Earthward Bound: A Resistance at Maymont
The full novel from the 'Eternal Love' universe (summary)
In the 2025 CSA, under Maymont’s ancient oak, Keith Johnson, Sarah Dooley, and their daughter Olivia faced a new threat. News had broken: Project 2025’s corporate allies, backed by Chinese tech firms and Morgan’s vampire faction, planned to drill on CSA land, threatening Richmond’s rivers. The family, guided by their “Earthward Way,” vowed to resist—not with V’s violence, but with Jesus’s moral defiance.
Sarah, her vampire past a distant memory, led a Powhatan ritual by the James River, chanting for the land’s spirit. “This is our kin-dom,” she said, her “kin-dom” theology blending Gospels and indigenous wisdom. Keith, inspired by Jefferson, drafted a manifesto exposing the drilling’s ties to authoritarian greed, his words sharp as Ruskin’s ethics. Olivia, 18 and tech-savvy, turned her mural of the river into a viral CSA campaign, echoing Attenborough’s call to protect nature.
They organized a festival at Maymont, a hearth of resistance. Powhatan elders taught soil restoration, per Leopold’s land ethic; CSA youth, rallied by Olivia, boycotted Machine-made goods, honoring Thoreau’s simplicity. Keith read from Faulkner, tying their fight to Richmond’s history. When Morgan’s vampires tried to disrupt, Sarah’s sermon—on justice, stewardship, community—united the crowd, their moral clarity overpowering the threat.
By dawn, the CSA Council halted the drilling, inspired by the family’s Earthward Way. Under the oak, Keith, Sarah, and Olivia planted a seed, their love eternal, their resistance rooted in the land they kept.
Themes: Land-centered resistance, non-violent defiance, family unity, CSA’s spiritual-ecological blend.
Word Count: ~200 words
Chapter 1: Kin-dom Soil (Spiritual, Gospels)
Sarah knelt by the James River, her hands tracing Powhatan symbols in the soil, the baby strapped to her chest cooing softly. The Second Presbyterian congregation—humans, werewolves, reformed vampires—gathered, their breath misting in the 2025 CSA dawn. “This is our kin-dom,” Sarah intoned, her voice blending Gospel grace with Powhatan reverence, “where land and kin are one, not prey for Machines.” John, 12, mimicked her symbols, his eyes wide with curiosity, while James, 10, clutched a sapling, eager to plant.
Keith watched, his pen poised, inspired by Jefferson’s call for autonomy. News of the USA/CSA Project 2025—a corporate plot to deregulate land for Chinese tech firms and Saudi oil—had shaken Richmond. Sarah’s ritual, a defiance like Jesus’s against Rome, called for resistance through stewardship. “The Machines want our rivers,” she said, “but we’ll keep them sacred.”
Olivia, sketching on her tablet, captured the scene for a CSA youth post, her digital activism amplifying Sarah’s voice. That night at Maymont, John asked, “Can we fight with rituals, Mom?” Sarah nodded, cradling the baby. “We’ll weave our Earthward Way, together.”
Reflection: This spiritual chapter centers Sarah’s Powhatan-Christian rituals, like the Gospels, setting the family’s resistance against global and USA/CSA threats, with John and the baby active, and Olivia’s digital role secondary.
Chapter 8: Hearth of Resistance (Literary, Thoreau)
The James River, fouled by USA/CSA Project 2025’s corporate runoff, gleamed under Maymont’s dusk. Sarah led a Powhatan cleansing ritual, her chant echoing Thoreau’s call to simplify, as she sprinkled river water blessed with sage. John, studying Leopold’s land ethic, planted native grasses, his hands steady. James, all energy, hauled debris, his laughter a spark of resistance. The baby, in a sling, gurgled, a living emblem of hope.
Keith, his prose Faulknerian, wrote of the river’s story—its Powhatan past, its CSA present—his essay rallying CSA farmers against Russian-backed corporate deals. Olivia streamed the cleanup online, her digital post a quiet echo of Sarah’s ritual, urging youth to join. “This is our hearth,” Sarah said, her hands on the soil, “where we resist the Machines’ greed.”
A corporate spy, tied to Project 2025, lurked nearby, but the family’s unity—Sarah’s spirituality, Keith’s words, John’s learning, James’s effort, the baby’s presence—drew the CSA closer, a literary tapestry of resistance against global exploitation.
Reflection: This literary chapter, steeped in Thoreau’s simplicity and Faulkner’s rootedness, emphasizes Sarah’s rituals and the children’s roles, with Olivia’s activism supporting the family’s ecological fight.
Chapter 15: The Land We Keep (Action/Literary, all thinkers)
Maymont’s oak stood sentinel as Sarah led a Powhatan ritual, her voice weaving Gospels and indigenous chants, blessing a sapling planted for the baby. John, now adept at Powhatan symbols, etched them in the soil; James, grinning, watered the tree. The CSA, galvanized by the family’s Earthward Way, had blocked the USA/CSA Project 2025’s deregulation, saving Richmond’s land from Chinese and Saudi exploitation.
Keith’s manifesto, Earthward Bound, had spread globally, like V’s broadcasts, exposing authoritarian Machines. Olivia’s digital campaign, a supporting spark, rallied CSA youth to boycott Machine goods, echoing Ruskin’s moral economy. Sarah’s rituals, blending Leopold’s ethic and Attenborough’s urgency, had united the Supernatural Council, defeating Morgan’s faction.
As the family stood under the oak, Keith’s words, literary yet fierce, sealed their victory: “We keep this land, not for power, but for kin.” The CSA’s future, rooted in their love, shone eternal against the Machines.
Reflection: This action-oriented chapter, with literary depth, centers Sarah’s rituals and the children’s contributions, tying all thinkers’ principles to a triumphant stand against global and USA/CSA threats.