Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1)

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  Temple ruins outside of Talead ?

  Skip, Ariauna, and Jaskead had already deciphered nearly all of the writings on the bottom floor of the pyramid. The three were now at the top of the narrow staircase that split right of the narrow hallway on the first floor. Jaskead was writing with an ancient feather pen on parchment, he preferred this to one of the laptops Sean had offered to give him. Ariauna was cleaning the right wall, so they could get better readings of the writings. Skip, with Jake's scriptures beside him, was going back through the deciphering he had written on his laptop.

  He scrolled down and found what he was looking for. "Look at this," he said.

  Ariauna and Jaskead stopped what they were doing and moved to each side of Skip to get a better view of the screen.

  "What is it?" Jaskead asked.

  Skip smiled and looked at the old man. "There isn't a doubt in my mind that the same God the Tilicah tribe worshiped is the same God that my religion worships back on Earth."

  "You mean ? this Jesus Christ you speak of?" Jaskead said.

  "The One and the Same."

  Ariauna interjected before her father could continue. "But we haven't found his name mentioned in any of the writings ? you know, the name ? What was the name he used in your Old Testament?"

  "Jehovah."

  "Yes, Jehovah. That name hasn't been mentioned either."

  "I know, but remember all of your religions on this planet have the same creation story. You know, a supreme being created a man and a woman. The man and woman partake of a forbidden fruit and are cast out of paradise."

  "Yes, that is true," Jaskead said. "But I do not understand how that proves this Jesus is the same God you and the Tilicah worship."

  "No," said Skip as he turned his attention to Jaskead. "It doesn't. But, remember, every religion on this planet puts its creation story about six thousand years ago. That coincides with the creation story of my religion."

  "So, what you're saying," Ariauna said. "? is that both Terrest and Earth were created about the same time."

  "Yes," Skip said. "And according to the scripture I found on the wall earlier ? Well, here I'll just read it to you:

  'Verily, Verily I say unto you. The Son of Man shall be born of the Holy Spirit to a Virgin. He shall come at the end of the four thousandth year from the fall of man. But behold, the Son of Man will not be born upon this body, but upon another.

  'Verily, Verily I say unto you. The Son of Man will be a sacrifice to wash away the sins of man and return him to the spiritual glory the Father has bestowed upon him. Yea, the Son of Man's sacrifice will not only be for those upon his body, but for man on all Celestial bodies, Amen.'"

  When Skip finished reading the scripture, he looked at Ariauna, who looked just as confused as her father. He set his laptop down and stood up. "Here, let me explain," he said with excitement in his voice. "Jesus' name is mentioned here. An-"

  Ariauna interrupted and pointed at the monitor. "No, it isn't. I don't see the name of 'Jesus' anywhere."

  "No, it's not mentioned literally. But in the scriptures of my religion, the 'Son of Man' is another name for 'Jesus' or 'Jehovah.' And remember the story I told you about Jesus?"

  Jaskead's eyes began to beam as he began to understand what Skip was saying. "Yes, yes ? you said that Jesus was born to a virgin, suffered in a garden, and was crucified to save men from their sins."

  "Yes, Jaskead," Skip said, becoming more excited. "But according to this scripture that we deciphered, Jesus not only died for the sins of men on Earth, but for the sins of men on all worlds."

  Ariauna continued to look at Skip with bewilderment. "I don't understand," she said. "This scripture doesn't mention the word 'worlds' at all. It only mentions 'body' and 'bodies'."

  "My point exactly," Skip said as Ariauna shook her head. "You see ? Well, what's another word for 'world'?"

  Ariauna shook her head again. "I don't know. Um ? globe, orb ? I don't know."

  "Body ? body is another word for 'world,'" Skip said as he knelt down and pointed at the computer screen. "Here, 'body' is used as a reference to 'world' or 'worlds.' In other words, God not only created Earth, he created other worlds and populated them with human beings. And Jesus, his Son, was the sacrifice that will enable all of us to return to our Father in Heaven. He saved all of us from physical death, and if we accept him as our savior and follow his commandments, he will save us spiritually, and we will return to live with him again."

  Jaskead stood next to Skip and put his arm around him. "Yes, now I see, Skip. This Jesus you speak of is the God of both of our worlds. That would make you my brother."

  Skip looked at Jaskead and smiled. "Yes, brother," he said as he put his hand on Jaskead's. Skip then paused and looked down at his computer monitor in thought.

  "What is it?" Jaskead asked.

  Skip looked back at the professor. "Jaskead, approximately how long ago did you say that the God of the Tilicah tribe visited them?"

  Jaskead pulled his arm back from Skip and stroked his beard as he thought. "That would be about two thousand years ago. Why?"

  Skip's eyes sparkled. "Listen, my world's calendar follows the Gregorian Calendar. Earth's yearly dates go from the time of Jesus' birth, which begins around 1 A.D. The date on Earth, as of today, is April 8, 2042. Two thousand forty-two years from the birth of Christ, give or take a few years."

  Ariauna stood and looked even more confused. "I don't understand," she said.

  Skip had to concentrate to slow down his speech. He was so excited about the discoveries in the temple. "Your father said that the God of the Tilicah tribe visited them about two thousand years ago. That would put Earth time at 35 A.D. It is estimated that Christ was crucified around 32 A.D." Skip stopped and looked at Jaskead. "And what did I tell you happened to Jesus three days after he died?"

  Jaskead's smile grew bigger. "He was raised from the dead. What did you call it? Uh ? resurrected."

  Ariauna raised her hands before Skip could speak. "Okay, hold on. What you're saying is that this Jesus visited the ancient Tilicah tribe after he was resurrected."

  "That's exactly what I'm saying."

  Ariauna shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe it. Why would a God visit a world he wasn't even a part of?"

  Skip gave Ariauna a frustrated look. In the short time he had gotten to know her, he had grown fond of her intuitiveness and beauty, but she was often skeptical about every theory Skip and her father suggested. It was, at these times, that she seemed also angry and aloof toward Skip.

  Before Skip could speak, Jaskead spoke. "Come now, Ariauna. Look at what Skip has deciphered so far. The writings on these walls have so many similarities to the scriptures that Skip has brought with him from Earth. And the time frame that Skip mentions makes perfect sense."

  "I don't know, Father. I just find it hard to believe. With these writings, there's no mention of Earth, and with the exception of this one scripture, ?" she said as she pointed to the laptop "? there's no mention of any other worlds."

  "Okay, wait a minute," Skip said as he bent down and picked up Jake's scriptures. He then showed the scriptures to Ariauna while he placed his other hand on top of them. "These scriptures are Jake's."

  "Yes ? so?"

  "Well, these scriptures contain the Word of God. We believe that these books were given to man by God as a witness of Christ."

  Ariauna seemed determined not to follow what Skip was saying, even though he knew she was just trying to frustrate him. "So?" she said. "I don't see what those books have to do with Terrest?"

  Skip had hoped she would ask the right question, and she did. "Great question," he said as he flipped open the scriptures and found what he was looking for. He read a few lines and looked at Ariauna. "Here," he said, pointing to the book. "It says:

  'For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father-

  'That by him, the wor
lds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.'"

  Skip stopped reading and looked at Ariauna. She was about to speak, but Skip held up his hand to stop her. "And ?" he said as he flipped to the back of the book, "? it says in Moses chapter 1, verse 33:

  'And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten.'

  "So you see," Skip continued. "Christ, under the direction of God the Father, created worlds without number. So, it makes perfect sense; why wouldn't he visit a world he had created?"

  "Maybe so," said Ariauna. "But-"

  "Okay," Jaskead cut in. "That's enough, Ariauna. I know you believe what Skip is telling you, so quit questioning him."

  Ariauna backed away from Skip and smiled at her father.

  Skip looked at Jaskead first and then Ariauna. Why did she always do this? She had a knack for getting Skip excited about one of his theories, and then totally frustrating him while he tried to prove them. Maybe it was her way of getting to know him better?

  "All right," she said. "You convinced me. But these scriptures still don't tell us how the Gnols are involved or how they can be defeated."

  "You're right," said Skip as he looked at the writings on the wall behind Ariauna. He moved closer to the wall and blew away the dust. After examining the hieroglyphs for a while, he turned and stared at the other wall in thought. "Okay, so far all of the writings we have deciphered have followed a chronological order, from the creation up until this point."

  Skip stood, stroked the stubble that was beginning to form under his chin, and paced back and forth. He looked at Jaskead. "Jaskead, every prophet on this planet has foretold of events that have occurred on Terrest, such as Juzs Lza Bmail's conquering of Terrest. Ancient prophets on your planet have even prophesied about the coming of a God that visited the Tilicah tribe. But up until this point, there hasn't been anything mentioned about a race of super humans enslaving the Terrestrians. ?"

  Skip stopped pacing and whirled around to face the wall behind Ariauna. He shook his finger at the wall in thought. After a few seconds, he spoke. "Wait a minute ?"

  "What is it?" Jaskead asked.

  "I ? wait. ?" Skip moved in closer to the wall, knelt down, and began deciphering some of the writings as he mumbled. "I think this wall contains the prophecies of Jesus when he visited the Tilicah tribe two thousand years ago."

  Skip whirled around again. "Come here, Jaskead. You're faster at deciphering these hieroglyphics than I am."

  Jaskead grabbed his feathered pen and parchment paper. He knelt beside Skip and began translating the hieroglyphs to English. After several minutes of writing and translating the entire wall up to the solid oak door, he put down his pen and looked at Skip with a huge grin spread across his face.

  Skip grabbed the parchment and began reading aloud:

  "For behold, I am he who has been prophesied to come. I am Alpha and Omega. I am the Beginning and the End. I am the Son of God."

  Skip looked up with the same grin that Jaskead had. "I knew it."

  Skip read aloud with such an excitement that every once in a while, Ariauna had to calm him so that he would slow his reading down. There wasn't any doubt in Skip's mind that the writings he was reading were Christ's actual words. He continued to read until he came to a shocking prophecy. He stopped reading and looked up at Ariauna and Jaskead.

  "What is it?" Ariauna asked as she looked at her father, who already knew what Skip was about to read.

  "Listen to this:

  'Behold, I say unto you. The people of this body will one day fall into iniquity. Yea, verily, I say unto you. They will forget the Lord their God and forget it was He who has saved them.

  'But behold, the people of this body will fall into captivity due to their wickedness. Ye shall be overcome by another body, another body that has the appearance of God. But behold, this body will seem to be as God, but it is not. Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you. This body are your brothers and sisters in me. They also have I created, but they have also forgotten me.

  'This body that is spoken of will overcome thee. Nevertheless, this body will not destroy thee. For behold, you shall one day again be given the knowledge that I am he who has died for your sins.

  'You shall be liberated. A Sav ? '"

  Skip looked at Jaskead. "Wha ? where's the rest?"

  Jaskead shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know. The writings ended at this door," he said as he pounded on the gigantic wooden door.

  Skip knelt down beside the writings on the wall and examined them with his right hand. He followed them until his hand stopped at the door. He stood, grabbed the circular, rusted out metal handle, and pulled. It didn't budge. "It's no use," he said as he backed up and looked at the door. "The door's locked and too big to break into with one person. We're going to have to blow it down."

  He stopped and looked at his two partners. "The answer we're looking for is behind this door."