Summary:
Let's see what the Grand Plan is!
Comments are greatly appreciated: please, let me know what you think!
Chapter:
God continued, changing his mood in a very serious one.
"I always had great plans on you.
You have already suffered and inflicted enough injustices.
I'm sick of all that!
Enough is enough!
Now I take everything in My hands.
The Enemy wants to use you to destroy the Earth and all its inhabitants, but I will transform you from destroyer to defender, from curse to blessing, from a killing machine to a bulwark for humanity."
Ward remained silent, not comprehending.
"I'm offering you a once-in-a-lifetime possibility of redemption.
I'm offering you the thing nobody gave you: the chance to do good and balance the scales somehow.
So listen up."
At those words Ward became all ears.
"I'm sending you on the deepest undercover mission you've ever been in.
You will need to bury your soul deep, really deep inside - and you are already familiar with that - but now you will need to fake you are really dead.
But you will not… be dead, I intend.
It will be extremely painful, especially after some time; it will hurt like hell, but the pain will purify you and will make you purge all your sins.
Moreover, differently from what you experienced in the true Hell, you will not be burdened with that terrible desperation, that unbearable interior ache; instead, you will feel Me inside of you, comforting you and giving you My strength. Last but not least: that pain will not be eternal. It will cease and, at a certain point, it will end, even if you will remember it for all your life, as a lesson not to be forgotten.
Don't worry: I will help you endure everything.
I will not abandon you.
I will not betray you."
Ward remained silent, pensive.
"Now I need to explain your mission.
I created mankind giving to each of its members a lot of precious gifts, both physical and spiritual: life, time, means to survive, will, intelligence, reason, grace, hope, faith, love, freedom, and many, many others…
In particular, freedom represents your greatest dignity, but also your greatest weakness, because you can use it against yourselves and become slaves.
Ask yourself this: who's in charge in your life?
Are you really free or are you a slave to your body, to sex, vices, money, work, ambition, power, pride, envy, jealousy, hate, sloth, avarice, wrath, or even organizations or ideologies?
Do you know if it is no longer you to be in command, but something other than you, to which you cannot resist?"
It wasn't an easy question to answer… it implied insight capacity.
"Choosing the evil, you become slaves to it, loosing said freedom.
Not for nothing My Son taught you that, when you commit a sin, you become a slave to that sin."
Ward had to recognize that he had been a slave to his hate and his desire of vengeance for almost a year, sacrificing on its altar his life, literally.
"I, instead, greatly respect the gift of freedom I gave you.
My greatest desire is to be loved by every one of you, but I created you free nevertheless.
I don't force anyone to love me.
In fact, what would be the point, for Me, to have hundreds of billions of puppets adoring Me only because they can't do otherwise? I even avoid manifesting Myself in too glaring ways, not to force you to believe in My own existence!
No.
Love must be given freely, otherwise it is not love.
You are free to love, or hate, or ignore Me.
You are free to choose your paths in life, to choose between Good and Evil, between Me and Satan.
Besides, My mercy is so grand that, even if your entire life is a mess, in your last instant I give you the freedom to choose between salvation and damnation: in that crucial moment your last choice is made definitive.
And mind that: it is your choice.
And you saw and felt what it means to make the wrong choice."
Ward felt a shiver at those words.
"The only problem with that is that the human being is an creature of habit, so in the majority of cases he continues to do what he is used to do. This is why it is important to have good habits…"
God made a little pause, like He was pensive.
Then resumed His speech:
"But let's not digress from the main topic.
Mankind is now in great danger of loosing said freedom: the creature on Maveth has the power to steal freedom and to transform all human beings into puppets adoring Satan in spite of Me.
Satan's final goal, now that he is unchained for a while, is to destroy your planet, transforming the Earth in an Hell offshoot, and overcome all mankind with desperation, to steal all your souls from Me and bring them in Hell.
What he wants is cause the Apocalypse a few thousand years in advance…"
That sounded bad, really, really bad!
"That Maveth's creature, thousands of years ago, had been given the name Alveus.
It means Hive.
Its destructive power is immense, and given directly by Satan.
It has power on the weather and nature phenomenons, but Its most dangerous power is telepathy: It can insinuate Itself between the folds of men's thoughts to control them, instill said thoughts even, manipulate dreams and minds within a certain distance, control emotions and make man feel what It wants them to feel.
It has the power to connect with another mind in such a thoroughly way that the victims are forced to think that those thoughts and feelings really are their own."
Involuntarily Ward's mind wandered to his brother…
"It then pushes Its victims to do awful things, and they love It even more for that, because, in exchange, It gives them an enormous pleasure.
It's like a bond, a sense of strong belonging, a connection to something bigger, the sensation of being part of something bigger, to have all a common goal and of working together to achieve it.
But it isn't a common goal.
It is Satan's goal, to conquer what he thinks the real power is: your adoration and, then, your destruction.
Of course: he is devoured by hate! He hates principally Me, because he wanted to be Me; instead he is only a creature, and he cannot accept that… Then he hates you, men, because I love you and he wants to hurt Me through you.
How superbly naïve he is!
He has not yet understood, after thousands and thousands of years, that the real power is the power to love and, consequently, create."
God paused for a few instants, then continued:
"Hive is also very good at lying: at the beginning It will convince the most that Its plan is good, that It will free the Earth from war and men from slavery and poverty. It will convince men that It will give them emancipation. But it is only a temporary cover: Its real goal is, first, to be adored like a god, and then to achieve the total destruction, like on Maveth, to bring slaves to Its Master.
The difference, between a simple temptation and Its sway, is that men have no defense against it. They will not be able to oppose themselves, because they will be deprived of their own free will. That will render them irresponsible for their actions, but the overall effect on mankind will be devastating.
Now, unlike a century ago, you have an enormous destructive potential.
This is why this is the right time, in Satan's mind, for Hive to be freed."
It wasn't a bright perspective, for sure.
"But you were right, when you said to Coulson that you are part of a Grand Plan.
You were only wrong in understanding whose plan it is.
You are part of My Grand Plan, not Hive's, like It made you believe…"
At those words something clicked, in Ward's mind.
"Yes, you were already under Its influence, on that planet, from the moment you put your eyes on that monstrous altar.
Hive made you feel that incredible sense of satisfaction.
The same was for Coulson: It made him daydream Rosalind to push him to kill you, so your body would have been at Its disposal."
Wait!
What?