Cathrine ran as fast as she ever thought she could. She had never realized it, but she had begun to hate Tian. In the early days, she loved him and longed for his embrace, but whatever embrace she had gotten from him had always been colder than a dead fish. Now after the three years of mystery, she was sick of it. She decided that when she got there she was going to take him up on his offer ... never see him again, ever.
Cathrine slowed to a walk at human speed when she figured she was getting close, but as she looked around at her surroundings, she had no idea where she was. Then she sensed it the whisper of the dart as it flew through the air propelled. Nevertheless, it was too late, by the time she had summoned enough energy into herself the only thing she could do was feel the Dart slowly pierce through the skin layer by layer. The prick it should have been a second lasted what felt like an eternity. The tranquilizer on the dart worked even faster in her now that she was tranced. She crumbled to the pavement in a heap. Sheryl walked out of the shadows, followed by four men in combat gear, and Adam, who looked exactly like a child does when he gets what he wanted. "Grab her, oh and don't be gentle.” He snickered as he walked to his car.
Tristan had been a young man of simple tastes. He liked to drink beer, watch Nascar and work on his engine. He went to church every Sunday his entire life. It was here that things started to change for him. It seemed so natural looking back at it now. One Sunday the topic of the sermon was slightly different then it had been before. Slightly more animated. The topic was the second coming of Christ and with it Armageddon. The priest would talk about the state of the world. He said it was in what he called disrepair. The congregation would nod their heads in agreement; being spoon fed exactly what they wanted to hear. The next week the service would take a more heated tone and get that little bit louder. The audience would agree even more whole-heartedly. This continued for weeks, until what had been a quiet worship was now a zealous rant about the state of the world, and the worshipers were enthralled. With the added excitement, the congregation grew. The people loved the screaming sweating priest as he called out the iniquities of the modern world.
This had not been a completely smooth transition from small service to huge sermon. There was what the priest had called premature crusaders, which had taken the fight to the wicked before being called upon by the return of the son of god.
“The time isn’t right, we must consolidate our forces. We must prepare for our liberation from the oppressors of the cancerous infectious society full of evil doers and naysayers. However the Christ shall return and his loyal and faithful will be Chosen and rewarded with unlimited power to dethrone the wicked and tainted in his name.”
The sermon ended with a cheer. That day after the sermon and Tristan was saying his goodbyes to everyone The priest pulled him aside.
“You are a man of strong faith in the lord aren’t you?”
“Yes of course, he is my lord, my god, my personal savior and my best friend.” Tristan replied.
“Good my son, I’ve got a study group we meet on Wednesdays and I’d love for you to join us. You interested?”
“Sure that sounds like fun, where? Let me know I’ll be there in a heartbeat.
The address was written on plain cardstock. It was handed over with a firm handshake and an excited grin.
Wednesday could not come fast enough for Tristan. There was something he felt about it that excited him. He read the bible a little longer every night just so that he would be ready for the meeting. No matter what he would have done he wouldn’t have been prepared for what those meetings did to him.
There was probably about twenty people in the room when Tristan arrived. He was cutting it close to the start time. He recognized a couple people from his own congregation but there majority of faces he didn’t know. No one was saying anything. There was a feeling in the room a quiet tension that Tristan felt if he talked, he would ruin, and everyone felt that any noise would destroy the quiet peace that everyone was feeling. It just made Tristan feel as if he were intruding, he felt out of place, strangely uncomfortable. He turned to leave and was blocked by a man that came in behind him. Tristan was sure he had never seen the mad before. He would have remembered. The man standing in from of him was the most impressive man he had ever seen. The man was perfect, he had the perfect physique with nothing extra. He was muscled but had the look that those muscles would be used, and regularly were. His face was symmetrical, no visible flaws what so ever. The man was perfect, no excess, just the right amount of everything.
“Hi there you must be Tristan, I’ve looked forward to meeting you for a long, long time.”
Tristan still feeling a little out of place and not wanting to offend replied, with a simple, “thank you.”
“My apologies, have a seat Tristan and we will get started.”
Tristan sat and what happened next will be engrained into his mind for the rest of his life. It was the beginning of the new Life he was going to live.
“Hello everyone and thank you for coming. Anyone want to lead us in an opening prayer?”
A young woman volunteered and gave a different prayer then Tristan was used to hearing, but would become common in the weeks to come.
“Our father, Lord my god, I ask you to watch over us as we study and learn to be your chosen; Your children that will stand by your son’s side on that day of days. Amen.” As the young lady finished she adjusted her shirt ever so slightly looked at the man, smiled, and then licked her lips just the tiniest bit.
“Thank you, child, that was a good prayer, but you must purge the lust from your heart before that request could possibly become the truth.” The young ladies face went white, and she instantly turned her eyes to the floor and murmered some sort of apology. “Do not worry my child, the temptations for the flesh are the hardest to resist. The devil will fight for you the hardest now.” The man then turned to the rest of the group. “Shall we have some introductions we have alot of new people here. My name is Jay, and I’m leading this little study group. Let’s start the other introductions with you.”, as he pointed to the young woman that was still staring at the floor.
“My name is Abby, I’m here to purify myself and be made ready and worthy to be one of the Chosen.”
Next to her was a very young man of about the age of fourteen. “ I’m AJ, i’m here to prepare myself for when I’m older so that I may also be one of the chosen.”
The Man laughed a little “Oh AJ, there is no minimum age to be a spiritual warrior for your god.” The young man’s face brightened immediately.
The introductions continued around the room everyone wanting to be a part of these chosen. Tristan had heard the term used in the Sunday sermons but had always thought that the word was synonym for the faithful. He had been thinking about the past Sunday’s sermon and was not paying attention when all of a sudden it was his turn.
“Hi, i’m Tristan and i’m here to become a more spiritual person, and to have my faith grow.”
“You don’t want to be one of the chosen, to stand by His side when he comes?” asked Abby.
Before Tristan could respond Jay said “On the contrary Abby, I think his lack of greed and pride is exactly what most people lack on the quest to be one of the chosen.” Tristan could feel his face turning bright red at the attention. “Modesty is a virtue Tristan. I think you are far more spiritual then you may think.”
The introductions continued around the room every response was very similar to Tristan’s, no aspirations other then to become a better Christian.
The rest of the study group went as expected. Most of the meeting was focused on studying the book of revelation, and the second coming of Christ. A lot of debate as to the signs of the arrival, whether they were literal or metaphorical. Some time was spent on discussing whether the words in the bible were the literal words of god or man’s interpretations. Someone even brought up the possibilities of mistranslations and lost meanings when crossing languages.
Tristan ended up leaving the meeting with his head spinning, and looked forward to the next week’s group discussion. He vowed to spend a lot of time studying.
That Sunday at church the sermon was about accuracy in the bible, it was odd the switch over from the bible being exact and literal like the church used to say. The priest was saying that in the modern world the bible has to be taken as a metaphor because there was no way that when it was written the men would be able to comprehend the modern world. Prophecy in the past would have been really confusing, even if they did see the way the world would turn out they wouldn’t have had words to show it. The sermon closed with the priest saying that maybe it is a mystery on purpose, god is said to work in mysterious ways after all.
The next couple study groups were different then the first. It seemed a little stange for Tristan but who was he to make a judgement, he was just there to learn. The meetings were spent doing meditation, and praying. Jay was teaching them that in order to have their prayers answered they had to be open to god. He was teaching them to open their minds to the universe, to feel the energy around them. Only when they could fully embrace the world around them could they ever hope to be in true connection with god. Most importantly he pointed out that in order to be one of the Chosen, one would have to be a conduit for the power of the lord. Tristan felt amazing after leaving each meeting; he could feel himself looking at the world differently.
Every Sunday seemed to have the same focus. It seemed a little odd to Tristan that there was so much attention being put on the second coming and punishing the wicked. Again who was he to judge right; he would just trust in his faith.
The cycle of debate, study, and preparing to be used as a tool of the lord continued for a while. Tristan looked forward to every meeting, even if he didn’t learn anything at all he just wanted to feel that same serenity that he felt every week, he loved the feeling of peace that came over him.
That serenity was gone all of a sudden at one of the weekly Wednesday night meetings. When Tristan arrived, Jay wasn’t there. The meeting went poorly, Tempers were hot and flared heavy during the debate. Abby and a couple others were adamant that the faithful should do anything to purge the world of the wicked before Christ arrived at the second coming. “The wicked should not be allowed to continue to thrive while the righteous stand idly by. The faithful should unite and punish the wicked.”
Tristan was appalled and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Christians don’t do that. We are taught to turn the other cheek. The meek shall inherit the earth.”
“Christians are supposed to turn the other cheek yes, not a blind eye. Modern apathy has allowed too many indiscretions of evil people to go unpunished.”
“That may be Abby, but we are supposed to love our fellow man, no matter what.” This brought Abby to her feet, pacing back and forth. The room was completely silent, filled with just the heavy breathing and footfalls of Abby’s pacing. Tristan was following this steady beat when the calm peace and serenity that had been missing filled the air and everyone sighed at the same time, even Abby sat back down.
“The emotions of mankind are the exact reason why they must wait for the leadership of the son of god” said Jay from the door where he was leaning on the jam. “However Abby is correct about one thing, the wicked do need to be punished. The kingdom of God will be carved out of this world. However that is only when the time is right. Go home everyone see you next week. I will be on time.”
That Sundays sermon seemed demure by comparison to the past Sundays the priest called patience and steadfastness in faith. “Time of the Lord is nigh” was the last whisper of the day said to a spellbound and silent congregation.
The next Wednesday’s meeting was the last meeting Tristan ever went to, it changed his life. Up until that week Tristan was still the average guy, sure he had stopped drinking, he didn’t have his weekly cigar after the nascar race. He was still just a guy that liked cars, he still had a regular job that he hated. That all changed at the study group.
The meeting room had been cleared of all the chairs and Jay was just sitting with his back to the wall opposite the entrance as everyone came in. The normal serenity that Tristan normally felt in the presence of Jay was there, but it was different. It felt almost lethal. It had a definite tension to it. Everyone else could feel it too cause everyone went silent as they entered the room. They would walk slowly to a space in the floor and just sit. They all sat in complete silence afraid to breathe until Jay broke the silence.
“It starts today.” Jay said as he rose to stand on his feet. The door to the room slammed shut giving the statement its exclamation point. “I Am That I Am” The sound of Jay’s voice reverberated through Tristan’s body, “and I am NOT pleased. I have come to exact my father’s vengeance upon the wicked and you my children are my chosen this is the beginning of the end. I take your allegiance and because of it, I grant you the use of my everlasting and eternal power. I will teach you to use my power, as it has never been felt on this earth. It starts now.” Jay rose off the ground and light shone from him that burned the eyes to look at, Tristan tried to look away but it was already too late. He was blind.