Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Slowly, he closed his book and turned to look at me. “Whatever goes through your mind when you sleep, child?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but I really had nothing to reply. It was an excellent question, so I settled for shrugging as my response.
“That’s a tough one. I suppose you could consider me all of them and none of them at the same time,” he mused, tapping his finger against his chin. “After all, I am simply God, and I take the form of whatever you believe in as your divine power.”
“But I haven’t been to church since I was a child, so why do I see you as a man?”
“Probably because it’s the form that’s most comfortable for you. Christianity in your old world depicts God as a man, so that is who I am to you.”
I was pretty sure Christianity didn’t depict God as daddy levels of handsome, so maybe it was somewhat open to interpretation.
“How do you appear as multiple gods, then? What about the Ancient Greeks or even modern-day Hinduism?”
“I’m not the only divine being in the universe, dear, although I am the boss. For you, you would see my underlings as angels, because that’s what you’ve grown believing them to look like. To use your example, Ancient Greeks from your world would see me as Zeus and my underlings as the various other gods and goddesses they also worshipped. Those who follow the teachings of Hinduism would see me as either Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva, depending on who they consider their principal god.”
How did he remember so many names of gods? And all from one world, too?
If I thought I’d had a minor issue with having multiple personalities after waking up as Alicia Vermillion, it was really nothing to what God went through on a daily basis.
“I suppose a simple way of explaining our existence would be young children who believe they’ve seen fairies. They’re all merely a manifestation of divine power. Magic is easier for young children to believe in, and ‘fairies’ are usually a child’s first experience with a greater power. Even then, they believe in a fairy queen who rules them all. That would be me.”
Amazing.
He compared himself to both Zeus and a fairy queen in less than five minutes without the slightest hint of irony.
“Huh.” I tilted my head to the side. “So, you’re saying that all across history and religion, we’ve all worshipped the same beings, but we just perceive you differently based on our beliefs and cultures?”
“That’s exactly it.” He nodded, smiling brightly. “How do you feel now?”
That was a good question.
How did I feel?
I was kind of… empty. Like sand was slipping through my fingers. As soon as I thought I knew something, it faded away like it was nothing, leaving a gaping hole behind.
“Like something is missing.” I looked down at my hands. “I have more information now than before I collapsed, but I still don’t feel like I have all the answers to my questions.”
“You don’t, but you also haven’t asked the right questions yet.”
“And you aren’t going to tell me what those are, right?”
“There are things I can’t tell you until you get there by yourself. Let me ask you—what exactly do you feel like is missing?”
Huh.
Yes.
“The reason,” I said slowly.
“The reason for what?”
“For why this timeline is so different to the one I read in The Second Life of Lillia back on Earth.”
“Ooh, so that’s the title!”
I looked back at him. “Do you know it?”
“No.” He grinned. “It’s just been bugging me if you were familiar with this world and, if so, what the book was called in your past life.”
“You’re kind of a brat, do you know that?”
“You’d be a brat if you were over four billion years old and never got a birthday party. All those years and people still can’t remember my birthday.”
He had me there. “Fair enough. I can’t really counter that.”
“It’s interesting what stories cross dimensions,” God said, tapping his fingers against his knee. “Sometimes they come from transmigrators, and sometimes those who are reincarnated remember a past life and write it down.”
“Hey, you wouldn’t tell me that last time.”
“I have to retain some element of mystery, you know. I can’t just go around telling everyone the secrets of the universe.” He sniffed. “I bet there are stories from your world somewhere in Sada or Stein.”
“Perhaps. I’ll have to look when I get back.” I stopped. “Wait. Will I remember this when I wake up?”
He slowly nodded. “You have my word. Now that your powers have awoken, you will remember everything from our meetings when you wake up.”
Thank God for that.
Literally.
“What happened in the timeline you know of?” he asked. “Maybe laying it all out here will help you reach an answer.”
Well, it couldn’t hurt. After all, I had additional information now that I remembered that pocket of time between dying on Earth and waking up as Alicia.