Page 12 of The Power of a Myth

No…it couldn’t be.

“It’s a trap.” He grabbed his gun and ran out of the building to where the rest of his soldiers were still looking around.

A single gun shot rang out, and everyone fell to the ground except Hayden. He stayed standing, but the air in his lungs had gone. Everything started moving in slow motion as his men ran toward him. He looked down at his chest and saw the hole there. He felt no pain, but he knew he’d been shot. Blood started to flow from the wound as his legs finally gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. He gasped for breath, but no air would come to him.

A few of his men dragged him back into the hut. The doctor immediately started to stem the flow of blood, but his face told Hayden everything he needed to know. He couldn’t survive this. Hayden reached up and grabbed the dog tags he wore. He pulled them from his neck with superhuman strength, given he was dying, and handed them to the doctor.

“Give them to Molly,” he gasped, blood spurting out of his mouth. “Tell her I love her.”

“No!” the doctor refused to take them.

He continued to work hard to save Hayden’s life, but it wasn’t going to work. Hayden knew it already. The darkness was forming at the edges of his vision. He didn’t have long left.

“I love you, Molly,” he whispered into the air.

He didn’t want to leave her alone. He didn’t want to die, but as his breathing became more labored, a man in a dark coat appeared next to the young boy. The man’s sudden presence told Hayden this wasn’t any ordinary death.

“You’re destined for greater things,” the boy mouthed as Hayden took his final breath in the human world.

Everything went dark.

His human body died.

And the first breath of his new life came with a gasp.

Hayden sat up and looked around. He was in what appeared to be an enormous cave. The boy and the man in the dark coat were still there, and they smiled at him welcomingly.

“Are you all right?” the boy spoke to him in English.

“Yes.” Hayden looked down at his chest, the bullet hole gone. The blood was wiped clean. He was no longer dressed in dirty combat clothes. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “What’s happening?”

“I’m sorry you had to be taken from the human world that way. It always hurts at first, but it’s the only way we can be reborn,” the man in the dark coat responded.

“Be reborn? What do you mean? Where are we?” Hayden tried to stand, but his legs felt a bit wobbly. The man stepped forward and helped him up.

“I had the same questions when I first arrived here too. My name is Caleb. You are in our birthplace in California. In the Death Valley desert.”

“I don’t understand? I’m still on Earth? I thought I’d died, shouldn’t I be in heaven or hell?”

The little boy chuckled. “That’s what I said when I was killed but apparently not. I was destined to lead you here.”

Caleb ruffled the hair on the young boy’s head. You should return to your parents. We don’t want them wondering what happened to you.”

“I will.”

Hayden’s eyes went wide as the boy turned green with brown symbols all over his skin and disappeared into thin air.

“I think I need to sit down again.” Hayden slumped back down onto the ground.

“I know it’s a bit of a shock. I’m sorry. I’m not explaining it well,” Caleb reprimanded himself. “Your human form died back in that village. It was your destiny, but we bargained for your soul because of all the good deeds you’ve done. You’ve been reborn as a multi-shifter.”

“Shifter?” Hayden’s ears pricked. Molly had mentioned this word. “Do you mean I can change into an animal? What animal is it?”

“You’ll be able to change into any living being you touch. The boy, he touched a witch, and he used that magical form to travel back to Vietnam. I can become a number of different animals.”

Hayden watched as Caleb changed into an assortment of animals from birds to bees, to cats to dogs, and even lizards.

“Wow!” Hayden exclaimed. “I’ll be able to do all of that?”

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