerate, no tangible acts to perform in exchange for divine favor..?"
I granted out with a deep sigh, my breath carrying the weight of the questions that hung in the air around me. The stars above glimmered, faint and distant, and cold, as if they, too, were watching my inner struggle. Perhaps the gods were indeed closer than I realized—not in the form of idols or sacred stones, but in the very essence of life itself.
As I sat in the stillness of my dugout, I realized that the answers might not be as simple as choosing one god over another. No, the gods of the sands had their place, and this new god—though foreign and strange—might hold something more profound that I needed to know. Perhaps my journey was not merely one of barter and trade, but to seek out and reconcile the old with the new, to find the threads that connected them all, no matter how distant, no matter the challenge.
I rose up from my seat as the cool desert breeze brushed against my face and I gazed at the vastness of the lands out before me. In the morning haze, the horizon stretched endlessly, as if daring me to follow in earnest to wherever the day would lead. In the dream that I had had, it spoke of three paths—the first-path of realism, the second-path of nature, and the third-path of knowledge—but what if there was yet a fourth path? One that could only be revealed when the time was right?
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As the night fell away and the stars vanished from the sky, the weight of my musings began to settle into something quieter, something more peaceful. The desert, with all its vastness and silence, it seemed to hold me in its embrace. I realized that no matter how many gods, paths, or dreams might cross my path, there was something simple that had always been true: I was part of this land, this world, and the answers I sought might not be found in far off distant lands or sacred scrolls, but in the rhythms of the earth itself, in the steady beat of my own heart.
I thought of the bigger world and its travels. And certainly one could put faith in a journey that was dealt out via the sea, but I doubted the real existence of fanciful creatures of imagination such as camels without humps; "for why would the gods of my favor, or any other for that matter, be ever so cruel as to reach down from the heavens and bring beasts into existence with no place to store water or to carry with them on their journeys..? These strange animals of the far, if they really existed at all, they would surely not last very long in their travels within the dry desert heat..." I laughed, and I giggled out loud, my mindset so quick to stir with the images. Hapless creatures in being, I thought it unbelievable to concieve such a thing as, “Camels without humps…!”
...Select Next Scroll...
************
************
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Thank you valued Rider's Vault Members..!
------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENT VOLUME List:
------------------------------------------------------------
Scrolls of the Prophet...historical/biblical/adventure/coming of age
- Awakening
- Gathering
- Binding
- Bloodline
- Prophecy
- Phoenicia
- Future Dig
------------------------------------------------------------
Scrolls of the Past...historical/adventure/coming of age
- Amen Rey (Egyptian)
- House of the Fawn - (Greek)
- Spice Road - (Persian)
------------------------------------------------------------
Dominatrix...sci-fi/thriller/action/space adventure/coming of age/assassin
- Domina
- Bisal
- Alaran
------------------------------------------------------------
Terraformation..sci-fi/action/adventure/alien love story/space travel
- Terra-Form
- Terra-Rise
- Terra-Site
------------------------------------------------------------
Quest of the Seeker..thriller/murder mystery/afterlife/coming of age
- The Key
- The Clown
- The Seeker
**Hint: The Seeker is the Grim Reeper's brother...:)
------------------------------------------------------------
The Cleaner..action/thriller/coming of age/assassin
- The Child
- The Woman
- The Teacher
------------------------------------------------------------
Ready The Yeti..children's series/adventure/life lessons
- I Am Ready
- I Am Sassy
- I am Abominable
or
------------------------------------------------------------
Follow my load of chapters 1-30 as I edit / proof-read / and post...
------------------------------------------------------------
Scrolls of the Prophet - Book Volumes 01 - 07 + all other titles in progress (25 Book Volumes)
Join and continue to chapters 01 - 30 of each volume
Read them as a whole - or read them as I load them...
Thanks for your support....Rider
************
************
◆ all volumes ◆ unedited ◆ edited ◆
◆ full-draft versions ◆
◆ early-bird releases ◆ bundles ◆
************
************
◆ all volumes ◆ all titles ◆ unedited ◆ edited ◆
◆ full-draft versions ◆
◆ early-bird releases ◆ bundles ◆
************
Or if you feel fishy... -Nano
https://youtu.be/oVDP3mlpniQ -
