I have been alive so long that I can hardly remember when I was born.
My parents' faces come and go in my memory.
Memories and dreams I can't distinguish.
I've been alive so long that I don't know if I can call what I have life anymore.
I've seen my friends, my family, my love die. I've seen so much death throughout my life that I don't feel anything anymore.
I wanted to give up, I wanted to say that it's not worth the fight, that we humans are not worth the effort, I just wanted to rest and get away from it all.
Sometimes I wonder how the Goddess does not go crazy being immortal.
I was treated as the strongest, I was treated as the wisest. I have received great names and legends are told about me. But that never mattered to me.
I only wanted to use the power to protect those around me, and yet even with so much power I still need help. From others like me, and from humans who will become us.
I wondered if it was really worth it. It was when we started looking for people with potential that I saw it.
The first time he was nothing more than a kid a little stronger than the rest, a liar and untrue to himself. His life was full of bad luck, the death of his parents, the death of his friend, the betrayal of his classmates.
But he had an incredible strength of will, an incredible mental fortitude. When I saw him I thought that this boy was strong, this boy was brave. When the Goddess said it was time to take the candidates for apostles, I hesitated.
I hesitated to take that boy out of his humanity, to take that boy out of his life to give him this to become someone like me. As I hesitated I watched him go to his store after buying bread when he encountered two trying to rob a teenager.
Not that he had to butt in, they hadn't done anything to him, but he couldn't help himself.
—You're in the way.
—What are you doing, we have no business with you, go away.
—I said, you're in the way.
That was a lie. The boy had enough room to go somewhere else, somewhere else, but he decided to go that way.
—Do you want a beating?
And the moment the two thieves turned for him they were beaten to a fist. It actually felt pretty good to see. At the time I thought it was a wasted talent, someone like that with a little bit of strength can become someone bigger than me. So I made up my mind.
The day I had to pick up the candidates I went along with Hermes from side to side, picking up the ones that between the 7 of us we had considered potential to be able to be apostles.
When I entered his shop I was surprised that it smelled good. From the outside the store gave the impression of old, unkept, but the inside was surprisingly well kept.
The guy seemed surprised to see me, I guess that's normal, but what surprised me the most was his reaction when he heard that I was in charge of recruiting people who were going to become superhumans. He raised his eyebrows, which seemed to ask 'What has this old man got in his body?' and simply offered me a glass of water.
I was looking around the store when he came back and even when I told him I had gone to get him he simply ignored me. How long had it been since I had been ignored? I could hardly stand to laugh, and the worst was when he charged me for earplugs.
2 euros for earplugs! I almost laughed in his face, but the best part was his response: 'I don't set the prices, sir'. I knew then that I had done well not to hide it from the Goddess. This was the new air we needed.
When we got the news from the Goddess to speed things up I was surprised. I don't know what the God was doing, nor what the appearance of a third party we didn't know until now meant, but the people who are to be the future are not prepared to do the things we have been doing for centuries.
After the speech we gave between Lidia and me about their powers, about the changes their bodies were undergoing, many seemed motivated, others seemed confused. Normal reactions of people who are in a really surreal situation.
Then the guy who had surprised me when he didn't even know me, who had shown incredible growth, who had made the Goddess speak the truth, who has the trust of the 7 demigods, that guy, among a confused audience, raised his hand.
—How do we get stronger?
I smiled.
—Training to death.
After a long time, when I see that kid I feel like everything is going to be okay. That no matter what happens he will overcome everything. I feel that humanity has hope.
As the three Gods continued their conversation.
—So, the First is just being aggressive because they broke his toy? Do another.
—Agh, I'm not doing it for that, I'm doing it for fun. If you joined me you'd understand Third. When humans beg you for their lives, when they beg you to save them, and then you kill them, that feeling... Ah, it still sends a shiver down my spine how good it feels.
—Where's the love you had when you created them, First? After we created them together, after making such an amazing species, now you're filled with negative emotions towards them Why?
—Oh, Goddess, the Second of us, why don't you tell the third one why you stand up for humans? What was his name? Henry? A human and a Goddess wanting to be together —the First God's laughter echoed in space.
—What I do, who I love, is none of your business, and that human was much better and will always be much better than you.
—Wow, I see that the relationship has become quite strained —the Third God mimicked—. Don't tell me second that the reason you kill humans is because you are envious that the Goddess fell in love with one in the past. He's already dead, give her a few years and she'll be back in your arms.
—In life! In life I will get back together with that man! After so long and he's still the cretin he was from the beginning.
The Third smiled when he heard that.
—It seems that, if I leave it as it is, this war will never end. And I'm sorry Goddess, but I find the First God's situation more amusing.
—Why? Why can't you just leave them alone? Is it that complicated? Is it that hard?
When the Goddess looked at the faces of both Gods she could only find a smile that she found disgusting. They both answered at the same time.
—Where's the fun in leaving them alone?
The Goddess came out of there. She was alone. After a very long time she felt alone again. She doubted if she was doing the right thing. She wondered if it was really worth it.
The Goddess did not know what to do, she had loved a human named Henry and she promised him that she would defend humanity, she promised him that humanity would live many more centuries.
She had already fulfilled her promise with Henry, hadn't she? She had made mankind live for centuries, right? Why then, why did she continue to protect them?
After a long time the Goddess had doubts again. Although she considered the demigods as friends, she didn't want them to see her in that situation. After wandering aimlessly from side to side in infinity her conscience led her to the bunker where those who were to be her apostles lived.
It would be so easy to kill them all and end this suffering.
On level 4 it was already night, most were supposed to be in the fights, but there was someone on the rooftop, someone who knew the secret behind the bunker. A boy from whom The Goddess expected great things. His shirt was wet with sweat and he was leaning on the edge looking out into infinity.
The Goddess approached and stood next to him.
—I thought you were busy.
—I was.
And they both stood in silence staring into nothingness.
—Tell me Caelum. Are humans worth defending?