The Bright Eyes (The Soulless Ones Book 1)

by Leo E. Ndelle

  The scene then rewound itself to a few seconds prior to his arrival. And this was the first time Shi’mon had ever dared to witness, first-hand, the horrors of the day his family was taken away from him.

  It was a violent and devastating earthquake. Almost every building in Jerusalem was in ruin. Shi’mon witnessed as panic and fear seized his family as the earth shook in anger underneath their feet. It was the first time they and everyone else in Jerusalem had ever witnessed such fury from Mother Nature. Shi’mon saw the ground shake violently, and he heard Rania scream for him in her head. A few seconds later, in a last but futile gesture of motherly love and sacrifice, Rania had held her grandchildren close and tried to shield them from the collapsing walls of the butcher’s shop. Right before she and the rest of her family were crushed to death beneath the rubble of the shop, her final thought was the sound of his name.

  “So, tell me, my love,” Rania’s fury was so intense it could choke the life out of raging bull. “Where were you?!”

  She picked him up by the throat with one hand and slammed him on the ground. Shi’mon did not resist. He was already defeated by his guilt and wished he were dead already.

  “No, no, no, my love!” Rania exclaimed, shaking her head as she picked him up to his feet. “You will answer me before you die!”

  Rania kicked him in the groin with such brute force that Shi’mon was lifted four feet in the air before he crashed into the ground. The pain was unimaginable.

  “You put your foolish pride before you family!” she sneered as she walked towards him.

  “I am sorry,” Shi’mon spoke barely above a whisper.

  “Sorry?!” she snarled. “SORRY?! Is that all you can say, Mr. Leader? Are you going to sit there and feel sorry or are you going to be a man and do something about it?”

  “What is it you wish for me to do, my love?” Shi’mon asked weakly, still laying on the ground, “I cannot bring you all back to life.”

  “Did you hear me ask for that?” Rania snorted. “I want retribution! I want payback!”

  “Anything, my love!” Shi’mon pleaded, feeling spent and emotionally drained. “I will trade my life for yours, our children and grandchildren. I will give up the rest of eternity, everything I have and everything I am, to be with you all again.”

  “That’s very good to know,” she said, and an evil smile formed on her lips. “Because, here’s your opportunity! I’ll ask you again, why were you not there to save us?”

  “Because I was…,” he started saying and then stopped.

  He breathed in deeply and then continued.

  “Because I was seeking vengeance against Yehuda.”

  “Are you saying Yehuda is to blame for you not being there to save us that day?” Rania surmised.

  Subconsciously, Shi’mon had also blamed Yehuda for the death of his family and what Rania just said replaced his guilt and self-pity with renewed rage, fury, and lust for vengeance towards Yehuda like he had never felt before. And the best part of it all was that he, Shi’mon, was in the Shadow of the Soul. As such, his renewed sentiments towards Yehuda were multiplied a thousand-fold, which felt more appealing than forgiveness. Rania crouched next to him and brought her lips to his ear.

  “Yehuda is responsible for our deaths! Is he not, Shi’mon?” she insisted.

  “Yes, he is,” Shi’mon agreed.

  “So, what are you going to do about it?” Rania asked.

  “Yehuda must die a true death,” Shi’mon replied.

  “Then, my love, you should rejoice because you are in the right place,” she said seductively, turning her head to stare straight ahead before adding, “and time!”

  Shi’mon raised his head to follow her gaze. Everything in him went from black to something blacker than black when he saw what was ahead of him. Yehuda was standing around a hundred and twenty feet from them. Yehuda stared at them and smiled, but his smile quickly faded away. Rania inched closer until her lips just brushed Shi’mon’s earlobe.

  “Go get him, my love!” she whispered.

  “With pleasure!” Shi’mon replied.

  And with the speed of thought, Yehuda saw Shi’mon undergo a transformation from soulless to something beyond soulless, right before Shi’mon zipped towards him for the kill. Even though Yehuda knew that Shi’mon had already failed and had died the true death, he remained hopeful he could save his brother. This was going to be his hardest and final test in the Shadow of the Soul!

  “One down, one to go!” Rania said with a grin of victory as she morphed into Priya.

  This Priya, formerly Rania, turned towards the other Priya, who had just finished her apple. Both Priyas dissipated into a gray mist and slithered through the air until they merged and manifested into a single form.

  “Indeed!” Priya agreed and took a bite of an apple she had just made manifest.

  CHAPTER THIRTY: SEDUCING A SCORPION

  “Hush, my love! Just lie here and relax,” she said, cradling his head on her bosom.

  He could hear her heart beating against his temple, and her left breast blocked his vision. It was a feeling that Yehuda never grew tired of. Yehuda was fully relaxed as Miryam worked her magic on him.

  “I’ve missed you so much, Miri!” he said softly.

  He nestled against her bosom even more as he ran the fingers of his free hand along the protuberance in between her lower lips. Miryam parted her legs some more, to grant him full access. They closed their eyes and enjoyed the moment. Here, in the Shadow of the Soul, every feeling, including their lust, adult passion, and culmination, was multiplied a thousand-fold.

  “Two thousand years!” she replied. “But you’re here now, and that’s all I care about.”

  “I know this is not real, Miri,” Yehuda said and slowly peeled himself away from her body, stood up and stretched his muscles. “But while I am here, I might as well enjoy myself.”

  “Wow, my love,” Miryam said playfully, as she cooed over Yehuda’s chiseled body.

  She stood up from the bed, hugged him from behind and ran the fingers of her left hand over his chiseled chest and abs. He could feel her firm breasts press against his back. His breathing became erratic as he hardened and extended.

  “Is this what two thousand years of working out does to the human body,” she giggled like an excited school girl.

  They both burst into laughter and dove into another round of erotic ecstasy. They could have continued ad infinitum, but Yehuda remembered why he was here.

  “Remember when we first met, Yeh?” Miryam asked during their break time.

  “I do,” Yehuda replied as he returned to the bed and covered his body with the bed sheet.

  He first met Miryam at her father’s store one day when he had stopped to ask for directions. He introduced himself as Yehuda from the village of Keriyyoth. Miryam was the pride and joy of Benjamin of Magdala. Being the first child and defying all the social and patriarchal norms of the era, Benjamin had raised his daughter to be the heiress to his business, providing Miryam with the best possible education and training for success. Yehuda and Miryam had fallen in love within a few short visits, and sometime later, the couple was already talking about marriage. However, Yehuda was still a young man, who was trying to find his footing in the world. So, he had set off on a journey towards Egypt, in search of fortune, with a promise to return and marry Miryam after no more than two years. Unfortunately, Yehuda’s caravan was attacked by robbers. Miryam received word that Yehuda had perished. She was wrought with grief and mourned his death for a year.

  One day, however, a young man from Galilee came to her shop. The young man seemed to be wise and virtuous. It was love at first sight, and with Benjamin’s blessing, Yeshua and Miryam were wed to each other. But a few moons later, Yehuda had returned, only to find the love of his life already wed to another man. Yehuda was furious, jealous and very hateful, even though he knew he could neither blame Miryam nor Yeshua for his unwanted happenstance. Most of all, he had been even mor
e surprised that this man, Yeshua, had asked him, Yehuda, to become his apprentice. Yehuda had accepted especially after word had gone around that Yeshua was truly a wise man and a great teacher.

  Yehuda’s relationship with Miryam after that had been casual until the adultery began. The affair went on for almost two years, and during that time, Yehuda’s frustration mounted. His frustration turned to jealousy, and jealousy morphed slowly to hatred for his master. He had to eliminate the master somehow and have Miryam all to himself. And so, he had devised a plan to betray the master and let the high priest take it from there. Miryam would finally be his!

  “But your plan failed!” Miryam said as Yehuda buried his face in his hands and wept.

  “I was naïve and stupid, and I paid a high price,” he said as he wept. “All I wanted was to be with the one I loved. Now, I can only hope for Master’s forgiveness.”

  “But you can be here with me, my love,” Miryam cooed.

  “I could,” Yehuda said, standing up.

  The sheets fell from his torso to the white, marble floor revealing his naked body. He turned around to face Miryam.

  “But I know you are not my Miryam,” Yehuda added. “Besides, I let her go a long time ago. The sex was great and all, but I am on a mission and time is of the essence.”

  “Very well then,” said Miryam as she morphed to Priya, “the timing could not be better.”

  The scene changed, and Yehuda saw Shi’mon with someone who looked like Rania. He saw Shi’mon’s pain, guilt, shame, anger, and fury. He saw Shi’mon fail his test and he began to panic. He had to save Shi’mon somehow.

  “He’s gone already, Judas,” Priya’s voice had a malicious hiss in it. “And you know why he’s angry now, don’t you?”

  “I can still save him!” Yehuda rebutted.

  “He’s coming for you, Judas!” Priya insisted. “If he kills you here, you die! You said it yourself! You have a mission!”

  Priya inched towards him, the sheets falling from her body. She pressed her skin against his skin, but he made clothes manifest and cover his body. She smiled and stood next to him, her body now covered in a perfectly fitting white, silk dress.

  “The question now is,” she continued casually, “how far are you willing to go to protect the mission, Judas?”

  Yehuda knew what he may have to do in the end. To sacrifice a life to save billions more seemed like an easy price to pay. Shi’mon had failed his test, and failure in the Shadow of the Soul was true death. So, when Shi’mon zipped towards him, he was ready and returned the favor. The two Priyas from either camp looked at each other and smiled. The two Priyas dissipated into the air in a gray mist and coalesced into one. A chair came out of the floor as she eased herself into it.

  “Beautiful!” she muttered and grinned. “So beautiful!”

  Both apprentices had danced this dance countless times before. Each man could almost predict the other’s move before it happened, like a deadly game of chess. But Yehuda decided to change the rhythm. Instead of fighting back, he was neutralizing Shi’mon’s attacks. This made an angry Shi’mon much angrier.

  “We must stop fighting, brother!” Yehuda tried to reason with Shi’mon as he took a right sidestep when Shi’mon swung a left uppercut towards him.

  Yehuda turned his hips to the left and, using Shi’mon’s momentum, Yehuda placed his right knee as leverage on the back of Shi’mon’s left knee, and caught Shi’mon’s left forearm with his left hand. Then, applying pressure on Shi’mon’s left scapula with his right hand, Yehuda spun Shi’mon at almost a hundred and eighty degrees till Shi’mon was lying flat on his face on the white marble floor, unable to move.

  ‘“Master is dead because of you!” Shi’mon snarled and glared at the ground, wishing it was Yehuda’s face he was glaring at. “My wife, children and grandchildren died because of you!”

  He struggled to break free, but Yehuda pinned him down even harder.

  “No brother!” Yehuda tried to speak calmly. “I did not kill Master, and I certainly did not kill your family.”

  “You’re a dead man, traitor!” Shi’mon hissed.

  Shi’mon used brute force to push himself from the floor and turn his right shoulder inwards, creating leverage for his left arm to become partially free. He reached for Yehuda’s inner thigh and found the spot with a high concentration of nerve endings and squeezed. Yehuda let out a scream and released his hold on Shi’mon, who quickly seized the opportunity to deliver a series of bone-crushing punches and kicks until Yehuda found some split-second space to zip away from the onslaught.

  “Don’t you get it, brother?” Yehuda pleaded from a distance. “This is the Shadow of the Soul! Here you face YOUR darkness, not anybody else’s.”

  Shi’mon zipped towards him but Yehuda zipped away.

  “And the only darkness I have is YOU!” Shi’mon spat and zipped again towards Yehuda, but Yehuda zipped away.

  “The only darkness one has is that which resides in oneself,” Yehuda argued telepathically. “Think about it, brother! Master knew of his death before it happened; he accepted his path. We all did.”

  This seemed to slow down Shi’mon for a second and Shi’mon did stop attacking.

  “Besides,” Yehuda continued telepathically, “Master is still alive, right?”

  “But my family is not!” Shi’mon yelled and attacked.

  Pure hatred blinded Shi’mon and Yehuda landed a combination of punches and kicks, which temporarily numbed Shi’mon’s arms and legs.

  “But I did not cause the earthquake that killed them, brother!” Yehuda continued calmly and telepathically. “If you can just be honest with yourself for a moment, then you will see why you’re so bent on my demise. You blame me for Master’s death, whereas you did not hesitate to deny him three times that night.”

  “I was justified!” Shi’mon said, with his voice indicating a hint of reason. “I thought Master was having sexual relations with men. I thought he condoned his wife’s adultery with you. I thought Master betrayed us all; betrayed ME! I was justified!” he half-screamed and zipped.

  Yehuda sidestepped, and Shi’mon missed.

  “But you were wrong, and now you know it,” Yehuda rebutted telepathically. “And about your family, it was their time to leave this realm. There was nothing you or anyone could do.”

  Shi’mon had taken a knee at this point, more from emotional exhaustion than from anything else. Yehuda took a tentative step towards him.

  “They had served their purpose, brother,” Yehuda added. “Please see and accept that!”

  Shi’mon shook his head as if to deny the fact that Yehuda was right after all.

  “No!” he spat and stood up. “You betrayed Master and distracted me from my family at the time of their death. Their blood is on your hands, and you must pay with yours.”

  Yehuda resigned to the fact that there was nothing else he could do for his brother except for one last thing. He took another step forward and looked at Shi’mon in the eye.

  “Master told us to be our brother’s keeper,” Yehuda said. “He also told us there is no greater love than he who is ready to lay down his life for another.”

  Yehuda opened his arms.

  “If my death brings you peace and freedom, then please get on with it,” he continued calmly and telepathically. “I forgive you and bear you no ill-will. After all, it’s all about the mission, and you must see to it that the mission is successful. The fate of our species now rests in your hands, brother.”

  He closed his eyes and opened his arms wider, inviting Shi’mon to fulfill his life-long wish. Shi’mon rejoiced. Finally! After two thousand years, the very bane of his existence was about to die and die the true death! Shi’mon made a dagger manifest in his right hand, and he zipped towards Yehuda. His dagger found its mark in the center of Yehuda’s chest. The relief was immediate and with that relief came a stark realization!

  Their eyes met, and Shi’mon saw the peace in Yehuda’s eyes. He saw his b
rother smile right before his brother slowly collapsed to the floor. He saw his brother’s hand go up in a final gesture of encouragement. There was no hatred, no resentment, no anger, no judgment and no ill-will in his brother’s eyes. There was only brotherly love in those eyes as they shone brightly one last time in a final display of life and letting go. Yehuda’s body relaxed completely, and he died a true death in the Shadow of the Soul. A moment of clarity suddenly washed over Shi’mon; a moment of letting go and a moment of total surrender. The hatred, guilt, anger, resentment, quest for vengeance, transfer of blame and everything else that had plagued him for almost two millennia disappeared in a flash. And most of all, he realized what Yehuda had done.

  Instead of letting Shi’mon die the true death, Yehuda had sacrificed himself and taken his place. Yehuda’s final test had been a very difficult one, even though it looked easy on the surface. Yehuda had to choose between either letting Shi’mon die a true death or taking Shi’mon’s place. Yehuda had tried to save them both by trying to talk some sense into Shi’mon and snap Shi’mon back to reality. But Shi’mon was in too deep to appreciate his brother’s wisdom. Shi’mon’s heart broke!

  “You must go now!” Priya said. “You can mourn later.”

  “I owe you my life, brother” Shi’mon said, kneeling next to his brother. “Thank you, and I will see you later.”

  As he stood up, he noticed a pair of huge, crystalline, green eyes manifest a short distance from him, followed by the broad head of a cobra, and finally, the entire body of creature manifested. Kundalini, the Serpent of Consciousness started sliding its way towards him.