From Dungeon to Freedom

The Silver Key

It was then that his eye caught a small silver key. It was hanging off a steel peg that had been hammered into the posts of this huge door. Jotham reached out and took it. Just as Leviathan had said, his name was engraved in it.

“Now do not forget our deal Jotham” the serpent said from behind him. “The moment you are done with the key, you are to hand it to me.”

“I will not forget Leviathan.” Jotham replied - now too preoccupied with what lay ahead.

“Just one turn of the key and you are in” the serpent hissed behind him “Here it is. Your every dream and desire. Go ahead. You deserve it!”

Jotham flashed the serpent a smile and turned to the door again to find a keyhole to fit the key into. The keyhole lay in the center of the door and it was small and easily overlooked. Jotham lifted his key to the lock. “Oh if only they could see me now!” Jotham whispered to himself and with one swift twist of his wrist he turned the key until he heard a ‘click’.

Suddenly the door began to shudder and ease open with a loud scraping sound. As it began to open, the serpent came quickly to Jotham’s side.

“Quickly. The key! Give me the key Jotham!”

Too caught up in watching the door begin to swing and what might lie beyond it, Jotham held the key engraved with his name up for the serpent to take. He did not look back to see it take it from his grasp with its tail.

He did not turn to see its handsome face transform into a cruel laugh and transform again from its handsome features to a dark hissing creature of the dark.

Chapter 3

The Dungeon of Despair

Slowly the door in front of Jotham was open a quarter of the way and he could begin to see what lay ahead. At first he was sure that he could see lush green grass with flowers and his heart was beating with anticipation. Then with a sudden swift movement, the door swung wide to reveal what lay beyond its mysterious walls.

With a blink of an eye the walls that had been gold turned to stone that was as black as night and as cold as ice. The archway transformed into a woven spectacle of serpents and the door exploded into fire. Jotham shot back in terror.

Behind him he heard a laugh that chilled him to the bone. He turned around and fell to his feet in terror as before him rose the most hideous creature he had ever seen.

“So you are looking for the land of dreams Jotham? You are looking for love? You are looking for people to accept to you Jotham? Do you want to know what the most pathetic thing is Jotham?” The serpent hissed

“The most pitiful thing is that for your whole life you have been striving for something that does not exist!” The serpent roared with laughter and continued taunting Jotham as he fell in fear to the ground “I am the angel of light you have been following. It is I that hold the key to your destiny and now that I have your key Jotham, I control you. You are mine. Forever mine and you will do as I wish and I will use you as I wish!”

The serpent reached forward and coiled its body around Jotham again, pulling him to his feet. It pulled Jotham within an inch of its face and as Jotham looked into its transformed face, his heart felt as cold as stone and his whole body trembled. The serpent looked at him with those fiery eyes that he saw at the very beginning, seated in a face that was no longer human. It now had a large serpent like head that was diamond shaped. It was blacker than the night and had a eerie glow to it that was not natural. Out of its mouth came a forked tongue and each time it spoke, venom from its tongue fell on Jotham’s face making his skin numb and lifeless with each word.

Its body no longer reflected any beauty but revealed a deformed and emaciated body. It was still strong, but instead of emeralds, it was covered in dead skin that hung off it in strips. Jotham gagged at the smell that came from the rotting skin. He no longer felt like the hero he had seen himself as a moment ago but it was too late to go back now. He held on to the little bit of life that was left in him and gave himself over to the cruelty and the lashing of the serpent as it tossed him around and pummeled his body into the side of the walls, beating him cruelly, laughing and taunting him even further.

Jotham was helpless against its strength and he had no choice but to endure its abuse and to hold on to little bit of life he had left within him.

Eventually the pummeling stopped and Jotham felt himself being thrown to the ground. The last thing he heard was a door slam shut as he fell into a deep sleep. In what seemed like a continuous nightmare Jotham dreamed of every failure and mistake he ever made in his life. He dreamed of drowning and being burned by fire. Every now and again he would wake for a moment only to plunge again into a cycle of bad dreams and depression.

The Depravity of Man

Days and nights passed as Jotham was lost in a world of torment. Eventually Jotham began to stir and wake up. He slowly opened his eyes, which fell on a hard black ground. He pulled himself carefully and painfully to a seated position. His muscles reacted to his movement, still feeling bruised from the beating he had taken from Leviathan. As he looked down at himself, he saw how his shirt was torn and blood stained. All along his arms and legs were welts and scratches and he could feel that his nose had also been broken, as it hurt when he reached up to wipe some of the dried blood that had caked his face.

He tried to stretch out his legs to discover that he was chained by his hands and feet. Each of his hands and feet were bound in a metal cuff linked to a black chain, joining to a metal hoop in the wall. Jotham pulled on the chain without giving too much of an effort. Before even trying, he knew that it would be impossible for him to break free of them. Jotham sat still again trying to figure out where he was.

Other than the pain he felt in his body, this was the strangest sensation he had ever felt in his life. He was no longer in the sea. This was the first time he was not surrounded by the waters he had been born into and it took him a while to get used to the feeling of not having to breathe and pull yourself through the resistance of water. 

He looked around the room he was in. It was a small bare room with one small window at the top that let in a small stream of sunlight. It appeared that he was in a tower of sorts.
He did not have much time to try and figure out where he was when he heard a door being opened. He turned around to see a small round door that was not even big enough for a man to crawl through. A chill swept over Jotham and he knew what was about to come through that door.

Sure enough with a hissing, the serpent slithered through the door and encircled Jotham taking over the circumference of the room he was in. The stench from its body permeated the room and he gagged as it drew closer to him.

“Welcome home Jotham” hissed the serpent “I trust you have been comfortable”

Jotham was both terrified and angry, “You lied to me! This is not what you promised. You promised me a better life. You said that if I just walked through that door that everything would be perfect! All my life I searched for that door. All my life! And now what do I get? Nothing. Nothing but more death and emptiness.”

Finally reaching a point of despair, Jotham began to sob.

“Do you think you are the first to realize that your dreams were nothing but phantoms? You thought that if only you reached the light. How many did you stand on to get there? How many lives did you ruin? How many people did you cut off or ignore to get here? How many did you hurt to get to this place?

“Poor Jotham, he did not know that all this time he was walking out my plan for him. With every person you hurt and ruined, you were working for me Jotham. All along you were helping me in my plan.”

Jotham felt more guilty than he had ever felt in his life. He looked back and remembered how many times he had seen others suffering and getting hurt along the way, but how he ignored them. Even worse, how he had added to their suffering to get ahead in the line.

“What is this plan?” He asked the serpent weakly. Not having any life left in him.

“Do you not know? I have come to bring the Prince to his knees and humble him in the sight of the world. Then they will see. Yes. Then they will fear me. He may have beaten me once. But not this time. This time it is I that will have him under my feet!

And you Jotham. You are going to help me in my destiny. You and every other hapless human who gives me their key so readily. You didn’t know did you?”

The serpent chuckled with a deep satisfaction.

“Yes helpless little Jotham. You gave me the power when you gave me your key and now I will keep on with my plan. You can remain here knowing that it is you who have helped me on my way to becoming the greatest god. I will be greater even than Abba. Yes. Soon!”

With that the serpent withdrew again through the small door and shut it tight behind him.

Chapter 4

Herald

Jotham fell to the ground again and began to weep. A guilt entered his spirit and the more he thought on what he had done the deeper he fell into a cold, numb stupor. He lay as dead and as cold as the floor beneath him. He deserved this. Slowly his heart began to slow down until he was barely breathing. The guilt washed over him further and a forced pushed down on Jotham keeping him pressed to the ground so that he could not move.

Jotham did not try to fight it. He had given up. No one would hear his cry even if he did cry out anyway. He accepted his fate and waited for death to come.

Somewhere between wake and sleep Jotham was aware of someone speaking. He roused himself out of his stupor and looked up as he lay motionless on the floor. Above him was the small window and he could just make out a face looking down at him through it.

“Psst. Hey you! You alive in there?”

“Leave me alone” Jotham managed to mutter and closed his eyes again.

“Oh wonderful! You ARE alive!” came the voice again.

“Do you want to get out of here? Hey you. Did you hear me? Do you want to get out of here?”

“Why are you bothering me?” Jotham said raising his voice slightly “Just leave me to die”

“I cannot do that” the voice replied “The Prince of Peace would not like that. Oh no He wouldn’t. I can get you out. Do you want to get out?”

“The Prince of Peace,” thought Jotham. That sounded familiar. His interest was perked. “Why are you bothering me?” he asked looking up to where the voice was coming from.

“Well, you can call me Herald. The Prince of Peace sent me to you. Do you at least just want to hear what I have to say?”

Jotham wanted this funny man to go away and leave him to just sleep. Maybe if he listened to his story he would leave him alone. “Ok” Jotham responded “say your piece and then you can go away and leave me alone!”

With a keen excitement in his voice Herald began to speak with a passion Jotham had not experienced before. At first Jotham could not understand what he was saying but the more he listened, the more he began to hear a story unfold that he had never heard before.

Herald spoke of a God who desired to draw the hurt and angry to his heart. He spoke of a Prince who sought the lonely, foolish and weak for His ranks. He spoke of a place where those who were last in the line, were put to the front and those who pushed to the front, were taken to the back.

None of this made sense! What kind of King would enlist the weak and what kind of crazy world was this that the first came last and the last first? Jotham had heard nothing like this in all his life and scoffed at Herald’s ramblings. He turned over to go back to sleep. Yet as this little man continued to speak, something strange began to happen in Jotham’s heart.

He felt a strange tingling sensation and with it came warmth that began at the top of his head, working its way down to his toes.

Compared to the icy floor that he was laying on, the progressing warmth was a welcomed change. Jotham did not know what was happening, but he knew that as Herald spoke, the heaviness on him began to lift. Instead being weary, he began to become alert and where dread was, a strange feeling came into him that he could not explain. If he did not know any better, he would have said that he felt hope in his heart.

Suddenly Jotham wanted very much to know what Herald was saying. Herald was speaking of how the Prince could save those who had been captured by Leviathan through their own failure and sin. Jotham almost dared not hope that what Herald was saying was true. Is that not how he ended trapped here in the first place – by listening to the lies of Leviathan? One minute he was hoping and the next he was here – chained and bruised.

Dare he trust and hope again? His entire mind shouted the negative! All of his reasoning ran as fast as he could away from the promises Herald spoke of. But it was his heart that betrayed him. Ever since Herald began to speak, Jotham’s heart had begun to burn with a fire that he had never known. Before Herald had come, he had felt this terrible guilt that had left him without hope, but as Herald spoke, he began to feel a conviction that wanted change.

Jotham felt a sense of needing to make amends, to not only get out of the mess he was in, but to get Leviathan back for his deception and trickery. As Jotham’s thoughts turned around within his head, he heard Herald begin telling a story that broke something inside of his mind. Herald said:

“Because He loved you, the Prince gave up everything he owned. He stepped off his throne and put on the clothes of a commoner. Then he went down to where the people were to tell them the good news. He went to bring them healing and hope for the future. To tell them that He cared and that there was a place for them in His Kingdom.

But there was one who hated the Prince and all he stood for. He stirred the people up against him. He said to them, “do you want a Prince who calls himself the son of God or do you want someone who will lead you into victory?” That one was Leviathan. And so they chose one who was strong and who they thought would lead them into victory. For they desired the wealth and power over the love the Prince had to offer. So they bound the Prince and nailed nails of iron into his flesh. They placed a crown of thorns on his head - taking his very life from Him.

For Leviathan knew, that if he could overcome the Prince that His kingdom would become his own. But how mistaken he was! Leviathan took the broken Prince and sought to bind him within his dungeon, and do you know what happened then?”

Herald stopped for effect, looking at Jotham expectantly.

With anticipation Jotham responded, “What happened? Did the people realize their mistake? Didn’t anyone come to save him?”

“Oh something more miraculous than that Jotham” replied Herald. “The Prince awoke from having had the life taken from Him. You see Leviathan did not know that the Prince was stronger than him. He thought that by attacking his flesh that he would bind the Prince. Yet as he came to lock the Prince to these very walls, the Prince miraculously stood to his feet and broke the bonds of wickedness!

He came against the enemy and overcome him, holding him down to the ground. But it does not end there.” Herald took a quick breath and continued with building excitement as if this was the fist time he was telling the story.

“The Prince broke out of the walls and went to Leviathan’s throne room. There he took from him all the keys he had taken from men and women alike. Then the Prince went and unlocked each cell and set them free. Finally together they left this place. The Prince now standing in all his glory and those he set free. He then tied Leviathan within his own prison and bound him there forever. For that time onwards, he was no longer allowed to roam the land or do as he pleased among the people of the Prince.”

Licking his dry lips to moisten them, Herald stopped and took a deep breath, waiting for Jotham to absorb everything he had just shared.

Jotham did not know what to say. “Could it be possible? Could someone really break out of this place?” The story seemed too unreal to believe but yet Jotham just knew that what Herald was saying was the truth. There burned in Jotham’s heart this strange hope that might just help him break out of this bondage.

Jotham looked up to Herald and asked, almost afraid of what he would hear, “What could I do to be saved from this place?”

Jotham could almost sense Herald’s joy as he spoke these words. Yet as Herald spoke this time, he did so with a reverence and seriousness Jotham had not heard him speak with up until now.

“It is easy Jotham, it goes like this: If you will believe with your heart that the Prince can save you and if you can confess with your mouth that you will give your life in service to Him, then He will save you from this prison.”

“I do not understand what you mean.” Jotham responded. “What does it mean to believe in my heart and confess with my mouth?”

“It means” said Herald “That you must believe He CAN save you and then you must make a declaration with your mouth.” Herald stopped for a moment and then continued. “Do you believe that the Prince can save you from this place Jotham?”

Jotham thought for a moment and then replied slowly, “Yes Herald. Yes, I do believe that He can save me from this place.”

“Then all you need to do is stand to your feet and make a covenant with the Prince. You must declare that covenant out loud, saying that from this day forward, you will serve Him and only Him and that you will pledge your life to Him.”

“But how can I do that?” said Jotham “He is not here now to hear me.”

“But he is” herald replied. “He is in the very air you breathe. No matter where you are or where you speak, He will hear you and He will answer speedily, He will not delay a single moment. Will you do than now Jotham? Will you give your life to the Prince so that He can give you a new life? Do you want that new life Jotham?”

Jotham’s mind was spinning with so many thoughts and feelings that he was not sure what to say at first. But once again the feeling burning deep inside him overruled his mind and with all the desperation and desire within himself he stood to his feet.

Jotham suddenly found a new strength begin to enter his body and He yelled into the air, hearing his own voice echo back at him from the walls that surrounded him.

“Prince of Peace. I believe that you can save me and I know that you love me. I do not know why you love me and I do not know why you would choose to save me. But I do know that you can do this thing. If you would save me and lift me from this place, I will give my life to you. I will serve you in whatever capacity you would like.

Only break these chains and give me my strength back, give me back a new life, so that I can stand up in your power and overcome Leviathan who has kept me bound all this time.”

This was a Pre-release Portion from The Journey of Jotham