by Summer Lee
CHAPTER TWENTY
Magena
All of the Sons of Destiny looked to each other for the consensus. Levi asked, “Do you want to burn candles?”
“I should do something before we put him in the ground.” Magena was quite serious.
Each of the Sons of Destiny nodded in agreement to let her pay her respects to the fallen. Levi said there were candles in the van.
All eyes were on her as she knelt down by Dante’s lifeless body, which was unrecognizable. “I am so sorry for what has happened. You were a lousy father to Daniel. Rest in the knowledge that your sacrifice will not have been in vain. You have a good son.”
Right as she was about to light the candles, Daniel inched his way closer so that he could be part of what was going on. Daniel turned his attention toward Cranston He stopped breathing altogether, with a pained expression on his face.
Daniel looked for another nitroglycerin in the bag. He was too late, Cranston’s face turned red as he fell down dead. “Daniel! Get away from there! Now!” Magena felt fear. “I think Alan is toxic.”
Daniel stumbled as he ran away. His heart raced and he didn’t look back. When he arrived by the tree, Reuben told him that the Sons of Destiny would dig three graves for Dante, Alan and Yasmeen.
Daniel closed his eyes and waited. He tried to contemplate the sacrifice that Cranston now made by trying to stop him from being contaminated by Dante’s ashes. He would have never thought that he was capable of a noble act, considering what he did to Daniel and Magena earlier.
After the three were buried, Magena put a burning candle on each grave. She asked God to have mercy on their souls. Daniel helped her up. They walked over to the Sons of Destiny and thanked them.
“What about Yasmeen? Was she ever real?” Judah asked.
“No,” said Daniel.
Reuben appeared to be shocked. “If she was just a balloon, what gave her the power?”
“Demons,” said Magena. “Now that Yasmeen is gone, I hope the evil ones are too.”
“It is over,” said Levi.
“What about your organization?” asked Daniel. “I had never heard of you before.”
“We sure don’t get our power from the devil!”
Daniel laughed. “I didn’t mean that. I just wondered who you are.”
“We’re Messianic Israelis.”
“So you don’t call yourselves Jews.”
Magena said, “They can’t.”
“We’re not all Jews,” said Levi. “Only the descendants of Judah are real Jews.”
“How did that happen?”
“You have to go way back to when King Solomon disobeyed God and collected wives and horses. So God divided the nation. The northern ten tribes became Israel. The southern two tribes became Judah. Thus, the nickname of Jews.”
“That is interesting. But all Israelis call themselves Jews now.”
“I guess that is true. They just got used to it.”
“We became one nation again in 1947 when the world recognized us. God has been blessing us ever since.”
Magena did not get involved but watched Daniel interact with the young men. Magena looked up to the sky with tears moistening her eyes. “I know that somewhere in all of this is your will, Lord. Somewhere, but I’m not sure where. I hope you have mercy on the souls of Alan Cranston and Dante and everyone else who died since we last talked. I don’t know if I can take any more of this. I’m not cut out for this kind of thing, dear God. I’m really not. I just want my old, boring life back. I also want to make sure that Daniel makes it through this diversion okay. I think I may be falling in love with him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Daniel
Standing again under the tree, Daniel thought about Magena. He spoke out loud. “I wonder if this ordeal scarred Magena. I just don’t know.”
“Then maybe you should ask her if she’s okay.”
The voice came from behind him, as he saw a figure with hands on her hips. He knew who it was as soon as he heard her voice.
“Magena!” he called out in a high-pitched voice, as he ran toward her. They locked in a tight embrace and didn’t let go for several moments. And then he kissed her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Daniel! I thank God this is over!” Magena pulled away as tears of happiness covered her cheeks.
He gulped and wiped his eyes dry. “Yeah! I’m glad we’re both alive, too! What about the Sons of Destiny? Are we going back with them? What do you want to do?”
“Whoa, there!” she replied while chuckling. “I’ll tell you everything; just give me time.”
He inhaled with deep breaths, as he waited. “Okay.”
“Yes, we’re going back to the complex with them,” she said, with relief. “After all of the fireworks, it was all part of your father’s imagination and his scientific genius.”
“He was a strange man!” he exclaimed, with frustration and anger.
“We have to let him go, Daniel! There’s more.” She smiled. “The Sons of Destiny are part of a future army of God. They have sworn to follow Jesus to the ends of the earth. They have made it their A-1 priority. All of their resources are being put into doing just that.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “You sure.”
“They told me to tell you that we need to let this experience go, Daniel. We need to distance ourselves as far away from Dante’s army as we can, and forget everything to do with the virtual world. Jezebel’s treasures are real and are being placed in a vault for future study. Reuben said that if even one piece was found by… well… anyone, it could be disastrous. He said gold found in the virtual world would cripple the gold market. We are to let it all go.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Do you think it’s that easy? I mean, my dad was up to his eyeballs in that virtual thing! Yasmeen would have killed me if it wasn’t for Alan jumping in and helping me!”
“It’s over now,” she replied, almost in a whisper. “I saw something going on from where I was, but I had no idea what was real and what wasn’t.”
Daniel nodded nervously. “Yeah, the dead are buried. It’s the living I’m worried about right now.”
“That is a good idea.” Magena turned to Reuben. “I have an unsolved problem in my mind. Maybe you can help.”
“I’ll sure try.”
“The real Shroud of Turin: Did we ever have it?”
He clasped her hand and shook his head. “No, dear lady, you two were never close to it. It is in safekeeping in Rome.”
Daniel said, “May I ask you a question as well, Reuben?”
“Of course.”
“I want to know about the Sons of Destiny. What do you guys do?”
“We help people—all kinds of people. For example, Antisemitism is thriving in Europe right now. It is no surprise to hear of trouble there. Indeed, the issue raises an extremely troubling question. More than 70 years after the Holocaust, Europe hasn’t really changed.”
“So what will your team do?”
“A couple of us will go to Europe and rescue some Jews. Bring them to Israel.”
“That is great.” Daniel was puzzled. “But why do they pick on Jews?”
“Here is an example: Israel grows bumper crops of produce. The products sent to Europe are set aside and labeled that they are Jewish goods from Judea, Samaria—the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. Europe labels products purchased from Israel to keep people from buying them. But they do not label products as made in Chinese-occupied Tibet or Turkish-occupied Cyprus.” He sighed. “The Palestinian Authority has twice rejected statehood in Gaza and East Jerusalem, when it is promoted by Israel. We just try to get the world to see that Israelis are good people.”
“Magena seems to be proud of you for rescuing us.”
“We do rescue work a lot.” He shuffled his feet. Right now, we help Kurdish authorities rescue misled girls from Sweden who travel to Syria and Mosul to become young brides for radicals.”
“Ouch!”
; “Swedish authorities asked us to work with the Kurds to rescue the girls before they are trapped in a marriage that they can’t get out of. The Kurdistan region keeps them until we can escort them to Swedish authorities to return them to their homes.”
“Can the Kurds be trusted?”
“Oh yes. The Kurds are a Middle Eastern ethnic group that is kind. Primarily, they occupy an area that encompasses parts of Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Some members of the group have long sought to establish a Kurdish state in the region, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Then they could rescue more little girls, huh?”
“That’s right.”
Magena was standing by, restlessly listening. “I need to change the subject.” She forced a smile. “Daniel, you need to check to see what you’re entitled to now that your father…”
He smirked. “I’m entitled to a lot. I was never any good about handling stuff like that. Figures and investing and… blah!”
“Did you just say, blah?” She laughed. She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “If you let me, I can help you. I know of a few reservations that would be happy to give asylum to an amazing young man who saved one of their own.”
“I don’t recall ever saving your life,” he returned. “I think I put your life in danger more than anything. It was you who figured out a bunch of stuff.”
She waved her free hand in the air. “It’s all in the details, my friend. I know several people who can help with the investing and such. With the money and resources that you have access to now, there isn’t anything you can’t do. You can go anywhere to put this as far behind you as possible.”
“You mean us?” he said with a Cheshire grin.
She laughed again. “Thank you! If what you said is true about me then you can’t spend one waking moment without my natural born leadership, guidance, and overall charming demeanor.”
“You forgot to mention good looks,” he said while blushing.
She turned a little red herself. “Uh… wow! Do you really think…? I mean, do you look at me that way? Oh, that was stupid! I’m sorry. I just…”
He put one finger to her lips and quietly shushed her. “Look, Mags. I know this has all happened so fast that we didn’t even have…”
He stopped short with a blank look on his face. “Wait!”
“What?” she barked, eagerly.
“How are we getting out of here?”
“Don’t worry about that, Dans. The Sons of Destiny are waiting for us.” She pointed to the vans lined up nearby. “You were saying?”
He had a relaxed smile. “I really like you. Through all of this, you were my rock. Along with God, I mean. He is solid, and you rock and roll. I want you by my side for as long as you’ll have me. It’s time we got to know more about each other. One thing, though. I don’t want you to start calling me Dans. Don’t start that.”
“We’ll see, Dans,” she said, as they walked toward the waiting van, hand in hand.
Epilogue
Judah approached Daniel with a Bible in his hands.
After greeting each other, Judah said, “We want to share more with you as to who we are.”
“What is that?” asked Daniel, pointing to the book.
“A Bible. What I want to share is in the Bible.”
“How so?”
“The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation when he saw many visions of the future. He had a vision of souls who had passed on. He asked an angel, ‘These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?’”
“The angel answered, ‘Out of the great tribulation.’”
Daniel looked surprised. “Can you explain?”
“Yes. I want to.” Judah opened his Bible. “Let me read it to you from Revelation chapter fourteen in the NIV.”
He read, “The Lamb of God was standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
“Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’
“A second angel followed and said, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
Judah looked up. “I am going to skip down a few verses.”
He continued reading. “I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, ‘Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
“Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.’ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great wine press of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the wine press outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 furlongs.”
“What does that mean?” Daniel was shocked.
“It is about us, the Sons of Destiny: We will someday be among the 144,000. We must not defile ourselves with women, but remain virgins.”
Daniel looked serious. “That must be hard.”
“God gives us strength. We also are to keep the ten commandments. When we do break one, we immediately confess it to God.”
“And he forgives you?”
“Yes.” He laughed and said, “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!”
The End
~~~~~
And it’s the end of the Reluctant Hero Trilogy!
If you enjoyed it, then I encourage you to check out my latest series, The Stargazers Trilogy!
Under the Blood Moon
The Stargazers Trilogy #1
by Summer Lee
Blood moons. An unlikely messenger. Is it the end of days?
Eric has a gift—a gift of premonition and a supernatural connection to the blood moon. As well as the physical signs of the times—extreme weather, violent earthquakes and more—what Eric sees in his prophetic dreams may be warnings that God’s plans for Israel are coming to fruition.
Eric’s sister, Sybil, believes he is a messenger to the world and that something big is coming. And it’s something bad.
Dr. Caladasian is the head of research at the Dream Institute in Seattle, Washington. He’s a scientist who refuses to dabble in pseudoscience, but he does have a way to record people’s dreams.
Torn between her loyalty to her brother and her desire to view his dreams, Sybil makes Eric into Dr. Caladasian’s unwitting research subject. Astounded by what they see on the video of Eric’s dream, Sybil and Dr. Caladasian are invited to a panel where they meet Solomon Dancer, a Messianic Jew with knowledge about the Blood Moons—their meanings, and the events as they relate to the Jewish calendar. Solomon b
elieves that Eric’s dreams are a message to the Jews.
Someone else is interested in Eric’s blood moon dreams, too. Separated from Sybil during the chaos of a disaster, Eric is kidnapped by someone who wants him to track the blood moons and aims to learn his secrets—the kidnapper is having the same types of dreams.
Now parted, the siblings pray for each other that they may be spared in the coming Battle of Armageddon. There is only one way to save themselves—their acceptance of Jesus as their Savior.
Traumatic events are occurring, but is Eric really the chosen one to tell the world that the end of days is upon them? From the Bible and from Eric’s prophetic dreams, they know what’s going to happen. The big question is when. Will any of them survive the coming end of days that God’s Word promised would wipe out most of the human race?
UNDER THE BLOOD MOON is a novel about the impending end times on Earth by acclaimed Christian author Summer Lee.
Under the Blood Moon
by Summer Lee
Stargazers Trilogy #1
Amazon Kindle * Amazon UK
Also available:
Comes the Pale Horse
A novel by Summer Lee
(read on for a sample)
Chapter One
In my rose garden, a sudden wind fluttered the pages of my Bible and marked a verse in Psalms with a single raindrop. “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.”
I closed my Bible and looked up. Apparently, a storm had arisen while I’d been engrossed. I zipped my Bible into its protective case, but did not make a move to go indoors.
Dark foreboding clouds, the likes of which I had never seen, roiled overhead. The wind blew hard, and I heard its rising moans—they sounded like the deep neighs of horses—but I was most mesmerized by the unusual clouds, which were lit from within by crackling forks of lightning in white, red, black and pale green.