This is a first draft of the first chapter of my novel, Grandfather Green Tie & The Invisible Picnic.
The title is a working title and this first chapter is a work in progress with many changes to come.
The Trial
The judge was a vampire. Not the vampire of legend but a creature of ancient wisdom bound by hate. No vampire had took the soul of a human in over a thousand years. This judge had taken the life of the last vampire that did so.
The courtroom was shaped like a pseudo-sphere. This false sphere was almost the total opposite of a sphere. The constant negative curvature offered good viewing for all the projected souls that were in the courtroom.
The chamber was filled with a saline solution called the Tears of the Innocent. The billions of tears swirled in a vortex of high pressure that held the walls of oil at bay.
In a tradition older than human recorded history the Court of Alchemy and Magic was convened
underground in a pool of oil beneath the wastelands of Eden. Today one that called himself Grandfather Green Tie was on trail for unleashing the Gossip Army upon the world with secrets no human should know. Embers of war burned above the court this session and two of the four rivers of the garden had dried up.
Judge Ophiuchus projected his thoughts and all in the court were quiet of mind.
"You have given this court your spiritual name as that of Grandfather Green Tie. Is this the truth by your quantum of the universal mind?"
"Your understanding of the truth is too limited to give you an answer that would have any meaning."
Grandfather Green Tie projected those thoughts as if he spoke in quiet monotones. The three members of the family that spirit was with him in this pool of tears knew what that meant.
He had just declared a war of words with Judge Ophiuchus. The vampire judge's soul burned bright in rage.
"Your arrogance will seal your fate!"
The judge unbound a
tesseract scroll in four dimensions. Echos of living words danced from the parchment made from slices of heaven.
"This scroll tells me you are an Angelic Wraith haunting your own flesh and nothing more.
Why did you unleash the Gossip Army with hidden truths upon a world of shallow dreams?"
Grand Father Green Tie filled every tear in the vortex of the court with singing rainbows made of fragments of infinite imagination.
The judge twisted in agony from the beauty.
"In the thought patterns we call words
heretic!"
The singing rainbows faded from the false reality of the court. Grand Father projected words as the judge ordered.
"I did so to save the world, one imagination at a time."
"A fool's mission for one that touched the mind of God."
"Better a fool's mission than a shield of lies to shade one from the truth."
Lois English dressed in white light floated next to her Grand Son and touched his arm saying;
"Bobby you must stop this. The judge can kill you in the living world and
shred your soul in the afterlife."
The judge smiled.
"Listen to your Grand Mother, Bobby. You don't want to be seed stock for a thousand new souls do you?"
"When you fell from heaven how did it feel?"
Everyone felt the pain of the vampire judge as his anger exploded in a flash of pure hate.
"Silents Bobby or I'll shred
every soul in this courtroom!"
"Grandfather please. If not for yourself then for your family and friends."
Olivia was playing the part her grandfather had cast her in. A look of regret came over the judge's soul as the embers of anger burned within him.
"You have played me for the fool I am Bobby. Not even a judge as powerful as I could threaten the lives protected by the Tears of the Innocent. Moments ago an iron spike was driven through my heart as I lay sleeping in my chrysalis. My brothers have killed me in a bid for power but I will have my revenge. I am no longer your judge, I will be your Night Terrors and countless torture awaits you in your dreams."
The wraith vampire that was once a judge exploded out of the courtroom and in his place was an old and twisted pear tree. In a voice that sounded like the rustle of leaves on a windy day the Tree Judge spoke.
"I am the last seedling from the Tree of Life and I live only in the heart of Grandfather Green Tie. None of your tricks can work on me dear Bobby for my life was spun from the imagination of the One Soul. Your voice will be silent for the rest of this session."
With that said the snake cuffs around Grandfather's wrists bit each others throat binding his voice. The magical cuffs were one snake body with heads at either end and none had broke free of their power.
"I will judge you in the light of truth and know if you have cast lies at the world by the Gossip Army."
The Tree Judge was a friend that was killed by the axe of Ophiuchus. To be judged by a friend was much harder than to be judged by an enemy.
"What family members living or dead stand for this man?"
Lois English dressed in the brightest of white light floated before the Tree Judge. She had been a Caretaker for the last Queen of Trees and after her death Bobby
Vollrath her grandson had failed to save the tree. The vampires had hunted the tree for over a hundred thousands years to kill the last living link to the Garden of Eden. Grandfather Green
Tie's heart broke as he watched the Caretaker and the Queen of Trees meet in this world between the living and the dead.
"As his maternal grandmother I will be his Spirit Guide and turn him from evil when I can."
Olivia
Vollrath floated up towards the judge as her Great Great Grandmother returned to her Grandfathers side.
"As his first Grand Daughter I will guide his heart in his final days of life."
Before her words were finished her cousin Vincent
Vollrath floated beside her.
"As his first Grandson I will guide his mind in the final days of his life."
Grandfather could not speak but his imagination was beyond science or magic. He looked down at the snake cuffs binding his hands.
He thought to himself.
"We are all nothing, only our dreams give us any measure of reality. I must remember that."
The Pear Tree Judge limbs moved over the courts stone bench picking up the imaginary construction that resembled a green neck tie.
"What is this Bobby? I found no link to your own personal mythology. Why do you focus all the power of your imagination in this green tie? Why do you call yourself Grandfather Green Tie?"
The green tie turned into the snake handcuffs in the branches of the Pear Tree Judge.
Around the wrists of Grandfather Green tie was the green tie of his namesake. The green tie came to life wrapping around Grandfather's left arm. The other end of the tie elongated to the center of the chamber. The tie and the Grandfather
disappeared into a sphere of bright yellow light. A gateway to the realm of the living.
The Pear Tree Judge cried for the boy that once climbed her branches. He was a criminal now and he would be hunted by a vampire.
