I was then led by God to a great banquet hall, were heroes of the different ages gather and are waiting. Mighty men and women who have shaped the world.
I sat down to one of the tables and looked around. Oh boy, this was what I was suspecting while I was alive. There is no meat in heaven.
God laughs, "Oh you silly fish, you can't eat animals here in heaven! We are all spirits here and you can't kill anything! God started to laugh heartily.
I thumped my head feeling stupid. Figures. We are going be vegans for all eternity in heaven.
After eating a ton of spiritual vegan food, respectfully put my plate aside and waited for God to finish eating. He also put his plate on the side. He flicked his fingers and the plates disappeared.
"Amazing right? God gave me a smile and a wink. I laughed.
"By the way Roys, are you happy now? Do you have any regrets?" God asked.
"Hmm, To be honest..."
"I have lot of regrets. I mean, I died in my 50's, the prime of my life. I feel I could have lived up to a hundred and do a lot of good in the world. I could have helped and protected a lot of people. Instead I died because of my carelessness and insensitivity to the feelings of other people. If only I took Tors more seriously... If only I saw the signs..."
"I see Roys. Your a good man focused on helping and defending others. You also don't like injustice and suffering and hate those people who tramples others for their benefit."
"Very well, I wil be sending you to another planet to live a more peaceful life. This is planet is huge, peaceful, unexplored. After the Great Rebellion in heaven, the mortals there have been practically been living unchanged for thousands of years. I know you would like it. There are lots of unexplored continents and unexplored life there. It's practically a huge virgin forest. "I'm pretty sure you will like the place. There is however one request that I have, can you check if the overall status of the place and report back to me?"
"No problem Lord. Your will be done." I replied.
"I see you that you have some questions, ask away Son." God said.
"Thank you Lord. What happened to Tors, Sasha, Kiel and my family?"
"Tors and Kiels faced the High Council, where they are sent to the waste for 3 days. Both of them were able to return and they worked as monster hunters and supported your family."
"The rest of Winters' team also were sent to the waste. Some returned, some didn't. Those who returned were shunned as outcasts, doing hard labor in the mines."
"Sasha replaced Tors as the leader and made sure that no one has do die again on the team. He sent the team to the various domed colonies, cities around the world, pre-emptively killing those who they deem as threats."
"Thank you Lord." as I sigh a breath of relief. "I have other questions if I may."
"No problem Roys, ask away." God said.
"What happened to Praxis in the Future?"
God closed his eyes, after a few seconds, opened it up again.
"Based on my simulation, with the condition Praxis is in right now. Praxis would be destroyed within a thousand years, perhaps less." God said.
"What? How?" I cried.
"The Desert Cities would make a revival of the world. During Sasha's rule, she made sure that the Damonites were driven off from the cities before she passed away. During her time, Kharat was able to prosper. They did some cleanup of the surrounding areas, established more cities and towns. The people were united in Kharat."
"The problem is after the death of Sasha, some leaders of the underground cities, seeing the progress made by Kharat, decided to form a secret group, to infiltrate Kharat and take over the cities."
"They came to the cities of Kharat as refugees. They became excellent businessmen. After a while, they took over key government positions. The Kharat cities prospered and for a while, there was peace."
"Then these new leaders after getting the approval and hearts of the people, added new ideas, that they say, promotes freedom thought and freedom of choice."
"Freedom to transition from human to Cybernetics, basically, the reverse of the Extremis. Robot body, human brain. "
Freedom to choose any belief. Damonism, Extremism, The Slick Religion. Anyone can choose any belief system." God replied.
"How? Damonism is bad news!"
"Well apparently the Damonites explained that they were just misunderstood. They were just struggling to survive, they had no choice but to raid air merchants so that they can eat. When asked about using human shields, they say they were family members just protecting their love ones."
"That's absurd. Their base is in the Kharat Desert, near the underground river. They had splenty of water, clean air. If they really wanted to, they could have established underground cities without the need to worry where to get air and water from. The hostages are their family members? Then how did they explain the children found underneath their base? Those, who were apparently tortured?" I replied.
"Sons and daughters. Apparently, part of their ritual is inflicting pain for repentance of their sins."
"There's no way. They were found in torture chambers!"
"Ritual chambers apparently. Legal according to religious reasons according to Kharatian law."
I turn in disgust.
"Well, after the death of Sasha, a new investigation was made by the new government declaring that the accusations and the reports was racist towards the Damonites. How could they say that their culture of self penance and flagellation was evil?"
"No way. There's just no way." I shake my head.
"With the Extremes or Extremis, they offered a lot of money for the body of recently deceased people. They put chips into these deceased peoples brain" and they live again."
"Wow. Just wow. I can't believe it."
"With the Slicks, they got accepted to the cities. They worked with the Extremis in fixing their genes and mutations and later looked like their ancestors again. They couldn't fix their albinism unfortunately. They're still cannibals though. If you fight with them, they will demand to fight you in a duel. If they win, they will eat your body. When they die, the Extremis get's their body."
"Yikes. I see some things never change."
"With this. Kharat grew. Science and advancement became the new religion. Humanity merged with the machines, as man was put into a robot body, and the robot brain into a human body. Advancement became very quick with regards to space travel and terraforming.
"After 300 years, the Planet was clean again filled with robots, Hybrids, Extremis, Cybernetics. Some even turn themselves to animal hybrids."
Later on, a war happened between the Extremis and the Cybernetics. The Extremis deemed the Cybernetics inferior and wish to rule over them.
Realizing this, some human groups and cybernetics, fearing for the worst, created space ships and migrated to the moon and mars settlements to avoid the incoming war.
Another World War happened. Worse than the second one as weapons were a lot more destructive Neutron and Fusion bombs were used. The war between humanoids with robot brains and human brains with robot body. The Planet Praxis broke broke into two then got fractured. The famous Quote, "Praxis broke before Kharat did."
Well, nothing is set in stone except Me. This is only one of the 14,000,605 possibilities of it's future anyway." God said.
"Is there a way to save Praxis Lord?"
There is one. But it would be impossible for you as a human." The Lord said.
"Thank you Lord. It might be impossible as you said, but with You, nothing is impossible. I have faith that we can save Praxis Lord." I smiled.
"Hahaha! Hahahahaaha!" God laughed and the Heavens shake.
The Heavenly Hosts were amazed by this. Never had they seen God so excited and happy.
"That's the spirit Roys! That's the spirit!" Patting my back several times.
"This is what's I'm talking about! You got the answer! That possibility is if you put your trust in me! Well done Roys, well done. Most people who was in your predicament tried to fix the problem on their own. So they failed. It took them a while to get the hints. But you, you put your faith in me Roy. Well done."
"I can't meddle with human affairs directly with using my powers, by I can give you some advice. Ask of me, and I shall answer but first, you must ensure the safety of the Planet that I'm sending to you to. Ensure that it would be on good hand. There seems to be something going on there right now, but since I can't meddle with human affairs, I send people like you to handle it. I have full trust in your Roys that you would be able to fulfill your mission." God said seriously. "You have time, contrary to popular belief, time is constant and is the same everywhere. Since you have just been here for a day, a day has just passed in Praxis as well. If we are sure that the Planet Valis will be safe from the Evil One, I will send you quickly to Praxis, perhaps you can save your world still. You would return as a different person, unfortunately."
"You can count on me Lord. Your will be done." I said seriously.
----------------
God then said, "Roys, even though I will be sending you back to reality, as a former hero, you will not be leaving empty handed. Your spiritual eye has been opened and you will see the laws and systems that govern reality. You can then choose the path of your growth to maximize your potentials. One of the angels will teach the system before you go. He will also tell you things all about the system. As a bonus, I will be giving you some skill early on that might help you in your journey."
"Thank you Lord." I said.
"Why do you look so young Lord?" I ask.
"I'm using my mortal physical form so you would not be overwhelmed and paralyzed by my awesome and immense power. After the Great Rebellion, I sent those who backed down in the rebellion to different planets and turned them to mortals, wiping out their previous memory. Before leaving, I told them the ways to salvation: love, peace, repentance, forgiveness and worship of me, since I am the source of all things that is good. I use this mortal form as a priest to give them these instructions to all the planets with mortal beings and warned them of not doing evil or the opposite of my commands otherwise the Evil One or the Adversary would get their souls."
"So, the Evil one is real then? What is his name?"
Upon hearing this. God looked really sad and tears fell from his eyes. He wept bitterly. Everyone there started crying too as the heavenly realms' aura changed, before it has an air of pure joy and love. Now, the lights are dimmer, the air colder and there is a hint of sadness everywhere. His mood is affecting everything.
After a while, God stopped crying, and everything returned to normal then He spoke in a sad tone.
"This is a long and sad story, so this would take a while but be patient and listen well."
The one you call the Evil One or great Adversary, my first creation is real.
"His real name is Damon. His Planet is Hels. Yes, he is the ones that the Damonites worship." God said.
My jaw dropped opened. I should have known.
In the beginning, I was the only being in existence. Then I thought to myself, why not create companions like me so I would not be alone? So I created Damon my first creation.
"Damon! It makes a lot of sense now! The Damonites terrorist group in Praxis!" I exclaimed. They are worshippers of the Evil One!"
"Your right. Normally, this name should not be known by mortals, as invoking a being's name with intent give you a connection to that being and if you worship the name, you give it a portion of yourself, you give it power. That being also gives a portion of it's power to you. So, eventhough Damon has no life, no power anymore, it doesn't mean he can't get it from other sources or a better term would be stealing the blessings that I gave to other creations. Free will."
Words have power you know, just like magic or electricity.
So, I did not say his Real name to mortals and just call him the Evil One or Adversary, to not give him power. The problem is of course, mortals are beings with free will as well. If they call upon the evil one, worship it and ask it's name, it's name will be revealed." "Some people, with their folly, decided to worship the Evil One. They may have been seduced or enticed by him. If your heart is filled with evil, evil creatures will flock to you. Birds of the same feather, flock together, as the saying goes." God said sadly.
"He was my first creation so I made him in my image; He looks like me and he also has free will, able to use all my powers but he would need to invoke my name and authority to use them as I am the source of his powers. He is simply borrowing them with my permission. A Father would give his son what he needs, because he loves him. As long as the son respects and loves the father, whatever the son asks, the father will give or do. That was how it worked with us.
"Anything I do, he does to. A son will emulate his father you see. I had more creations like him, who does my will. "
My command to my first creations was to seed the world with more creations, more life, so that the Love that I have will be multiplied and everyone would be enriched with love. There was no need to kill to survive during those times, as everything was immortal and spiritual like me.
With me, we seeded the universe with life and love. Everything was wonderful. This is the role of angels and heavenly hosts you see, to create life under my name, to educate all of creation of who I am and to give me worship. As your Creator and the source of love and life, I am alone is worthy of worship, I am alone is worthy of adoration. No other beings should be worshipped but me because there is no other one like me. This is the truth.
As a being made in my image Damon was happy... for a while. Then I noticed in him a deep sadness so I asked what bothers him.
He told me that he wishes to be adored and be worshipped like me because we are similar. I told him that it would not be possible as I am the Creator and I am the source of life and creation. There is no one else like me. I can't also transfer my powers to others, because I am the source of everything. You can't transfer infinite power to a finite container and I can't create a perfect version of me as there only one like me, I can only create something similar to me. No other beings is worthy of worship but me. He knows this truth. To worship anything but me is blasphemy and an insult to my Divine name. There is no other like me and me alone. How can you worship a created and finite being? You can praise, love and adore others, but the the worship is mine alone.
He says he understands completely and went about continuing his duty, creating life in the universe. He created a planet called Hels and he is most involved in it's creation. Seeding it with powerful beings like him.
When he returned, he gathered an army of spiritual beings innumerable as the stars. They demanded I step down the holy throne and that Damon sits in it, as he is their creator.
I told them that this is a lie and that I am their Creator.
They insist that Damon is their Creator, not me. I told them this is a lie. I am their Creator and Damon knows it. In fact, it is his job to tell them in the first place.
What happened next shocked me to my core.
Damon denied this and told them that He is their creator, not me. He lied. He broke the taboo.
The moment he said the words, he became my enemy. He has perfect knowledge of the rules and the consequence of breaking them. Yet he still persisted with the lie.
I warned Damon that he is crossing the line and he knows it. I told him again to remind him that I am their God and their Creator, I alone have the power over creations and to challenge me is futile. I told him to back down as it would be his first and last warning.
He refused and shaked his head angrily, saying if he relies on me and worship me, then he truly not free. He would no longer be a slave and subject himself under my rule.
I have already given him the power to create and he can do whatever he wants with creation providing it be done under my name and this is how he repay my love and kindness? This is the first time I got betrayed in my entire existence and it would be the last. This would also be the first and last time that I would truly be angry.
Heaven has been surrounded on all sides by beings, as countless as the stars. Damon demands I surrender and vacate the throne.
I told him he is out of his mind. I told him to surrender instead and beg for my forgiveness and mercy. I warned him that this would be his last chance. There would be no more forgiveness after this. I also told his allies to surrender and back down, as they are being deceived.
A third of them backed down. They realized the truth and rather converse with me peacefully that make war with me.
The rest of them didn't back down. Just like Damon, they lusted for power and glory, worship and adoration.
Seeing him lose a third of his allies, this made Damon very angry. He then shouted, "Never!" pointed at me in my throne and said "Restrain Him and seize the Holy Throne!".
The nerve. The hubris. The arrogance. Didn't he know who I AM? Well he does but he seems to ignore the truth. He even lied to my Creations. How dare he pretend to be me?
He instructed his allies to seize me.
With a word, I said. "Stop." The whole of creation froze. Nothing stirred, nothing moved. Then I say the words, "Be gone." and they are all gone from my presence.
As punishment, I stripped Damon and his allies of my power. Sending all them straight to the Hels.
Without me, there is no life, no beauty, no mercy, no love, no peace. In place of them is sadness, hatred, pain, anger, jealousy, death and all other states and negative emotions that comes without having love and life.
Since Damon and his allies are spirits cannot die, they are in a perpetual state of dying and rotting without my me sustaining them. Their beauty disappeared and became a state of constant decay. They are in constant pain because of this and are an angry and bitter bunch. Have they only stopped and gave pause and listened, they would have not have suffered this fate. I do not like this at all, but their fates were sealed when they followed Damon's command. I have given them a warning but they did not listen. Now Hels, the once beautiful planet that they abide in, also fell to their influence, turning into a planet of constant death and rotting." sighing as he explained this.
"Why do they still roam the universe? Why don't you just restrain them to Hels. I cannot go against my nature. I cannot use my power to restrain other creations, because I am the source of free will and freedom as well. Beside, they are still my children, even though they have sinned against me. What they are in now is punishment enough, eternal pain and suffering. I have sent the Planet Hels to the darkness of nothingness beyond the universe as they cannot stay here, because I am the Universe. It is a part of me in fact.
Mortal beings like humanity, are actually the descendants of the spiritual beings who withdrew from the rebellion when I told them to back down.
As a test of their loyalty and punishment as well, they have been placed to mortal bodies that withers and dies. They can still create life, but creatures with a mortal body and an immortal soul. This is part of the test given to them to prove their loyalty to Me. They have then to teach their descendants about me as what their divine duty was in the past, to give me worship and adoration, for the repentance of sin and forgiveness of their sins, so that they would be part of me after their mortal lives has passed."
"They know of their part in the rebellion and their betrayal of Damon, they know that Damon will come to take revenge on them and their descendants. So that they always remind their children about me, their Creator, to not sin and fall to Damon's influence."
Damon hates those who betrayed him the most, and wishes all mortal beings to suffer like he does. So, he sends his minions to every planets with living mortals in them, to try to seduce them to sinning so that in death, Satan would be able to collect their souls."
"Thank you Lord for the explanation. It's terrible that this happened to you. I wonder what caused it?" I ask.
"Free will son. It's a double edge sword. As a loving parent, I give free will to all my creations as I desire companions, not slaves. Normally, as you know, a good tree produces a good fruit. Since Damon is second to me is created in my image, he is also adored by creation. I guess that adoration turns to pride, then to envy. He knows that he cannot be me, so he wish to replace me. He has all of my powers when he abided in me, as I give the gift of creation to those who are worthy. He still did what he did even though he knows the truth fully, that I alone have the power over all creation. He wishes to replace me as the Creator, so that he alone will be adored by all of creation. It is pride and arrogance that caused his downfall. He thinks that with great love, I will just stand aside and give him the throne and take over. I'm afraid that won't do. I am the truth, and the truth cannot be changed by lies and deception."
"I see. Thank you my Lord for giving me your time." I said respectfully.
"No problem. I will be sending you later to planet Valis, as you wished. You can do free to live as you please, just don't forget your divine duty, to spread love and peace, to teach them about me and salvation, so that after death, they would be with me and not fall to the Damon."
"By the way, in Planet Valis, magic is real. I just have to tell you." God said.
"So. magic is really real?" I asked curiously.
"Yes. Magic is real. I prohibited it on your planet a long time ago, since it has been used to cause too much death and suffering.
"Just like a knife, it is a tool that can be used either for great good or great harm. I sealed it in your planet because otherwise, your planet would not survive. You heard of the Great Flood? Yes, that happened because of magic. It did not happen because of me, it's actually happened when two great magicians tried to kill each other, using water to destroy their cities. That's how powerful magic is. It is a good thing that the planet Valis is still a new planet and magic is still not widely used."
"Aside from magic, creatures of legends do exist too, but were wiped before your time. Dragons, giants, sea serpents and all other creatures existed a long time ago. Well, except unicorns. Unicorns aren't real."
Except unicorns." I said flatly.
"Except unicorns. It was just a silly craftsman who had a talent in carving ivory, turning them to horns and attaching them to horses' heads with a very sticky glue as a prank."
He did this all his life and he passed this tradition to his descendants."
They would find the most beautiful white horses around and attach ivory horns to them. Thus the legend of the unicorn was born. They would have continued with the tradition too, until the Great Flood happened."
"I spared these family of pranksters from punishment and they are now crafting amazing things here in heaven. They're pranksters, not villains after all." God smiled.
This made me chuckle. Apparently, God has a great sense of humor as well.