Far up in the sky, where beautiful white clouds floated across a sea of endless blue, it wailed again.
An enormous red dragon that looked like a war machine used its monstrous spiked tail to sweep stars out of the heavens. They shot to the earth and landed on scorched ground. Each star transformed into a human shape.
The dragon landed in the middle of the sea, pushing a massive circle of water up like a bomb had gone off underground. All around the lake, black streaks zoomed down from the sky and collided with the earth.
John couldn’t believe what his eyes were seeing.
The hideous red beast emerged from the sea and flung its horn-covered head around, looking for something.
John, it’s me. You don’t really matter.
It was his dad’s voice again.
The dragon’s head stopped moving. It stared right at John!
Out of the corner of his eye, John noticed that the ribbons of black that had crashed to the earth were now rising all around the shore. They looked like soldiers.
John, things are not going to change. You’ve never been important and you never will be.
John turned to run, but not before he saw the dragon breathe an explosion of fire, the flames reaching out to John across the surface of the sea. A wave of burning air washed over him.
In unison, the black-clad military men started running toward John.
He looked around for Jesus and the fishermen but couldn’t see them.
They were just there eating breakfast, and now they were gone.
I told you, John, it’s me. Go ahead and run, but I will teach you a lesson.
The dragon talked to John in his father’s voice.
You don’t matter, John.
The creature rose up out of the water and flapped its massive wings.
In fact, your faith is so weak, you really are a disappointment to God.
Another strong pump of its wings, and the dragon shot back up into the sky.
The soldiers were much closer now.
It looked like they were all carrying heavy chains.
John saw a cave at the top of a nearby hill. That was his only chance at survival.
He broke into a sprint.
The dragon switched directions and began gliding back down …
… toward the cave!
The soldiers were swinging the chains over their heads like rodeo cowboys preparing to lasso a calf.
John stopped.
The dragon landed on the side of the hill, right in front of the cave entrance.
John, there’s nowhere to hide.
The soldiers closed in from the sea. Their uniforms were more like black jeans and black hoodies.
The dragon was right. There was nowhere to hide.
Up to the dragon or down to the soldiers.
John decided that he would not just stand there and let these crazy things get him.
No, he was going to try and put his faith to the test.
“Jesus, please help me!”
John felt his fear of what his eyes saw wane long enough for him to realize there was nothing to either his right or left except empty hillside.
He took off running to his left.
The soldiers changed direction and followed him.
“Jesus!” John yelled out as he ran. “You just gave Your friends all that fish. Please, I need a miracle to get away from these things!”
The dragon wailed and spit more fire into the sky in angry protest.
JOHN! THIS IS FOOLISH! YOU ARE JUST A BOY! YOU DON’T MATTER!
His father’s voice rang out and caused John to cringe. He closed his eyes and tripped over a large stone. John went tumbling to the ground, scraping his hands along the ground as he used them for brakes.
The dragon soared in a circle for the longest time, like a hawk assessing its prey.
After a while, the enormous beast landed in the valley, no more than a hundred yards away.
All of that running for nothing, John.
“Jesus, please …”
Before John could finish his plea for help, a tremendous burst of light followed by a loud bang erupted from somewhere in the sky behind the dragon, causing the great beast to turn its head.
The soldiers also turned as one big angry mob to see what caused the new explosion.
John’s mind was blown away by what came next.
All around him, across the entire valley, stood horses, and on the horses sat glorious, shining people. There were also carts with wheels drawn by other horses. The glowing people stood on the carts, all holding swords of fire!
There was a loud yell of angry voices, from which army John couldn’t tell.
Soldiers who followed the dragon raised their chains and started running toward John.
The dragon shot another blast of fire from its mouth. It flung its tail around in a powerful swirl of red monstrous flesh.
The shining people spurred their horses and drove their chariots to intercept the horde that was closing in on John.
The dragon’s soldiers lifted their chains and swung them in John’s direction, but the army of light swung their flaming swords and cut the chains.
Balls of fire from the clash splattered out over the dragon’s army.
Screams filled the air.
Another wave of horsemen took off after the dragon.
The creature shot out more fire in defense.
JOHN, I WILL GET YOU!
The horsemen poured over the dragon like a tidal wave of radiant light.
One of the shining people broke away from the attack to approach John. He got down from the horse he’d been riding on.
“Are you all right, child?”
John looked at his hands like they were the health indicator for the rest of his body. “I think so.”
“My name is Michael. I’m here to help you.”
“What are you? An angel?”
“Yes, but it’s getting late, and you need your rest.”
Before John could ask any questions, the angel disappeared.
In a blink of an eye, all the armies and dragon were gone.
John found a small spot where the tall grass had been trampled during the skirmish. He lay down and closed his eyes.
Sleep grabbed hold of him quickly and took him to a place where dreams were outlawed and nothingness waited.