The Quantum Prophecy - Ryan Matthew Harker (best management books of all time TXT) 📗

with his birth, causing her death in a quick and brutal fashion. He had used his many, many years of life to learn and hone his sorcerer’s powers to the peak of perfection. There was not a single wizard, witch, warlock, druid, sage or sorcerer on all of AnEerth that could oppose him. Unfortunately, for all of his vaunted wizardry, he could not face the combined might of AnEerth’s magically gifted champions alone. And unlike the powers of good, the minions of evil could not be as easily persuaded to join in a cooperative effort. So, he had been forced to flee here, to this Earth, a rather pathetic world by his standards, all too easy to conquer and reshape as his own.
Harmony’s brow furrowed a bit at the memory of his flight. Forced to flee, Baugh! And not even by the combined might of wizards, witches, warlocks, druids, sages and sorcerers but by a common mercenary soldier, the damnable Jeshux Jules and his deplorable desperadoes. Jeshux would rue the day he took the contract on his head. And rumor had it this cursed man was now roaming about Harmony’s new paradise, tracking down and murdering his faithful followers like common beasts to be hunted. Also, rumor had it he had abandoned the bounty, now pursuing Harmony as a matter of honor. Honor, for Death’s sake! Who did anything in the name of honor anymore? What an outdated concept.
No matter, Harmony’s eyes opened and he stood up abruptly. The matter of Jeshux and the opposition would soon be no matter at all. The dark paths of AnEerth were his to twist at will and this new home of his had provided him with sorceries he had never before conceived. It was a pity that the people of Earth looked upon their past with such incredulity. If they had not abandoned the ways of magic in their single minded pursuit of science and technology, Harmony would not have stood a snowballs chance in Hell of the swift takeover he had accomplished. He had done nothing but study the arcane arts of Earth since his arrival and he was now, after sixty years, as adept at Earth magic as he was at AnEerth magic.
His force of human combatants was at least a third of Earth’s remaining population and growing every day. With the combined brainwashing techniques of science and magic, the normal setbacks to be expected in a slave army were not a problem. By the time he was ready to march back into AnEerth and take the rightful position as ruler of his home world he would be unstoppable.
And so the dark wizard’s contemplation ended. With important matters to attend to he strode from the small room dreaming big dreams.

*****

Candlelite was bloated. He had not eaten that much food since he was five years old. Max had sat across the polished granite table the entire time that he had ate. Only getting up to replenish Candlelite’s plate, his eyes had never left the young man.
“Better now?” Max inquired.
“Yes, much.”
“Good, good. How would you like a tour then?” Max pushed back his chair and sat up.
Following suite Candlelite did the same. He wondered about the scientist. What kind of guilt did this man carry that made him continue his vigil for all of these years? What drove him to do what he did in the first place? And what did he think of Candlelite himself? He was obviously a nice guy but how nice would he remain when he found out about Candlelite’s other life? How it was that the man seemed oblivious to it so far, Candlelite had no idea. He pondered a couple of scenarios in his head but Max did not seem at all close to how dense he would have to be in order for any of them to play true. Oh well, he turned his attention to what Max had to say.
“...as it was I got lost quite a bit the first year or so I was here. I was actually known by most everyone as the absent minded professor because of my continual lack of any kind of sense of direction whatsoever. I was always in such a hurry, as I recall and yet could never seem to get anywhere without first stopping to ask for directions. Rather embarrassing after a while though.” Max stopped in front of a door and shook his head slightly.
“Funny how things change,” Candlelite responded as he followed Max into a half lit room.
“This is the monitor room,” Max said sweeping his arm about in a broad circle. “From this room I can tell what’s going on anywhere in the Complex or in the area covered by the WurmDome.”
“It was in here that I saw you when you first entered the forest.” Max walked over to a gray console and pressed a small button. A stack of monitors came to life and Candlelite was shown a variety of forest scenes.
A printer on the opposite wall suddenly came to life spitting out a few sheets of data filled paper. Candlelite walked over and took a look at the bottom sheet. As his eyes focused in on the jumble of words and numbers Max came and stood beside him, peering at the paper over his shoulder.
“Data stream from the wormhole.” Max pointed at the computer bank sitting next to the printer. “This computer is data-linked with the system that runs the wormhole program. With it I can monitor any and all wormhole activity. I can tell you how fast the breeze that’s blowing into the wormhole is going down to the thousandth of a mile, an extremely accurate piece of machinery.”
“And speaking of the wormhole, let’s go and see it firsthand. Shall we?”
Max turned and led Candlelite from the monitoring room. Taking a left down the hallway they strode along at a fairly brisk pace. Candlelite suddenly came to a decision and cleared his throat.
“Max, how do you feel about the invasion?” he asked.
“I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it right now. Let me tell you though, at the time I was terrified but only for a short while though. I went pretty numb. I imagine burying everyone you cared about and then some will do that though. Right now I’m just tired. I’m tired and I want it to end.” That was when Max raised an intuitive eyebrow, “Is there something on your mind boy, something you want to share with me?”
Candlelite stopped as they came to a set of double doors and Max turned to face him, his face a somber image that quickly sobered Candlelite’s thoughts.

*****

Jeshux stood outside the Complex for the first time in years and stared up at the perfect walls. From the outside it seemed little had changed but Jeshux knew the old scientist had been busy. A busy beaver indeed though it still had not been a problem for his men to disable the jury-rigged sensors and alarms that the good doctor had seen fit to install. There was no need to sound the alarms prematurely, now was there?
After chasing their quarry all across the country for months, they finally had it cornered. And none could ask for a better place in which to apprehend the beast. What with the wormhole’s time dampening field effectively disabling the creature’s nighttime advantage, the remainder of this operation ought to go smoothly.
“Commander,” The ear mike squawked loud in Jeshux ear and did not wait for acknowledgement before it continued, “We have two humanoid subjects approaching facility doors one and two. Subjects identified as Max Kimbal and mission target. Do we have the go ahead…..over?”
“That’s affirmative. Take your positions and wait for visual confirmation. Door is mark. On mark, follow my lead. No deviations. I’d like to do this without any violence if possible.” With orders relayed Jeshux keyed off his mike and shouldered his rifle.
Time stretched on into eternity; at least it seemed like it for the soldiers who waited. After the long and difficult chase the target had led them on they were all eager with anticipation for this mission to be concluded. Really they only stood ready for two minutes before the huge double doors that were the main entrance of the Complex swung slowly open.

*****

“Well Max, it’s just that you've gone above and beyond in your care for me this past week and I don’t want any strangeness or suspicion to make you think less of me.”
Max looked long and hard at the man before him, a look that Candlelite would often receive from this small and unimposing scientist without fully getting used to it.
Not to be stopped now that he’d begun though, Candlelite plunged ahead with his confession. “Max, there’s something peculiar about me, other than what you witnessed. You see, about a year ago I had an encounter.” Candlelite’s eyes searched the air around his head while he tried to find the words he wanted. “I had a run in with another wild animal, except that time there wasn’t any wormhole energy to save me.
Max’s eyes went a little wild and he unconsciously took a half step back.
“Hold on Max,” Candlelite pleaded hands up and palms out before him. “It’s not like you think, man. Just listen to me a minute, alright?”
“It was a werewolf,” Max stated, his pulse slowing slightly.
Candlelite sighed and shook his head sadly, chin dropping to his chest. “Yes.” Then, up came his head, blue eyes aglow as they found and pierced Max’s own baby blues. “Yes Max, that’s right, it was a werewolf. I was in Washington, on my daddy’s ranch, chopping firewood from branches that the winter snows had brought to the ground. I didn’t have a snowballs chance, if you catch my drift.”
Max had initially gotten a good feeling from this young gentleman, all those days before. A moment ago it had almost died, but the truth he was now hearing kept it alive. Knowing what it must be costing Candlelite to make this revelation, he stepped closer, his features softening.
“It’s alright lad, take your time.”
Candlelite’s inner flame went out suddenly as his words brought acceptance, not fear. His shoulders sagged and his voice dropped to an almost inaudible whisper. Max had to lean closer to hear what was being said to him.
“I almost died. From what I’ve heard, I guess I should have. Some of those first nights, I wished that I had. So I left. I had to. At first it was like I was a wild animal. Every night the change would come over me and I wouldn’t know what I was doing until the next day when it would come to me in bits and pieces. Like fragments of a really horrifying nightmare.”
Candlelite stopped and took a deep breath, banishing unwanted memories. And then a bit louder he continued, “It has gotten easier though and as far as I can tell there isn’t any other creature quite like me. Not only have I become the first shape shifting werewolf anywhere but I also maintain full time awareness of self during my night cycle.”
Adjusting his glasses to a higher position on his nose, Max cleared his throat and started to speak. Then he thought better of it and all that came out was a, “Hmmm.”
“And that’s my story Max,” Candlelite concluded as he watched the scientist’s reactions.
“Well my boy,” Max began slowly. “That would explain a few things. But let’s not dwell on it too much, all right? I’d like a chance to think a little to myself. What say we continue your tour, shall we?” And without another word Max turned and pushed on through the big double doors.
Candlelite heaved a