Ch 1 - The Divinos Card

Dood's boots crunched through pine needles as his path hugged the shoreline of Lake McDonald. The crystal waters mirrored snow-capped peaks, creating twin mountain ranges that stretched to the sky. He adjusted his pack, its familiar weight knotting the muscles in his shoulders and back after three days of solitary hiking.

The late summer air carried hints of autumn, crisp and clean against his face. Different from the stale atmosphere of divorce court, where Julie's cold stare had pierced him more deeply than her lawyer's rehearsed accusations.

"I need to grow. To find myself," she'd said. Apparently, "finding herself" meant finding Tom their next door neighbor.

A towering pine caught his attention, its branches forming a natural ladder toward the sky. Dood secured his pack at its base and began to climb. The physical exertion felt good, burning away memories of desperate phone calls and embarrassing unanswered texts.

Near the top, an opening in the canopy revealed the landscape below. The lake stretched out like polished glass, untouched by time or civilization. Dood settled onto a thick branch, letting his legs dangle. His hand found the silver cross beneath his shirt, its metal cool against his skin.

"Thank you for being here with me," he whispered, thumb tracing the familiar contours. "Even when everyone else leaves, You remain."

A flash of light caught his peripheral vision. At first, he thought it was sunlight on water, but it came from above. Stretching up through the last few branches, Dood found something impossible: a wooden card, perfectly preserved despite its exposure to the elements.

The card depicted a wolf unlike any he'd seen. Its obsidian fur rippled with motes of starlight, eyes holding cosmic powers within their depths. The craftsmanship was beyond anything earthly, each detail seeming to shift and move when he wasn't looking directly at it. Three golden words adorned the back: THE DIVINOS REALM.

When his fingers touched the script, the forest dissolved. Light enveloped him, warm and gentle as a summer breeze, and he found himself in a divine expanse. In its midst stood a man in simple clothes, his presence both ordinary and extraordinary at once. Dood’s eyes locked onto the pierced wrists of the man and he knew, with unshakeable certainty in his soul, that he was in the presence of Jesus.

"Your heart carries heavy burdens." Jesus said, his voice resonating with compassion that made Dood's recent wounds feel less raw.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"I tried everything to save our marriage," Dood said, surprised by how steady his voice remained. "I don't understand why it wasn't enough."

"Love is a two way street," Jesus noted with grief hidden in his words. “A street I know a great deal about… I won’t tell you why Julie’s heart grew cold, that’s not why I’m here.” Jesus’s hand held Dood’s shoulder as his ancient eyes looked deep into Dood’s. “Just know that I’m so proud of the way you loved your wife despite the pain in your heart. Her heart isn’t your responsibility anymore." Jesus smiled as Dood dropped to his knees and pressed his palms to his eyes, trying to dam up the tear. But his heart felt light. Somewhere inside him shackles shattered around his soul.

Jesus smiled, “I have something to show you." He drew a large oval in the air and colors gathered organically within. Like a watercolor painting it began blurry and opaque but built upon itself layer upon layer to uncover finer details. A foreign realm. "In my youth, before beginning my earthly ministry, I created this place. The Divinos Realm - a world where faith and power intertwine, where adventures await those willing to carry my light into dark places."

Scenes flashed before Dood: magnificent cities, vast wilderness, beings and beasts of light and shadow locked in eternal struggle. "The darkness grows stronger," Jesus continued. "I need more of my followers there, those who will share my love while becoming strong enough to face what comes. An epic challenge, one I created you to overcome."

Dood thought of his empty apartment, of Julie's wedding ring in a drawer he couldn't bring himself to empty. He thought of the five years since losing his parents, of trying to fill that void with a marriage that wasn't meant to be. His life here was in cinders. Just a junior level job, some bills, and a few house plants. Nothing was holding him back from a new adventure.

"Will you accept this challenge?" Jesus asked. "Will you enter the Divinos Realm?"

Dood looked at the wooden card in his hand, then back at the one who had never abandoned him, even in his darkest moments.

"Yes Lord," he said. "I will."

Jesus clasped Dood’s shoulders tightly, “You’ll do great.” His smile bloomed like a sunflower. Just seeing the mirth in His creator’s eyes made Dood feel like a kid holding a wrapped present on Christmas. Jesus nodded then vanished. A doorway of pearl-white light appeared in His place. Dood stepped through, the wooden card liquified in his grip and slipped through his fingers like mercury. The metallic silver tingled his skin as it flowed up his arm and into his chest like water into a sponge.

A surge of electricity swirled beside his heart. Condensing slowly as time seemed nonexistent inside the pearlescent portal. An excited wolf’s howl chimed in Dood’s mind as soon as the swirling electricity fully condensed. Emotions and intentions passed vividly through a strange bond in his chest. Excitement and the desire to explore gushed from it.

Dood’s fingers reached up and touched the right side of his chest, beneath his cross a spiritual well had formed. And he could feel an energy filling him. His excitement mirrored the howling wolf’s.

The portal closed behind him. The Montana forest faded away, taking with it the life he had known.