The Crest
Chapter 15: The Awakening

Back in the Nature Liberation Assembly of Hazelwood, the beautiful pastor greeted them, her flaxen hair blowing sideways in the wind. She held a power over them; she looked into their eyes like she was peering into their souls; she enthralled them like a diva. She met their hopeless glares with hopeful eyes.

“What are your names?” she asked.

The pair hesitated.

She sensed their apprehension. “It’s okay, we have lots of friends on the Crest. We’re discreet. We aren’t what you think. You can come and go as you please.”

They told her their names.

“I’m Rose of the Forest,” the pastor said.

“Nice to meet you,” the pair replied.

“I saw you here last week. What brought you back?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just curious,” the defender said.

“Curious about what?” she asked.

“Curious about your plan for the future.”

“That’s an excellent question and I can tell you two are smart people. I can tell you both are aware of things.”

“Aware of what?” one asked.

“The Shift, the apocalypse, the lands beyond the Crest. You want something more out of life, correct? To belong to a community?”

“Yes,” the male defender said.

The pastor smiled at the pair in the way one might smile at a lover. Pleasing, her lips sensuous. They couldn’t take their eyes off her. “We are The Way, my friends. Through our Nature Liberation Assembly, we provide hope to the people.”

“How do you do that?” one of them asked, intrigued.

She stared at him with her blue eyes. “You must believe.”

“And if we believe?”

“If you believe, you will have a group that loves you, supports you, trusts you. We have a community here, a future where you can raise a family, be happy. We’ll heal the natural world again.”

“But we are in the age of the Shift, how can you fix that?”

“The Shift is only temporary, don’t let those scientists fool you. The Shift is a natural cycle of the heavens and the Sun. Things will return to their natural order and be better soon, you’ll see. Be positive, we have a plan of action. Maybe I’ll explain it to you some time.”

The defender smiled. He looked at his co-defender, she seemed enthralled by what she heard.

“May I introduce you to the group?”

“Sure.”

“And remember, don’t think too much around here, feel the love.”

“What?”

“Don’t think so much about the future, feel. Whenever you have a question about the world, remember those words. Just feel the love of the present,” she said.

The rest of the church members welcomed the pair from the Crest. Each person hugged them.

“We love you,” the assembly members said.

“God bless you,” the assembly members said.

The members asked about how they were doing? Were they healthy? Did they get enough to eat on the Crest. To the pair from the Crest, the church members seemed to genuinely care.

The pastor spoke of a ritual for the attendees, a special ceremony, one that would give them courage in the coming days. She invited the two to attend the next meeting. She told them about the one-hundred and twenty other Nature Liberation Assemblies across the west with more starting every day.

“People are flocking to us for a reason. We are the Way; we are the future,” she told them.

Rose of the Forest had big dreams for leading the confederation of assemblies across the continent. She acknowledge the Antisis for what they were, innocent barbarians, but they served a purpose. But she had to play her cards right. No, these are dangerous times. Best to go slow. She thought.