The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (68 page)

‘You will all receive complete texts of the
true
religion, explaining to you in great detail how everything fits together. These
texts are accompanied by numerous sermons that you are to preach from the
pulpits to your followers. Please take them as you leave. We will also be
sending representatives out to all religious gathering places to assist with
any doctrinal issues raised by followers that are, for some reason, not covered
in the material. These representatives will guide you all, and will shed light
on the grey areas.

‘Thank you all for attending.’

The people clapped and cheered as Antonio took a deep
bow. The lights flickered off for a split second, and when they came back on,
Antonio had disappeared.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The reconstruction of the Third
Temple was running smoothly and according to plan. Malcolm found it hard to
believe that they were actually rebuilding it. Preparations for the event had
begun back in the early 90’s and they already had all the decorations and
clothing required to perform the ceremonies. They had even trained the young
men back then to perform the animal sacrifices that would one day be offered to
HaShem.

Once the Temple was rebuilt, it would only be a matter
of returning the Ark of the Covenant to its rightful place within the Holy of
Holies, and then God would be with His chosen people once again. Neither
Malcolm nor Rabbi Morris knew the location of the Ark, but
The Order
knew where it was, and in time, they would send a team to retrieve it.

Malcolm was excited. Thousands of years of prophecies
were being fulfilled, and all that remained now, was for Moshiach—the
Messiah—to reveal himself.

Malcolm looked at the massive wall of rubble in front
of him. What is now ruin, would soon be a beautiful display of traditional architecture,
with just a hint of modern flair. He liked what he saw in the architect
samples, and was impressed with the dedication of the men, as they all laboured
hard toward one single goal. Time was of the essence, and he felt that
The
Order
had made the right choice when assigning him to oversee the project.

A man hurried toward Malcolm so fast that he appeared
to be trying to keep himself from falling over. ‘Sir,’ he said, very much out
of breath. ‘Sir, you have to come and see this!’

‘What is it, Miguel?’ Malcolm asked. The young man was
clearly upset about something. ‘Tell me what’s wrong.’

‘You have...’ Miguel paused and took a few deep
breaths. He was still young, but walking from one side of the massive
construction site to the other was an exercise guaranteed to take the wind out
of even the fittest. When he finally got his breathing under control, he looked
at Malcolm. ‘You have to come and see this for yourself.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

He groaned when he saw them. The
two ‘Prophets’ were standing at the Western wall, attracting quite a crowd.
Oh
no, you don’t!
Malcolm thought to himself.
You guys have created quite
enough of a stir already!

‘Hey!’ Malcolm shouted at Elijah and his companion as
he walked toward them. ‘What are you doing here this time? Don’t you have a few
million frogs to go and clean up?’ The frogs had already been disposed of by
community volunteers, but the question was more to make a point than to
delegate tasks.

Undeterred by his ranting, the two men continued what
they started. ‘Oh Israel, My chosen; how you have ignored My pleas!’ Elijah’s
companion—dubbed by the media as Moses—shouted at the crowd.

‘Oh, Israel,’ Elijah added, ‘when will you turn from
your idolatrous ways?’

Someone from within the crowd shouted back.
Who are
you talking to?
There was a moment of laughter, and then everyone hushed
and stepped back as Elijah took a step toward them.

‘We are speaking to the house of David,’ he said. ‘We
are speaking to the twelve sons of Israel. We are speaking to the elect.’

‘Elect?’ someone asked. ‘What elect?’

‘The ones chosen to spread the Word of the Lord through
all of Judea, and even throughout the entire world. The ones chosen to turn
Israel back to its only true, living God.’

‘And who said Israel needs ‘turning back’ in the first
place?’ Malcolm asked.

Elijah looked at him and their eyes locked. For just a
fraction of a second, Malcolm could feel the strength leave his body.

‘Let him who has ears hear,’ Elijah said, ‘for I shall
not contend with your wickedness for much longer. The time of Jacob’s sorrow is
at hand, and soon, the wicked one shall be cut off.’

‘What are you guys talking about?’ a woman yelled.
‘Speak sense for crying out loud!’

‘Then let him who has eyes see,’ Elijah’s companion
added, ‘when you see standing in the Holy Place ‘the abomination that causes
desolation,’ spoken through the prophet Daniel, let those who are in Judea flee
to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything
out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.’

‘For then there will be a great distress,’ his
companion added, ‘unequalled from the beginning of the world until now—and
never to be equalled again.’

‘Go away!’ someone from within the crowd shouted. ‘We
don’t need your depressing messages at a time like this!’

‘Yeah!’ someone else shouted. ‘Go away!’

The crowd repeated the words and it soon became a
chant.
Go away! Go away! Go away!

Elijah tried to say something, but the crowd just
chanted louder. Some even picked up rocks. ‘The beast will devour you all!’
Elijah finally managed to shout above the chants.

GO AWAY!
The crowd chanted louder.

Elijah’s companion raised his hands into the air, and
said something in a foreign language. The crowd chanted louder still, but a
sudden
crack
sound made them all hush instantly. It was a lightning bolt
that slammed into the ground not too far from them, and while the crowd was
still trying to figure out what was happening, the skies darkened and the first
chunks of hail crashed down on them.

It was only a matter of seconds before tons of
compressed ice claimed its first victims, and then panic erupted. The people
scattered toward the nearest shelter, pulling each other down as they went.
Malcolm reached shelter just in time, and was horrified to see the size of the
hail. Each chunk was as large as a fist and they came down with such speed and
force that people were killed instantly on impact.  Through the downpour
of ice, Malcolm couldn’t see the two men. Were they still standing there,
unaffected by the hail, or had they simply vanished again? He couldn’t tell.
Only time would answer that question, but in the meantime, another question
plagued him: how long was this storm going to last? Minutes? Hours? Weeks?
Months? These two men were so unpredictable that Malcolm didn’t know what to
expect, but after only ten minutes of the heavy onslaught, the hail stopped as
suddenly as it had started. In the ice-covered street in front of him, he could
count roughly twenty bodies lying motionless. There was no way of knowing how
many more people were buried beneath the blanket of ice, but one thing was
sure:
something
had to be done about these two impostors.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The planning around the
construction of the new ‘Muslim Super City’ proceeded without incident. Kassim
was asked to be one of the main consultants during the project, and he eagerly
agreed. It was interesting for him how he and Malcolm were both involved in
building something of great significance for their people.

The Temple meant a lot to the Jews, and the new city
was the flagpole of a new era for his own people. A few weeks ago, any such
notion would have been deemed impossible, yet, here he stood, staring at the
blueprints of a city that would soon be a sign of peace and courage to not only
Jews and Muslims, but to the entire world.

The idea was simple: take Iraq and rebuild it into a
modern, super city. The city would then become the spine of the European
Empire, as per Victor’s request, and economic order would originate from there
and gradually spread to all other countries within the Empire. It was going to
be an exciting era, and Kassim fought back the tears as he ran his fingers over
the blueprints. A soft voice called him back to reality.

‘Huh? What?’

‘I’m terribly sorry, sir. I didn’t know that you were
busy.’

‘It’s all right, Aslam. I was just thinking about the
city.’

‘Me too, sir. I was wondering though...’

‘Yes?’

‘Do we know what we want to call the new city yet?’

Kassim looked over the blueprints again, and then
looked up. ‘We shall call it Al Jalil:
The Majestic!
’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Victor was intrigued. He listened
to the recording of Antonio’s speech that Ryan had made and found it
insightful. He also asked Ryan many questions, and even repeated already
answered ones. Ryan answered everything in as much detail as he could, being
sure to leave out only one minor detail: the fact that he was sitting right
next to Antonio. He didn’t think it important for Victor to know such
intricacies.

When Victor was satisfied that he had all the
information, he looked at Ryan for a moment, and then asked, ‘Do you still want
to kick yourself?’

‘Excuse me, my lord?’ Ryan asked. ‘Why would I want to
do that?’

‘Don’t worry, Ryan,’ Victor said with a smile. ‘I would
also feel the same way if I had been sitting next to him without realizing it.’

Ryan didn’t even try to hide the expression of shock on
his face. Did he let it slip out somehow? ‘I apologize, my lord, but I do not
know what you’re—’

‘Do you
still
not see?’ Victor interrupted. ‘Is
it still not obvious?’

‘Obvious?’ Ryan asked. ‘With all due respect, my lord,
what is it that you are talking about?’

‘After all that you have witnessed and experienced?’
Victor stood up and walked toward his bodyguard with such fierceness that Ryan
fell over backwards from his chair as he tried to cover. He tried to get up as
fast as he could, but lost his balance and crawled to the nearest corner.

Victor was on him in the blink of an eye, and wrapped
his hand around Ryan’s neck. Ryan tried to pry the hand loose, but it was
useless. It felt as if a bear trap had been clamped around his neck, and no
amount of prying would loosen the grip. Victor lifted Ryan off the ground as if
he weighed nothing, and threw him through the air and into a book shelf which
crashed under Ryan’s heavy weight.

Ryan managed painfully to get himself back onto his
feet. He staggered around aimlessly, trying to keep his balance in his weakened
state, while trying to focus his blurred vision and figure out what was going
on at the same time.

‘Are you still blind to the truth?’ Victor asked and
rushed toward Ryan again.

All Ryan could do was to hold up his hand and await the
inevitable.

‘Jesus!’ he cried out, hoping that at least
He
could save him from the raging animal that Victor had become. After a few
seconds passed with no movement from Victor’s side, Ryan dared to look up.
Victor was standing there, breathing heavily.

‘If you cannot figure it out,’ Victor panted, ‘then I
will have no choice but to reveal it to you.’

Ryan still didn’t know what Victor was talking about.
Victor lifted his hands and said something in a tongue that Ryan has never
heard before. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Victor was transformed into an
angelic being; one of such incredible beauty that Ryan immediately wanted to
cry out and worship him. He fell to his knees and wept.

‘Do you see now?’ Victor asked in the most beautiful
voice that Ryan has ever heard. It sounded like an angel of Heaven speaking to
him, maybe even God himself.

‘Yes,’ Ryan said through his tears. ‘I finally see! My
Lord and my God!’ he sobbed as Victor just became more and more radiant with
each passing second.

.VII.

 
‘All religions, arts and
sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed
toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical
existence and leading the individual towards freedom.’

-
Albert Einstein

Sunday morning came sooner than he
had hoped it would, but time was a spiteful thing. Trevor flapped his hand
around on the bedside table, trying to locate the ‘snooze’ button of his alarm
clock with his head firmly wedged under his pillow. There was a knock on his
bedroom door, and René entered before he could tell her to go away.

‘Morning sunshine,’ she sang cheerfully as she drew his
curtains. The sun stung his eyes even through the fluffy pillow, and he
realized that this was going to be a battle that he just wasn’t going to win.
He cursed himself for ever allowing René to convince him to join Andrew and her
for church, ‘just this once.’

He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t going anymore when
a soft knock on the front door interrupted his train of thought.

‘Oh,’ she sang sickeningly cheerful. ‘That’s Andrew.
I’ll get it.’

She skipped down the hallway, humming to herself.

Trevor was in Hell.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

It took Trevor forty-five minutes
to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and brush his teeth. Even though Andrew
and René were cheerfully chatting away, he didn’t really feel like talking any
more than was absolutely necessary. He tried to remember how he managed to get
himself conned into going with them. Norman—his own flesh and blood—have tried
many times before with absolutely no success. He wasn’t sure why he caved.
Maybe it was to hear them grasp at excuses for being wrong about their ‘no
alien life’ doctrine; maybe it was to make some sort of peace with Norman
before going on with his life. Perhaps it was a little something of everything.

‘Did you hear about Yoshe?’ Andrew asked on the way to
Church.

‘Nope,’ Trevor replied in thought. ‘Is something
wrong?’

‘Not at all. They promoted him to ‘President’ of the
European Empire yesterday. It was quite a ceremony, and the entire world’s top
notch people were present. GMN covered the whole thing.’

‘I didn’t have time to watch the telly yesterday; been
swamped with work.’

‘The ceremony must have cost them millions. It was
quite impressive.’

‘Speaking of millions,’ Trevor said as he leaned
forward and wedged himself between the two front seats. ‘Are we still on for
groceries after the church thing?’

‘We don’t have much of a choice,’ René said. ‘We’re low
on stock.’

Low on stock
, Trevor thought. If someone told
him three weeks ago that he would be sharing an apartment with a woman—René of
all people to be more specific—he would have laughed it off. Everything changed
so fast. One moment he was enjoying his privacy and detachment from the people
around him, and in the next instant he was living with a female, sharing his
bathroom and kitchen with her. He was relieved that he didn’t have to share his
bed too. The one good thing that came from the whole mess was that he now had
someone who helped out with the chores. She washed the dishes, and he dried
them. He also took out the garbage, and in return she made the coffee. There
was an unwritten—yet mutual—agreement between the two of them, and Trevor felt
a strange comfort in her companionship.

‘We’re here,’ Andrew said as he pulled into the church
parking lot. The lot was filled past its limit already, and there was still a
long queue of cars behind them. Everyone wanted answers, and they wanted the
churches to give it to them. An usher motioned to a spot where Andrew could
park his car, and Trevor stretched his limbs when he got out. It was a cramped
ride.

‘Lot of people here today, eh!’ Andrew said. ‘I can’t
honestly say that I have ever seen this church quite as packed as it is now.’

Trevor didn’t reply. He didn’t want to use profanity on
church grounds. He didn’t have to believe in what other people believed to
respect their views. It struck him as quite odd how Christians proclaimed an
‘all-present’ God, yet only confined Him to church grounds and graveyards.
‘Don’t curse!’ a mother would say to her son. ‘You’re on Holy Ground now.’ Did
that mean that one was safe to curse outside church grounds? Trevor could only
shake his head at the whole business.

‘I’ve never felt welcome at these places,’ René said
uncomfortably, looking at the huge building while trying to battle the
claustrophobia of everyone swarming around her.

‘You and me both,’ Trevor said and instantly wished
that he had rather stayed at home. There were hundreds of people, thousands
maybe, all looking equally uncomfortable.

‘Let’s go in,’ René said, and as they progressed toward
the main entrance of the building, their path was suddenly blocked off by a man
mountain.

‘Hi there,’ the huge man said with an obvious fake
smile. ‘Welcome to the
New Gospel Church
.’

The three murmured their greetings.

‘Would you be so kind as to submit your offerings here?
We don’t take it inside anymore.’

‘Why not?’ Andrew asked.

The man directed their attention to a little card-swipe
machine on a table near them. ‘It’s not portable yet, so we have to keep it
here. It accepts the recently issued smart cards and all major credit cards.’

‘And what if I don’t have my card here?’ Trevor
snubbed. He made up his mind beforehand that there would be
no
way that
he was going to ‘offer’ anything to the church.

‘Well,’ the man sighed, ‘do you have the Shield, then?’

‘The Shield? What’s that?’

‘Never mind,’ the friendly giant frowned. ‘You do know
that it’s illegal not to have your card with you, right?’

Trevor shrugged. ‘I forgot it at home.’

‘You might come off this time, sir,’ man mountain said,
‘but soon they will become quite strict about you having your card with you at
all times.’

‘And what if I don’t
want
to ‘offer’ anything?’

The man frowned. He was in no mood for people like
Trevor. ‘Then you cannot come in and share in the joy of the Lord.’

‘Works for me,’ Trevor said and turned to leave, but
Andrew grabbed him by the arm and gently tugged him back. ‘Come on, Trev. You
promised.’

Trevor sighed. He really didn’t want to share in the
“joy” of anything, let alone the Lord, but Andrew was right. He had given his
word, and he was going to keep it, if only for Norman’s sake.
Just this once
.
He swiped his card through the slot and entered his pin. It felt as if all eyes
were upon him, and he had to lean over forward to keep anyone from seeing the
insultingly low amount that he entered.

‘Thank you, sir,’ the usher said in his most friendly
voice.

‘Whatever,’ Trevor said as he shoved past the man.
Idiot.

The sheer size of the inside of the building
overwhelmed both Trevor and René. Trevor’s vague childhood memories of church
services were dull and boring little shack sized buildings with hard, wooden
pews and a few old ladies competing to see whose voices could shatter the
windows first. But this was different. It felt as if they had entered a cinema
complex, and even the chairs were personal, comfortable, and soft. Warm
carpeting had replaced cold tiles, and at the front, band members fine-tuned
their equipment on an elevated stage.

‘Look at all these people,’ René whispered as she
nudged Trevor. He took her hand in his to try and make her feel as comfortable
as possible, but deep inside he felt that it was more for him than for her.

‘Should I go out and get us some popcorn?’ Trevor
asked, and René giggled.

‘Get me a soda,’ Andrew joined in, and the three of
them laughed softly.

A light on the stage went on, illuminating the band,
and a hush fell over the congregation. No one really knew what to do or what to
expect, and soon the buzzing atmosphere died down to an uncomfortable silence.

‘Good evening, brothers and sisters,’ a pastor spoke into
a microphone. ‘I welcome you here this morning in the name of the Lord!’

Some random
Amens
came from the congregation.

‘Now I know that many of you here today are worried;
some of you are still hurting; and
all
of you are seeking answers.’

Some more
Amens
followed.

‘Well, I tell you now,’ the Pastor said and raised his
voice slightly, ‘that the time for worry, the time for sadness; and the time
for confusion is
over!
’

Amen!

‘But first, please allow me to explain to you this
morning’s proceedings.’

Trevor relaxed a little and sat back more comfortably
in his chair.

‘Since we are a mixture of many religions today, we
have slightly modified our praise and worship songs to accommodate all. No
matter what religion you embrace, your Sovereign Being is still your Lord; so
that is what we will call him...or her today: Lord.’

What if I don’t believe in a Sovereign Being?
Trevor thought.

‘And if you do not worship a Sovereign Being,’ the
Pastor said and locked his eyes with Trevor’s, ‘just sit back, relax, and soak
in the experience.’

What on Earth...?
Trevor thought and sat up straight
in his chair.
How did he do that?

The band started playing an upbeat tune, and the words
for the song appeared on an overhead Electronic Display so that everyone could
sing along. The song consisted of four short sentences, and the band repeated
the song over and over until everyone felt familiar with it. Some clapped, and
others stood there—swaying from side to side—with their hands in the air. Still
others, like Trevor, just sat there, not participating, but rather observing.

The Lord is with us,

He has always been.

The Lord is good to us,

His love is always seen.

Four more of these songs followed, after which everyone
was seated. Andrew noticed that they have sung five songs, and not once did
they mention Jesus. It was almost as if they prepared the songs to cater for
all the various religions; almost as if they somehow anticipated that more than
just Christians were going to pitch up.

The Pastor took the stage again. ‘Brothers and
sisters,’ he said softly, ‘let me assure you that Christianity has never denied
the possibility of alien life. Christianity merely claimed that life outside
our planet was a big improbability, since there was no mention of it in the
Bible.’

Trevor smiled and nodded. He found it strange how the
Christians could justify just about
anything
in their ‘Book.’

‘As we all know now,’ the pastor continued, ‘there are
indeed alien life forms out there; and we can thus conclude that if the Bible
was vague or inaccurate about that, that it could also be inaccurate about many
other things.’

The pastor had learnt his sermon word-for-word as
provided at the religious gathering in Dubai. He had spent a considerable
amount of time with his mentor, and had learned more in a week than he had in
fifteen years of active ministry. He went on to explain how Christians
‘misunderstood’ the ‘actual’ message of the person known as Jesus.

‘The
actual
message of Jesus,’ the pastor said,
‘was to unite and form one body. But instead of uniting, Christianity became
divided, causing the whole plan to fall apart.’

The pastor had everyone’s undivided attention.

‘The collapse in the plan crumbled the idea behind the
Godhead, which was to unite everyone under one Godhead, even as Gods. We are
all thus Godly, but to get to that state, and restore the rift in the Godhead,
we need a Messiah; an
Anointed One
that will bridge the gap and lead us
to the unity that we were intended to share since the beginning of time.’

Trevor was amazed at how much sense the pastor was
making.

‘Where Jesus failed in his mission,’ the pastor said,
‘this Anointed One will succeed. He is already amongst us, guiding us with
patience and love. Soon, Arch Bishop Antonio Pascale will publicly announce who
it is. Be sure to watch him as much as possible on the new 24-hour Spiritual
channel for more lessons on the Godhead and how we can achieve it together.’

The sermon ended with the singing of three of the songs
that they learned at the beginning, and as Trevor, Andrew and René tried to
leave the building, they found themselves walking against a stream of people
that were all rushing to speak to the pastor.

‘That was different,’ Andrew said as they left the main
foyer of the church building.

Trevor’s mind was racing. He didn’t know what ‘
different
’
meant, but he sure wasn’t prepared for what he just experienced. ‘I’ll meet you
guys at the car,’ he said and turned back. ‘I forgot something.’ He rushed back
to the main entrance where the electronic machines were and swiped his card
through it again. This time, he entered a considerably larger amount.