Infinite Testament (35 page)

Stephen stands up and walks back toward Lisa’s body.
As he passes by Campbell, Campbell offers, “I’m sorry, Stephen.” Stephen
looks into his eyes and nods him off, continuing toward Lisa.

Campbell notices something different in Stephen’s
eyes. They are vibrant, full of life. It’s as if a bright light has
turned on inside of them. Campbell never noticed anything like that
before.

Stephen kneels next to Lisa. He looks at her closed
eyes. “Lisa,” he whispers, “I don’t know how I can live without
you.” Stephen places his left hand on her forehead. With his right
hand, he pulls her shirt above the gaping wound. Without care of the
blood, he places his hand over her wound.

Stephen closes his eyes. “I’ll never forget your
smile. I’ll never forget the way your hand felt in mine. I love
you, Lisa. Until the day I die.”

Stephen crouches his head toward her and rubs his face
against hers. He imagines her bright face looking at him, her illuminated
eyes gazing lovingly into his. He imagines the sound of her voice.
He imagines her
smile
, as she would do only for him. Stephen rests
and listens to the sound of his breathing. After minutes of being with
her body, Stephen pulls his head away. He takes one last look and stares
at her face.

And then, the unbelievable happens:

Lisa’s eyes open.

Her eyelids rise. She looks around, the sunlight
blinding her. As her eyes dart around, she finds him. She looks at
Stephen and stares.

Stephen’s body freezes. He lifts his hand that was
rested on her stomach. The wound is gone. Her skin is perfectly
intact, without even a scar to show for the deadly gash that was present just
seconds before.

Lisa softly asks, “What happened?”

Stephen pulls her off the ground and hugs her like he’s
never hugged before. He laughs joyously. “You’re alive!” Stephen
declares. Lisa feels her stomach. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know.” Stephen laughs in relief.

Stephen and Lisa kiss. Their lips, again full of
life, meet.

Campbell peers in on Stephen and Lisa. When he sees
Stephen and Lisa kissing, he paces closer. “Wh.. Wh…” He struggles
to say anything. “What happened?”

Stephen turns to Campbell. “She’s alive. It’s a
miracle!”

Campbell shakes his head in disbelief. “No.
It’s impossible.”

Stephen stands up and helps Lisa to her feet. “See,
she’s fine!”

“She was
dead
, Stephen.”

Stephen stares at Campbell and shrugs. “What do you
want me to say?”

Lisa curls her fingers through Stephen’s. Campbell,
staring at a perfectly healthy Lisa, asks Stephen, “Did you do this?”

Stephen asks, “Did I do what?”

“Did you bring her back to life?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“No. There’s something different about you. In
your eyes... I can see it.”

Stephen ignores him. “Campbell, come in here. I
need you to take care of Lisa.”

Campbell panics, “Where are you going?”

“To find who did this to her.”

Lisa and Campbell simultaneously look at him with worrisome
eyes.

“What did he look like?” Stephen asks.

Lisa utters, “He… I don’t know. Normal looking guy,
about your height… He had a blue backpack.”

A ridiculous notion enters Stephen’s mind. He asks,
“Was it dirty and old looking with white straps?”

Lisa nods.

“Okay.” Stephen lets go of Lisa’s hand and walks
outside.

“Stephen,” Lisa implores, “Be careful.”

Stephen gazes into her eyes one last time. He walks
toward the street past Campbell, who scrambles into the house with Lisa.
Stephen steps onto the pavement. He positions himself in the center of the
street and throws his hands outstretched at his side. “Where are you!?”
he screams at the top of his lungs. “Come out and face me!” Stephen
spins around, surveying the area, waiting for someone to emerge. There
isn’t a trace of fear in Stephen’s veins. Not after what he just
experienced.

At the security gate, Bruce pulls up in a large minivan
holding everyone inside. Bruce’s side window slides open. Galav,
the security guard, is busy talking with Balwant in the security house.
He turns from his brother and approaches Bruce’s minivan. “Can I help
you?”

Bruce frantically says, “You need to let me in. My
friend, Stephen Pandora, is in there visiting Lisa Binsby. If you don’t
let me in, he’s going to die!”

Galav peers at Balwant, who stares at Bruce
wide-eyed. Bruce’s words ring of madness but somehow… he believes
him. Balwant nods at his brother. “He is telling the truth.
Let him in.”

Galav reluctantly agrees. “I am definitely getting
fired today.”

Galav pushes a button on a control panel and the steel gate
creaks opens. Balwant declares, “You can sell maps with me!”

Galav forces a smile, less than thrilled at the
proposition.

Bruce looks at Elpis, who is sitting next to him in the
minivan. He peers in the back at everyone who is scrunched together:
Kristen, Mikey, Vince, Natalie, Mr. Ixley, Chad, and Sean. “Is everyone
ready?”

Stephen, standing in the street, lowers his arms.
Applying his crazy notion, he yells, “Moros! Come out! NOW!”
If there’s one thing Moros is known for, it’s having that blue backpack.
Stephen never knew him to be a murderer, but then again, he never knew
him. All Moros had ever done was leave him with the ILD and a public
mess. Stephen spins around, looking for a sign of anyone. Then, at
the end of the street, a figure emerges from behind a large bush. It’s
Moros, wearing his infamous blue backpack. He stands confidently upright,
about 20 yards in front of Stephen. Like an old western shoot-out, the
two stare at each other.

Stephen yells, “Was it you?”

Moros smiles. “You weren’t supposed to be here,
Stephen. But yes. I killed Lisa Binsby.”

“Why?” Stephen clenches his fists.

“It’s complicated. All part of a plan for something
much bigger.”

“You mean ending the world? You did it. You
succeeded. I saw it. But we changed the path. You failed.”

Moros’s confidence dissipates. So the course
has
been changed. And Stephen somehow knows about it.

Stephen simply declares, “I’m going to kill you.”

Moros smirks. Not likely. In the distance,
behind Stephen, a minivan pulls up. Moros diverts his attention from
Stephen and watches. The minivan stops. The front doors open and
Bruce and Elpis step out.

The sight of Elpis surprises Moros. To give her a
little gift, Moros holds the palm of his hand toward the minivan and, with a
flick of his wrist, sends it hurling high into the air. Moros instantly
turns and runs off, leaving Stephen behind.

Stephen stares in horror at the minivan soaring into the air,
hundreds of feet high. He could hear the screams from inside. In
mere seconds, it would crash to the ground and kill everyone inside.
Instinctually, to block the sun from blinding his eyes, Stephen holds his hand
above his head. The minivan jerks around and freezes in midair.

Mikey is pressed against the window and stares at the world
below. His heart is racing and, somehow, the vehicle is now hovering in
midair. Everyone inside stares at each other, wondering if they will all
be dead in a matter of seconds.

Elpis stares at Stephen. She looks at the minivan and
back at Stephen again. What she figures is shocking: Stephen is holding
the minivan in the air! How? Elpis lifts her hands into the
air. “Stephen, lower your hand!”

Stephen complies and Elpis gains control of the minivan and
carefully lowers it. Stephen looks back and sees that Moros is
gone. He looks at the minivan as it securely lands on the street.
Everyone seems to be fine and leading the way out is Mikey. Eager to
catch Moros, Stephen runs away from Bruce and Elpis.

“What just happened?” Bruce asks Elpis.

“I have no idea,” she responds.

Bruce helps the last to exit, Chad and Sean, pull
themselves out of the minivan. “Is everyone okay?” Bruce asks. Upon
examining everyone’s faces, they appear to be fine.

Stephen sprints as fast as he can behind Moros. He
can see him in the distance, but barely. All he needs to see is Moros’s
blue backpack, which he targets and relentlessly chases. They dash
between houses and down a long narrow pathway. Moros stops in his tracks,
steps into a circle of wooden sticks, and faces Stephen. A ring of fire
flares up around Moros. He slyly waves to Stephen, who doesn’t halt his
pursuit. As Stephen gets closer to him, a black force field encapsulates
Moros. This surprises Stephen, but not enough to make him stop. By
the time he reaches the black force field, it vanishes.

Stephen stops. The circle of fire blazes in front of
his feet. “Screw it,” he mumbles. Stephen boldly jumps into the circle
of fire. Beneath his feet, he sees an X formation haphazardly strung
together with sticks and doused in water. Just as he notices it, he is
surrounded by blackness. It is the same type of blackness Moros was in.

The black force field vanishes, and with it, the circle of
fire.

Lisa and Campbell hesitantly open the front door of Lisa’s
house and walk outside. They spot everyone mingling around the
minivan.

Lisa and Campbell join the others and approach Bruce.
“Hi, Lisa.”

Campbell asks for both of them, “What’s happening?”

“We came to get you out of here. But Stephen’s
catching cars in the air and…”

“He brought Lisa back to life,” Campbell interrupts.

Lisa quivers her eyebrows at Campbell’s shocking
statement. He did what?

Kristen leaps forward and hugs Lisa, her old
roommate. “It’s great to see you,” she whispers. Mikey stands in
awe at
the
Lisa Binsby.

Mr. Ixley asks, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Where’s Stephen?”

Bruce replies, “He ran after Moros,”

Elpis steps forward, “I should help him. Moros will
kill him easily.”

“Guys,” Natalie says, pointing in the distance, “You should
see this.”

Everyone looks in the direction of Natalie’s
pointing. Walking in the middle of the street is a man with a trimmed
beard and short, brown hair. He appears to be in his mid-40’s and walks
confidently toward them. Natalie recognizes him: it’s Zeno, the archangel
that appeared to her in the church.

Zeno approaches the group. “Hello!” he yells as he
walks closer to them, “My name is Zeno. Some of you know me
already.” He smiles at Natalie and Elpis. “I am an archangel.
But I am not an ‘angel’. It is simply a designation, given to us by the
people of Earth. I am merely an individual, just like you. Only I
come from another planet, Raqiya. The time has come for all of you to
learn the truth.” Zeno passes his eyes over the intrigued and equally
confused group. “After today, we will all be more than friends. We
will have a special job. And for me to explain to you what that is, there
is something you need to understand about Stephen Pandora.” Zeno glances
at Elpis. “It is something that not even you know about, Elpis.”

Bruce, defensive for his friend, asks, “How could you
possibly know anything about him?”

“Because…” Zeno says,

“…he is my son.”

Stephen is surrounded by blackness. All he can do is
wonder what he’s gotten himself into. He should have stayed with
Lisa. No. He did what he had to do. Moros tried to kill
her. He
did
kill her. Stephen wonders: did he really bring
Lisa back to life?

The blackness around him disappears and he falls onto his
feet. In front of him is Moros walking away,
on water
.
Stephen looks around. In front of him and behind him are two green,
tree-covered mountains. The sun above shines brightly, enhancing the
colors and creating a painting-like atmosphere. In front of him is a
large, sprawled out lake whose water is especially blue. The bright sky
offers a magnificent view of cloudy, white inflated imagery. Moros peers
over his shoulder and is stunned to see Stephen behind him.

Stephen asks, “Who are you, Moros?”

“I think the better question, Stephen, is who are
you
?”
Moros glares at Stephen’s feet.

Stephen looks beneath him and sees that he too, is standing
on water, in the middle of the lake. Moros continues, “You just used an
Occor, a transportation tool for traveling between locations on Earth.
The only ones who are able to use Occors are the people of Raqiya.” Moros
is dumbfounded, but Stephen, even more so. Stephen lifts his foot.
Water drips from his shoes and into the lake. Stephen looks at the
village outlying the lake around him. There are sparsely few houses
scattered about. They are small farming homes and many of them contain
animals like goats and chickens. The entire town, nested in this valley
of mountains, has a simple, rural feel to it. “Where are we?” Stephen
asks.

“Lungern. Switzerland. It’s beautiful, isn’t
it? It reminds me of my home.” Moros gingerly steps toward Stephen in
the middle of the vast lake. “I must say, I don’t understand how you are
standing right now.” Moros drifts close enough to Stephen to where they
can peer into each other’s eyes. “Your eyes,” Moros says, “are unusually
bright.”

Stephen retorts, “And yours are dark as death.”

Moros chuckles. “Of course. It appears we are
opposites, doesn’t it?”

Stephen and Moros deeply stare. Stephen asks, “So
everything you’ve done, helping us at the University, all that research,
killing Lisa… it was all so you can destroy everything?”

“And recruiting Ronnie and Matt, manipulating the
Xlympians, and killing Sara Ixley. You see…” Moros gets closer to
Stephen, to where a whisper would suffice. “…long ago my son was killed
here on Earth. He came to help. But they killed him anyway.
And quite frankly, I haven’t seen anything to justify helping such a pitiful
race of beings whose only pleasure derives from killing. Wars, massacres,
genocides… it doesn’t end. The Universe is simply unsafe as long as you
are around.”

Stephen stares into his statue-like empty eyes and
declares, “I’m still going to kill you.”

Before Moros has a chance to react, Stephen clenches his
fist and sends it roaring into Moros’s face. The impact echoes like
thunder and sends Moros flying backwards. He soars several yards and
splashes into the water. Stephen runs across the lake and peers into the
water, desperately searching for Moros.

Is he dead?

Like a torpedo, Moros comes flying out of the water and
uppercuts Stephen under the jaw. As Stephen flails in the air, Moros
calmly lands on his feet. Moros holds out the palm of his hand and
attempts to rip Stephen to shreds, as he so easily did with the members of the
committee. To his surprise, he can’t do it. His internal attacks
are useless. Just who is Stephen Pandora, anyway?

Zeno continues telling his story to everyone. “When
Moros destroyed the committee, they had to regroup. I, along with many
others, was invited to join. And because of the mistake they made with
Moros, things were different.”

Stephen splashes into the water. Frantically, he
kicks and swims his way to the surface. Looking out, he can see Moros
running on the lake, away from him and into a forest, the opposite direction of
the village. Stephen swims in place. How does he get out?
Stephen swings his arms around and tries to push himself. He can’t do
it. He looks at Moros; he’s getting smaller as he runs toward the
forest. Stephen pauses. Focus. He closes his eyes and
visualizes. Get out of the water. Stephen tries again to get out of
the water. It doesn’t work. He yells in frustration. He’s
going to lose Moros! He closes his eyes. Relax. Focus.
He sees Lisa, the only thing that ever made him truly happy. Her green
eyes. Her
smile
. Confidence swells within. Now get out
of the water. He pushes and practically floats upward. His feet
land on the lake like a simple surface.

Stephen smirks.

And takes off running. The water splashes behind him
as his feet pound away. He heads straight for the forest Moros
disappeared into. “Let’s speed this up,” Stephen utters. Instantly,
each push of his leg propels him forward like never before. Water blasts
behind him with every step and he darts across the lake like a rocket.

As he enters the forest, he finds himself in a cavern of
inwardly bent trees. Light seeps through and reflects off the gentle
stream seeping back to the lake. Large boulders coupled with pebbles line
the way through the forest. Stephen runs through, jumping from rock to rock,
defying gravity with every leap. Finally, he catches Moros, who hurdles
through the forest in front of him. Stephen raises his hand and points
his palm at a boulder.

And lifts it.

Effortlessly, Stephen catapults the ton-weighing boulder
straight toward Moros, who turns around just in time. Moros lifts his own
palm and redirects its path to the side. The boulder crashes through the
trees.

Moros continues his trek through the boulder-filled forest,
hopping and running through. Like a cheetah chasing his prey, Stephen
moves at blinding speeds through the rocks to catch him.

Moros darts through an opening in the tunnel of trees and
disappears into the daylight. In front of him is a tall waterfall
pounding onto the rocks. Moros looks up toward the top of the waterfall and
is tackled and ripped to the ground by his backpack. Stephen and Moros
crash to the rocks and slide under the waterfall.

The water collapses on them, restricting their vision and
drenching them. Stephen stands up and stares at Moros, who picks himself
up from the ground. Stephen yells over the sound of the rushing water,
“Stop running from me!”

Moros stops to catch his breath. “You can’t kill
me! No matter what you do, eventually, I will destroy Earth!”

Stephen stares at Moros as the water rushes down his
face. “You’re wrong about us! For every evil in the world, there is
a good, fighting to stop it.”

Moros bends over and rests on one knee. “I don’t
care! I’m going to kill all your friends!” Moros extends his legs
and jumps hundreds of feet through the waterfall and soars to the top of the
cliff.

Zeno, talking to Stephen’s friends, continues, “Over two
thousand years after Jesus, with the light dimming in the world, the committee needed
to send another. Gabriel came to me and asked me to do what Moros had
done: become a Father to a son. I extended the palm of my hand to
his. I gave my light so that he may use it for an immaculate
conception. It resulted in the birth of Stephen Pandora-half human, half
‘angel’.”

Stephen stares up at the waterfall. He doesn’t know
if he can jump that high. Thinking quickly, he points his palm at one of
the boulders resting on the gentle river. The boulder lifts and floats
toward him. He lowers his hand and it stays afloat. Shouldn’t it
have fallen with his hand? Confused, Stephen points his hand at the
boulder and drops his hand again. It stays floating in front of
him. “I don’t need my hands,” Stephen realizes. He climbs atop the
boulder and, using sheer will, sends it flying upwards. As he scales the
waterfall, he stands tall. Moros watches in disbelief.

Stephen floats to the edge of the waterfall. Residual
water sprays at him and the wind blows at his face. Moros paces near him
and smiles. “You want to play that game?”

Moros holds out his hand and a boulder flies out from below
the waterfall and zips up toward him. Moros easily jumps onto it, giving
him a flying base of his own. Moros holds his hand toward Stephen’s
boulder and, in a flash, they both rocket through the sky at dizzying speeds.

Stephen grips on to his boulder and looks below. They
are ascending up the side of the mountain. The trees whiz by. Green
fades to white and, within seconds, Stephen finds himself at the summit of the
mountain, with snow blowing around with the wind. Moros waves his hand
and flings Stephen’s boulder from under his feet. Stephen falls onto his
back and the boulder tumbles down the side of the mountain. The icy snow
is piercing; the air is thick and fuzzy to see through.

Moros leaps off his boulder and hurls it toward Stephen,
who lifts his hand and halts it. He hurls it aside and lodges it into the
snow.

Stephen is weary and struggles to get up. Moros slams
Stephen into the snow and grips his neck. White winds swirl around them
and snow coats their skin. As he starts to lose consciousness, Stephen
stares into Moros’s dark, empty eyes. Moros clenches his teeth as he
violently squeezes Stephen’s neck. It’s hard to breathe. There’s no
easy way to get out of this. Stephen closes his eyes. He’s about to
give up. But visions of Lisa fill his mind: her
smile
, the
feel of her hands in his, the feel of her lips. Then, he sees even
more. His best friend, Bruce. His friend, Kristen. His new
nephew, Mikey. Campbell. Vince. Natalie. Mr.
Ixley. Even Chad and Sean. All his life he has felt
abandoned. But no more. He is no longer forsaken. Now, he has
all he could ask for: his friends.

Stephen’s eyes fly open. To Moros’s surprise, Stephen
forces a smile. The harder he squeezes, the more Stephen smiles.
The light in Stephen’s blue eyes is brighter than Moros can handle.
Entranced, he can’t help but stare into them. It is brighter than
Elpis’s. Brighter than the Virgin Mary’s. It is even equal to that
of Jesus’s. Stephen defiantly stares into his eyes, blinding him with
light. Moros can’t take it anymore. He lets go of his neck and
stumbles into the snow. Stephen calmly stands up and stares at Moros, who
scrambles away.

Moros unlodges the boulder out of the snow and smoothly
directs it under his feet. Leaping on it, he floats above Stephen and
extends his arms. The blue sky above morphs into blackness. The
white clouds transform into thunderous clouds that instantly unleash gallons of
rain.

Stephen leaps high into the air at Moros. At that
exact moment, Moros rips the boulder under his feet upwards, taking Stephen
with him. It rips into the stratosphere at hundreds of miles per
hour. Stephen struggles to maintain his balance as the rain pelts into
him like bullets. Below, he can see the very mountain they just stood on
become miniaturized in size; it starts to look like a toy model. They are
traveling at astronomical speeds.

Moros shouts over the blazing winds and rain, “You are
impressive, Stephen! But as bright as the light shines in you, the
darkness dawns in me!”

“Then I guess there’s nothing left to do!” Stephen’s
launches himself at Moros and tackles him, taking them far off the
boulder. High above the mountains, they soar through the air and begin a
freefall toward the lake below. From Stephen’s perspective, the village
looks like tiny dots speckled next to the lake. His face stretches back
with the furious winds. He looks out and sees the long drops of rain
falling around him.

Moros shouts over the deafening winds, “You’ve done it
now!” He rears back his fist and slams it into Stephen’s face, causing
him to tumble and flip away.

Stephen contorts and flails helplessly as he plummets
downward. He extends his arms and adjusts his freefall. Looking
down, Stephen can see the lake and the village slowly getting larger.
It’s time to make a bold move.

Stephen focuses on the trees of the mountain. With
his mind, he rips several out of the ground and lines them up on the surface of
the water below.

Moros stares at the trees on the lake. What is
Stephen doing? Moros points his palm at one of them and tries to pull it
close.

“No!” Stephen yells. He soars toward Moros and
collides with him mid-air. They spin around relentlessly. Stephen
wraps his arms around him. “You’re not going anywhere!” Stephen
holds Moros and angles them headfirst toward the water, dropping straight like
a bomb. As the wind blasts against them, Stephen stares at the trees he’s
compiled on the water. Using his mind, he rips them into pieces.
With them, he assembles a huge X on the water and surrounds it with a
circle. The structure stays into place with Stephen’s focus.

“What are you doing?! You can’t possibly think this
is going to work!”

“We’ll see!” Stephen yells. Moros struggles to free
himself, prompting Stephen to squeeze even tighter.

They flash toward the water at impossible speeds. A
ring of fire springs out of the lake and surrounds the huge Occor. This
is it. A thin black layer surrounds them. It’s working! The
black force field becomes thicker. Stephen and Moros are seconds away
from colliding with the lake. Closer and closer, they rocket downward
until Stephen can practically lick the surface.

Zeno says to everyone, “Stephen Pandora was conceived and
born just as Jesus Christ was. In this sense, he is indeed the ‘Second
Coming’. More importantly, he is the last chance for humanity before the
committee makes their Second Judgment. Every soul has a choice: light or
darkness. He must spread light across the world. And if you accept
and believe what I have told you, we will help him. And we will all
become…” Zeno looks at the eleven faces staring back at him.