CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

Ripped into the fray, Philip Dresden knew what he must do, sacrifice the fight for humanity's soul in order to save the world. The Two Suns prophecy was a travesty wrapped in a simple trajectory: first a second sun appeared in the sky, next mankind evolves into a super race, and finally the Two Suns would both go out, killing the entire world. Philip was outside of all this looking in, he was the only one capable of doing something to prevent the end of the world. Except it wouldn't just take something from Philip, it would take everything.

He still had some time before that day would come. And in this time, Philip would train his successors and hope they had what it would take to stop temptation and corruption from triumphing over humanity. When townies can move buildings with their minds, when children become living reincarnations of some of their most beloved video games and comic books superheroes of all time, when corporate executives can turn inanimate objects to gold, when the common man is faster than a speeding bullet; when anything is possible people lose themselves in the excess.

Moses' Apartment, New York

Philip woke up in the middle of the night, got out of bed, and left his room. He walked down the hallway in the dark. He could hear the television and Jason snoring in the living room. It was a full house, even with Lazarus taking Dr. Randolph in at his apartment. Philip walked across the long floor, passing the doors to the other bedrooms. On his way to the bathroom the doors shivered. Philip stopped.

He got close to the reverberating doorknobs to examine them when they shattered splinters of wood and shrapnel at him. The wind picked up the mess and funneled it out of the way. The walls had been breached by the phantom-snatched doors and wiped in utter blackness. The floor blended with the shadow canvas, and Philip focused on the stars withdrawing what little light there was from the darkness. Philip reached out and touched the newborn stars. They activated and shot across the wall, back down the hallway, toward the living room.

The light from the television snapped Philip out of it and he could see the doors and the hallway again. He heard the comforts of the network broadcasting early morning news while he strolled to the bathroom,"That's right Dave, mysterious reports of entire species disappearing all over the world..." But Philip was too busy trying to rationalize what he saw as nothing more than a dream to really listen to the outlandish news report. Before he opened the bathroom door he realized the sound from the TV news was gone and replaced by static.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The static reflected off the wall in front of him and he let go of the door to the bathroom. He was pulled down the hallway and turned around to face the vacant way. Instead of the rest of the apartment, Philip was being pulled towards the stars in space. The closer he got to them, the bigger the stars became. It was not until he was right beside them that he could tell they were living planets and were unwillingly being pulled along with him. How can this be happening? Philip looked over at the planets, they're...orbiting...around him. Philip stood up in his DarkFlood gear.

The great orbs gave him gravity.

DarkFlood could see the oncoming storm. He flew into it and carried the city on his back. Chains and whips clawed at him in the fury of the celestial cloud. DarkFlood broke through it and released the city on the rock. It floated away to safety, but Philip was pulled on...

He lost control again as the planets collided all around him. He closed his eyes and grinded the remnants of the dead orbs to dust. It formed around him in sharp rings; condensed stone constantly in motion. The rings lifted him up and buckled him wildly down the tractor. Philip charged the rings and threw them down the current to light up his path.

The rings exploded in the space cascade, revealing the black hole. It was Betelgeuse, the fallen star. The supernova that was still lighting up the Earth's sky with a photograph of itself long after it had collapsed. Philip plummeted into the black hole. Before he woke up his DarkFlood gear burned off in a blue effervescent light.

Philip was still in his bed. It was just a dream, but to him it felt so real. His visions were so consistent it felt as though he never dreamed anymore, but just witnessed the future. Maybe that's what it would take? What if Philip just saw the answer to stopping the sun from going out? If he clogs the black hole, perhaps that will stop the ripple affect from reaching Earth's solar system.

It was a long shot, but up until now Philip had nothing else, no prior theory, just an abundance of prophecy. Philip got out of bed and began putting his DarkFlood gear on. For the first time since he began this crusade, Philip saw the end of the line for DarkFlood. The day was coming when Philip Dresden would be purged of all his humanity, all in the name of Earth's salvation.