The Return of the Man of GOD

Hey people! I hope you are having a great week - The weekend is almost here....Happy Friday! Without further ado, I present to you the final chapter in this "Man of GOD" saga! I really do hope you've enjoyed the ride if you've managed to come this far! I certainly have enjoyed writing the story. Perhaps I will pick it up from here in the future!


The Return of the Man of GOD

1.

The days went by, then weeks and months, but no one saw or heard from Johnny. Every night, before she went to bed, Cynthia recounted all the facts in her head. A missing persons report had been filed the day after Johnny had disappeared. Abidel had been charged with kidnapping, though he had not given the police any meaningful leads to Johnny's whereabouts. What was even stranger was that his identity could not be traced. His name drew a blank in all the police searches, he was of no known fixed address, and he certainly wasn't a citizen of the United Kingdom. As far as the authorities could tell, he wasn't a citizen of any country for that matter. According to him, he was the citizen of another world. Another kingdom. According to the police, he must be the member of some kind of crazed deep undercover sect; if they could find this cult then they would apprehend his accomplices and uncover whatever hole they were keeping Johnny, dead or alive. After six months, no one could deny the possibility that Johnny may not be found alive. Under normal circumstances, she would agree with the police's version of the story. But her other-worldly dreams and Abidel's accurate knowledge of them made her doubt common sense. What if he really was from another world? What if Johnny was really there right now, valiantly attempting to bring their baby back? She was deep in these same thoughts she'd had every day since Johnny disappeared when she heard a knock on the door. She looked through the peep hole. It was Detective Carter.

"Good afternoon detective," she said as she opened the door. "Please do come in."
"Thank you Cynthia. How are you keeping?"

"I'm okay, thanks. But obviously my mind will never be at rest until I know what's happened to Johnny. Do you have any new leads yet?"

"No, unfortunately we have nothing yet. We have people working round the clock to make sure we find him. We're doing everything we possibly can."

"Has Abidel given us anything? Or is he sticking to his original story?"

"He's stuck hard and fast to his original story. A real nutcase, that one is!"

"I know you're a sceptic, but what if there is some truth to this story of his? After all, in half a year, your best detectives and secret service agents have failed to prove that he is from planet earth!"

His lack of objection betrayed the fact that he didn't entirely disagree with her. In fact, if she could read him correctly after six months of knowing him, she could tell that he was holding something back. "What are you not telling me detective?"

"I think you need to sit down for this."

"Don't tell me to sit down, just tell me what you've got!"

"Well, I was going over the autopsy report for your baby."

"And?"

"As was stated in the coroner's preliminary report, the cause of death was perinatal asphyxia which resulted in cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, the coroner died shortly after and was unable to complete his report, but these documents were recently found in his home."

"What do they say?"

"It seems that there was a discrepancy with the time of death. According to this, the coroner was investigating the possibility that the baby died sometime before the time of birth, up to seventy-two hours before."

"How is that possible? I had a scan the day before the delivery - my baby was alive and healthy!"

"There is more. As you can imagine, DNA tests are usually not conducted during autopsies, especially when the course of death is natural as was the case here. I decided to take some DNA from frozen samples from the autopsy to conduct a maternity test. I have conducted the test with three different samples this week, and each time the results were conclusive. There is a ninety-nine point nine percent certainty that you are not the mother of this child!"

Cynthia's head spun. She felt dizziness clouding her mind so she sat down to catch her breath. "How could this have happened? How could you let this happen? My baby has been out there somewhere for six months and you let me think he was dead?"

"Please understand this, the cause of death is only revealed in about forty percent of autopsied stillbirths. The new coroner who took over the file would have had no reason to keep the file open after the cause of death had been determined! There is no way anyone would have thought to do a maternity test unless they had suspected foul play!"

"Or unless they had listened to Abidel!" She got up and grabbed her coat. "I am going to speak to him now to find out everything I can. If you can't do your job right then I will have to find my baby and Johnny myself!" Her words were ignited by the suddenly new possibility that her baby was out there. Alive. Somewhere. But before she could get past Carter to the door, she burst into tears. She grabbed the detective tightly and wept into his chest.

"Shh, don't cry," Carter said, trying to console her. "We will find your baby, and we will find Johnny. But there's nothing you can do right now, it's the middle of the night. Get a good night's rest and we'll speak first thing in the morning okay?"

After a few minutes, she resigned herself to staying at home, at least for the night, and slumped unto the couch exhausted.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Carter asked as he readied to leave.
Just then, he got a call and answered his cell phone before Cynthia could respond to his question. He listened to the call attentively and after a few seconds, Cynthia could see his eyes go wide with utter shock and disbelief. "Okay, we will be right there!" Then he hung up.

"Quick, put on your coat. We're going down to the station. Now!"

"Hold on, I thought you said nothing can be done tonight?"

"That's changed. We need to hurry down now. I will explain on the way!"

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2.

Emperor Melek sat in his courtyard playing with his new toy. The gift that Johnny had brought him from the other world. The I-pod. He skipped from one song to another excitedly taking in the deluge of new sounds, beats and percussions emanating from the earphones. This garage music as Johnny had called it was certainly fascinating. The Oracle on the other hand wasn't so impressed. Johnny and Beza had taken the baby he had tried to pass off as the Chosen One to return him to the other world, and for the first time his grand plan slipping away from him. He strode across the room, deep in thought, ignoring the Emperor's playful antics with the I-Pod.

"Your Majesty, I do not believe that we should have allowed them to leave with the baby," The Oracle finally said, turning to face the Emperor.

"I allowed them to leave. I, not we," the Emperor replied without looking up, too engrossed in uncovering the secrets of the I-Pod. "I believed my wife when she said that baby could not be ours. They shall return him to his world and bring our boy back here."

"Why does thy highness believe that they shall return with thy child? What incentive does this Johnny of London have to find the child when he returneth to his own land?". At that question, the Emperor looked up at him and put the I-Pod down. Now that he had the man's attention, the Oracle pressed on, "If thou had kept one of them prisoner, the other would have had to return with the baby! I suggest you go after them and stop them before it's too late!"

"You speak with reason, but I don't think that would be necessary. I am sure they shall return with my child..." as he spoke, he noticed the screen of the I-pod flashing with the words BATTERY LOW. Without further warning it went dead, and try as he may, he could not turn it back on.

The Oracle realised that his was his moment. "Your Majesty, now thou hast seen with thine own eyes the deception of Johnny of London? How can thy trust him if even his gifts are filled with lies? You must give chase. They are only three days ahead of us. At full stride, we can catch them before they reach the gateway!"

After several futile attempts at turning the I-pod back on, The Emperor threw it on the floor in frustration. "Ebed-Melek!" he called for the General of his Royal Guard who was never far away. "Quick, take 100 of the Royal Guard and saddle a horse for me. We set off for the Path of the Oracle immediately!"

Beza and Johnny were near the Oracle's hut when they saw the Royal Guard approaching from the plains of Masai at full gallop in the distance. They hurried into the hut and lay Johnny's baby on the table in the middle of the living area. Beza knelt by the child and said a quick prayer. Beza rose and was leaving the hut to confront to fast approaching men when Johnny grabbed his arm.

"I'm not going back to my own world, am I?" Johnny had considered this outcome for a while but had waited until the last possible moment to confirm it.

"As you know, for one to be able to cross from one world to the other, another must cross in the opposite direction. Right now, only Abidel awaits to cross from the other side. The Emperor's child died just before crossing over, and too much time has passed since then for it to be part of any exchange now."

Johnny had prepared himself for this moment for some time. Given the choice between he or his baby returning to London, there was only one option. The baby would return to Cynthia to restore her joy after being misled to think that her baby died at birth. When they stepped outside the hut, they were face with The Emperor, The Oracle, Ebed-Melek and his Royal Guard.

"Where is the child?" The Emperor thundered.

"He is in my hut!" The Oracle screamed, "We may be too late. Quick, seize them and kill them!" When the Emperor and his men hesitated, the Oracle hissed and his eyes turned black as the clouds above them went dark. "Then I guess I have to do it myself!"

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3.

"We're on our way to the prison," Carter told Cynthia as he sped down the highway, "It seems like Abidel has escaped his cell!"

"What?! How is that possible? How will I find my baby now?"

"From what I've been told, he just disappeared into thin air. There was no sign of a break out and no one heard any noise or commotion. Only the cries of a baby."

"The cries of a baby?"

"Yes, it appears that a baby was found in his place in the cell this evening. I've been informed that the child is approximately six months of age!"

Cynthia's mind spun. What if this was her baby? Could her pain and anguish at having lost her child during labour finally be over? It took two days for the maternity test to come back, and it confirmed that this was indeed her child. She'd missed out on six months of his life, but now she had the rest of his life back, which is more than she had realistically hoped for until Detective Carter got that call. The months and years rolled by and Abidel was never seen again. Johnny was never found either and the official search for him was called off a year after he disappeared. Cynthia thought that whatever world Abidel had returned to, Johnny must be there also. From time to time she wondered if he was happy, and prayed that one day she would see him again, that her child would know his father. And she called the child Johnny, in memory of him.

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4.

The Oracle's hands rippled with energy. Johnny could see what looked like electricity coursing through the man’s veins and palms, finely poised to discharge bolts of lightning in their direction. "What are we going to do?" he asked Beza, as the Oracle approached them, the winds and rain seemingly at his beck and call now slamming into them.

"We're going to stall him. Buy some time, but I don't know how long I can hold him off for!"

No sooner had Beza spoken did Abidel come crashing out of the door behind them. With the Oracle bearing down on them, Abidel stepped forward and lifted up his staff. Suddenly, a wall of fire came crashing down from the heavens, separating them from the Oracle, the Emperor and his men. Motioning to Beza and Johnny, Abidel led the way for their escape to Low Earth. The wall of fire followed them every step of the way, burning up everything in its wake including the Oracle's hut. Low Earth would now be there safe haven - having already been banished from High Earth once, there was surely no way back from this.

The Oracle's plan had been thwarted for now, and his hut, the portal to the other world, had been destroyed. However, with the unwitting Emperor's help, he would continue his plans to bring the abomination that would reek utter desolation to the ends of High and Low Earth. Once he used the Emperor and his armies to conquer Low Earth, nothing would stand in the way of his opening a new portal to Earth and taking hold of that world too! And there were only three who could stop him now. Abidel, Beza and Johnny. That Man of God, his clueless assistant and their new apprentice.

The Emperor and The Man of God

1.

When Johnny awoke, he looked around and quickly realised that he was no longer in his one bedroom apartment in Finchley. He was lying on what looked like a wooden bed in the middle of a small room. There was a huge fireplace at one end of the room and what looked like a kitchen at the other end. Perhaps the bed was not a bed at all - it could have been an altar of some sort...

"Welcome," he heard a voice say from behind him, "how did you sleep?"

He spun round and saw a man in a white robe standing behind him. Then it all started coming back to him - this must be Beza, the man who Abidel referred to as his apprentice. He was in this other world that Abidel had called High and Low Earth. Or he could just be having a very vivid dream.

"I slept OK. Where am I?"

"You're at the Path of the Oracle, the gateway to Low Earth." The man stretched out his hand, "I am Beza. I believe Abidel told you I would be waiting for you?"

"Yes, he did," he replied as a look of concern suddenly washed over his face. "This is the same Oracle who Abidel told me has taken Cynthia's baby?"

"Yes, the one and the same. This is his hut – we must hurry and leave before we are discovered. Even though he is on his way to High Earth now with the Emperor and the baby, he has eyes and ears about this place who will no doubt inform him of our presence here at the earliest opportunity."

"Where are we going?"

"We must follow them back to High Earth, to the Emperor's palace, to petition the return of your child!"

"What if we don't succeed?" Johnny nervously asked as they discreetly crept away from the Oracle's hut.

"We must succeed," Beza replied, "or we may very well be witnessing the abomination that will reek utter desolation to the ends of High and Low Earth!"

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2.
When Beza and Johnny arrived at the gates of the Emperor's Palace, they were taken in chains immediately the guards recognised Beza, the apprentice of the Man of GOD who was banished into the wilderness with his master for making blasphemous comments about the Oracle and doubting the imminence of the Great Prophecy. Even though Abidel was not with him, he was accompanied by a man with very strange clothing. Whatever they were up to, the Emperor would want to know about it immediately.

They were brought into the main hall of the palace and presented before the Emperor. There, seated at his right hand as his chief advisor, sat a small man dressed in long, flowing, black robes. He may have been short in stature but had an air of confidence about him; an assuredness that even the Emperor himself could not boast of. Johnny had never met the man before but the moment their eyes met, the man’s eyes opened wide with surprise, his confidence clearly shaken by Johnny's unlikely presence. He knew then that this must be the Oracle that Abidel had spoken of. The man who had stolen his child and given him to the Emperor. Seated on the Emperor's left was his wife Marah, and cradled in her arms, a baby boy quietly asleep. His baby boy. He felt his pulse quicken as he laid eyes on his son for the first time.

"What manner of intrusion is this?" The Emperor's voice echoed loudly in the hall. He was clearly angered by their presence.

Beza stepped forward and knelt. "Forgive thy servants your Highness, but it was necessary to bring you an urgent message concerning your child..." He hesitated before continuing, "The chosen one."

"Be careful what you say peasant, or I will have your head taken off where you stand! Thou and thy master Abidel persist in spewing this blasphemy, that the child is not the one? Where is Abidel, and who is this fool that has accompanied you here to his death?"

"Your highness, this man beside me is living proof that the child which your wife nurses is not of this world." He pointed at the child in Marah's arms. "That baby is an impostor, is not thy child, and is not the chosen one!"

An outcry of voices emanated from the crowd present – Chieftains, Elders and Holy Scroll scholars from all over High Earth. "Sacrilege! Blasphemy!" were the cries that began to fill the room. "Kill them now!"

The royal guard started to draw their swords but their leader, Ebed-Melek, was already moving across the room towards Beza. His sword stopped at the man's throat, waiting for the slightest order from the Emperor to strike.

"Wait! Let the man speak" The Emperor said, raising his left hand. Then he turned to Beza, "Choose thy words carefully and know that they may be thy last breath!"

Beza breathed in deeply, Ebed-Melek's blade pressed against his neck. "This man with me is also not of this world. He has come from another world called London. He is also the father of this child!"

The ripples of murmuring spread across the room. Beza quickly continued while he had the chance, "Look at his clothes, rough blue trousers and a light red tunic that does not even cover his arms. The likes of which none have ever laid eyes on in High or Low Earth, not until now! And his shoes..."

"Lies!!!" The Oracle hissed interrupting Beza mid-sentence. "Your Highness, do not fall for this deception. This man whom thou rightly banished for his blasphemous speech must not be trusted. He is not even a true man of God. He hath no power as he professes to have and I shall prove it!"

The Oracle stood up, took his staff and threw it to the floor in front of Beza. The moment the stick touched the ground it turned into a snake, poised for attack and hissing at Beza. Startled, Ebed-Melech took a step back, careful to remain an arm's length from Beza, the venomous snake's supposed target. The sword was no longer at Beza's neck and this was when he decided to act. Flexing his chest and raising his arms he snapped the chains that had tightly fastened him as if they were twigs. When they touched the ground, they turned into three snakes which wasted no time in gobbling up the Oracle's snake. They lifted their heads up, posied for the next attack, seemingly waiting for Beza to give them their next orders. Horrified screams filled the room as people started fleeing. Only the bravest remained, eyes transfixed on the unfolding duel before them. The Oracle took a large rock in his right hand, and flung it at the snakes. When it struck the first one, the rock disintegrated and the snakes spontaneously combusted into flames! The Oracle smiled wickedly, enjoying his momentary victory, however fleeting it may be, as the stench of barbecue snake filled the palace.

Beza seemed unconcerned by this, and turned towards the Emperor. "Your highness, we waste time with these petty displays of power. I have come here to expose the truth to thee. We may calleth rain, fire and thunder from the heavens all day and all night to prove whose power really comes from God. Instead, I will let my comrade speak, and if this convinceth thee not, we shall return to the wilderness without the baby. But know that without this child, your child will remain trapped in this other world I speak of."

Silence descended upon the room and after a few moments, the Emperor motioned to Johnny to speak. "Sir...your Highness...," Johnny said stepping forward, "I bring thee a gift from my world. It is the power to light fire with your own hands." He brought out a metallic object from his pocket and when he clicked on it, a small flame emanated from his hand.

The Oracle laughed mockingly. "How does this tiny flame compare to the display of fire I have just shown you?"

"The difference is that anyone can start this fire. The source of its power is not in dispute. It comes from fuel which is inside it. It is called a lighter." Johnny stretched his hand out with the lighter towards the Emperor, at which point Ebed-Melek, who happened to be one of the brave souls who remained, stepped between them to take it from him. He was ready to test it himself and bear the consequences if this was a trap, but the Emperor waved him over and took the lighter from him. After fumbling with it for a few seconds, he lit the flame and stared at it with fascination.

The Oracle tried to speak up to interrupt the moment, but the Emperor had turned to Johnny. "Is it possible to make more of these lighters? They would make a fine tool for all our camps and travelling parties."

"I suppose it is possible."

"Then lighters for all chieftains and generals of the royal guard!" The Emperor said rising up and pumping his fist as he raised his voice excitedly. There was a muted cheer from those that remained, such was their bewilderment at the unexpected turn of events in the Emperor's courtyard.

"Come, tell me what else have you brought from this world. London you called it?"

"Well, we call our world Earth, but I am indeed from a city called London."

"London will do," The Emperor chuckled. "So, Johnny of London, what other gifts have thy brought from thy world?"

Johnny reached into his pocket and brought out another rectangular object, this time thin, white and slightly bigger. A white rope with two leads were attached to it. He stuck the two white leads into either ear, and when he pressed the white object, the Emperor and all present could hear an interesting, somewhat melodious noise coming from his ears. No, from the white leads.

"What manner of sorcery is this?" the Emperor demanded, though the look on his face wore fascination rather than indignation.

"Again, it is not sorcery, it is simply music."

"So it is a musical instrument?"

"Not exactly. It is a device that plays music, you can download music from the internet and play it on this device."

"What is the internet?"

"Never mind. Here you can have this one. It's called an I-pod."

Again, Ebed-Melek took the device from him and handed it to the Emperor. The Emperor stuck the white leads in his ears and tried without luck to play the music.

"You have to press the button in the middle, that's the play button."

The Emperor did so, and after about a minute, pulled the leads out and looked up excitedly. "I have never heard music quite like this before. What is it called? Can we also make these I-pods for all the Chieftains and Elders?"

"It's called garage music. Unfortunately, it might be a bit more difficult to make more of these than the lighters."

"In that case, garbage music for the Emperor and his Court!" The Emperor said, pumping his fist in the air again. "It sounds like dirty music, is it meant to?" The Emperor chuckled. The Oracle looked across and tried to hide his disgust! If this Emperor was his own court jester, he would have beheaded himself a long time ago!

"Your Highness, Sir, please let us not forget the matter at hand. If we have been able to convince you, I have come to take my child and return him to my world and his mother."

Suddenly, the Emperor's countenance changed. A frown spread across his face, and the Oracle stole his moment while he had it. "Your Highness, thou seest now that they use deception to soften you, lower your guard and steal the baby! Remember I told you it would need my protection from untold evils seeking to end its life! End this dialogue with these snakes while you have the chance!"

The Emperor appeared to be ready to have Ebed-Melek and his royal guards take the two men away until Marah, who had not spoken until now, leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, "Melek, my King, I believe this Johnny of London speaketh truth. I have looked upon this child every night since he was given to me, three days after he died, when he was risen again with the Oracle's power, and I have known since then that this is not my child. Let them take him. If our child is out there somewhere, leave them to bring him back. Even if he is not alive, let us find him and give him a burial befitting of royal blood."

"What of the Great Prophecy of the chosen one? How can the child not be alive?"

"What if Abidel was right? What if this is not the time? Let us leave the matter in God's hands, otherwise I fear that history may record that we took part in a great deception and abomination."

Emperor Melek sat back deep in thought. His mind had almost been made up but since he married this young maiden Marah barely a dozen lunar cycles ago, he had always taken her word over all his most trusted advisors, much to their chagrin. Now he would do so once more, much to the Oracle's disgusted annoyance.

"Please, Your Highness," Johnny added as softly as he could, "listen to her Highness, a mother would always know. Right now this child's mother is distraught to the point of death in London, at the apparent loss of her baby. I beg you, please put her out of her misery. Let her have her child back."

But he didn't need to beg. The Emperor had already decided to let them go with the baby. That night, they stayed in the royal stables with the horses, and at the first rising of the sun, they were given two of the finest of the royal horses, enough supplies to last three lunar cycles, and safe passage to return to the Oracle's hut, which they believed was the gateway to the other world. Marah said her goodbyes to the baby which she had raised as her own for three lunar cycles, kissed his cheek and bade farewell to the two men, begging them to find her own baby and bring him back. The Emperor said nothing as he looked on and saw the two men and the baby disappear into the distance.


Does Johnny return to London with he and Cynthia’s baby? Does Abidel escape his jail cell in London and find his way back to High and Low Earth? Find out in the conclusion to this “Man of God” series in ‘The Return of the Man of God!’