Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter Twenty: Unlikely Hero

And
God said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my
brother’s keeper? And God said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s
blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed…

–
Methuselah 10:2 –

As an Oracle, Abner
could see events that had transpired in the past and could see events that
could transpire in the potential future. His iguana was his Spirit Animal, and
she served as his Totem. Without her, he never would have come to understand
his unique abilities.

There were many things
Abner had seen in vision about Earth, but there was one thing in particular
that shied him away from ever wanting to go there: Disease. Prior to Timur’s
reign, King Alexios I Komnenos ruled in the great City of Atlantis at a time
when Earth carried a deadly plague called the Black Death. Each Seraphim prior
to his reign had averaged a term of 500 years in Atlantis. Prior to King
Komnenos’ reign in Atlantis, he ruled on Earth as Emperor of the Byzantine
Empire from 1081 to 1118 AD. It was by his hand that the Crusades took place in
Jerusalem. Upon conferring his Empire to his son, he then falsified his death
and returned to Atlantis. It was almost 200 years later that he decided to
visit the Earth at a time when England was suffering from one of the most
devastating pandemics in all of human history. Incidentally, he returned to
Atlantis carrying the disease with him.

That day marked a rapid
decline in their population. Within a short two years, nearly half of the three
billion inhabitants of the two massive continents had died of the infectious
disease. Once it had run its course, it seemed the nation was now prone to
other illnesses.

When Abner had learned
from Timur that Earth’s average lifespan was a mere 67 years of age, he was
absolutely terrified. He had then vowed to himself that he would never travel
there with Timur for fear of contracting one of Earth’s multitude of
infections. It was for this cause that Abner was absolutely enraged to learn
that in his most recent visit, Timur had brought with him an alien.

“She cannot stay
hither!” he seethed, “Dost thou not understand the infections she could bring
upon us?”

“Don’t be so paranoid,
you old fool.” Timur chided, “After all of the many travels I have made between
both worlds, you would think by now that I would have infected the lot of you.”

“Yes, but thou art
anointed as a holy messenger!” he pleaded, “This vile woman however is not.
Alas, ‘tis pertinent that thou dost send her back!”

“I will not.” he sighed
heavily, “Her mere presence will lure Allan into my trap so that I can steal
his Amulet.”

“What need hast thou of
this woman?” he demanded, “Why hast thou not used the seer stones I provided
unto thee?”

“Those worthless rocks?”
Timur huffed, “How am I supposed to hocus pocus an answer from a couple of
shiny rocks?”

“Bring them hither, and
I shall teach thee.”

“I’m afraid that’s not
possible.”

Abner’s face went ashen
white, “Where hast thou safeguarded these sacred relics?”

“They’re probably in
the belly of a street sweeper truck by now.”

“Belly?” his face
twisted in confusion, “Thou hast fed them unto a beast?!”

“No.” Timur sighed
heavily, “Suffice it to say, they are no longer in my possession.”

“
What
?!”

“I tried to use them,
but they were flawed.” Timur spoke defensively, “So I disposed of them.”

“Thou didst not!”

Timur stared at him
defiantly. Abner stared back at him in shock as his lower lip quivered. Never
before had a Seraph been so ignorant and foolish, nor had caused such mayhem
and discord among the people. The Seraphim of old were commissioned to lead the
people and bring inspiration unto them. Since Timur’s forced rule, the Great
City had fallen into charred ruins and any who opposed him were scattered and
destroyed. Only the fearful who had yielded their souls to be consumed by the
Leviathan remained in submission unto him. It was at that moment however that
Abner made a silent resolve to turn the tide.

“Tell me,” Abner spoke
quietly, “What dost thou intend to do with the woman?”

“She’s Allan’s significant
other.” he explained.

“I doth understand thee
not.”

“She is betrothed to
Allan.” he smiled wickedly, “When he arrives to save his precious Lily, I will
break his heart by forcing her to ‘confess’ her love for me. When his heart
falters, I will obtain his Amulet and kill him.”

Abner was acutely aware
of Timur’s commanding powers. These powers he had employed upon Abner before,
and over the years he had learned that the best way to avoid Timur’s powers of
persuasion was to agree with him immediately, even when his actions weren’t
agreeable.

“I commend thee for
thine flawless plan.” he lied.

Satisfied, Timur smiled
and clapped his hand on his old friend’s back, “I knew you would see reason.”

Many
hours had passed. One sun was fading in the west while the smaller one had
already set in the south. Abner approached the Altar cautiously so as not to
startle the sleeping woman. He hesitated for a moment as he swallowed his fears
of disease, and then nudged her ever so slightly while pressing his index
finger to his lips. Her eyes fluttered open in fear, but she remained silent.

Abner revealed a small
dagger and whispered, “Fear not. I hath come to help thee.”

Relief flashed across
her eyes as he proceeded to cut her binds. The duct tape proved to be
difficult, and Abner worked carefully. She flinched at one point, but remained
calm. It was then that he saw fresh blood oozing from her wrist. He apologized
profusely, removed the sash around his robe, and bandaged the fresh wound.

“Pray tell, I urge thee
to follow.”

“Thank you.” she spoke
hoarsely.

She looked pale, and
limped painfully on her numb leg. Abner stopped before a lit fireplace.
Grabbing one of the two unlit torches from the mantle, he stoked the fire with
it until the tar on the torch began to burn. The fireplace was adorned on each
side by two gold statues of lions. He took hold of the one on the left, and
twisted it sharply. With a click, the fire went out with a huge gust of air and
the soot-stained fireplace suddenly rocketed backward with an audible screech.
At their feet a dark descending stairwell revealed itself. As they descended
together, Abner was confused by the light up ahead. Moments later, the lion
shifted back on its own accord and the sooty fireplace screeched back to its
home. Slowly, the red embers burst back into flame.

There was light shining
down from the ceiling, and Abner couldn’t understand the source of it. He tried
to hurry her through the strangely-lit room which Timur had filled with odd
contraptions, but the woman stopped and appeared to be mesmerized.

“There’s a whole server
farm in here!” she commented as she approached the rows of modern computer
technology, “What’s it doing here?”

“Server farm?” Abner
looked at the strange rows of contraptions, “What dost thou mean?”

“This had to have been
expensive.” she sat down to face the computer terminal, “I wonder what he needs
this for?”

“I wouldst not touch
that!” he warned, “Lest ye die from God’s wrath by lightning.”

“Nonsense.” she scoffed
as she typed in a few commands.

He looked over her
shoulder and read the crude English flashing on the screen:

GFID NANO-CHIP LINK
UNESTABLISHED. ENTER ACCESS CODE:__________

“That’s disturbing.”
she muttered to herself.

Wanting to get a better
understanding of the odd machine, he placed his hand on the iguana’s back.

“Show me, that I mayest
understand.”

I shall show thee what
thou dost desire.

As the vision unfolded,
Lily faded from view as he looked around the room. All of the odd contraptions
were absent, and the room was empty. A loud trumpet could be heard from
somewhere above, and Abner felt the ground begin to shake. Suddenly from the
center of the room a hole opened up and a beam of bright blue light shot upward
into the ceiling. A loud humming sound reverberated off of the walls, nearly
knocking him off his feet.

“What is it that I doth
see?”

I doth show unto thee a
day over five thousand years ago when the Great Transport that hath brought our
land unto the world Zion. What thou doth see is the activation of the great
machine.

The vision returned to
the present day with Lily still sitting with the odd contraption. He recognized
that where the hole in the floor had opened up in his vision, an odd tower
stood with a sideways disk mounted on it.

“What plans hath my
Master with this odd contraption?!” he asked the iguana in alarm.

I shall show thee.

His eyes blurred as
Lily disappeared again, and the chair was now occupied by Timur. After Timur
entered a few commands, Abner heard the familiar hum and the ground began to
shake again. The same beam of light blasted from the strange tower, only this
time it didn’t shoot upwards but instead horizontally toward a dark mirror on
the far wall. Timur stood and rushed over to the wall, his sickly green aura
surrounding him. He grabbed hold of the edge of the mirror, and with a flash of
light he was gone. In his wake, the mirror had transformed into what looked
like a swirling whirlpool of water. The strange beam of blue light was
swallowed up in the water. Seconds later another beam of light shot out from
the portal and connected to another strange tower hanging upside-down from the
ceiling.

Thou doth see the
portal to Earth that Timur shall create in a few days’ time.

“But…” Abner stammered,
“If he doeth this, we shall be at risk of an invasion!”

Yea, verily ‘tis a risk
indeed.

He was about to let go of the iguana’s back to end the vision when
something unexpected happened. He watched in curiosity as a great dragon
stepped through the portal and nearly filled the chamber. It roared in
frustration, and began tearing at the walls to find an opening.

Abner’s eyes blurred again and the vision faded into another.
There was light streaming in from a massive hole in the ceiling where the
dragon had obviously broken out. Moments later, the light was blocked out by a
large figure dropping down into the hole. When the light returned, the same
dragon had reappeared and Lily sat straddling its saddle.

“We need to find a way to close that portal.” she spoke aloud
seemingly to herself.

With her hand pressed against the back of the dragon’s neck, she
sat on the saddle in silence as if she were concentrating.

“What do you mean?” she sounded like she was responding to
someone, “What’s an Amulet?”

He watched her pat the dragon as if in response to the idea, and
then a realization suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks: she was speaking to
the dragon.

Abner let go of the iguana’s back in shock. His eyes blurred again
as he returned to the present. Lily still sat at the helm of the odd contraption,
and he stared at her with awe. He struggled with his thoughts upon having
learned this new development.