The Flames Of The Phoenix

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

The minutes ticked slowly by, and Brian’s anxiety mounted. He rose from the chair and began pacing back and forth in the cell. How long am I going to have to wait here? He wondered.

I need to calm down. He thought. This is just a misunderstanding. They’ll come back any minute and let me go home. Just relax.

Brian sat back in the chair, forcing himself to appear calm. When the chair grew too uncomfortable, he moved to the bed. He turned his attention to the entrance of the cell. It did not look as though anything actually barred his exit. He stood and walked toward the door. As he neared, he heard it crackle a bit and backed away.

He picked up the wooden chair and went back to the door. Cautiously he pushed the chair into the doorway. Immediately, the door crackled, and electricity shot from the perimeter of the doorframe to the chair in its midst. Brian pulled the chair back and examined the charring.

Thinking he might escape if he jumped through quick enough, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a penny. He flipped it through the door and watched. Electricity shot like a bolt of lightning and the penny landed in a molten lump on the floor of the hallway.

“And where would you go even if you could get out, eh Brian?” he asked himself.

He began pacing again and stopped himself. I need something to focus on, he thought. This waiting is going to drive me crazy.

Then he remembered the book. He pulled the book from his back pocket and decided to read it a bit more thoroughly.

What was happening? He leafed through the pages. Oh yeah, Arlown was going to talk to God. Whatever. This should be interesting.

God appeared before Arlown as a young and beautiful woman.

“Father?” Arlown asked uncertainly.

She smiled, amusement showing in her eyes. “I am called that. Yet, as a spiritual being, I have no physical form or s*x. I appear as I choose at the time. What is your question?”

“I ask that You grant me the power to create a world.”

“Why do you ask for what you already have?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Arlown asked, not understanding.

She smiled again. “What is written concerning what is and is not possible?”

“The Bible says that all things are possible with faith.”

“True.” She nodded. “If you truly believe, it is possible. But what is it that you must believe?”

“In You.”

“A popular misconception,” she conceded. “Do you remember hearing of faith healers when you were on Earth?” Arlown nodded to this. “Most were charlatans, but some were genuine and did accomplish healing. What caused the healing?”

“The healer's faith in You?”

“No. Many people with very strong faith in Me were unable to accomplish such healing. Many of the healers did not believe in Me at all, but their faith, their certainty that they could and would heal is what caused the healing. The certainty of the subject that they will be healed can be a determining factor as well. Jesus did say ‘woman, your faith has healed you,’ did he not?”

“Yes,” he answered. “You’re saying He spoke literally, her belief that even His unknowing touch would heal her is what healed her, not her faith in Him. So, was it her power or His that healed her?”

“Hers, but she believed that she had to touch Jesus for anything to occur; that her only route to the power was via something else. As with most people she could not accept that the power was her own directly, so she devised an acceptable ‘via’ for herself.”

“I thought that You were the only one with real power.”

“All beings that are sentient, whose essence lies in a soul or spirit rather than a physical form, have an infinite amount of power, whether they know how to use it or not. You already have all the power you could ever require; therefore, your request to me is superfluous.”

Brian paused in his reading for a moment. His mind reeled from the onslaught of information, which conflicted with everything he had ever been taught. Turning back to the book, he found that Arlown evidently shared his confusion.

“But the Bible says that all power derives from either You or Satan and—”

“As far as that goes the Bible also says that I created Satan, so ultimately all power whether good or evil would derive from me. None of that is true.”

“Not true? Then why is it in the Bible?”

“You'll have to check with the authors and editors on that. I didn't write your Bible. Men wrote it.”

“But why did you allow them to preach untruths?”

“It wasn’t my job to allow or disallow anything. Besides, it was mostly before my time.”

I can’t buy this, Brian thought. This is just a story—or somebody’s idea of a bad joke. He closed the book in irritation, determined to do something else; anything but read its nonsense. He looked around the cell. Nothing had changed, and the room provided no distraction to his helpless waiting. Eventually, his frustration got the better of him and he relented. He turned to the next line of the book when a flicker of movement caught his eye. He looked toward the doorway and saw a cowled figure standing beyond.

“Quickly,” it was a man's voice. “You must escape!” Beneath the hood of the loose robe, a gauzelike cloth covered the man’s face.

“What’s wrong with your face?” Brian asked.

“We do not have time for irrelevant questions,” the man answered. “You must leave this place at once.”

“Unless you have a key there's no way out of this cell,” Brian explained to him uncomfortably. “Besides, I'm sure they'll let me go home as soon as this is all cleared up.”

“They'll never let you leave.” There was something strangely familiar about the man's voice. “They think you are a spy. Generally speaking, spies are executed. Sometimes they are worked over first, for information. Sometimes not.”

“But I'm not a spy,” Brian pointed out, “so there's no reason not to let me go.”

“Oh, well then,” the man's tone turned mocking, “if you're not a spy you have nothing to worry about. I'm sure they'll accept your explanation and send you on your way, apologizing all the while for the terrible inconvenience you suffered over this simple misunderstanding of your breach of their very secret facility.”

Brian thought for a moment. “Okay, I get the picture,” he conceded, “but there's still no way out of the cell. Unless…” he looked at the man carefully, then indicated the doorway. “Do you have some way to turn this thing off?”

“There is a way.”

Brian listened and did as the man instructed. He removed the mattress and slats from the wood bed frame and stood it on end in front of the door. Dubiously, and with extreme caution, Brian pushed the frame into the wide doorway with two of the slats.

As the frame entered the deadly field, electricity sprang into action. Brian was amazed at the genius of his rescuer. The electricity went from the doorway to the bed frame, but not within the bed frame. The way out lay open, and he stepped safely through.

He reached out to shake the man’s hand, but his benefactor quickly jumped back out of reach. “No! You must never attempt to touch me,” the man ordered. “Everything I have done would be for nothing. I would be destroyed. It is not yet time for that.”

Before Brian could ask him what he was talking about, the man turned and started down the corridor. “This way!” he called.

Brian followed as they raced madly up and down corridors. He tried asking questions but was silenced. He followed on in exasperation. Finally, when it seemed the running would never stop, they came to a halt.

“There,” the man pointed, “before you is a doorway similar to the one you came through to come here. You must hurry; it is not a natural doorway and will not remain open much longer.”

Brian looked. He saw a shimmering in the air several feet in front of him.

Obstinately, he turned back to the man who had led him. “First, I want some answers.”

“There is no time. You must seek your answers in the book.”

“We’ll just have to make time,” Brian insisted. “Who the hell are you, and where does that go?” Brian jerked his thumb at the shimmering air. He would go no further without answers.

Evidently the man sensed this. He sighed.

“I am Arlown. That way leads to Valikara. There you will be safe from those who mean you harm. But the way is about to close. If you are not through in time you will be trapped.”

“You're Arlown?” Brian looked from the man to the shimmering air. “Hold on, I don't want to go to Valikara. I want to stay on Earth.”

“You are not presently on Earth, and that is the only way out of here.”

“And just where is here?” Brian demanded.

“These people are from your world. They are a technological society that foresaw that the Earth will soon face its Armageddon. To escape destruction they created this place, which they call Astral-One. They hired technicians to make it work and mercenaries to protect and police it.”

“How come no one knows about it? Someone must have seen it.”

“Because it lies in an alternate universe. No one else has the technology. These answers only lead to more questions and there is no more time.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. Why are you here? Why are you helping me?”

“My goal is the destruction of evil.”

“Bullshit!” Brian snapped. “Evil is just some abstract idea, not something that can be physically destroyed. That’s fantasy. In the real world, there’s no such thing as evil. What does all this have to do with me, anyway?”

“Is there no evil in your heart?”

The question stunned Brian in a way he could not understand.

“Behind you lies only death. That way,” Arlown pointed at the shimmering air, “leads to Valikara and a chance for life. It also leads to great danger. The Dark One will attempt to destroy you, and she may very well succeed.”

“Dark One? What—”

“I have said too much already,” Arlown stopped him. “By now your escape is known and they are searching for you. They may have the ability to track the anomalous energy fluctuations of the doorway to its destination. They may even be able to shut it down. Go through the door now!”

Brian's objections subsided when the sound of approaching feet grew loud in the corridor. He spun around as a dozen men in uniform turned the corner at a jog.

“Quickly Brian, before it fades!” Arlown shouted as a laser gun fired brimstone into the narrow passage.

Brian needed no more urgings. He turned and leapt through the shimmering air. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Arlown fade and disappear. Briefest blackness and he was through.

He looked behind him in time to see a shimmering in the air fade to nothing.

“Arlown!” he called.

No answer. He was alone.