Read Online Earth Man by Richard Paul Evans - Free Book Online

being casually shed so that when the four of them reached the clearing they were alien no longer. Their bodies had become amalgams of earthy creatures, mismatched heads and limbs that looked preposterous and monstrous at the same. The largest of them had the body of a bear with an ape-like face, huge curved horns like a ram with a matching goatee that was ten feet long. It had bear paws with chubby little fingers and leaned on a huge oak staff. The second was a female with a walrus like face, tusks and whiskers and all. Her body was covered in gray feathers with rows of white that gave her a striped look and instead of arms she had large wings that flapped uncontrollably. The feathers covered her dog-like legs and stopped short of the gray paws that tore up the dirt as she walked. The third had the head of a bald eagle but a muscular body like an upright bull, with hoofs instead of hands and large ape-like feet. The creatures feathered head was white but its body was a dark brown. It clapped its hooves together and Danny could not help but jump at the sound. The last of the creatures was smaller than the rest and while it had the face of a goat its body was scaly and golden like a fish. Its hands and feet were soft and round like a kitten, fluffy with yellow fur. Danny watched it clean itself like a cat as it walked toward him, smearing slobber and spit across its golden scales.
    NOW WE AM BECOME QUATZACOATL, BUILDER OF WORLDS. NOW WE ARE HERE.
    This time the voice was not in Danny ’s head, it came out of the ape-like face of the biggest and oldest of the creatures.
    “ What are you?” Danny asked quietly.
    The creatures looked at each other but did not respond.
    YOU ARE THE VISHNU JESUS. WE ARE HERE TO GUIDE YOU. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.
    “ Chosen for what? What do you want from me?”
    YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO SAVE YOUR WORLD, YOUR KIND.
    This time it was the female that spoke, her voice only slightly higher pitch than the others.
    “ From those things, right? But how?” Danny pleaded.
    WE HAVE GIVEN YOU GREAT POWER. GREAT RESPONSIBILITY.
    “I don’t want it. Why me? Why do I have to do this?”
    WHY NOT?
    This time it was the small one that spoke but when Danny looked at it the creature turned away shyly. Its voice had a child-like quality to it and he spoke faster than the others.
    Something was not right. As much as Danny believed what he was seeing, something told him it was wrong. The first time they had appeared to him on a ship as aliens, now all of a sudden they were creatures of nature. It was almost as if they were changing to please him. Or he was changing them. He also found it strange that he had no fear of the creatures at all; they seemed familiar and somehow even comforting.
    “ What if I say no? What if I walk away right now?” Danny said.
    The creatures began to gnash their teeth and claws, stomping on the ground so hard that Danny almost lost his balance. He had figured it out, even though he didn’t quite realize it, he knew what was wrong.
    “ Nothing you say makes sense. Not really. Who are you? What are you? Where are from?”
    HERE. WE ARE FROM INSIDE.
    “Inside what? Where is here? Right here?”
    YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.
    “Then I quit.”
    THEN WE WILL EAT YOU UP!
    The creature with the bald eagle head snapped its beak at him menacingly and Danny burst out laughing.
    ‘ This is all fake, isn’t it? All of this. The aliens, the ship, the voice? You guys, the animorphs, whatever the hell you want to call this? All of this is in my head.’
    Danny had not said the words out loud but still the leader of the creatures responded.
    YES.
    ‘That’s all this has been about? I’m losing my mind. This is just me going nuts. The red light, the noise, everything, it’s all been in my head.’
    Danny threw up his arms and began to spin around like a madman. The three large monsters begin to disappear, merging back into the darkness of the trees. Only the ape-faced elder remained, shoulders slumped