Infinite Testament

by Greg Ness

  Stephen leans in and brings his lips close to hers. She closes her eyes and they kiss. Knowing it could be their last moment together, both are overwhelmed with an inescapable sense of melancholy. As Stephen kisses her, he feels her lips lose their sense of touch; they have fallen limp.

  Stephen backs away. She lies perfectly still.

  Lisa Binsby is dead.

  A terrible sickness befalls Stephen. His face contorts and he covers his mouth, fearful he will vomit. His other hand, shaking uncontrollably, rises to his face. Stephen slowly stands up, staring at the love of his life.

  Campbell runs to Stephen, yelling, “Stephen! We need to get out of here!” Campbell stops in his tracks when he sees Stephen standing over Lisa’s limp body. Stephen, face full of despair, turns to Campbell.

  Campbell asks, “What happened?”

  Stephen silently walks past him, every step more painful than the last. Campbell steps forward and glares at Lisa’s body.

  Stephen’s insides feel like a raging fire with gasoline pouring on top. His entire body trembles as he stumbles into the street. He stares at the spot across the street where he once saw Lisa die. Stephen holds out his hand as if she was there again. “Lisa,” he utters to himself. He made it back all this way. And inexplicably, she was taken from him again. What difference did it make? “What difference did it make!?” he screams. At least before, he didn’t have to think about the possibility of living his life without her. He died when she did. Now, she is plain gone, and with it, any chance of ever reuniting.

  Stephen’s body tenses. He stares at the sky. “You son of a bitch.” Stephen takes a deep breath and unleashes a savage yell, letting out all of his breath and all of his might. He breathes heavily and falls to his knees. He buries his face into the cement and cries. Unrelenting, Stephen lets it all out. His sinuses congest at the immense pressure forcing the tears out of his eyes. He pounds his fist into the cement as hard as he can, striking pain deep into his arm. Again, he strikes the unforgiving surface. He lies on the ground, mired in his thoughts. After several minutes, he starts to relax. All of his energy, all of his lust for life, is gone.

  Stephen stands up and walks back toward Lisa’s body. As he passes by Campbell, Campbell offers, “I’m sorry, Stephen.” Stephen looks into his eyes and nods him off, continuing toward Lisa.

  Campbell notices something different in Stephen’s eyes. They are vibrant, full of life. It’s as if a bright light has turned on inside of them. Campbell never noticed anything like that before.

  Stephen kneels next to Lisa. He looks at her closed eyes. “Lisa,” he whispers, “I don’t know how I can live without you.” Stephen places his left hand on her forehead. With his right hand, he pulls her shirt above the gaping wound. Without care of the blood, he places his hand over her wound.

  Stephen closes his eyes. “I’ll never forget your smile. I’ll never forget the way your hand felt in mine. I love you, Lisa. Until the day I die.”

  Stephen crouches his head toward her and rubs his face against hers. He imagines her bright face looking at him, her illuminated eyes gazing lovingly into his. He imagines the sound of her voice. He imagines her smile, as she would do only for him. Stephen rests and listens to the sound of his breathing. After minutes of being with her body, Stephen pulls his head away. He takes one last look and stares at her face.

  And then, the unbelievable happens:

  Lisa’s eyes open.

  Her eyelids rise. She looks around, the sunlight blinding her. As her eyes dart around, she finds him. She looks at Stephen and stares.

  Stephen’s body freezes. He lifts his hand that was rested on her stomach. The wound is gone. Her skin is perfectly intact, without even a scar to show for the deadly gash that was present just seconds before.

  Lisa softly asks, “What happened?”

  Stephen pulls her off the ground and hugs her like he’s never hugged before. He laughs joyously. “You’re alive!” Stephen declares. Lisa feels her stomach. “How did this happen?”

  “I don’t know.” Stephen laughs in relief.

  Stephen and Lisa kiss. Their lips, again full of life, meet.

  Campbell peers in on Stephen and Lisa. When he sees Stephen and Lisa kissing, he paces closer. “Wh.. Wh…” He struggles to say anything. “What happened?”

  Stephen turns to Campbell. “She’s alive. It’s a miracle!”

  Campbell shakes his head in disbelief. “No. It’s impossible.”

  Stephen stands up and helps Lisa to her feet. “See, she’s fine!”

  “She was dead, Stephen.”

  Stephen stares at Campbell and shrugs. “What do you want me to say?”

  Lisa curls her fingers through Stephen’s. Campbell, staring at a perfectly healthy Lisa, asks Stephen, “Did you do this?”

  Stephen asks, “Did I do what?”

  “Did you bring her back to life?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “No. There’s something different about you. In your eyes... I can see it.”

  Stephen ignores him. “Campbell, come in here. I need you to take care of Lisa.”

  Campbell panics, “Where are you going?”

  “To find who did this to her.”

  Lisa and Campbell simultaneously look at him with worrisome eyes.

  “What did he look like?” Stephen asks.

  Lisa utters, “He… I don’t know. Normal looking guy, about your height… He had a blue backpack.”

  A ridiculous notion enters Stephen’s mind. He asks, “Was it dirty and old looking with white straps?”

  Lisa nods.

  “Okay.” Stephen lets go of Lisa’s hand and walks outside.

  “Stephen,” Lisa implores, “Be careful.”

  Stephen gazes into her eyes one last time. He walks toward the street past Campbell, who scrambles into the house with Lisa. Stephen steps onto the pavement. He positions himself in the center of the street and throws his hands outstretched at his side. “Where are you!?” he screams at the top of his lungs. “Come out and face me!” Stephen spins around, surveying the area, waiting for someone to emerge. There isn’t a trace of fear in Stephen’s veins. Not after what he just experienced.

  At the security gate, Bruce pulls up in a large minivan holding everyone inside. Bruce’s side window slides open. Galav, the security guard, is busy talking with Balwant in the security house. He turns from his brother and approaches Bruce’s minivan. “Can I help you?”

  Bruce frantically says, “You need to let me in. My friend, Stephen Pandora, is in there visiting Lisa Binsby. If you don’t let me in, he’s going to die!”

  Galav peers at Balwant, who stares at Bruce wide-eyed. Bruce’s words ring of madness but somehow… he believes him. Balwant nods at his brother. “He is telling the truth. Let him in.”

  Galav reluctantly agrees. “I am definitely getting fired today.”

  Galav pushes a button on a control panel and the steel gate creaks opens. Balwant declares, “You can sell maps with me!”

  Galav forces a smile, less than thrilled at the proposition.

  Bruce looks at Elpis, who is sitting next to him in the minivan. He peers in the back at everyone who is scrunched together: Kristen, Mikey, Vince, Natalie, Mr. Ixley, Chad, and Sean. “Is everyone ready?”

  Stephen, standing in the street, lowers his arms. Applying his crazy notion, he yells, “Moros! Come out! NOW!” If there’s one thing Moros is known for, it’s having that blue backpack. Stephen never knew him to be a murderer, but then again, he never knew him. All Moros had ever done was leave him with the ILD and a public mess. Stephen spins around, looking for a sign of anyone. Then, at the end of the street, a figure emerges from behind a large bush. It’s Moros, wearing his infamous blue backpack. He stands confidently upright, about 20 yards in front of Stephen. Like an old western shoot-out, the two stare at each other.

  Stephen yells, “Was it you?”

  Moros smiles. “You weren’t supposed to be here, Stephen. B
ut yes. I killed Lisa Binsby.”

  “Why?” Stephen clenches his fists.

  “It’s complicated. All part of a plan for something much bigger.”

  “You mean ending the world? You did it. You succeeded. I saw it. But we changed the path. You failed.”

  Moros’s confidence dissipates. So the course has been changed. And Stephen somehow knows about it.

  Stephen simply declares, “I’m going to kill you.”

  Moros smirks. Not likely. In the distance, behind Stephen, a minivan pulls up. Moros diverts his attention from Stephen and watches. The minivan stops. The front doors open and Bruce and Elpis step out.

  The sight of Elpis surprises Moros. To give her a little gift, Moros holds the palm of his hand toward the minivan and, with a flick of his wrist, sends it hurling high into the air. Moros instantly turns and runs off, leaving Stephen behind.

  Stephen stares in horror at the minivan soaring into the air, hundreds of feet high. He could hear the screams from inside. In mere seconds, it would crash to the ground and kill everyone inside. Instinctually, to block the sun from blinding his eyes, Stephen holds his hand above his head. The minivan jerks around and freezes in midair.

  Mikey is pressed against the window and stares at the world below. His heart is racing and, somehow, the vehicle is now hovering in midair. Everyone inside stares at each other, wondering if they will all be dead in a matter of seconds.

  Elpis stares at Stephen. She looks at the minivan and back at Stephen again. What she figures is shocking: Stephen is holding the minivan in the air! How? Elpis lifts her hands into the air. “Stephen, lower your hand!”

  Stephen complies and Elpis gains control of the minivan and carefully lowers it. Stephen looks back and sees that Moros is gone. He looks at the minivan as it securely lands on the street. Everyone seems to be fine and leading the way out is Mikey. Eager to catch Moros, Stephen runs away from Bruce and Elpis.

  “What just happened?” Bruce asks Elpis.

  “I have no idea,” she responds.

  Bruce helps the last to exit, Chad and Sean, pull themselves out of the minivan. “Is everyone okay?” Bruce asks. Upon examining everyone’s faces, they appear to be fine.

  Stephen sprints as fast as he can behind Moros. He can see him in the distance, but barely. All he needs to see is Moros’s blue backpack, which he targets and relentlessly chases. They dash between houses and down a long narrow pathway. Moros stops in his tracks, steps into a circle of wooden sticks, and faces Stephen. A ring of fire flares up around Moros. He slyly waves to Stephen, who doesn’t halt his pursuit. As Stephen gets closer to him, a black force field encapsulates Moros. This surprises Stephen, but not enough to make him stop. By the time he reaches the black force field, it vanishes.

  Stephen stops. The circle of fire blazes in front of his feet. “Screw it,” he mumbles. Stephen boldly jumps into the circle of fire. Beneath his feet, he sees an X formation haphazardly strung together with sticks and doused in water. Just as he notices it, he is surrounded by blackness. It is the same type of blackness Moros was in.

  The black force field vanishes, and with it, the circle of fire.

  Lisa and Campbell hesitantly open the front door of Lisa’s house and walk outside. They spot everyone mingling around the minivan.

  Lisa and Campbell join the others and approach Bruce. “Hi, Lisa.”

  Campbell asks for both of them, “What’s happening?”

  “We came to get you out of here. But Stephen’s catching cars in the air and…”

  “He brought Lisa back to life,” Campbell interrupts.

  Lisa quivers her eyebrows at Campbell’s shocking statement. He did what?

  Kristen leaps forward and hugs Lisa, her old roommate. “It’s great to see you,” she whispers. Mikey stands in awe at the Lisa Binsby.

  Mr. Ixley asks, “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Where’s Stephen?”

  Bruce replies, “He ran after Moros,”

  Elpis steps forward, “I should help him. Moros will kill him easily.”

  “Guys,” Natalie says, pointing in the distance, “You should see this.”

  Everyone looks in the direction of Natalie’s pointing. Walking in the middle of the street is a man with a trimmed beard and short, brown hair. He appears to be in his mid-40’s and walks confidently toward them. Natalie recognizes him: it’s Zeno, the archangel that appeared to her in the church.

  Zeno approaches the group. “Hello!” he yells as he walks closer to them, “My name is Zeno. Some of you know me already.” He smiles at Natalie and Elpis. “I am an archangel. But I am not an ‘angel’. It is simply a designation, given to us by the people of Earth. I am merely an individual, just like you. Only I come from another planet, Raqiya. The time has come for all of you to learn the truth.” Zeno passes his eyes over the intrigued and equally confused group. “After today, we will all be more than friends. We will have a special job. And for me to explain to you what that is, there is something you need to understand about Stephen Pandora.” Zeno glances at Elpis. “It is something that not even you know about, Elpis.”

  Bruce, defensive for his friend, asks, “How could you possibly know anything about him?”

  “Because…” Zeno says,

  “…he is my son.”

  51

  Stephen is surrounded by blackness. All he can do is wonder what he’s gotten himself into. He should have stayed with Lisa. No. He did what he had to do. Moros tried to kill her. He did kill her. Stephen wonders: did he really bring Lisa back to life?

  The blackness around him disappears and he falls onto his feet. In front of him is Moros walking away, on water. Stephen looks around. In front of him and behind him are two green, tree-covered mountains. The sun above shines brightly, enhancing the colors and creating a painting-like atmosphere. In front of him is a large, sprawled out lake whose water is especially blue. The bright sky offers a magnificent view of cloudy, white inflated imagery. Moros peers over his shoulder and is stunned to see Stephen behind him.

  Stephen asks, “Who are you, Moros?”

  “I think the better question, Stephen, is who are you?” Moros glares at Stephen’s feet.

  Stephen looks beneath him and sees that he too, is standing on water, in the middle of the lake. Moros continues, “You just used an Occor, a transportation tool for traveling between locations on Earth. The only ones who are able to use Occors are the people of Raqiya.” Moros is dumbfounded, but Stephen, even more so. Stephen lifts his foot. Water drips from his shoes and into the lake. Stephen looks at the village outlying the lake around him. There are sparsely few houses scattered about. They are small farming homes and many of them contain animals like goats and chickens. The entire town, nested in this valley of mountains, has a simple, rural feel to it. “Where are we?” Stephen asks.

  “Lungern. Switzerland. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? It reminds me of my home.” Moros gingerly steps toward Stephen in the middle of the vast lake. “I must say, I don’t understand how you are standing right now.” Moros drifts close enough to Stephen to where they can peer into each other’s eyes. “Your eyes,” Moros says, “are unusually bright.”

  Stephen retorts, “And yours are dark as death.”

  Moros chuckles. “Of course. It appears we are opposites, doesn’t it?”

  Stephen and Moros deeply stare. Stephen asks, “So everything you’ve done, helping us at the University, all that research, killing Lisa… it was all so you can destroy everything?”

  “And recruiting Ronnie and Matt, manipulating the Xlympians, and killing Sara Ixley. You see…” Moros gets closer to Stephen, to where a whisper would suffice. “…long ago my son was killed here on Earth. He came to help. But they killed him anyway. And quite frankly, I haven’t seen anything to justify helping such a pitiful race of beings whose only pleasure derives from killing. Wars, massacres, genocides… it doesn’t end. The Universe is simply unsafe as long as you are around.”

&nb
sp; Stephen stares into his statue-like empty eyes and declares, “I’m still going to kill you.”

  Before Moros has a chance to react, Stephen clenches his fist and sends it roaring into Moros’s face. The impact echoes like thunder and sends Moros flying backwards. He soars several yards and splashes into the water. Stephen runs across the lake and peers into the water, desperately searching for Moros.

  Is he dead?

  Like a torpedo, Moros comes flying out of the water and uppercuts Stephen under the jaw. As Stephen flails in the air, Moros calmly lands on his feet. Moros holds out the palm of his hand and attempts to rip Stephen to shreds, as he so easily did with the members of the committee. To his surprise, he can’t do it. His internal attacks are useless. Just who is Stephen Pandora, anyway?

  Zeno continues telling his story to everyone. “When Moros destroyed the committee, they had to regroup. I, along with many others, was invited to join. And because of the mistake they made with Moros, things were different.”

  Stephen splashes into the water. Frantically, he kicks and swims his way to the surface. Looking out, he can see Moros running on the lake, away from him and into a forest, the opposite direction of the village. Stephen swims in place. How does he get out? Stephen swings his arms around and tries to push himself. He can’t do it. He looks at Moros; he’s getting smaller as he runs toward the forest. Stephen pauses. Focus. He closes his eyes and visualizes. Get out of the water. Stephen tries again to get out of the water. It doesn’t work. He yells in frustration. He’s going to lose Moros! He closes his eyes. Relax. Focus. He sees Lisa, the only thing that ever made him truly happy. Her green eyes. Her smile. Confidence swells within. Now get out of the water. He pushes and practically floats upward. His feet land on the lake like a simple surface.

  Stephen smirks.