Leo was asleep.He thought he saw a flash of light, and it did indeed blind him.
Leo could not see.
He was surrounded by parched and cracked land. The land stretched far, and far. Even if he could see, the end of the end of the desert he was in was nowhere to be found.
It was cold. The night was cold in the dry desert, and Leo was cold. He felt that he only had a small portion of magic energy remaining in his body. So, he cast a small flame and started walking, slow.
The wind threatened the small flame he held before his face. He walked for half a mile, when the flame died.
He shivered in the wind, and he eventually stopped.
Voices. Screams. Wails.
Leo was reminded of all of the people he had killed for King Brimstone in his early youth. He remembered each scream distinctly in this moment.
He felt the stench of death: it was warm—a sickening warmth. He wished he was back in the cold at this moment.
The weight of his sins crushed him.
But, then he saw light upon light, and glory upon glory descend from the heavens, and he saw figure within it.
The figure said, "Leo, Leo, why have you persecuted me?"
Leo said, "Who are you, Lord?"
The figure said, "I am Jesus who you persecuted on behalf of King Brimstone. You have killed many of my children in his name, while you were under the yolk of bondage."
"Lord, what shall I do to removes the weight of my sins. I am a man, unclean in my manner and speech. What shall I do to be saved?"
"Surrender to me, and I will quicken your mortal flesh, and you will become the rod that breaks the back of King Brimstone. Greater is the Holy Spirit that will be in you than, the minion of darkness King Brimstone—greater than the master he serves, the prince of this world."
"But Lord," Leo said, "Why do you allow demons into this world? Why do you allow corruption? Are you not greater than sin? Have you not defeated it? Why should I believe?"
Jesus answered, "Child, you know not what you speak, but I will explain. If G.o.d were to pardon sin without a sufficient payment, then he himself would be corrupt. He is a holy G.o.d, and if the G.o.d of the universe were to break his own rules, he would have sinned, and G.o.d does not sin."
"But wouldn"t it be better for him to sin and save all then discard some, because they don"t believe!?"
"Foolish child, if G.o.d becomes corrupt, then how can humanity have any hope of peace? If the last thing in the universe were to lose his holiness, who could save the world? Humans can"t. They can"t even save themselves, let alone the entire world. For all fall short of the glory of G.o.d. For all fail to live up to the law."
Leo cried out, "Lord! I believe! Help my unbelief and wash away my sins!"
"According to your faith, you are clean."
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So, Leo woke up.
He found his body healed. He was still in the land where Sodom used to be, and he felt stronger than he had ever been before.
"He did indeed "quicken" my mortal flesh," Leo thought to himself.
He looked above him and he saw a crack in the clouds, an opening. He saw a bright light pour out, and he saw the sun.
He wept.
For the first time in his life, he saw the light of the world. He saw the glory of heaven, and now he saw the sun.
"Glory be to G.o.d!" Leo said, "I am not worthy. Not worthy at all."
And a voice came down from the opening between the clouds.
It said, "Who will go and destroy King Brimstone, and his servant Harumi? They have done what is evil in my eyes. They have dealt treacherously in my sight. They think themselves to be G.o.d. They play with the powers of h.e.l.l. They kill the innocents. They kill without restraint. Who will go and be my sword?"
"I will Lord," Leo said, "I am not worthy. In fact, I am the chief of sinners, but I pray that I would do what is pleasing in your sight, that I would protect the widows and the fatherless, that I would protect the poor and the weak—that I destroy what is evil in your sight."
"Now go," the voice said: "Be strong and courageous, for I will be with you. "For you and all who believe have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of G.o.d, and not of yourself. You are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; you are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in your body. For you and everyone which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus" sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in your mortal flesh."
The voice said this while the opening in the sky was closing: "Now be wary, for Harumi, a slave to Satan approaches to kill you."
The sky rolled, like the sea of heaven, and Leo prepared for battle.