“Greetings, you who are highly favored!” (Luke 1:28).
Light filtered through the trees and splashed on the streets, giving a golden reflection. Allen glanced up and saw something moving toward them. His hands tingled and his breath became short. The word “Look!” automatically leaped from his mouth.
Huge creatures were marching toward them. They were similar in their appearance to Mike, dressed in shining armor, resembling Roman soldiers, with gold shields and weapons strapped to their sides. Allen motioned to Mike with a jerk of his head and whistled. “Mike, they look like they’ve all just stepped off the cover of a body building magazine!”
Mike stood at attention and saluted, “Greetings!”
“Greetings in the name of Theos!” replied the leader. Then that magnificent creature suddenly relaxed and warmly greeted Mike with a handshake and a hug and pats on the back that sounded like the beating of a bass drum. It was obvious they had a deep friendship.
Allen eyed a sparkling earring with a brilliant stone glistening in one ear of the leader. He scanned the other creatures and saw they each had an earring.
Mike focused his attention on the main leader and asked, “Where are you headed?”
“There’s a small uprising near the Dark Region, and we’ve been dispatched to check it out. That Vulpine never gives up,” said the leader.
Allen whispered to Mike, “What’s the Dark Region?”
“I’ll explain about it later,” Mike whispered back.
The leader fixed his gaze on Allen. “Who’s that?”
“This is the earthling Theos sent me to bring—another chosen one,” Mike replied.
“There’s that term again,” Allen thought. “Why am I a chosen one?” The palms of his hands began to sweat.
“You’ve done well. Theos will be pleased.” The leader turned to the other mighty ones waiting at attention. “We must be on our way.” The whole regiment glided on down the road out of sight.
Allen turned to Mike and inquired, “Who was that!?”
“Let’s just say he’s a good friend.” Mike’s reply didn’t really answer the question, but later Allen would understand the relationship. As they continued down the road Allen’s focus returned to the surroundings.
He noticed the nearby hills were covered with a vast variety of those vibrantly colored flowers. A new experience captured his attention. The flowers swayed in a motion resembling the waves rolling in on the seashore, but Allen realized there wasn’t any wind. How could the flowers be moving? Soothing music echoed down the celestial corridors. Could the flowers be making these glorious sounds? For the moment Allen just let himself be a sponge soaking in this flowing vista.
Mike tapped Allen’s arm. “Are you hungry?”
“I sure am,” he replied. “It's been a long time since I ate those four cookies after school.”
“Come this way.” Mike waved toward a new trail. As they proceeded, Allen realized he was walking on the ground again, not gliding like he did when he was on the road with the golden shadows.
Up ahead he recognized something familiar—an apple tree! A whole orchard of them! Allen stared at the biggest red and glistening apples he had ever seen. “They are apples, right?” Being unsure of all that was going on around him, he questioned Mike for an answer.
“Pick one and see,” was the reply.
Allen reached up and plucked a luscious fruit off the branch and bit into it. Delicious! As quickly as Allen picked off the apple, another one grew in its place. “Hey, what’s going on?” Allen felt really strange.
“Where am I? What am I here for? What does it mean to be a chosen one?” The questioner was at work again.
“Eat up.” once more his thoughts were interrupted by Mike.
Succulent juicy flavors exploded on his taste buds and tingled all the way down into his stomach as a crisp fresh aroma wafted through the air. “The supermarkets back home sure don’t have any fruit that compares with this,” Allen thought.
“So you like my fruit?” Allen was startled by a strange voice behind him. He turned and saw another being, appearing somewhat human, with dazzling white hair cascading over his shoulders. Allen had never seen anything more brilliantly white. The closest thing he could think of was freshly fallen snow. At first Allen thought the creature was old, but despite the white hair, his face and skin had no wrinkles. His eyes were deep blue and twinkled brightly with a friendly glow. He wore a robe that came just below his knees, something like Mike’s clothing but not as royal looking, and it changed colors when he moved. The shimmering colors reminded Allen of those strange squares he sometimes saw on credit cards. When you turn them, they change to different shades. “Holograms, they’re called,” he remmebered. He had learned about them in science. This being wasn’t as large as Mike and he didn’t have a weapon, but he was wearing super cool boots.
“Boy, I wish I had a pair like them,” Allen muttered. Allen was into boots. In fact, wearing cool boots was the latest fad at his school. There were cowboy boots, army boots, hiker boots, rubber boots, leather, suede, canvas, high boots, and low boots. You name it! Boots were in style in Allen’s world.
“He’s wearing an earring too,” Allen noticed. The stone glistened just like the others. Allen wondered what significance the shiny jewelry had. “It has to mean something,” he said to himself. “Everything means something in this place!”
Then Allen thought he’d better answer the creature’s question. “Uhhhh—Yeah, the apple tastes great. How come they’re so big?”
“Look around.”
Allen scanned the vast orchard. All the trees had big beautiful bright ripe fruit on them. There were also vineyards and gardens with every kind of giant fruit imaginable.
“Do you take care of these all by yourself?” Allen couldn’t stop the wide grin that was forming on his face.
The old, but not so old, man laughed, “Oh, no. I have lots of help. We tend the gardens for the inhabitants of the kingdom.”
“I haven't seen others. Are there many who live here?”
“Oh, yes. I don’t know how many, but more than I can count.”
Allen looked over his shoulder, wondering if he would spot anyone.
“I see you’re from the other world.”
Allen was shocked by the old, but not so old, man’s statement. For the first time he realized he was away from home in a strange land. He had no idea why he was here and didn’t know how or if he would ever be able to return to his own home. Allen’s head dropped and tears filled his eyes. Color rose in his cheeks as he tried to push aside his emotions. “Man I’m undone. I sure hope I find out soon what this is all about.”
Mike could see his fear and drew close, putting a huge arm around him. In a comforting tone he said, “You will, you will,”