Overhead, the four heads of The Fours again converged, and, as they did, its image appeared on every screen in the world as well as on the ark. 

     "This universe is my next meal," it said, "but terror and despair are what I crave. Therefore, from here on out, I'm going to need to see plenty of both, and I'm not only talking about this stupid, backwater planet as I say that. I transmit this message of terror and despair to be witnessed by everyone in this universe."

     "Let me tell you what I love. I love hope. There's no despair sweeter than the despair felt by someone with a kernel of hope still buried within it, a hope that diminishes, then melts completely, the more it becomes obvious that everything they know and love is about to be taken from them. Now that's what I call despair."

     "And as far as terror is concerned...I could devour this planet I'm transmitting from, this, what's it called? Earth? in moments if I wished, but where is the terror in that? No, I will take weeks. I love the delicious terror from a fresh, new universe, and I intend to savor every drop."

     "Of course, I always tell myself that."

     "You know what I truly love? I love those of you who hear my voice, yet ignore its message. Pretend I'm a hoax, something you can choose to believe in or not, and the reason I love that so much is because you can't do it, not really. None of you can. You'll never be able to get me out of your mind now that you've heard my voice. From this moment on until your deaths, I will terrify you. The more you ignore me and look the other way, the more I fester within your soul until I completely take over."

     "Now that's what I call terror."

     "From most of you, though, simple terror will do. I'll take it pure and hard. That's why I want all the sentient races in this universe to watch what I do to the inhabitants of this planet Earth. You think you understand terror and despair, you believe you have the capacity to imagine their absolutes, but you are wrong because there are no absolutes. I've devoured terror and despair from billions of universes, trillions of galaxies, and I have never found their absolute, although I never stop searching."

     "My message is this: It's over. Until now, you knew your universe to be billions of years old and should continue for billions more. That is no longer true. Within twenty years, I will have swallowed this universe whole, and it will only take that long because I want to savor its taste."

     "So, scheme to eradicate me and profit from me and pretend you're not doing it because you feel afraid and hopeless."

     "The thought of all that makes me hungry and excited."

​     "Give me a moment to take all this in..."

     "and then we'll get started."

CONTINUE

​