"Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel. Let it also be known that we are your servants and have done everything You have commanded us. Answer me, Lord; answer me so that Shadow will know that you, Lord, are God. Please turn his heart back to You!!"
"What kind of prayer is that? You're supposed to be praying for Hopper and not for...whooo…..he's starting to get warm fast. I can feel his bones realigning."
"Shadow, that's the power of prayer. Even if you pray 'wrong,' Jesus knows the desires of your heart before you even ask so if you are in a place of believing He can do what you want Him to then it doesn't matter how you pray. You can just say thank you God, and He'll provide you with an answer. Two months ago; the pastor at my church was telling a story and said that he and a group of guys were working on the side of a hill but the day was brutally hot and everybody was sweating. One of them spoke up and said one little simple prayer. 'Lord God, if you really are real then please listen. We could use a rain cloud about now.' Everyone including the pastor looked at the man funny and thought there is no way God will answer that prayer. Not even thirty minutes later; a cloud formed in the sky and it rained just over their small campaign and them alone."
"Yea, yea, yea. That's a great story..now shh!! He's opening his eyes.
Hello old friend!! Miss me?"
"Wh.ooo..where am...Shadow!! I oughta string you up by your neck and see how you like it. This is where we last met with your holding me against my will so let's see how you like it."
"Hoochper. H..opper. Let go of my neck pleace and let me down. I can't breathe."
"Why am I here and who is responsible for bringing me back? You won't let me live….and you won't let me die!!"
"Acch...achhh...they are!! They are who is responsible."
"You two? Kids, get out of here while you still have the mind to do so. This man is dangerous and he'll stab you in the back when you're not looking. He's only looking to work with you until you have accomplished the mission he wants; and then he'll go back to doing what he always does: Pillaging and plundering."
"Hopper….let...him...goo!!"
"Ouch!!"
"Huuu!! Thank you Leo. I could feel his nails digging into my spine and I didn't like it. Good job using the mallet to knock him out."
"I just wanted him to stumble back, I promise. I had no intention of knocking him out let alone killing him."
"No, no!! Son, you couldn't kill Hopper that easily even if you tried your hardest. He's like a rash. He just shows up unannounced but when you try to get rid of him and even scratch to make him leave…..he just grows and grows in strength. Although I find that kinda annoying...I also like that about him." Leo, dust the chair off and bring it over here. Zeke, you put Hopper's arm over your shoulder and I'll do the same on this side. Together we'll slowly set him down. Thank you Zeke.
"Leo, can you get a glass of water please and just set it on the dresser beside me."
"You're not going to splash him with it to wake him?"
"Na! I've got a better plan in mind. Now you two get on each side of him and drape a piece of rope over him to make it look like you're holding him down. I always wanted to do this."
"Why!"
"Please? It'll be funny."
"Ok."
"Ready?"
"Ready!! Hopper, wake up!! The Philistines are upon you!!!"
"Huu!! Huu!! Where? You call these restraints? I can break them like rubber bands. Just point them out and I'll…..ohhh. It's you."
"Hi Hopper. Do you like this glass of water in my hands? I had Leo fill it up and Leo did well. He used every last drop your sink could muster. Now I am very interested in how you managed to escape my fire but later was captured and died by torture strapped to a chair. Why didn't you just die at the mercy of my fire? It would've been a way more worthy death than dying because you were accused of….a...demom!! Like seriously. How could you..mhmmm. That doesn't matter. What does matter is that the first thing you will want when you come back to life is the water of life and I've seen how hard you will struggle to find some so how bout this. If you promise to help me and my friends out then I will give you this last bit of water. If you don't however then I won't need a poker in order to finish the 'tattoo' on your lobe. I'll stretch the tattoo all across your body for all to see."
"What's the catch Shadow because I know that if you have to come to me then you must be preety desperate."
"You're in then. That's good to hear. See, in your absence there have been more powerful creatures that have risen up besides me and we can't have that."
"Are you sure it's we and not you? Knowing you; you just want to kill this whatever so that you can go back to what it is you do in peace without this thing being the only thing that can take you down."
"You know something, Hopper? I like you. Well, I don't like the fact that you double crossed me and left my side but pickers can't be choosers. You always have your nose to the ground and can sniff out anything false even if it's the smallest cue. That's why we need you. Our journey has stumbled into the Bible and it's only the Bible that can help us retrieve the elements needed for our witch bottle. Your name precedes you and what you did last time is a strong testament to that. Also no one knows the Bible like you. These two children here tried to taunt me when I struggled to bring you back to life; by using the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth the priests. Elizabeth was barren but an angel came to her and Zach said there is no way. He laughed when the angel told the news; so the angel sealed his mouth shut until the time the baby was born. These two tried to taunt me by using those verses to tell me that I best be ready when I promise God something but don't want to follow through. They messed up the names and said some weird talk but what I'm saying is...they suck at taunting. Even when someone says something 'smart' and then says it's from the Bible; don't believe them. Go home and look up those passages yourself just to be certain because you never know.
That's why I want you back."
"You missed my taunting at you and other people because you always knew there was some truth in it."
"No Hopper! I wanted you back because when you taunt; every little word you say has truth in it."
"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but um….thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Whelp, let's get this show on the road shall we? Also, Shadow, I'm only helping you this one time. Once we finish this then we're done."
"Okay."
"No, you don't understand. I said once we finish we are done; like done done!!"
"I got you. I got you."
"Anyways thanks for the water. It's weird you being so nice and all. May I ask if anyone else is alive or is it just you and me?"
" Well…"
"Shadow!! What did you do?"
"I mean it wasn't my fault. Your mom and her friend came up thinking they could challenge me so they got a small team together. Zeke and Leo were there. Anyways Dragon came out and you know how that goes."
"Everybody died but these two. Why?"
"That's another thing. The witch we're hunting is kinda there little sister that they took in when they found her running in the woods one day. The only reason no one killed each other is because I loved her and they loved her so since we loved her; we made an invisible truth not to kill each other."
"Hmm. You fell for a pretty girl again I see. So since you all have made a truth not to kill each other; that doesn't mean you can't kill her. Since she never had her in the truth agreement then that gives you the right all turn around and kill her. Interesting. If I'm not mistaken; the fact that you all are living today is because she loves you all and in return to pay her back and thank her….you're gonna kill her."
"She's so powerful though, like Shadow said."
"Leo, I don't care what Shadow said. Frankly I don't even care what you all say. Vengeance is mine, says the lord. She loved you all like you were her own but since she got too close to the dark side; her evil spirit came out and now the only way to settle things is by ...."
"Burning her on a stake and ripping her heart out to make sure she is dead."
"Exactly!!"
"Well then, no better love can be found!! You promised each other you wouldn't kill each other but none of you promised this witch that you wouldn't kill for if you did then you would be going back on a promise and that's a no no. To keep this rolling I want one thing in return."
"He, how about your life mr.."
"Shh. I'm talking to Shadow. With all this twisted love going on; if we walk out of this then I want you to bring back someone I love. I think it's only fair. Why have me tear apart your guy's love triangle with her while I am the only one left of my family to roam this huge world all on my own."
"Hopper, it doesn't work like…"
"Done!!"
"Good!! Now we can go. What is the first clue we need to find?"
"We need to find a false replica of the ten commandments with nine nails bent in an L shape screwed to the hinges. I have an idea where we could find one. We have to piece together the ten commandments and then the others will appear. This is what happened when I did my journey for the armor of God pieces before."
"Ahh. Knew I was right. You know, Hopper. There are actually seven pieces of the armor of God. The seventh piece is prayer in the spirit but since that is not a 'physical' weapon then it gets overlooked too much. If the devil had his way then that piece would remain overlooked."
"Come on Mr. know it all. Hope you don't trip over your own words as you struggle to keep up. Let's go.