Known Afterlife (The Provider Trilogy: Volume I) Read online

  Chapter 3

  Eyes closed in deep meditation, Steffor took another deep, purposeful breath. Inner silence consumed the mind as the Source merged with both soul and material body. The cheers of millions melted away as his core being swam in divine energy. He aligned with the Provider, in a dimension where the ego was powerless, shut out all conscious thought, and manifested his immediate future.

  The Dive Chute below his feet unfolded before his mind's eye: an arborescent tube shifted from interwoven branches, thickets of stems and tangled vines. Steffor observed his sinewy body fly down the manmade shaft as it traversed the Provider's mighty limbs. Shielded by a transparent shell of electric blue Source, presented with thousands of course options, he dodged one bone crushing dead end after the other.

  Steffor shot from the Dive Chute at maximum velocity, leading his fellow divers into the final leg of the race, a five-mile high free fall. As the Deagron Fields raced toward him, he sensed Grimlock and Vejax bear down on him in one last, vain attempt to gain the lead. A millisecond away from smashing into the lush grassland, Steffor emitted a powerful Source sphere to break his fall. Dive Shifters raised their flags, indicating Steffor was first to hit land and win this season's Dive Championship.

  His vision locked with the future's pending reality, a moment yet to occur, but certain to happen, Steffor closed with a prayer: "I love you. Thank you for all that exists. Please forgive me."