Morning Star Full Novel

Chapter 28

The captives entered the city of Sodom strapped to the back of two great beasts. Both men were bound with leather straps, encircled completely, guarded closely by their former comrades. The two massive hairy beasts lumbered through the main gate of the city parting the crowd like oil and water. The long dangling hair of the animals swayed with each long stride in a graceful dance giving a sort of strange elegance to such an ugly creature.
The beasts were brought to a halt with a crack of a whip and the crowd closed in for a closer look. The city was a flurry of excitement with the arrival of the new prisoners and everyone came to see the new captives.
"Cut them down!" Seth yelled. The city inhabitants, dressed only in skins and rags, converged on the prisoners like a pack of wolves on prey. Tony and Jackson were cut loose, pulled from the backs of the beasts and allowed to fall to the ground with a crash and a plume of dust. "On your feet!" Seth barked at the two men. Tony stood holding his left wrist, grimacing in pain. Jackson rose and brushed off the dirt from his face.
"What are you going to do with us?" Tony asked. He held his hand up and shaded the sun from his eyes. The crowd was all in silhouette.
"It is time. He wants to see you," Seth replied. "He has been waiting a long time for this moment." Seth waved his arm to the crowd and yelled, "Bring them!"
The prisoners were grabbed and forced to walk along with the mob through the crowded city streets. Tony’s wrist hurt more with the pressure placed on it to make him comply. He scanned the area around him looking at the faces of the crowd trying to place them, trying to tell where he was. The faces gave no clue to location or to culture. It was as if it were a mix of all men and women, a melting pot of all kinds of people. Only the wrinkles in their skin and the rags they wore gave them any kind of continuity of character.
They walked past stone buildings and hay filled carts to an open courtyard where Tony and Jackson were shoved to the ground. Once again Tony struck his wrist and he turned over on his back holding his arm in agony.
Seth walked over and kicked Tony in the ribs. "Face down!" he yelled and kicked some dirt in Tony’s face.
Tony turned over and looked to Jackson lying beside him. He dared not speak. Tony spit the dirt from his mouth and wiped out his eyes with his shirtsleeve, blinking rapidly. Scanning the area around, Tony saw they were completely surrounded by the crowd. There was about twenty feet between him and the perimeter, creating a natural boundary that encircled them.
Seth stood before the prisoners, now joined by Follett and Thomas. Tony had to strain his neck to look up to see their faces. The three were speaking amongst themselves periodically looking down at the two lying on the ground. Seth left the group and walked over to Tony. He held out his hand to the crowd and someone tossed him a tall wooden staff. Seth raised the staff and brought it down upon Tony’s back striking him hard. "Do not gaze your eyes upon me!" Seth yelled.
Tony lowered his head and rested his face on his right hand. He looked to his right and saw a man kneel down on Jackson’s back restricting his abdomen. Jackson wheezed trying to get a breath. "What are you doing?" Tony asked. "What do you want with us?"
Seth knelt down and grabbed Tony by his hair and jerked his head back. "You will learn to show respect!"
Tony glared at Seth and pushed off the ground with his good hand. In a flash Tony had his hand around Seth’s throat and forced him back in a fit of rage. Tony pinned Seth on his back and began beating him in the face. To his astonishment no one stopped him. Tony stopped and backed off. He looked at Seth’s face and watched blood trickle from his smiling face. Seth sat up and looked to Tony. "You will never learn my nephew," Seth said with a grin. "Do you think you can hurt me anymore?"
Tony saw the blood reverse and reenter the wound. In a second Seth was healed. "You son of a gun!" Tony yelled.
Tony was struck from behind and forced again to the ground. Several men held his arms and legs restricting his movements and pinned him to the ground.
"You are correct. I am a son of a gun," Seth replied.
"Why do you do this? If I can not hurt you, why do you fear me so?" Tony asked.
"Let him go!" said a voice from the crowd. Tony was released and his captors melted back into the crowd.
Tony once again pushed off the ground and stumbled to his feet. Jackson quickly joined him at his side. The crowd parted and a single man entered the circle. A man Tony had not seen for almost two years stood before him dressed in the purple robes of royalty.
"Alex?" Tony asked. "Is that you?"
"Yes doctor, it is I. Alex Parsons," he replied.
"But how?"
"It is so simple my friend. You had all the information you needed. You just chose not to believe."
"What are you talking about? You should be in Federal prison."
"I am," Alex replied. "In another time."
Tony stood silent thinking. "What other time? I have calculated no time difference."
"Maybe time is not the best word to explain what I mean. Think of it as a slice of reality."
"Another dimension?" Tony asked.
"Yes and no," Alex replied. "I live in all times at the same time. I am in Federal prison. I am teaching college. I am hear with you now, and I am killing your father at this very moment."
"My father?" Tony asked in shock. "What are you talking about? He died almost twenty years ago."
"To you maybe. To me it was yesterday."
"What do you mean you killed him?" Tony asked. "He was murdered by a highway patrolman. I saw him with my own eyes."
"Who’s eyes did you see?" Alex asked.
"The patrolman’s," Tony replied.
"Look into my eyes and tell me what you see."
Tony looked into Alex’s eyes and saw the man who killed his father. "It was you," Tony said. "You killed my father."
"Killed is such a harsh word. I like to say I claimed him for my own."
"I don’t understand this. I worked along side you at the university for years. Why didn’t I recognize you then?"
"You tell me," Alex said with a grin. "If you weren’t so cynical and blind to the truth, my plan would have never worked."
"Plan? What plan," Tony asked.
Alex paused and rubbed his chin. "I have someone I would like for you to meet," Alex said. Alex snapped his finger and the crown parted behind him. A single figure stepped out of the opening and stood beside Alex.
"Dad?" Tony asked in amazement and shock. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Tony, it is I." Pastor Jack Rhine replied.
"You are dead. I saw you get shot," Tony said.
"I have been reborn my son, and soon you will join me,"
Tony was in too much shock to try to make sense of the situation. He grasped for straws and his heart began to pound. He needed answers. "You are not my father!" Tony shouted.
"I will not argue with you son," Jack Rhine said. "If you choose not to believe, there is nothing I can do to change that."
"If you are my father then you are dead. If you are dead then this must be heaven. As far as I know I am still very much alive, and I don’t think they allow living people into heaven!" Tony shouted.
Jackson whispered to Tony, "Jesus rose into heaven as a whole being, body and all."
"Very good," Alex said. "You could take a lesson from your friend here Tony."
"Ok, let’s say Jesus did go to heaven as a whole live man. There are two of us here. I don’t think either one of us qualify as the Son of God."
Alex smiled. "I would not be so sure of yourself Tony," Alex said. "But then if you were, my plan would have failed."
Jackson stepped in closer to Tony and nudged him on the arm. "I don’t think this is heaven," he whispered.
Tony looked to Jackson. "Of course not. This is some sort of second dimension. A dimension where time has taken a different course. That explains why my father is still alive. In this dimension, he never died."
"If that is so, Tony," Jack Rhine said. "Then you should run into yourself here somewhere. There must be two of you."
"Absolutely," Tony replied. "That only makes sense."
"Call out Tony," his father said. "See if you are correct."
Tony knew he was being played for a fool. "Ok father," Tony said pausing to collect his thoughts. "Tell me where I am, and what I am doing here."
Pastor Jack Rhine stepped forward and stood before his son. "It is time to believe Tony. It is time to cast away your skepticism and believe. Look around you. Look at me."
Tony looked around and examined the people and the buildings surrounding him. He looked back to his father standing before him.
"This is Hell my son, and you are never getting out," Jack Rhine said shoving his son to the ground. "You had better get used to it fast."
Tony looked up to his father in horror as he walked back and rejoined Alex. "My father would never hurt me!" Tony screamed.
"Your father is now mine," Alex said. "All souls I take I claim as my own. He is your father in body, but not in spirit. Not anymore."
Tony looked at the pair in horror, forgetting for a moment the agonizing pain in his wrist. All his life he wished he could have done something to save his father that fateful day, now reunited, he hated the man he used to love. It sickened him. "Why father?" Tony asked lying on his back.
Pastor Jack Rhine smiled at his son and said, "You will find out soon enough."
Alex stepped away from the Pastor and held his hands up to the crowd. His purple robes hung from his arms hovering inches from the dirt he stood upon. "Hear me now!" he yelled to the crowd. "In ten days we shall gather at the coliseum." Alex turned slowly as he continued, "And we shall baptize these men before the eyes off all." Alex looked down at Tony and pointed at him. "Tomorrow we shall end the Second Coming forever! Tomorrow the savior is mine!" Alex paused and scanned the crowd. A smile crossed his face and he raised both hands to the sky. "Take them to the prison!" he yelled and turned away. The crowd parted like the Red Sea as Alex and Pastor Jack Rhine walked through the masses disappearing into the crowd.
Tony and Jackson were picked up and carried overhead by the crowd across the courtyard to a doorway in a large stone building. The wood doors were unlocked and opened allowing the mob to carry the two prisoners inside. Tony and Jackson were shackled to the wall with heavy chains and locked behind an interior door. Only a sliver of light penetrated the darkness illuminating the dust that swirled in the air.
The exterior door was shut with a crash of wood and stone and locked from outside. The men were in almost total darkness. The stone walls concealed any sounds from the outside world.
The sliver of light shot a dot on the far wall and Tony’s eyes began to adjust to the dark. He could make out the faint outline of Jackson shackled on the wall next to him. "How are you doing Jackson?" Tony asked.
"Considering the circumstances I would say I’m doing wonderful," Jackson replied sarcastically. "Since we aren’t going anywhere soon, I have a few questions for you."
Tony shuffled in his restraints and the metal clinked against the stone wall. "Go ahead," he replied.
"Who are you?"
Tony paused thinking the question was ridiculous. "I am professor, Dr. Tony Rhine," he replied.
"Ok, now who are you really?" Jackson asked. "They sure seem happy to have you hear for some reason." Jackson waited for the answer. A moment passed and he added, "And why did he call you the savior?"
"I would rather not get into that," Tony replied.
Becoming angry, Jackson said, "I am in this too. I would appreciate it if you clued me in."
"Jackson could not see it, but Tony was shaking his head in disgust. "Fine!" Tony said and rested his head against the stone behind him. "They seem to think I am Jesus."
"They do?" Jackson asked. "I kind of got that vibe myself."
"You’re kidding, right?" Tony asked.
"I am a very religious man," Jackson replied. "Unlike you, I don’t require absolute proof. I have faith."
"What makes you think I am him?"
"I have seen demons. I have seen the dead rise. I believe I am in Hell, and I believe I have seen Satan in the flesh."
"No you have not!"
"Was that your father?" Jackson asked.
Tony was silent. He had no answer. "I don’t know," Tony replied. "I still think I we have jumped dimensions somehow."
"Did you ever consider that maybe Heaven and Hell are dimensions?" Jackson asked. "Maybe the world we came from is just one of three dimensions. We just ping pong back and forth between them."
"And maybe monkeys fly out my behind!" Tony replied. "I will never believe I am in Hell and there is no way I will ever believe I am Jesus Christ."
"Ramsey said the demons asked if he were the son of man. Who do you think they were talking about? There are only two of us left and I am sure it is not me."
"If I were the Son of God, I could free myself from these restraints right now," Tony said. "Or maybe not. Even Jesus could not get himself off that cross."
Jackson shook his head. "Jesus had to die that day. It was prophesized. If he had come down off the cross, the ransom would have never been paid. He died for our sins. He was the sacrifice."
"He chose to die? I find that hard to believe," Tony said smugly.
"We are going to die and be reborn into Hell just because you are to cynical to even try to believe it."
"What do you want me to do? Just toss out my common sense?"
"I want you to get some faith. What will it hurt? We get baptized in ten days!"
"Why ten days?" Tony asked. "Why don’t they just get it over?"
"It makes sense."
"How?"
"It’s in Revelation’s 2:10" Jackson replied.
"I don’t suppose you want to share it with me?"
"What good will it do. You don’t believe anyway."
"Just tell me the verse!"
Jackson paused a moment then sighed. "I don’t know it exactly. It has something to do with the devil putting some souls in prison for ten days and tormenting them. Those who are faithful to God will not suffer the second death."
"We are living out a prophecy in Revelations?"
"Well, not exactly. You, I mean Jesus is supposed to be on the other side of the fence. It looks to me like your friend Alex there made a plan."
"A plan?" Tony asked.
"To stop the Second Coming. To keep Jesus from judging the living and the dead." Jackson replied.
Tony thought a moment. "It would make sense," Tony said. "How else would my father, a riotous man of God be trapped in Hell?"
"He did say that every soul he stole he kept for his own," Jackson said. "Maybe he has no intentions of giving up what he has stolen."
"At judgment day, this place would fill up with sinners. Why would he want just these pitiful few?" Tony asked.
"Maybe he likes stealing from God. He has pride. At the judgment he would have to give up his spoils."
"Yeah I see, I think he prefers to steal from God rather than fill this place with sinners."
"We have ten days to figure something out doctor. I hope you get some faith before then." Jackson said.