Chapter 59 - Clouds of Night

His body hung motionless in the void. Colors swirled around him, and voices sounded. Jude was in another dream, but this one felt more realistic than the other ones he had had, and this one was clearly going to be the most important one yet.

The colors parted and the mist dissipated. It was nighttime. Stars were shining overhead, and the aurora raged, spreading its beauty across the glass fields. The moon was high in the sky. Jude stood next to Tyra in a wasteland.

Clouds began growing from the horizon, moving in a circle centered upon the moon. The voice of Survivor rang out.

“My children, the test is coming. Inside the tower you shall learn many things, but you shall be tested. Your willpower will be pushed to its limits. And the dead shall walk.”

His body suddenly grew out from the glass around the lovers. He placed one hand on Jude’s shoulder, and one on Tyra’s. His face was emotionless, and his body seemed only like an animated corpse.

“Lukäski will strike. Clouds will gather and storms will break. The danger is only just beginning, Jude. Tyra, you shall be tested as well. Saving your friends is one thing, but sacrificing yourself to do it is completely another. May humanity smile upon you both.”

He vanished. He did not so much fade or sink as morph. His face changed into one full of emotion, with red hair and shining silver eyes. He grew abnormally tall for a man, and looked down on Jude. It was Lukäski.

“The time of reckoning has come, Jude. We shall soon see who is the more powerful one. It will be me who triumphs, Jude.

“Humans are stupid and kryons reckless. Neither deserves to have control of either world. Through diplomacy and force, I shall conquer this world. We shall rebuild the great fleets of humanity and fly to the kryon world. You cannot stop me, I am invincible.

“I have learned the secrets of life over death. My body cannot be destroyed, nor can my power. I have no weaknesses, Jude. Your time has come.”

His body began changing. He shrunk down to normal human size, and his red hair changed black, long, and ragged. He looked Tyra in the eye.

Tyra recognized him immediately. “It is The Messenger, Jude,” she said, not moving her eyes off of him.

He nodded to her, but then turned his attention to Jude. He looked him head to toe, and then began to speak. His baritone voice surprised Jude, and the authority within it was unearthly.

“We are well met, twin. I am The Messenger of the kryons, as you are of the humans. You are not a Messenger truly, at least not yet. You must learn more about the worlds and about the history of the races.

“But you must also free the human race from the bondage of Earth. The world is burned, and will likely not return for a millennium. Someday it may be colonized again, raised back to its former glory. But until then you must rescue what humans you can.

“Beware of Lukäski, Jude. If anyone shall be your undoing, it is he. And do not think too heavily on him until the time is right. Until we meet again, Jude, farewell.”

The body of The Messenger melted into glass and flowed along the ground until it vanished. The mist began swirling again, and colors began to surround Jude and Tyra.

They embraced and kissed. They were near to the tower. Soon, they would unlock the mysteries of their world, and free humanity. They would meet their brethren, the kryons, someday.

Jude looked to the sky. The clouds had advanced upon the moon. They now circled it in a thick blanket, and the moon was almost obscured by them. The aurora had stopped.

A storm was gathering.