Prime: The Novel
Table of Contents: Unedited First Draft
It is said that science and religion don't mix. But what if they did? What if everything we believed about gods, nature, and science were all intertwined in such a way that we could never fully understand it. And if we did understand it, then how would we handle it? What if there were multiple realities? What if those realities were the result of God, but they were governed by the very science that rules the Universe? What if...?
Gusru awakes to a normal day in his father’s bakery at the great Babylonian tower. But a strange feeling interrupts his normal joy of traveling to Babylon itself for supplies.
Claire was a full time GrubHub driver who lived in a crappy apartment with her fiancé, Eric. It’s Friday the 13th, and politics have upset the nation and violence breaks out, even in Claire’s small hometown.
The local militia moves in the next day, and Claire and Eric hunker down in their apartment, hoping to escape the coming violence. Eric tries to make sense of the little amount of information he can find on the internet. As night falls, the gunshots ring out in the town and the two lovers brace themselves.
John Friedman leads his detachment of the local militia towards his personal objective, revenge. Eric and Claire stand their ground as best they can against the intruders, but in the final moments Claire experiences something she does not expect.
Claire awakens on Sunday morning in a strange place, with a strange friend. She accepts what she sees and soon ends up at the local church. The sermon begins normally, but soon she feels the ominous weight of the pastor’s words. When she leaves the church, she sees him.
Monday, in this new world, passes without event, and Claire feels that she may be just fine. But the constant sightings of the Trenchcoat Man leave her uneasy. On Tuesday, the chaos begins.
Claire awakens on Wednesday morning to the Trenchcoat Man. While their conversation is anything but settling, the chaos becomes even more unsettling. She finds herself in the custody of the police, but everything tells her that she must find Eric. She is finally able to make her way to him, but what she finds there will leave her breathless.
Claire, Claire, and Eric escape the attack on the rebel base. They find themselves hiding out in a small forest, keeping warm, on the clear October night, by the light of a fire. The discussion is strained, confusing, and heated. Then the Trenchcoat Man shows up and things don’t get any better. The night ends with Claire on the run again, her next move unclear.
Disoriented, hungry, and full of despair, Claire makes her way back to the camp in a search for food. What happens there is a life-changing realization that gives her journey a new goal, and she begins to understand what is happening to her. Meanwhile, Gabriel travels down memory lane, and we meet somebody new… Yehwah.
Chapter 9: The Satyr and The Traveler
Claire has made it home, but she finds it no better than the other versions she has visited. Consuming the souls of her others, she thought, had given her a focus. But upon reflection, she is finding herself with serious misgivings. The army arrives and the residents are let back into the Valley, and she finds herself taken for questioning. Claire gets released, then Gabriel shows up in an effort to convince Claire of what needs to be done.
Claire has spurned Gabriel and takes on the effort of setting her life aright. But the consequences of actions already done seek to derail her journey back to normalcy. She is haunted by dreams of the chasm, and of the shadows she has spotted on the other side. She is also tormented by the reflection she sees in the mirror. She knows that they are not her, and that truth frightens her.
Chapter 11: The Demon and The Angel
Belphegor is a relic of Bronze Age Europe, a warrior of the ancient Celts. He survived a bloody battle on the shores of the Danube, only to find himself standing before the throne of Yehwah. These days, he loves to spend his time in casinos, where his favorite spot is at the Blackjack Table. Michael was an Akkadian warrior, popular among the aristocracy and the common folk of the bygone empire. Michael survived the flood of Noah, only to find himself standing before the throne of Yahweh. Michael spends his time in solitude, except for now. The brothers-in-arms need to have a talk because too much hangs in the balance.
The dream, the mirror, the alternate realities, it’s all becoming overwhelming for Claire. But the truth of her own reality, in which she is seeking to rebuild her life without Eric, is the crutch she needs to achieve a new normal. But, where Friday the 13th was weird and her life was turned upside down, Halloween would only lead her back to the rabbit hole and to the journey she never wanted to take.
Claire finds herself in a desolate world, the fog as thick as a winter comforter. The truth of this reality is beyond comprehension for her, but at least she reunites with an old friend. Then Gabriel shows up for another discussion, which leaves her already hazy future as shrouded as the world outside. But Gabriel receives a revelation of his own, and he must address it sooner rather than later.
Claire jumps from one reality to the next, killing her others and absorbing their souls. She quickly loses track of time, but she is happy to be lost in that time with Max, her cat. Then one day, she finds Max dead, which leads her to do something she’d never thought herself capable. Meanwhile, Gabriel also does something he’d never thought he’d do, with unknown repercussions.
Chapter 15: A Home for the Holidays
Christmas has arrived, and Claire finds herself in a very unexpected place. But she also finds something that she has been waiting a very long time for. She finds little knowledge gained by what she finally finds, and the choice that is set before her threatens to tear her to the core.
Chapter 16: The Ecstasy and the Agony
Claire's temporary home for the holiday has been a much needed respite from her journey, even though the moment she now dreads still lays before her. Before that moment of pure agony arrives, she gets to experience pure bliss and have a run-in with an old friend. But, when the ecstasy and the agony are over, she will be forever changed.
Chapter 17: I Am Become Death...
It has been four weeks since Claire killed her ‘perfect’ other, and she has been on a rampage fueled by a rage she had never before known. She is efficient and ruthless, she has become Death. But, after dispatching yet another other in the local diner, Gabriel finds her once again. He deems her now ready to learn why she is on this journey, if only because he has committed an act that puts all of the universe in jeopardy.
Claire returns to the desolated timeline that she has called home after her discussion with Gabriel. But she returns to the timeline’s imminent destruction and has yet another discussion with somebody she never expected to see. That somebody gives her an idea that she never would have come up with by herself. The end is near for Claire’s journey.
Chapter 19: Say A Prayer for Me
Claire heads towards her final destination with the knowledge that the end of her journey is near. She is unsure of how to feel, she only knows that she must keep moving forward. An unexpected encounter with an old friend clues her in on what awaits at the final confrontation. Will she survive to claim her destiny? Will the timelines survive the troubles that have been brought to them?
Chapter 20: ...The Destroyer of Worlds
Claire’s has come to the end of her journey, and only one thing is left for her to do… To take her rightful place in the universe. But she doesn’t do it without a bit of flare.
Eric is lost without his wife and his sons, and he has been drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Then people begin to speak in strange tongues, and he prepares himself to die.
About the Creator
Anthony Stauffer
Husband, Father, Technician, US Navy Veteran, Aspiring Writer
After 3 Decades of Writing, It's All Starting to Come Together
Use this link, Profile Table of Contents, to access my stories.
Use this link, Prime: The Novel, to access my novel.
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The Satyr and The Traveler
Claire sat in the dark, a single candle lit upon the coffee table. She stared into the flame as she ate the MRE from Other Eric’s pack. She replayed the killing of Other Claire at the camp site, the feel of her neck breaking as she bled out onto the ground making her shiver. I’m not a killer… But the epiphany that Gabriel wanted her to kill her others was so abhorrent. What was the purpose? It was something that he was reluctant to tell her, and it pissed her off. Killing one of John Friedman’s others was one thing, the man was an asshole, and she could convince herself that killing one of them wasn’t so terrible. But why kill her others? An angel telling her to kill… herself. Wasn’t suicide a mortal sin? Does it really count as suicide? she thought cynically.
By Anthony Stauffer2 years ago in Fiction
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