Innocence in a Sense: Volume 1

By Zade Xiong

When asked what one thinks of life in heaven, most answer with uncertainty. Some say it is great and wonderful--but what about heaven makes it so great and wonderful besides God and Jesus being there? They are also within our very hearts and souls here on earth as promised (Isaiah 41:10; Deuteronomy 31:8).

Join Zozin as you adventure with him in a fictional depiction of heaven. Often there is a mental barrier preventing us from imagining what the afterlife is like because we have not been there. Discover the interiors of the heavenly kingdom as Zozin unravels what actually makes heaven as grand and beautiful as some have claimed or believed. Prepare to be mind-blown as you learn what eternal paradise and everlasting peace means. The relief of earthly suffering is unfathomable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891306721

Book preview

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Innocence in a Sense

Volume 1

Zade Xiong

ISBN 979-8-89130-671-4 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89130-672-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Zade Xiong

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Illustration by Mark Angelo Bato

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Volume I

1

2

3

4

5

6

About the Author

Preface

This story is purely from my imagination with the help of God. Nothing I write about heaven do I claim to be true or accurate besides the Bible references. My inspirers were J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Though, that does not mean I am on par with them. These two authors did well in influencing the world with their writings. I enjoyed how they created uncommon or never-known-before names for most of their characters. I sought the same in admiration. I wrote this while prepared to meet criticism, debate, and ruthless judgment. I did not create this to offend anyone's beliefs. I do not expect anyone to fully agree as it is impossible for me to please everyone's views. All content here is my own imagined depiction. Though fictional, I find some truth in this story. I referred to many biblical Scriptures before making anything official. I had already been deep into this story before I heard about and started reading a book called Imagine Heaven by Pastor John Burke. In a brief description, he wanted his readers to imagine heaven as a fun place rather than a cloudy nonphysical realm. Since I had already begun writing this novel series, I felt more inspired and that in some ways my novel is a response to his—though unintentional. I appreciate the work he put in and published. I felt then that my job was to start painting more of what heaven could be like. Regardless of how inaccurate my fictional story is, I tried my best to illustrate my imagination. If I have any accuracy with actual life in heaven, I'm sure I barely scratched the surface. In any circumstance, let us be reminded or told that heaven is a place we actually want to end up in.

Volume I

1

What was meant to be a lasting lifetime of fun and joy quickly turned sour. A promising and normal life would peak at its best only to be demolished by the forces of darkness. Though he happily smiled next to his loved one in his arms, he would be in her arms later at his demise.

In a medium-sized town in the suburbs, during the Christmas holiday season, a man named Zozin Leshtar, age twenty-six, with a medium build, black hair, and brown eyes, stood strong at 175 cm (5'9"). He enjoyed nothing more than playing his favorite video game and spending time with his girlfriend, Venna Roludd. The two had just finished a routine jog session around their neighborhood before returning to their apartment. Venna would head to shower first in the fine evening while Zozin replenished himself with refreshments.

Zozin worked as a cybersecurity specialist in IT (or information technology). He spent a minimum of forty hours a week working, being one of the most devoted employees. Venna had graduated months prior from her university at the age of twenty-four. She and Zozin had met there as students and became acquainted. Venna had a slim, tender build, also with black hair and brown eyes. Physically, Venna, at 162 cm (5'4"), was more attractive than your average woman.

The two lovers supported each other throughout their years of study and eventually moved in together at an apartment near their university, being sentimental to each other. It was Zozin's driven motivation to have Venna jog with him to stay in shape. He had been part of the track team back in his high school days where sprinting was his specialty. Zozin graduated first and began his career soon after. Venna then graduated two years later in the business management field and started a new job as a bank teller. This would be her first step in achieving her dream career. The two had been dating for nearly three years. Their plan was to save enough money to buy a house and eventually settle down.

Zozin was a huge fan of RPGs, or role-playing games. Almost every free time he managed, he would play his favorite MMORPG, Sikle,¹ with Venna. Sikle was a fantasy MMORPG for computer user players, or CPU gamers. It took place in the Middle Ages with a fictional twist. Swords and magic were the foundations with numerous quests, boss fights, and group adventuring such as raids. Zozin and Venna were a part of a large guild. Though not all members of the guild rallied together, they had one nerdy, trustworthy friend, Markus Winster, age twenty-nine, who never let them down. Markus worked for the same company as Zozin. It was Markus, who was also in IT, that introduced Zozin to Sikle.

In most RPG games, players were males who mostly chose high DPS, or damage per second, styles or characters. Zozin enjoyed being different, so he chose to be a tank, which was the opposite of DPS where you centered the damage on yourself in self-sacrifice for your DPS teammates to flashily inflict damage to opponents while avoiding as much damage as possible. Zozin didn't like the idea of being like everyone else. Zozin enjoyed choosing differently than others but also not stand out. He liked thinking outside the box. When there were only two choices, he would attempt to come up with a third in many situations. Venna decided to join in on the fun eventually as she saw how much fun Markus and Zozin were having. She simply chose the healer-class character due to their cute fashion designs.

Markus was a quick-style character that focused on offense, dashing, and slicing prey. He used a variety of claw weapons to encounter their opponents. Venna was a support type that healed and created temporary shields and barriers for allies. Zozin was a tank type that focused on taking damage for party members with the highest vitality. Zozin's profile character was level 113 with heavy armor. Markus was level 132 with low defense- and offense-boosting gear. Venna was level 88 with mediocre stats but high-grade gear. Markus and Zozin had helped her obtain expensive, rare gear to help her make up her lack in level since she belatedly began the game.

Zozin and Venna had their computers next to each other in the corner of their second bedroom. They slept together in their own room but dedicated the second room to Sikle and Zozin's job. Their apartment was nothing fancy. It had a simple layout with two bedrooms and one bathroom on the second flight of their apartment complex.

After their showers, Zozin and Venna made some time to play Sikle.

Help! I'm dying! shouted Markus as the trio were in midbattle with a game boss they had been practicing against. They used various devices and programs to assist with online vocal chat to communicate across town.

On my way! replied Zozin.

You need to be less suicidal, Markus. You know my healing skills have long cooldowns, reminded Venna.

Both Venna and Zozin heard Markus and laughed as Zozin headed over to help. Zozin rushed over to assist in combat against the game boss, Boiling Necro, level 157. Boiling Necro would also summon a mass steam spell that brushed the entire area every fifteen seconds. This made the players' field of vision tricky. Additionally, this boss skill made it difficult for Markus to dash around as he pleased. Meanwhile, Boiling Necro also spawned undead offspring minions to aid itself.

Continuing the battle, Venna had over three-fourths of her health remaining and, thus, decided to focus her healing and barriers on Markus as she took some damage from oncoming minions in the process. Markus's zodiac claws had special effects. Each finger of the claws had a different ability that he could only use after certain cooldown times, representing the Chinese zodiac. Since there were only ten fingers, he never figured out how to use the last two remaining, which were the dragon and tiger. Nonetheless, Zozin helped wipe out the remaining small spawns from Boiling Necro.

I got this! exclaimed Markus as he swung one last fell-swoop skill, called Flailing Justice, that could only activate when the player had below 10 percent health. He purposely allowed his health to drop further to activate it after the trio had wilted Boiling Necro's health to a low point. This skill left the user at one health point and complete vulnerability. Even so, the hype of this move increased the user's attack power by thirty times and movement speed to five times and was a sure hit, guaranteeing accuracy.

Flailing Justice started by creating a large triangular diagram beneath the target with the user standing at one corner, facing the opponent. They would then dash forward and phase through the target to the left corner, then with a low spin kick, they would dash and phase again to face away in the next corner in a squatting position. From there, the user jumped backward, phasing in a reverse somersault to land back at the first corner, and jumped head forward to strike the target—all in fast-mannered movements within three seconds from the moment of activation. Zozin and Venna knew of this skill, but this was their first time witnessing it as it was a move that was too risky. If the game boss had a counter for sure-hit moves, then it wouldn't work. However, Markus timed it perfectly before the next steam spell and shouted, Flailing Justice! as he went with a full-body attack to finish Boiling Necro. The trio then cheered to their victory as they claimed the rare rewards