Drop Evcoroat

 Alone.

Once again he finds himself with only his thoughts and his questions to cause a flutter against the stillness of his soul. Moses is a man very well acquainted with the concept of solitude and the feeling of being left alone, rejected and forgotten. But on that night he sat on his mat remembering the reason he felt like he had a purpose in this ambiguous world. An image of the burning bush illuminated his mind. A memory so bright, light leaked through his closed eyelids. It was GOD.

 

He sat on the dusty floor of the clay hut defiantly cushioned by a straw mat. He drew a breath to calm his heart after remembering that bright scene in the desert. His legs folded in front of him to counter his weight, yet his back had taken enough throughout the day. He sat exhausted. The last confrontation with the Pharaoh left his muscles aching causing him to lean forward and hold his head on the palm of his hands. Those hands of his were rough and strong; large enough to cover his whole face. A lean face it was, covered mostly by white thick hair. A long beard covered his mouth, sheltering his lips from the heat of the sun or the smoldering look of the pharaohs hate filled eyes. Yet Mosses’ eyes were intensified by the bushy eyebrows that framed them. His body lean and strong, forged by the dreadful desert that begs for hard work, causing every strand of muscle to be almost visible under the thin layer of fatless skin.

 

Beads of sweat formed on his face and dripped down onto the uneven surface of his hands and forearms. His lips moved quickly whispering wet prayers which splattered salty water onto the ground. Moses felt himself falling into unconsciousness. Snapping his head back he opened his eyes wide to find the room flooded with light. He stood nowhere. Nothing was around him, like standing in the blank sheet of the unwoven universe. He knew what was happening so he dropped down, his head to his knees. He felt the presence. It was the same presence as the day he stood before the burning bush. He opened his eyes and saw from underneath him where he kneeled a hand was formed, cradling him. He looked around and witnessed a massive being. The being was moving its hand away from its chest and Moses was sitting upon the beings hand. Moses was set down on the mat in the clay hut where he was sweating, sitting, praying.

 

“Moses”, spoke the being, and Moses looked up from the ground. Something was forming before him spilling light in every direction. Moses worked himself onto his knees.

“Take courage Moses, it is I, the Angel of the Lord.”

 Moses bowed and the angel took him by the hand and stood him up.

            “My God”, spoke Moses, in reverence to the angel.

            “One plague more will I bring on Pharaoh, and on Egypt; afterwards he will let                     you go. When he lets you go, he will surely thrust you out altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.”

 

Moses fixed his eyes on the Angel and could not focus on the being. It flickered like the flame of a candle. The very image of the Angel was a coming and going of what seemed to be a man, as if standing behind a curtain of rain, his very reflection an intermitting image of something far off. Details of his face could not be seen even with the environment flooded in pure light.

            “Yes my Lord…”

            “Go now and do this thing”, urged the Angel.

 

The hand of the Angel reached to touch the old mans’ forehead. Moses sprung up and fell backwards not anticipating the touch. He was back in his clay hut. Standing as if he meant to go somewhere, he took a few steps back noticing the sudden change in lighting. He dropped to his knees and bowed lowly, his face touching the mat. Words were murmured in a sobbing voice; inaudible. 

 

 

Pharaoh, the man god, sat on his throne. It was elevated to separate him from the rest of the human world. To his right sat the prince of Egypt, the pharaohs’ only son, the heir to his throne. The boy sat up proudly. To the left of the pharaoh sat his queen, visibly bored and looking of into the eyes of a nearby guard, dark and strong, which stood with the highest ranking officials. The magnificent hall held all the magicians and court officials under its towering roof. Massive columns lined down the hall supporting the edifice like giant stone gods lifting the heavens above their heads. Yet in the middle of all this glory, Moses stood in linen rags and rough sandals girding his feet; a blemish on the face of the magnificent sun. Like times before, he felt like an alien amongst the Egyptian people. He stood delivering the message given by his God.

           

When Moses had finished speaking the pharaoh stood in response and said,

 

            “Who is Jehovah that he will take from pharaoh his prince who sits on the throne of Egypt? Leave, and the next time you are before pharaoh you shall die where you stand.”

           

Pharaoh’s voice was viciously deep and smooth, enhanced by the craft of the magicians to make him appear as having the voice of a god. Moses turned and left the palace hot in anger. He walked past a sea of eyes watching him in amazement. Every pupil felt like a hand that grabbed at his skin. All those present had never witnessed a man speak to the pharaoh in such a way and leave the palace still carrying their life with them. Moses left the palace behind him and made his way towards the city of slaves.

 

Heatedly planting every step firmly into the dirt, he didn’t notice the Angel of God flickering beside him. The Angel spoke and told Moses, 

           

“Pharaoh won’t listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

 

 

Many years before…

 

Two men struggled to free themselves from the heavy bodies holding onto them. The Egyptian guards were trying to subdue the sudden uproar caused by distant screaming. These two slaves managed to break free from the armed guards and fled away from the labor grounds were all the slaves worked under the vigilance of ruthless and violent guards. They fled into the nearby city that housed all the Hebrew slaves and their families. The screams were heard a mile away and were growing with every yard the beaten slaves ran.

 

What they saw, when they reached the city, caused their legs to collapse and they fell to the ground; watching, dying as they fell. Women, there wives, there mothers, were running out of there homes holding dead children. Some Headless, some shaking from massive blood loss. Other children were trying to reach there mothers but were hacked by the swords in the hands of the guards. Children bled on the ground, spilling their insides onto the dirt. The Egyptian guards avoided the blood of the slaves from touching them. Some were stained and their faces wrinkled in disgust, they swung their blades harder against the bodies of dead children. The guards went in and out of homes hunting the first born male babies of every Hebrew family in the slave city.

 

The men who had escaped the guards were now crawling towards there mangled children. The women croaked in tears and held their faces in agony and madness. One of the men lifted his hands to the sky and asked why. He asked and then lowered his hands. He was dead….

 

 

Moses walked through a door whose frame was stained with blood. He entered the hut and closed the covering. A gust of wind carried the desert sand by the house. The wind was picking up as the midnight hour approached. The slave huts were built in close proximity to one another and caused the wind to sing as it blew by. Moses greeted Aaron and his family and they all stood and began to eat the meal before them in a hurry. They looked at each other and ate the lamb. They listened and ate in silence. Among them was a child, a young girl who went to go stand by the window of the home. Looking beyond she saw the clouds in the sky separating, creating an opening in the heavens. Aaron saw the girl by the window and called her to come away from it. Moses stood in her place at the window and said out loud, “it has commenced.”        

 

 

 

 

Just outside the Holy Egyptian city the atmosphere met the earth as the clouds touched down on the sandy road. From the ground up the image of a man was forming. Light shined down in reverse, violently colorful, as if all the illumination in the world was being consumed into the being. When the man was finalized, he began to walk into the city. His feet glided through the entrance to the realm of the man-god and made no sound. He began to vibrate furiously, and it was as if he began to separate and dissolve into many other replicas of the same kind.

 

The little girl in the hut sneaked a look outside the window; her curiosity had taken her captive. She witnessed the calling of the first born in the land of Egypt. The Angel was walking into all the homes that did not have their doorway stained with blood. Moments after entering, children began to leave every hut. But something was different about the children. They were flickering like the flame of a candle. Suddenly, from the corner of the window, the little girl saw the bright face of the Angel appear in front of her. The man stood tall and looked down humbly into the girl’s soul. The angel smiled at her and she lifted her hand to touch his garment. She felt the silk in between her fingers and time stood still. The cloth vibrated in her fist and dissolved through her hand. He continued away from the window and the girl remained, untouched by death.

 

Soon the Angel was leading a crowd. Thousands of children followed him, flickering towards the towering palace were the Pharaoh lived. But by now the entire land of Egypt was summoned by the wailing of men and women bearing lifeless children in their arms. The Angel had released the spirit of every single first born male in the land; and now he was going to claim the life of the prince. From every direction children flooded into the main road and joined the crowed of hundreds of thousands behind the Angel, as he entered the palace.

 

Walking down the massive golden halls, the Angel came before the man-god. Pharaoh stood with the child in his arms. The boy had his arms wrapped around his father’s neck. The king looked into the Angels eyes and felt the little arms around his neck beginning to loosen. A tear escaped the black lined eyes. The boy then was lifeless. The pharaoh looked down to see his prince hanging limply in is arms. From behind him he could see the flickering begin. The prince walked around from behind his father and stepped towards the Angel. It was the same boy still hanging from his arms. The Pharaoh screamed in pain as the boy climbed into the Angels arms, abandoning his father and the world of the living. Pharaoh held onto the empty child. He fell to his knees and dropped the boy, realizing he was gone.

 

The Angel turned and left the palace. He returned to the place were the heavens met the earth and dissolved into the winds of the desert. All the children flickered softly into nothing and disappeared. The heavens were sealed and the night returned to its normality. That night not one Hebrew soul died, and the following day, not one Hebrew soul was found in that land evermore.

 

DROP EVCOROAT

By Seraph Trend

Author's Note

This retelling is not meant to be a religious or Judeo-Christian biased point of view. It is a retelling of the famous "last plague" from the pages of the Holy Bible. The focus is to be aimed at character expression and a fantasy description of the a vague original.

Reviews

[Ngon'e]

Well Ati, your words are vivid and made me cringe as if I was there and running for my life. You are a word master indeed.

[nostal]

Very descriptive and enjoyably readable. This piece of writing is nively-written and a great read all around.
Good job.

[deeps]

I like this alot.
There is so much to be said in this write.
The last plague is what cost of sin will do
At least that is my opinion.
This is very well written and said.