Chapter Twenty
The Final Order
I sat on my horse in dejection as I stared at the three tribal leaders who yet refused to go with me.
Looking to the wall that now shook and was visibly crumbling the one leader said, “Of a truth we do not doubt what you say in that this wall will fall on the morrow, but what you ask us to believe is too much. We cannot go with you as we do not believe as you do that the old prophecies have already been fulfilled and that a Savior has already come from long ago and whose spirit is even at work in the world today. We cannot accept this and thus we cannot embrace the future that you seem so positive is to be found waiting for us in the Wastelands.”
I leaned forward toward the speaker and said, “The day will come when you shall have no choice but to believe, but I wish for your sakes that you did not have to go through the trials that your unbelief is going to take you.”
The three remained silent as well as the people behind them. There was no changing their minds.
Looking off into the valley beyond the newly constructed city I said, “Since you will not come with us and if you stay here before your wall you will die, I suggest you flee further into the valley. There are caves all throughout these mountains where many of the high order animals survived while the fallen order kinds dominated the valley below. Perhaps you will be able to hide from and survive the onslaught that is beyond that wall, eager to be unleashed upon you. Either way it at least gives some of you the best chance of survival.”
“We’ll take that under advisement, but we have not yet given up hope that our Savior will come for us and yet win this battle.”
In disgust I wheeled Phalon away from them, but I heard what Ayaya said. “He has already come and when he did we rejected his kingship. I should know for I was to be his bride, instead I wounded him and was party to his death, but now he is alive again! The truth of my witness is before you and yet you are deaf to it! I am one that lived in and saw those days and since then my years have been expanded so that I might see this day of reconciliation take place, only to behold that those first invited to my wedding are few in number and that the guest roles have been likewise filled by those deemed as foreigners to the truth first given to us! You choose death when life is but a step away! May El Elyon have mercy on you for the world will have none!”
I continued urging Phalon away. All that could have been said had been. Though a witness had been raised from the grave to bear witness to the truths of the past, still the people would not believe, for they rejected the path laid down in the Holy Scrolls and substituted it for the doctrines of man. There was nothing more to be done as even the Holy Scrolls had predicted this.
I led the people behind me across the valley. Almost a third of the Yesathurim had come and I was grateful for every one of them. It would have been a sad tale to come so far, to risk so much, only to return with nothing, but as I had come to learn over and over in my life, the words of El Elyon never failed to deliver what they promised. Even so there was, as prophesied, a remnant behind me of those who believed.
Thankfully, we were soon distanced from the internal groaning of rock against rock and the infernal humming of the dark ones' song of destruction. The knowledge of how soon the wall was likely to collapse drove us all on at a fast clip. I only held back from a cantering trot because of the slow oxcarts filled with children and those too old to run along.
The valley’s environment became more lush in its vegetation as we went deeper into it. Soon I saw the small lake that lay in the valley’s center and around it was gathered a large herd of Tricans.
My mind drifted back to the big female I had ridden into battle and idly I called out to her in my mind. The herd moved away from the water then and began moving towards our destination point in the opposing mountain slope.
My brow furrowed in perplexity of the strange reaction and then it occurred to me that these high order beasts had been gifted with an exceptionally keen intelligence. Their fate as a giant's or a Gargon's meal was sealed once the valley was overrun.
They were escaping the Valley too, but they had been held in readiness against doing so by a higher power so they did not give away the valley's only other exit. El Elyon was always so thoughtful of even the most minor of details, I mused to myself.
The Tricans acted as if they were nothing more than big tame cattle as they trotted into the cavern located in the rocky side of the mountain slope ahead of us. Their passage would help clear the way of obstructions for the oxcarts as any loose stones would be crushed to gravel beneath their great weight.
“El Elyon is good!” I said out loud.
“All the time,” Ayaya echoed.
The darkness of the cave closed around us as the sound of rock being pulverized echoed back to us from the herd ahead.
*****
The dawning of the third day occurred just as we came clear of the tunnel and stepped into the Wastelands. The Tricans had not stopped and neither would we. There would be no stopping until we reached the encampment at the forest.
The day moved on with no sign of the enemy and it passed with no sign of the enemy. Our progress was good and I allowed a brief rest of about four hours during the darkest part of the night. Before the sun was up though we were back on the move.
The sun had not reached quite halfway into the sky when it became real to me that pursuit of us was close at hand. Pausing, I stared off behind us but I sensed no pursuit from that quarter. I looked to the West and the kingdoms of Ayenathurim and felt more certain that it was the direction from which the attack would come.
Sar’ran got off his horse and put his ear to the ground for a moment. I looked to him and he nodded without a word and pointed off to the West.
“How long is it till we reach the encampment do you think?” Thanuel asked uncertainly.
“The people we protect should reach it just as the sun is going down,” I said, as I thought out the remaining journey ahead in my mind. So close, but yet so far.
Sar’ran spoke up, “There is no time for us to reach the encampment. At our present rate of speed we should see the enemy within the hour and from there they will be on our position in an hour or perhaps a little more. They are moving very quickly!”
I nodded, already aware of that truth. I turned from gazing toward the West to looking at each of my friends, some from a long time to those quite recent. They visibly straightened and perceptively they all knew what was in my heart to do.
“Prepare the army and inform the convoy to pick up their pace as much as possible.”
“Yes, Sir!” they all affirmed and rode off to see that it was done.
I alone stared off to the West. I wasn’t alone for long though. I glanced off to the side and silently acknowledged Bruton, who had stepped away from the caravan, along with most of the Yesathurim warriors who had come with us.
I could see dust clouds put off by the enemy now. They were running themselves to death in their eagerness to put us to death. Such hate was unfathomable and yet there was no denying its existence.
Hearing snorted grunts and heavy steps from behind me, I turned in the saddle and was astonished to see that the herd of Tricans had come about and was coming up into a position behind me in a long, staggered out line.
I waited as they came close, only to drift to a stop and then stare steadily into the West, not moving a muscle. I got off Phalon and approached the massive female not far from me.
She turned her great head to regard my approach with a keen interest. Laying a hand on one of her horns I patted her great snout with the other, “The years have been kind to both of us. Thank you for this last service on behalf of the Kingdom.”
Her eyes blinked and I walked away. Warriors had already started to outfit Phalon with his heavy chain link regalia of war. Glancing back to the West I acknowledged that war would soon be upon us.
A second flurry of dust off to the East had me looking in that direction with concern. As the dust got closer I recognized the banners of the Knights that had forsaken their kingdoms to come with us to the forest.
Before long Falarin pulled up before me in a cloud of dust as what looked like the entire army of gathered nations of Ayenathurim fanned out to either side of my position.
In grave concern I addressed Falarin, “You left the people undefended?”
He shook his head and with a smile said, “They are in no need of our protection. The great high order beasts of the forest have surrounded the encampment as a living wall of defense against any opposing enemies. No enemy would dare to even attempt to get through their line. We have come to aid you in the fight.”
Walking to his horse I put my hand on his leg and said, “Falarin, there are many battles, but this one today will be different than all the others.”
He leaned forward to me with a look of earnest passion that said he was every inch the King that I knew him to be and said, “There are two ways to enter into the glory of the kingdom. One can wait in earnest expectation of it,” he gestured off to the East with one hand, “Or one can ride straight into it.” He gestured off to the West with his other hand. “I choose to enter it by your side Benaiah, unworthy that I am of the honor of doing so.”
I nodded and said, “Then it will be so. Thank you for coming Falarin.”
“I would have had it no other way.”
I went to Phalon and mounted up and trotted forward of the main battle line, followed by Thanuel and Jarken. I looked to Thanuel only to see that he had the banner from the battle of Poretani tied off to the lance I had used. Where he had gotten it from I do not know as I had lost track of it.
Noticing my gaze he grinned and said, “Until the end.”
I smiled, “The end is just the beginning for us old friend.”
I turned back to the West and waited as the army formed a solid line off to either side of me. They filtered to the side and blended around the Tricans, but none stepped in front of them. The Tricans stood solid in their face-off against the threat from the West with all three great horns held high in alertness.
Time passed and the army at my back was silent, except for the jingle of harness and the metallic chink of metal on metal, as we watched the mixed multitude of the enemy draw close. I saw banners from several Kingdomer Nations and many from Nicationer Nations, although none from Crona.
There were also the usual enforcement henchmen of darkness as well. How else would the masses of the enemy’s usurped army be held together if not for the fear of the creatures that evil had spawned.
I glanced behind me at the army that was in readiness to do battle. They were more impressive to behold than the force before us.
We were outnumbered by probably a hundred to one or more, but today it did not matter. I broke my stance of stillness and rode down the column to the left with my sword raised to them and then I rode back to the right side of the column in a silent salute to all those gathered upon this battlefield today that transcended more than just the physical plain of our existence as mortals upon this world.
Reaching the center of the line once more I called out as loudly as I could, “It is written in the Holy Scrolls that the role of a shepherd is to watch over the sheep and if called upon to even give up his life for the sheep. Today you and I are those shepherds! Today, though we sacrifice ourselves out of love for our families, we are by no means separated from them! Today we enter the Kingdom!!! Victory is already ours!!!” I wheeled Phalon around and he jumped forward with a will even as the whole battle line roared out behind me in echo to my own cry of war.
The staggered line of Tricans let loose with a bellow that shook the dunes and bounded forward, horns lowered toward the fast approaching enemy line. It was a glorious charge.
I had never been a part of anything so unified of faith as this charge into battle and I reveled in it. My wife and children were safe and I was going to do my part this day to keep them so.
Unbelievably the Tricans, at the last moments before the clash of opposing armies, outdistanced the horses and were the first to smash into the enemy line. My big female swung to the right to gore a giant, only to toss him to the side in the next moment, as she churned on over the bodies of the enemy before her. I followed her into the fray of war and the greatest battle of our time began.
*****
Susori looked off to the West as she had all day, her lips moving in silent prayer. The sun hung low in the sky soon to fade from the world, only things began to suddenly get brighter. But the brightness came from the East and not the West.
In astonishment, all turned to the forest to behold a rider on a flaming mount appear overtop the trees. Instantly the faith of all was confirmed as the voice of One who needed no introduction said, “Come up to Me, you who have been faithful to believe, for even so your belief has been attributed to you as righteousness.”
All had fallen to their knees at the voice, but now as one they hurried eagerly forward toward the light. Light pierced through the gloom of early evening as it radiated out from the Rider, who had dismounted and was beckoning all upward to Him.
A miraculous thing occurred then. All the leaves of the trees of the forest let go their hold and swirled in a myriad of color to form a shimmering pathway leading upward to where the source of all light waited patiently for all to come to Him.
As people mounted up the pathway into the sky, another wonder took place. The trees of the forest uprooted and floated upward. Even as they floated upward their masses twisted together to form boats of intricate design that was beyond any craftsman’s ability who had ever walked upon Ayenathurim.
As people made it to the One, they filed past Him to the newly made ships that lay in readiness beyond, as they began to embark on their final journey to Shamayim.
*****
Ayaya looked on in awe as their convoy streamed into the encampment that was fast emptying of people. In sudden trepidation of spirit she made it to the pathway leading upward and began to climb.
She would’ve passed by Kuri, only He held His hand out to her. With a cry she threw herself at His feet in joy that she was not rejected, but conflicted of spirit because she of all was the most unworthy of the mercy being offered to her.
He touched her and instantly her travel worn garments were gone, now replaced with a dress of purest white. Gasping she looked up to behold the face of her Suitor, who had never ceased from His ardent pursuing of her.
He took her hands and pulled her to her feet, “All is forgiven Ayaya. You are My bride in whom I find no fault. Your place from now on is by My side even as we are one.”
Ayaya, feeling gloriously changed, stepped beside Him who was now her husband and together they stood receiving the souls of those entering into the Kingdom.
*****
Not sure how it came to be, Susori found herself climbing the pathway upwards with her children, the last of all those gathered. The Savior and His bride continued to wait for her slow approach toward them.
Her Master’s face bore only kindness and understanding in its regard of her as He said, “Let go of the world and all its cares Susori and enter into the place I have prepared for you.”
Crying Susori approached and fell against Him and He held her tenderly, mindful of the baby held in her arms. Gently, He took the baby from her, as with His free hand He wiped at the tears on her face.
He waited for her to calm down and then simply said, “Come.”
He turned to the last vessel and climbed aboard with the baby, who cooed delightedly the whole time within His grasp. Susori, feeling strengthened from within followed behind Him, as Ayaya was beside her carrying Lavaya in her arms.
The boat drifted upwards from the stairway of leaves that now fell spent to the upturned forest floor as all the light and color of Ayenathurim faded into darkness, because the Spirit of El Elyon was no longer in residence upon the face of the land.
It was the end of an age of Grace and the beginning of eternity for those who were the first to believe. More would follow, but theirs would be a salvation gained through great tribulation.
*****
Dazedly I took in the fact that the sun was all but over the horizon. More keen than that though, I sensed the spiritual change in the atmosphere around me. My family was safe along with all the others.
Victory had been achieved. I could die now.
My head was roughly jerked upright, as I was held up by someone’s harsh grip on my hair. The battlefield stretched out all around me. I surely must be the last of my men to be alive.
My gaze took in the fallen Trican not too far from me. After Phalon had gone down from a giant’s spear thrust, it had been me and her just like old times again. Someone was talking.
I tried to focus on the shadowy individual that was screaming at me, but it was hard as I felt more of me was on the journey to Shamayim than remained in the physical.
“Renounce your faith and I will see to it that you are once again restored to the position of King!”
What utter ridiculousness I thought abstractly to myself. They still didn’t get it. I doubted that they ever would, until they kissed the lake of fire that was prophesied as their punishment to come.
I focused myself to the task of forming words with what little life I had left in me, “My kingship I cast at the feet of my Master, who alone is worthy of all glory and honor. I am His servant to the end.”
“Do you not know that I am greater? Look, I have conquered this world for myself and by my might I control it and have been given power over all!” the fallen Malachim screamed at me, to which my response was a laugh that hurt my broken body.
I sobered up then, and with a moment of clarity beyond the pain I felt, I looked into his face and said, “The war of life is long and the battle hard, but my reward is eternal.”
The fallen Malachim roared out in fury, “Cut his head off!”
I closed my eyes and peace took over. I was so ready to go and depart from this struggle of the flesh.
*****
Susori looked forward in awe, as the heavens opened before her, in a grand display unparalleled at any other time in history. She’d left her body far behind and now, as a living spirit, she beheld all the wonder of the Creator becoming real before her. A hand slipped into hers and she glanced to the side in startled wonder.
I grinned at her, “I told you we would make this journey together.”
Kuri looked back at us with a smile, even as a voice with the resonance that had all creation written within its authority spoke, “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Take your place at My Son’s right-hand and receive the honors set in store for you from before the beginning of the world.”
I stepped forward, eager to know what lay before me in eternity in my Master’s service.