Our enjoyment of the Hobbit was cut a bit short when Stephanie received a text message from Captain Yanagi, showing photos of a fireball that rose from his native Kyoto, followed by a message..."Check the news, now!"
Stephanie showed it to me and I nodded, reluctantly switching to the news...and there it was. A series of fireballs had risen from no fewer than fourteen cities in East Asia, throwing the governments and economies of the nations into utter chaos. This catastrophe threatened to spread to the West, of course, and already the Department of Homeland Security had issued an official travel warning bulletin, apparently ordered after Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong were incinerated. Panic had grown in several cities in other nations that had not yet been hit, particularly as the cascading effect of the crisis became obvious with the second round of fireballs that smote South Asia.
"Oh, my God!" Stephanie wept openly as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were officially listed among the devastated population centers...cities of her birthplace, Vietnam.
Katrina burst into tears soon afterward, as Mumbai, Calcutta, and New Delhi were laid waste. It was the most Earth-shattering tragedy to ever strike humanity in living memory, possibly since the Black Death. As Karachi, Islamabad, Dhaka, Rangoon, Kabul, Alma-Alta, Tashkent, and Samarkand were struck, the officially confirmed death toll really climbed into the hundreds of millions. What remained of the United Nations Security Council reportedly met in special session to see what could be done to resolve the disaster, but no realistic ideas could be proposed, since the cause of the phenomenon was yet unknown.
That was when I recalled that Marcy had prophesied to me that I was to undertake a leadership role in the post-apocalyptic society, a prediction that I chose to keep under wraps for now. This was evidently the beginning of whatever global apocalypse from which I was to save civilization itself, or at least some notable part of it. I also remembered what Marcy told me about Shelby, and I whispered it to her, holding her more like an uncle than as a lover right then, though I was still definitely both. Shelby cried a bit, but she also put her head on my shoulders for solace at that moment. She needed the comfort of my arms and I reached out to her, just as I did to the others, especially Katrina and Stephanie at that time. It turned into something of a group hug for a moment, in fact, before more news interrupted it.
"Regrettably, the horrors of today, July 6, 2013, have not discontinued by any means, as witnessed by this video sent to us by our embedded staff near Mecca, who have thankfully managed to avoid being consumed by the flames which have absolutely destroyed not only that city, the holiest of Islam, but also Medina and Riyadh. So far, the absolutely staggering fatalities have accumulated to a minimum of four hundred millions, possibly as high as half a billion people. Many are already calling today Doomsday. Let us hope not. The world in my lifetime has been subject to many terrible events, but nothing on this scale," the anchorman looked grimmer than I could have pictured him looking, even in these conditions.
"It will get worse before it gets better, friends," a voice broke our concentration...a distinctly familiar and feminine voice, in fact.
"Mama!" Shelby turned, knowing that voice anywhere...she rushed to embrace her dear, departed mother.
Marcy being Marcy, she actually held Shelby in her arms for a moment and cradled her before continuing, "I know that this is something truly awful, and I do not blame you if you do not understand the reason for this calamity, but believe me when I tell you that their suffering is over. It is the living that have cause for grief. This is an event that was coming. It was determined long ago, even before the reign of my master, the King of Heaven. All that my lord the King could do was mitigating the harm and ensure that the pain ended with the Great Reckoning. This was necessary, if horrible. Man must die to be reborn and from that rebirth, he will emerge stronger and better than before. This is part of our...your evolution. I do wish to offer my condolences, however, to any of you who lost loved ones."
"Is this why you're still around, Mama? To help us through this?" Shelby asked her.
"Yes, and because your Uncle Mark needs the benefit of congress with Heaven through me. He has been chosen for a special purpose and he must fulfill it. His birth was never an accident or a mistake. He is here for a reason. Someone must lead the way to the New Era, and who better than your uncle? He was tailor-made for this time and place. He will not be the only leader, of course, for this time and place, but he is the only one to receive the approval and sanction of my master, the King of Heaven. He is the Lawgiver. The new Lawgiver. The last few have been...a little drunk with their power and they had to be cut back down to size. Let that be a warning to you, my dear Mark. I want you to succeed as the Lawgiver, so don't emulate the others," Marcy explained.
"Other Lawgivers?" I now showed my own confusion.
"Yes, Your Eminence, Holiness, whatever. You're the current Lawgiver, but there were Lawgivers appointed by the previous Kings of Heaven. The majority were not chosen for quite the tough role that you have, but they had an important function in molding civilization. The last one was called Hubbard, but he sadly got the message all wrong and his movement became corrupted and perverted over time. The one before him was called Wilson, but he, too, disappointed the King of Heaven. Then there were the Spiritualists," Marcy continued, still holding Shelby to her bosom.
"So...the founder of Scientology?" I asked for clarity's sake.
"Yes, that very same man. He was one of many, of course. Moses, Jesus, Zarathustra, Mohammed, among others. All started well, but were affected by their conviction of their own righteousness. Most major religions started with a Lawgiver who lost it, but the Kings of Heaven kept trying to limit contact while using their man. My new Master is a bit more hands-on, at least for now, so as to avoid the traps into which the others fell. He doesn't want you going too far, so he'll contact you through me, but otherwise leave you alone to do your thing," Marcy assured me in front of the others.
"Um...we should probably let the Captain and Security Chief know about this, since we might wish to make landfall soon. I think that our cruise is likely to be cut short well ahead of its destination," I declared.
