A Note from the Real Author
John is the fictional father of two kids that would rather play video games than read the Bible. They think it’s boring, so John wrote them a story to convince them otherwise. They said they wanted a story of dragons, swords, magic, adventure, romance, and more. So John sat down to write . . .
Jared Dees
To continue reading this story each week, subscribe to the Formative Fiction Friday Newsletter here.
The Adventurer: Part 3
Chapter 6
The boy walked along the road with the Adventurer. He stared at the wooden staff that had defeated the fiend.
“Where did you get the staff? It must have been a great quest,” he said.
“The staff was a gift, not a reward. I did not defeat anything or anyone to earn it,” said the Adventurer.
“A gift? Who would give away such a great magical item like that?” asked the boy.
“It was a gift from my Father,” he said.
“Oh, that makes sense. Was he a great Adventurer, too?” said the boy.
“My Father? An Adventurer? Of course not!” he replied.
The sun was nearing the horizon. The day was nearing a close. They began to see a village in the distance. “Our next mission awaits us there,” said the Adventurer pointing his staff ahead of them.
The two picked up the pace and arrived at the village.
“Hello?” said the boy but there was no answer. All the doors and windows were shut and no one was in the streets. The boy thought he saw a few people peeking their heads up through their windows.
“What happened? Goblins?” asked the boy.
“No,” said the Adventurer. “I sense a different sort of fear in these villagers.”
“A fiend?” asked the boy.
“Many fiends,” said the Adventurer.
They walked to the village inn and opened the door to the common area. Cots and mats lay throughout the room with groaning adventurers.
“We have to help them,” said the boy rushing to one of men in pain. He looked closely for wounds, but there was no blood. He looked at the others and didn’t see any wounds at all.
“You won’t find a scratch on a single one of them,” said the innkeeper from behind the bar. “It’s the strangest thing I ever seen.”
The boy looked back at the Adventurer standing near the door. His eyes were closed. “Are you going to do something?” asked the boy.
The Adventurer walked to the center of the room with the innkeeper eying him suspiciously. Raising his staff again as he had done earlier that day, he summoned the white light. The room was filled and with a blinding white light. The boy and the innkeeper had to hide their eyes.
The light subsided and the heroes on the floor began to change. They looked around as if waking up from a deep slumber. Some of them gathered their things and ran for the door. Others stood and looked to the Adventurer in amazement.
The innkeeper was the first to speak. “Who are you?” he asked. “Start talking or you can get walking out the door.”
Chapter 7
The Adventurer and the boy took a seat at a table. Some of the healed heroes gathered around him. Others went for the door. Some offered to buy the Adventurer a meal, to which he gratefully accepted. The boy was glad because he was hungry from the long day.
Villagers started to ease in through the door. Word of the miracle had spread and they all wanted to see the Adventurer for themselves. It wasn’t long before the room was nearly full with people.
“Alright,” said the innkeeper placing plates of food in front of the Adventurer and the boy. “Start talking. Who are you?”
“Ours is a world of action and adventure. So many of you here have been on quests or dream about going on quests.” The Adventurer looked to the boy by his side as he said this.
“I come here today without any quest except the one that my Father has given to me. Those who wish to follow me will earn only one reward. There will be no magic items or weapons for those who follow me. There will be no great honors from your fellow countrymen.” The Adventurer gestured to the audience, which had become quite crowded. There was no more room for anyone to get through the door. They all listened intently.
“The great honors you seek and the artifacts you find, what profit do they give? You earn the items and set out on new quests. If you succeed, you are not satisfied. You continue on quest after quest without stopping. But the quest that I will bring if you follow me, offers a reward that lasts forever.” As he said this, he looked up. The others in the room looked up, too, and saw a few people making a hole in the roof.
“What do you think you are doing!” shouted the innkeeper, but it was too late. A weak young man was being lowered to the center of the room near the Adventurer. The man looked up, but his legs did not move.
“You can heal him!” said a woman from the room. “We know you can.”
The Adventurer saw the look in their eyes. They believed in him. He gave the man and his friends a warm smile.
Instead of raising the great staff into the air, the Adventurer set it aside. He reached down and touched the paralyzed man.
At nearly a whisper he said to the man, “Your failures are forgiven.”
The boy was surprised by the words. He expected him to heal the man. The others nearby who heard the words seemed surprised, too.
The paralyzed man remained still, but the words seemed to touch his heart. He had tears in his eyes. They looked to be tears of joy, not sorrow or anger. He was still unable to move, but he sat peacefully full of joy.
The boy spoke first. “Aren’t you going to heal him?”
The Adventurer looked to the crowd and saw the confusion on their faces. “Which is easier? To say this man’s failures are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk?”
The crowd was silent.
“So that you may know that the Son of Heroes has the authority to forgive the failures of all who have been defeated in quests, I say, get up and walk!”
There was no bright light this time. The change could barely be seen at all except the man did stand up. He picked up his mat and jumped with joy. He pushed through the crowd to the door. He looked back for just a moment and nodded his head towards the Adventurer before disappearing.
The crowd began to talk in amazement at what they had seen.
A Conversation about The Adventurer Part 3
“Two more miracles and a little bit about the Adventurer in today’s story–what do you kids think?” John asked his son and daughter.
“These stories were pretty similar to stories we already know from the Bible, Dad,” said the son.
“True, but what was different in this world?” John asked.
“Well, the fantasy and adventure parts, I guess,” said his daughter.
“That’s right. I hope you are starting to get the message behind the retelling of the stories. We all want quests and adventure and rewards, too, right?” said their father.
“Like making lots of money or winning games in sports and stuff like that?” asked the son.
“Or getting good grades?” asked the daughter.
“That’s right. Do you think those things are all bad?” John asked.
“No, I mean I learn a lot from playing football,” said the son.
“Getting good grades is definitely a good thing,” said the daughter.
“That’s right. Sports and school and even successful careers are good things. Quests in the story aren’t all bad either. The point is that the Adventurer offers something better,” said John.
“What is it?” asked the son.
“That is for you to figure out,” said the father.
“Well, the Jesus character (the Adventurer, I mean), he forgave the paralyzed man’s sins,” said the daughter.
“But he said ‘failures’ not sins in the story,” corrected the son.
“Yeah, why make the change, Dad?” asked the daughter.
“Well, you said you’ve heard all this before. I thought changing the way he phrased things would help remind you what sin really is. Jesus forgives our sins. He forgives our failures. Not every hero in the world of The Adventurer succeeds. There are many failures. The Adventurer forgives the failures,” explained the dad.
“I mess up a lot in school. Is that forgiven?” said the son.
“Would knowing that make you try less?” asked the dad.
“I don’t know. I guess not,” said the son.
“Good because we need to fail and be forgiven and get back up again and walk. Failing hurts, but you are not perfect. Thinking you are perfect is a big mistake. We need God’s help. We need forgiveness because we are going go fail frequently in our lives. I hope that encourages you to try more and try harder. When you fail, you will be forgiven and going to God for help is exactly what we need to do,” said the father.
“Okay, Dad, we get it,” said the daughter.
“Do you want more of the story?” said John.
“Well, we have to find out what happens next!” said the daughter.
“Good, because there is a lot more to come,” said John.
To Be Continued . . .
To continue reading this story each week, subscribe to the Formative Fiction Friday Newsletter here.
