Excerpt: The Uncertainty Principle

“NAME HIM!” Paradigm shouted. “NAME HIM AND HE WILL HAVE LESS POWER OVE R YOU! NAME HIM, JAMES!” and with that Paradigm exploded into a million rays of white hot energy and was no more.

James quailed before the darkness and wept for the loss of his friend.

“What would you name me?” came the mocking voice of deception, of loss and fear. “Whatever you name me cannot harm me, for it would not encompass the reality of which I am! I am everything and nothing! I am the essence that kills, that darkens, that lies and cheats. I am all that is bad that flew out of Pandora’s box when the whore opened it. I am the devil and hell! I am the epitome of war and sickness and plague! I am the alpha and the omega; the beginning and the end, He who is, who was, and who is to come. I am the Almighty”

And that’s when James got it. He knew what to call this beast. “I WILL NAME YOU!” he shouted over the roar and breath-clenching stench of the cloud. His hair and clothes whipped around him. “YOU ARE MIASMA! I NAME YOU MIASMA! YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!”

The wind roared in defeat—with a cry so piercing it shook James to his core, the darkness, now named Miasma solidified into a human-like form. It writhed and snaked, perhaps in pain, perhaps in anger, James would never know. The dark human-like form shuddered and sank into the ground, completely disappearing. The gale-force wind died to a slow and beautifully fragrant spring breeze.

James fell to his knees in despair and cried.