"Don't be scared Mr. Murphy. I'm here to help."
"You can't be here. You're dead. Just like you were when you hired me. Tell me the truth. Who are you?"
"I'm Chester Smith, but you're right I'm dead. I was killed by one of Pagunda's shadows. He knew I was a threat to his 'operation', so he had me killed. I was sent into the realm of nightmares to be with Kitunda. What I learned when I got there was more shocking than anything else I had heard related to the two gods Pagunda and Kitunda. The two were feuding, I knew that. They are opposites, and in this case opposites definitely don't attract. Pagunda was hungry for power, he wanted to show Kitunda that he could single handedly conquer the Earth and create his own army of shadows to infiltrate the realm of nightmares and destroy it. That's why he's selecting the best of the best from earth. The strongest, not the kindest. Come tomorrow, he'll have all of the strongest human's in his army, and he'll be unstoppable. The realm of nightmares will collapse. Chaos will ensue and the universe will be destroyed. Having an equal balance of both realms is necessary to maintain the universe."
"So then why did you hire me? Why couldn't you do all this yourself. And why send me on a wild goose chase for this statuette and Jules Franklin?"
"The statuette, isn't as powerful as I once believed. But Jules Franklin is. He is still in possession of the black stone."
"I saw the black stone on Anita Simmons necklace."
"A decoy. She is one of the shadows, but she's only trying to trick you. If you go to her apartment with this stone, you'll be walking into a trap."
"So how am I going to find Jules Franklin?"
"You already have, haven't you? He spends most of his time in the realm of dreams speaking on behalf of Pagunda. According to several captured shadows, Jules occasionally leaves the realm, but no one has been able to figure out where he goes. With that stone in possession you are able to speak on behalf of Kitunda. He can even possess your body, much like Pagunda possesses Jules. Keep the stone on you at all time. When you find him, all you need to do is hold it, and Kitunda will do the rest."
"So all I need to do now is find Jules Franklin?"
"Yes. Pagunda won't let you back in the realm of dreams, not after what you did last time, so you need to find Jules while he's here, on earth. If you tap the stone twice, you will be taken to the realm of nightmares. If you need my help, that's where I'll be. And don't worry about the people there. Since you have the stone in your possession, you are Kitunda, their leader. They may be in awe of you."
"Well then, if that's it, then I guess I'd better go off in search of Jules."
"Be careful, Mr. Murphy," and with that Chester disappeared.
I set a course for San Francisco. I needed to find out where Jules would show up if he came back to this world. I was hoping Mr. Johnson, could help me along those lines. |
