Excerpt: Apocalypse ASAP

Prologue

“You, I choose.”

Lyte contemplated this for a moment. It seemed like a rather silly thing to say to someone. She felt like she should get a say in the matter, especially considering that this was her dream.

“What, exactly, am I being chosen for, then?” she asked in response.

The scenery of the dream was nothing special. Lyte was standing in the middle of a green field, but it wasn’t quite right. It was like the kind of a field a child would draw, with large blades of haphazardly colored grass. If you weren’t focusing on one part of the field, the dull green color seemed to go outside the sketched out lines, but if you tried to get a second look the problem would fix itself, and you were left wondering if it had ever happened at all.

There was also the glowing light hovering a few feet in front of Lyte. It was a little unsettling, as was dreaming in the third person. It was an usual occurrence, but because it was a dream, it wasn’t exactly unsettling. Just different, like walking down a different street to get home. While you didn’t know exactly what you were doing or where you were going, you were still on a street, something you had dealt with many, many times over.

“You, I choose,” repeated the glowing light, which was about the size of Lyte’s head. It wasn’t even very bright, and had a light blue tint.

“What for!” demanded Lyte. It was strange, commanding a body you were looking down upon. Very strange indeed.

“Er.” The light seemed to flicker for a moment, before returning to its pale blue color. “What was that?”

Lyte sighed. This dream was getting stupider and stupider all the time.

“Tell me what I’m being chosen for, please,” said Lyte. “I feel like I should get some say in the matter. But before I can tell you whether or not I can help you out, I need to know what it is you’re trying to choose me for.”

“No, you misunderstand,” said the blue light, trying to sound stern. “I need you. I’ve done the math. It has to be you. So, you, I choose.”

“If I’m the only option, you’re not really choosing me,” Lyte said.

“You’re not the only option,” the blue light explained. “Every human being on the planet is an option. You’re just the one that will work. Now, can we stop fussing ans save the world?”

Lyte visibly staggered, an impressive feat considering that she hadn’t been moving.

“You want me to save the world?” asked Lyte, mouth open. Her bright blonde hair fell down her face. “Me? Really?”

“Yes, you,” said the glowing being. “Not just that, though. I also need you to spread my Word.”

There was a long silence.

“Well, what word would that be, exactly?” asked the confused teenage girl. “I guess it must be a good one.”

It should not be possible for a ball of light, which very probably does not have lungs, to sigh, but that’s exactly what the glowing blue being did.

“Not a word, the Word. With a capital letter. Like…my teachings. I need you to spread it.”

“Why?” asked Lyte. This was a weird dream indeed. “I’m just a girl. I haven’t even learned a trade. I’m not even self sufficient.”

“You have been given a trade,” said the light. “You’re now a prophetess for the god Sigate! God of Best Interests!”

“Never heard of you.”

“Not…entirely surprising,” said the light that was apparently Sigate, God of Best Interests. Whatever that meant. “I am relatively new. Er. I don’t talk to humans much. And I don’t have a lot of believers. Which is what I need you for!”

“Why me?” asked Lyte. “Why now? Why not before?”

“Well, it’s hard to explain,” Sigate the glowing ball said. “I am, as I mentioned, the God of Best Interests. I normally find it’s best for humans if gods don’t interfere. But now I have to. Now there’s no choice. The other gods are forcing my hands.”

“You haven’t really got any,” Lyte mumbled, staring at the glowing orb. “But I guess I know what you mean. But what are the other gods doing?” She thought about that question, and found herself needing to ask another. “What is it that I’m supposed to try to stop?”

“A war,” said Sigate. “I need you to stop a war.”

“Oh,” said Lyte, watching the back of her own head. Her mind couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she opted to repeat her previous sentiment. “Oh.”

“You’re not just a girl anymore, Lyte Cillica,” the tiny god said in a more serious tone. “You’re a prophet now. A savior. You’re a girl with a trade to learn. You’re a girl with a fate.”

“Right,” said Lyte, skeptically. And in her head, she was thinking, But I don’t want to.