Andrew Saxon - Demon's sacrifice

“Do you still enjoy every day as much as I do, Darling.”

“More.”

“What’s your favorite memory?”

“Watching Rose’s children sending those bunnies out to find their lost toys; I still smile every time I remember them marching out of the room.”

“Do you think it’s time to retire?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“There are other universes to see. Would you like to go see some of them?”

Danielle moved into Tag’s arms and said, “My universe begins and ends right here.”

Rose and Matt entered the room and Tag looked at them and saw something was wrong, “What’s bothering you?”

Danielle turned and could see the two were upset.

Rose said, “Dad, we have both had an identical vision and we think we know what that Demon meant when he said we would regret killing him.”

Tag looked at Rose and asked, “What have you seen?”

Rose looked at Matt briefly and said, “The total destruction of the Stars Realm and the enslavement of all intelligent populations in our universe.”

Tag and Danielle looked at each other and Danielle said, “Why can’t it ever be easy?”

Tag looked at the two and they could see his anger rising, “Tell me about your vision.”

The End

Excerpt from “Finding Keepers”

“A ctivate the emitters.” Every Keeper on every ship connected with the other keepers on their ship telepathically and turned off their hearing. They then began sending the vibrating thought patterns into the emitter at the front of the ship. Each navigator watched their boards keeping their ships in formation while the weapons operators focused the intensity of the beam as it rose to the desired frequency and threshold; at that point the Director sent the command to the fleet, “Move forward.”

Abul Cahale was stretched out on a chair on the front of his yacht when he noticed something in the sky at the horizon moving toward his ship. The three young women that were attending him stood and looked at the approaching line of…somethings. As the objects moved closer, Abu saw that the objects were huge star ships and they were approaching quickly. The three women had moved to the front bow to get a better view and Abu saw them waving as the ships came closer. Suddenly they began screaming, twisting violently, and turned to dust. He jumped up and ran toward the rear of the huge vessel but didn’t make it to the main cabin before the most intense pain he had ever felt gripped him. Then he was gone as the dust from his body blew away in the sea breeze. The yacht continued sailing until it ran aground.

The Keeper’s beams showed no discrimination between rich or poor. Unlike Gambia’s population, there were no class distinctions; it treated all the same. The long line of brown ships moved north and left millions dead behind it. Animals were not touched by the beam, fish were not affected, birds flew through it safely, and plants never noticed it pass; only Humans felt the intense pain and death. The stealth probe above the planet captured it all and witnessed the horror taking place.

The line of ships moved toward the main city of Gambia destroying everything outside the city proper. The population standing on the outskirts of the tall grey buildings looked up into a blue sky and saw the line of ships approaching. Public speakers were blaring a warning of an invading fleet and called for everyone to flee the city, but the inhabitants saw there was no time to exit. Many running from the city’s buildings saw the ships approach the Degrund Park just south of the main buildings.

A young man and woman standing in the park embraced each other and then turned to dust. Two children ran from the oncoming shadows and hid under the slide and watched as the people closest to the approaching ships turn to dust just before they, too died and blew away in the wind. At the Abu Galei hospital located next to the park, the maternity ward heard the babies go silent as the beams crossed the room. Hundreds of dogs were roaming the park with leashes dangling trying to find their owners that had blown away in the wind as the ships passed overhead.