The Dawn of the Storm

Black clouds coiled together into a flat vortex in the sky, the likes of which Jordan Dorver had never before seen in all his years. He raised a weathered hand to scratch an equally weathered forehead, barely brushing aside the last of his white hair that hung down. The clouds spun around a central point that didn’t look to far away to Jordan, just beyond the edge of his fields perhaps, or by the creek that borders that corner of his property. The wind was steadily but persistently blowing past him where he stood on the corner of his front porch, the boards sagged slightly underneath him and he made a mental note to check them over another day. Jordan could only assume that the wind was blowing towards the central point of the cloud vortex after it past him. He had a eerie feeling that he was correct. 

“Martha, Martha dear. Come out here! You must see this.” Jordan shouted over the wind. He heard some clattering in the old but well maintained farmhouse behind him.

“Jordan, I am preparing dinner.” A slightly exasperated voice came from inside the house. “And you best come inside, you’ll catch a cold out in that weather.”

Jordan looked to the sky again, it was darker than the middle of a moonless night but he could still see that these weren’t storm clouds. He opened his mouth to tell Martha he couldn’t catch a cold if it wasn’t raining but the words died in his mouth as a sharp crack split the air, and a radiant flash of lightning arced from the centre of the vortex to the ground. Jordan gasped at the brightness and the noise but before he could shut his eyes or cover his ears properly thunder rumbled so loud it shook Jordan to the bone. As quickly as it happened it was done. 

“Jordan, what happened?” Martha called from in the house. Jordan hardly noticed, he was already down the porch steps and starting to sprint towards the barn. The lightning had struck right near the creek, which was fortunate, he’d have a source of water nearby to fight the fire. Jordan dashed into his barn, almost tripping over his own two feet. He slowed down only enough to pick up two buckets and then he continued on at full speed towards where the lightning had struck. If the fire wasn’t contained it could spread to the nearby forest or, even worse, to his farm and his fields. He reached the edge of his property and leaped over the wooden fence, he may be old but farm work had kept him in better shape than most men half his age. He slowed down immediately after landing and smelled the air. There was no smoke. Jordan looked around franticly. He didn’t see any fire either. His skin tingled, and he felt the hairs all of his body stand up. 

Cautiously, Jordan approached the creek and filled his buckets. He glanced at the black clouds above him, and he was almost directly underneath the centre of the vortex, where the lightning had come from, but he still saw no sign of the strike. Jordan crossed the creek and kept going, he would let his field and farm burn just because he had stopped looking when it seemed like there was no fire. A fire like that could ruin him. 

The wild grass here grew long, it danced furiously as the wind whipped past it towards the centre of the cloud vortex. The grass brushed against his worn brown work trousers as he slowly walked towards the spot he was certain the lightning had struck. As he approached the spot he noticed the grass had been completely flattened there. He edged closer. Right at the point where the lightning had struck the flattened grass fanned out in a perfect circle and in the middle of the circle was a naked baby boy. Jordan knelt down, and picked up the child as gently as he could, cradling it in his arms. The babe was warm against his chest. The wind died down immediately, and Jordan looked to the sky. The vortex had opened at the centre letting sunlight shine directly down upon Jordan and the child, groups of tendrils from the cloud vortex merged together and for a brief moment he thought he saw shapes and symbols in the clouds. A Hammer and a Seed. A raised fist. Two partly overlapping circles.   

Jordan blinked and the clouds returned to normal, no longer black and no sign of the vortex. The sun shone brightly at its peak in the sky. He looked down at the babe in his arms and was startled to see piercing blue eyes staring back at him. A wide smile split Jordan’s face. He could feel his heart racing in his chest from the intensity of what had just happened, but that didn’t distract from the warm feeling of joy that filled his heart as well. 

“Hello there little one,” Jordan murmured, “Where did you come from?” He didn’t expect an answer but he still had to ask. The babe just looked up at Jordan expectantly. Jordan chuckled to himself. “Guess we better get you inside. Martha is not going to believe this.”