The Coming of the Shepherd

Noah constructing the ark.

Instructor: Mark, let’s have you go next.

Mark: Yes, Instructor.

Mark timidly walks towards the summoning circle. Of the group, Mark is the most reserved and is also the youngest at the age of 22. Standing five-eight, he is only slightly taller than Elizabeth. Furthermore, Mark is relatively unimpressive in the looks department. He is of average build, has short brown hair, and wears large glasses. However, for what he lacks in looks, he more than makes up for in intelligence. Having the highest grades of the group, and wisdom beyond his years, Mark is the one who keeps the group in check. His personality is most likely a result of having to keep his older brother, John, out of trouble.

John: Don’t mess up, Mark.

John’s teasing statement is followed by a mischievous grin.

Mark: Thanks for the vote of confidence, John.

Mark takes a deep breath and recites the same summoning spell as Chris did. Again, there is a bright white flash after the last verse is recited. What appears is an old man with long brown hair, a long brown beard, and wearing a long white robe while holding a shepherd’s staff in one hand.

Servant: Greeting, I am Noah of the Rider class. May God’s blessings be upon all of you.

Mark: Noah? As in Noah of the ark? The one that appears in the Bible?

Noah: Yes, that is correct. Am I to presume you are my Master, young one?

Mark: Yes, my name's Mark. It’s a great honor to meet you!

Mark walks excitedly towards Noah and vigorously shakes his hand. While Mark is busily conversing with Noah, at the back of the room. . .

Chris: So, is this guy supposed to be someone important?

John: Wait, you don’t know the tale of Noah and the ark?

Chris: Nope, am I supposed to?

At this declaration, everyone in the room sighs.

Instructor: I guess a brief overview of Noah’s tale is in order. Would you do the honors, Noah?

Noah: Gladly, I shall explain my story.

Noah walks to the center of the room, clears his throat, and begins to recite his tale.

Noah: In my time, the world was corrupt with sin. Seeing this, the Lord Almighty decided to wipe away the sinful beings of the world. But the Lord is compassionate, and so seeing my faithfulness to Him, he instructed me to build an ark so that not all living things of the world would perish. I did as I was commanded and spent many years building the finest ark I could. Upon completion of the ark, God once again commanded me to gather two of each living thing of the earth and to take them into the ark along with my wife, my three children, and their wives. Once the ark was full, the rain started pouring down from heaven, flooding the earth and wiping away all the sinful beings. The earth remained flooded for some time, but eventually the waters receded and I and everyone else in the ark disembarked to once again populate the earth. And so ends the tale of Noah and the ark.

At the end of his storytelling, Noah takes a deep breath and smiles broadly.

Chris: So, you’re pretty much just an ordinary old man who happened to be selected to ride on a boat? You got screwed over, Mark.

Mark: What?! There’s nothing wrong with my servant!

Chris: Are you kidding me? That old man probably can’t even swing a sword. How is he going to help us in a fight? Isn’t that right, old man?

Noah: You are correct that I cannot fight as other servants do, but by the grace of God, all foes shall fall before me.

Zeus: Humph.

Zeus scoffs at Noah’s declaration.

Noah: Oh? And who might you be?

Zeus: You don’t recognize me?! Why I am Zeus, king of the gods! HAHAHAHAHA.

John: It’s that damn laugh again.

As Zeus laughs thunderously, Noah simply smirks.

Noah: Ah, you’re one of those false gods that drove humanity to sin.

Zeus: HAHAHA…. what did you just call me?

At Noah’s words, Zeus stops his laughter and glares towards Noah. The air begins to fill with tension.

Mark: This isn’t good.

Zeus: You dare call me a false god?!

Noah: Yes, for there is only one God. The Heavenly Father who resides in heaven. All others who claim to be gods are nothing more than false beings who desecrate the Lord’s name.

Zeus: YOU IMPUDENT MORTAL!!!

Upon hearing Noah’s words, Zeus becomes enraged. He takes a fighting stance, raises his hand and creates a thunderbolt in it. In response, Noah raises his staff and prepares to take Zeus’s attack.

Elizabeth: This is really bad.

Mark: No kidding.

Chris: Oh, this is going to be awesome!

John: Shut up, Chris.

As the students begin to panic at the escalating situation, the Instructor calmly stands there.

Instructor: That is enough. I cannot allow you two to fight here. It could potentially damage the summoning system. If the two of you insist on continuing, then I will have no choice but to instruct your masters to restrain you by command spell.

At the Instructor's threat, both Zeus and Noah stand down.

Instructor: Good. Now let us continue with the summonings.

Author's Notes:

For the second summoning I went with Noah. I thought he would be an interesting Heroic Spirit since you don’t really consider him to be a hero. I also thought he would have some interesting interactions with Zeus due to their religious differences. Also, I choose not to show Noah’s abilities in this story because I plan to reveal them in the fourth story. I think it will be more fun that way. Class wise, I couldn’t think of any others than Rider that fit Noah. I haven’t decided yet if I want the ark to appear in the story yet, or even how I would manage that. In regard to the flow of the story, I wanted to try and involve more of the characters this time. This was actually harder to do than I thought because of the word limit. Anyways, I thought it would be interesting to have Noah retell his tale as a way of introducing his character. I got that idea after I read Arabian Nights and how it is literally story inception. Finally, I wanted to show that the Instructor is more experienced with dealing with Heroic Spirits. So, I had him literally threaten these great mythological figures into submission.

Bibliography:

Noah. Website: Un-Textbook