The Mount of Olives provided an incredible panorama of Jerusalem, the golden roof of the Dome of The Rock glistening in the mid-day sun. Jennings had stood there, near the rock-cut tombs of an ancient Jewish cemetery, for quite some time taking in the sites.
For all his love of scripture and the history behind it, he had never made the journey to Israel to behold the wonders that stood there. Events unfolded upon the stage of his mind like a grand Shakespearian production, the stories of the Bible playing out in his imagination.
"Every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover." He recounted aloud as the players did their parts. "When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it."
"Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to look in the city. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers."
"When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said unto him, 'son, why hast thou dealt with us as such? Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.' And he said unto them 'How is it that ye sought me? Did ye not know that I had to be in my Father's house?' "
He remembered the tale of Jesus being tested in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the Devil.
"For forty days he ate nothing, and at the end of them he was hungry. The Devil said unto him 'if you are the son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' And Jesus answered 'It is written; man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word of God.' "
"The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If you are the son of God,' he said. 'Throw yourself down from here; for it is written He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
"Jesus answered 'It is also said, do not put the Lord your God to the test."
Then the tale of the Lord's return to the temple later in life, when he found the people selling all matter of wares in its hallowed halls. He drove them from the temple courts, ordering that they pay the house of worship more respect than to turn it to a market.
"The Jews then responded to him, 'what sign can you show us to prove your authority to do this?' And Jesus answered them, 'destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.'"
"So beautiful..." He smiled at his recollection of the stories. "Of all the circumstances to bring me to this holy place... I've come in the wake of a nightmare."
All of his journey replayed in his mind.
The deadly moments following the ascension of Darius to the heights of the cross under the surface of Siberia...
The frenzied ride into nothingness in the arms of the four horsemen...
Walking on the shores of Heaven at the side of the machine...
His encounter with the Sutters when The Christ revived the dead...
Returning to the ruins of Trinity Redeemer, his church in his quiet town... the discussion with the stone Jesus when a seed of doubt was fermenting...
The weeks with his friend Tom Gordon before the wall of flame laid siege upon the city...
His travels across the globe as the world of man faltered and fell, so many dying... so many suffering...
Meeting with the Jacksons and sending them into Wormwood...
His encounter in the desert with the one calling himself Mahdi. The decision he made there, faced with the possibility of the collapse of Christianity in the new world of which Darius spoke... when he decided that he would fight...
He thought about the moves he'd made, rallying Washington and Matea within the walls of the devil's prison...
Finding the Sutters in a state of peace that was abnormal throughout the rest of the world... how did they know of the conflict to come?
Then there was this David he met just recently in the garden... this man seemed unique among them. Of all the disciples that he'd met, this latest was the most promising. A fire burnt in his eyes that showed the passion in his heart. He would play a vital role in the battle; though Jennings planned to be the hero of the day.
The time was drawing near, all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. All there was to do now was prepare the people of the Holy City in the distance... their home would be the battlefield, their resources the means of stopping the millions who followed this Mahdi in his conquest.
He counted the disciples he had encountered, trying to be certain he had done all that he could. There were the Jacksons, Terry and Michelle... Washington and Matea made four, the Sutters five, six and seven. David sparks was number eight.
Jennings himself was one, making the total nine... then there was Ibrahim Ali Sabra, the Mahdi himself. That made ten... exactly the number that the Lord had said he'd meet.
He longed to know the other two... who were they and which side would they take in the struggle to preserve the name of Jesus Christ?
Moreover, how would he convince the Jews of Jerusalem to fight at his side for a messiah they didn't recognize themselves? There was an inherent conflict with the Muslims closing in, surely that would help... an attempt to claim the Dome Of The Rock would be a hostile act, probably not received very well if anything of the Israeli people remained.
Clearing his mind, Jennings began the trek to the Temple Mount. He had no idea of what he'd find... or that he'd meet the eleventh disciple within the ancient walls.
"Sir!" A man called to him when he approached the holy site.
He was dressed in decent clothes, much more proper than what the priest had become used to seeing. He smiled widely as he approached, taking Jennings' hand as though he'd known the man for years.
"Welcome!" He beamed. "We're so pleased to have you! Tell me -- how did you know to come to us?"
Jennings was confused, did these people know of the coming blight as well?
"I was sent." He described. "By a very important man."
"Why didn't this man come with you?" The stranger asked, seeming puzzled. "All are welcome in this place... the Mashiach accepts the citizens of all cultures and nations!"
"The who?" Jennings asked, having flashbacks of the man he'd met in the desert singing the praises of the Mahdi.
"The Mashiach!" This new reveler repeated. "The Messianic age has come! We have received a descendant of King David! The promised one to rebuild the Faithful City! The Sanhedrin has been restored, the time of God is upon us!"
"What signs have there been?" He wondered, recounting the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel in his memory.
"All of them!" The man declared. "Even your arrival is a sign; we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you!"
"Zechariah 8:23." Jennings identified as the verse. "Is that what you think?" He asked. "That I've come here seeking guidance?"
"That's what all the others have sought." The man answered assuredly. "If this is not your desire - then why have you sought us out?"
"To prepare your people for a battle."
"Battle? But this is a place of peace now, sir! Eternal joy and gladness is promised to all the people of Israel!"
"You call this peace?" Jennings retorted. "The world unfurled, suffering abound."
"There is no suffering here." The stranger returned as a point of fact. "The coming of the Mashiach has brought the end of hunger and illness. Everything is as it was prophesized!"
"Who is this messiah?"
"A great military commander; brought to us through a flash of light. It was amazing to behold... we didn't know what was happening when all of our machines stopped working, many thought it was the apocalyp
se. But then the Mashiach arrived... told us to rejoice, for the reckoning was at hand!"
"Listen," Jennings snapped, feeling time was short. "I need to speak with your Messiah... where is he kept? Take me to him now..."
"Well," the man began. "She is at the Well Of Souls... underneath the Dome Of The Rock. She'd be pleased to meet you, I'm sure... follow me and we shall go to her."
The priest was stunned at what he saw as he was led through Jerusalem. Healthy looking men and women worked in the oppressive heat, building a massive structure upon the mount.
"My God!" Jennings exclaimed. "Are they building the Third Temple?"
"Of course," his guide explained. "The Mashiach ordered it done!"
He was taken to the southern side of the marvelous dome where an opening in the rock led to a flight of stairs which descended into the Well of Souls. The cave was moderately sized, the stone ceiling curving gently to the solid flattened floor. It was a holy place, much regarded in the eyes of Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.
Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad had risen towards heaven from the Foundation Stone which they passed. They say that The Last Judgment will take place here, the souls of the dead gathering in the cave called the Well to await the return of God. Folklore claimed that they could be heard on the wind, along with the sounds of the Rivers of Paradise.
There was a distinct sound on the air; there always had been, according to what Jennings had read of the place. Scholars believed it was no more than a resonance effect, similar to hearing the ocean when pressing a seashell against your ear. Whatever it was, the noise was humbling in the wake of all that had transpired... the ambience of this cave was wondrous, born of the anointed who had graced this land in times of old when man was young.
Legend claimed that this cave had been the hiding place of The Ark Of The Covenenant after the destruction of Solomon's Temple at the hands of the neo-Babylonians. The presence of a relic so holy, long ago though it was, had bestowed upon this place a peace that was absent from the world in this time of death and decay.
All of Jennings' reflection on the things that had happened here before came to a screeching halt when he saw the woman the children of Israel were calling the Mashiach.
She bore the signs of radiation burns upon her face and hands, but even through the changes that had come to her body through the time that had unfolded and whatever experiences had brought her here, Jennings still recognized her - and her guise was chilling in this time and place.
"Denisa?" He asked, his mouth agape.
When Darius has whisked him from the lab where he was born he had activated the device designed to destroy the experiment if things went astray. During the briefing before the machine was brought to life, this woman had described the event of the weapon's activation as a cataclysmic final resort. It was supposed to be fatal to everyone in the compound; yet somehow, she had survived -- and returned to her country across thousands of miles that would've been a wasteland even when man commanded the Earth.
"Cameron." She said, equally as stunned.
"I thought you were dead!" He exclaimed.
"I was, essentially." The woman answered. "You left me there to die; if I hadn't crawled into a small fall-out shelter under my console I would've been cooked like a TV dinner."
"I didn't know what was happening; I would've saved you, if I had a chance."
"Like you saved Jim Walker?" She retorted. "You didn't seem too concerned with him -- lesser even with me. You were, however, rather taken with Darius; whatever he had become."
"I thought he had become the Christ." The preacher explained. "The second-advent - I was convinced. He showed me incredible things... spoke inspiring words and led me to believe that he had come to redeem the world."
"But clearly you don't believe that any longer -- or you wouldn't have come here, to be amongst us Jews under a flag of peace. Perhaps you don't come in peace, though... do you plan to assassinate me here? Is that what the machine has ordered?"
"I'm no longer under Darius' spell - I don't trust him, now. He believes I'm working on his behalf, but in fact I've devised a plan to impede him."
"Then he's still out there? Still --" she hesitated. "Alive."
"He is..." He replied. "And he sends an army millions strong to destroy you; to claim the Dome Of The Rock."
"What?" She gasped at the suggestion. "Who? Why? We are prospering here, after all the suffering that I saw on my journey home... what is that damned machine? What does it want?"
"A demon, I'm afraid... bent on the destruction of all mankind. He's contrived each of the three major religions of the world, setting them against each other by bringing to light what they believe was prophesized as their redemption. He incites a holy war; one that will be catastrophic for all involved. I don't know what he's after, but the whole of the world will be under his command once we've obliterated one another in battle. The Muslims will be victorious, there are simply too many of them. It seems that they are his chosen people... they will carry out whatever this Mahdi commands. He is fanatical is his religion, he . will never accept that Darius is anything other than Jesus come to stand with him in his conquest of the world. We cannot allow this to happen; we must end it, here!"
"How exactly do you propose that we do that?"
"He told me of twelve disciples that would form the world to come; I've reached out to the ten that I was allowed to meet, helping them along a path that will lead them here where we will stand against the evil that threatens us."
Denisa seemed taken aback by the mention of the word disciple. She considered something for a moment, finally sharing what had brought her to Jerusalem.
"I was told that I was to be a disciple... by some strange voice as I wandered through the ice of Siberia after the radiation had subsided. A white light brought me here, delivering me to my people. That voice told them I was the Mashiach - that they were to follow my command. We were promised peace everlasting... what you're telling me contradicts all of that."
"See!" He exclaimed. "It's the Devil that torments us! We went too far with Darius - caught the attention of something unholy! It's laid siege to us now, and it threatens to unseat us from this Earth!"
"If it's powerful enough to do all of these things - how can we hope to defeat it?"
"By banding together to stop the Muslims in their tracks! If we are victorious we can stand in the face of evil and demand that it relinquish the grasp it has on us! Clearly it is imperfect, my meeting you is proof of that! He told me I would only meet ten, that two would forbidden to me... he had no idea that I would come here -- that I would meet you and catch him in his lies!"
"Who is the twelfth?" She wondered aloud. "Perhaps he's similarly discovered this deception? For all we know, he could be convincing the Mahdi of the same things we have uncovered. They may come in peace to join us."
"We cannot take that chance." He insisted. "The people of the desert are ruthless and deceitful themselves; they would trick us to suit their ends just as likely as they would stand with us."
"The two of us can't hope to stop him alone - not even with all of Israel behind us."
"There's an army forming in America -- coming together as we speak. I set the other disciples out to gather forces on their trek to the Atlantic shores. They will come here - somehow, and stand at our side."
"What do we do when they get here?"
"We fight, but as Jews and Christians united. This Mahdi and his people will be no match for us if we do not fight against one another as well."
"But you said that there are millions of them. We have no weapons, Cameron - if we claw at one another in the fields they will still overpower us through sheer force of number!"
"No..." He replied ominously. "I have a plan... trust me, we will win the day. I don't know what will happen after that -- there's a ring of fire closing in that will confine everyone left alive to this city, I belie
ve. I assume whatever demon inhabits Darius intends to rule from here - if we derail his plans I imagine he might incinerate even this place and erase us from the universe."
"But at least we would have stopped him!" She declared emphatically. "A triumph is a triumph - even if it costs our lives."
"I agree!" He returned with enthusiasm. "You need to prepare your people to fight - hand to hand, and to the death."
"You will not stay to help in the preparation?"
"No... I have somewhere to go to complete the plan of which I've told you... I will be back in time for the battle, and then you will see how we shall prosper."
"I hope you're right... the alternative is unacceptable."
Chapter 30