There is a being now standing at his left.
It is strangely familiar to him; he felt its presence before. In his mind, he senses it as billions of brilliant sparkling particles coalesced into an undefined form. But if he were to open his eyes, he would see nothing there.
The being slowly lifts his left hand and stretches it out to the level of his shoulder. It turns his palm up to the sky, revealing the unfinished symbol on his wrist. Then, it releases him.
He mind senses the being as it vanishes.
High above him, the two powerful flames crash into each other, spewing out large burning embers in all directions. In an instant, the two flames merge into one enormous ball of searing hot fire. Without delay, it falls down directly over him.
A deep bellowing sound of the roaring fire begins to fill the sky.
With the sound trembling throughout his body, he focuses his mind on the ball of fire. He can sense its flames start to expand, and then the spherical shape diffuses and enlarges to become the blazing form of a beast. Tremendous red fiery wings extend, then a menacing head with a long neck, then a whipping tail, and finally powerful flaming talons at its feet.
In awe and wonder he says, “It’s a dragon of pure blazing and scorching fire.”
The dragon burns the air with the heat of its breath, as it plunges in a stoop towards him.
Suddenly, a thought comes to him that leaves him in amazement, How can this be? Why do I feel like that beast is somehow a part of me? As if it’s something from long, long ago.
Closer and faster the fierce winged creature comes, whipping the air into frenzied heat.
He hears the rapidly approaching roar of the flames, and he knows it will soon collide into him. Around him, it is as though nothing else can be heard over the terrifying sound and everything in the universe awaits the impact.
Somehow he knows he needs to remain still in order to allow it to happen.
The anticipation makes him wince.
An instant later, the gigantic blazing dragon crashes into him, appearing to devour him with its agape, burning mouth. The flames of the beast explode around him in a whirlwind. As the fires envelop him, he feels the unbearable heat, but it miraculously does not consume him. Then, quickly, the fires start to spin in a wide massive circle around him. Immediately, its center is pulled in towards the unfinished symbol on his left wrist, like swirling and churning ocean waters draining into an abyss in the depths below. He feels the power and weight of the flames plunging into his wrist, and he has to fight to keep his arm from being pushed down. With the flames searing completely through his flesh, and then diving down deep into the sand beneath, the land rumbles and the ocean churns, while the earth swallows the blaze of energy into its molten core.
As the flames from the dragon disappear, the symbol itself then bursts alive and is set ablaze with white-light brilliance that devours all darkness around him.
But now his arm barely moves, and he feels no pain.
Soon, he senses the swirling winds around him begin to calm, and the light that engulfs him wafts away.
For a long moment, nothing else moves or makes a sound.
Then, cautiously, he flexes and extends the fingers of his left hand. The bones are healed, he says to himself, and the torn skin is closed and mended.
Finally, he raises his head and opens his eyes.
Seeing the completed symbol glowing gold and vibrant fills him with awe. He watches closely, as tiny sparks of red and yellow hot particles fly off the bright, distinct contours of the symbol, and then dissipate into the air.
It is a circle within a circle.
The sharp, perfectly defined lines and curves burn deep, through flesh and bone. The outer circle is created by a double helix, its two lines intersecting six times. The inner circle is made of two flames opposite each other, eternally chasing the other, connected by the arcs of their long tapering tails.
The warmth generated from the smoldering symbol travels the length of his arm, and then throughout the rest of his body, soothing him, comforting him.
He realizes now that this symbol is his true name.
It is the name above any name any human can give him - none else matters. It is the very name God himself gives him and the very name by which God himself calls him. Outlasting all others, it is the name that will endure into eternity.
As the very last gleaming tiny ember from his wrist fades, God completes his name.
Chapter 19
Still gazing down in wonder at the symbol on his wrist, he has a growing sense of his true belonging in the world and a growing knowledge of his intended place in all creation.
“This is who I am,” he says confidently, “Now, I know.” Then, softly, he adds, “Jesus, thank you.”
Moreover, in his heart and mind, there is an unmistakable bond to his God, like never before. From it, feelings of gratefulness and peace overcome him. They are born of the knowledge that the more trust and control of his life he gives to his God, then the more confidence he has that events will lead to their intended outcome. Consequently, the strong intransigent desires he once had, to solve his struggles on his own, are now lost and forgotten. If this were the end of what he needed to learn or the end of his responsibilities, he would be content, but he knows there is more he must do, and so much more he is tasked to do.
Now, as he sees the symbol of his name begin to radiate brightly, he is confident - he is ready.
Suddenly, a thick laser-like beam of light projects from the symbol’s circular area, shining up into the black canopy of sky above. The beam burns through the darkness, searing a hole through it. Then, immediately, the beam retreats, and the light from the symbol disappears. Within an area of the scorched sky, there is a large opening. Through it, he notices a lighter shade of sky.
At once, he is pulled up into the heavens. The wind races by, as he is propelled, headfirst, directly to the gaping hole above.
Soon, he crosses the threshold, freed from the prison of the world below and entering the starlit sky of the true earth.
Quickly, he realizes that he is back gliding swiftly through the air.
* * * * * * *
NOW
In this true timeline, seconds ago, he rendered useless the first ICBM that was targeted for Israel, and the second missile has begun its ascent into the atmosphere. The vision of Sik and Paige, in the San Francisco hotel room, has just flashed in his mind.
During this time, he struggles to decide whether to stop the second missile or to quickly save Paige.
In this tense moment, he does not sense the arrival of the dark entity, high above him. It appears there, heralded by a flurry of winds, crackling electricity, and twisting light. After briefly trailing the longhaired man, the dark entity descends over him. It wraps itself around him. Then, using its ability to navigate in and out of time, and to leap in and out of history, the dark entity traps the man within time itself.
Within those loops of time, the entity allows him to live uninterruptedly on a timeline, as long as he remains disengaged from the world, and remains drowned in his apathy. But once he decides to be part of the world or to be an agent of change for human good, the entity immediately stops the timeline and sends the man back to the beginning, back to the point at which it first envelopes him.
As he is sent back, the spitting worlds he sees are perceptions in his mind caused by his soul fighting vehemently against the entity to be stopped from being propelled back. But he cannot win. Defeating him, the entity makes time repeat and prevents the man from having any effect in the world.
Ever enveloping the longhaired man, the dark entity would have never allowed him to escape its infinite abyss, its relentless deception.
But now freed, a power apart from him begins to peel the entity away from his face.
Unwilling to release him, the entity shrieks and groans, as it struggles to stay wrapped around him. Pieces of his face become exposed as the entity pulls, tugs, and stretches the s
kin of his eyelids, mouth, and forehead.
Suddenly, the entity lunges and envelops his face once again. He is blinded. Now it tries to suffocate him.
He cannot breathe. But in the confidence given to him, rather than becoming panicked, he remains focused. With a thought, he sets himself completely afire with a golden blaze. His act is instinctive - something he would have never consciously done. He did not know that he wielded the newly granted ability.
The fire burns the entity with a pure refining eternal blaze. But to him, the fire is like a calming fanning wind.
He and the entity appear as a single descending, burning comet against the starry sky.
Still tightly grasping him, the entity frantically tries to shake away the fire. But it cannot succeed. Its tiny black particles begin to sizzle and vaporize, and the entity’s shrieks heighten to a deafening pitch. Finally, it releases him. Hissing in its flight, it hastens away and bends its path in the darkened sky, far in the distance.
A grin forms on his face as he watches the wounded beast hurriedly flee behind him.
Cutting through the sky, he turns around and lets the rushing wind pull back his long hair. Breathing in deeply the cold night air, he is made anew. The blood coursing through his body is vibrant and electric.
Then, he notices something is odd.
Previously, he struggled to maintain his balance, as he glided to intercept the first missile, but that is no longer happening. Instead, he is in complete control of his alignment in the open air. Now, his body feels like a nimble fighter jet blazing a trail through the sky.
With a surprised smile on his face, he asks audibly, “Am I flying?”
He spryly tilts his body to one side, and then to the other, veering left then veering right. Effortlessly, in precise movement, he spins, dives, and lifts.
“…I’m flying,” he says hesitantly. Then, making a fist and raising it, he exclaims emphatically, “Woohoo! Look I’m flying!”
With his cheers trailing behind him, he twirls gleefully in the air.
* * * * * * *
Almost half a world away, at Offutt Air Force Base, General Parsin’s eyes are affixed on Screen 3. The image that completely fills it is of Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. A blinking icon marks the area at the border of Iran and Iraq from which the first ICBM is launched. Satellites track that missile’s path until it penetrates through, and then propels beyond, the upper atmosphere. At that point, it is lost, and they can only wait until it reenters.
From his bunker, the President has long begun the retaliatory launch protocol.
Outside the large multi-screened room, and separated by its large glass panes, Gul prays intently with his eyes frozen on Screen 3.
The wait for the missile to again reveal itself is brief, but the grave silence makes it seem much longer.
The missile’s icon soon reappears, as satellites resume tracking it, just as it crosses the border of Jordan and Israel. However, as soon as the missile appears, it abruptly vanishes.
Every one of the almost forty people in the room is stunned frozen. There is utter silence.
From the center of the room, behind the back row of the monitoring stations, General Parsin asks the main controller manning one of them, “Son, what just happened?” His eyes stay fixed on the screen.
The man replies, “Satellite status is green, but the projectile is no longer detected.”
General Tomer walks closer. “Do we have confirmation of a detonation from the Israelis?”
A second controller hurriedly types on his keyboard and speaks into his headset. A moment later he answers, “Israeli command responds with negative, sir. No detonation. And they’ve also lost track of it.”
Still looking at the screens, Gul stays earnestly within his thoughts.
Suddenly, the first controller announces, “General, we detect the second launch.”
All eyes return to Screen 3.
* * * * * * *
It takes a while, but then the longhaired man’s excitement, from his new ability to fly, finally settles.
Then, with his mind fully cognizant of the second missile, he peers intently out into the space ahead of him, in search of it.
As the particles of air collide into his face and skim over his body, he notices something he has never seen before. Surprisingly, he can see the particles themselves; they are no longer imperceptible to his eyes. He is able to peer far down through to the atomic level. It is because within his eyes themselves, new structures have formed among the existing sensors of his retina, gifting him with this new vision.
Still speeding through the air, he raises a hand to his face. Examining it, he sees that his body seems to be generating certain sub-atomic particles of force. They are in abundance all around him, layering over his skin, and trailing behind as he speeds through the air. Reacting with the environment around him, they cause his flight.
God has granted him his request, the request he had when he first spoke to Gul: to be able to see how he could do the miraculous things he did. Soon, he will discover that the powers of these particle forces are not merely limited to creating the conditions of his flight. They are also the source of all of his abilities.
As he thinks about what he is now able to see, his mind switches into its scientific gear. He knows of the Higgs boson elementary particle, called by some physicists as the “God particle”. But the particles in him and surrounding him are even more fundamental than the dubbed God particle. They are the particle forces from which all forces are derived. They are the force of making and unmaking, and the force of creation and destruction, over all space, energy, mass, and motion.
His body produces them.
With his mind trained in science and his eyes observing the underlying source of his abilities, he now understands the physical reasons for the miracles he performs. Thus, within him, the physical and spiritual worlds are reconciled.
Above all, he realizes that he is given the power to create and to destroy, the power over almost all things. Gazing once again at the wonder and beauty around him, the responsibility entrusted to him sits gravely in his heart and mind.
As he speeds through air, his innate personality, produced over several millennia, starts to emerge from his innermost being. It is not far from what he now is. In fact, it affirms what he is. It is a persona that is in harmonious dichotomy.
On the one hand, he is solid and immutable and guided by kindness and a strong sense of justice. On the other hand, he is fluid and unpredictable, guided by and overcome by intense emotions that swing him into unpredictable directions.
Still, there is a hidden side - irreverent, sharp, biting and provocative - reserved for appropriate moments, and for those who just seem to take him there. But overarching and defining his true being is his lighthearted nature.
But in all of it, and through all of it, he is human.
As the second ICBM blazes past him from above, he notices the third ICBM is launched from the same vicinity as the first two. Just as Gul informed him, three would originate from between the lands of Iran and Iraq.
Excitement peaks within him and tension in his chest begins to grow. But his confidence is unshakeable. Preparing to engage into action, he says, as he readies himself, “Breathe in. Breathe out.” At that moment, his words trigger the lyrics of a song in his mind.
Over the centuries, from the many dalliances he has engaged in for entertainment, his interest in music has become one of his favorites. He once explained to Dancy that he was “married to his music.” Now curious, he asks himself, “What if I can actually play this song?”
Without delay, he hears an energetic guitar riff intro start. Then, the fast rhythm of a drumbeat joins in. Soon, the words to the song follow.
The band is Bush - the song is Machinehead. It plays all around him, telling him what he already knows - that his new abilities place him above many.
Immediately, he stops and hovers in midair. He focuses on the h
eavy beat of the drums and how it reverberates through his gut and into his bones. The music is fast and high-energy.
He turns up the volume.
“Nice,” he says with a sly grin, “Now, let’s get down to business.”
Wasting no more time, but like a child with some enviable new toys, he dashes excitedly away, into the sky, with the music echoing behind him.
In no time, he catches the second ICBM.
Suddenly, another vision of Paige comes to him:
In the hotel room, after finishing the tattoos on Paige’s wrists, Sik stands over her for a few moments. Then, he notices the blood on Paige’s face dripping down from one side of her forehead. Slowly he kneels down, reaches for the face towel on the coffee table, and wipes the blood away.
Without hesitating, the longhaired goateed man asks his God, “You know I want to go help her. But what do you want me to do?”
The answer comes quickly to his mind, in the echo of Gul’s words, when they hid from Jalel’s chase:
“You indeed have a role in this. Such things do not happen without you being called. Your nemesis…he must be drawing you in. He is a creative creature.”
He responded, “Well, yes, he’s drawing me in, but it’s through some jar-head pawn that’s killing women in different cities.”
He remembers the cities in the order of Sik’s victims: first Israel, South Carolina then New York City then District of Columbia then Los Angeles.
“That’s four cities. And then what? What’s the fifth city?” he asks. Speaking out loud, he says, “The nemesis dude…he gave me the last victim to pick, the fifth one.” Then, he realizes. “It’s Paige. So, the last city is San Francisco. Five missiles - five targets. The first is down. And this second one isn’t stopping anywhere near here. It’s gonna go way further out - to New York.”
As he peers down below him, he matches both the velocity and the upward trajectory of the missile. He watches its third stage motor disengage, revealing the warhead. They enter the rarified air above the atmosphere, where the missile will spend most of its fight. Then, when it is much closer to its target, it will reenter the atmosphere.
RB 01 Through Flesh & Bone Page 51