by Summer Lee
Reuben had a Cheshire grin. “God bless Jacob and our mother, Leah.”
Levi narrowed his eyes at him, as Magena looked even more puzzled. “Why your ancestral mother?”
“She gave birth to six of the original sons of Jacob. The Sons of Destiny are all pure descendants of them. We will guard Israel from impurities in the bloodlines.”
“So what is Daniel’s dad doing in Israel?” Magena asked as if she already knew the answer.
“Don’t you get it?” Simeon exclaimed from the driver’s seat. “This isn’t a video game anymore! DiBenedetto is as twisted as they come and it ain’t getting any better!”
“Simeon!” Levi yelled. “Will you please just concentrate on driving? I would like us all to get there in one piece!”
“Why do you let him drive?’ Magena whispered to Levi.
He just shook his head as he put his index finger to his mouth, then carefully glanced at Simeon. “He wants to.”
She placed her head in her hands and sighed. “If your network is so powerful, are you sending someone to intercept Daniel’s dad?”
“Not now.” Levi shook his head. “As big as our organization is, we have people occupied with other important situations. We can’t spare the manpower.”
“Well then, what’s the worst that can happen?” she asked again, thinking she knew the answer.
Levi exhaled. “You were in direct contact with the virtual world and brought out something with you on your clothes that had originated within the other world. Daniel is now out there and vulnerable, which is why we have to get to him first—before the Jezebel figure, Yasmeen, calculates how to get out into the real world. She could bring the Hive of Baal with her and have her own army.”
“That’s not the worst part,” Reuben added. “Tell her about it, Levi.”
“I was planning on it,” Levi returned with a huff.
“Tell me what?” Magena asked with desperation. “What now?”
“We anticipated that something or someone that originated in the virtual world might make it out into the real world,” Levi said with some reluctance. “We have a section of the Sons that specifically researches the what ifs of the alternate world. Once we realized what was going on with the virtual world, several of our members created many possible antidote scenarios—just in case.”
He took in a deep breath and continued. “If Yasmeen comes out to our world, there’s a possibility that she will be endowed with amazing abilities. One of which…”
“One of which?” Magena asked, impatiently. “What one?”
“One of which could quite possibly be the ability to absorb… Satan’s thoughts. Possibly even his actions. In fact, she might be able to consume the entire entity emitting the evil, if it’s strong enough.”
“What are you talking about?” Magena narrowed her eyes as her jaw dropped. “Am I now in another virtual world?”
“No! You’re in the real world, sister!” Simeon blurted out.
“Are you kidding me?” She moved closer to Levi. “Then is what you’re telling me about Yasmeen is that she’s going to become some sort of super villain?”
Reuben chuckled.
“I wouldn’t put it like that, Magena,” Levi replied, while seemingly trying not to freak her out any more than he had to. “Jezebel was evil during her time on earth. Over the centuries, her evil spirit grew, while her body lay dormant.”
“How could Yasmeen portray her if she lay dormant?” Magena demanded answers with her tone. “Also, wasn’t she eaten by dogs?”
Levi nodded. “Yes. That’s what the Bible tells us. Please remember that there could have been more to her death than we actually know. For some reason, an evil spirit was attached to Jezebel. Since the devil had her soul, he might have found a way for her demon to possess someone else after her death. Now mind you, that person being possessed would have to be at least a 99% match for compatibility. It could have taken decades to find someone that compatible.”
“Dante invented someone compatible. Yasmeen,” Magena said quietly, with a tone of realization. “She could have never been found in the real world, but she was found in the virtual world, and now she is possessed. I was just starting to try to understand what was going on in the virtual world. Now I know. Dante is possessed.”
“We agree.” Levi scratched his chin. “We believe that Yasmeen was created especially as a vessel to house the demon of Jezebel. We don’t think that DiBenedetto had any idea about that when he got a hold of the program, though.”
Magena sighed. “He thought he was in control, when it was actually the demon who created the program who was in control.”
The van passed some military-looking men that were dressed like Levi and Reuben. They were marching like soldiers. “Who are those guys?” Magena asked.
“They are part of our organization,” said Levi. “There must be trouble up ahead, or they wouldn’t be marching.”
The van, suddenly, came to a screeching halt. “Oh, no.” Simeon was unusually quiet after he spouted those two words.
“What’s wrong, Simeon?” Levi asked, with great concern in his voice.
“We’re here,” Simeon answered.
“What’s wrong with that?” Levi responded, while making his way to the front of the van to look out the front windshield to see what his brother saw.
Simeon shook his head, and said, “Somebody was here before us. From the looks of things, it wasn’t anyone on our side.”
They both jumped out of the van. The other Sons of Destiny arrived on foot.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Daniel
Daniel was having a hard time distinguishing where he was at that moment, compared to the place he had been in. Being inside the virtual world had been horrifying and messed with his brain.
He looked for possible differences but found none. He was standing in the same valley that he and Magena walked through, right before they reached the pit which led to the secret door. The only difference was two different worlds. One real and one virtual that somehow had been within his mind.
Right before Daniel and his father arrived, the older DiBenedetto was kind enough to reveal everything about the virtual program to his son. “Basically, I revealed the same thing to Magena,” he said, chuckling. “It scared the pee out of her.”
Daniel did everything in his power not to show his contempt, but couldn’t help feeling it. More reasons to despise who his father was and maybe even the man himself.
They all got off the plane and spread out under some trees. Daniel knew something was going to go down, but he did not know what. Strangely, the plane took off, leaving them all alone in the barren field.
He kept glaring at Alan Cranston, who now stood beside him. He remembered when he heard that Cranston had died, and how sad he and Magena were. Yet, here he was, as alive as ever. Daniel guessed Alan had died in the virtual world and that was why he was notified. Daniel wondered if Cranston did actually go into the fake world and not even know it. If so, he might have been revitalized to play another day.
Daniel was tempted to ask about Magena, since she was conveniently left out of his father’s explanation. He knew better than to ask, because he would then be playing into his father’s hands. It would give the elder DiBenedetto power over Daniel, to either withhold the answer, or to give only so much information as to make the younger man squirm.
So Daniel held his tongue. Growing up, he had learned a lot from his father, just not what Dante wanted him to learn. Dante saw people as a means to an end and an opportunity to make a profit by some means.
Daniel was just hoping he had someone to talk to about his dad. He once thought he could trust Cranston, but he turned out to be another person who was bought and sold under Dante’s thumb. He tried not to show how much Cranston’s betrayal hurt. That solidified Daniel’s belief that God was the only one he could trust. God and possibly Magena.
He hadn’t known her for very long, but they bonded because of the fact
that they were thrown into the same events together. They had no choice but to trust one another.
It was different with Magena, though. It was fairly easy to put his trust in her. His mind lately was on whether she was alright or not. He really didn’t want to think about it if she wasn’t. He had learned to care for her a lot while traveling with her. Sleeping beside her without being intimate had been an interesting experience.
As Daniel waited with his father, Cranston, and what appeared to be an army of his father’s henchmen, he wondered why he was still needed, or why he was needed at all.
His father got what he wanted. He found out where the coin was found by Dante’s friend and a younger Daniel. How the coin got into this reality was anybody’s guess. If Jezebel’s treasure just simply did not exist in that timeline, there shouldn’t have been any trace of it now.
As Daniel had found out recently, stranger things had happened. He felt that stranger things were yet to come.
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than he felt a stiff breeze come out of nowhere. A cold chill went down his spine, as he felt the hairs on his arms start to rise. There was something in the air. Something electric.
Something literally electric! The sky started to cloud over in a manner of moments and bright flashes of lightning appeared within the clouds.
Staring at the clouds, Dante looked excited, yet apprehensive.
“Did you know this was going to happen, Dad?” Daniel asked, with some authority in his tone.
Without looking up to the sky, Dante answered. “We knew something would happen, just not what. Think about what’s happening here, Daniel. Objects and people that were created inside a glorified video game are about to be recreated in flesh and physical objects. Of course, gold should appear right before our eyes any minute now! It’s like drawing a picture and watching it come to life in front of your eyes! What a wonder all of it is! Treasure of the queen that was never found and believed to have not existed in this quantity is about to be created right here! God holds nothing on us! We are… gods!”
Dante had a crazed look in his eyes. Daniel surmised it would have been the same look if Dr. Frankenstein was real and created his monster. Frankenstein wasn’t real. Neither was his monster. Other monsters were created though: Greed! Wicked power!
Daniel knew that any time mankind placed themselves on an even keel with God, things always went wrong for the humans. Always!
Sometimes, the monsters don’t need special powers or toys. Sometimes, all they needed was a lack of compassion for their fellow man and an extensive bank account.
Dante’s eyes were glued on the sky. Daniel knew that his father felt that he was in charge of whatever was to happen next. He hoped that his father was wrong.
They had no reason to believe they could control something that had never been accomplished before. Dante didn’t even know if it would work. If it did, the repercussions would have to be enormous and… uncontrollable.
Daniel’s curiosity was piquing. His thoughts turned to how he could stop what he believed couldn’t be controlled. He had experienced a small piece of a phony Jezebel and the Hive of Baal in the virtual world. It was horrible. He really had no desire to experience them in the real world.
Queen Jezebel died the way she did for a reason. She had her time and was now extinct. Like the dinosaurs. How could someone so evil be given a second chance? She couldn’t.
She wasn’t even a major player in Biblical times, or so Daniel thought. Then he realized that just because she wasn’t mentioned as much as others, didn’t mean she didn’t hold a key role. The fact that she was mentioned at all meant something.
He didn’t want to find out what, but he was going to. If he was lucky, maybe the virtual world would just explode before anyone had a chance to escape. Maybe, Jezebel would come into reality, but leave her evil self and intelligence in the other world. Maybe not. Yasmeen needed to go first.
The temperature dropped considerably as the clouds above started to swirl. Daniel’s first thought was a tornado, but then his imagination became more creative. He thought of a giant appearing within the tornado and with one huge foot, he would crush everyone—including his father’s helicopters. That part wouldn’t be so bad. He managed a smile, as he thought about it.
Most of Dante’s hired guns nervously pointed their automatic weapons skyward. It appeared that their imaginations were going to the same place that Daniel’s did.
His heart raced as dark clouds covered the entire sky, forming into evil characters. Lightning flashed from various clouds with more consistency. The bolts were getting closer to the ground as the wind picked up, swirling the clouds.
Dante only moved to zip up his military jacket and put on his gloves. With a broad grin, his eyes stayed on the clouds.
Daniel decided to focus on the area in front of him instead because he noticed that the entire area was shimmering. It looked just like the evil lady did when he escaped from her virtual world. He knew what that meant.
Whatever and whoever was coming from Dante’s pretend world was going to make an appearance soon, whether Daniel liked it or not. Dante now looked at the ground with glee.
Random bolts of lightning struck the ground in the open area in front of Daniel and his father, causing small divots to explode upward. Thunder boomed loudly overhead as a heavy rain materialized without warning.
Dante didn’t let the elements deter him from staring with excitement at the empty ground. He must have known what was coming and he welcomed it.
Daniel looked back at his father’s men and realized that they did not share in Dante’s enthusiasm or excitement. Some showed pure fear.
Daniel could be patient and quiet no more. He rushed to his father and grabbed him by the shirt. “What’s wrong with you? Isn’t there an ounce of compassion in you anymore? Don’t you realize that you have no idea how this will turn out? I can speak from experience when I say that Jezebel is not someone you want to try to make a deal with! You tried to turn Yasmeen into Jezebel, but it did not work. She is satanic. Don’t do this!”
The lightning and rain increased in their intensity, so Daniel sat back down under the tree and waited to see what his dad had in mind now.
Dante forced a strange facial gesture, as he coughed up a small amount of blood. “You understand nothing, son! I have waited all of my life for this moment! You will never understand because your vision has always been limited! You don’t have the sight that I do! That’s why you will never inherit my business! You’re weak, Daniel! Weak!”
“You’re a monster!” Daniel finally yelled out. He had waited years to be able to tell his father what he thought of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see several humanoid shapes starting to blur into focus where the lightning was hitting.
He turned back toward his father while relinquishing his grasp. “You’re going to be destroyed by the very thing you invent! You had to go back thousands of years to finally find someone, who is a bigger monster than you!”
Dante’s eyes turned black as coal. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m dying! I finally found my legacy!”
“Fool!” Daniel bellowed. “I was your legacy! Only God can help you now. You need to ask for mercy.”
As soon as Daniel spoke his thoughts, the rain stopped. The lightning ceased as well, leaving only the darkened sky.
It was dead quiet for several minutes, until a crackling sound broke the silence. It was a physical phenomenon; unlike anything Daniel had ever heard before. Suddenly, before his eyes, Daniel saw a hundred dazed and confused Hive of Baal members. There may have been even more than that. They were dressed in the exact same uniforms as they wore in the virtual world, but their skin was less pale. A wave of negative energy washed over the area, knocking everyone down to the ground, but leaving a couple vehicles and weapons unharmed.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Magena
Reuben returned with a load of information. “Levi, you have to go
with me right now.”
“Can I go too?” Magena pleaded.
Levi said, “No, I’m sorry.”
Reuben had a look of pity in his eyes. “You can ride along, but you have to stay in the van. You can’t be involved in any decision making.”
They drove down the highway and Magena sat quietly in a back corner. They arrived by a fenced-in yard and stopped by the gate. Signs all along the fence said, “Private property. Keep out.”
Magena waited as the men climbed the fence and ran across the field. They disappeared behind a small hill and she was totally alone. The time passed slower than she cared for. A couple of hours passed. She got out of the van and waited outside.
She stood with a scowl on her face, and her arms crossed in front of her. She positioned herself in front of the black van and continued to wait for the Sons of Destiny to return from their reconnaissance. She had insisted on going with them, but was told to stay by the van as a lookout. Now she was sorry. She was bored!
Magena decided to look for her new protectors. She walked along the fence until she came upon some abandoned buildings, about a mile away. Wanting to go inside caused her trepidation. She knew that they thought she would be a pest, so she had chosen to hold back. But now she needed some kind of action. Finding an open gate, Magena was about to rush into what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse when Reuben came rushing out.
He was in a state of panic, which was unusual for him. “Magena! Stay back!” he yelled, while uncharacteristically waving his hands in the air.
When he reached her, he bent over and placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “Whew!”
“What? What is it, Reuben?”
“There may be a bomb in there. So stay away.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I heard a ticking sound.”
“Did you find Daniel? Is he…?” Her heart sank, as she thought about all of the negative possibilities.
