Peace.
That was all he felt.
Peace with himself. Peace with others. Peace with the whole world.
He was in perfect condition. He didn't need anything more or anything less.
'They do make an excellent coffee.'
He could still see the decorations on the bar's wall. The immense landscape painted by an unknown artist of the town. The golden flowers' pattern adorned the ugly brown wall.
No-No-No-No. The wall was clearly bordeaux... dark red... No. More like light red... PINK. It was pinkish.
Yeah, now it sounded right.
It clashed quite a bit with the golden wave pattern on the painting frame of a random greyish mountain landscape.
He could still hear his sister's pencil scratching loudly on a page of her little book. She loved to draw when she was bored. But copy a random landscape? She never sent a photo of a landscape, nor did she ever draw one.
'Oh, right. It must have one of those useless pieces of art.'
Yeah, that person walking over a sea of grey clouds or something like that.
The real piece of art was that waitress. Her long blonde hair and delicate green eyes were the most magnificent thing he had ever seen.
They shone like the enormous emerald on the book cover that her sister was reading. She was such a talented book eater. She always carried a book with her, whether it was on her phone or in physical form.
He was distracted by the scent that the faceless waitress's black hair brought, a far more pleasant smell than that of the pastries.
The giant pistachio pastry was taken by his mom, someone who never said no to sweets. Now, her office job and her age betrayed her.
'Uh...?'
He couldn't... He couldn't recognize his mother's face.
Mother?
Who is she?
He was only with his... own.
He was all on his own.
***
His perfect sleep was disturbed. His eyelids fluttered a little, but he refused to open them. He was too comfortable.
His entire body seemed like he was floating weightlessly in the air. That bed was the best thing he could ever experience.
The mattress was as comfortable as a cloud, but the blankets weren't as effective as he would have liked. It was cold enough to be unpleasant but not freezing.
He accidentally opened his right eyelid slightly and was immediately blinded.
His brain processed that information as slowly as an old car's engine starts in winter.
'Who put the sun in my room?' He turned around, aiming to use the pillow to regain that peace.
That bed was so comfortable that he didn't feel any mattress, blankets, or pillows.
As he twisted, the pinkish color gradually vanished, leaving only darkness. But apparently, the sun was a piece of shit because not even a second later, the pink color returned.
"Mmmhhh!!"
He wouldn't give up so easily. He turned around again and covered his eyes with his hands.
Those sudden moves only woke him up more, and that position wasn't comfortable at all. So, he let go of his limbs, which floated away.
'Alright, I give up, time to wake up.'
With his eyes still closed, he tried to get up with a decisive push of his arms against the mattress.
They reached well beyond his back without encountering any resistance, stretching his shoulder muscles painfully.
'Uh?'
Confused as hell, he opened his eyes and got blinded once again.
"HOLY SHIT. COME ON."
No words were heard.
'UH?! WHAT THE FUCK? I BECAME DEAF?' He thought.
He tried once again to open his eyes, this time way slower, but a solemn, authoritative, and ethereal voice spoke first.
"No. You died."
He took him way too long to process that information. So long that he managed to open his eyes and see...
'THE SUN?!'
He was joking before, but did someone really put the sun in his bedroom?
Dots started to connect to one another.
'The sun is in front of me, it's a bit cold out here, and apparently, I'm floating. I'M IN SPACE?!'
"No. You died..." This time, the voice sounded a bit bored.
He tried to look through the small gap between his eyelids. However, the light was too blinding, and he was forced to stay with his eyes shut.
The fear of not being able to see what was happening grew inside him.
"Well, technically, I am the Sun, but everything else is wrong. This place isn't space." That strange voice couldn't have belonged to any humans. It was too authoritative, too frightening, too ethereal. It seemed like it was coming from all directions.
His mind started to run on adrenaline and fear.
"W... WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Once again, he tried to talk, and no sound came out.
He was twisting on himself, kicking his legs in the nothing that surrounded him, trying to run away. But nothing, he continued to float defenselessly.
"Don't be afraid, little boy. I am God."
His body and mind froze on the spot. Then, his brain flooded itself with a thousand questions that overlapped each other.
It could be expressed in a single word.
'WHAT? WHAT- WHAT- WHAT- WHAT- WHAT- WHAT-...'
Among that chaos, some key phrases emerged.
("You died.")
("I am the Sun.")
("I am God.")
'I died?' That thought chased away every other thought. He found it quite difficult to believe that.
He was alive some time ago. At least, that's what he believed. He wasn't so sure about it.
'Sun... God...' Someone has to prank him. Someone must have drugged him. There's no way God is real.
Suddenly, he started to laugh uncontrollably. There was total silence, apart from a deep hum in the background. But he still could breathe a dense form of air, so there was no way he was dead.
"I'm standing in front of you." The voice betrayed a hint of annoyance.
"Yeah. Kiss my ass. If you want my organs, take them. Just give me more drugs." He was sure that he could still talk. Maybe there was something on his ears so he couldn't hear himself.
There was no way that God was real.
"Wrong." He felt the firm voice penetrate his body, the space around him trembled. That simple word made him stop laughing.
"You have no authority to talk in this realm. And accept your death; I don't have much time. You're my last choice." God's voice was so frightening that his mind refused to work for a second.
'These drugs are remarkable.'
"Ah. Sorry. I expected God to be an old, fat, bald man. You caught me off guard." A smirk appeared on his face again.
"Shut up." Those words were said calmly, but he felt his whole body tremble at once. God's authority pierced him, forcing his body to obey It and not to his owner.
The space surrounding him was a mess; it felt as if he were in the sea during a powerful storm.
He was powerless here. He couldn't open his eyes; something frightening was in front of him, and he couldn't run or hide.
Something ancient awakened inside him.
The primordial fear that modern humans have forgotten.
The ancestral fear of every prey.
"Tsk. Terrific. My time is up." It said calmly.
"I can't explain everything you need to know now. That's so cliché."
'Explain what?!' He gave up talking; his lungs refused to work. He felt them filled with something and nothing simultaneously, which trembled constantly.
"Everything. Now you have only one task: endure the pain and listen to me." As soon as God finished talking, both his arms were locked in place. Something and nothing pierced him.
"I'll honor you with a part of my Soul."
He felt something flowing into his body; it was a brief moment of extreme pain. That small quantity was traveling back and forth through his body.
"You are the only hope for my faithful and for ME." Gradually, Sun God's voice sounded more distant.
"You are our Savior. Grow and don't you dare DIE."
The pink color of his eyelids was disappearing, leaving room for a darkness that is now far too cold.
'WAIT. Wa-' "-IT. CAN WE MEET AGAIN?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Finally, he could breathe again and hear his voice.
His body returned to feeling something familiar: air.
That wind was hitting him violently all over his chest and body. His neatly combed black hair had been blown upwards, far away from his face.
He instinctively pursed his thin lips, which quickly became dry.
"Not anytime soon. Infant." The solemn voice was distant as a faint memory.
Suddenly, his short, large nose began to bleed, and all his face hurt like hell. The wind ceased, leaving place for a cold and smooth floor.
After inhaling some dust, he opened his eyes slowly. Each exhale lifted clouds of dust in the air.
His blood was covering a tiny part of a large, yellowish stone.
The shy light, which came in through the partially broken windows, was just enough to keep him from being in total darkness.
With his skinny and weak arms, he pushed his torso up. He still felt that thing traveling through his body. From his fingers to his neck, to his eyes and throughout his whole legs.
As he felt that tiny flow, he felt a presence near him.
Without much thought, he raised his head.
A statue, certainly more than two meters tall, was watching him with golden eyes. It stood inside the temple apse. Its arms were open downward, as if it were welcoming every little human being to come closer.
Its face was joyful, with a subtle and barely perceptible smile, completely out of sync with those judgmental eyes that were watching him
A stone crown was based on an altar at its feet. The crown was strange. It was all twisted and had shapes that a stone couldn't possibly have.
The circular base was perfect, but the spikes were all curved until the very peak, where it was sharp. Some spikes merged, forming large bases and one single sharp point.
Blood flowed down his nose, falling and splattering on the ground with a harsh sound. He looked at those eyes, terrified, frozen by fear.
"Is Greth inside the temple?" A faint voice echoed through the tall temple.
In that moment, the golden, shiny eyes vanished, leaving the statue's gray eyes fixed on him, with that gentle smile.
"No." Another voice, much firmer than the other, traveled through the dark temple.
He was still on all four when the large wooden doors of the temple were opened. They brought wind and hopeless light with them.
The sound of heavy footsteps and metal beating against itself echoed a thousand times.
His nose was still bleeding when he turned his head to the source of the sounds.
Two men armored without helmet were advancing down the central path of the temple. Swords and shields in their hand, ready for any possible attack.
'OH SHIT.'
He tried to crawl back away from them, but he was too weak and, as soon as he raised his left hand, fell face to the floor. The harsh sound caught their attention.
"There. There's someone." Said the guard with little to no beard, pointing at him.
Quickly, the footsteps grew closer.
"Stop right there, youuuu..." The older guard's threatening tone slowly faded away.
"Why is he naked?" Said the younger guard, lowering his guard.