Allan followed, deep in thought. He was having a difficult time wrapping his head around the events of the past several days. Just this morning he was shot in the chest, only to have the wound miraculously heal. Then there were the strange events surrounding his jailbreak. And now he was on a quest to save a damsel in distress in a foreign land with dragons flying in the sky. Every logical instinct screamed that he was somehow trapped inside Conquest without a functioning HUD, but John continued to insist that all of this was real.
Maybe I’m in a coma from the bullet wound and I’m dreaming all of this. Or maybe I’m dead.
“I can assure you that neither of those possibilities are the case.” John said, with more than a touch of irony.
Stop reading my thoughts!
“Okay, then…” Allan challenged, “If all of this is real, then where do the mythical fire-breathing dragons fit in?”
“First off, dragons are not mythical creatures. They have merely been hunted to extinction on Earth. The exaggerated tales made about the beautiful creatures, however, are truly mythical. Dragons don’t breathe fire. They may have breath so terrible it could render you unconscious, but the idea that fire and brimstone spew from their mouths is pure fantasy.”
“Fine,” Allan spat. “Then explain this to me. If these so-called Seraphs…”
“Seraphim,” he corrected. “Plural form.”
“…Seraphim.” Allan’s expression twisted into a scowl. “If they have always existed on Earth, how come I’ve never heard of them?”
“Oh, I’m sure you have.”
“Try me.”
“Noah with his Ark, Abram whose name later changed to Abraham, Isaac the boy who was almost made a human sacrifice, Jacob whose name later changed to Israel, and Moses in Egypt, to name a few. You may not know their title as Seraphim, but you may know them as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators.”
“Wait…” Allan said. “Are you trying to tell me that I’m supposed to be some kind of prophet?”
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“Not necessarily. Each Seraph is given a unique set of gifts. The gifts of prophecy, interpretation, and revelation are but a few of the possible gifts you might receive.”
“Just for kicks and giggles, let’s say I am this Final Seraph as you claim.” he sighed. “You still haven’t explained how I fit into all of this.”
“Your purpose is to overthrow Timur and his Creed, take over the Kingdom of Atlantis, and prepare the people.”
“What do you mean, ‘prepare the people’?” Allan queried. “For what?”
John locked eyes with Allan. “For the end of both worlds, and the Judgment Day thereof.”
Allan stopped dead in his tracks. “Wait… WHAT?”
“As prophesied in the book of Malachi, ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.’ This is your ultimate purpose, to repair the ancient machine and transport this people back to Mother Earth.”
“Hang on,” Allan backpedaled. “First off, I’m not any prophet. Second, I know for a fact that I’m not the ancient prophet Elijah. You’ve definitely got the wrong man.”
“On the contrary. Elijah isn’t just a name, it’s a title. It means Forerunner, or Preparer. You hold the powers necessary to bring these lands back to Earth. You just need to learn how to harness them.”
“How can you be so sure I’m this Forerunner anyway?”
“There is yet another prophecy in the book of Revelation which identifies he who shall complete these tasks. It is found in the seventeenth verse of the second chapter. It states, ‘To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.’” John paused. “Allan, you overcame death in the face of it. The hidden manna is eternal life, which prevents you from being killed. The white stone in your pocket is your Amulet. When you held it earlier, it helped you focus your powers to transport us to this world.”
Allan pulled the rune-covered stone out of his pocket. “You mean this ancient artifact?”
John nodded. “Look into the stone and tell me what you see.”
Allan raised a curious eyebrow, turning his gaze to the stone in his palm. As he stared at it, he felt a warm sensation as his eyes were drawn deeper into its milky surface. Slowly, a single word formed. In shock, Allan dropped it.
“What did it say?”
Allan stared at the stone, laying in the foliage beneath their feet. It truly had formed a word. More specifically, it had formed a name.
Elijah.
“Can you see clearer now?”
Allan nodded, his eyes wide in astonishment.
“How…” he stuttered. “How could you possibly know all of this?”
“I told you, I have many names. I’ve been known by the names Beloved, Revelator, and Divine.” His glowing white eyes bore into Allan’s. “I am John.”
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