Infinite Testament (23 page)

Mikey rushed to his side. “No… come on. I’ll
get you out of here. The hospital will fix you.”

Bruce raised his hand. Mikey took it. “I’m
sorry, Mikey. Tell your mother… I’m sorry. I was stupid…”

Mikey was overcome. He started to cry and begged,
“No. Please. Don’t go. I love you.” Mikey leaned
forward and tearfully embraced his father. But there was nothing he could
do. The life was slowly slipping away from Bruce.

Bruce’s eyelids slid down and covered his eyes.
Blackness. If he focused hard enough, maybe he could see her one last
time. Focus. He imagined her smiling. The beautiful detail in
her shining face. But it was too late.

Mikey would pull his father out and try to save him.

But he would fail.

It was a noble end to a heroic life.

The Final Day-3:33 PM

On the surface of the ocean, a ring of fire formed.
Only inches high, it blazed in a perfect circle, patiently waiting for Moros.

Moros looked ahead and took off, sprinting toward the ring
of fire that laid on the water. He didn’t bother running
through
the water. Rather he ran
on
the water. Like it was a simple
surface, Moros’s feet pounded as water splashed up from under them. Walking
on water (or running, in this case) was not as difficult as one might
imagine. Moros had done it plenty of times.

The world started to stretch. This was it. The
ring of fire was just below his feet. He took one last look out at the
horizon and took a deep breath.

Moros jumped down through the ring of fire.

Over two thousands years earlier, a younger, 20
year-old looking
Moros walked through a rainbow-colored field
.
As he neared the blue grass, he couldn’t wait to be reunited with her:

Elpis.

As Elpis laid eyes on him, she ran with arms
outstretched. Moros, smiling brightly, intercepted her and
squeezed. As they embraced, Elpis’s curly blonde hair flowed to her
shoulders and blew in the wind. She gazed into Moros’s eyes and said, “I
missed you.”

Moros smiled. “It’s only been a week.”

“A week that I have missed you.”

Moros chuckled. “You could have come too, you know.
The committee permits it, remember?”

Elpis stared longingly at his lips. Unable to resist,
she leaned forward and kissed them. “I’m just nervous. I’ll go
eventually.”

Although their love was typically frowned upon, Moros made
a deal to keep the committee off his back. There was nothing they could
do about it.

Moros caressed her hand. “I got you something,” he
whispered.

Moros flashed a metallic ring in front of her eyes.
Elpis looked at it with wonderment. “What is it?”

“It’s a ring. You put it on your finger.”

Elpis didn’t get it. “Why?”

“It’s just a decoration. And look…” Moros
pointed to two letters engraved on the ring: E.M. “It’s us.
Elpis. Moros... E.M.” His face glowed, full of pride for the gift
he had gotten her. He continued, “They say because it circles without
end, the ring symbolizes unending, undying love. That’s why I got
it. For you.”

Elpis plucked it from his hand and analyzed it, mesmerized
by the intricate design. She gazed into Moros’s bright eyes and asked the
question he knew was coming.

“Where’d you get it?”

Moros splashed through the water.
He
looked around, scanning the underwater view he was encapsulated in. The
water around him disappeared and was replaced with a yellow force field that
slivered around him. Within the yellow, black swirls began to mix in.

Without warning, the yellow-black capsule ripped out of the
ocean and into the sky. As he rocketed toward the blue abyss, a large
boomerang-shaped aircraft shot across the sky.

Both traveling at wicked speeds, Moros’s yellow force field
collided right into the boomerang. The timing was impeccable; the
boomerang and capsule didn’t skip a beat, they simply joined together.
The boomerang shot away at lightning-fast speeds as the world below dissipated
into nothingness.

The force field disintegrated around Moros. He now
had a clear view of the inside of the sky-borne boomerang. A dim blue hue
radiated and illuminated the space. A perfectly molded woman stood in
front of him.

“Hi Sophia,” Moros said. His eyes scanned her curvy
figure. “You look good.”

She smiled. Sophia was a tall, dark brunette wearing
a revealing black, bikini-like outfit. Muscles protruded from her
body. She was more masculine than Moros, but still maintained a perfect
level of beauty.

Sophia declared, “I missed you, my love.”

Moros walked to the window of the boomerang. In the distance,
he could see the tiny spec of Earth’s remnants being blown to bits.

“I’m here now,” Moros declared, slightly annoyed by Sophia.

“So where did you get this ring?” Elpis asked again.

Moros stared into her illuminated eyes. “I had
someone make it for me.”

Elpis smiled, urging him to continue.

Moros said, “Next time come with me and I’ll show
you. I got it from…

“...Earth.”

Michael walked down a magnificent hallway. The sun
shone through the open building and a teenaged Moros walked beside him,
marveling at the tall white pillars sprawled throughout. Trees and bushes
planted along the hallway gave the white marble a more natural look. The
people wandering about wore loosely fitted tunics, a common clothing item of
the time.

The year was approximately 12 BC.

Michael bent down to speak. “Moros, I’ll only be a
few minutes. Okay?”

Moros looked into his father’s blue eyes and nodded.

Michael smiled and rubbed Moros’ hair. He left his
son behind as he opened a giant red, metallic door that traversed from the top
of the tall pillars to the bottom.

Michael lived a blessed life. Everyday, he was
thankful for the opportunity to be a father. It was God’s greatest
gift. Nothing could transcend the pride he felt. Moros was a smart
boy. Good-looking. Inquisitive. Trustworthy.

Michael walked through the giant red door into the Grand
Room to meet with the committee.

Moros opened his eyes and looked through the yellow
force field that surrounded him.
“Redeo!” “Redeo!”
The blue-robed men shouted it over and over. Moros found himself in the
middle of a thick forest on a pitch-black night. The disciples stood in
the position that Jesus was killed in, with their hands above their heads and
their feet crossed together. Moros groaned at the haunting sight.

The 12 disciples stopped chanting, lowered their arms, and
stared at Moros. The yellow force field disappeared, leaving Moros
standing in the middle of a circle of fire. Moros looked under his feet
at the X formation. Looking at the thirteen men, he could sense some
surprise amongst them.

The leader, Mr. Wayne Ixley, stepped forward and lowered
his hood, revealing his face. Moros looked with surprise as he observed
Wayne’s face heavily bruised and bleeding.

Wayne Ixley proclaimed, “It has been ten years since you’ve
actually appeared to us.”

Moros asked, “What happened to your face?”

Wayne’s eyes nervously shot around. “Some prankster
kids just came through here...”

Little did Moros know, they were Stephen and Bruce.

Moros stepped out from the circular flames to closer
inspect Wayne’s face. The light from the fire bounced around. Wayne
ogled deep into his dark, blue eyes. Moros continued to stare. In
Wayne’s eyes, he could see the foundation of a good man; the light inside of
him was bright. Moros flashed a quick smile and broke eye contact.
He removed an old blue backpack from his shoulders and gently placed it on the
forest floor.

Moros asked sympathetically, “Does it hurt?”

“Yes.” Wayne was uneasy about all the attention Moros
was giving to his face.

“Close your eyes.” Wayne obliged and closed his
eyes. Moros held his hand over Wayne’s bleeding, bruised face. He
focused and stared at him.

“Alright.” Moros lowered his hand. The bleeding
had stopped and the bruise had greatly reduced. Wayne felt remarkably
better. “It’s only partially healed,” Moros told him. “In a few
days, it won’t even be noticeable.”

“Thank you, angel.” That was all Wayne could call
him. He didn’t know his name.

“You’re welcome.” Moros smiled at him. He
turned to address the 12 disciples. “To the 12 of you: You are all true
heirs to the apostles of Jesus. You possess the same qualities, the same
holiness as they. It is through you that Jesus will make his return.
Continue to live good lives and follow the Commandments. Continue to pray
and spread the Good News: the day is near.”

Moros couldn’t see their eyes, but he could feel the 12
disciples looking at him. He turned to Wayne and bid him farewell.
“Thank you for providing the Pythor.”

Moros picked up his backpack from the forest floor and
turned to leave.

Wayne blurted, “You can visit at my house. There’s an
Occor there.”

Interesting. Moros nodded, smiled at Wayne, and
walked away. An Occor was most convenient for traveling between locations
on Earth. Perhaps he would use it sometime.

But he arrived for a reason. It would take some
time. Some figuring out. Some research. What Moros was
planning was not going to be easy. He had all he needed in his ugly old
backpack.

“Moros!”

Moros emerged, holding an enormous blue lily that
towered over his head
.
The flower, at least 8 feet tall,
sprouted thin blue petals with a yellow center. Elpis stood with him
outside of the Temple, where Moros’s father, Michael, was busy meeting with the
committee.

“I picked you a giant flower!” Moros said as he struggled
to keep it lifted.

As Moros bent forward, Elpis reached for the bright blue
petals. She pulled the flower toward her and smelled the middle.
“Mmmm, my favorite.” Elpis laughed. “Thanks Moros!”

She paused. “How am I going to bring it home?”

It dawned on Moros that he would have to carry the flower
all the way to her house. Perhaps he should have gotten her something
else. Moros’s face contorted.

Elpis laughed again. “It’s okay, Moros. I love
it.”

Moros dropped the flower to the ground with a thud.

“I got
you
something,” Elpis proudly declared.
She removed two white straps from her shoulders and pulled a backpack off her
back. She held it up for Moros to see. It was flimsy and uneven,
made with a blue cloth material; it was an eyesore. “I made it!”

Moros forced a smile, doing his best to act excited.
“Wow! …What is it?”

“It’s a pack that you can wear! You can put your
stuff in it!”

Elpis handed it to Moros, who didn’t have to fake his
gratitude. It was a touching gift, one he would treasure forever.
It didn’t seem like something he needed, but perhaps he could find a way to
make it useful.

Moros slipped the backpack onto his shoulders. It was
feeble and appeared uncomfortable. “Looks good?”

Elpis nodded.

Moros looked into Elpis’s eyes. She looked into
his. Elpis smiled at him. She was always smiling. Always full
of life. The light inside of her was fantastically bright. Elpis
was as pure as anyone he’d ever met.

Moros slowly stepped toward her. Elpis reciprocated.

They met in the middle and grasped hands, gazing into each
other’s eyes. No words needed to be spoken. They both knew what was
in the other’s heart.

Moros pulled Elpis against him and they embraced.
They closed their eyes and relished the moment.

Michael stood in the distance, watching Moros and
Elpis. Beside him was another member of the committee, Gabriel.

“Do you think your son will be willing?”

Michael nervously rubbed his chin. “He’ll have to
be.”

Gabriel, a thin man with long, brown hair, reassured his
friend, “The light in him is bright. I have faith in him.”

Michael smiled. He believed in his son too. But
they were going to ask a lot of him. He undeniably loved Elpis. It
wasn’t going to be easy.

“He is the last hope for humanity.”

Moros was a smart boy. Good-looking.
Inquisitive. Trustworthy. And that was why the committee chose him.

Moros lifted his arms and swung again. Thwack!
The axe pounded against the tree. Thwack! Thwack! Moros
continued to strike at the bulky tree trunk and dented his way through.

“Almost,” said an encouraging Elpis. “You tired?”

Moros ignored her. He lifted his arms again and swung
with force.

They were in the middle of an abundant forest. Plant
life of all colors surrounded them, though the colors here were a bit more
tropical and darker-shaded than the bright rainbow fields they
frequented. The air smelled sweet with freshness and the animals sung in
joy. The birds chirped all around Elpis when a hummingbird swooped around
her and levitated in front of her eyes. “Hello!” Elpis laughed and
held out her arm. The hummingbird gracefully landed on her. Elpis
gently, with two fingers, stroked its head. The bird sung in delight as
its head jerked around. “Go on,” Elpis said. The bird levitated off
her arm and circled around her. It stopped in front of her eyes, as if to
say goodbye, and flew away.

Moros continued to hit away at the tree. The cut was
almost all the way through. Moros wiped the sweat from his
forehead. Elpis rang out, “Hey Moros…”

He turned to see a brown bear standing on its hind legs,
only feet from Elpis. The bear spread its giant mouth open and filled the
air with a deep roar. Moros smiled and dropped the axe.
“Perfect.” The bear landed on all fours next to Elpis, shaking the ground
as it landed.

Moros yelled to the bear, “Can you help us knock down this
tree?”

The brown bear exhaled heavily through its nostrils.
Elpis rubbed her hand through the bear’s fur as it walked toward Moros and the
tree he had been hacking at. The bear inquisitively looked at
Moros. He pointed to the tree and the bear promptly carried its large
body in that direction. It inspected the tree. Sniffed it.
Then, it stood on its hind legs and pushed it. As the tree began to
teeter, the bear applied the rest of its body weight, and it crashed down,
rumbling the forest.

The bear removed itself from the fallen tree and looked at
Moros.

“Thank you,” Moros said.

The bear walked toward Elpis, whose arms were
outstretched. Its heavy body swayed as it approached her. As she
wrapped her arms around the bear’s neck, it rubbed its nose against her.
“Thank you,” she whispered. The bear growled softly in return.

Moros looked at the tree stump now devoid of a tree.
He looked at the sky that was now barer than before. Moros held out his
hand and faced his palm toward the stump. He closed his eyes. The
stump shook and a fresh tree ripped into the sky, identical to the one he had
just cut down. The tree had instantly re-grown.

The stump was no longer devoid, the sky no longer bare.

Gabriel, finally finding him, emerged and smiled at the
sight. “Hello, Moros!”

It was almost time for Moros to enact his plan.
All he needed now was the book. The third chapter held crucial
information. Since Wayne Ixley was X, he would surely have it.

A black force field surrounded Moros. He couldn’t see
beyond it, and finally, it vanished. He found himself in a small
room. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see anything. A dim blue hue
filled the room, but it was too dark. Click. The room was suddenly
illuminated. Below his feet, he could see the Occor that Wayne so generously
offered him to use. Moros stepped out and gasped at the large crucifix
scaling the wall. The sight of Jesus’s blank face impaled his
heart. The nails embedded in his wrists and feet overwhelmed him.
He brought his hand to the nails, fighting to hold back the tears trying to
make their way out. Moros gently brought his hand to Jesus’s face and
forced a smile. He caressed his cheek. “Fool,” he mumbled.

Moros turned his attention away from Jesus. He needed
to find the book. He scoured the shelves on the adjacent two walls.
There were a few Bibles, tabernacles, and other religious
artifacts. Wayne’s collection was impressive. But there was no
book.

He needed to find Wayne. If he wasn’t home, Moros
would have to use the Occor again later and ask him about it.

Moros opened the ancient X-door. Before he walked
out, he noticed a statue of a head of a man that stared blankly ahead.
The familiar sight prompted Moros to smirk as he stepped into the closet.
Reaching his hand on the wall, he felt for the light switch and flipped
it. The light in the closet revealed an endless array of clothes and
other junk. Moros sighed and headed for the door at the end of the
closet.

As he opened the door, the light from the closet expanded
into the pitch black bedroom and shed itself onto a sight he never expected: a
girl with blood pouring out of her wrists.

The girl was a beautiful blonde. Her eyes crawled
their way to Moros’s. It was clear she had been under a ferocious amount
of emotional duress. As he looked in her heavy eyes, he could see the
light inside of her. It was still bright, but had obviously dimmed
significantly. Her wounds must have been self-inflicted.

If they weren’t killing each other, they were killing
themselves.

The blood was pumping out of her wrists with every
heartbeat. Moros got on his knees and picked up her arms. He
squeezed his hands over the slashes on her wrists and closed his eyes.

The girl took a deep breath. The numbness was
gone. The life slipping away rebounded right back into her as the deep
wounds closed shut. She looked at the stranger in shock.

Moros asked, “What is your name?”

“Sara Ixley.”

Moros looked at Sara’s face. She looked eerily like
Elpis, the girl he loved eternally, even still. His eyes wandered as he
observed her. What he witnessed next caused his heart to fall through the
floor: the E.M. ring on Sara’s finger.

Moros grabbed Sara’s hand and whipped it closer to his
eyes. He simply couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Where did you
get this?” he grunted.

Sara, still delirious, shook her head, attempting to rid
herself of the inevitable dizziness that came with losing so much blood.

Moros grew anxious. He asked again, “Where did you
get this?”

Sara looked in Moros’s eyes. They were dark; the
light in them had gone out. It was like staring into the eyes of a stone
statue.

Moros looked at the blood soaked on the floor around
him. “You’re going to be dizzy for a while… You technically should
be dead right now.” He got to the point. “I need to know where you
got this ring.”

Sara, half-alive, mumbled, “Bruce Dennett gave it to me.”

Moros stared in the distance. Bruce Dennett. If
Bruce had the ring then he had to know Elpis. Were they friends?
Lovers? If Bruce was
helping
Elpis, that made him an enemy.
This changed everything. All the work Moros had done over the last two
years was for naught. He’d need to learn everything about Bruce
Dennett. His motivations, his fears, his tendencies… and his friends.
This was an unwelcome distraction indeed, but he’d have to deal with it… and
maybe it would end up helping him.

Moros gave his attention back to the recuperating Sara
Ixley. “Your life is indebted to me. When the time comes, I am
going to ask for your help. Until then…” Sara’s resemblance to
Elpis tugged at his heart. “…Take care of yourself.”

Sara grabbed his hand. “Who are you?”

Moros told her the same lie he always told.

Moros gently whispered, “I’m an angel.”

“Would you be willing, Moros?” Gabriel asked.

Elpis looked at Moros with great concern. Moros
looked to Elpis for an answer, but she simply didn’t have one. If he
wanted to go through with it, it would have to be his decision.

“I can’t go myself?” Moros asked.

“No. He needs to be one of their own. To grow
up and live amongst them. It is the only way. Just be sure you
understand… you will never be able to see him.”

Moros demanded, “I want to be a member of the committee.”

Gabriel sighed. It would be permissible. “If
you do this, you will be a member.”

“And Elpis.”

Elpis’s eyes widened. She looked at Gabriel, who
rubbed his forehead in frustration. Gabriel responded, “She won’t be a
member, but we will give her access to Earth.”

Moros stared at him. If they needed his help, they
were going to give him what he wanted. “You will never interfere with me
and Elpis. We will spend as much time together as we desire.”

Gabriel reluctantly agreed. “Alright.”

Moros smiled at Elpis. They could be together
forever. Elpis beamed. She loved him and now there was no question:
they would have a happy ending.

Moros asked Gabriel, “Have you found a woman on Earth
already?”

Gabriel nodded.

Elpis asked, “What is her name?”

Gabriel deflected the question by answering, “She is young.
Healthy. Pure. The light inside her is brighter than any person
we’ve ever seen.” He could see Moros was not appeased. Gabriel
continued, “She is from a place called Galilee.”

The committee’s secrecy irked Moros. “So what do I
have to do?”

Gabriel held out his hand, with his palm facing
Moros. “Place your hand against mine.” Moros did just that,
extending his fingers and holding out his palm. Gabriel added, “Now close
your eyes.”

Moros closed his eyes as Elpis watched intently. A
bright light grew between their hands. In a flash, the light
erupted. Elpis used the palm of her hand to shield her eyes.

As the light subsided, Moros opened his eyes to a smiling
Gabriel, who said, “That’s it. Now I just have to meet with her and hope
she is as willing as you are.”

Elpis walked over to Moros and leaned against him,
squeezing his hand and curling her fingers into his.

Gabriel said, “Now that you’re both going to have access to
Earth, we’re going to need to teach you how things work there. It’s very
different.” Gabriel looked at Elpis. “Especially for you.”

Moros and Elpis were intrigued. Moros asked, “What
are we to them?”

Gabriel chuckled. “They have come to call us
angels
…
but if you’re in the committee, we typically tell them we are…

“…Archangels.”