TotD: Christian

I don't know if you have ever talked to me about Christianity but I will seldom say I'm a Christian. In my conversations with Christians that identify themselves such I will also say I am a Christian because I know you understand what that means, what that really means. However, if you have snooped about on my Facebook or Twitter (and I'm sure more of you have than will admit) or even my ask.fm, you will see I don't call myself a Christian. On Facebook I say Jesus is the most important person in my life and my religious views are Jesus is Lord. On Twitter and ask.fm I have 'Follower of Jesus.'

I was thinking about the word Christian over the past couple of days and thinking about why I don't use it.
Have you ever thought about what Christian means? The word comes from a mix of Greek and Latin, the Greek being Christ and the Latin being belonging to or part of.
So when you use the word it is like saying you are part of Christ. Which is very much what we learn as Christians, that we are to be 'Christlike' in our behaviour, thoughts, actions etc.

I heard it said once that Christian means being a little Christ in our situations. I don't remember where I heard or read that but it is a scary notion.
I remember thinking at the time that calling myself a Christian means I am claiming to be like Jesus. That's a lofty ideal that one can be like Jesus. It sounds very proud to say you are Christ-like doesn't it.
So for that and the confusion over what a Christian is I go with the safer term of 'follower of Jesus.'

Follower of Jesus is not truly what I am, or am called to be though. As Christians, we (people) are not meant to merely follow Jesus we are meant to bring Him into our lives. We are to see the world as He would see it and interact in the way He would interact with it. Does this sell God short?

Some of you know my thoughts on what some people call the Evangelical heresy: this is thinking only of conversion as the Great Commission when in reality Jesus says makes disciples not converts and says make disciples not go and preach. Perhaps this is the same thing...?

We have come to think of ourselves as merely people fumbling and failing in attempts to follow Jesus and do the things we think He would do were He in our situation and because our definition of what it means to be Christian has become diluted.

We are not just followers, or at least we shouldn't be. We should be bringers of Jesus. Christ-carriers (like a disease of love, sorry that was too Christian cheesy even for me). You see what I mean though? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in us. He does not dwell in the world at large but in those who have called on the name of the Lord and are saved. That means we are in a unique position to bring Him places (often He tells us where to go but we still decide to or not).

I have wondered before about how it could change the way we act in private if we were aware constantly of God's presence. Now I wonder how much would it change the world if we were constantly aware of God's presence in our lives? How much more impact would it have if Christians lived like 'little-Christs' everywhere they went?

Take this as a challenge. Stop living in the fear of your failure and start living in the truth that God lives in you if you are saved. Start living in His power and be aware of His presence. Don't fear your failures and the ugly things in your life either; Jesus didn't.
The first Gospel's first chapter's third verse mentions Tamar (the daughter-in-law of Judah who gave birth to his twins) and the seventh verse mentions Uriah (the first husband of Bathsheba, the person King David had an affair with, got pregnant and then killed her first husband and married her; eventually they had King Solomon.) Jesus didn't hide the questionable things in His past, or the past of His family, they are right there in book 1 chapter 1.

Live like Jesus would live in your unique situation. It's a hefty challenge but one that will yield a life of harvest.

Writing Things: Thunder on the Battlefield.

This was a competition title that I decided to write a piece for. I interpreted in the ODDs universe, which was fun, so I don't think it was what they wanted. It is a little long but is broken into mini chapters so you can read one and come back to it. If you like it share it, if you have questions you can ask them at this link (anonymously) http://ask.fm/Wavey1111

Thunder on the Battlefield:

1.     Amelia:

"My name is Liam, I'm 16 years old and I'm a sophomore in high school. I have played many different RPGs including Star Wars and WOW and have held high scores in them all under the username eldaw01. I own the virtu-sword '15 the latest and most lifelike of all the virtu-swords. I have defeated some of the biggest names in the previously mentioned games and have a battle success rate of 78%. This makes me perfect for your team on "Medieval Marvellous Heroes" on which I already have 300 battles won with a 92% success rate.

I look forward to your email."

Liam Dawson wrote as he finished his email to the leader of the 'Global Army' team on "Medieval Marvellous Heroes" username alexgrrr1112.

Liam sighed as he hit send and sat back in his computer chair. Although it had a stupid  name the game, that was beginning to be known as MMH, was the biggest game in many many years. It used all of the latest technology. This game used a mixture of iSite from Apple, move-tech in the sword and controller and some other things Liam wasn't sure the name, or purpose, of. iSite was the coolest as it scanned you and your movements and allowed you to actually be in the game as yourself, with some minor modifications in order to attract the ladies (but not enough for it to be considered lying). The sword is pretty cool too. It has a blade that's around a foot and three inches long and has built in sensors which pick up how the gamer moves it.

Ding dong, came the sound of the door bell. Mrs Dawson answered it, she was a short plump woman with curly bright brown hair and almost always wore a floral frilly apron that was blue and orange with white frills. Her husband was estranged, she called him evil, though Liam was sure she was just bitter that he left her, as he was.

"Liam, hunny?" His mother called after enquiring who was at the door, "Amelia is here."

Amelia was a girl from school. She was in his math class and was one of the most popular girls in the whole school. Liam was not one of the most popular boys; though he was known for his intelligence, especially when it came to computers. Liam could fix any computer within about three hours. Amelia was coming over as she would regularly study some math with him, today they would do so while he debugged her computer which she described as 'ridden with viruses'. Liam met Amelia in the entrance hall. Amelia had never been to the house before. The Dawson home was relatively extravagant because, at the age of fourteen, Liam had won the Ohio’s Junior Science and Technology competition and his creation was patented and put into production earning him over 300,000 Euro.

Unlike Liam, who was wearing fatman pants and a t-shirt with the Batman logo on it, Amelia wore a long flowing turquoise top with blue jeans. Her red hair was tied into a ponytail, the way she normally wore it. Liam was glad he had had a shower after school that day, it would kind of make up for the lame clothing.

"I like your hair like this," Amelia said as she ran her left hand through it.

Liam visibly shuddered and Amelia pulled her hand away.

"Here's the laptop," she said handing him her Computer.

"Interesting choice, I can fix it but when it finally gives up get one a little more top of the range, this brand is never great," Liam advised. Amelia only nodded and Liam added, "I need to take this upstairs."

Amelia followed Liam to his bedroom. It was painted cream and blue and had a double bed and a large work space where Liam's computers were stored. Open on his desktop was his newest game with the sword beside it. The game was powered on and loaded up but not active.

As Liam booted up the computer Amelia poked around the game. She picked up the virtu-sword and swung it which made the computer make a whooshing noise and the game started.

"What's this?" She asked Liam.

"A new game I just got," Liam said as he took the sword from her and made a motion as if he was putting it back into the scabbard. This paused the game.

"What gives?" Amelia protested, "I wanted to have a go of that."

"You can," Liam promised, "just not on my file as I presently have a good success rate and need to keep it that way in order to be accepted onto team Global Army, which is the most powerful team in the game."

"You are such a nerd," Amelia said and punched Liam on the shoulder.

"Ouch," Liam said as he rubbed his left arm, mockingly.

He handed the sword back to Amelia as the computer played some music. Amelia swung the sword and a tutorial started. As the computer explained how to use the virtu-sword, iSite and other elements of the game, Liam went back to working on the computer. He was sure, after two minutes of looking at it, that he could find the virus that had taken root in it and destroy it.

Amelia was not very good at MMH and kept dying, even though she was still only in the training stages of the game. She had been playing for about twenty minutes now and had only defeated three of the seven training bad guys. She would be toast in the real online game.

"It's finished," Liam said, as he held up Amelia's laptop triumphantly, "I also tidied up your hard drive which should mean the laptop will work a little faster."

"This game is impossible,"Amelia said as she died again and held the virtu-sword out to Liam, "I think it's the sword actually," she added as she tossed it lightly from hand to hand, "if you knew how to work one of these swords in real life then I imagine that you would be good at it. Do you ever take part in sword demonstrations in things like Renaissance Fairs?"

"Yes, I do, I'm in the one in the city every year," Liam said a little too excitedly, knowing this he added, "it's okay, like."

"I'm not sure if that's cool or not, it would be if you were a real knight, not just someone who plays video games on their advanced looking computer systems," Amelia said as she handed the game controller to Liam, "the Ren Fair gives you some credibility though," she added as she took her pink laptop from him, gave him a hug and then moved towards his bedroom door, which was pine coloured and had an ornate black handle which Amelia's slender left hand grasped as she held the laptop to her chest: as if she was hugging it.

Liam walked over and placed his hand on hers, opening the door he allowed her out to the hallway. She smiled at him as she pulled her hand out from his.

"We never did get to study that math. See you soon," she said and she walked out his door and down the stairs.

"Bye," he sighed once he had heard the front door close. He swung his own door closed and leaned against it, wondering if that smile meant any more than 'thanks for fixing my laptop for me'. Thinking about the possibility brought a cheeky grin to his face.

2.     The Game:

Liam felt a lot happier in school lately. It was usually such a dull place for a mind like his; especially when he was picked on for that mind. Amelia had helped change that over the past two weeks. Her friendship with him meant that he had become a little more popular. Whereas before only the geeks and nerds respected him for his computer skills; now the popular kids did as well. He could soon make a business out of fixing computers, at least until they all worked at maximum efficiency.

Liam had also been accepted into the Global Army on MMH. He was quickly becoming one of their highest scorers. Amelia had been missing from school this particular Wednesday. Without her the school felt so dark and quiet, it was not as nice a place to be at all. It was the people that brought some colour to the whitewashed walls of the school; for Liam it was the presence of Amelia that did this. At least that is how he felt at the moment, though he knew he was likely being a melodramatic teenager.

Liam was having a bad day, for the first time in two weeks. He was looking forward to getting home and playing his video game. Liam felt a little bad that seeing his mom wasn’t the main reason for his excitement as he went home; it was MMH. He could, literally, not wait, to log in and play the game that was his escapism.

Liam’s house was a two storey home with a large front porch like one may see in the American midlands movies. It had a double front door with glass panelling. The TV room was on the left of the front door as you entered the neutrally coloured entrance hallway with a large staircase running up the right hand wall. Liam turned into the TV room to where his mom was watching the 6 o’clock news.

“Hi,” he said to her as he swung his backpack off his shoulder and placed it to the left of the sitting room door.

“Hush up,” Mrs Dawson said angrily, “news is on. Terrible thing… Listen.”

Liam listened as the news reporter spoke of a middle aged woman who had been murdered earlier the same day. As the reporter described the woman Liam and his mother shared a glance and Mrs Dawson pulled the blanket she had over her closer to her face. The description was shockingly similar to Mrs Dawson herself.

“Don’t worry,” Liam said and kissed her on the head.

Then he went upstairs to play some MMH, he needed it all the more now.

*Eldaw01 has logged in.*

Finway (Liam’s character on MMH) surveyed his surroundings. He was in a field that had evidently seen many battles since it was reloaded at midnight in PST time. There were various pieces of armour and weaponry strewn about the battlefield. Every here and there Finway could see body parts and also collectable money. The copse nearby had been felled in order to make things for the battle. Finway was a little frightened, displayed by his heartbeat increase, whatever had done this much damage could still be around. Finway span on the spot trying to see as far as he could. Around him there was a cave, a large cliff wall and a path that headed in the direction of the copse, which Finway imagined became a forest very quickly.

Sensing no immediate danger Finway decided he had the time to do some scavenging. He looted money and armour and weaponry from the corpses of the fallen. As he was doing this a warning noise sounded in his head and Finway knew an attack was coming. He straightened up from the moulting body of an elf and turned to face his attacker.

It was the Emperor, leader of the Empire. The Empire is the sworn enemy of the Global Army. For the Emperor himself to be out and fighting was a sight not to be missed. Finway couldn’t believe his eyes. He had only seen posters and heard rumours as to what the Emperor looked like. There was no doubting this was him though. He stood, Finway estimated, about ten feet tall. He was dressed in black armour with a long, flowing black cloak that made it appear as if night followed him wherever he went. On his head was a golden crown with all sorts of jewels and, what looked to be, the eyes of some of his victims.

The Emperor snarled and said, “Global Army commander,” though no words left his mouth.

Finway gulped and picked out a sword from his newly formed collection. As a fighter Finway was better from further away. He had amassed some of the greatest bows in the world but none of those would do him any good in this close combat situation. He had to rely on a sword; something he had little practice, and no mastery, in.

The sword Finway chose from his collection was one that looked a little like a lightning bolt. When he swung it to test its balance and weight words flashed before his eyes. ‘Power of thunder and lightning unlocked: swing blade and stamp the ground to activate.’

Finway raised the sword feeling a new sense of purpose as the power flowed through him. He stamped his foot and thunder sounded in the sky above him and the Emperor. The Emperor had not been expecting this and took a step back from Finway unsure of what would happen next.

“How did you unlock that power so quickly?” he asked, again, no words leaving his mouth.

Finway chose not to answer but instead swung the blade at the Emperor. It bounced off the armour and the Emperor laughed. He was carrying a large, deadly looking mace. Finway knew if he was hit with that mace he would be dead. The Emperor raised the mace high and Finway got ready to dive out of its way when it fell.

Before the Emperor could bring it down on the six foot five human; lightning came from the sky and struck him. The Emperor was caught off balance and the weight of the mace brought him to the ground. Finway, noting his advantage, banged his foot off the ground three more times in quick succession. He then swung the blade at parts of the Emperor now open to attack but with less armour.

As Finway made slices under the arms and the sides of the legs of the Emperor he was hit by more lightning. Finway could tell that he was losing health fast and so he banged his leg again, five times this time. He knew his only hope was to keep the Emperor down and finish him off while he was grounded.

The Emperor lifting a small hammer from inside his cloak and smashed in Finway’s knees causing him to buckle as well. Finway watched as the Emperor struggled to his feet. He was weak but if Finway stayed down he would be dead in no time. The Emperor lifted the mace again. It was heavy and Finway could see the Emperor was struggling to lift it. He would have to roll at the last minute in order to survive this. Finway banged his legs on the ground and threw the sword at the Emperor. It got stuck in his armour but Finway knew it had done little damage. The thing that would do the damage was the lightning that was about to come. The Emperor was expecting it this time and watched the skies, readying himself to escape its path at any cost for he knew that one more hit would be the last he could take.

The lightning came and the Emperor threw himself to Finway’s right. Finway knew he was a goner now. As suddenly as the Emperor moved, the lightning changed direction and followed him hitting him despite his best efforts to avoid it. Before his very eyes Finway watched as the Emperor, leader of the Empire, suffered defeat. He exploded to grains of darkness which fell on the ground, leaving behind his hammer, mace and cloak of night which Finway duly collected.

As Finway again surveyed his surroundings he lifted the lightning sword high above his head triumphant. As he did so his vision turned red and the ground began moving closer to him. His body turned as he fell and he looked up into the gaping black hole where the Emperor’s face should be. Then all went black.

The words ‘try again’ flashed across Liam’s screen. He declined the offer and powered down the game on his computer. He had to email alexgrrr1112 and let him know that he, eldaw01, had been the first person ever to defeat the Emperor. This would move him up at least two ranks in the ‘Global Army’; he would be a Colonel then.

3.      A Package:

On MMH Liam was walking around as if he owned the place because everyone knows Finway was the person who defeated the Emperor. The Emperor himself is held up in his castle beyond the forest and ice mountain in the heart of the dark valley. None have heard rumour of him stirring from his castle since his defeat a week ago. Liam’s defeat of him is estimated to give him a win percentage of 99.9999999999999999 but yet he will not show his face.

Finway was not merely made a Colonel but a General. He was put in charge of a division of the Global Army containing 1,325 players. The perks of being their General is that he receives a percentage of everything his army makes meaning he has been amassing experience and money very quickly. In only a week he has begun construction on his own castle, though it will be a few more months until he has the money to complete his dream design.

His invention from the Ohio’s Junior Science and Technology competition has just become available in his home town. This means it is now on global release which also means that he will be making money by the bucket load soon.

“I’m having a party to celebrate something I created being sold in stores now,” he said, “I was wondering if you would like to come along?” Liam practiced asking Amelia out in the mirror, “it’s next Saturday,” he said to no-one.

Liam walked into school with a new sense of purpose, he was going to ask Amelia out and he could not have been more smitten. Math was fourth period and Liam planned on cornering Amelia as she left the room in order that he might ask her to his party. Liam was not going to advertise the party until he knew whether Amelia would accept his invitation or not.

Math class came slowly that day. Liam appreciated the irony of waiting for math class when so many students, the world over, dreaded math and it always came too soon and lasted too long. The math classroom was perfectly square with various theorems, math jokes and mathematical puzzles adjourning the walls. The teacher in this room, Mr. Edwards, had a variety of whiteboards: one was blank, another behind it was lined and a further could be used for co-ordinate geometry. The room was a strong blue in colour, which made it feel very cold in winter time, but the psychological effect of cold was most welcome in the summer.

In this room everyone had a seat. Amelia’s was the second row, second from the left, Liam’s was a row, and two further seats to the left, behind her.

Amelia wasn’t in her seat when Liam walked in, which was unusual because she was always early to each class Liam had with her.

As the class began, on calculus, Amelia did not appear. In fact, she did not come to the math class at all. Liam turned to Babs and enquired about Amelia’s whereabouts.

“No-one has seen her today,” he was informed.

Those five words shattered his day. He had been working himself up all day to asking Amelia to this party. He had even practiced what he would say in the mirror. That was insane, but then Amelia made him feel a little insane. In general Liam was a calm and controlled individual. He prided himself in his ability to be patient in spite of innumerable opportunities to be impatient and his ability to keep his cool in the most frustrating of situations. All that went out the window when it came to Amelia though. If he saw her, or thought about her, his heartbeat would quicken; uncontrollably. It was pathetic really; Liam lost control even of the pace of his heart when he was looking at the girl with the red ponytail.

The day dragged even slower once math class finished. Liam could not wait to get out of school and go home to play MMH, he needed his virtual world where, literally, he was king.

Arriving back in time for the six o’clock news report as usual Liam entered the house.

“Hi love,” Mrs Dawson called from her usual spot on the couch, “a package arrived for you today. I have it in here on the coffee table. It’s rather long and heavy,” she called from the T.V. room.

“Thanks,” Liam said as he came in the door. He began looking at the parcel as the news began on the television.

“Hello, and welcome to the six o’clock news. I am Tom Johnson and this is Melissa Sheen. The headlines tonight: there has been another murder, the latest in a string targeting women of the same profile; this time occurring on the north side of the city around 11:15am this morning. The police suspect the murders are being committed by a serial killer. The police commissioner warns people that fit the profile not to go out alone, talk to strangers or allow people into your home without seeing an ID first.

“The government have announced an increase in funding allocation due to the return to economic growth in the world. The increased funding will benefit hospitals, schools and will decrease property tax and water charges introduced a number of years ago.”

“In other news, another whale has gotten itself trapped after swimming up the river…”

Melissa, the female anchor, was cut off when Liam switched off the tele, “don’t worry about the murder, mom,” he said noting the look of concern on his mother’s face, “say it to them at work and make sure someone walks you to your car and to the sandwich bar you go to for lunch. That way you’ll be fine, whoever this murderer is they won’t go near you when there’s other people around.”

“I know love,” Mrs Dawson said and gave her son a kiss on the forehead.

“I’m going to go open this,” Liam said and lifted the package, which could be something cylindrical, or a poster, or something.

Liam lugged the large, heavy package to his room, ruling out a poster as the possible contents after one step. He threw the package onto his bed and dived onto the bed beside it. There was a ribbon around the package and a lot of tape. Liam picked up his scissors and cut the ribbon and the sticky tape. Inside the brown paper wrapping was a long, ornate box. It appeared to be made of metal and a large amount of gold, explaining its weight.

There were two silver clasps on the box, one at each end. Liam flipped these open and lifted the lid. Inside the box there was a sword in a brown leather scabbard. Liam lifted the sword carefully from its nest inside the golden box.

The hilt was covered in a leather grip with the very bottom of it, the pommel, having a circle with a lightning bolt inside it reaching from the top of the silver circle to the bottom. The guard was made of gold and had a yellow ‘sphalerite’ in the centre on both sides of it. Liam withdrew the blade slowly from the scabbard.

Liam had the blade comfortable in both hands. He swung it, and as he did thunder struck and lightning flashed.

“Strange coincidence,” Liam said as he swung the sword again and all the light bulbs in his room exploded.

The street Liam lived on was plunged into darkness as lightning struck again, breaking his window. He dropped the sword in shock as the lightning hit him in the centre of his chest.

Liam could feel the lightning move through his body in ripples of electric heat. It pulsed through arteries, veins, capillaries, nerves and tissue in a race for his heart. The movement burned him and caused him short bolts of pain. Liam was paralysed to the spot as all the electricity in his body moved to his heart. He was confused as he had heard stories about lightning victims and he knew principles of electricity.

“You should be trying to get to the ground,” he whispered as he crumbled to the floor.

His heart felt as if it was going to explode from the gathering of electrical force inside it. The last bolt added itself to the multitude that was already there; 10,000 volts and they were all gathered in his heart. Almost as soon as every bolt was in they began moving out again from his heart to his fingers, brain, toes and all over his body.

Liam felt strength his return and he pushed himself off the ground. The electricity moving across his muscles began to tone them and Liam felt a little ill. As he pushed through a new pain, one that felt like he did a million push ups and ran ten thousand miles all while doing star jumps, he moved towards his mirror because he wanted to see what was happening to him. The lightning had caused an instant genetic mutation that caused his muscles to expand giving him the look of someone who actually went to the gym and didn’t spend all their time inventing things to make themselves rich while playing computer games and defeating imaginary emperors. Liam went back to the sword and lifted it again. This time it appeared to be much lighter. He swung it again and thunder sounded outside and the lights came back on. Liam placed the sword back in its sheath and locked the box. Sitting on the bed and flexing his newly formed, genetically mutated muscles Liam smiled, a whole world of opportunities just opened up to him.

*          *          *

Liam walked into school with more confidence than he had ever had. He was really glad that Amelia had been missing from school the previous day because asking her out today offered a lot more hope than yesterday. He now looked like someone he believed she would want to be seen with. He looked a little more like Rob, her ex, who played on the school’s football team. He didn’t even wait until he would naturally bang into her. He walked up to her and asked her to the party, there and then. She was shocked but she agreed and he heard her noting with her girlfriends that he looked good.

Liam was in the highest of spirits when he got home later that evening. He danced into the house, kissed his mother on the cheek, picked up his mail and went to swing his sword about for a bit. All thoughts of MMH were now pushed out of his head; as Amelia had said, the real thing is much cooler.

Liam opened his letter as he lobbed the sword box onto the bed. He flicked the latches open as he unfolded the paper and began to read.

Liam,

We hope you like your gift. My name is Alex Grange and I am the head of the Global Army on MMH. It was on this game that we first noticed you and so sent you the sword. We have need of your help. You have probably held the sword at this point and have seen what it can do for you. That power is limited and will run out. We estimate this will reach you on Thursday, please meet me on Friday in the centre of town, by the bank beside the DVD shop at 3:30pm. If you do not receive this before that day let me know on MMH and we can set a new time and place.

Looking forward to meeting you in person Finway,

Alex Grange,

Leader of the NASTCD.

4.     Saturday:

For Liam it had been a really strange start to his weekend. He had gone to his rendezvous point and met with Alex Grange. Alex told him that MMH was developed as a means to find people that they believed could help them defend earth.

Alex told Liam that there were such things as monsters from legends such as minotaurs and shape-shifters. The NASTCD was a group that had been established to help control and eliminate these and stop them from threatening the general public. NASTCD stands for North American Sub-terrestrial Control Division. They were a group established by the American army after the world nearly ended two years ago, which Liam didn’t remember nearly happening.

“You will have to leave your present life behind,” Alex had told him during their meeting.

Liam couldn’t do that. He loved Amelia, he loved his mother, and with this killer on the loose he knew he could not leave her alone to be murdered by some monster.

It was a sleepless night for Liam as he contemplated his future and all the things Alex Grange had said to him about what the American army classes as sub-terrestrials. It was the opportunity of a lifetime but it meant giving up so much if he was to take it.

When Liam decided it was time to get out of bed on Saturday morning he contemplated calling the party off. He had been so distracted the day before that he hadn’t gone to buy any supplies. As he thought about how best to cancel it his mobile started beeping.

It was a text message from Amelia telling him that she was looking forward to the party later on that evening. He smiled after reading it and sent back a message saying that he couldn’t wait to see her. He got up and threw on some clothes, he would get changed later, these were for going to shopping for decorations and goodies, not party clothes.

                                                         *          *          *

Liam was heavy laden with goodies and decorations for the party that was starting in three hours. He got a cab home from the local mall because the groceries would have been too heavy to walk back with. As Liam lived in a small cul-de-sac he did not make the driver enter it. He walked from the end of the street, which was a much more manageable walk than the one that started in the mall and went the whole way to his house.

When Liam’s house came into view, he dropped his shopping bags. The house looked as if it had been hit by some freak natural disaster: windows were broken, various contents of the house were spilling onto the lawn, Liam’s computer was hanging from a cord out of his window, and the front door had been blown off and Liam could see it lying in the kitchen.

“Mum?” Liam called as he entered the house, “mum where are you?”

He moved from room to room in search of his mother. There was no sign of her in the kitchen, dining-room, family room or games room. Liam peeked into the TV room where he normally found her watching the news.

“Mum,” he called relieved to see her safe, “didn’t you hear me calling? What happened in here? It looks like we might have had a hurricane.”

Mrs Dawson didn’t answer and Liam moved into the room proper and walked up to his mother. She was asleep.

“How could you sleep through this?” Liam asked her as he tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. Mrs Dawson was a deep sleeper, Liam tried a few other ways to wake her before decided to tip her off the chair.

He walked around behind her seat and moved the chair forward. Mrs Dawson’s head swung forward and Liam noticed a lot of blood.

“Mum,” he shrieked as he dropped the chair and allowed his mother’s body to fall to the ground, “mum?” he called again as he wrapped his arms around her and cried.

After some time Liam regained some sense of control on his emotions. Three things were now important. The first; who did this, the second; is the sword still here and third; how could Liam use the sword to kill the perpetrator.

First things first, Liam went to get the sword, hoping it was still under his bed where he left it. On his way up the stairs Liam spotted something that caught his eye. When he picked it up he realised that it was Amelia’s school ID.

“I will find you,” Liam whispered to the card, knowing that whatever had killed his mother had taken Amelia too. Liam ran up and pulled the sword’s box from under the bed. It was still in there and Liam removed it from the box, replaced the box under the bed and tied the scabbard around a belt loop in his jeans.

Outside a helicopter sounded, the force of the wind from its spinning blades made the computer fall the rest of the way to the ground below, pulling a bit of the wall with it. Liam ducked for cover. If this was a news crew he certainly did not want to be seen with a sword at the sight of a kidnap and murder. The chopper landed and Alex Grange stepped out of it and walked towards the house, he was carrying a handgun and a sword himself, while being followed by another man and a woman in army regalia with larger guns.

Knowing who they were gave Liam some comfort and he ran downstairs to greet them.

“Sorry about your mum,” Alex said as Liam reached the hallway, “but we are glad to see you alive.”

“What did this?” Liam asked Alex, barely getting the words out.

“We don’t know,” one of the other army officers confirmed, “but it certainly looks sub-terrestrial.”

“Let’s move out,” Alex said, “we have what we came for: Liam is safe, we must bring him to the boss.”

The three army men moved towards the door but Liam did not budge.

“Liam?” Alex called, “are you coming with us?”

“My mum,” he whimpered.

“She’s dead,” Alex almost whispered, losing the commanding officer tone he had had earlier, “there is nothing for you here anymore.”

“They have Amelia,” Liam pleaded and the three army officials looked to one another, communicating silently.

“We’ll do our best to find her,” Alex comforted and held out his hand for the ID.

“Thanks,” Liam replied and handed it over.

“Come on kid,” the female army officer said putting an arm around him.

“Nice sword,” the other guy noted as they helped Liam onto the helicopter.

5.     Training:

The helicopter landed inside part of the Pentagon. Liam was brought from the chopper down to basement three.

“Not too many people know about sub-t’s,” the guy explained, “and so on tours of the Pentagon and official presidential visits, people aren’t allowed to know we are here.”

“That’s interesting,” Liam observed barely listening as he was brought through various tunnels and along passageways. He was trying to take it all in, to see the names and divisions that were down here but after reading them he would forget again, thoughts of his mother occupying his mind.

The army guys stopped outside a door that Liam did take in that name and position. It was a strange name, one he was unlikely to forget, ‘Romeo Stanley Theodore Newhagen, head of NASTCD.’

Alex knocked and Romeo told them to come in.

“Liam,” he said and shook his hand before returning to his seat. His office was painted a plum colour and had a large mahogany desk in it, which was the main feature. There were some pictures around the place and a door behind the desk.

“Please sit,” Romeo motioned to a seat in front of the desk, “leave us,” Romeo said turning to the Alex and his team.

“Sir,” they replied and bowed before exiting the room.

“Liam Dawson?” Romeo asked as he flicked through a file, “lightning power?”

“That’s right,” Liam said in a way that sounded more like clearing his throat than talking.

“I am Romeo, head of this department, I have the power over water.”

“Okay, so are you a mutant division?” Liam asked, “cos my power comes from a sword your army man sent me in the post.”

“The sword unlocked the potential,” Romeo explained, “the lightning power was in there the whole time. We used that online game to find people with the potential, you were the first of seven hundred people to pick up and wield the lightning sword correctly.”

“Okay,” Liam shakily answered, allowing Romeo to know he was following, “but the powers are gone now.”

“The sword could only release them for a short amount of time but they are still there I assure you,” Romeo said as the door behind him opened and a guy in a yellow trench coat walked into the office.

“This is Michael Phelps,” Romeo introduced the guy, roughly three years Liam’s senior, “he also has lightning powers. He will instruct and train you, but not at this facility we have another one in Maine. Accompany him there and learn what you need to.”

“Shall we go?” Michael asked as he shook hands with Liam and moved towards the door Liam had come in.

“Thank you, sir,” Liam said to Romeo and followed Michael back towards the helicopter.

                                                         *          *          *

The complex in Maine was even more impressive than the Pentagon itself. It was situated in the one hundred mile wilderness, which was a protected site and nature trail that tested hikers. Deep, about fifty-five miles from Monson, there was a small cave, literally big enough to fly a helicopter in, but only by the most accomplished of pilots.

The pilot landed the chopper just inside the cave, which closed behind them. They stepped onto an outcrop, away from the helicopter and the floor it was on moved downwards into the earth. Liam and Michael then waited until a large door in the back wall of the cave opened up and allowed them access.

“This was built during the Cold War to protect some key government officials,” Michael explained, “but it hasn’t been used for that for some time, so we took it over.”

“It is very impressive,” Liam said.

“This way, we’ll get you started in training straight away.”

Liam followed Michael down a couple of stories to a large training room.

“Our intelligence,” Michael informed Liam, “is that your mother was murdered by a shape-shifter. There are many of them around the country and they have declared war on the USA recently. We have been watching them for the past year as they have built up their forces. It was for that reason that we had MMH developed. If their forces are being built up we need to have something to counteract them and keep the people of America safe.”

“Shape-shifter?” Liam asked confused.

“Yes, they are people who have used dark magic in the past. It has tainted them and given them a power they could never have imagined; the power to change form. They were once human but have not been for some time, although they can now appear human for brief periods of time,” Michael explained.

“What they look like when they aren’t human?” Liam asked, already dreading the answer.

“Think of creatures with claws, a little like werewolves in the movies, but without the fur, more like scales all over them. Werelizards with claws and fangs,” Michael explained.

“Okay,” Liam pumped himself, “I don’t wanna be killed by these things so let’s get to learning some magic.”

Michael called out a command to the room at large and it became a field, “you need to know how to use them first.”

“How do I do that?” Liam asked.

“Believe they are there,” Michael explained, “that is the only way.”

Michael left the room, and Liam, to whatever challenge he had to face.

After a few minutes of walking aimlessly around the field and picking virtual buttercups, a man approached Liam. He looked pretty harmless, though Liam doubted he was.

The man was using a large staff to help him to walk towards Liam.

Liam braced himself, it could be a shape-shifter.

The man pointed the staff at Liam and a bolt of purple energy blasted out of the end of it and hit Liam square in the chest. Liam struggled to his feet, for virtual-reality that blast was painful.

The man shot another blast of purple energy at Liam as soon as he was on his feet, sending him right back to the ground. Liam would have to get up a better way if he was to get away from this wizard. He got to his knees, hoping the guy was only programmed to shoot, or willing to shoot, if he was on his feet. Liam’s calculation was correct and so he dived to the left and got up and bolted.

It was an open field though and so he did not get far before the magic blasts came after him again. The first missed him by a good few feet, but with each successive blast the old magician got closer. He was hit again about three hundred feet from where he first fell. He fell again.

Liam still had his sword and, knowing that it was pointless to run from magic blasts that could hit him anywhere he went in this field, he decided a new approach was necessary.

He stood to his feet as he pulled the sword awkwardly out of its sheath, almost dropping it. The old wizard was fumbling across the grass towards him and was not ready with his staff when Liam got up. This allowed Liam the chance to catch his sword before holding it in front of him, ready to block anything that might hit him. The old magician shot him with another blast. He moved the sword to deflect it, which it did. Then the sword became red hot and Liam had to throw it to the ground as it had begun to burn him, despite the leather grip. With the sword on the ground the magic ray, now a red beam, could reach Liam. As before it hit him in the chest, but this time it burned him and slowly, and excruciatingly, made him fall to the ground as his chest began to blister.

“You need to use lightning to best him,” came Michael’s voice from wherever he was watching the fight.

“I don’t know how to do that,” Liam mouthed as he picked up the sword again, better his hands burn than his chest, he figured.

The wizard spared no time, as soon as he was on his feet he sent another purple blast at him. This time, Liam stood his ground. He was not going to let the blasts overcome him.

Liam noticed the smile on the wizard’s face as he shot a multitude of blasts at Liam. Liam went under with the barrage of them. They kept coming, even when Liam was lying on the ground.

Liam knew he needed to make this thunder and lightning power work or he would be dead in the next few minutes.

He tried a few things like calling the power, pointing at the wizard, making the Spiderman finger gesture that allows him to shoot webs, making the sign of lightning in the air. None of these worked. The wizard had stopped blasting him and was now watching in amusement as Liam tried to summon power of his own. The old man sent a further blast at Liam, it didn’t hurt too much and Liam wondered was he just trying to get his attention. Liam watched as the old, slow moving wizard, threw himself into the air and began forming a large purple blast. If Liam was hit with this he would be dead.

The old magician screamed and the blast headed towards Liam. The young man from Cincinnati, Ohio put his hands out in front of him, palms forward, and screamed back.

As he did so there was a sound of thunder and lightning shot forwards from Liam’s hands. The lightning hit the wizard’s purple beam and broke it apart. Liam kept pushing until his lightning found the wizard and sent hundreds of thousands of volts through his body. Liam kept pushing the lightning, which was being created deep inside him. He watched as the old man began turning black as the lightning burned him up. Liam became exhausted and left the lightning go. The old wizard fell to the ground as a blackened skeleton.

In all the commotion Michael had come back into the room and now stood behind Liam.

“You did it,” he said when Liam finished his assault.

Liam showed him again that he could shoot lightning. He had felt where it came from inside him and now had access to that electricity plant deep within his body. Michael made him do some target practice to hone the blasts, as, in the field, it would not be good if Liam killed the army’s people as well as the shape-shifters.

After some time at this Michael called it a day, “let’s get you something to eat,” he said to Liam as he ended the simulation.

6.     Battle:

Liam was in training again. Sometimes he missed his mother and Amelia and the pain stung. Over the past three weeks he had honed his lightning abilities well. He was now on level ten training programmes; this particular one was a ninja in a shipping dock full of large shipping crates. Liam had done this one before, though the ninja had bested him that time. This time he would not. The ninja in the programme was a small man, dressed all in black, making him difficult to see in the dim light by the dark water and dark shipping cases. He was also very agile. Liam had seen him jump from the ground to the top of a crate once. This all made him very evasive, but Liam knew he could get him.

Unlike the ninja, Liam was a little slower at getting up to the top of the crates, though he had increased his speed considerably from the first time that he tried. Now he sat at the top waiting for the little ninja to come near him. He was pretty astute at shooting lightning now and knew that, if he could get close enough to his target, he would hit him. Even the smallest blast should knock the ninja to the ground and Liam could pursue him.

After some time the ninja did fall into his trap and Liam sent a blast that hit him on the side of his left leg, sending the ninja falling off the crate he was jumping to. Liam ran to the edge of the one he was atop and jumped down to where the ninja had fallen.

Suddenly the virtual training room changed back to how it normally looks.

“What gives?” Liam protested, “I was just about to complete this one.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Romeo said as he reached Liam, “Cincinnati is under attack from a band of shape-shifters. We need you with us on this one.”

“That’s my city,” Liam almost shouted, “of course I should be there.”

“That’s my boy,” Michael said as he joined Romeo and Liam in the training room.

“We have a gift for you,” Romeo motioned to something in Michael’s hand.

He was holding one of the yellow trench coats that he had on. Liam noticed then that Romeo was wearing a blue one.

“They are a mark of acknowledgement that you have a power and can control it,” Romeo explained, “it sets you apart from the regular NASTCD army corps, allowing you to take command when you need backup.”

“Thanks,” Liam smiled as he allowed Michael to put the jacket on him.

“Okay, we had better move before they reach the city,” Romeo ordered and motioned with one hand towards the door.

                                                         *          *          *

They had brought three large jets of people who had some sort of magic ability form the cave in the one hundred mile wilderness, which left a different way from than the helicopter had entered. A nearby NASTCD army base was sending in troops to assist with the attack.

Landing in Hillsboro near Cincinnati after such a long time, and after so much had happened in his life was strange for Liam. Cincinnati was his city, but it wasn’t. The life he had led here was over and he was now only here to protect it. Although he knew he would always feel a fondness for the place he would never again think of it as home. His mother and the girl he would give up everything for were now, both, dead. A cave, miles away from here, was home now. He had been in the training cave for a long time and had come to accept that his mother was dead and that Amelia was dead. He had promised himself that he would not let what killed them survive; even if it was defenceless or surrendered; that animal deserved whatever Liam could muster.

The shape-shifter army was advancing in on their location. Romeo moved his troops into position. Some big guns would shoot over head while he, the others with magic over water, electricity and fire, would be the front line.

The magic users stood out because of the brightly coloured trench coats it was customary for them to wear. Liam could count around twenty others, including Romeo and Michael, who were near him. He was aware that there was more than this though as this twenty had been in his jet, so it was likely there were sixty magic users on this field.

The battle came all too quickly when the first werelizard, which on seeing the shape-shifter Liam decided was an accurate description, shot an arrow at the army.

Gunfire followed from their side of the battle, though the bullets didn’t seem to even slow down the creature.

The leader of the charge was one of the only shape-shifters in its true form. Following him there were ten T-Rex’s and then some sabre-tooth tigers, and various other ferocious animals; some of which were interestingly humanoid.

A volley of arrows flew over the heads of the front line and began taking out those behind. Romeo pointed to the sky and those he could see shooting the arrows and the magic users sent up blasts of fire and lightning to destroy the arrows, while water soaked the other side of the war.

Liam had been shooting his lightning upwards and thanking his lucky stars that his power was electricity and not something boring like water when he thought about how he could help those who only had water powers. Water conducts electricity so if he sent his lightning it would be far more effective than just water. He combined his flow of lightning with some of the nearby water users water blasts. This was effective as there were now some screams coming from the other side of the field.

Michael noticed what Liam had done, and the effects it had had, and instructed some other lightning users to do the same. They added their electricity to the nearby water and the result was many screams from the other side.

The downside to all these fire, water and lightning blasts was that it made anything in front of the line difficult to see. This meant that when the first of the T-Rex’s were on the NASTCD army, no one saw it coming.

Michael stopped his flow of electricity towards the archers and instead pointed it at the dinosaur in front of him. A fire user did the same. The Rex backed off, but as it did another one came out of the mist of powers and chomped down taking a bite out of Michael, the fire user beside him and an army guy.

Liam turned on the dinosaur and shot energy blast after energy blast at him, trying to get his attention. Michael was already dead, but it was up to him to make sure no-one else died. Liam ran, sword raised, and energy blasting at the monster. He took out a tiger, bear, a werelizard and something else he didn’t look at long enough to know what it was, with his sword before reaching the dinosaur.

It bent its massive head to look at him more closely, apparently amused. Liam walked right up to the creatures left eye and looked into it. The eye widened, as if it recognised him. The T-Rex stood back up and its hind legs and turned away from Liam. It was moving quickly, but was massive, so didn’t get far fast. Liam used his own lightning to shoot himself onto the monsters back; if this creature knew who he was he wanted the pleasure of being introduced.

                                                         *          *          *

The dinosaur ran from the battle with Liam on his back; only coming to a stop once it was miles away from the battle at Ash Cave. Here it stopped and Liam jumped from its back. To get into the cave it transformed into the shape of a human and Liam pounced on it.

“Wait, wait,” the shifter shouted holding up its hands defensively; “I’m your father.”

“My what?” Liam asked as he held the sword up to his father’s throat.

“I came looking for your mother, because I wanted to see you. I thought I could control myself but I couldn’t and I killed her. It’s not my fault. I had been doing so well at this. I recognised you on the battlefield because you look like me, when I was younger, but there are bits of your mother in you too,” the shifter explained calmly but quickly.

“Where is Amelia?” Liam said as he pushed the blade against his ‘father’s’ throat hard enough to draw blood.

“The red headed girl?” he asked, “she’s in the cave, she came into your house at the wrong time, I couldn’t just let her go. I had to see you and she would have told you. She saw my true form but I tried to explain and she wouldn’t listen so I took her here with me.”

“Take me to her,” Liam commanded and lowered the sword slightly.

“Will you let me live?” the shifter asked.

Liam merely nodded and so Liam’s father brought him deep into the cave, past the tourist sections, to where Amelia lay, unconscious.

Liam dropped the sword and ran to her. He couldn’t manage to wake her up. He turned to the shifter, who now looked like a werelizard again, and shouted:

“You killed her.”

His anger flared up a lightning storm overhead which bore down on the ground above them. Lightning lit up the area and poured in through crevices in the rocks. It lit up the little cavern Amelia, Liam and his father were in. Outside thunder roared as more and more lightning struck the cave.

As of yet no lightning had touched anyone but it was only a matter of time. Back near Hillsboro the thunder was heard on the battlefield and lightning lit up the sky again. Romeo noticed and ran. Liam began to move the lightning towards his father, he lifted Amelia into his arms so that, she too, would not meet his fate.

“Liam no!” Romeo shouted as he fumbled into the cave.

Liam’s dad was in human form, “he’s a shifter.”

“We don’t kill those who surrender,” Romeo said and pointed the sword to Mr Dawson, “on your feet,” he added and cuffed the shifter, “these will stop you shifting.”

Liam’s powers were still hitting the mountain with such force the ground shuck for miles.

“Calm them,” Romeo said holding up a hand defensively.

Liam couldn’t. His power exploded around him, sending his father and Romeo flying across the cave and blasting him and Amelia out through the top of the mountain, like a volcano. Liam regained some control and used his powers to lift him back to Hillsboro, where, from high above, in the thunder, lightning fell on the other shifters until they were in retreat.

The NASTCD took care of the remainders, Liam had to get help for Amelia.

He found one of the NASTCD cars and started it; though only a learner driver, he would have to learn fast if he was to save Amelia. He placed her in the back seat carefully and got in the driver's seat himself; taking a breath he pulled up the handbrake and they were off. Liam brought her to Highland District Hospital, where the doctors and nurses could look after her.

Romeo arrived back at the battlefield and once again led the charge as the thunder died away. It began to rain and the NASTCD army had little trouble rounding up and picking off many of the shifters. Some of them escaped into the surrounding countryside but not enough that the army worried about it.

Romeo didn’t see Liam since he had been in the cave, and neither had anyone else. The NASTCD prepared a file explaining his death as a power overload.

7.     Liam’s Choice:

Liam sat at Amelia’s bedside, holding her hand. He had barely left the hospital since he had brought her in. The staff members were kind and allowed him to use her bathroom to freshen up and shower. He had called someone a few days ago and they were repairing his house. He wasn’t sure if NASTCD, or Romeo, knew he was still alive. He guessed that it would be awhile before they would go looking for relatives of the orphan soldier.

Liam had a decision to make, he had assumed Amelia dead, but now, knowing she wasn’t, he did not think he could go back to Romeo’s training facility in the one hundred mile wilderness, Maine.

Amelia’s eyes fluttered. He grasped her hand more tightly. Her eyes opened and she saw him. She smiled.

“I knew you’d rescue me, sword wielder,” she said before falling back to sleep.

                                                         *          *          *

Liam was excited because today, after almost a month in hospital, Amelia was finally getting out. He was preparing the house for her to come back to as she was going to stay with him. The hospital and Liam himself, as well as the school, all tried to get onto Amelia’s parents but there was no answer. Liam was not sure why this was but had informed Amelia a couple of days ago. She agreed to stay at his place while both of them looked for her parents.

Liam had added a new, state of the art security system, he had also changed around some of the rooms so that memories of the day his father had killed his mother would be forgotten about. He could not deal with being reminded of his mother’s death every day.

As the cab that Amelia came in from the hospital pulled up outside, Liam took his bright yellow trench coat off the sofa and brought it upstairs to a room in the back of the house. He looked it up and down once before putting it into the wardrobe. He then put the sword into its golden box and closed the clasps. Hopefully he would never have to use either of them again. Liam shut the wardrobe and ran downstairs to welcome Amelia.