The Dawn of Destruction, Chapter Nine

                      The Dawn of Destruction

Interitus 1 – Book One

            Chapter Nine

 

            “Wait, Phil, I think I’ve got it! So how about this? You tell her that when we went running yesterday, I was a moron and crashed my head into a tree branch! That’ll explain why I can’t see her today, right?” Seth said with a nervous laugh.

            The early morning sky was still gray, though not because of the hour; a powerful rainstorm would slam San Diego from the sea in just a few hours. This meant that it would be a stormy and miserable day, and so this would be the first time in many years that Iris could not celebrate her birthday with her friends at the beach. This missed opportunity would be a huge deal to her, which meant it was up to Seth and Phil to rescue her birthday in spite of the weather.

            “Seth, that ain’t gon’ be very believable if yo ass still goin’ to school. We got like three classes with Iris! How you gon’ tell me she won’t notice you alright?”

            “Well what am I supposed to do? The present I got her was really bad! I’m just gonna ruin her birthday,” Seth griped as they walked toward their middle school.

            “Man, how come my best friend still so stupid? Damn, Seth, jus’ skip school! I do it all the time, ain’t never hurt me at all. Actually makes me smarter, all things considered. But then yo dumb-ass jus’ makin’ her birthday even worse by not bein’ there, y’know? You just gon’ have to suck it up and admit to her that yo present ain’t no good.”

            “Man… this sucks. What did you get her?” Seth said as they stepped into the parking lot.

            “Hey, I don’t even needa worry ‘bout that, Seth. When she was crying ‘bout how her refrigerator done broke, I went and fixed it! It was real messed up too, so she said that I don’t gotta get her nothing. Not that I was plannin’ on it anyway; I don’t even got enough money for me,” Phil said.

            “Yeah, that’s another thing, Phil. I don’t understand why you never have any money. People always pay you to fix stuff, and you’re too cheap to ever buy anything,” Seth grumbled as they walked into the building that contained their first period class.

            “Fast food and internet porn, Seth. Fast food and internet porn,” Phil said as he walked into their first class. Their Geometry teacher shook his head as he heard this. It was 7 in the morning, and Phil was already talking about fast food and internet porn. Again.

            The school day passed uneventfully, albeit slowly. The three friends first assembled in their third period English class, but Iris was still upbeat despite the coming weather. Seth and Phil had told her happy birthday very loudly and in front of the class, and though the other students were disinterested, Iris had a goofy smile for the rest of class. But when the sky thundered and rain began to pelt the classroom windows, Seth watched Iris’ smile disappear. She tried to pretend that everything was okay; she laughed and smiled like it was alright, but her blue eyes turned cold every time she glanced out the window at the rain.

            So after school, after the three friends walked over to Seth’s house, his mom threw Iris a small celebration with cake and balloons and a turtle-themed tablecloth. The celebration was exciting but short, which meant it was soon time for Seth to give Iris his present. When he left the warm room with the paper plates and plastic cups, Seth walked over to the cold garage. Even when he opened the door to the garage, the inescapable rain greeted him because of a leak in the roof, which had coincidentally been caused by one of Phil’s rocket experiments. The cold water had dripped on the plastic bag that contained his present, but luckily this would not ruin it. Seth picked up the bag and walked back into the house with a look of uncertainty.

            When Seth stepped into the room, he saw Iris, Phil, and his mother all sitting happily around the festive table. Even as it rained just outside, Iris wore a wide smile. Her lips were stained slightly red because of the fruit punch. Her long, blond hair was a mess because of the rain, but her happiness was radiant. Unfortunately, as far Seth was concerned, this was probably about to change. When he set the bag down on the table, every eye turned to face him. Curiosity burned in every eye.

            “Well... I felt bad from the start ‘cause I couldn’t bring you to the beach for your birthday. But in a small way, I’d like to think that I brought the beach to you. I hope… I hope you like this,” Seth said with a tremor in his voice.

            He reached his hand into the bag and pulled out two seashell earrings. Both shells were nearly identical; it had taken Seth many hours of running down the shore to find two that looked this much like each other. His father had helped him turn them into earrings. Seth held the earrings in his right hand, but he kept his eyes closed because he wasn’t ready to see her reaction. But when he opened his eyes and saw the look of wonder on her face, he knew that he never should have worried to begin with.

            “Oh my god, Seth! This is so wonderful,” she said with a high-pitched voice.

            Iris ran up and embraced her friend with almost enough force to knock him over. Seth couldn’t help but smile. After many seconds like this, Iris let go of Seth and replaced her old earrings with the seashell earrings.

***

            Those earrings never left, or at least, they left with the rest of her. Seth awoke from the memory with a bittersweet smile, but when he remembered Destroying her in his arms, he lost the ember of happiness that the dream had given him. He opened the window and saw that the airplane flew through dark gray clouds, shrouding the sky in all directions. There was no end in sight. Because many passengers kept their windows open, a luminous gray infiltrated the cabin and stained every object with a touch of anguish. Seth knew that it was pointless to waste time feeling sorry for himself, so he closed his eyes and tried to force the onset of sleep. He stared at the inside of his eyelids for what felt like an eternity, until the darkness and blinks of light transformed into a landscape which Seth had seen once before.

It was a place covered in snow and ice. He saw a series of islands in a basin in the Arctic Circle; Seth’s father had taken him there once for a vacation long ago. He saw gentle people scattered along the coasts of these icy islands, living on the shores of their glacial world. They were quiet and trepid, but they were not hostile at all. As the scenery and details formed around him, he remembered meeting a sorrow-struck man. Though he did not speak much, this man was much like the icebergs which so often interrupted their seafaring vessel. For although the man was young and modest, he harbored a great spirit that had been alive for a much longer time. Seth’s memories were fuzzy, but Seth had overheard his father in a conversation with this man. It was the first time he heard his father say he was proud of him.

            During Seth’s peaceful slumber, a loud rustling suddenly shuddered from overhead. Seth tried to ignore the intrusive sounds, but when the same series of beats began again, Seth gave up on sleep and let himself wake up. It sounded like fingernails clawing upon fabric. The aircraft was a much darker gray than before, and the only glow inside the cabin came from the second row in the front. Seth checked his phone. It was 1 AM according to California’s time zone. Even though the plane had chased the sun across the western sky, Seth looked outside and saw that it was a shade dimmer than sunset. Another beat then sounded, followed by the clamor of fabric tearing open.

            “Man, you think there’d be better ways to hitchhike these days; it’s a damn shame. Lockin’ my tall ass in a tiny compartment,” a familiar voice said from the epicenter of the ruckus.

            Seth turned his head around with a mixture of fear and hope as his best friend crawled out of an overhead compartment.

            “I ain’t never gon’ make fun of them people who gotta sit next to fat dudes on planes ever again. That was some uncomfortable shit,” Phil murmured, trying not to attract attention.

            Seth recognized Phil’s voice immediately. He stood up and loudly whispered Phil’s name so that he would know where to go. After a few seconds of shaking his legs all around, Phil walked up and collapsed in the seat next to Seth.

            “How did you get here?” Seth asked.

            “I was real dumb, man. Stupid as hell. Got me all locked up in there like it’s prison or some shit; I passed out two times ‘cause my dumb-ass forgot to breathe! Got all flustered and shit. Started imaginin’ things like this creepy old dude pokin’ and proddin’ at the suitcases. I thought he gon’ find me and try to touch my junk so I went all Super Saiyan and shit! Next thing you know, I tore the damn bag open,” Phil explained.

            As Seth got himself under control, he asked, “I get that part, but how did you get in there to begin with?!”

            “I ask that steroid guy for some help back in San Diego; I told him he got to help me because of the code!”

            “The code…?” Seth repeated, tilting his head to the side.

            Phil cleared his throat and explained, “Any brotha who would not physically or financially be going far out his way, is obligated to assist another brotha with they problems, and extol small favors. In other words, it means, ‘Help a brotha out,’ or some shit.”

            “So you asked Black Hercules to smuggle you aboard, and he did it because of some silly code that mostly sounds like you just made it up?”

            Phil smiled widely in response and said, “Alright Seth, you right. I just paid that dude a hundred dollars to put me up in there. He wanted to try and pat me down to make sure it safe, but I called his ass gay and he let me go. I had to do it, Seth! I knew yo ass would be useless as public education without someone like me helpin’ you out! I remember when you was young and you was cryin’ and shit ‘cause some dudes stole yo backpack, first day I met you! You lucky I stood up for yo punk-ass.”

            “I was five years old! Besides, they almost literally beat the crap out of you! You were just as weak as me,” Seth retorted with an entertained grin.

            “Yeah, whatever man, you just a hater! I got you yo shit back; it don’t matter that I got my ass beat! I been helpin’ out yo dumb-ass all the way through school, man,” Phil laughed.

            “What about that kid in eighth grade who kept pissing in your locker? You woulda never known who it was if it weren’t for me,” Seth retorted.

            With a devious smile, Phil said, “Oh, I remember him. I went and told him that I don’t really appreciate his pissin’ all over my shit, and he try and act innocent and all that bullshit, so I locked his punk-ass in a closet!”

            With his eyes open wide, Seth asked, “You locked Ricky in a closet?!”

            Seth tried to stifle his heavy laughter.  Even though he wanted to chastise Phil for neglecting his only request, Seth decided that he was happier with his friend than without him.

            “Ricky?! I thought you told me it was that white kid with the glasses, like Jonny or some shit!”

            An uneasy glance shot between them, and then they both laughed cruelly at the memory. Seth tried to envision Jonny, the goody-two-shoes of the school, getting locked in a closet after being accused of peeing in Phil’s locker.

            “Oh, but that’s not the worst you’ve done…” Seth laughed.

***

            “First of all, I’d like to thank all my boys out there who helped me get this far and all that good shit. And I want to thank my mother, for givin’ birth to me, and I want to thank my good friend Terrell for helpin’ me cut class and trick the computers and all that. I want to thank my brotha Seth for lookin’ out for me and helpin’ me the best damn student I can be! I also want to thank Jessica for bein’ sexy as hell and motivatin’ me each day to do my best. I also want to thank Ebony, Kira, and Alice for that same shit. I got a few other names too!” Phil proudly said across the stage at graduation.

            Many in the audience at the graduation ceremony were confused by this display, manifesting as a surprise so powerful that it left the spectators in laughter. Just fifteen minutes before the actual valedictorian would have given their speed, Phil had decided that he deserved the illustrious honor instead, and so he tied the rightful valedictorian to a pole behind the stage. Having appointed himself the True Valedictorian, Phil reasoned that his actions were justified.

            “While I be up here in front of all you beautiful punk-asses, I wanna remind you of all the shit you owe me for all my hard-ass work through these four years. I been representin’ the less-privileged and socially-unaccepted in these halls, man, y’all don’t even know what it be like for all them poor kids and gay kids I had to protect. Luckily for they ungrateful asses, I made sure each and every one of you redneck homophobe mothafuckers knew that gay is okay, and accepted them! A couple of ‘em wasn’t really ready for me to tell everyone what they into, but it’s kinda they fault they never tolded me not to tell no one! I bet y’all ain’t never expected see my ass up here, ain’t that right? I know how all you white kids do.”

            It was around this point where security tackled Phil and dragged him off stage.

***

            As the two friends recounted the memory, they shook the entire row of seats with their stifled laughs. Seth finally felt relaxed; it was like the joy had pulled him out from a canyon of trepidation.

            “You wasn’t even there the time they had to arrest my black-ass on the hospital roof ‘cause I was up there eatin’ pizza. I wasn’t even breakin’ no laws or nothin’!” Phil laughed.

            “Didn’t you say you took that pizza from the hospital cafeteria?” Seth nitpicked.

            “Shut up, man, it was ‘bout to go bad.”

            “And also, you were naked.”

            “I be expressin’ my artful nature, Seth! You don’t know nothin’ about art.”

            The two friends continued talking as the plane flew through the prolonged twilight. Before long, the last glimpse of the sun finally disappeared behind the western horizon. While their conversation began to wind down into a series of snickers, the forces of exhaustion captured them both. The mutual joy of their reunion allowed for a gentle and wordless descent into their respective dreams.

***

            Seth and Phil for many hours. By the time they awoke, their surroundings were practically unrecognizable; the airplane was clogged to its maximum seating with people. An Asian sat solemnly next to Phil, sporting what appeared to be a perpetual frown. Seth nudged his friend awake so that they could try to figure out their current situation. Through the window, Seth saw magnificent mountains on the southwest horizon. And though the sun was rising in the east, the mountains looked like shimmering silhouettes.

            “Seth, is that where we goin’?” Phil asked sleepily, motioning toward the spires.

            The previously soft-spoken man interrupted and said, “Excuse me, sir. But between your comment and the phrases you whisper in your sleep, such as, ‘Yeah, bitch, this all free,’ and, ‘Keep crankin’ my snake,’ I feel that someone must point out all of your grammatical errors. It is for your own best interest. First of all….”

            Seth smiled deviously as a mischievous smile began forming on Phil’s face; he knew for absolute certain that nothing would stop Phil from a powerful retort. The only thing Seth could do was sit back and watch.

            “Get his ass,” Seth whispered to Phil.

            “Man, who the hell do you think you is? You don’t look like you even speak English let alone teach that shit! How you gon’ tell me I’m speakin’ wrong?”

            “Excuse me sir, but I find your remarks-”

            “Damn, why you needa be all up in my face for? Ain’t you ever heard of personal space!” Phil shouted.

            The other passengers turned their heads toward the commotion. The man’s face narrowed as he tried to make sense of Phil’s outburst. Seth shook his head, knowing that Phil was amused by the uneasiness of the passengers.

            “Man, now we got all these dudes up in here starin’ at me like I’m some kinda buster? Y’all think you betta than me? Go on and try me, I dare yo punk-ass,” Phil challenged.

            Meanwhile, a young girl two rows behind Phil pulled violently on a plastic bag that contained a half-sandwich. Because Phil had accidentally accrued an audience, he decided to appease them with a kind gesture; he staggered past the man he accosted and walked toward the girl with the bag. As he approached, he absent-mindedly unsheathed a throwing knife from his jacket pocket. However, as he probably should have expected, several passengers began shrieking and yelling.

            A large man threw himself against Phil from behind, tackling him into the aisle and away from the young girl. Accusatory shouts flooded the air in response to Phil’s weapon, while the large man started stomping on Phil.

            “Man, stop stompin’ on my ass, I ain’t no terrorist! Do I look like some Osama Bin Laden, runnin’ around shoutin’ like death to America and all that junk, hiding underground and eatin’ seal bullets and shit?! Man, some people see a black man with a knife and think it’s the end of the world! I’m jus’ tryin’ help that girl over there,” Phil argued, pointing to the girl while flight attendants and security personnel swarmed him.

            Seth watched with wide eyes as a sky marshal quickly approached the commotion.

“Seth, you punk, don’t let ‘em kill me!” Phil shouted.

            Although Phil thought Seth was simply watching the turmoil, he was actually taking a preemptive measure by silently Destroying a portion of the airplane’s energy. By partially deleting its kinetic energy, Seth forced the airplane to gently drop in altitude, even though it was already flying lower than a typical aircraft. Seth then raced toward Phil with his right arm outstretched and his knuckles clenched in a tight fist, hoping that any Destruction would be seen as damage from an incredibly powerful punch. As Seth ran, loud screeches sounded over the intercom as flight attendants encouraged passengers to remain calm. When Seth lunged closer, there was a swarm of people standing in between him and Phil, but Seth pushed them out of the way with his left arm. When the large man noticed Seth running up, he grabbed Seth and threw him toward the windows in the nearest row.

Hoping to catch himself, Seth kept his right hand focused on the window and wall. However, this meant that when his hand hit the wall, Destruction activated. A large opening tore through the cabin wall, and an incredible suction ripped Seth out of the airplane with a sudden jolt. Phil pushed himself toward the hole, and then the pressure difference hurled him out of the opening as well. The other passengers quickly clung to their seats, but many belongings flew out of the airplane as well. Just after Phil was flung out of the plane, the pressure caused his ears to violently pop in a way which made him wince.

Seth shouted as he and Phil plummeted through the wispy sky. When the force of air resistance eventually counterbalanced gravity, Seth fluffed out his jacket and batted his arms wildly so that he could fall beside his friend. They rotated their bodies to watch the plane undulate above their heads. As objects and papers flew from the opening in the aircraft, the pilot had to tilt the wings, compensating for the unstable torque caused by this vacuum. However, the passengers were largely spared from the effects of a sudden pressure drop, since the airplane was already at a low altitude.

            “Man, why yo dumb-ass ain’t never listen to me?! I told you I shouldn’t come with!” Phil shouted as he and Seth plunged toward the mountains below.

            “I was the one who said that! Besides, I can Destroy our energy, remember? This is actually pretty convenient!” Seth yelled back.

            Phil looked dumbfounded, despite falling from the sky at a meteoric speed.

            “How you gon’ tell me that this is convenient? We fallin’ even faster than I drive pops’ car, and I don’t gotta tell yo whiny-ass how fast that is! Even if we live, our asses gon’ be frozen and attacked by some abominable snowman and shit, man. Ain’t this a bitch…?” Phil whimpered.

            Due to the speed of their freefall, Seth calculated that they would impact the ground in about ten seconds. But as they fell from the sky, the landscape looked spectacular; enormous bodies of white and purple rock protruded from the mountain range without any pattern. A serene river meandered through the mountains, coloring the snow around its banks with a turquoise light. After four seconds passed, their view zoomed in considerably, and it now looked like they would crash beside a snow-covered tree. Phil braced for impact, but just a second before they would have been flattened, Seth grabbed Phil with his left hand and prepared to Destroy their motion. But he did not activate it immediately, because at this splice of time, they were still too high for a gentle landing. Therefore, at nearly a tenth of a second from impact, Seth Destroyed their kinetic energy, and then the two friends dropped harmlessly into the snow.

***

            A short while after Seth’s descent into the mountains, Naomi sat in the darkness of a hollow chamber beneath the cathedral. A constant quiet sound increased gradually in volume. When it stopped, a frail man exited an elevator, and then he approached her dejectedly.

            “Priest Antonius has arrived from his trip. He will meet with you in a matter of moments, if you would be so kind as to spare some more of your time,” he said to Naomi with a monotonous voice.

            Naomi nodded. The man turned around and returned to the elevator. He stared ahead in silence as the doors closed, and then the elevator took him on the lengthy journey to the surface. Afterward, silence returned to the basement-like chamber of the cathedral. Naomi had spent the night sleeping in this lonely chamber, a considerable distance beneath a cathedral just past the outskirts of San Diego. It was a new and elaborate church that housed the region’s largest Catholic congregation. However, it was a cathedral in name alone; it was simply a large church with an ordinary appearance.

            Even as she waited in silence, Naomi concluded that this location would serve perfectly as her headquarters. After all, the silent solace boasted security. The elevator was restricted through an automated password, meaning that only those with clearance could come and visit her in this place; no random assailant could attack in the middle of the night. Furthermore, even though the underground chamber was larger than an acre, no section of wall showed any sign of damage. It was truly an impenetrable fortress; the only way in was from the elevator.

            Another electrical hum sounded, suggesting that Priest Antonius was finally on his way to meet her for the first time. Naomi prepared herself, knowing that she had long ago learned to manipulate lonely men. And since she had chosen him ahead of time, she knew how to deconstruct him. Just by glimpsing a single photograph of him, she heard unspoken words echoing loudly from his soul—even while he preached to a huge congregation. These were the kind of words undetectable by listening ears.

Just by looking at his face, Naomi detected a strong presence of sexual frustration. She sensed that he felt restricted by his ecclesiastical role; he had come to regret his position. This caused him to drift away from women, feeling that he could not approach them as an equal or a pursuer. He had probably longed for a sexual relationship for an exhaustingly long time, suggesting that even in his youth before his clergyman years, he had failed to achieve an adequate amount of human pleasure.

            Because of this, Naomi determined that the priest longed for any sexual contact regardless of taboos. This evidence was suggested in another photograph; Naomi noticed that his feet pointed toward a particularly young and busty woman in the second row of his congregation. Even as he gazed over his flock, he had gazed at her with an animal attraction. However, Naomi found something even more profound buried within this very same expression. He lusted for power just as much as sex; he knew that real power could get him all the sex he wanted. For this reason, she concluded that he did not necessarily believe in God or any of the rhetoric that he preached. Even if he did, it was merely a means to an end. The priest understood the power that religion held over the lives of so many people. His ministry was simply a vehicle for ascending to authority over others.

            The elevator then concluded its descent. Antonius stepped off of it, staring through the darkness in search of the woman with the talent to Create something from nothing. His hand probed through the darkness beside the elevator, striking a switch which dimly illuminated the underground chamber. Naomi watched his pupils swiftly retract as if they were bombarded by the light. However, as soon as his eyes fell upon her, his pupils dilated; he looked like he had been brought back to life. He was so hungry that Naomi could practically smell it in the air. He was captivated by the woman before him.

            “I apologize for our deacon’s terrible hospitality; I hope it has not been too inconvenient for you down here,” Antonius said with a nervous quiver.

            “It could be anywhere in the world, and it wouldn’t mean anything. I can turn anything into whatever I want.”

            To prove her point, Naomi Created a bed beside her with a light pink mattress, adorned with a gentle fabric that stretched across the surface. She could tell that she had already flustered the priest, just by the way that his eyes darted across the basement as if to latch onto anything else. Naomi quickly sat upon the bed, and the motion caused her cleavage to jiggle. The priest watched carefully as her low tank top crept just a millimeter beneath the lacy edge of her black bra. And even though he tried to hide his staring, Antonius bit his lip in anticipation.

            “Come,” Naomi whispered to him.

            Naomi perked her chest out in an obviously false stretch. Antonius was completely mesmerized by her. He nodded and wandered over to the edge of the mattress where he precariously seated himself.

            “Are you truly the work of God?” he asked, beginning to doubt his own shaky beliefs.

            “I like to think so, but I don’t know for sure, though I don’t think your flock needs to know that. Together, you and I can convince people to work beneath us. It should be easy, since I intend to inherit the image of their God. And of course that power will spill over onto you… and is there anything in life worth as much as sex and power?” Naomi whispered.

            Naomi showed him a small smile, confident that she could seduce him into concurrence. The priest stayed still for a moment, and then he nodded. She knew that he would agree with anything she had to say, but because of his nervousness, he had trouble replying.

            “S-surely nothing is as valuable—you’re right. But I fail to see how that applies to you! It seems that you could have anyone or anything you want… even without that talent you have. Forgive my crassness, but with a body like yours-”

            Naomi giggled and interrupted him as she said, “You’re sweet! But there’s truly no reason to rush our time together. We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other! But there is some business we should probably get out of the way.”

            The priest straightened his back, cleared his throat, and answered, “Yes indeed! There is a man on the surface who wants to speak to the newest messenger of God, so I suppose he thinks that’s you. He seeks permission to, I think he said, ‘Join your holy ranks as a devout disciple,’ or something like that. It could be an easy way to get some more support.”

            “That sounds like it could be worthwhile. When you return to the surface, would you mind sending him and a security guard down here? That’s so thoughtful. A man as experienced as you simply must be full of good ideas,” Naomi purred.

            Antonius said nothing. He had glanced at her every few seconds as she spoke, though his eyes wandered to fixate on her chest. Naomi knew that he desperately wanted her, but he also tried to stop himself from succumbing to her allure. He even lifted one knee so as to hide the most evident sign of his arousal, but Naomi recognized that position and its purpose. She took that as a sign that she had him exactly where she wanted him.

            “Of course I can do that! But you don’t need me to help attract people to you. I’ll be happy to send him down, but as far as ideas… the fact is that this has only happened one other time in history, that I know of. Only one other person demonstrated supernatural talents, and he became so revered that people still worship him two thousand years later! I’d be happy to recount his journeys and the apostles all along the way, but I just can’t envision that helping with your mission. What is it that you want? Is it truly just sex and power?” asked the old man.

            Naomi rotated her body 180 degrees so that her knees pushed against the bed on the opposite sides of the priest’s waist. Despite his attempt to hold a poker face, his expression transformed into a delicate smile. He glanced at Naomi’s legs and then again at her chest; he could hardly drag his eyes to meet her gaze. Her skirt was so short that he could not avert his eyes; his inhibitions evaporated as he stared upon her body. He lifted his right hand as if to place it upon her, but she caught it by the wrist and held him at a short distance, showing him a salacious smile.

            “I feel like I wouldn’t have to go far to get good sex, so that isn’t the point of all this. I want an army of people devoted to me, willing to fight for any cause I choose. More than that, I want people willing to throw their jobs and lives on the line for me. I need information, and I need a way to broadcast my words. That is where you come in! I want you to help me reach the masses I intend to control,” Naomi explained, finally releasing her hold on his wrist.

            Though Antonius had already succumbed to her, something still bothered him. Something about this situation was too convenient for him; it seemed impossible that he was given access to both a supernatural power and a sexual encounter with a breathtaking woman. But then, a more animalistic rationalization arose: Even if this were all a set up to expose or condemn him, it would still be worth it. After all, he had spent his entire adult life biding his time for a situation like this. Even if the consequences would ruin his life, it would be worth it just for a chance to experience her.

            The priest took another glance at Naomi. Her facial features were soft and showed perfect symmetry; she was a perfect portrait of beauty. Her moist lips parted and her tongue poked forth in a darting speed, layering her lips once again with lubricating saliva. Her seductive eyes focused on him with an enchanting dilation. Her long hair crept down her back, but it waved slightly when she stepped backward from the bed.

            Naomi added, “I need their help. There’s a man—the one from the trainwreck, with the power to-”

            “Yes, yes, I’ve heard! I heard you mention him to the deacon, so I did some research before I came down here; only the best for our new breathtaking prophet! As for Seth Freeman, the man at the trainwreck… he was seen on a plane halfway around the world. There was some kind of terrorist attack aboard that same flight, and then it was reported that he fell from the plane, near the Himalayas. It is quite likely that he did not survive this fall. But even if he somehow survived, I am confident that we can unite all God-fearing people against him. Perhaps they can defeat the evil you so graciously warned us about! We can spread the message by creating a common enemy,” Antonius said.

            As her excited eyes flashed with opportunity, Naomi answered, “Yes. Let’s preach that he and his power are pawns of the devil, and then everyone will be on our side. His power opposes mine and cannot be left alive.”