Chapter 84
HEARING MEL’S WOEFUL cries ripped me up. Badly.
My spirit was nearly shattered, my will almost broken.
But, somehow, hearing Mel also reminded me of who I truly am.
The creator. The Protector.
The Alien Hunter who can do whatever I can imagine.
Mel had given me the strength to become myself again.
So when I rolled my boulder to the summit for the umpteenth time, I caught a glimpse of Abbadon, standing on a precipice with his arms akimbo, laughing triumphantly.
Hey, whatever he could do, I could do. Right?
So I imagined him becoming a boulder and cascading down the cliff right behind me.
But it didn’t happen.
On my return trip up to the summit, I imagined Number 2 blown to smithereens.
I mentally depicted every detail of his bodily explosion.
Still, it didn’t happen.
“Give it up, you weakling!” Number 2 shouted as I plummeted off the cliff again. “I can sense your feeble creations the instant you attempt to generate them. You are a disgrace to those of us who truly know how to use the gifts we have been given.”
I bounded back up.
Abbadon kept smirking at me.
“You know, Daniel, it’s a good thing your mother and father have already departed this realm. They would be absolutely appalled to see how unimaginative you actually are.”
I tumbled down the mountainside as Mel groaned and gasped on her way up.
I could hear what was left of our unbroken bones crunching. I could hear her whimpers as the boulder’s flames licked her skin.
Abbadon kept mocking me: “This is why your mommy and daddy left you all on your own, Daniel.”
I hit rock bottom and immediately started my return up the harsh slope.
“They could no longer endure the prolonged embarrassment of having you as their only son. Ha! They’re better off dead!”
I neared the top of the cliff.
Number 2’s taunts should’ve stung worse than bashing my bones against the boulders below.
But they didn’t.
Because he had just told me how to beat him.