Queen of Swords Chap 1

Queen of Swords Book One

Signs and Portents

Chapter 1

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Barbara tossed in her sleep as her vision was filled with fire. It was a city in flames. Slowly she realized she was looking at Broadway in New York. Beings, demons, were striding down the road, the buildings turning to torches as they passed. There were humans there, as well, most fleeing, some standing their ground, an M1 tank belching fire. A demonic arm was severed by the blast but began to reform immediately. Fire blasted from its mouth and the tank commander was engulfed…

She was suddenly looking at a man. Probably in his fifties. He was dressed in a conservative suit that she'd put as from the early 1900s, possibly as late as the Depression era. He had a commanding presence but was no-one she had ever met or seen. His only ornamentation was a tie-tack of the Knights of Columbus.

"That is what may occur, Mrs. Everette," the man said. "One possible future of the events that are going to occur. The most likely one."

"I'm trying to process," Barbara said. She tried to see background but her eyes slid away. All there was was the man. "I've never walked the Moon Paths."

The man winced.

"You've been spending too much time around pagans," the man said. "God, for whatever reason He chooses, possibly that his Chosen Champion makes sport with pagans, has decided to allow Satan to make play of mankind. An event is coming. There shall be a sign in the heavens. The results shall be… Terrible. Not the true apocalypse but at best apocalyptic. I have a hard time grasping the idioms of your fallen culture and even trying transmit the Words of God are difficult. But the result will be something like the moving pictures of the 1950s. Mutants shall stalk the earth. They are not mutants but minions of Satan."

"Can I get a bit more about the 'Sign in the Heavens'?" Barbara asked. "That's pretty vague. Supernova? Comet? All the stars lining up to spell out 'The End is Coming!'?"

"I'm not an astronomer," the man said, dyspeptically. "All I saw was something green and glowing in a malevolent manner. I'll take a guess on comet or… What are the rocks called?"

"Meteor?" Barbara said.

"That," the man replied. "Those. More than one. They were in a group. Some large, some small. They shall bring the Taint of Satan. Only through Faith shall mankind win the day."

"Then I'm going with we're screwed," Barbara said. "Cause this is not a faithful age."

"That may be one of God's reasons," the man said. "His reasons are too complex for any human to comprehend."