The fiery figure on Peter's right spoke to him.
"Welcome, Peter Bowman," it said. It spoke with a perfectly human voice, in his own language. "Please, enter."
Peter walked into the doorway and onto the marble bridge in front of him. Each step that he took on the bridge spanned lightyears. Every inch forward caused dozens of star systems to pass by him. He looked from side to side, and he saw cosmic events unfold in front of him. He stopped and looked to his right, and he saw a supernova destroy a star system. He looked to his left, and he saw a nebula draining into a black hole. Yet he never heard any sound except for his footsteps against the marble floor.
The sights before him were overwhelming, and he had forgotten for a moment that he was on this road for a purpose.
When Peter remembered that he needed to move forward, he set his sights on the opposite end of the bridge, and continued to walk, his eyes never leaving the most distant part of the bridge that he could see.
He soon saw the end of his road, and came out of a door on the other end. He stood in the palace of a great King, and he could see through the windows that the palace itself was orbiting a gas giant in what he assumed must be the Antares system. There was nothing that he could see that would protect him against the vacuum of space or the rays of the red supergiant before him, but he was unharmed. There was no spin of the palace to create artificial gravity, but he stood firmly in place.
He walked onto a balcony to look at Antares. On the surface of the star he saw cities formed of fire, and he saw more of the creatures of fire that he saw in the space station. He thought that each city must have been at least larger than Jupiter, likely larger than the Sun itself.
One of the fiery creatures flew up, away from the star, and landed on the balcony in front of Peter.
"You have come," the creature said. "Our Master will be pleased."
"What is this place?" Peter said.
"This is one of many of our outposts in your universe. It is one part of the means by which the Creator of all things will restore His creation."
"His creation?"
"The entirety of every universe is His creation. You and your kind are His creation, as are my kind and myself."
"The device, the object that's going to destroy our worlds. He sent that?"
"Yes. He has bent and readied His bow."
"But you must stop it! It's going to kill us all!"
"No, it will not. That is why you are here. You must go back to your people, and you must tell them to come to the Creator. They will be restored. They are broken, but they will be mended by His hands. They are hurt, but they will be healed. It was for His purpose that they exist, and they will be made joyful by His design."
Peter shook his head. "They will not come. We have lives there. We don't want to leave. We want you to stop the attack!"
"You are partly correct," the creature said. "Many will not come. They will be unable to see beyond their own lusts. They love creatures rather than the Creator. You must tell them that what they have now is only a shadow of what it was meant to be, and they were designed for a glory far greater than they realize."
"But what will happen to the ones that don't want to leave their lives?"
"They will be destroyed."
"I can't let that happen!"
"It is not your design," the being said. "The creature is not the Creator. The Creator will restore His design for His own Glory. That is the end of the whole of creation, and His purpose will come to pass."
"I don't understand how your Master can just destroy so many people," Peter said. "How can He have so little concern for us?"
"Your words betray you, for you would not ask such a question were your thoughts not filled with pride. To Whom do you owe your existence? To what end do you think that life is breathed into you?
"You are a rebellious and stubborn people. You believe that the satisfaction of weak desires is greater than the glorious end for which you were designed. Your crime is great, and because of your blind eyes, you do not see the Wrath that is to come.
"But the ransom has been paid. Your debt has been cleared.
"You, Peter Bowman, will be restored by the Creator. You will see clearly the purpose for which you were designed. You will bring this message to your people, and, by the power of the Creator, many will come. They will see the darkness in their past lives, and they will rejoice in their new lives. They will defeat the beast that has been afflicting them all their long history, the beast that you have seen in your dreams. Its words will no longer have any meaning for you.
"Look, and see your Creator, Peter Bowman! See the End for which you exist!"
Voices could then be heard coming from the cities on the surface of the star. The voices were singing in a language that no human had heard in many thousands of years, yet Peter understood the words more easily than any words he had heard before.
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and
is to come!
Peter then turned back towards the interior of the palace, and he saw the King.
Soli Deo Gloria
Chapter 11 End
