The Sons of Destiny (The Reluctant Hero Trilogy Book 3) (4 page)

CHAPTER SIX

Daniel

When Yasmeen raised her head, she showed her first signs of vulnerability to Daniel since he had met her. Her eyes were puffy and drenched in tears. They reminded him of those paintings with the big-eyed children. “How can I be of assistance to you?”

He almost thought she was going to reach out to him and him only. The look she gave him, made him feel that maybe he could help her. He could be her champion. Her eyes moistened, but she did not answer. Instead, she turned cold.

It did not take long for him to realize that she did not intend to be befriended. He opened his mouth to speak. “It’s a shame that—”

He was stopped by a piercing pain in his body. A swift kick to an unmentionable place and Daniel was doubled over, trying to hold in a scream. The pain was intense. He clenched his fist to punch her when he looked up and saw Yasmeen grab the tube with the shroud. She laughed hideously, as if she had just been sentenced to death and decided to have fun with it. “You kicked me, you witch. Don’t do it again.”

She was definitely not all there mentally.

Realization of how she hit him made him think seriously about escaping. He watched closely as she removed the shroud from its shield of protection, and glared at it. Her left hand trembled, as she slowly placed it over the bare artifact and closed her eyes. She waited for… something. Something never came.

She opened her eyes in surprise. Anger replaced astonishment and she chucked the shroud against the wall. She glared at Daniel. “Why haven’t I gone to where the female peasant went? Are you deliberately stopping me from performing my magic?”

“No!” Daniel shouted back as he managed to stand. “I’ve had about enough out of you, though! Maybe you could get away with this kind of action in the place where you came from, but you’re not getting away with it here! Not with me!”

She had a smirk on her face as she slowly approached him with her hands behind her back. “I saw your eyes, mortal. You craved to be my hero. For that brief moment, you would have done anything I asked of you, even if it meant betraying your peasant friend. You are too easy to control and are therefore no more fun to play with.”

He knew by the look in her eyes that she was crazy. If he thought he was going to be able to help her, he knew differently at that moment. She was evil. As long as they both were alive, they would be enemies.

She tilted her head slightly and grimaced. “You are right about one thing, peasant. I won’t be getting anything done around here with you worshiping me.”

“Wait! That’s not what I said…” He stopped talking and frowned. It was no use. Maybe he originally wanted to help her, but not worship her.

Before he could say anything more, she turned toward the Hive members who were finishing up moving her treasures out of the cavern. “Members of the Hive of Baal! Hear your queen and stop what you’re doing this instant!”

Daniel saw that they were all controlled by her voice; all at the same time. They did exactly what she commanded and watched her to await further instructions. They lived to serve her.

She turned back and looked Daniel in the eye. With a smirk, she attempted to show her power over him. “My loyal followers,” she said while still glaring at Daniel. She raised one finger and pointed at him accusingly. “He is an impostor! I am the queen of Israel—Queen Jezebel. My heart breaks that my beloved King Ahab is not here with me. This liar played on my feelings and used me to get to my treasure! He is no royalty! Destroy him!”

Daniel’s heart sank, as he looked around trying to remember exactly what Magena did that enabled her to disappear. He didn’t have much time, as he saw the minions carefully place the treasure down on the golden slab and retrieve their weapons. That bought him about 30 seconds. Maybe 40.

He knew that Magena touched the shroud the same way that Yasmeen had. He also figured out that was only part of what he needed to do to leave the cavern without getting killed.

His eyes darted to the shroud, then to the treasure as instinct took over. He grabbed the shroud and quickly stuffed it back into the tube. He then looked in the cave past Yasmeen and tightened his lips. He knew what to do.

He finally figured out that Magena touching the shroud was only part of her escape. He was ashamed that it took him so long to figure it out. Daniel ran as fast as he could, straight toward the queen with the tube held tightly in his hand.

He realized that Magena had no idea what she was doing when she disappeared anyway. He was going into the plan fully aware that it may fail, so he realized the outcome could be different.

Yasmeen cringed as he got close to her. He saw some of the Hive members approaching from behind her. He winked at her and grabbed her hand before she could react. Running full speed, while dragging the wanna-be queen (who was fighting him all the way), he made his way to the magic slab where the treasure lay. He grabbed the closest piece of her treasure. It was a closed golden box.

Holding it brought him into a state of realization. It had a power unknown to him. After that, everything seemed to be going in slow motion for Daniel. He was still in Yasmeen’s space, and could not figure out why.

The Hive of Baal was hot on his tail.

He used his momentum to swing his captive toward her oncoming entourage, buying him enough time to catch his balance and open the chest. He peered into the now open chest and immediately placed his hand on the golden coins he saw scattered in there.

He then looked up at the horde of creatures who wished to do him evil, as they rushed toward him.

He glared at the imposters. “Hey, Hive guys! This is either going to work or you guys are going to make sure I don’t try anything else. If I wasn’t a king, would I be able to do this?”

He waited for a brief moment as the horde surrounded him. His timing was definitely off, but it didn’t stop him from still trying. The blurry vision faded, as he realized something horrible.

If what he did was going to work, which it seemed like it was doing, then he may have inadvertently just given Yasmeen a clue as to how to follow him to find Magena, to wherever she was.

He gulped. Closing his eyes, he could imagine the expressive smile on Magena’s face, just before she left. Then he started to laugh because he realized that she must have touched both the shroud and the treasure, but not necessarily at the same time. His laugh quieted, as he concentrated.

Leaning against the spot on the wall where he last saw Magena, he felt himself fade out of the cave and the area into darkness. He was gone before any Hive could lay a hand on him.

He then realized that if Yasmeen touched the shroud, like he did, she may get out, too. But that was up to her. Since she had already touched the shroud and the jewels before, she only needed to press on the wall.

Daniel realized that there was more than enough treasure at her feet to instigate her own disappearance or stay inside the virtual world.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Magena

She smiled as she opened her eyes wide. She discovered that she was sitting in the most comfortable bed she had ever been in. That woke her up completely. She called out loudly, “Where am I?”

Levi ran over to her and clasped her hands. She saw that he also had on black slacks with a black turtleneck, just like Reuben was wearing when he rescued her. Levi looked worried. “It’s about time, Magena. We are waiting for you, because we still have to find Daniel.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been out for almost three days! Now that you are alert, you have to get up and move around!”

“Are we going to find Daniel?”

“You’re not well enough yet. But we have been looking for him.” He patted her cheek. “Do you have any clues?”

She looked around the room with beige walls, loaded with crosses and paintings of Jesus. She could smell some kind of incense. It smelled like burning oak or pine. “May I get some water?” she asked while smacking her dry lips together. “I’m parched. Do you have anything to drink?”

Reuben appeared out of nowhere and handed her a bottle of water. “I was ready. I knew you’d be thirsty.”

“Where am I?” Her eyes teared up. “Please tell me where I am.”

“Better yet, we’ll show you.” Reuben smiled. “If you think you are strong enough, Levi can take you for a walk around the campus. Get you acquainted with it.”

“What about Daniel?”

“Magena,” Levi said, with a stern tone. “While you’re walking, I’m going to catch you up to speed about Daniel and his father. It is complicated. Try to follow along as best as you can.”

She gulped down a long drink from the bottle, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and then looked at Levi.

“Alright Mr. Sunshine, I’ll go with you.”

“My name is Levi. I am a descendant of the Biblical patriarch, Levi.” He smiled.

“Wow! I don’t know if my mind can take in any more. I swear if I find out that this is still part of the virtual world or there was no virtual world at all, then I don’t know what I’ll do.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Do you hear me, God? I need some reality here before I go crazy! Thank you in advance.”

She knew just by what she heard coming out of her mouth that she was definitely not herself. She didn’t sound like herself at all. That thought frightened her and made her grimace.

Levi and Reuben laughed.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Levi added. “I can assure you that you were being tested for the virtual world for the past several weeks, but you are in the real world now and safe.”

Reuben agreed and sat down beside Magena with a smile on his face. He clasped her hand. “We have been fighting evil for longer than I can remember and…”

Levi placed a hand gently on Reuben’s shoulder and slowly shook his head while biting his lower lip.

Reuben nodded, lost the smile and stood up. “I’ll tell you more later. You should listen to Levi. He is the religious one and knows how much and what to tell you so you don’t freak out. I know that we shouldn’t overload you with too much information right now. Just remember that you are with the good guys at present. If you need anything, just let Levi know and he will help you. I’ll be back. Gotta go.”

As Reuben left the small room, Levi made eye contact with him, like sending him a message. After he left the room, Levi said, “There’s plenty of time to learn about Dante. Right now, we will take a lap around our complex. Suffice it to say that we want what you want, and we can help you get it. Are you ready to take the tour?”

“Yes.” She nodded her head rapidly. He got two jackets out of a closet and helped her into one. Putting the other on himself, he clasped her hand. Walking out of the office, she said, “One question. The first of many. I had an incredible sensitivity to sound when I awakened in the warehouse. When Reuben was rescuing me, I realized I still had the same problem. Is it me?”

He let out a disappointed sigh. “No. It’s not just you. I’m afraid that is one of the many problems with virtual reality. The program appears so realistic, that whatever happens to you there, leaves an impact on you here.”

“Will it go away?”

“I don’t know.”

“So it is so much bigger than us.”

“It is connected to the supernatural. We only know by reading the Bible.”

“How so?”

“The image that will be worshiped during the tribulation.” He sighed. “It will be like a hologram.”

Levi led Magena out the back door of the main office building into the walled-in complex. A gold-plated place of worship was in front of them. Magena’s mouth flew open. “That is beautiful.”

“It is our religious community house; our place of worship,” said Levi. “This is the center for all Messianic Jewish activity.”

“That is wonderful.” She laughed softly.

“Other Jewish groups rent it from time to time. The synagogue is the Jewish equivalent of a church building,” he said. “It’s a place of prayer, Bible study and education.”

“What about social activities? Do you use it as a social center for charitable work?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes, we have those as well. But they meet in the building in the back. We have a gymnasium for basketball games. Our team rates pretty high in the league.”

Tall apartment buildings lined both sides of the street. They walked along a street among the dwellings. Each apartment building had a sign above the door of one of the Sons of Destiny. “What are these?” she asked.

“The descendants of Jacob occupy them. We all have to take DNA testing to prove what tribe we belong to.”

“You mean like the Jews?”

“They are more than just Jews. They are Israelis that have returned to Israel from all over the world.” He chuckled. “To be technical, Jews are really from Judah.”

“The names above the doors are all the names of the tribes of Israel. Are all twelve represented here?”

“Yes. But the Sons of Destiny that live in these apartments are different. They are followers of the Messiah, Jesus. We must remain sexually pure.”

“So you don’t have children.”

“Never will. You have great observation skills.”

“Can you explain that for me?”

“Twelve of us arrived here on the same military plane. It did not take long for us to see that we were all named after our own ancestors. Like Reuben comes from the tribe of Reuben.”

“And you are a Levite. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean you are a religious leader? Priests in the Old Testament were all Levites. Right?”

“Yes. In a sense.” He paused and studied her face like he was surprised that she knew that much about the history of the Israelis. “I’m not from a line of priests though.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“For me personally, it is good. My job isn’t as hard as being a priest. Although there are priests that belong to our order. They minister to all the Israelis that come here from around the world.”

“So, how did you get started?”

“Once we saw that twelve of us bore the names of our tribal leaders in Genesis, we knew that God was up to something. So, we had to organize.”

“So it was a miracle?”

“I believe so.”

The two walked to the corner and turned left. There was another turn down a few blocks to turn left again. “This is the same layout as the tabernacle in the desert, isn’t it?”

“It sure is. There are three tribes on each side of the temple. Of course, Judah is front-middle.”

“Why is that?”

“We think the Messiah will come from his tribe.”

One more turn took them back to the front of the complex where the synagogue stood glowing. “How strange,” said Magena. “Does that trail mean something?”

Levi laughed. “You saw that this is the same layout that the Tabernacle had in the wilderness. There is no other explanation. It is one way we keep each other safe.”

“So each tribe has their own leader by the name of the tribe, and each tribe has their own section of housing.”

“Correct.” He clasped her arm. “Do you now think you can feel safe here among us?”

“Oh yes.” She showed excitement in her voice. “Very much so.”

“We need to start walking toward the office now. Reuben should be returning soon.”