In the small, isolated village of Arimathea, a young boy stood atop the roof of an abandoned church. "As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, 'see I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight'." He yelled.
The people below yelled back, "He's already come, boy, get down from there!" The boy's name was Abraham. He was a loyal follower of the rising Cephas movement at the time. "Immanuel came to redeem the world of their sins, yet another has come to destroy the sinless." Abraham said. A skeptic named Aaron then emerged from the crowd.
"You say Cephas has come to destroy the sinless, yet our scriptures tell us eternal life is promised for the righteous." Said Abraham, "Is it not contradictory to say the sinless will perish?"
Suddenly, a robed man with long black dreads and scant facial hair interrupted, "Haven't you read your own scriptures, 'The righteous perish, and no one considers why; the devout are taken away, while no one understands that it is due to evil that the righteous are taken away'." The crowd then stood still, and no one had the guts to say a word.
The man who had just appeared was the famed prophet, Cephas of Shlama-Morreu. He walked forward toward the boy and the crowd stepped back. "Your faith has made you well, Abraham." He said, "Go home and take this." Cephas then pulled a still butterfly from his robe and showed it to the boy.
"Is it alive?" The boy asked. Cephas closed his hand and said, "Through the will of the father, it may well be." He opened his hand and the butterfly's wings began to flap and it quickly rose. Before it could get far though, Cephas closed it back in his hands and it returned to its previous, dormant form. Cephas told the boy, "Grow up big and strong, Abraham, you will be reaped, and you will meet the father."
While this was happening, Aaron emerged again from the crowd and said, "Your bogus teachings go against all tradition! I'm complaining to the village elders and surely then, I'll have your head for this heresy!" Cephas took a step toward Aaron and immediately he flinched and took a step back.
"Tell me about your traditions, Aaron. I see only a sheep, and a crowd of clay." That day, everyone in the crowd's heart had been hardened by the blind faith in the traditions of their elders. Cephas walked free, and the village of Arimathea never experienced any more miracles from that day on.
A few days later, while Cephas was back at his camp, his disciples posed a question to him. "Cephas! Tell us, do you believe in what we preach to the commonfolk, or is this exclusive to your tour around the country?" Cephas replied, "Bold of you all to ask me face to face, that kind of insolence will earn the lot of you 39 lashings. But as a testament to your bravery, I will answer."
His disciples kneeled and opened their ears. He asked, "If our message was pure, why would we have to resort to using cheap tricks with butterflies and flowery language?" A disciple stood up and questioned Cephas, "Then what is the point of your tour anyway, O Lord?" Cephas responded, "The Evil One has commissioned this specifically from us, yet a pretty penny has been paid in keeping us going."
Suddenly, a man in a long, purple and white robe burst in. "Great lord, Cephas. The Immanuelist Council has broken the outer gate!" Cephas, distraught and weary, called out, "Guard the inner gate, my children!" He then crawled out a secret trap door in the back of his abode, and ran toward the hills of Meskena.
In the hills of Meskena, there were acres of wild woods untouched by man. Cephas, seeking concealment, hid in the heart of the forest. Night had come, and Cephas was beginning to leave, until suddenly, the heavens opened up right before his eyes. A great beam of light shone down in front of Cephas, and he was immediately blinded. The light spoke,
"Cephas, who has told you to pitch a deal with The Evil One?" Cephas, completely shocked, remained silent. "I am Immanuel, the father of your fathers." The light said. "My heart breaks for you, Children of Iniquity." Cephas fell to his knees and bowed his head.
"My lord, Immanuel!" He cried. The light replied, "Ironic, your name being Cephas. The rock of my church passed millennia ago, yet his legacy is preached nowhere. Instead, the antithesis of my divine spirit has been flogged by you, Cephas. Yet, in the face of this sinful generation, I still lead them, and repay them with comfort. Through you, I will bring my people to glory, and with the divine will of my father, you will be vital in the instrumentation of my future covenant. In my name, preach to the masses The Word, and I will be your refuge through the trials and tribulation you will face on your long, and fruitless journey. You shall be called Magnum, the Servant of Man, and you will preach to the world a message so pure, they will indeed look, but not perceive, and hear, but not understand. Forever and ever, Magnum, I am with you always."
The light dispersed and Magnum immediately collapsed and wept passionately into the earth. From that day on, he gained a distinctive, ghoulish look on his face that one day, his friends would describe as perpetually sheepish.