Man and the Stranger

A lone traveler, weary and dust-covered, reaches the summit of a sun-scorched mountain, driven by a purpose he struggles to name. Below him, the world stretches vast and distant—emerald valleys, winding rivers, and the tiny specks of civilization he left behind. But at the top, he is not alone.

A stranger emerges from the shadows, familiar yet unknown, speaking in a voice that carries the weight of eternity. As heat and exhaustion distort reality, the traveler is thrust into a storm of visions—fractured glimpses of power, destruction, divinity, and the infinite threads of existence. The world bends, the earth trembles, and an impossible choice unfolds before him.

What he sees changes everything.

John Payne continues to write stories and books at his Chicago home