《God》


 prologue

    Adi was not having a good day.


    Just before he was scheduled to wake up to his 7 A.M. alarm (as usual) before getting ready for school, his mother had barged into his room without so much as a rap on the door and nagged incessantly at him to wake up. He tossed and turned as his mother started to lightly shake Adi to force him out of the sweet comfort of his bed. Slowly and groggily Adi started to shift out of bed and stared at the alarm next to him. Placed precariously on the nightstand next to his small wooden bed sat his alarm. It was made of cheap plastic casing, a cheap easily broken screen, and out of it extended a cheaply made wire. And like most things with wires, it was electrical and unfortunately Adi noticed as he looked down at his wall.


    Also unplugged.


    Slowly a sense of dread washed over Adi. He plugged the hole ridden wire back into the socket and noticed that the screen read something sure to make his day as dreadful as he feared it might be.


    10:47 A.M.


    The stuff of nightmares. Adi¡¯s face scrunched like he ate concentrated lemon juice and turned to his mother. ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°Now hurry up before you end up suspended sleepyhead.¡±


    He rushed out of his room, backpack in hand, hair like an eagles nest. He dashed from room to room.


    Toothpaste, get!


    Brush get!


    New buff ¡°Minty fresh¡± acquired!


    Boom! This was gonna be easy! He was like a force of nature. Quick as a lightning bolt, precise as a laser beam. He power washed in his bathroom before sprinting to the kitchen, grabbing his cold buttered toast, and making a break for his bike.


    Out in the cool bite of autumn air, Adi dashed on his bike to school. His jacket trailing in the wind as he pedaled like a madman.


    As Adi raced down the streets of his hometown he had not been paying attention to his surroundings. If he had been he would have noticed a neon yellow sign with big black words saying ROAD CONSTRUCTION AHEAD as he zoomed around the corner.


    He pulled up and over the curb too see a mix of yellow and orange dozers and cement rollers marching their way over the dirt road. And two big orange and white portable barriers sitting in front of him prompted an audible groan of despair.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    He would have to go around.


    He kicked up and back onto the bike and started racing back and around. Searching for any sideroads to take.


    He was frantically searching when a small dirt trail peeked out from behind the houses of some of the richer residents in his neighborhood.


    It was shabby. And he had no idea where it went. But he was in a rush, so screw it.


    Adi struggled up the dirt path with his bike. It was not a bike meant for trails or rough surfaces.


    It was a bike MEANT for his cousin Mehka, who had the bright idea of asking 14 family members for a bike all on the same goddamn christmas.


    He got more than one bike. Who would have guessed?


    And being the pity person of the family, everyone decided.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we give the bike as a hand me down to poor little Adi? Poor little Adi and his poor little family in their poor little neighborhood and poverty stricken school. I pity that boy. If only his parents knew how to run a business.¡±


    Adi shook his head like a dog and snapped out of it. The hell was he thinking about? He needed to be speeding up or he would be la-


    Snap!


    His bike went into a half frontal flip as he tried to regain his balance. He looked down and saw that in his jungle-like landscape he had run over a particularly thick tree root that he had failed to notice while he was daydreaming.


    He fumbled for his bike and stood up. Dusting himself off he looked next to the tree branch and noticed an apple on the trail.


    Wait. An apple?


    Since when do apples grow here?


    He looked up for where it might have fallen down from and gasped in bafflement.


    In front of Adi was a blooming japanese cherry tree. Petals and all. And on the tree sat unnaturally large honeycrisp apples. Apples that mind you, wouldn¡¯t and shouldn¡¯t be anywhere near a cherry tree.


    The sight was so odd that Adi felt captivated by the scene. The red apples were large and plump as they swayed slowly. The cherry blossoms danced as they fell over the green grass and underbrush. The seemingly infinite wisdom and age the trunk magically conveyed simply through existing awed him.


    All of it spirited Adi away, into what he felt was his own little piece of Eden.


    Once again, Adi shook his head like a dog and snapped out of it. It was weird but, it could just be some rich guy''s personal tree. After all he is next to the rich part of the neighborhood.


    Whatever, he needed to get going¡­


    Though it might not be too much to take a snack along for the ride right?


    He reached up, plucked one of the apples off of the branch, and took a bite.


    Suddenly the whole world turned inside out. A race of color and texture assaulted Adi¡¯s senses and mind.


    He struggled against the feeling for a while, the pain gradually getting worse with the nausea.


    He didn¡¯t know what freaky LSD shit he just ate, but he wasn¡¯t feeling so good. Eventually he dropped on all fours and started to retch. He went at it until he dry heaved, and his shoulders shook from the intensity.


    And then nothing.


    He had blacked out.


    Some hikers had hiked the trail to skip construction similarly to Adi and found him lying on the trail.


    They took him over to a nearby hospital where the doctors informed his parents and the school.


    Seeing that the symptoms included heavy nausea and pain, the most likely cause would be an overdose. Though, when they checked his blood, the doctors couldn¡¯t find any traces of anything unusual.


    Fearing that the student needed time to recover his school gave him a month''s absence.


    His mother watched over him as he drifted around in dreamland.


    ¡°Or whatever the hell this place is.¡± Adi thought as he drifted in the black space. All that surrounded him was darkness and desolate silence.


    And oddly, he noticed that there was also a large cherry tree sat right next to him. No earth, no sky. Nothing to keep it from drifting off like him. And yet the tree seemed mysteriously grounded in space. Always pointing up.

 1

    Adi reached out his arm and ran his hand down the bark of the tree. The rough texture brought him back to his senses.


    His heart started to beat loudly. It roared in comparison to the silence surrounding it. His breathing became shallow and his hairs stood on end.


    Was he dreaming? No, the tree felt too real for it to be a dream. Maybe some sort of weird coma brought on by the apple? Was he transported to another dimension?


    Or maybe¡­


    No, it couldn¡¯t be. Otherwise he couldn¡¯t think and feel. But, this situation was too weird for it to be anything else.


    Was he dead?!


    He started to sweat. And he ached to have ground to step on so he could pace back and forth. He was starting to panic, this wasn¡¯t good.


    Suddenly something in front of him touched his shoulder and he twitched in surprise. The branch he was holding onto had bent up, and the one above him had twisted down unnaturally so it could rest itself on Adi¡¯s shoulder.  Almost as if to say ¡®calm down I¡¯m here for you¡¯.


    Adi froze. The tree was alive. The tree was sentient.


    He dared not move an inch. He slowly scanned the tree for any sign it was going to move.


    The trunk shook a little and let out a barely audible whisper of a sigh. It radiated exasperation as it unbent its two branches and moved away from the teenager before it.


    Adi gulped. His voice was shaky. ¡°Hello?..¡±


    The tree shifted a little, acknowledging Adi.


    ¡°Um, what are you?¡±  He subconsciously flinched. Way to make a first impression to the sentient tree monster.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The tree stood still. Before it twisted a branch back at itself and then to a cherry blossom at its side.


    ¡°Cherry tree, right.¡± He wasn¡¯t getting anywhere with this. ¡®Okay yes or no questions should be easier to work with.¡¯


    ¡°Alright. So I¡¯ll ask a question, and you answer with yes or no. wiggle right for yes, left for no.¡±


    The tree didn¡¯t move.


    Adi thought of something. ¡°Uh.. I mean, unless you don¡¯t want to.¡± Was he an idiot? He gets sent to some weird limbo and the first thing he does is boss around the only other person there?


    Well.. only other tree there.


    The tree twisted a bit to the right. It didn¡¯t seem to care about politeness.


    Relieved Adi went back to questioning.


    ¡°So, be honest with me. Am I dead?¡±


    The tree stood still for a second, before gyrating up and down in amusement. It did this for a while before slowly twisting to the left.


    Adi let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Alright so, I¡¯m not in limbo. This is good. Very good. Next question.¡±


    ¡°Um, can I leave?¡± Adi held his breath.


    The tree shook for a bit before twisting to the left. Drat.


    Before he could ask another question though, the tree wriggled in excitement and bent a branch behind it. Revealing a freshly plucked cherry. Sitting on its branch. It studied it in delight and after it observed it for a couple seconds it sighed again in satisfaction before presenting it to Adi.


    ¡°What is it?¡± The tree bent a bit before giving him a light thwack on the top of the head.


    ¡°Agh! Oh right, yes or no questions.¡±


    ¡°Do I eat it?¡± He glanced up at the tree doubtfully. ¡°The last time I ate a wild fruit I almost died.¡±


    After being persuaded by a couple thwacks to the head Adi ate the fruit. Careful not to eat the seed. He swallowed and looked back up at the tree.


    ¡°It¡¯s good but I can¡¯t really sustain myself on cherries.¡± The tree pointed at the seed in his hand and then the darkness surrounding the two before making a digging motion.


    ¡°You want me to plant it? But there''s no dirt.¡± The tree thwacked him. ¡°Agh! Fine I¡¯ll plant the damn seed.¡±


    He looked around in confusion before taking the seed in his hand and placing it in the air next to him. The seed just sat there and started to spin.


    A feeling of warmth flooded Adi as he stared at the floating seed. He felt something attach itself to his consciousness. And soon he could see the image of the seed perfectly rotating and floating in his head.


    Woah, Weird.


    He reached out a hand in his mind and touched the seed. It felt so real. Maybe he could¡­


    Adi took his mental projection and used it to spin the seed in his head to the left instead of to the right light it had been rotating before.


    He opened his eyes and to his surprise the seed that had just been spinning to the right next to him had changed directions.


    It dawned on Adi. He could control things with his mind here. He looked up at the tree in shock.


    He Imagined the tree growing a foot. He opened his eyes excitedly to focus on the tree that had¡­


    Not grown an inch. The tree seemed annoyed and thwacked Adi again. ¡°Okay, okay yeesh.¡±


    He thought back and focused on his mental bond with the seed. He tried cutting it, bending it, and reforming it and he understood that he had full control of the bond.


    He thought about the seed and decided that he wasn¡¯t going to be getting out of here anytime soon. So why not experiment?

 2

    Adi looked at the seed in his mind¡¯s eye and imagined water. Covering the seed thinly.


    A mental pressure enveloped his head and quickly subsided after the image was translated onto the real seed.


    He watched in wonder as the slowly rotating seed was covered in light clear water. It sat oddly still on the seed. No waves to be seen.


    That might just be because he was too big to see any though.


    Adi noticed that certain parts of the seed were oh so slightly taller than other parts. Being a seed, it was not a perfect circle but instead more oval shaped. Light wrinkles covered the seeds skin. Similar to the ridges on the print of a finger.


    Inspiration struck once more as Adi imagined the wrinkles forming taller and smaller in accordance to how thick they were.


    Yes. If you hadn¡¯t guessed yet. Adi is attempting to create a replica of a planet on the tiny seed. And on this planet he was forming hills.


    He stuck his lip out slightly in concentration as he willed the skin and a little bit of the shell to crack into 15 different pieces. He imagined the gel slightly under the shell that protects the sapling, forming currents and moving in random directions under the surface of the plates of the shell.


    After making the tectonic plates, and the ¡®magma¡¯ under the surface Adi felt a light fatigue envelope him.


    Doing this was taxing. Especially with how precise he was trying to be. But it was worth it.


    He looked up and flinched a bit when he noticed the tree bent over slightly to look over his shoulder.


    ¡°Is this something I could always do?¡± He looked in awe at the tree that was just curiously looking over his shoulder a second ago.


    It raised two of its branches in a shrugging gesture. The leaves rustled in the motion.


    He looked back, and poked the seed. It moved a bit in the air before returning to the position he placed it in earlier. He opened his eyes in surprise.


    Firstly, because the seed seemed to return to wherever he wanted it to be.


    And secondly because it was cold!


    The water wasn¡¯t still because it was just placed. It''s still because nothings warming it!


    He thunked the side of his head with his knuckles and imagined a ball of scorching hot sun floating around the seed.


    A ball of light popped into the darkness around the seed and perspiration could be seen dripping around the seed.


    He smiled in satisfaction. This was fun. But could he take it further?


    He Tried raising the plates he created earlier by an extremely small margin to make a ¡®continent¡¯


    But realized it took way more effort to drag it up than it took to create the water or sun.


    He looked over it curiously for a bit before concluding that solids are much harder to manipulate than liquids. They required more effort to move.


    Either way, he made the continent on his little planet and waited for the ice to liquify.


    ¡°Unfortunately, if I want to make the progression of the planet natural. I need to wait billions of years for nature to shift the plates around and make continents of their own.¡± Adi frowned in thought.


    He can manipulate the seed at will. He can create suns. Mountains, oceans, and continents.


    It wouldn¡¯t be too much of a stretch to say he can manipulate time for the planet too right?


    Adi formed a hand in his mental sphere and prepared to try. He grasped an invisible sliding bar like that of a video game and shifted it slightly to the right.


    In a blur of motion the planet spun at a speed indiscernible to the naked eye. Adi grinned and shifted the bar until the ice fully melted, and new continents began to form.


    Unfortunately he noticed that the water still didn¡¯t want to make waves.


    This left Adi stumped.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t get it. Everythings worked so perfectly up to this point.¡± He shifted his gaze to the seed and thought for a bit before looking back over to the tree.


    In his confusion he studied the tree subconsciously. It was beautiful. Slowly Adi could see other cherries starting to form on the tree.


    ¡°So quick¡± He thought in mild surprise.


    A particular pair caught his attention. They were connected by two brown stems that grew thin in the middle but thick by the ends.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The cherries were bright red and the cherry on the right had dimples in its skin. The very same cherry seemed to be smaller than the other by a large margin. Apparently it¡¯s brother was siphoning some of its nutrients.


    ¡°It¡¯s the cycle of life I guess.¡± He mused.


    ¡°It''s unfortunate that one of them looks stunted.¡± Adi thought in passing. ¡°Kind of reminds me of the moon with those dimples.¡±


    ¡°The moon¡­¡±


    Adi smacked himself in the forehead with his palm.


    ¡°Duh! No wonder the water isn¡¯t moving, the planet has no moon!¡± He mumbled to himself under his breath.


    The tree watched him confusedly. It sensed that the boy had some sort of revelation, but it didn¡¯t understand why it hit itself. ¡®Must be some weird human expression.¡¯ It thought as it wiggled its roots in amusement.


    Adi picked the cherry of the tree and ate it before taking the dimpled seed and placing it next to the planet. Close, but not close enough to be dangerous.


    The seeds'' gravity pulled the water into waves that started to batter the shoreline and create ripples in the ocean. Eventually over time this would result in waves similar to that of the north sea to be common on the ocean surface.


    The waves slammed into each other in hundred meter tall walls of blue and white. The droplets flung off in a cloud of spray and bloomed into the air. Before they could reach back into the sea they collided with the foam of the other waves and rippled into the blue.


    Mountains of pure water clashed in titanic collisions of liquid rolling over each other with a vigor known only to nature.


    The waves spread out in large groups heading to the shoreline of the first continent. The stone of the beaches bore the full assault of the waves, and were bored into dark rocky outcroppings of stone and flint.


    Adi watched in wonder at the scene. Vikings travelled the north sea before on their wooden ships, shocking those of the modern era and those of their own.


    Unfortunately, no vikings would be able to handle this. A single wave could reach up to 100 meters in height. To put this into perspective, a cargo freighter, one of the most gigantic ship archetypes ever created would capsize if they did not face the wave head on.


    Every single burst of water was enough to be classified as a rank 5 tsunami or a ¡°total collapse¡± level wave. Also known as a level XI ¡®devastating¡¯ tsunami. Its destruction could carry concrete buildings away like plucking daisies.


    Adi was appreciating the true scale of these behemoths when he noticed that some outcroppings of rock seemed to be protected by the earth around them.


    The rocks had already been eroded into sharp points. But the earth that was previously underneath them had moved up and above the waves from the shifting of the tectonic plates.


    The outcroppings were perfectly protected from the erosion born through the water. The scene inspired him. It was beautiful, the stones stood daringly against the sea, as if to say ¡®come at me¡¯.


    Every upright stone gave off an aura of a noble spirit. Just looking at it made him feel emboldened and stoic.


    He decided he wanted to leave his mark here. The opportunity was too good to pass up! He took a look around before picking the largest stone. The rock was silky smooth on the face looking outwards to the sea from years of natural polishing.


    He entered his mind''s eye and formed an illusory hand grasping a large brush.


    The brush moved with unnaturally smooth strokes. After all it wasn¡¯t being used based on Adi¡¯s actual skill levels with the brush. It was just following his imagination to a tee.


    And so the stone could be seen being carved out eerily by an invisible force of magic. Every stroke threw chunks of pitch black stone into the air. And a glisten of water could be seen dripping down the sides of the stone under the pale moonlight. The light itself reflected off of the rock and onto the grass some feet away. Illuminating the dirt.


    Adi smiled at himself and looked over his work in satisfaction. It read ¡®Today is the beginning of my new world! My own special place to do with as I see fit. A world of infinite potential. Where I¡¯m able to distract myself from the emptiness around me.¡¯


    ¡®Have fun. I guess.¡¯


    ¡®-The primordial one¡¯


    ¡°No one will ever find this anyway. Might as well write whatever I want.¡± Adi chuckled to himself before leaving to go and make some changes.


    He left to the north where he set up a formation of rocks to make a natural cliff. Inslide he excavated some caves with his power and made it nice and warm.


    This was where he would create the first living being. The first animal to ever be created.


    He thought over himself for a while. What would he create? A wolf maybe? A person, some mythical creature?


    He could create a dragon! Or a wyvern of large proportions. Wait no, that''s no fun.


    Why should it be something from earth? He had infinity at his fingertips. At this thought he couldn¡¯t help but get excited, maybe he could make something new? Something unique?


    Yes, it needed to be special. After all, it was his first.


    First he created the body. Large and tough as stone, the chest of the creature was scaled in glistening pearly blue elegant crystals. Like those of a dragon. Its chest though burned with a blue flame that felt so hot, that it seemed cool to the touch.


    Wisps of blue flame flickered between the scales as its body clicked into motion. Its body was shaped like that of a centipede. The scales became bigger as they transitioned into trapezoid shaped outcroppings on the monsters back. Reinforcing its elegant scales while also emphasizing it¡¯s titanic frame.


    Every space for legs was instead replaced with thin elongated arms with a pale blue skin. It was obviously male from its musculature, but it held the grace only a woman could bring when they planted themselves on the cold dusted stone of the cavern floor, palms down.


    By the top of the centipede like body. A much larger, more draconic and muscular arm stretched into existence right under the shoulder. Unlike the graceful right arm, that was similar to the other limbs so far the left arm was made out of deep purple tentacles that burst out of the opening under the left shoulder with a spray of blood.


    Every tentacle was as thin as a blade, but each twisted and entangled around each other, so that they formed into a large claw.


    The claw clearly was much larger than the other arm to its right. Even though the right arm was already about 2 times larger than the other arms holding up the monster. The claw seemed to be around 3 times as large as the more human one.


    It held its front end up with the claw in a lopsided manner. Clearly though this monstrosity was strong. Abhorrently strong. Every move it made emanate a feeling of casual dominance and overwhelming strength.


    The tail of the beast smoothly transitioned into that of a long black lizards tail. It was scaled in much the same way as the main body, but as the length of the tail extends the scales slowly transition into darker shades of blue. Eventually becoming so deep it could be mistaken for the color black.


    It looked like a normal tail at first glance, but the ends split into three triangular jaws that hosted dark, black teeth. Every one of them serrated and layered behind each other, they shredded through the stone around them as they burst into motion.


    Adi Looked on but didn¡¯t think it was good enough, so he added a sac near the end of the tail that could be filtered through an organ behind the tails mouth that expelled flammable gas.


    Basically, he gave the centipede, human armed, mouth tailed, flaming death beast, a fucking flamethrower.


    Satisfied he moved over to the most important part of the beast. The head. What could he add to keep things fresh?


    Well it already had tentacles right? ¡°Lets build on that.¡± He thought.


    He made those very same, smooth tentacles pop out of the beasts nonexistent neck and swirl into a crown of tentacles. Small limbs coiled around each other in a perfect circle with three extremely thick singular tentacles holding the circle up like pillars.


    The crown of tentacles reach up to three points above the circle, similar to that of jesus¡¯ own crown of thorns.


    This lovecraftian image was emboldened by what Adi added next. A large spherical eye with a baby blue tint where the white would usually be attached itself to the tentacles and placed itself into the perfect circle, before splitting open slightly to reveal its iris.


    A mix of dark blue and purple flicker around the seemingly infinite depths of the eye¡¯s pupil. The eye spun wildly around in reflexive motions, seemingly endlessly.


    Adi made room in its chest, its most protective place and placed a core of dark purple crystal. If you were to look microscopically at the core you would see a dense packing of neurons, each section tens of times denser than the human mind.


    He planted it and lined up the nerves. A single jolt and the beast would be ready.


    With involuntary ¡°Rise!¡± Adi extended his finger and a bolt of lightning flew out and struck the nerves around his brain.


    Quickly the eye swirled around faster and faster as the body of the monster twitched and curled before slowly calming and relaxing itself.


    The eye started to slow and rotate less and less as the seconds ticked. Eventually the eye made a final rotation before focusing on Adi, and contracting its iris.


    ¡°So, How''s it feel big guy?¡±