“Together we will shape this world in whatever fashion you see fit. You wish to halt the coming war? We can help you. We ask little in return. We will heed your stories. We will serve you. We will turn aside the invasion, for you will be the teller of this world, not a mere harvester of the flesh. You are stronger than the last. With our help, only that which you wish shall be.”

I scowled. The evidence all pointed to something big on the horizon, and the mysterious mark had been inscribed into this thing’s tomb in Dugway. “You know about the invasion that’s coming?”

“Yes…I am and always have been. We have seen his stories told before. His stories are beautiful. Even his silence is art. It was he who awoke us from our slumber. It was he who sent us forth to travel your mind worlds and tell your stories in flesh.”

“Why?”

“To test his foes.”

“Who is he?”

“He is that which ends all things. He will end you as well, if you do not accept our alliance. We will show you.”

The fog changed color, becoming a deep red the color of fresh blood. Lucinda and the fake cultists disappeared, to be replaced with brief flashing images, stacked on top of each other, going on forever and ever. I saw the world I knew in flames, cities collapsing into great tears in the earth. I saw everyone I’d ever known, and I saw each of them die horribly. Last of all, I saw Julie, only she’d been changed, every inch of her was covered in the marks of the Guardian. She had become nothing more than a desperate weapon, and had lost all of her humanity in the process. She alone survived, but at that point, it no longer mattered, because she was no longer her anymore.

The images stopped flashing. Above the chaos there was a single mastermind, plotting. He was watching me right now. The red faded and the false Lucinda reappeared before me.

“I’m sick of nightmares.”

“Those are not your nightmares, those are your future. We know this is not the story you wish told…Ally with us, Chosen.”

If I’d learned anything in this business, it was that you never made deals with the devil. “You know what I think of your offer?” I went over, slammed my boot down on Lucinda’s chest, grabbed the saw, and finished what Mosh had started. A few seconds later, the head went rolling away. “That’s what I think of your offer.”

When I finished sawing the teenage girl’s head off, I realized a mummy was politely waiting to speak with me.