Spiritual War Final Days: Spiritual War, #1

By J B Morgan

Part 1: Final Days of Jason and Oleksiy
EPISODES ONE-TWELVE

It isn't the world where they belong. The last spiritual war was lost. Neomerilis, the one true God, was destroyed. His soul split into three pieces and cast into the boundless reaches of space. A powerful ally sent two of the shards back to Earth to be reborn. Back to the beginning.

Jason Keen is a seventeen-year-old boy whose visions perceive time like the spokes of a wheel. He has two obsessions. One, finishing the cryptic story without a name. The written manifestation of both the future to come and his previous life. His other obsession—death. He doesn't understand that he is one of the Chrysalis Shards.

Seventeen-year-old Oleksiy Iabashvili possesses two very special abilities. The mathematical genius to solve almost any equation. And the power to separate her spirit from her body. Born in the Republic of Georgia, she is wanted by Russian soldiers after witnessing a political event no one was supposed to see. Little does she realize, she is also one of the Chrysalis Shards, and the child growing inside her is the key to interpreting her nightmares.

The only thing worse than what it took to reach Earth is what they'll endure to make it back.

Now, the fate of the entire universe rests upon them finding each other and remembering who they are. Intentionally bringing anyone to Fiera La Soul isn't pretty. But this time, it's necessary. To realize their destinies, they must first cross over to the other side and destroy the same evil that defeated them once before. It won't be easy. The next life is not what we thought it to be.

What they find waiting for them is the greatest battle of both our worlds—the war over the humans.

This is a slow burn, heavy character building, redemptive, afterlife saga. With elements of historical fiction, urban fantasy, high fantasy, metaphysical, science fiction and horror. Spiritual War contains several character arcs and takes place on both Earth and the fictional world, Fiera La Soul. This series contains fictional theories of evolution, dark poetry, violent imagery, angels, demons and experiences of 'crossing over'. Viewer discretion is advised.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J B Morgan
• Release date: Jul 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201341541

Book preview

Spiritual War

Final Days of Jason and Oleksiy

EPISODE ONE

J. B. Morgan

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2021 by J. B. Morgan

No part of this work may be transmitted or reproduced without the express written permission from the author/publisher, except in the form of a brief excerpt in a review.

Published by J. B. Morgan.

Spiritual War: Final Days of Jason and Oleksiy is a work of fiction. Names, characters, situations, locations, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Edited by: Michelle Morgan of FictionEdit.com.

Cover by: Keylin Rivers of Astre Encre.

Cover image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

-Edgar Allan Poe

Contents

Author’s Note

The Race

18 Months Later

About the Fight

Oleksiy

Oleksiy’s Vision

Eight Years Later

Books by J. B. Morgan

Acknowledgments

About the Author

For Natia.

Thanks for being patient.

Author’s Note

Greetings, dear reader ! Welcome to the Spiritual War universe. This is the first episode in a much longer work of imaginative afterlife fantasy.

So in other words, fiction.

Our adventure starts right here—on Earth. As you may soon see, some elements of the Spiritual War Series are inspired by Scripture. Other elements are rooted in folklore, legend, myth, or by actual historical events. And the rest was born of my own pondering—sometimes in a state of deep pragmatic speculation; other times I simply let my imagination run free. It is no wild exaggeration that writing this series has been one of my life’s greatest pleasures.

It’s crucial to note that Spiritual War, inspired though it may be by religion and history, is a work of fiction. This is not a biblical retelling or even anyone’s interpretation of biblical narratives. Nor should any descriptions of historical events be accepted as historical fact. I invite you, instead, to let your imagination run free as mine has.

Come, reader. Take this journey with me...

-J. B.

At the moment when Akuma destroyed the God Neomerilis,

he watched his father’s soul split into three pieces

Try as he may, pushing through the shame of what he’d done,

he could not conjure back the shards

For he had made certain—never could the fragments be found again.

Jason Keen

The Story Without a Name

The Race

Jason Keen stepped into the lake at the shallow edge where the water kept warm. Soft clay smooshed between his toes. A reflective snap of sunlight hit his eyes. The earth billowed like smoke to his ankles. The water felt good as his feet disappeared in the murk.

The dark azure of the lake was surrounded by rocky layers of tan and maroon rising like a canyon.

Beyond those rocky layers were rolling Texas plains, and somewhere between Odessa and Austin, Lake Mareineth emerged central to the state like an honest sprig attached a deadened limb. The cicadas’ call rose and fell across a barren shoal. A horned lizard scurried from one rock to the next.

The five of them were alone here. There were no parents to stop them. No one to say when they had gone too far. They were all born and raised in the same uninspiring Texas town of Lornly, where ten minutes of boredom gave way to the unparalleled entertainment of danger at a moment’s notice. And so, one day they decided to swim across.

Over a mile of gently rippled darkness, undulated between the five of them and the other side of the lake.

Remember me as I am, Jason said to Courtney, exaggerating his expression with brave humor.

Shut the fuck up. You guys better not drown, Courtney said, with peevish annoyance.

Courtney’s slender fifteen-year-old legs padded nervously over the grit then she delivered an aggressive motion with her neck, moving her locks out of her eyes. She possessed a strong jawline and freckles dappled her cheeks and over her nose. Although Jason considered her a tomboy down to her bones, she was undeniably attractive. And as she stood beside the water in her jean shorts and bikini top with her arms folded, she almost appeared to have a bosom.

"If you die, I’m not going to your funerals. Especially you," she said to Jason, who walked her home every day after school since elementary. Their tacit and mutual affection had settled into the gray. Not completely together but never far apart. Once, Jason had asked Courtney if he could hold her hand, and she said ‘yes.’

Jason stared across the lake, then briefly considered what they were about to do was foolish, even suicidal. He tossed aside these thoughts like they were his jeans and T-shirt, allowing his quickening pulse and heavy breath to build into motivation. In his mind he envisioned himself reaching the