The head Ranger walked over to the table of four and pulled up a chair to join the group. Jaker sat down right next Rashnir.
“Hello, Rashnir,” he said condescendingly, “When did you crawl out of the gutter?”
Rashnir pulled back the hood and revealed his face to the former ally. Telling the truth, he replied, “Just moments ago, actually.” Rashnir meant it.
Jaker sized up the other occupants at the table. “These, then, must be your benefactors? Are you men Briganiks?” Jaker asked, referring to the country in the far west where men were in general quite large and human women and anakim often cohabitated. It didn’t take a far stretch of the imagination to think that deviant ones might seek male companionship.
“No,” Kevin replied, “I am from Earth and have come to these lands by the power of Yahweh.”
Jaker grinned. “Oh, that’s right,” he recalled the rumors he’d heard over the last week and recognized Kevin and his accomplices. The local people assumed that he was insane at best—or a heretic at worst. He was both, in all likelihood. “I know of you guys.” Barely suppressing a judgmental chuckle he turned to Rashnir, “I guess that you are in good company, then.”
“I guess so,” Rashnir replied, shrugging off the implied insult.
It was clear to Rashnir that Jaker still loathed him. The two had always gotten along as acquaintances. They had been nothing short of cordial as members of the same guild, friends of Rogis, and men who both loved Kelsa, albeit in different ways. Ever since Harmarty poisoned him with lies, Jaker had only contempt for his former comrade. Jaker’s hate bordered on murder and it was obvious that Jaker didn’t appreciate seeing Rashnir out of his beggar’s hovel.
“You know,” Jaker goaded, “Bomarr has joined the guild.”
The mention of the name startled Rashnir. All this time he had thought Bomarr died in the fires that killed the rest of his family when the blaze ravaged Rogis’s estate.
“It is not surprising, really,” continued Jaker, “He was staying at Dyule’s for a weekend when his family…” Jaker trailed off, alluding to the frame-up that Rashnir murdered the family—his family. Dyule was one of Rogis’ older sons who lived in his own house and with a career in the city. Jaker brimmed with emotion; Rogis had been a mentor to Jaker too. “Anyway, his father was second of command in Rogis’ Rangers long before you killed him. Ironic how he found a new father in Rogis and then you kill that man as well,” Jaker accused.
“I just thought that I would mention how much Bomarr hates you. He once embraced you as a brother. But now? Bomarr plans on killing you, just so you know. I believe that he will succeed, too.”
“You always bring me such wonderful news, Jaker,” Rashnir stated sarcastically. “Is this a personal call, then?”
“No, actually. I just had a bad report out there in the garrison. When I noticed you a thought popped into my head.”
“It’s good to know you still have thoughts of your own then—that you haven’t let the crown dictate each one to you.”
Kevin, Jorge, and Kyrious sat silently in the awkward tension as it built.
“Where were you last night, Rashnir?” Jaker inquired.
“Why do you ask?”
“There was an incident at Harmarty’s castle last night. A gate guard was murdered and Harmarty is missing. You have plenty of reason to hate the king, do you not?”
Rashnir kicked himself mentally. He should have hidden the body of the guard he killed. “Of course I have reasons to hate him, he killed Kelsa and—”
“Here we go again. Listen, I don’t know the complete truth surrounding her death; I am pretty sure, though, that you had a significant part to play in it. I am sorry she is dead, I loved her too—not like you did, but I mourned her loss as I would a sister. But I am convinced that whatever caused her death was your fault. And at least I recognize that excuses won’t bring the dead back to life.”
“I know that too, now.” Rashnir indicated his new friends. “Kevin here has led me into a religious experience. I know that vengeance solves nothing. Listen Jaker, revenge no longer rules my life!”
Jaker looked Rashnir in the face and believed what he had just said. Something had changed in the former Ranger’s eyes.
Rashnir went on, though he could no longer look Jaker in the eye. “I hope you find Harmarty, but you know how he is. He probably killed that guard himself and left in secret, unescorted. But do know this, I no longer have any intention of killing that man,” he said truthfully.
“Just take caution that you keep unnoticed for the rest of your life. The story of Rashnir the Ranger’s fall serves as a good life lesson regarding loyalty. Seeing you begging in the gutters reminds men of that warning, and of the consequences.”
Jaker turned to the rest of the group at the table, “As for the rest of you, outside of town there is an institution for the insane and a monastic dungeon for heretics. See to it that you, too, keep a low profile or you’ll visit those places.
“The garrison usually takes little action, but I will bring its force to bear if your little band poses any threat.” Jaker got up to depart. He turned for one last word with Rashnir. “I had better not find any connection between you and this incident with King Harmarty or so help me I will tighten Bomarr’s armor myself and watch him hack you to pieces.”
Jaker left the building.
Rashnir turned to his comrades. “Well, he was in a pretty good mood.”
The smoke and dinge reclaimed the place where their visitor had sat. Rashnir looked at all of them with an apologetic face.
“Perhaps this would be a good time,” Kevin broke the silence, “to tell you more about our beliefs. But let’s do it elsewhere, somewhere out in the light. The atmosphere here seems to affect my mood for the worse.”
***
Kevin and Rashnir sat by a campfire on the riverbank below Grinden’s south boundary. Kyrius cooking dinner while Jorge continued to catch fish while Kevin finished outlining the history behind the ancient Roman Empire on Earth—how they expanded their empire through military might and solidified it through politics.
“The Pharisees and Sadducees made their system of faith into a strict structure devoid of love and tolerance. They relabeled their God, changed Him from one of loving and kindness into a God who wanted unquestioning, exact obedience. They made a God who wanted to punish those who failed to keep His laws, a God who no longer reached out to embrace His people. They made Him a tyrant, not a loving father calling to His wayward children.”
Rashnir nodded his head. “Religion in Luciferianism is just ritual. It’s tradition that appeases the Demon Overlords who will grant a blessing, or perform a curse… provided they are listening or in a generous mood. It’s supernatural extortion.”
“Exactly,” Kevin said, “Lucifer would be pleased to have reduced Earth’s religion to this. He promotes this exact philosophy. Because God desires to be with His creation, Lucifer works to turn mankind’s perception of the person of God into a cosmic machine; if you go to services and perform rituals and sacraments properly, only then will God love you and provide access to grace for you. In reality, because of His love for us, God provided access to Him so that we can freely have that relationship; God looks on our hearts, not only our actions.”
“So you’re saying that God is not a machine for dispensing blessing, but He is more like a person?”
“Right. You cannot view God as only a system of cause and effect because He is so much more than that. He is not like a money handler at some store, waiting to deliver goods until after a correct payment.”
“So the Pharisees and Sadducees did exactly what Lucifer wanted them to do?”
“I believe so. They removed the personal aspect of the Creator and replaced it with a liturgy of ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do this’ only then can you make God happy… and then he might not damn your soul to eternal suffering.”
“Were the Pharisees and Sadducee
s following Lucifer, or under his control?”
“Not necessarily. These were men who knew a lot about God, but they used their religion as a tool of politics and let their lives be controlled by their pride.
“They were not directly controlled by the evil one—they didn’t need to be. When a person acts out of his or her own selfish motives and desires, he is already on the line that divides Christ’s opponents from His followers. Lucifer does not usually bother courting the souls of those that already oppose or ignore God. Lucifer uses his energies to tear down and fight against God’s kingdom.
“I mean that the Pharisees were not possessed by Lucifer’s spirit or directly controlled by a demon. The desires of their flesh coincided with the motives of Lucifer and so they were allies with a common goal, at times—but those men didn’t understand that.
“Lucifer is just like any corrupt ruler. He spends his time expanding his kingdom by destroying the lives of others. Corrupt people joining his cause are often spared; they eventually sell themselves for the desires of their own hearts, and so Lucifer wastes little time with them. Only those who stand against his goals are worth spending his time and energy on. He seeks not only their destruction, but their submission and humiliation. I think you’ll see a parallel with Harmarty.”
Rashnir nodded. He had seen what sins a heart could commit when it was dedicated to its own lusts. A selfish heart was like a black hole, consuming everything with any potential for good.
Kevin continued, “The Pharisees defended this system of their own design, even though it was outside of God’s intentions. Because they looked only to their human religion and with their own insight they completely missed the fact that God came down in the flesh to show them the path to redemption.
“Have you ever looked out a glass window at night, watching for something while the lights burned behind you?”
Rashnir smiled warmly as a thought came back to him. “Kelsa and I used to lie beside each other and look out at the stars in the night. I usually stared at her transparent reflection instead of the stars.” He sighed at the fading memory.
“That is exactly what I’m talking about,” Kevin grinned insightfully. “While you intended to look out at the stars, something of God’s design, you can get caught up looking at a reflection instead; you chose to look at human beauty. In your case, there was nothing wrong with it, but when you apply that to a spiritual life, there is the potential to pridefully place your own image above God’s.”
“OK, so the Pharisees made themselves out as the authority on God and wouldn’t listen when God tried to correct them.”
“Correct, they didn’t even listen when the Messiah came.”
“Couldn’t Jesus just tell them that they were in error? He could have just told them that He was God in the flesh, couldn’t He?”
“He could have, and He did, but not at first. He began preaching and performed miracles to demonstrate that He had the power and authority of God—He gave them proof up front. The Pharisees, in their pride, hardened their hearts and tried to humiliate Him and publicly disputed Him. They looked for ways to label Him as a criminal.
“What they did was place their own expectations on the one who would fulfill the prophecies of Messiah—they even made up a new reason for Messiah’s coming; they wanted Christ to come to save them from a wicked ruler and kingdom. They did not look at the big picture: that Christ would save the souls of men.”
Nearby, Kyrius stoked the fire while Jorge hunted the river bottoms, stripped down to only an undergarment. As the fire popped, Kevin told Rashnir about the encounters and confrontations that Jesus had with the Pharisees and how they tried to manipulate the Roman government into discrediting Jesus.
As Jorge dressed, Rashnir stared at him. Jorge was a muscular powerhouse, lithe and taught, well-muscled and larger than even Mind had been. The fair hair of his head fell in long locks and his hairless face looked young and healthy. On the underside of his left arm, a tattooed image of a sword ran a length from elbow to wrist. From Jorge’s back a majestic set of wings clenched tightly against his body so they wouldn’t draw visible attention to the large man; with barely any thickness to them they would remain undetectable beneath the cloak that he shrugged over his shoulders.
Despite the distracting smells of Kyrius’s glorious cooking, the Earth man tried to talk about the twelve disciples of Jesus. Kevin explained how they gained insight from Jesus’ teachings, but more often than not, completely missed the meanings; Jesus had to constantly explain everything to them directly as if they were children.
“The disciples,” he told Rashnir, “were stuck in this same frame of mind that the Pharisees were, but they recognized Jesus as the Messiah. They had some mental hang-ups because of the culture they were raised in. It is just the same as what preconceived ideas about faith and religion you might have, growing up in this place.”
“So I am a disciple?”
“Yes, and so am I.”
Kyrius cooked the fish with a few spices he’d purchased in Grinden. Kevin prayed a blessing upon the food, and they ate the meal.
Rashnir and Kevin continued their previous conversation. “The common people recognized that Jesus was the Christ—the Messiah. This is shown vividly by his ride through town when the people cried ‘hosanna’ as I mentioned earlier,” Kevin said. “The Pharisees were displeased with it because it threatened their power base and so they formed a plan. They saw Christ as an enemy to their teaching; His message of love appealed to the people, but it also humiliated the Pharisees. So they planned to put an end to their perceived threat.
“They gave silver to the disciple Judas Iscariot to bring soldiers to Jesus and betray Him; they politically manipulated the government so that He would appear as a criminal. While Jesus had done nothing but the will of God and demonstrated the love of a Creator for His creation, His human enemies plotted to destroy Him. The government found Him guilty of fabricated crimes.
“The ruler recognized that Jesus was no criminal. He even gave the public the opportunity to clear Jesus of wrongdoing, but the manipulation of Christ’s enemies succeeded.
“Jesus knew this would happen. He actually came to Earth knowing that it was the only way to save mankind: to die for them as an act of love—despite so many hating Him.
“He was tortured, beaten, and mocked. Though He’s the king of everything they put a painful crown of woven thorns on His brow. The scourges of His enemies flayed His body. Then professional executioners made Jesus carry a wooden cross up a hill where they nailed His hands to opposite sides and hammered a long spike through His feet. He hung there suffocating, in pain, until He died.
“With Christ killed, Lucifer thought that he had won—but he’d actually lost; God cannot die, He is eternal. But Lucifer, in his attempts to beat God, effectively brought about his own damnation.
“After three days Christ rose again and proved to thousands of people that He lived. A little while longer, Jesus rose up to heaven in plain sight of hundreds and returned to the Father where He sent His Holy Spirit to help His followers take over the work of ministering in His name—a Spirit of power, personified.”
Rashnir listened to the story; he could feel the Spirit churning within his heart, acknowledging the truth of the tale. He nodded and Kevin continued, giving him a crash course on the history of the early church.
“You see,” Kevin said, “Christ said that He would return to Earth to bring about judgment. He is going to bring an end to all wickedness and establish His kingdom on Earth with men. That time is drawing nigh. Earth is in ever more chaos as God pours His wrath upon it and very few have any idea about what is really going on.
“It really is a time of apathy and tribulation. It is also the time when clauses in the contract between Lucifer and Yahweh have opened the doors between the realms and allowed us enter.”
“But why you? How did you even know about this place?” Rashnir wondered.
&nb
sp; “I don’t know, really. I did not know this place existed until recently. I only know that my Lord asked me if I would go and do His will and I responded with a ‘yes.’
“Since then, many weeks have passed. I have been speaking to anyone who would listen, which has given me my insane reputation. One night, while I was praying on the east coast of the main land, by the border of Gleend and Ninda where I first appeared in this land, I felt directed to find a living example of how God’s grace could change lives: a story of redemption. Several days ago I began my search for you—the Holy Spirit prompted me to tell you what you needed to hear—even to show you that justice exists by giving you a sword. That is why you sit here now as a believer.”
The thought of redemption lodged in Rashnir’s heart and warmed it. So clouded by his thirst for revenge, he hadn’t thought it possible until recently.
Jorge asked Rashnir, “Now that you believe, what do you want to do?”
A smile broke across Rashnir’s face ear to ear, “Tell everyone,” he replied. “I think I should speak with Bomarr and Dyule. They deserve to know the truth about a great many things. Also, if I do not deal with the skeletons from my past, it may hurt the spread of the truth in the present.
“Dyule is one of Rogis’ older sons, several years older than I am. I forget exactly what he does. I think that he is somehow involved with a trade line, overseeing operations and business, or something like that. He often hired groups of Rangers to protect his convoys—he certainly did not inherit his traits from his father,” Rashnir mused.
“Dyule always seemed such a plain man: like he didn’t have a sense of humor or any creativity. Perhaps his mother had a mathematical bent, but I don’t know. I never met her.”
The Kakos Realm Collection Page 12