God's Gone AWOL

[Bonus Features] Acts 12:18 to 23

"And none of you saw him leave?"

Golden sunlight streamed in through the high windows, casting sharp reflections on the surface of Herod's extensive jewelry. His expression was lofty and utterly unpleasant as he gazed downwards. Over a dozen prison guards kneeled before him, all looking extremely anxious and guilty. To the side of the spacious throne room, a cluster of noble onlookers watched with little sympathy.

In response to the question, the guards merely glanced at each other. Nobody was brave enough to confirm the king's suspicion. Thus, Herod took an angry breath.

"So you are all just saying that he somehow vanished from the cell without a trace, outwitting all sixteen soldiers stationed outside?"

"..."

Still, no answer came from the guards. Seeing how he was once again met with silence, Herod's face became extremely dark. And without any warning, he began to shout.

"Do you take me for a fool??"

His voice echoed off the wide stone walls, causing many of the guards to flinch at the sound. But still, nobody tried to speak —let alone apologize. They were all too frightened and bewildered by the situation, that not a single person could formulate a sentence. However their continued silence only added fuel to Herod's burning rage. And without waiting for any more nonexistent replies, he quickly turned to one of his many noble underlings standing to the side.

"Execute them all," he said coldly, "I will travel to Caesarea and come up with some explanation for this."

Then he turned again and stomped out of the room in anger. The thunder of his footsteps followed him as he went. And once he was gone, a dense and uncomfortable silence began to suffocate the room. Some guards wept wordlessly beneath their headwear, and others looked to each other with devastation. The nobility glanced at each other and a couple confused whispers passed between them, but otherwise the entire scene was very quiet.

All of this was held in the eyes of Ruth, who was standing off to the side looking as clean and impeccable as ever. Taking advantage of her invisibility, she shook her head with extreme disapproval. She, of course, felt guilty for earning the entire faculty a death sentence. She wanted desperately to fix the situation and stop them from being executed, however she was not sure how to do so without causing even more trouble for everyone.

There was one arguable advantage to the situation, however. After watching him command the deaths of sixteen mostly-innocent people, Ruth felt far less sympathetic towards Herod. Although she recognized that he was a living, breathing individual, who was probably quite upset and feeling rather undermined, he was still the sort of man who could look someone in the eye and verbally end their life if it meant strengthening his own hold on political power. Ruth, who was raised in the stifling rigidity of Heaven and forced into extremely uncomfortable circumstances because of her own powerlessness, felt much more sympathy towards the guards and towards Cephas than King Herod.

It was for this reason, that when given the choice between remaining with the damned guards and following Herod, she chose the latter option.

Following him out into the hall, Ruth engaged her quick thinking. If she caught him while he was alone, there was a good chance that she could smite him without any further trouble. Of course, she wasn't worried about being held accountable —she was far above the human authorities. She simply didn't want to traumatize or accidentally rope in any more innocent people. Plus, if the king suddenly died right here and now, everyone would be too distracted to execute the prison guards.

His heavy footsteps continued thundering down the hall. Ruth followed them cautiously, eyes darting left and right to make sure nobody else was there to witness the horrible act she was about to do. With the wave of her hand, she conjured a golden blade and sped up slightly. Her heart was racing and her mind was spinning.