Our story thus far: There’s a prophecy that animals talking to humans would signal a merging of dimensions and the Evil One showing up to try to destroy everything. “Why would this Evil One want to destroy everything?” Summer asked. “WHO WANTS TO KNOW?” asked a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
“Get behind me, girls,” I said bravely, although I wasn’t feeling very brave. Dejah got behind me. Summer was still up on the deck and kept glancing at the patio door as if I might have miraculously found a way to open it from where I was standing down below.
My late wife and I named this land Serenity Valley, after the place where a fateful battle happened in the opening minutes of the TV show Firefly. Shortly after I lost her, I thought of calling our little three-acre estate Three Willows, after the three sticks we put in the ground a dozen years ago that have grown into huge weeping willow trees that tower overhead. Now I call it Three Willows at Serenity Valley, to cleverly incorporate both names.
I mention those trees because the apparition that appeared now was taller than those trees, taller than the 20-foot-tall worblatt that Seth the Dragon had incinerated before I had a chance to see what it looked like.
He kind of looked like Adonis from the original Star Trek series, except he wasn’t blond and he wasn’t wearing a toga. OK, he only reminded me of Adonis because he was taller than everything. He actually looked like Thanos from the Avengers movies, only he didn’t have purple skin or grooves in his chin.
“This is the Evil One, I presume,” I said to no one in particular.
“Good guess,” Seth said.
“WHO ASKED THAT QUESTION?”
“Please, sir,” came a plaintive voice from the deck that sounded a lot like Dorothy addressing Oz the Great and Powerful, although we all knew it was actually Summer, my 3-year-old golden retriever. “I was just wondering why you would want to destroy everything.”
“BECAUSE I WANT TO!” thundered the voice that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.
“But why?!” Summer asked sincerely, if timidly.
“BECAUSE IT’S WHAT THE WORLD EXPECTS FROM THE EVIL ONE!” shouted the Evil One with a grim smile.
“Do you always do what the world expects?” asked Dejah. “If the world expected you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?”
“Shush! Shush!” whispered Grenn the elf. “Don’t antagonize him.”
“I’m not trying to antagonize him,” Dejah replied. “I’m asking a question.”
“YOU ASK A GOOD QUESTION,” the Evil One said, to everyone’s surprise. “WHY SHOULD I DESTROY EVERYTHING JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK I WILL?”
“That’s what I was asking,” Summer said, starting to scratch at the patio door as if her paws might be able to move it.
“STAY HERE,” said the monstrous apparition. “I’M GOING TO GO PONDER THIS FOR AWHILE. PERHAPS I WILL SPARE EVERYTHING JUST TO SPITE YOU.”
“That would be lovely,” Dejah said, but the monster turned suddenly and snapped at her.
“I SAID PERHAPS!” said the Evil One. “I STILL HAVE A TRAGIC BACKSTORY THAT MADE ME THE WAY I AM TODAY, AND PERHAPS I WILL FULFILL MY DESTINY TO END THIS PATHETIC WORLD AFTER ALL. BUT FIRST, I WILL PONDER.”
“Ponder away, friend,” Seth said.
“I AM NOT YOUR FRIEND! BELLZY, BUB, STAY HERE AND WATCH THE PORTAL.”
Two worblatts stepped forward as the Evil One disappeared in a flaming puff of smoke that provided another callback to The Wizard of Oz.
“I thought you said worblatts are loners who don’t travel together,” I said.
“It appears I was mistaken,” the dragon admitted.
“This is going to be fun,” grinned the worblatt on the left.
