Rise of the Beast (66 page)

The deputy chuckled, but said nothing more.

“I don’t think that helped our situation,” noted Chris.

“Maybe not,” replied Leland, “but you know I had to say it.”

It was about three minutes later that the caravan pulled up in front of an old barn of what appeared to be an abandoned farm. The barn door was unlocked and opened by one of the deputies. The three prisoners were then roughly ushered in.

The inside of the old barn was a clutter with wooden boxes, yet it lacked the dust and decay one might associate with an old abandoned building. In the very center of the barn was a cleared stretch of floor, immaculately clean. What Chris saw there made his jaw drop. It was a shimmering metal ring not unlike the one that sat in the middle of Satan’s audience chamber in Hell; he had seen it through his wife’s eyes ten years ago, using her book in the Great Hall of Records. He looked over at Serena. Her amazement matched his own.

“What is that thing?” asked Leland. “It’s a teleportation ring,” said Serena.

“Very good,” said the deputy, who seemed genuinely surprised. “But this one was fashioned by the hands of man, guided by the master. It is a supreme achievement.”

Chris scanned the ring, doing his best to seem unimpressed. “It’s OK, but it’s hardly the first time that human hands have built such a thing. Johannes Kepler and Nikola Tesla built one years ago.”

“That might be,” said the deputy, “but the master is going to make great use of this one.”

“Is that a fact?” asked Chris, defiance in his voice. “Kepler and Tesla used theirs to help defeat your master in the war in Heaven. I think your boss developed this little gem just a few years too late.”

One of the deputies took an angry step toward the bold evangelist, yet one of his fellows stopped him. “The master wants them delivered unharmed,” he said. “His orders were very specific. Let’s get them out of here.”

A few strokes on a keypad setting on a nearby box caused a blue, starry mist to appear in the aperture of the ring. The deputy that seemed to be the leader motioned to Serena. “Ladies first. You are expected on the other side.”

Serena took a deep breath and stepped into the mists, vanishing from view.

“Holy God,” gasped Leland, “where did she go?”

“There’s only one way to find out, big man,” said the deputy. “Off you go.”

Leland was roughly escorted to the threshold of the ring by two of the deputies and forcefully pushed in. He vanished into the haze.

“And then there was one,” laughed the deputy. “Do we need to drag you in kicking and screaming?”

“No,” said Chris, gazing into the mists. “I’ve done this hundreds of times before.” Without hesitation, he stepped into the mists.

Yes, this was very much like the gates he had formed in Heaven to travel from one place to another. There was a sense of pleasant coolness within the misty corridor. Yet he wasn’t walking; he was floating. It felt as if about half
a minute went by before he saw light up ahead. They looked like some sort of flood lights illuminating a sort of circular exit from this tunnel. Almost certainly it was another ring. He could see Serena and Leland in the hands of uniformed guards. Yet everyone looked as if they were frozen in time.

Two pairs of large hands grabbed him as he stepped through the ring on the far end. It was warm and humid here, and in the background, he could hear distant breakers on the shore.

“Welcome to the Island of Katafanga,” said an Asian appearing woman who stood in the background. “I am Lielani. We are so honored to have the great Chris and Serena Davis in our midst. I can assure you that the master has been looking forward to this day for a very long time.” She turned her attention to Leland. “And Leland James, what an unexpected surprise. Why, it seems like only yesterday that your lovely wife was my guest. Now all that made her the woman you loved is gone, condemned forever to the master’s kingdom.” Lielani smiled. “Oh, but don’t worry, Leland; your separation will not last much longer. You are about to join her.” Lielani then turned to three guards standing to her left. “See to it that he is prepared at once. His body and memories may be of use to us yet.”

“Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in this world,” proclaimed Leland as he was literally dragged away. “This isn’t over! These are the words of the Lord, God. Your eternity is coming, Lielani. It will be an eternity spent in unquenchable fire along with your master.”

Lielani only laughed. “Men—they make such promises, and they never keep them.”

“Don’t be so sure,” said Chris.

“And why not?” retorted Lielani. “Your God had abandoned you. Can’t you see that?” Lielani paused. “Well, you will soon enough. You see, the master has prepared something very special for you, a fate befitting your crimes. I assure you, he has spared no expense where you are concerned.” Lielani turned to the four remaining guards. “See to it that these two are properly outfitted and seen to their special quarters. I shall be visiting them presently. But first, I shall see to Leland James.”

The guards dragged the husband and wife away as Lielani looked on approvingly. As Chris was dragged down a dark, forested path with his wife, he prayed for the strength to see this thing through, whatever the outcome.

It took four of Lusan’s guards to force Leland into that terrible chair in the subterranean room beneath the chapel. Leland wondered if the Christians in Nero’s arena had put up the fight he did. Should he have submitted quietly? No, that just wasn’t him.

They’d had to rough him up pretty good to get this dreadful white tunic on him. He felt practically naked in it. Now that he was strapped in securely, Lielani approached him, dressed in a long white gown, a large and menacing syringe in her hand.

“I know you, Lielani,” said Leland, anger in his voice. “Or shall I call you Coraster? That’s who you are, really. Lielani is gone. She wouldn’t have done the things you have done to others.”

“You talk too much,” said Lielani, squirting a trace of the tetraflexis from the deadly needle. “I think this will silence you. It will stir your brain up like cake batter in a mixer, preparing you for the minion who will rule this body of yours.”

Leland winced as the massive dose was introduced into his vein. He gazed deeply into Lielani’s eyes.

She stepped back and raised her hands in praise to her master.
“Lu katu, indu es kalani. Durch entel es adaranda,”
she chanted.

“Vera kanta su lak,”
said Leland.

His words brought Lielani’s chant to an abrupt halt. “How could you possibly know that?” she said. “How could you know anything of the angelic tongue?”

“I don’t need to know it,” replied Leland. “The Holy Spirit of the Father knows it, and He, in turn, has given it to me.”

“In another ten minutes you won’t know anything,” retorted Lielani angrily. She and the others departed even as the lights went down, leaving only the faint green glow of the cavern.

Leland gazed out into this twilight realm. He continued to pray in an indecipherable tongue. He felt the growing confusion authored by that dreadful drug, but he focused on his Savior, on his newfound faith. No, Satan couldn’t take that
away from him. No drug could take that from him.

Among the stalactites near the ceiling and amidst the columns around the walls, the phantasms came. They were but glowing puffs of smoke at first, but they were becoming ever more distinct, growing ever closer. The fear they authored tried to overcome his spirit, but he wouldn’t allow it. He continued to pray.

Then one of the spirits approached him. It was a dreadful thing to behold. Others gathered around it. It reached out to him. In that moment, Leland knew what to do.

“Sandazer, is your soul not dark enough?” asked Leland, focusing upon the hideous apparition. “Do you desire to do still more evil?”

The wonder of his words were not that he called the demon by name, but that he had done it in the demon’s own language. The being drew back, only to move forward once more.

The demons surrounding Leland tried to reach into him with their ethereal hands. Leland could feel their icy touch upon his skin, yet their reach could go no further. They pushed harder, yet to no avail.

Leland knew what they were trying to do, though he knew also that that realization came from a higher source. “There is no room inside this flesh for you,” he said, still in the angelic tongue. “Greater is He that is in me, greater than you.”

Quite suddenly, the cavern was filled with a light invisible to the natural eye, but almost blinding in the spiritual realm. The demonic entities seemed to dissolve in its radiance. Indeed, they seemed in great pain as a result of it. Within a minute, Leland was alone once more. His mind was clear, free of the effects of the drug.

“Thank you, Father,” he whispered.

It was the better part of an hour before the lights came up once more and Lielani and her escorts returned. Leland gazed upon her with tired eyes. “Not this time, Coraster,” he said.

Lielani looked upon him incredulously. “How can this be? No human, no one, has survived the union.”

“You need to adjust your thinking,” said Leland.

Lielani turned away in anger. She said something to the guards, though Leland knew not what.

A minute later, Leland was surprised as the guards unbuckled the straps restraining him. He was so tired, too tired to resist whatever they had planned for him. If he was about to die, he doubted that he would be awake to witness it.

C
HAPTER
26

Nikola Tesla pulled back the brown drapes at the entrance to his Refuge living quarters to discover his friend Bedillia in tears. “Oh, my dear, what is wrong?” he asked. In a highly uncharacteristic move, he placed his arm around the weeping woman. “Please come in.”

Nikola’s quarters were somewhat larger and more sophisticated than most of those in this subterranean complex. Like the others, it had been carved out of an existing subterranean cavern room. It contained a table and three chairs composed of a gray, plastic-like material. The bed was made from a block of stone with a thin yet soft covering that made it more comfortable.

Yet it also contained his personal telesphere for his own private communications and a very sophisticated talking computer that had been manufactured by one of his compatriots in Heaven and then teleported there.

Tesla pulled up his most comfortable chair for Bedillia, and a moment later they sat across his round table in the middle of the room. “Tell me, my dear, what has happened?”

“I’ve just gotten off the telesphere with Aaron,” began Bedillia. “You know, I talk to him about once or twice a week about goings on back on Earth, checking in on my daughter. I’m so proud of her. The Father has granted her a miraculous gift of healing. From Heaven, Aaron has been keeping tabs on her.” Bedillia wiped the tears from her eyes. “But you know all of this; you’ve met my daughter.”

Nikola smiled. “Yes, I have, a most remarkable woman.”

“Satan’s people have abducted her,” said Bedillia, starting to cry all over again. “They took her and Chris to some island in the South Pacific. They’ve locked them in cells apart from one another. Nikola, Satan has tried to duplicate Hell on Earth in that place. I don’t know what he plans to do to her. Maybe he wants to send her back here to Hell.”