The Precise Moment

\"You sure you don\'t want some tea or something?\" Jez asked. \"Quite sure, I\'ve told you,\" he replied. Jez sipped her tea and looked at the man sitting opposite of her. Or would have, if she\'d been able to see him properly. Granted, the small kitchen was only lit by the streetlight outside, but the man-shaped shadow was nothing more than a black shape, receiving no reflected light. \"So... what\'s it like, being...? Just what are you, anyway?\" The man, if man it was, seemed to hesitate. When he replied, his deep, strange voice resounded in her mind, not her ears. \"I couldn\'t explain. You wouldn\'t understand.\" \"Try me. I got you here, didn\'t I?\" \"Fine. You could say I\'m a member of the dominant species in a universe unlike yours, the product of a sort of evolution, on a wholly different level.\" \"You mean there are other... beings... like yourself, less advanced, that we cannot perceive?\" \"But you can. Some atmospheric phenomena, like storms for instance, are the manifestation of such things, in this plane of existence.\" \"Bullshit. Storms are meteo events. We know exactly what causes them.\" \"But what causes the causes?\" If he\'d had a face, he\'d probably have smiled. Jez pondered. Storms could be explained, yet... She remembered a particularly nasty one she\'d experienced as a child: it had come literally out of the blue, it had swept over the city, then turned at a right angle over an old power station, and then dissipated while she was watching it. That was one of the many things that, in retrospect, were unexplainable. And how many more were unknown? She imagined ants trying to explain the noise of a passing jet plane. \"Where do you come in, then? How long have you been around?\" \"Irrelevant,\" he answered. \"Time is a function of this universe, not mine.\" \"But you said you\'d evolved from... whatever. Evolution implies—\" \"No. I said you could say we did, not that we actually did.\" \"So how long will you exist in this universe?\" \"That depends. Some of us, have been released by their summoners, or have been released upon the summoner\'s death. Others, summoned thousands of years ago, are still here — their binding spells, however, are quite powerful.\" \"Assuming I\'d cast another spell on you, to keep you here indefinitely, would you remain here?\" \"Given a spell powerful enough, yes.\" \"That\'s gotta be a pisser, being stuck here for so long,\" she mused. \"Not at all. Time has no relevance to me, as I\'ve said. When this universe ceases to exist, so does any manifestation of my kind.\" \"Uh-huh.\" They sat in silence. The black shape seemed to be very good at it. That, and being a smug bastard, all high and mighty. Well, why not? After all, Jez did admit that he was to her what a blue whale would be to an amoeba, but on a higher level. Or something. \"But, what are you, anyway? You said there were others like you here.\" \"Call us angels. Call us demons. Spirits. Gods. Devils. Whatever.\" \"Are you good or evil, then?\" \"Good and evil are human notions. Are stars good or evil?\" \"Stars aren\'t— Oh.\" \"There you have it. We simply are.\" Tell me, what drives you? What are your motivations, here or elsewhere?\" \"Don\'t worry, you wouldn\'t understand them.\" \"Right...\" This is something else, Jez thought. I summon an angel and I get an uptight asshole. Out loud, she asked, \"Are you omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent?\" \"Yes, yes, and no.\" \"No?\" \"Doesn\'t matter, though. I do know everything that occurs, so I don\'t need to be there to see it happen.\" \"Neat loophole.\" \"Yes.\" \"So you know everything.\" \"Indeed. Time not existing for me I know all past, present and future, instantly.\" \"How about the time I die? You know that?\" Jez asked, sipping her tea. \"I know the precise second.\" Because of the shock, perhaps, Jez choked. As she did, she spilled her mug on her lap, burning her thigh. She wanted to scream, but the liquid didn\'t allow her to breathe. As she coughed, whole body convulsing, her chair slipped from under her, and she fell backwards, her head hitting the corner of the gas stove. \"HELP ME!\" she wanted to scream. \"Of course I cannot,\" the dark shape replied. \"This is the moment of your death.\" The shock of his revelation was the last straw. The last thought that crossed Jez\'s mind was that she\'d brought it upon herself. Eventually, her body went limp. In total silence, without as much as touching anything, the shadow rose and slowly faded out of existence.