Steven Clark Bradley  

That voice again…those voices, this time, again filled his ears.
“I won’t let you do it! He’s my son and he’ll pull through!”

“Sir, in exactly seven minutes, it will be the law of the land! We have no choice. Look at him, he’s dead anyway, he’s dead anyway, he’s dead anyway, he’s dead…dead…dead…dead…”

Sergeant Master grabbed his ears and turned around to see who was there, Even though, he really had known, there was no one! He looked over at the far wall and the series of drawings there. He recalled the feeling of energy that had coursed through his fingers as he reached out to touch the drawings. He walked back over to the cave wall and extended his hand again and touched the first of the drawings. When his flesh touched it, there was nothing. Perhaps he had imagined sensation, but he knew he had not imagined the visions that had appeared before his eyes when he held the plates in his hand. Had it a case of shell-shock or had simply been in shock. He was disappointed. Then, that same sensation that had radiated through his fingers, up through his arm and into his mind when he picked up the plates again forced his head to jerk backward and his eyes to firmly shut and images began to fly past his closed eyes like a movie playing on the back of his closed eyelids.

Masters saw a garden that had been planted in the east of a plush, apparently new Earth, on the eastward border of the world beyond that which faced the sun’s rising. He could only see water that covered the whole world and seemed to extend all the way up to the borders of the heavens. To the north of the garden, he saw a sea of water so clear and pure that it gave a powerful yearning to taste it, and though he did not, he knew that it had to be unlike anything else he could ever taste. Masters could see a man washing himself in the water and he began to glow by virtue of the brightness that the pure water gave his skin. Masters knew that it was a place of great pleasure for a creator. For, the creator knew what the man He would form would do and how he would rebel against the plans of the Most High. Masters could see the man and his wife taking what was forbidden and banished and forced out of the lush, glorious garden, on account of their transgression.

“Oh, my master, please let us flee to the border of northward side where the waters are pure and we can bathe in the waters of the sea where we can wash ourselves in it and be cleansed from the wrongdoing we have done and no longer remember what we have committed in our disobedience and be free from our punishment.”

The creator would hear nothing of it.

“Then, we beseech you, oh Master, allow us to establish our dwelling to the southern side of the garden. Then, when the wind blows from the north, it will bring us the delicious smell of the trees of the garden. Will that not be a great punishment and give us at least the pleasure of its wonderful aroma without the ability to partake of it?”

“My child, the sweet smell of those trees would render them too ready to overlook your transgression and to find consolation for what you both did by taking delight in the smell of the trees and yet remaining in your transgression."

Sergeant Masters lifted his hand from the drawing and felt completely compelled to step to the next one, partly because of his great anticipation, but there was a force around him. It was like some entity pushing him to rush forward to the next primitive drawing and slam his hand against the stone wall and watch the day that man was forced out of perfection and into a corrupted world that would become viler and viler until the day of his life when men no longer communed with God, but only did what was right in their own eyes. Masters placed his palm against the drawing and felt the same force rush to his mind, but ever so much more powerfully than the previous two.

Against the protests of the man and his wife, God brought forth a great hail-force wind and drove the man and his wife toward the western border of the garden, which was very broad, and commanded them to live there in a cave in a rock below the garden.

When the man and his wife went out of the garden, they walked the area around them and feared greatly, not knowing where they were walking. They came to the opening of the gate of the garden, and saw the Earth spread out before them. It was covered with thorns and great stones, both large and small, and with sand. Their hearts began to beat fast with fear and they trembled, falling on their faces because of the fear that had come over them, and they were as dead.

“Oh great Father, until this time we have been in the garden land so beautifully planted with all manner of trees. This is a strange land, which we do not know…have never seen. Please return us to the garden filled with the grace of a bright nature before our hearts turned toward earthly things.” They both fell to the ground as dead and ceased to breath by virtue of the great fear that overcame them!

The Creator had pity on them; and when He saw them fallen before the gate of the garden, He sent His Word to them and raised them from their fallen state. The man and his wife came to themselves and awoke from their stupor crying out in sheer and bitter anguish that they were being forced to leave the garden. It had been the only home they had known, until that bitter hour. The man looked at his flesh. It had changed, which caused him to cry out bitterly. He and his wife recalled what they had done in disobedience and lamented their wrongness. Slowly and with great trepidation, they walked and looked in every direction and crouched in response to every sound that was different from that to which they had been accustomed while in the garden. They looked back at the garden gate from which they had been expelled. It was gone, with no trace at all. There was no sign that a garden had ever been there at all and it brought great terror and sorrow over them. They shook in horror and went slowly and warily descended down into the Cave of Treasures. As they came to it, the man cried out to his wife.

“Look at this cave that is to be our prison in this world, and a place of punishment! What is this? He has condemned us to death! Why did you give me the transgression!”

“Me?” the woman declared. “Why did you take it? Now, look what you have done to us!”

“What is this crowdedness compared to what we had in the garden?” the man lamented with tears flowing down his cheeks; wet droplets that he had never seen before. He wiped them from his cheek and looked at the substance flowing from his eyes. He looked at his wife and saw the same flowing water from her eyes. They both began to shake and it seemed as if a river riveted from them. The man looked around at the merciless surroundings and wondered out loud.

“What is this stony place and what are these vines?” he wondered as he reached out to touch them. Pain gripped his hand as he grabbed hold of thorns that he had never witnessed before. Red blood spewed from his fingers and he had only seen such a thing when the creator had slain the animals of the garden since their disobedience. He began to cry out in assurance that there fate would be the same as those animals that had died to give them sustenance.

“What is the darkness of this cave, compared with the glow of the garden? The woman asked in deep grief. “What is this hanging ridge of stone to refuge us compared with the mercy of the creator to cover us?”

The man looked out at the land before them. “What is the earth of this cave compared with the soil of the garden?” He bent down and took some of the soil into his hand.

“It is strewn with stones! Is there nothing here like that planted in the garden? Are there no delicious fruit trees?” the man cried out. “Look at us. We have seen the angels singing praise in heaven and now we are alone. Our eyes have changed, our flesh has changed, and our hope has dwindled!” the man cried and fell to his knees.

“I hope you see what you have done!” the woman screamed at the man. The man looked up at her and saw her sorrowful face turned angry and he glared at her!

“Our eyes have become of flesh and that is because you deceived me!” the man screamed.

“Now, we cannot see as they did.” He said to her. “What have we become? What is this body compared to that which it was before, in the garden?”

After this, the man did not want to go into the cave, under the overhanging rock, but he bowed to God's orders; and told himself,

"I have to go into the cave, lest I again make the creator angry by my disobedience.”

Sergeant Masters saw the images fade. He was enthralled by the story being recounted to him. He shook his head and quickly moved to the next image scrawled across the wall.

He saw the man and his wife enter the cave. They stood up and cried out to the Lord. Masters looked at the man and the woman as they raised their eyes and saw the rock and the roof of the cave that covered him overhead. This prevented him from seeing either heaven or God's creatures. So he screamed in agony and pounded on his chest hard, until his heart stopped! Masters watched the woman as the image played before his closed eyes. She fell to the cave floor and wept bitterly! Then sprawled out on the cave floor with her face to the floor and spread her hands toward God, pleading to Him for mercy and forgiveness!

"O God, forgive me my sin, the sin which I committed, and don't remember it against me. For I alone caused your servant to fall from the garden in this land of judgment. My evil took us from light into this darkness; from the garden of pleasure into this prison. O God, look at your servant displayed in sadness; your servant fallen and broken in guilt. I pray you, bring him back to life, so he too can cry out to you and ask your forgiveness of his sin. Please do not take away his soul. Let him live that he may stand cleansed before you and carry out your desire. Yet, if you do not bring him back to life, then, O God, take away my own life that I may be with him and not alone. Leave me not in this hole all alone. I love him and want to be with him only.”

Sergeant Masters then saw the same evil figure that had appeared between the two brothers when he was holding the stone plates. It appeared just behind the woman and looked down at her with a diabolical smile spread across its face. It bent its height down and whispered into her ear.

“You don’t need God’s help. You can do this yourself. You can simply find a jagged stone and ram it into your heart and surely you will join your husband in a better place.”

The woman’s head rose and her eyes livened and she knew what she would do. She started looking all around the cave and saw a sharply pointed stone protruding upward from the floor. She determined to throw herself on top of the stone and leave the evil place where she stood all alone.

“That’s it!” the evil Watcher whispered to her.

She looked down at the sharp point that could be her escape from her plight that had left her terrified and alone.

“Now plunge yourself down on it and end your suffering! This is no quality of life. This life is not worth living! Do it now!”

The woman positioned her chest over the sharp stone. She was ready to pull herself down onto the stone. She was afraid to live and afraid to die. Her eyes again were leaking that watery substance. The demon again taunted her.

“What are you waiting for? This no way to live! Don’t you want to be with your husband?”

“Yes, I miss him and he protected me and…” she thought to her self as she drew closer until the point was pushing down against her covering. She felt the point ready to pierce her chest and enter her body to get her out of the evil place! As she determined to herself to die, she heard a voice. It was her creator.

“Why do you listen to this evil Watcher, Kasadya? Was it not one just like him who caused you to sin the first time?”

“O God, did you not cause him to fall asleep, and you took one of his bones from his side to form me? You formed me from that bone, and made me a woman, with heart of reason, and speech and in spirit like him in every way except in body. Now, oh Lord, I and he are one, and You, O God, are our Creator, You are he who made us both in one day. Please allow me to reason with you, O God, why will I want to live without him? I beg you to give him life so he can be with me in this strange land. If you will not give him life, then take me, even me, like him; that we both may die the same day.”

The woman turned and ran over to the man and fell upon him and wept openly for him.

“Fear not, for your husband and you shall live. My love has not failed for you, and I shall keep you and watch over you. Only, do not listen to the speech of the evil Watchers. I have now placed a barrier between you and the Watchers. Listen to the voice of your creator alone and no evil shall beset you.”

As the woman lay atop of the man and held him tightly, she felt warmth fill his body. His chest heaved and his eyes blinked and he opened them and the woman’s heart filled with excitement! She looked into his eyes and he at her.

“I miss you and am afraid to be without you!” the woman said. She took his head and cradled him and they thanked their God that day and rose up and began to tend to the barren land.

Masters’ opened his eyes as soon as his hand left the drawing on the cave wall. He stepped to the left and touched the next one. Again, he felt the rush of power force his head to jolt backward. He saw the man who had been forced from the garden, but could only hear his wife, as she screamed in great pain and travail, then became very quiet. Sergeant Masters heard it. It was the sound of a newborn, screaming out as the first painful breath of air filled its lungs! Men should be born in the earth. Among them would be righteous ones who would die, whose souls God would raise at the last day; when all of them will return to their flesh, bathe in the water of that sea, and repent of their sins. Masters saw the man walk over to his wife. He picked the first child to be born in the Earth and held up to his eyes.

“You are Caine!” He declared. “It is for you to possess the whole Earth!” smiled the man in amazement at the sight of the first fruits of his loins.”

Suddenly, the image before Master’s eyes was gone. His hand was still touching the cave wall and he looked down and saw something stuck inside an opening at the bottom of the wall. It looked like a scroll with seals surrounding the object. Masters carefully pulled on the scroll. He pulled it out and heard it all again.

“I’m sorry Mr. Masters, but the time has passed and the new legislation is now in place.” “You can't pull the plug now! He fought for this country! He gave his life almost.”

Sergeant Master stood in the cave and could not figure out what the voices were about. He knew his dad’s voice and the others he had never heard before. He pulled out the scroll and looked it over. He saw the seals on it and when he touched them, they crumbled. He unrolled it and it was in some kind of writing he had never seen before. Then the cave started rocking! He felt like an earthquake had started, but it seemed different than anything he had ever felt in California. Then the rocking stopped and he stood there getting his bearings. To the cave floor, there right in front of him, something fell from the ceiling. It was black and like tar. It seemed to pulse, almost like breathing! Masters tried to step backward, but he was against the cave wall. Then, from the rocky walls of the cave, arms formed and took hold of Masters’ body and held him tight! One arm wrapped itself around his head and another forced his mouth open. The black tar began to grow and form. Masters could only see it looking straight down and straining his eyes because he could not move his head. The sludge like black tar formed around his feet as great fear filled his being! A head rose up out of it and the tips of its claw-like wings oozed out of the sticky mess! After the head, it rose up and as it dripped its residue to the cave floor, a sulfur odor filled the chamber with sizzling hot steam rising and burning at Masters’ nose. Slowly, the creature that rose up out of the sludge took on the appearance of a charred angel, just like the one Masters had seen in the visions. The face formed and turned toward Masters! He froze outwardly, but every organ in his body shook in ultimate and all-consuming fear! He saw the face and the extended wings and Masters’ mouth uttered the word, “Kasadya!”

“You are now my vessel Mr. Masters.” The fallen Watcher declared. “Your kinds are now ready for a few more blows of death I have not taught them yet.”

Kasadya liquefied and poured itself down Sergeant Jacob Masters’ throat. His mind went blank and his surroundings went black.

“Sergeant Masters? Are you with us?”

Masters opened his eyes and found himself lying where he had smashed into the invisible wall before running into the deep green area. He saw everything in a haze and then felt something moving inside his head. Then he saw it, that evil beast in the corner of his eye.

He began it scream! “Get it out! Get it out of me! Now! Please get it…”

Masters went out as fast as he had awakened. The sound of a hovering chopper replaced his pleading! The Culture of Death had been unleashed!

If you want to read more of Steven Clark Bradley's writing? Go to:

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