The Power Eater
Author
Di Van Der Westhuizen
Author Bio
I am a 53 year old South African author who cultivated her love of fantasy when I escaped into a world of fairies, goblins and ghouls. A world where magic was probable and anything was possible.
I love to let the readers see through the eyes of the characters, whether it be through rose-tinted spectacles or glasses muddied by cynicism.
I have had articles published in the most popular family magazine in South Africa, the You magazine, and I am currently working on my latest book The Friendly Desert. I have been fortunate enough to find an agent in London for this book who has made the following comments regarding my writing: “it took me by surprise, the quality of your style, and your writer’s voice is wonderful – truly vivid characters and intriguing situations”.
I had no idea that, when I wrote my first book, The Power Eater, that I had it in me to finish a complete book – of 130 000 odd words! It has been a wonderful experience to discover myself through my writing, and to resurrect a passion I had allowed to lie fallow for so many years.
Description
JMorbidius Ultimatum is bored. And impatient. He is eager to complete his macabre collection of the last surviving member of every species on earth and add his most prized specimen – the last human being! This insane character thrives on negative energy generated by the human race, and he seizes the perfect opportunity to make himself so powerful that no one will be able to stop him from carrying out his ghoulish plan. A whale that has beached itself on the banks of the River Novus has sparked an international media frenzy, and Morbidius knows that its death will cause such sadness, misery and negativity around the world that it will feed him enough energy to make him unstoppable.
But the seeds of Morbidius’s destruction lies in his greed and impatience. Before his diabolical plan was put into action, he was idly pursuing the beautiful morphus butterfly in the Amazon. However, in order to destroy the species, he has to first get rid of two pesky scientists dedicated to the survival of the butterfly. This puts Morbidius on a collision course with the scientist’s daughter, Chilli, and her friends Ty and his three-legged baboon friend, Oubaas. The three friends are drawn into Morbidius’s insane world and it becomes their mission to save Chilli’s parents and, finally, the world. But Chilli first has to overcome her own fears before she is able to destroy Morbidius. The Power Eater, a symbol of her deepest fear, stands between success and failure. It is only when Chilli conquers her biggest fear that she finally realises the power she wields.
However, Chilli, Ty and Oubaas are not alone in their mission. Gaia, the personification of planet earth, sends them the assistance they need to overcome the dangers they encounter. They meet a dead Admiral who spends eternity hunting hunters looking for their next trophy, an African shaman who helps them find the Valley of Bones (the legendary elephants’ graveyard) where the Ivory Bow is kept that will destroy Morbidius’s Dark Heart, and other weird creatures that help them in their task.
As the whale weakens Morbidius grows more powerful, but the children’s determination and fighting spirit remain undeterred, even in the face of the ghastly mutandii (Morbidius’s army of genetically engineered giant cockroaches) that pursue them relentlessly. The children’s final confrontation sees them facing Morbidius one last time, and they have the morbid pleasure of watching his destruction as his evil heart is pierced by the Arrowheart fired from the Ivory Bow. But this final meeting is almost the last they will ever have, and it is Gaia’s intervention that saves them. She sends a pod of whales to rescue them from the murky depths of the Effluvian Ocean and transport them to the River Novus to resuscitate the dying whale, Vida (Spanish for ‘Life’).
Book excerpt
“What is this place?” Chilli asked with a tremor in her voice.
“What you see is man’s current and future handiwork. I must admit a grudging respect with the speed that they have achieved this fine array for me. You see, every mounted creature is the last surviving species of its kind that I have managed to obtain. Those empty pedestals are still waiting for their specimen. They haven’t too long to wait and I am so looking forward to those three arrivals. They will take pride of place in my collection.”
“That’s disgusting!” blurted Ty. “And how come the pedestal for humans isn’t right at the end of the collection?” he asked.
“Ah, the arrogance of the human race” sighed Morbidius. “Because, young human, your kind will by no means be the last to die out. There may be billions of you swarming all over the planet and generally mucking it all up. But at the rate your kind is making a hash of nature’s balance, humans won’t be around all that much longer. If fact, if you look closely you will see that I have placed a pedestal for the humble cockroach right at the end of my illustrious line-up. It has been speculated that the only living thing that has ever survived atomic explosions was the humble cockroach. It seems they will outlive us all. In fact, that is why I bred them especially to staff my facility. I never have to worry about somebody dying on the job! Heh, heh. Just a little cockroach humour there. However, no matter how hard I’ve tried, I just could not breed any intelligence into those ugly heads of theirs. At least they have the comfort knowing that beauty fades, but ugly is forever. Do you know that Detritus is convinced that he is named after a great Roman emperor? The poor dear doesn’t know that his name means ‘garbage’? But then, names have no meaning to the dead.”
“We’ll stop you! We’ll tell the world what you’re doing. Then you’ll see!” shouted Ty. This time it was he who clung to Oubaas’s paw, but Oubaas was too busy suspiciously eyeing an empty pedestal that read: ‘Baboon’.
Morbidius yawned in apparent boredom. “Oh puleeze, spare me the histrionics you stupid boy. That’ll definitely work. Not. Here, let me show you why.” He turned to the other side of the room and pointed to the test tubes.
“These are my secret weapons. I don’t need vast armies or missiles. My weapons are quiet but very effective. Lethal, actually.”
Chilli didn’t like the weird look of the goo in the test tubes. She was almost too afraid to ask the next question.
“What’s that stuff?”
“Notice the labels above each tube: ‘Fear’, ‘Lethargy’, ‘Disharmony’, ‘Ignorance’, ‘Misery’,‘Greed’ and ‘Hate’? These are the ingredients of your planet’s destruction that are being generated by mankind itself.
Morbidius picked up one of the phials and turned it lovingly from side to side. “This precious matter is the perfect weapon for quelling any thoughts of those pathetic ‘green revolutions’ that bunny-huggers launch with tiresome regularity. It’s quite startling really, even for me. As soon as one of your kind tries to help your planet, the outrage of the opponents creates such anger, that humans produce so much of it that I am almost overwhelmed with this stuff. My splendid collection that you see here is only in case of emergencies. In a place hidden from nosy parkers, there are preparations being made for my final moment of glory. That’s when I shall be able to complete my magnificent collection of species in one fell swoop. In a heartbeat, all people everywhere will become subdued, or violent. It doesn’t who or where they are. And ‘ta-dah’, my problem solved. It’s such an elegant solution, don’t you think?” He gave them a lip-curling grin that distorted his features into a grotesque mask.
