Doomsday Pillars

Chapter 7 - The Priest

Alex and the family will be flying to Bali today. His mother has passed away a few years back, so the family, who will come to Bali, will be; his father, younger brother Hendrik, older brother Jimmy, wife and 2 teen kids, then Devita's parents, her younger sister Vonny, younger brother Victor and his girlfriend Rea. A total group of 15 people. Actually, Devita has an older sister, but she and her family, after multiple persuasions, decided not to come to Bali, Alex ended up just leaving them tickets. If they, later on, decided to change their mind, but if they refuse, Alex just can't force them. He can't guarantee their safety in Bali anyway.

In the morning while everyone was still busy packing, Alex has one more visit to go, it's only a five-minute drive from his place, a local church that he often went to with his family before all the chaos began. But currently, he has mixed feeling about coming to this place. In his past, when the disaster came, many survivors turned to their faith, but they were disappointed, bad turned to worst, it's like hell on earth, death everywhere. Alex also lost his faith when his family died. Somehow this place now feels kinda unfamiliar to him. But the reason he comes to church today is actually to come to meet one of his closest friend, Theo.

Alex has known Theo for almost 20 years, they went to college together in Australia.. Theo is one of the smartest people he knows. Top student, scholarship, graduated medical school at 21, then worked as a researcher in one of the world's top medical companies, but a few years later he quits, turns to his faith and became a priest. In his past life, Alex often came to him for a council.

The church is not big, it could house around 300 people. Alex went inside, there is a group of young kids singing in one of the rooms. Although the air is very peaceful, in his mind there is only the thought of survival, such as; if this church would be sturdy enough to hold the undead attack or thinking about how many of those kids will survive the first week.

There, in one of the small rooms, he knocks and is welcomed by a friendly face, Theo the Priest. A tall, but skinny guy in his thirties. He is currently brewing hot tea.

"Hi Alex, try one of this cup, this is a fresh tea from the mountain, it's good for your health."

He then just went on and on about tea and many things. Alex always admired him, Theo is the type of person who always finds joy in everything he does. It's been 10 years since he last met him, while for Theo its only last week, so it feels a bit weird for Alex. Theo then notices something different with his friend;

"What's wrong? You seem different today"

Alex just casually asked a question: "What does the scripture say about the end of days?"

Alex thought if there is some connection between the world's old relics with the Doomsday Pillars. There might be something he can relate to in the Bible.

"Just the short version please.", Alex added.

Theo grumbled, he already thought of a full-text scripture as reference:

"There are a few versions from a different denomination, but in short most agree that the Day of Judgement, as we Christian call it, is the day of the second coming of God, all people will be judged, some will be punished, and some will be chosen."

Alex tried to relate with what he experiences on his past life, he wonders between the people who died from the disease or the survivors who died from monsters, which one is the one punished, and which one is chosen.

"What a funny joke.. he thought in his mind"... He then asked again "Does the scripture hint when this Day of Judgement will happen?"

"The scripture said that nobody in the world will know when it will come, the Day of Judgement will come like a thief in the night, unexpected."

Alex smiles secretly in his mind as he laughed:

'I know exactly when it will happen, it's in 26 days!'

Alex stopped the discussion, normally he can argue with him for hours, but his time is short, so he gave Theo what he came here to do, a ticket to Bali dated a few days before the end of the month. Alex forced him to come, he even promised that he will do charitable work for the church if Theo came.

The last objective is done. Alex then took the family to the Airport to fly to Bali, in the plane he was thinking back about what Theo said. He then remembered something.

'But, who is the grey blur figure who talk to me during the transition, can he be God?'

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Naaahh...