Off The Pages

“So,” Jack Hurst said, as he sat in the living room of his house, “what do we do next?” He’d fixed himself a ham and turkey sandwich with tomato and yellow mustard and was taking bites in between sips of ginger ale. His Lord had been gone for the better part of an hour, and he decided to wait rather than act on his own. A few moments ago, the Lord had returned. He went to prostrate himself before his savior, but a waved hand told him to stay.

The Lord looked at him. “We must make the greatest immediate impression,” He spoke. “We must get the world’s attention. Your speech at the Reverend Masterfield’s church got attention, but not the level we need.”

Jack swallowed and washed it down. He set the glass down. “Just tell me where, my Lord,” he said.

“The heart of New York City,” the Lord spoke. “Times Square. You make your sermon clear to them, and the whole world will stand and take notice.”

Jack nodded. “A great idea!” He nodded and smiled. “Will you take me there?”

“But of course,” was the response. The Lord motioned towards the rear door. “Finish your food and meet me outside.”

Jack crammed the remaining third of the sandwich into his mouth, chewed like mad, then swallowed and gulped down the last of the glass of soda. Then he practically sprinted for the door.

The Lord draped an arm around his charge, and then blasted into the sky. Within less than a minute, they were out of the county. Jack felt the wind pass harmlessly around him, like a dog’s head out the car window on the highway. However, they flew at over a thousand miles per hour. “This is amazing!” he shouted.

“It is nothing,” the Lord spoke. He looked briefly at his servant. “I could go much faster, but I want people on the ground to see us moving, at least briefly.”

He saw the ground from up high and felt like a million bucks. A feeling of glory from on high swelled up in his soul, like only being in service to God almighty could make him feel. Inspiration came like the wave crashing against the beach. Words came to him, words that people would doubtlessly find offensive and might even deem hateful, but the will of God the Father required him to say. Duty spoke to him. He had to make clear the stakes in this cosmic battle. The final battle against Satan would arrive in a short while and his words had to rally the faithful and those loyal to the Lord’s cause.

In less than a half hour, they touched down in Times Square. At first, many people stopped and either gasped or laughed, assuming it was someone performing a trick using a superpower. Cars continued moving around them. Some recognized the pair from the news and stopped to pay attention. The Lord and his charge looked around, taking in the sight of the enormous crowd.

With a wave of his hands, The Lord made a platform appeared above the concrete of the walkway and hovered about five feet into the air. He turned to his servant. “My children,” He spoke, his voice booming. “I bring to you my messenger upon this Earth, bringing my Father’s word to you all.” He touched Jack, amplifying his voice for all around to hear.

All heard the pronouncement and stopped what they were doing and looked up. Cars slowed to a crawl and traffic began to back up. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” Jack announced, putting on his Sunday best voice. “You might recognize my Lord and myself from the broadcast. We have wasted no time because Satan does not rest. The Deceiver does not take breaks. We have decided to act at once.”

He saw the crowd gathering. Some looked suspicious and skeptical, while others kept a keen ear on every word. He continued. “People, I wish I could sit here and tell you our task is easy. I know many of you do not believe the Lord is in fact right here. This is unfortunate, as our enemies mobilize while we desperately seek allies. This is how our society has fallen, and why the Lord must come to you at once.” He took a breath. “You see, Satan’s infiltration of our society has corrupted every level. Where once we sinned, but at least pretended to keep Our Father’s commandments on this Earth, now we turn sin into an act of pride. We wear our sins as a badge of honor with a smile on our face. This cannot be allowed to continue.”

At these words, anger began to simmer in the people, who encroached from all angles, crowding in to see who dared speak such rhetoric. Jack persisted at his sermon, nonetheless. This was a bandage that needed to be ripped off. “We have fallen in love with Satan’s machinations. We praise our children for being ‘gay’ or ‘transgender’ when such is evil. It is the corrupt will of the Devil and will only result in separation between a person and their God.” Angry cries and loud chatter of rejection rose from the crowd. “I do not wish to see God’s children suffer. We have a choice. We have the option to set aside our sin and allow Jesus into our hearts and He will bring His Father’s mercy upon you all. He will bring glory into your life, and love into your heart that no amount of sin can fulfill. Only by confessing your sins to your Lord can you gain the eternal kingdom of God.”

“Hey!” a voice shouted over the din. “Fuck you, man!”

Everyone went silent as the Lord stepped forward from behind his servant. A single raised finger hovered the man above the crowd and drew him within ten feet. The man had a long dark brown ponytail, skin like coffee with cream, and brown eyes. Also, what most caught the Lord’s eye, was the gay pride flag on his shirt. He regarded the man with sad eyes. “My child,” the Lord spoke, “this defiance of my father is your daily life. It will bring you nothing except suffering and hellfire. I can bring you absolution. I can bring you into my Father’s eternal paradise.” He brought the man onto the platform. “Deny Satan’s grasp on you, defy your evil ways, and bend the knee to myself and my Father on high, and accept me as your savior.” His deadly serious expression stared straight through the man to his core. “For I alone am the savior, and none get to Heaven save through me.”

The man quivered in terror. “Christ, man, don’t kill me,” he pleaded.

“I won’t kill you,” the Lord clarified. “You will be killing you, that is, if you do not accept my Father’s will. Don’t you want to be saved?”

“I…please…”

The Lord stepped closer, causing the man to fall onto his butt. “That is not an answer,” He spoke. “Make your decision, now.”

“I…I won’t.” The man said it as firmly as he could. “I won’t be bullied. Not anymore.”

The Lord bowed his head. “That is a shame,” He stated. His eyes closed and opened. “Because I wanted to save you.”

“Wh…what?”

The man’s question cut off as a piercing scream escaped his mouth. A great light surrounded him, and an unimaginable flame erupted, with heat beyond compare, that overtook him and reduced him to ash in a second. The smell of burning flesh and fat wafted into the air as the light died down, leaving behind a small pile where a person once sat.

Chaos erupted like a volcano as bodies collided with each other in desperation. People clamored and shoved their way away from the two as fast as their legs could carry them. The Lord lifted a right hand upward, like a strange salute, and walls of translucent light erupted from the ground, sealing off the exits to Times Square. Bodies collided with them and people bashed into the force field with fists and feet. Cars impacted and stopped cold. With a gesture, dozens of cell phones raised into the air and focused their cameras on Jack. A flick of a finger and they started broadcasting to the internet. “You shall not escape the Truth!” Jack said to the crowd present. “Witness the pain of refusing the mercy of Christ, and the glory of God! You have had every chance to repent, to renounce evil and confess your sin! This is your last chance to accept salvation!”

“People of God’s Earth,” the preacher said into the cameras, “you have one last chance. You have one final decision to make: God’s eternal kingdom, or everlasting hellfire. You have until we get to you to make your decision. If you wish to defeat evil, if you wish to serve your God and secure your place in his righteous army against Satan’s wickedness, bend your knee to your savior. Accept Christ, your Lord, into your heart and we will give you details on how to do God’s work in this world.”

A sonic boom rattled the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Hovering over the scene, two figures watched with fiery rage in their eyes. A redhead woman wearing an orange t-shirt and double layers of yoga pants stared at the two with deadly seriousness. Next to her, hovered a man with a weightlifter build in a short-sleeved white shirt and jeans, with chin-length hair the color of desert sand. He didn’t know how useful he would be if this Jesus shut off his powers again, but he wasn’t going to skip on this one.

“Somehow,” Jericho uttered to Jennifer, “this outcome didn’t surprise me.”

“Jack Hurst!” Jennifer shouted, her voice rattling windows. “You are NOT going to kill one more person!”

“I have not condemned one person!” the Lord shouted. “They condemned themselves by refusing the gift of my Father’s love!”

She shifted her gaze to Jack. “This monster of yours just killed someone!” she bellowed. “You shut this thing down at once!”

Jack scoffed. “You accuse me of having a superpower?” he asked. “No! Of course, a servant of Satan like yourself would think that. I am a servant of the Lord! This is the task I’ve been charged with!”

The Lord stepped past his servant. “My child,” he spoke, “you will submit to me now.”

Before anyone could see anything, Jennifer flew down, impacting the fake Jesus and shooting up into the sky like a rocket. At a thousand feet over the tops of the buildings, she crashed her fist like a meteor strike into her foe’s chest. The sound, like a cannon shot, rattled buildings for miles around. The impact shot the Lord backwards like a railgun, bouncing off the roof of a skyscraper like a stone skimmed across a pond, and sailing for scores of miles. He finally crashed into a wooded area far outside the metropolitan area, smashing into a cliffside and causing the rocks to collapse into the river. Before he could right himself, she smashed into him, plowing rapid fire fists and feet into his body.

“Enough!”

The Lord’s shout caused an invisible force to smash into her and shove her back, and then wrap around her, binding her tightly. “You’re going to have to kill me,” she told him, “because that’s the only way you’re going to kill anyone else.” He hovered close to her.

“My child,” the fake Jesus spoke, “why do you serve the Deceiver? You have enormous potential to do my Father’s work upon this Earth. I would hate to have to send you to hell.”

Jennifer smirked. “I thought you didn’t condemn anyone,” she replied. “But the way you just worded it, which is it?”

The Lord let out a frustrated sigh and grit his teeth in anger. “It seems you fight against my Father,” he spoke. A white-hot fire engulfed her, the light cocooning her. She screeched in agony as her extremities began to burn. “I cannot save you if you will not submit.”

As she pulled against impossible bonds, her body became a single solid mass of pain. She fought to manipulate the energy surging through her, destroying her bit by bit, finding it elusive as it slipped past her will. With bubbles appearing on her skin, she fought to keep her mind rational, as the intense suffering caused her to lose calm.

Finally, an option presented itself.

The Lord watched, when suddenly, his nervous system almost completely shut down. Signals went every which way except where they needed to go. Before he even had a chance to react, Jennifer smashed into him after his bindings failed and the fire died down. A storm of blows bashed against him and she drove him into the ground with a two-fisted smash.

Back in Manhattan, Jericho found himself virtually powerless, standing helplessly as an invisible wall separated him from Jack Hurst. He kicked at the barrier, but it did not budge. At a certain point, however, he felt his powers return. Without warning, he teleported inside the barrier and grabbed Jack Hurst. Eyes widened on both men. The billionaire sent a charge of electricity. The preacher’s body went limp.

Jericho readied another attack. A sonic boom resounded in the distance.

A battering ram of a blow knocked Jericho into the sky. With effort he flipped over in midair. Jennifer came zooming in a moment later, aiming her body like a kamikaze at the two enemies, only for the Lord to knock her aside without touching her. With a wave of the Lord’s hand, the preacher stood restored.

“You cannot defeat the Lord!” Jack shouted.

Jennifer and her ally shared a glance then zoomed downward on a collision course with their foes. The Lord clasped his hands together and stuck them outward.

A great glow and fire overcame the two and they vanished in a flash of unearthly heat.

Screams and cries overcame the crowd as cameras caught the ordeal.

Jack smiled as he saw the servants of Satan destroyed. He turned to the crowd. “This is the fate that befalls all who stand with the Deceiver against God’s holy kingdom,” he preached. “This is the power of the Lord!” He gestured at the crowd. “Now, kneel before your Lord and accept your savior!”

The crowd’s clamor and noise died down. One by one, the entire group knelt.

“Now,” The Lord spoke, “rise in holiness.”

The crowd rose, silently.

The barriers went down.

“Now!” Jack preached. “Go forth and bring the enemies of God to justice! If they will not accept the Lord as their savior, they must be delivered to judgment!”

Sirens wailed in the distance as the Lord and his charge stepped down, allowing the platform to vanish. “It seems we have attracted attention,” The Lord spoke.

A group of police cars and vans approached, and out of them, no fewer than thirty men emerged, wearing body armor and wielding pistols and assault shotguns. They formed a line and took aim. “On the ground!” an older officer shouted.

The Lord regarded the show of force. “No,” he simply stated.

A flash of light exited the Lord’s eyes and their guns harmlessly turned to dust. Several of them reached for holstered sidearms, only to find them gone. “What the hell have you done?” the group commander shouted.

“You will not be harmed if you swear loyalty to your Lord!” Jack yelled.

“I can’t let a murderer go free!” the officer exclaimed.

“This is your last chance,” Jack pleaded. “I don’t want to see you suffer.”

“No!” the officer yelled. “I’m not letting you get away!” With no weapon, only his desire to act, the lead officer leapt for Jack Hurst to restrain him.

The Lord lifted a finger and the man vaporized like water on the desert sand. A collective scream of horror escaped from the officers. Before they had a chance to run, a single glance from the Lord and they stood frozen where they stood. “Pledge yourself to me,” He spoke, “and you shall gain my father’s eternal paradise. Deny me and you shall be cast into the Lake of Fire.”

The officers regarded one another, then slowly, took a knee. “Now, rise!” Jack ordered. One by one, they rose.

“My Lord,” one young officer cried, “what do you want us to do?”

“Bring the enemies of my Father to judgment,” The Lord spoke. “The forces of Satan hide from the light. You will have to bring them out to be dealt with.”

“Please forgive me!” one officer cried.

The Lord placed a hand on the man’s forehead. “My child,” he spoke, “you shall be saved, for you have sided with goodness against evil.”

“How do we serve you?”

Jack looked at the man who asked. “Those with powers can be enlisted by either Satan or by us,” he explained. “Find them and if they will not join our cause, they must be destroyed.”

“Come with me,” one officer said, leading them to a vehicle.