by Reilly, Jim
Solmun was a true disciple of evil, and Satan had his ear, “Your time has come, and you must fulfill your destiny. Every bit of your existence is at a crossroads; you need to strike and let the time of evil rule the Realm.”
Solmun, as with all the Ancient Visitors, wanted to go back to the Realm with a passion. However, each of the Ancient Visitors had forgotten what it was like living in the Realm and feeling the Ruler’s love. The result of listening to Satan’s hateful message, their memory was choked by the clinging roots of hate. But that was about to change.
After his body was dissolved into the Ancient Visitors’ liquid computer, it saved every bit of information stored within D’Shawn’s body and mind. Just like James Connor, D’Shawn’s information was absorbed into the Ancient Visitors’ computer.
On the massive Ancient Visitor ship, a simple technician working on D’Shawn’s file noticed a memory he had that struck a chord in the Ancient Visitor. It wasn’t a long memory; as a matter of fact it was no more than one hundredth of a second long. It was powerful, and it was implanted by Kaiden. What was it, you’re wondering? It was a glimpse of the Realm. It was a feeling of the peace and tranquility of the Realm along with the feeling of love from the Ruler. That technician fell on his knees; then soon thereafter, this Ancient Visitor showed it to others on the ship.
Returning to the Temple Mount, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael were beaten and hurt. Michael then reported to Kaiden, “Our brothers have destroyed all of mankind throughout this world, except for this small patch. Soon I fear this will be lost as well. In a short time, mankind will be no more than a memory. I can’t believe this is how mankind ends.”
“We have to trust Him and believe there is a plan, a plan where mankind survives,” Gabriel told Michael. “He must have a plan.”
As his army of Ancient Visitors, along with their slaves from races from across the universe, surrounded Jerusalem, Belial felt more confident with each inch his army came closer to finishing off humanity. He knew two other massive Ancient Visitor ships were approaching Earth as well. He then entered his royal barge with his guards in tow and once airborne his escort ships followed in a defensive posture.
While the people on the Temple Mount held hands, Belial’s craft hovered in the sky. He then showed himself by having the craft open the hull to display him in all his power.
With little regard for anyone, he proclaimed, “I am the powerful Belial. You should all bow down before me and worship me, for I am your leader now. Maybe, if I am merciful, I’ll let you live. But every one of you must worship me.”
Kaiden with his arms up, replied, “Good does not bow down before evil.”
“You are the one He sent. You too need to bow before me as well, or I will destroy you.”
“You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.”
“Fine, then you will be destroyed as well,” Belial said. Then, he nodded his head toward Solmun.
Without hesitation, Solmun walked in between Gabriel and Uriel then lunged with a knife at the neck of Kaiden to do what he was destined to do. He, who bared the mark of 666 chromosomes as did Bishop Terapion, felt a sensation of relief at finally fulfilling his destiny, a destiny he believes would solidify his place in history as the one who opened the gates of the Realm.
In a flash, Kaiden easily caught the hand with the knife, and said to him, “Solmun, did you think I would not recognize you? I’ve known you for all of your existence.”
At seeing Kaiden stop Solmun, an incensed Belial ordered the ship’s cannons to fire upon the last humans. In an instant, fire enveloped the Temple Mount and Gold Dome, incinerating all but Kaiden with Solmun in his grasp along with the Archangels. Below the Temple Mount, a lake of fire flowed.
Looking upon Kaiden holding Solmun, Michael proclaimed, “It is written, the beast or antichrist is thrown into the lake of fire.”
Solmun said, “If that’s my destiny, then so be it. I’d rather die than not succeed.”
As a great rift in time showed itself in the sky above the Temple Mount, Kaiden said to Solmun while the Archangels listened, “Solmun is the name you gave yourself as evil devoured you. I remember your given name; it was Jonathan. You were the Angel, Jonathan.”
Above Jerusalem, the rift opened, and it was revealed as a gateway to the Realm. Out of the rift came the light of the Realm, and it illuminated the Temple Mount.
Solmun squirmed as he heard the name that he hadn’t heard since he left the Realm. In Kaiden’s grasp, he revealed his Ancient Visitor form, leaving that of the President, and he yelled, “No,” as evil tried to hold onto him. “You lie; I am Solmun, an angel of evil. That’s who I am.”
It was then that, with the light of the Realm coming down on to them, Kaiden proclaimed, “You are forgiven. Yes, my beloved Jonathan, you are forgiven.”
At that point Solmun squirmed uncontrollably as he lost motor functions. Kaiden then put his hands on the head of Solmun, and immediately he was still. He then with little effort grabbed tightly to the Ancient Visitor and pulled apart Solmun’s body splitting him in half. This revealed a dim light buried deep inside. As the light of the Realm touched upon it, it grew brighter.
Michael asked, “Jonathan, is that you?”
Kaiden then threw the evil disgusting shell into the lake of fire, as the light grew brighter and ascended up to the rift in time onward to the Realm.
Belial’s anger grew, but he saw the opportunity to now battle the Ruler of the Realm. With Satan’s urging, he then ordered his forces to attack the Realm whose gates were now open.
Belial said to Kaiden, “You can now witness our battle with the forces of the Ruler of the Realm and his inevitable defeat. You soon will be worshiping me because you have no army to speak about to repel mine. Soon the Ruler, his angels, and all the life forces he took from all the dying humans will be mine.”
“All the life forces you speak of are souls made in the likeness of the Ruler and are filled with love. They, along with the angels in the Heavens, are a powerful army second to none.”
“I see no weapons. What did you come to fight with?”
“Our army is armed with love and forgiveness.”
“Then this will be easier than I thought,” Belial said with pleasure. He then ordered his enormous armada, of now three massive ships and millions of combatants, to bear down on the Realm.
Unbeknownst to Belial, D’Shawn’s glimpse of the Realm had now infiltrated every system and every ship. The brief memory gave all Ancient Visitors a glimpse of what they were missing all this time. They felt a feeling of euphoria and endless love. That and the little things the Ancient Visitors experienced on Earth, like how Marcus forgave the one killing him, as well as other similar acts, confused the Ancient Visitors.
Angry his subjects were slow to react to his command, Belial demanded, “My word is law, and you must be obedient. I say to you again, go now and take the Realm!”
Hesitation was rampant throughout the fleet, and as Belial was about to scream additional orders, out through the rift in time came the Ruler’s army. They were the souls He had collected since the beginning of time. Each is a vessel carrying love and forgiveness out to the Ancient Visitors.
These souls were that of the Apostles, Moses, Abraham, Daniel, Muhammad, and Martin Luther. There were known and unknown doers of good deeds. In among the billions of lights pouring out of the rift in time, was that of D’Shawn, Cynthia, Marcus, Pastor Charles, Imam Rashoni, Monsignor Grazzani, along with billions of others.
These lights flowed out of the Realm and shot like bullets into each of the Ancient Visitors’ bodies piercing right through them. The Ancient Visitors each recoiled and curled up onto the floor they were standing on. Many fought it, but in the end the Angel buried deep inside emerged from the dark, ugly shell and grew bright. They remembered their real names. Then ascending into the Realm, each flew in delight as it rushed home accompanied by billions of human souls.
A confused Raph
ael questioned, “Was all of this just to bring home our brothers and sisters? Make no mistake; I appreciate from the bottom of my heart the return of my brothers and sisters. But why was mankind sacrificed? Are we talking about the prodigal sons and daughters returning and is that the reason for all of this?”
Before his questions could be answered, Belial jumped from his royal barge onto the Temple Mount to challenge Kaiden and his Archangels. He went straight at Kaiden, but before he got near him, his protectors converged on Belial. Michael took the lead and matched every advance Belial made. Driven by hate, Belial could not accept the love and forgiveness offered to him and refused it. Hate blinded his vision, and in the battle to kill his former brothers, he slipped and fell into the lake of fire. The Archangels were at first relieved the battle was over, but seeing Kaiden mourn the lost opportunity to save Belial, they too mourned.
While he wept for the loss, Kaiden heard the voice in his ear, “You may have beaten these weak beings, but you will never beat me?”
Kaiden signaled to his Archangels to leave him and to ascend into the Realm. They did as they were told.
Alone now, the voice said to Kaiden, “There is still time for you to become more powerful than the Ruler. I can help you. All you have to do is listen to me.”
Kaiden told the voice, “Satan, you have no more power. You have lost. Now crawl back into the hole from whence you had come. Love and forgiveness ruled the day. There is no room for you and your deceit in the Realm. When I leave here, you will be no more.”
“You can’t do that because you need me. How do you know what good is if there isn’t evil to compare it to? Free will is my master, not you.”
As Kaiden ascended up to the rift in time leading to the Realm, back at the Temple Mount there was no cold dark presence. His time had ended.
Epilogue
21st Century.
After rushing to the site, Jennifer and David Cho finally arrived at the Pergamon Ruins where they were met by Dr. Ken Lewis, who told them, “I’m sorry you had to come all the way out here. I feel bad; I don’t have any more news other than what I already told you.”
“You couldn’t stop us if you tried,” Jennifer told Ken as they made their way to the site of the firefight. “Our boy is missing, and there’s nowhere else we want to be than here looking for him.”
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when it happened, maybe me and my old bones could’ve helped him. He sent me off to talk to the park administration, and when I heard the weapons fire, I immediately called the authorities as he instructed me to do.”
David asked, “Who’s in charge of the investigation?”
Ken replied, “Agent John Ryan. The Agent told me he worked with your son.”
Jennifer looked for Cameron’s partner as David conversed with Ken. At this point in the investigation, there were many agents on the scene. But Jennifer was very familiar with Johnny and found him organizing the detailed analysis of the firefight at the remote command center.
When he noticed her making a beeline toward him, Johnny dismissed the other agents with him and met her halfway, “Minister Cho, I’d welcome you, but under the circumstances, I’ll leave that for another time. I imagine you have a lot of questions.”
“Johnny I sure do. First off, where’s my son?”
“I’m sorry to say, but we don’t know at the moment. He had been in contact with a secret organization feeding him information. I, unfortunately, didn’t have any contact with them, only with Cameron. At the time of this firefight, I was in Singapore following one of the leads Cameron was fed. It was a dead end. In hindsight, it must have been a diversion to split us up. When I figured that out, I returned to be with Cameron, but I was too late as I heard over the communication channels weapons fire reported by a Dr. Ken Lewis.”
“What did you find when you came on the scene?”
“It looked to me that people who were helping Cameron with information turned on him and a firefight erupted. At the time of the firefight, the Babylon Corporation had a dig going on for some minerals buried in the side of the hill, to the north of this acropolis. I checked and the permits were legal.”
“Why would Cameron be investigating the Babylon Corporation?”
“I think Cameron was tricked into it as a ruse to get him out in the open.”
“Do we know who did this?”
“Some of the deceased were identified as agents for an underground cell of former Followers of Divinity. At the moment, they are suspected accomplices of Edward Tanner for the bombings of the regeneration centers. One of the dead is Leonardo DeRosa, the son of Salvatore DeRosa, the butcher of Italy during the Followers of Divinity conflict. We suspect he might have been the leader.”
“My information was that he wasn’t here, Cameron that is. Do we know where he might have been taken?”
Hesitant for a minute, Johnny eventually blurted out, “There was no record of or trace of any vehicle, land or air leaving the vicinity.”
“Then how would they have gotten him out of here?”
For a brief moment, there was awkward silence as it looked like Johnny was looking for the right words to say. When he found those words, he told her, “We found an Ancient Visitor disintegration weapon on one of the dead. It looks like it was fired recently. I hope Cameron was taken, and somehow they got him out of here undetected. But we have to consider, well you know. Anyway, I just wanted to be upfront with you.”
“I appreciate it Johnny, but as a mother, I can feel my son’s presence, and I believe with all my heart he’s alive. I can feel him. I’m his mother; of course I feel this way. Now what does the Inspector General have to say about this? I don’t see him, but I would have expected him to lead the investigation or at least to be here to show his face.”
“It is not common knowledge yet, but the Inspector General is missing as well. He disappeared late last night along with members of his entourage. The bosses want me on a transport in the next few minutes to go to a factory in Brazil where a body with the Inspector’s description was found. It’s just horrible how the Followers of Divinity were able to succeed in this coordinated attack on our personnel. I can’t believe it.”
“It is unbelievable.”
“I agree. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get on a transport. If there are any new developments, I’ll be sure you are informed immediately.”
Jennifer then met up with David after he had finished speaking to Ken, and the two traded information sitting on a bench near the ancient Amphitheater near the top of the acropolis away from all who could listen. She started by telling him, “They got to Johnny as well. The way he said it, it was as if he wasn’t involved in Cameron’s investigation. We know it’s a fact; Johnny was involved and worked closely with Cameron throughout the investigation. It was stated as so in the report Cameron sent us. Since Johnny recently was enhanced by Babylon and though Cameron never mentioned it, I would suspect he had been compromised at some point. So, we’re going to have to be careful who we talk to.”
David asked, “Were you able to get anything useful out of him?”
“It appears Inspector General Sanchez is down as well, and a body is being recovered. It looks like Cameron’s suspicions were correct and at the moment the Ancient Visitors are covering their tracks. They even have a scapegoat no one will have any doubt pinning this on. Those former Followers of Divinity saps.”
At that point Jennifer started to cry and while David comforted her, he informed her, “Ken told me Cameron had him look for historical data about the signal we detected here at Pergamon. Ken explained to me that the signal moved randomly over the years. He then determined the last position of the signal was at the Babylon dig. What a coincidence, right?”
“And the signal they were tracking?”
“At the moment, it stopped, or at least it’s not transmitting from Pergamon, or maybe it’s not in range anymore.”
With her heart almost stopped, she pondered in agony, “David,
they took our boy. The Ancient Visitors took our boy. What are we going to do?”
“We don’t know that yet, but if that’s the case, we hope he comes back, and we pray he comes back unharmed. In the meantime, I’m going to stay here at Pergamon and search for that signal. If it’s here, I’m going to find it. It may be that it was briefly turned off to throw us off the trail.”
“I’ll go back to the United Nations and try to secure as many resources as possible to help the search,” she said with conviction. “Then, and only then, when the search is futile, we’ll then put our efforts into tracking the Ancient Visitors by putting together a team of trusted people. Because, as horrible as this situation is for us, we can’t let our anguish get in the way of protecting the human race from the Ancient Visitors.”
Not able or even wanting to talk at that moment, David just nodded his head in agreement as the two stood looking out at over the hilltop city ruins wondering where their son was.
But Cameron wasn’t far from where they were; he was one hundred meters east and four hundred meters down where he’ll be resting for a long time with a hole in his stomach and a stun grenade in his pocket. In its current position, the signal hadn’t the strength to penetrate from this deep in the ground.
*****
31st Century.
“He sent us back to Earth, though I trust him with all my mind and soul, I don’t understand why,” Raphael thought. “The Realm has been reunited, and our brothers and sisters are back among us. The souls of countless humans have also joined our union in the Realm. It is the most joyous time that I can remember. So then, why did he send us back here?”
“I’m not sure, Raphael,” responded Uriel. “The civil war we went through is over and the celebration in the Realm is in full swing as the Ruler feels whole again.”
“I have to be honest; I don’t feel whole. We were the protectors of mankind. We had walked, talked, and eaten beside them since their inception. Standing here on Earth now, when mankind is finished brings me great sadness. So much so, I want to leave this place so not to be shrouded by my grief and sink into darkness.”
