The man looked at the four children.
Then at the twelve wives.
Then at Jude.
"It wants the first promise."
Jude looked at the flower.
"What was the first promise?"
The man answered in a whisper.
"Before nobody would ever be lost again, there was another promise."
The flower opened its eye.
The entire room trembled.
The man continued.
"It was a promise made by someone who was afraid that the world would never love him."
Jude stared.
"Who?"
The man looked directly at him.
"You."
The flower's eye widened.
A long, thin root emerged from its stem.
It stretched across the floor and touched Jude's shoe.
The moment it made contact, the dining room disappeared.
Jude found himself standing in the little room before the first house.
The bed was empty.
The table was bare.
The tree had stopped growing.
And outside the window was a vast darkness.
A child stood beside the window.
He looked exactly like Jude.
Not as a boy.
As he was now.
The child turned.
