Galton was far from Vermot when he began to reflect on the decisions he was making, as a Cherub had announced to him that the First Saint, the Saint of Fire, was already in Vermot, and that he, according to the angel, the second Saint, the Saint of the Wind, was located in Germany, taking us back to the month of January in the year 1945. Galton had a perspective of his own immortality and remembered that he had many names, but the first of them was the name Thiago; he himself recalled the events that had led him to be as he was.
To have a better perspective, let us go back to the past, to the year 30 A.D.
Thiago walked along the paths of the streets of Galilee, with the pride that characterized him, with his head held high and arrogance glued to his skin. The plaza teemed with people; a man spoke, and the crowd fell silent. That voice, without scepter or army, dispensed authority like rain after a drought. Thiago saw him: he was a simple man, but he heard what they said about him; they said he was the Messiah. Seeing him, he was curious about what a man who proclaimed himself the Messiah would say; he heard him impose a new law on the human heart: love our enemies, pray for those who do not pursue us and slander us. However, Thiago, upon hearing this, could not bear it and shouted at the Nazarene:
—Hey, you! Yes, you —he shouted, pushing his way through—. Are you the man they call the Messiah? Are you the one who is supposed to free us? Then, why are you putting on all this spectacle? Who do you think you are to proclaim yourself? You're a damn lunatic!
The crowd held its breath.
—You're supposed to be the Son of the great Elohim, the one who will free us from the Romans, right? —Thiago insisted—. Tell us, and tell everyone, if you are the Messiah. Why haven't you struck them with plagues, like Moses did to Egypt? Or why haven't you exterminated them like Elijah exterminated the priests of Baal? So what will you free us from the Roman tyranny? Or is all of this just nonsense, loving our enemies, yes, and then what will you tell us, that we should kneel before their gods?
Jesus did not respond with anger. He looked at him. It was a look that did not accuse: it opened. And as it opened, Thiago's armor cracked; before he could think, he fell to his knees. The voice that emerged from that calm man was not a sermon; it was a slow, revealing blade, and Jesus spoke:
—If you do not know who the Son of God is or why he came, and even if I answered the greatest enigmas of Israel's history, you could not interpret them. Because of your pride, you would not allow yourself to understand what God frees you from —he said—. If you do not understand why the Saint does what he does, how can you demand justice if you do not know what justice is?
—A man who harbors much anger in his heart is felled by fear that he cannot sustain within himself… that anger is the reason why many, even with my grace and my blessing, are ultimately lost.
The humiliation did not calm Thiago; it inflamed him even more. He left as best he could, with rage clinging to his chest. As he walked, people watched him. He had no choice but to return home, locking doors and covering his windows out of shame for the mere fact of having been humiliated. He spent the afternoon of that day. By evening, while feeding the animals, he repeated to himself that he had only had a bad day. He tried to bury it, but the image of that man still resonated like a feeling of guilt.
In the darkness of his house, he preferred to eat something light and then sleep. However, as soon as he lay down, he heard footsteps on the roof that broke the silence. Men from the organization he worked for had accused him of stealing —leather, wool, gold— and, by orders of their leaders, sent to kill him to avoid problems with Rome over the handling of slaves and loot he stored in his house. They attacked him.
Thiago felt terror, for he already sensed what was coming.
In the midst of darkness, while Thiago held one of them, he felt as if his flesh was being torn: a knife pierced his side; the pain set his legs on fire. He ran staggering toward the fields while watching the men chase him. As he ran, he only thought that the reason they were not catching him was because they knew he wouldn't get far, as he was losing blood by the liters. And no more than four meters from his house, he collapsed.
—I don't want to die… Lord, save me —he whispered, feeling life slip away.
A shadow approached. Thiago, with his mouth full of blood, pleaded:
—Go away, please. Don't kill me…
But the shadow did not come to kill him. It leaned down and spoke in a voice that did not ask, but revealed:
—God knows why. And he also knows the purpose of wounds. God reveals mysteries to men. Otherwise, how would they even know such mysteries exist? How would they know who I am? I am the one who will be. I am the one who once was. And I am the one who is. For I am He whom they call the Source of Life.
The Truth.
Man, that wound you have… it is no longer there.And those who pursued you… you no longer hear them.
Thiago thought he heard things beyond language. He noticed that the wound in his abdomen no longer burned. The footsteps of his pursuers had vanished. A strange calm enveloped him.
Then the voice dictated what would be his path:
—Come with me. It is necessary to show you what God has called you for —he said—. Those who see me, see a prophecy. The one among you is here because he has spoken my name; my Father has seen you, Thiago, and he believes that a man like you could change the direction of the paths of those yet to be born. You will see forty-five lights; each one is a soul, a saint. You must seek them. My Father will guide you. This shall remain between you and me. Perhaps we shall never meet again.
Thiago trembled, stammering apologies:
—Lord… wait… I didn't know who you were…
—Look —Jesus replied—. There is more in the life of a single man than in that of thousands of kings.
Thiago closed his eyes. When he opened them, the world had exploded into a new firmament: millions of stars, planets spinning like coins of fire. The vision tore him from his body and dropped him into a strange jungle; a heavy, humid wind smelled of freshly turned earth.He had arrived, in an instant, far from Galilee.
However, despite what being chosen by God would mean, his fall would be the most resonant because this man carries sins that would pursue him in the form of voices echoing from the past as curses.