Chapter 34 - The Messenger

The man stood there, facing the group. He was about average height, with a dark black beard and mustache on his face, growing down to extraordinary lengths. He looked like he had never taken any effort for sanitation in his life (though sanitation in the posttime is rare). He began walking slowly towards the investigators.

They all raised their guns and pointed them at him. Clouds appeared from nowhere and blocked the sun, and wind grew strong and hard. It seemed as if nature itself was collapsing around the man.

“Who are you?” cried Tyra, her voice crackling with both fear and wonder.

The man raised his right hand and called out into the wind, “I am The Messenger.” His voice was startlingly baritone, and he spoke with the authority of a god.

The group was trembling with fear and awe. No one knew who this man was nor even what he was. However, his mere presence seemed to shake the foundation of their beliefs of the universe, and they wondered from whom he was a messenger.

The Messenger spoke again, his voice reverberating in the very souls of the group. “I am here to present a message from my master, the great Lord of the Kryons.”

Hylik called out to the strange visitor. “The kryon filth shall burn!” He quickly turned up the power setting of his gun to maximum, and fired it straight at The Messenger.

A massive explosion of heat, light, and noise spread out in a sphere from where The Messenger had been. Artificial lightning crackled around, and dust flew into the low pressure zone created from the blast.

In several moments, the dust cleared, and Hylik could not believe what he saw. The Messenger was standing there, in the epicenter of the explosion, completely unscathed. It was simply not possible that any man could have survived such an explosion, nor a kryon, nor any mortal beast.

Hylik dropped his gun and ran. The Messenger called to him, saying that he would not harm them, but Hylik fled nonetheless. The man turned to face those who remained.

“My message is this: ‘The tower lies in the capital. When your brother and leader returns, travel there and all shall be clear.’”

There was a brief silence, and then The Messenger spoke again. “I leave you now.” He turned on his right foot and began leaving them. The normal balance of nature returned, the clouds revealed the sun, the wind died, and peace settled upon the road.

“Wait!” called Tyra, but to no avail. The Messenger had left. Those who were still there took off running to see if they could catch him.

They ran for at least a half an hour, but it felt like much longer. They could not find The Messenger, and they felt as though he had departed from Earth, though how, they could not say.

They walked back to the motel. The journey was long, after running such a distance. They stopped to eat canned food that they had brought with them. And then it grew dark.

It was far to dangerous to walk back in the dark, so they stopped to sleep. They slept through the night peaceful, though no one spoke as they had failed their mission. The Messenger surely was not responsible for the attack against the deer, and so they would need to learn more about who was.

They woke the next morning, and realized how close they were to the motel. Walking only for another twenty or so minutes, they arrived back where the Free Council stayed. And what they saw startled them.

Hylik stood there, his gun pointed to them.

“Turn back or die, deceivers,” he said, anger filling his voice.

The rest of the Council stood behind him, their guns also pointed at the group.