Slor and Jarine

The day started like many others, a bright, clear blue sky, a few white puffy clouds lazily floating across the sky, with Slor sitting on the porch in his old rocking chair enjoying his morning coffee. It was about 7 am and Slor was thinking about what he had to do next around his farm. He had been up and working since before the sun came up, he had already put some hay in each of the horse’s stalls, gathered the eggs from the chickens so his wife, Jarine, could make breakfast, and milked the cows. He was now relaxing, staying out of Jarine’s way in the kitchen, she always just yells at him to get out of “her kitchen” anyways, so he normally tries to stay out of the way but always tries to steal a piece of bacon on his way out of the kitchen as Jarine smacks his hand with a spatula. Life was good for Slor as he smiled and rocked slowly awaiting Jarine’s call for breakfast.

After finishing up breakfast, Slor helped his beautiful wife finish up the dishes, and made his way outside to do the days work. Slor made his way out to the old, rugged, rickety barn, it had been standing for more than a hundred years. Slor couldn’t help but shake his head at the sight of the barn. He knew he needed to repair the barn but there were always more important things to do around the farm. Slor had never employed help around his farm, so he and his wife spent their days tending the crops, planting, harvesting, packaging, and preparing for shipment. Taking care of the crops always seems to take president to Slor but some day he knew he was going to have to take care of the barn he had built more than one hundred and fifteen years ago.

Though he still looked like a man of only 35 years, Slor was nearly fifty-five hundred years old. He had been married to his wife Jarine for fifty-three years now and though she had wanted children when they first married Slor could not bring himself to have any children. It was not uncommon for the Nephilim to not want to have children with mortal humans. The Nephilim parents will live forever if not killed by an outside influence, but their children, though they possess an unnaturally long life, will eventually grow old and die. With this knowledge Jarine understood why her husband had not wanted children. She had been disappointed in the beginning, but she has had a wonderful life full of happiness and joy.

As Slor made his way out to the fields on the 4-wheeler pulling an automated tiller on a trailer behind the 4-wheeler. Jarine had work on the pig pen that was just outside the old barn to the left. There had been a rough storm the night before last and a couple of the posts of the pen had been splintered and were on the verge of snapping. Jarine grabbed a shovel and started to dig around the first post. As she got the dirt removed from the first post and it started to wobble a bit the largest of the hogs meandered over to see what was going on. “Hey there Brutus” Jarine greeted the hog. Brutus snorted and nudged Jarine’s arm gently prompting her to reach out give him a rub on top of his large nose. She moved on to the second post and within fifteen minutes had that one wobbling as well. A thought came to Jarine as she looked at Brutus curiously watching her.

Jarine went into the barn to find a length of rope that she could tie around Brutus and the posts and just have him pull the post out of the ground. With the post being cemented into the ground she had been wondering how she was going to get them out. Maybe when she was younger, she could have pulled them out herself but now that she was in her late seventies, she knew she did not have the strength.

“Brutus, oh Brutus” she called the large hog to the inside of the barn. The hog came lumbering into the barn and over to the open pen gate. Jarine looped the rope around his front legs and over his neck, lead him to the first post, tied off the other end of the rope around the post and had the hog pull. After getting both the posts out of the ground Jarine grabbed the posts that Slor had already cut to the correct length from the barn. She mixed the needed cement and set the posts back into their holes. Upon finishing her work, she made her way into the house to start making dinner.

It was a relaxing night for the couple as they sat together each reading their own books. Slor felt his eyes getting heavy and decided to go to bed, kissing his wife goodnight, made his way upstairs. Jarine joined him a short time later.

The next morning started the same as any other day on the farm, nothing out of the ordinary. Around ten am Slor, who was back out in the fields, felt a slight shaking in the ground. He paused what he was doing and stood still to process what he was feeling. He jumped on the 4-wheeler and turned towards the house, he sped towards his house as fast as he could.

The shaking got more and more intense as it continued. Jarine was in the old barn trying to take shelter, but she was scared to death because there had never been earthquakes in this area. She had been born and raised in the nearby town and as far as she knew nothing like this had ever happened. As the shaking earth got more violent Jarine ran outside into the open just as her husband made it back to the house yard.

Slor found his wife trying to stand out in the open infront of the old, rickey barn, he jumped off the 4-wheeler and ran towards the house. “Slor! Slor!” Jarine yelled after him in fear as she watched her husband disappear into the house.

Slor struggled to make his way up the stairs to their bedroom, he was knocked from side to side on the stairs almost causing him to fall off the stairs. Slor made it to the top, fought his way to the closet in the bedroom and found his staff. The staff is six feet long, looks to be made of wood, and is intricately carved from top to bottom. With staff in hand Slor quickly made his way back outside to his terrified wife.

“What is going on?” Jarine questioned as Slor raced to her side. As Slor made it halfway to Jarine a large piece of wood shook loose from the top of the barn. Slor screamed in horror as he watched the wood fall hard on top of his beloved wife. He slid down next to her on his knees and quickly tossed the wood away.

“Jarine!” he screamed, but he knew he had to get the barrier up to have any chance of saving the two of them. He chanted the spell, and the yellowish, magical barrier went up, covering an area of twenty feet across.

The world outside the barrier started to disenigrate, the house, the old, rugged barn, the pig pen, even the dirt itself. Slor did not notice any of it as his entire focus was on his injured wife. Within just a few minutes everything was gone and there was nothing but empty blackness. Less than a minute later there was a bright blue sky above them again. Slor dropped the barrier, dropped the staff and raced into the house that was standing about a hundred yards away. He was looking for a healing kit he knew he left in a drawer before being sent to the earth realm. If it was still there he could save Jarine, but would it still be there. Slor only hoped that it was.