The Revolution Factory

CHAPTER FORTY SIX


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 would not 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, 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 picks up the mess and funnels it out of the way. The walls have 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 reaches out and touches the newborn stars. They activate and shoot across the wall back down the hallway toward the living room.

The light from the television snaps Philip out of it and he can see the doors and the hallway again. He hears the comforts of the network broadcasting early morning news while he strolls 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 opens the bathroom door he realizes the sound from the TV news was gone and replaced by static.

The static reflects off the wall in front of him and he lets go of the door to the bathroom. He is pulled down the hallway and turns around to face the vacant way. Instead of the rest of the apartment, Philip is being pulled towards the stars in space. The closer he gets to them, the bigger the stars get. It is not until he is right beside them that he can tell they are living planets and are unwillingly being pulled along with him. How can this be happening? Philip looks over at the planets, they're...orbiting...around him. Philip stands up in his DarkFlood gear.

The great orbs give him gravity.

DarkFlood can see the oncoming storm. He flies into it and carries the city on his back. Chains and whips claw at him in the fury of the celestial cloud. DarkFlood breaks through it and releases the city on the rock. It floats away to safety, but Philip is pulled on...

He loses control again as the planets collide all around him. He closes his eyes and grinds the remnants of the dead orbs to dust. It forms around him in sharp rings; condensed stone constantly in motion. The rings lift him up and buckle him wildly down the tractor. Philip charges the rings and throws them down the current to light up his path.

The rings explode in the space cascade, revealing the black hole. It is Betelgeuse, the fallen star. The super nova that is still lighting up the Earth's sky with a photograph of itself long after it has collapsed. Philip plummets into the black hole. Before he wakes up his DarkFlood gear burns off in a blue effervescent light.

Philip is still in his bed. It was just a dream, but to him it was 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. 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.