Adam : From a man to a God

Long ago, gods and humans coexisted. Humans worshipped gods, who rewarded them with immortality, good rainfall, gold, and more. The humans would do anything the gods asked of—until one day...

A god called Ragna started making huge demands. Each god and goddess had a temple of their own, visible to mankind from hundreds of miles away. Ragna’s temple was no exception. The other gods disliked Ragna's behavior; he was daring, unsympathetic, and very short-tempered.

"Lord Ragna, we have finished building your statue," said a man, his voice trembling slightly.

Ragna spoke in an annoyed tone. "It's Lord Ragnarok, you fool. Now, let me see it."

Ragna and the two men left the temple to view the statue. "Not bad for mere humans," Ragna remarked. "You may leave."

As they walked away, one of the men grumbled, "We built that statue using gold, and he calls us fools. The statue is 30 meters higher than all the other gods'. This is getting tougher for us humans. What do we do? Tell the other gods?"

"And say what?" replied the second man. "They’ll just say what he did was fortunate."

Adam, the first man, clenched his fists. "I'm starting to think what our ancestors told us were lies. They said gods appeared out of the sky and brought mankind fortune and immortality, but what if they were forced...?"

Adam's voice grew sharper with anger. "Who do you think built that temple of gods, them?"

Luke spoke in a calm voice. "I think there's an explanation for all of this. Now let's just go to our homes." (He is right, but if he continues talking, he might say something that could put us and our families in trouble.)

The two men continued walking.

Gods used to treat humans as slaves, and that's how the temple was built. After many years of slavery, the gods decided to stop. Those who denied the change were banished or sealed into small figurine statues of themselves.

After 700 years, Ragna was sick of this rule. He also had other reasons to hate humans. The gods heard of Ragna's deeds and held a gathering to justify his actions.

Razak, the mightiest and most powerful of all the gods, sent Lilith, a goddess loved by children for her kindness and by men for her beauty.

Lilith descended from the sky into Ragna's temple. While mankind knew her for her goodness, the gods knew her true nature. She was adept at pretending. Lilith and Ragna didn't get along—not that Ragna got along with any god.

Lilith found Ragna on his throne, already glaring at her, his eyes glowing faintly red.

"Oh, stop it. I hate when you stare at me like that," Lilith said, annoyed. (He always has his red hair messed up.)

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have come," Ragna retorted. (Why is she here?)

"I was sent here. By him."

"Him? Oh, Razak. What does he want?"

"You'll find out yourself."

Ragna's eyes glowed bright red, and he floated off with Lilith to the temple.

At the temple, gods were gathered, seated around a huge round diamond table. Razak stood in front of it, facing Ragna. Razak spoke in a deep, intimidating voice.

"Good afternoon, Ragna. I see Lilith has informed you of our gathering here."

"Yes, she did. Why am I informed now, why not before like any other god here?"

"Because the discussion is about you, Ragna, because of your impudence."

Mumbling started among the crowd, with some gods and goddesses nodding and shaking their heads.

"Silence, please!" Razak commanded.

The crowd quieted down.

"Impudence?" Ragna muttered to himself. (This is the second time I was called here in a year. I get it, it was because of those bastards... Adam.) "Impudence?"

"The way you treat humans with no respect at all. We knew you were arrogant and short-tempered, but this is too far."

"What do you mean, arrogant? I've done nothing wrong that proves that."

Razak stood silently and smiled slightly, plucking a hair from his head. It turned into a golden scroll as he shook it and began to read

"Rule 34 on the heavenly scroll states: Do not belittle and use humans against their will."

"I believe those are two rules and two very stupid ones at that," Ragna scoffed. (Here they go again, mumbling in the background like idiots.)

"How dare you speak that way!" Razak's voice boomed.

Ragna looked around at the other gods. "Why? Why are you holding back? What could possibly go wrong? I know each and every one of you understands that we are not equals with humans, yet you want to do everything they say, provide everything they want as if they are the gods. How were their lives before we came here? I've had enough of this peace you've got in your thick heads. It has made you weak."

The crowd erupted in noise, shouting at Ragna.

"That's enough!" Razak's eyes glowed faint white.

"This is a warning, Ragna. We will seal you if you don't concede."

"Or just kill me. We both know only a god can kill another god."

"Don't tempt me. This judgment is over. Every god may return to their duties."

The gods started to scatter, leaving Ragna furious over the threat.

Adam’s House

At Adam's house, he was enjoying a meal with his family—his beloved wife Hella and their daughter Stella. He started speaking.

"Hella, I want us to move."

"Move? To where?" Hella asked, surprised.

"Anywhere out of Goddon. We might have too many things to carry, but I have enough coins and... and I have some gold."

"Gold?!" Hella gasped.

"Shh... yes, gold. I stole it while building Ragna's statue," Adam admitted.

"Oh gods!" Stella exclaimed. "Father, why would you do that? You might get punished."

"She's right," Hella agreed.

"What if the gods find out? What happens then?" Stella asked, worried.

"Can you let me speak?" Adam raised his voice slightly. "These coins and gold are for us. You stopped asking why we should move out of Goddon."

"Why?" Hella pressed.

"I think something bad is going to happen, and I can feel it."

"Are you talking about Ragna? Isn't he always like that?" Stella asked.

"Yes, dear, what's wrong? You're frightening me," Hella said, concerned.

"The gods will protect us," Stella reassured.

"That's just the problem—it's the gods. I might have done something bad with Luke. We reported Ragna's behavior again," Adam explained.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Hella asked.

"No, it was serious this time, and I think he'll be coming for us," Adam said, his voice heavy with dread.

"Oh dear, the gods would never do that," Hella said, trying to comfort herself. (I'll just have to pray for his forgiveness in the morning to god Ragna.)

"I'm done eating. I'll go to bed. Good night, Father, Mother," Stella said, excusing herself.

"Sleep well," Adam said. "I'm tired; I'll go to sleep too."

"Okay, I'll clean up and come join you," Hella said.

The Next Morning

Adam woke up with his wife by his side, her hand resting on his chest. He looked out the window and saw the sun was about to rise.

"Good morning, dear. I have to go get us some water from the well," he said softly. (The well of infinite water, thanks to the gods. Maybe I was overthinking.)

At that moment in Ragna's temple, Ragna was sitting on his throne, seething with anger.

"Hmmm, let's see what happens when I kill the human. This isn't the first time he’s spoken against me to the other gods. This should snap them out of their delusions. They dare threaten me? I'll end them before they can touch me," Ragna growled to himself.

Ragna flew off towards Adam's house. People nearby looked up, happily pointing at him and shouting his name.

Ragna was simply annoyed by this. "Oh, what's that? I can sense two people in the house, no, three. If I remember correctly, Adam has a daughter and a wife—equals three. I could just blow up the place. Immortality isn't really immortality if you can be killed by a god."

But little did he know that Adam was not there.