"Well my friends. This is the part where I should give a speech talking about how brave we need to be and that nothing can stand in our way but that's not the truth at all. We all know that speeches were more of Hoppers thing and although we could criticize him as much as we wanted; he was always the bravest of us all."
"Here! Here!"
"I mean, who here wakes up everyday and says, 'the church isn't doing what it is supposed to be doing so I am going to change that?' I know I certainly don't but to have the audacity and boldness to not only say but do that even though the whole town and I included rejected you for it. If it aint broke don't fix it. We see all the good churches do for others but Hopper was able to see past all of our good and not only see into the root of our problems but know how to fix them. He was able to see what others could not.
If it wasn't for Hopper we'd still be stuck scratching our heads trying to decipher the clues for the first piece of the map. And not for him I'm sure we would've walked through all these challenges not even seeing the armor of God pieces staring back at us in the face. He led us on many great adventures and has made us change the way we think and act on a lot of different occasions. Even now he was the first of us all to bold the darkness and dive in. Sad that it had to take him dying by the sword for us to realize how much we really missed him.
Now I know none of us are as fast as Hopper or are the best at picking out meanings behind texts but if we put our heads together and work as one then we can get through these trials. Might take us a hell lot longer but we leave no men on this battlefield. Who's with me!!"
"Ohh that Hopper! He can be annoying at times with his truths he throws at us but the reason I let him get so annoying is because his truths were in reality….truthful. And his letters he gave to people were great. Now they weren't all the time what the person wanted to hear but it always was what they needed to hear. I'd kill to have him back. Just even for a second."
"Then raise your swords as one and stand..by..me! Team one; find something to support Hopper on. Team two; find a way out of here. Take these cheetos with you as markers to sprinkle them down to make the trail. Team three; you stick with me and we'll find this sword of the Spirit. Rally back here in four. Ohh and remember. Anything you see; don't look it directly in the eyes. Split."
"So how do we find this sword you keep speaking of?"
"First. 'Light of Night.' Now that the other teams are gone and we can see; walk and talk with me. Should be dark enough now to find the next clue. Lookie there. It's a list of the six pieces that make up the armor of God. Next to each lies a corresponding verse. We found the first so we can cross that one off easy. What's the next verse?"
"I want to read it."
"Kid, give that back. You don't know what you're wielding. We need to get out of here as fast we can before the valley wakes up. Just hand the Bible to me and we can talk about this later."
"Don't remember me do you? You who have eyes to see but still dimwitted. The Bible has been in your hands this whole time and you were too blind to realize. You had the special Bible all along but never used it. I can see your mind racing now trying to figure out how you could've missed it. Aaron is good but he's not that good. It was easy; go in, grab the Bible and get out. Instead, the plan went all haywire and you ended up in a run down chapel. You said there was going to be minimal guards that night. I wonder who tipped the guards off so more could be stationed?!!
"Swift, your dad murmured.
"I heard it. Say it!"
"Swift!"
"Louder."
"SWIFT!! But why? How? You're supposed to be dead. I watched you die that night when the cop shot you."
"Haa. Haa. Haaa. Did I really die that night? Was that an actual cop? These questions who knows the answers too. Yes, I tipped the cops off but like everyone else; they thought you were after the money while I had a plan of my own. Only us two knew the truth of why we were targeting that specific bank. See, while all the guards were occupied with the rest of you I snuck out back, grabbed the Bible and was home free. That's what I thought anyways. When I regrouped with all of you and we were running from the cops it wasn't just them we were running from.
As more and more of our group was picked off by the cops it was soon just you and me left. We rounded an alley and it was you a few clicks in front of me and a cop hot on my heels. I tripped and that's when you looked back to see the cop shoot me in the heart. The last thing I remember was looking up and seeing his face. Aaron shot me, smiled, then walked away."
"LIAR!! Aaron would never do such a thing. That's not in his nature."
"Then you don't know your brother all that well. The reason he was there wasn't for your sake but his. He didn't want anybod to get their hands on a Bible because of the power it wielded. He wanted the power all to himself and didn't even know about the second Bible until he got a wift of your plans to rob the bank."
"Why didn't Aaron kill everbody at the bank then? Why just you?"
"Croak little buddy. He had no reason to hurt them. No one knew the Bible lay in their Banks walls. Before the bank there was a huge church that spanned from the bank to the warehouse where you were hiding. Here is where one of these Bibles resided and was kept locked up in a safe. When the church burned down mysteriously in the night they carved a hidden square in the wall and put the Bible and safe inside; sealed it back up then left. A few weeks later a construction team built the bank around those sacred walls but did not even know of the treasures that lay buried within the walls.
I woke up a few hours later and the Bible was gone. My hands felt the place where Aaron shot me and it was my shirt pocket. There was something in it that cold. Pulling it out I couldn't believe it. Aarons shot didn't pierce my heart like he wanted but instead put a bullet through the eyes of the knight in that coin you are now holding as a staff. Hopper may have talked about corrections the church needed but with this book we can give the true corrections the church not only needs but the corrections to help it grow. What do you say?"
"Darkness has blind you brother."
"I thought you might have said that. Guess I have no choice now. Wait, why are you backing up? You know there is nowhere you can run where I can't find you."
"You were once good, brother. You and I went on adventures together, fought together, got in trouble together and we even said we would die together. Now you die alone."
The picture of the dragons eye on the wall behind Swift blinked once...twice….then moved. Swift may have been called fast but he wasn't fast enough. The dragon swallowed him and the Bible in one bite then looked at us.
"RUNNNNN!!!!"
We took off like a stampede; with the dragon hot on our tails.