Scrolls of the Gatekeeper (The Watcher Part II))

Would you like to read The Watcher (Part I) before you dive into the next part of the forest?

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His long black winter cloak sweeps over the hilt of his sword—a Watcher’s Sword. The last of the sons of Seth, heroes of the ancient world, steadies his hands and controls his breathing. At a moment’s notice, he is ready to release the iron blade from its weathered sheath. Still he sees nothing, but without a doubt, the whisper is heard—a very loud, scratchy whisper.

“At last,” he says.

“Canaanite, who do you seek? What is it you fight for?”

Fear, as usual, will not be his companion this day. Indeed, it is his anger that continually grips his soul. “Show yourself.” Joshua Sethson speaks with authority. “I’m tired of this game.” His piercing blue eyes demand to see his enemy.

“Not yet,” comes the hoarse reply. Sounds emanate of a slithering body rustling over leaves and shattered branches and scurrying to the forest hills.

Josh follows. Every inch and every ounce of his body begs to relax. Rest is not something he can afford. He takes a few steps farther into the wooded areas and pauses. Any movement in the shrubs and bushes that adorn the cold hills of Canaan will not escape his sight. What length of time Josh stands silent among the withering trees one can only guess.

He is the Watcher of all the lands of Paragon, one of its few living protectors. But Josh Sethson lives in exile, miles from his beloved town of Canaan. The Canaanites follow the teaching of the self-proclaimed Watcher, Donovan Fletcher. Fletcher, of course, tells the Canaanites that the time of Warriors has passed.

“We are our own gods,” he has said on many occasions. “Let no man tell you what to do. There is no one in the universe to serve. We are the rulers of all.”

In order to step into the role of Watcher, Fletcher, a shrewd and ruthless killer, has murdered Canaan’s true Watcher, Caleb Sethson, Josh’s older brother. Many winters have passed since, without the full strength of the sun. The entire planet is littered with nothing but the ruins of castles and forts. If it were not for the Warriors, the wooded areas might have been gutted. This is the last outpost between their universe and the realms of the heavenly places. It stands almost barren, bar the lands of Paragon—where Canaan is known as Middleland.

Suddenly, from deep within the woods, Josh Sethson cries unto the heavenly places as he spots the claw marks of the Whisperers in the bark of the mighty cedars. He has tracked them to the border of his exile and into Canaan.

Gatekeeper Son of Seth Watcher Christian fiction

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