Chapter
4 – Domination Through Surrender
Flying to the source of the action,
I see Thaddeus and Tanith holding their own against superhumans, robots with
satanic markings on them, and men with guns and cybernetic enhancements,
despite being outnumbered twenty-to-one. The city is covered in flames and ice,
and most of its buildings are damaged or destroyed, with not a civilian in
sight.
“The demons are getting desperate.
Let me have at them and finish them off,” my guardian angel says, which I
allow.
I land on one of the damaged
buildings and begin to unleash my green lightning to even the odds, turning our
enemies to ash and taking possession of some of them. Thaddeus and Tanith
notice what is happening and me standing above them. They yell that they knew I
would overcome my demons and resume their fighting. The tide turns
overwhelmingly in our favor now because of me, and Thaddeus and Tanith can push
back against the enemy, so they aren’t trapped in this part of the city.
“What would they be without you?” I
hear a weak voice say in the back of my head.
Haven’t I had enough with you?
“You never will, and that’s the
problem. Even if you rely on God, you won’t stop being imperfect. How
contradictory is that? You are expected to do everything perfectly, but you
won’t be made perfect. Instead, you are expected to fail, but not, and then repent,
promising to never sin again, only to fall again.”
I must admit that I can’t say that
I’m okay with this. I feel the impending possibility of failure to be daunting
and something that I pray to be avoided.
“It’s already happened to you, and
you’re already beginning to lose what little control you have now. With the
reins of your life in reach, why not take back control?”
The demon possessed machinery and
people, and their cultists below turn their attention to me and start attacking
me. Since Thaddeus and Tanith are distracted by enemies surrounding them, I’m
on my own. Everything around me goes black.
“You’ve always been on your own,
and always will be. What major accomplishments in your life have been made
thanks to the help of others? None, because you’ve gotten everything in your
life with your own two hands.”
Praying for help, my guardian angel
arrives, and simply starts playing memories in my mind of times when I didn’t
know he was there to help me. I see memories of me when I was a child, and
watch my guardian angel making sure I don’t fall or get a little push in races.
I even see memories of my adult life where my guardian angel taps my shoulder
to let me know of threats, which I chalked up to my senses warning me of danger
at the time. Seeing these memories reminds me that every part of my life has
been planned and set on something similar to that of a conveyor belt, with me
only being able to deviate from it at certain points with limited
opportunities. We aren’t in control of the circumstances of our birth and early
life, and even less in control of our desires and the course of our life, since
they are heavily influenced by everything and everyone around us.
What control do we truly have of
our lives besides the path we take when given an option, and even then, we
can’t choose outside those options? A man in power will not choose to deviate
from what gave them their power, and a poor man will not be able to accomplish
much, unless given the opportunity by providence and the help of others. I see
it clearly now. The vanity of control. What use is it to me when I ruin it when
given it? Because of this fact, I relinquish all control of myself to my Lord
and God.
“Fool. You need to be in control of
yourself to fight back! Otherwise, your life is forfeit to us.”
What is the threat of death to a
man who has already died and given his life to God? The demons screech at me
and tear my body to shreds. A series of green lightning strikes hits everyone
around me, and puts my body together. I’m then flung in the direction of
Thaddeus and Tanith, who are getting attacked and overwhelmed like I was, so I
use my body to take a beating for them, am torn apart again, and then brought
back together through my green lightning. What follows is such a light show
that you’d think everyone in Heaven was sending a lightning bolt down to help
us, and by the end, the city of Adamas is even more ruined than it was before.
“Woah! That was incredible, Terah,
but are you okay?” Tanith asks.
“Of course. I died and have let God
control every aspect of my life. Nothing much concerns or phases me anymore,” I
say.
“Wow. With that demeanor, you should
be our team leader, not me,” Thaddeus says.
“No, it has already been decided by
our guardian angels that you should be our leader, and if they say you’re our
leader, then God trusts you with the position.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Oh,
what should we name our group now that we have all our members together? The Fiery
Avengers?”
“How about The Angels of
Punishment?” Tanith suggests.
Thinking this is stupid, but giving
my suggestion anyway, I say, “What about The Trio of Divine Terror?”
“What if you call yourselves The
Midnight Sons of the New Dawn?” my guardian angel asks.
No. I don’t think they’ll accept
that.
“What about the Council of
Punishment?”
“Oh, that’s a good one,” my guardian
angel and Tanith admit.
Because we can’t come up with
anything better, we go with Thaddeus’s idea of calling ourselves the Council of
Punishment.
“What do we do now, Thaddeus?” I ask.
“We purge more demons and sinners
from the Columbian Union. The Dominion of Mercy and Justice may be doing a good
job of it, but examples like the cities we were in prove they’re not doing as
good a job as they should, especially in places like the capital,” Thaddeus
says.
“Okay. Lead the way to our next
purge.”
“Ah, but first, you need a ride
since we need to get from place to place discriminately.”
A red flaming chopper motorcycle
rides in from a distance and stops in front of Thaddeus, while a blue flaming sports
motorcycle rides in and stops in front of Tanith. Behind them, a muscle car,
sparking with green electricity, drives itself to me. It’s dark green and has a
gold trim, giving it a luxurious look to it.
Thaddeus whistles and says, “I can’t
say that it doesn’t suit you. How are you going to drive it without arms?”
My guardian angel explains to me
how I can drive it with my powers, so that’s what I tell Thaddeus.
“Okay then. Let’s get out of here
before trouble arrives,” Tanith says.
“Let’s go then. Onward, Council of
Punishment. We have souls to bring justice to and demons to send to Hell,” Thaddeus
says as he sits on his motorcycle.
As I ride off away from Adams with
the sun rising behind us, I feel like I’m no longer the man I was before, and
that’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay that I’m no longer who I define myself
as and that my life is no longer in my hands. This new life and path set before
me by God is the one I should’ve always been on, and with Him guiding and
empowering my every move, I’m sure that I’ll make it to Heaven one day, the
only goal that matters in life.
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