Rise Of The Dreamer (13 page)

Nero laughed. “Is that all you can do? Some dreamer you are. You are totally weak.”

Dennis concentrated more on his thoughts.
Lightning strike, lightning strike.
Immediately, lightning struck one of the riflemen and he was immediately turned into black ashes.

There was a look of genuine surprise on Nero’s face.
“Impressive, but not strong enough.”

Dennis screamed, “Earthquake!!!” The ground began to shake terribly and the earth opened up and swallowed two more rifle men with the two remaining executioners barely escaping.

Nero laughed his demonic laughter. “Now we’re talking.” Nero brought down his sword and said, “Fire.” The two remaining riflemen fire the rifles at Dennis who was still tied to the stake.

Just as the executioners fire the rifles at Dennis, he screams “Wind!!!” Before the bullets could reach his chest, a strong and mighty wind blows the bullets away and carries off the two remaining executioners.

Unlike the five executioners, Nero was too strong for Dennis. He was able to resist the strong winds that Dennis created. “Now that is just plain annoying.” Without wasting time, Nero flies towards Dennis with his sword aimed at Dennis’s heart.

Before Nero could reach him, Dennis screams “Tornado!!” and immediately, a massive tornado lifts Nero and Dennis of the ground pulling the stake that Dennis was tied to out of the ground. Both Dennis and Nero are caught up in the massive tornado.

A struggle ensues between Dennis and Nero, but Nero is very experienced and is able to easily have the upper hand. He cuts Dennis several times until Dennis is extremely weak and bloodied. In a last ditch attempt to save himself, Dennis makes a shield materialise between himself and Nero, but Nero cuts through it and destroys it completely. Nero plunges the sword into Dennis’s chest and it comes out through the back. Nero smiles wickedly as he twists the sword and pulls it out of Dennis’s chest. The tornado, rainstorm, lightning and thunder stops immediately and all becomes calm again. Nero allows the very weak and dying Dennis to fall to the ground from a high distance above the earth.

Within moments Dennis dies and Nero flies away. Just at that moment, Joshua and the others get there, but they are too late, Dennis is already dead.

All the while during the dream, Dennis was going into shock at the hospital and he was having multiple organ failure. The doctors battled to save his life, but the moment Nero thrust the sword in him and he died in the dream, his physical body also died in the hospital. The doctors couldn’t save his life. SSA Gates was immediately notified of Dennis’s demise and he came around within an hour and ordered that Dennis’s remains be deposited in the hospital mortuary.

            Dennis remembered the last few moments before he was killed by Nero. One moment he was alive, the next moment he wasn’t. He felt like crying, but he couldn’t. His whole life had gone without him doing the things he wanted to do. He felt unfulfilled and this made him very sad.        

            He briefly watched as the doctors tried to revive him. He watched as they covered his body with a white cloth indicating that he had died and there was nothing more that could be done to revive him.

            He floated around the room, but no one could see or hear him. He was definitely dead and there was nothing he could do about it. He felt like touching or talking to them, but it just wasn’t possible. This was too much for him to bear.

When he had finished mourning his own death, he felt an upward force pull him up at
  such
an unfathomable indescribable speed that all he could see was streaks of white light. He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew he was being taken up over a long distance in a very short while. He arrived at his destination in under a second and what he saw next baffled him.

He found himself inside a court room styled room. The
colour of the walls were
white and the room was very bright. At the judge’s bench sat a handsome man wearing a white rather than black robe. He had white hair and white beard not because he was
old,
in fact he looked young and fresh.

He sat at a counsel table, next to him sat a man in a well-tailored immaculate suit. At the other counsel table was sitting a man in a black suit.

“What is this place?” asked Dennis.

“This is where you get judged after you die, we decide what should happen to you here.”

“What?” Dennis asked.

“By the way, I’m your counsel,” said the man offering to shake Dennis’s hand.

“And who is that?” asked Dennis shaking the counsel’s hand then pointing at the man in the black suit.

“He’s the prosecutor, more appropriately your accuser.”

“Accuser?” asked Dennis. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t worry, I’m your advocate. I can make The Judge see things my way. He always listens to me.”

Dennis felt warm and glad about his counsel’s assurance. “What’s your name?” asked Dennis.

“The name’s Emmanuel, you can also call me your advocate.”

“Let’s proceed.” said The Judge. “Do you know why you’re here Dr Riley?”

“I’m not sure.”

“To simply put it, we’re here to decide whether you go to heaven or hell.”

“No kidding?” asked Dennis.

“The prosecution can make their statement now,” said The Judge.

The accuser in the black suit stands up and walks to the front of the bench. “Thank you your honour. Dr Riley here is a failure. He deserves no good reward. The only reward he deserves is punishment. He failed to use the gifts given to him, and many who should have benefited from his gifts will now suffer. My argument is simple, he never fully aligned himself with the authority,
your
authority your honour. He stood on the fence until he got killed. He did what was convenient for
himself
, he did only what he liked. When last has he prayed, apart from the time he was being transported from the court house? I strongly move that he be sent to outer darkness where he will be punished for all eternity.”  The accuser then goes back to his seat.

“The defence please,” said The Judge.

“Your honour, on behalf of Dr Riley, I ask for mercy and leniency. What the accuser has said is true, but I ask for grace to be given to Dr Riley. I believe he has missed his opportunity and he is quite remorseful.”

Dennis nods vigorously.

The advocate continues speaking. “He departed earth too early before his appointed time. I strongly believe if he had more time, he would have changed his ways completely. Look at the fact he did his best to ensure that all those lives in the new mall were saved from a horrible untimely death at the hands of the Soul Mongers, putting himself at risk of reprisal attacks from the enemy that eventually resulted in his death. Your honour, it is within your power to give him a second chance. It’s not too late for him to make good use of the gifts given to him in order to redeem
himself
. I rest my case.”

The Judge looked at Dennis for a brief moment which seemed like an eternity for Dennis. “This is my judgement. In light of the facts presented before me at this moment, I have decided to give Dr Riley a second chance. Besides, he is yet to finish his term on earth, so his death was premature. I hereby rule that Dr Dennis Riley be returned back to continue with his life in order for him to fulfil his purpose and that he should start with his first task.”

“What task?” asked Dennis looking at The Judge, then Emmanuel and then back to The Judge.

The Judge continued. “You will go and rescue a man who has been held in bondage by the Soul Mongers for twenty years now. He has been in a coma for this same time period, but his soul has been locked up in Babylon. If you can release him from Babylon, he will immediately wake up from his coma.”

“What or where
is Babylon
?” asked Dennis.

“It’s a city in the Spirit Dimension and several million souls dwell there, it is just as real and organised as your physical world,” said Emmanuel.

Dennis was briefly shocked and quickly recovered. “Who is this man?”

“Your father,” said The Judge.

“I think there is a mistake here,” said Dennis. “My father, Miles Riley has been dead for seven years now.”

“Miles Riley adopted you at your biological father’s request. He did it in order to protect you. Your biological father’s name is Peter Owen,” said Emmanuel.

“What?” Dennis was mildly annoyed.

“Dennis Riley,” called The Judge. “Do you agree to do this task?”

Dennis stood up. “Yes your honour.”

A hospital orderly was whistling as he was pushing Dennis’s lifeless corpse down the hospital hallway on his way to the morgue. He had done this run thousands of times and dead bodies didn’t give him the creeps anymore. Dennis’s body was covered with a white cloth so that no one would see his lifeless face.

He stops at an elevator, pushes the elevator button and waits for the elevator door to open. Another hospital staff also waits next to him for the elevator door to open. While the orderly was waiting, his head was bowed down fiddling with his mobile phone. Then he hears a sneeze. He looks up at the other female nurse and says “God bless you.”

“What?” asks the
nurse.

“I said God bless you when you sneezed just now.”

“I didn’t sneeze.”

The orderly was a bit confused. He could have sworn he heard her sneeze. He decided to drop it until he heard another sneeze. “Did you hear that?” he asked the nurse, “Because I didn’t sneeze”.

The nurse nodded and before she could open her mouth to say anything, they both heard a louder sneeze. The both realised at the same time that it was Dennis that was sneezing.

In a matter of moments the doctors and emergency staff were alerted. Dennis was immediately put back on life support and he was in a coma. The doctors were baffled, they didn’t know what to say, and they had no answers. One moment, Dennis was dead, the next moment he was alive but in a coma. What even baffled them the more was that Dennis had no brain damage, though he had been dead for over two hours. It was nothing short of a miracle. SSA Gates was immediately notified of the recent developments and he was just as surprised.

Dennis was placed in a special hospital room with 24 hours security and electronic surveillance. SSA Gates was going to have to wait before he could get his answers.

Dr Dennis Riley’s story continues in Dream Dimension: Escape from Babylon.