Painted In Gold - 7. Glorious Salvation

In search of pure souls, he called to
the hearts of children who were willing
to serve God in a holy battle.
Pure hearts. Without sin.
And they came, faithful to
God and His will.
He preached to them the word of
the Lord. The word of God.
Destroy those who oppose His
word and you shall have
glorious salvation.
Immediate entrance into the
eternal kingdom of Heaven.

They marched to the sea, faithful
that it would part, showing them
the road that they shall take.
Their faith was misplaced, as
the sea did not part as
they had prayed as
God had told him it would.
It worked for Moses,
so they waited.

But pure hearts lost
faith in the Lord as
the sea still did not part.
Some marched back to the
discomfort of their homes,
but a faithful few stayed. They
watched the sea of sapphires and
emeralds, waiting for their path to
be created by the Lord.
But as they waited longer and
longer, they became overly
impatient, as children often do.

Watching the children lose
the heart to wait for a
miracle that would never happen,
two merchants saw an opportunity
to gain some wealth from the
blind Christian faith.
They chartered ships to carry
them to their destination, to carry
the thousands of determined children
to their destiny of glorious salvation.

He eagerly accepted the newly found
transportation, not wanting to lose
any more faithful hearts.
And the ships took sail, but not
in the direction he had wanted.
He did not know the nefarious
plans of these
miracle ship captains.

The children were to be sold.
Sold into labor. Sold into death.
Sold into inglorious damnation.

Fear flooded the decks of the ships
as the plans were close to confirmation.
He fought for their souls and
he was killed for his faith
and for his struggle.

The children prayed for a
miracle once again and one,
in the form of tragedy,
came to save their souls.

A storm crept upon the ships,
carrying their salvation.
The clouds covered the navy sky,
not letting even one bright star peek through.
Heaven’s tears started to fall upon them
with the feeling of pellets flying against
the breath of God which caused masts to
break like twigs and sails to go
flying into the dark.

Waves pushed over the sides of the
ships as the crews feverishly ran around
the decks, trying to keep the vessels afloat,
but their efforts were doomed, as the ships
sank into the bitter Mediterranean. And
the children poured into the sea,
splashing in a struggle to stay afloat.
But their struggle did not pay off.

Their lifeless bodies danced in the
dark water that was lit by the
moonlight. It hit their garments
like a spotlight in a ballet.
And as they danced,
the storm went on, and their
tiny bodies crashed into each other.
And as the skies cleared
and the sun peeked over the east,
a bed of sapphires and emeralds
was revealed once again,
this time littered with the bodies
of pure hearts whose hope was
lost in the storm, but faith never faltered.