DO NOT FALL for this, Daniel.
My spiritual advisor’s thoughts on the matter were crystal clear.
I had just terminated the call with The Prayer. Told him I’d consider his offer; that he’d have his answer soon.
“Do NOT make me wait!” he had shrieked in reply. “I HATE waiting! I want what I want, when I want it.”
“Just give me a little time,” I said, making it sound more like a command than a request. “Hey, if it makes you feel better, freeze time where you are. Pull out that tired old time-stopping trick you used back in Times Square.”
“YOU HAVE UNTIL NIGHTFALL!” he bellowed.
That’s when I hit the END button and cut off the call.
I warn you, Daniel, thought Xanthos. It is a trick. Your death for her life? Hah! Once you are dead and gone, what is to stop him from killing all the humans, as well as your soul mate, eh? And, he will crush her soul, Daniel. This I know. The thing you call Number 1 can make certain the soul you knew on Alpar Nok as Dana is lost forever, never to return.
You knew Mel was—is—my childhood friend, Dana?
The noble creature sighed. There are many things we know which we cannot tell, my brudda. We are advisors, not spies.
Well, what if I tell Number 1 that I’ll make the exchange. Then, when I get to whatever location he selects for my execution, I turn the tables. I summon up my four friends and we lay down the hurt on him. We squash him like a bug on a windshield.
And this is your plan?
Do you have a better one?
Yes. Take care, my yute. Beware of darkness. For in the darkness, it is sometimes difficult to see where the good ends and the evil begins. Do not give sway to the negative way.
It was my turn to sigh. You always say that!
Because it is always true, my friend. You cannot fight hate with hate, or darkness with something darker still.
Please. Now I was practically begging. Tell me something I can use.
Fine. I will tell you who used to be The Prayer’s primary target. Who has been number one on its list since that list was first created.
Who?
The earth and all its inhabitants. You, my brave little brudda, were but an irritant to it. A trifle for it to sport with. But when you would not ‘behave’ in its hospital…
You know about that?
Yah, mon. Much has been revealed to me. When you would not behave, you became its primary target. It knows it must eliminate you before it can destroy Earth. If it does not, you will undoubtedly use your incredibly creative mind to come up with a way to save this planet from certain annihilation in the looming black hole of its creation. Oh, yes. I know of this, too. How IT created the swirling vortex when you ended its amusement by eliminating Abbadon, the beast you called Number 2. So, Daniel, if you die, Mel and Dana and every other creature living on this planet will die soon after you. It will happen the instant this entire solar system is sucked off into the oblivion of its black hole.
It, I thought back. You keep calling Number 1 an “IT.”
Because that is the thing’s nature. It has no concept of right or wrong. No gender, no conscience, no soul. IT is nothing but pure negative energy and appetite. A predatory beast with a single-minded purpose: To hunt. To kill. To hunt and kill again.
So how do I defeat an IT?
By being true to who you are, Daniel X. By not becoming an IT, yourself. Remember, little brudda, you are much, much more than an alien hunter. You, my young friend, are now the earth’s final protector!