Jason and I essentially started over. We decided to go on more dates. We went out a lot, and the days we couldn’t be together, we would use instant messenger and use the webcams. It was February 21st and that meant it was time for my birthday and Jason had a fabulous dinner planned for me that night. He gave me no indication as to where he was taking me, but he promised that it would be a stellar occasion. He actually planned out the whole day from start to finish.

The 21st was supposed to be my first recording day at the studio, but when the producers found out about my birthday, they moved it to the day before. We were able to get three songs recorded and one of them was the first song I ever wrote. I think it went really well. The producers and engineers thought, that at that pace, the album would probably be ready by mid or late summer of that year. I could possibly go on tour as early as January of the next year to promote the album and showcase some new stuff. I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present.

After my mother called wishing me a Happy Birthday, I got a knock at the door. I opened the door and there stood Jason. He was holding out a bouquet of roses. “These are for my love.”

“Oh really; is he coming to my dinner then? I would love to meet him,” I joked.

“Not funny,” he cried.

“I’m sorry. It is a very romantic gesture and I thank you.”

“That’s better,” he said.

He came inside, shutting the door behind him. I took the flowers from him and put them in some water. Jason came up behind me and put his arms around me. I just loved the feeling of him against me, but I still remembered him being with that other guy and I tensed up. He noticed it and squeezed me tighter to reassure me. It was like he was reading my mind. We’d been a lot more in sync as of late. He and I finished each other’s sentences and we seemed to sense when the other was near. It was pretty cool. We must have needed that drama to bring us closer together.

There had been one problem however; nothing to do with Jason though. I’d been having more of those funny dreams. They were the only dreams that came to me anymore, and they were so intense. I would sometimes wake up screaming. Not too long ago, I was at Jason’s place for the night. He had to force me to wake up because I was thrashing around so much. That was when I told him about the truth about the dreams and when they started. I even mentioned the odd experience I had outside of The Palm. When I first told him about the incident, I didn’t go into great detail. For instance, the fact that I really found him hotter than Jason, was something I noticed and didn’t like. Actually, I left that part out. He told me not to read too much into it. I couldn’t help it though. If Jason’s own show had taught me anything, it was not to dismiss something I didn’t understand. Also, I should never assume something is a coincidence.

As we were getting ready to head out, there was another knock at the door. I wondered who it could have been. Perhaps it was the maintenance man. My sink had been leaking and I told the landlady about it a few days prior. I opened the door and when I saw who it was, I nearly passed out. It was that impossibly beautiful guy from the sidewalk. “Hello James and Happy Birthday.”

I backed away from the door. “Who the hell are you? How did you know where I lived?”

“James, what’s wrong? Do you know him?”

“This is the guy I told you about. This is the one who spoke to me outside The Palm.” My head began to pound at a fever pitch. “His….name….is…..Amitiel.”

Amitiel smiled at the mention of his name. He walked over and put a hand on my forehead. The pain immediately went away. “Is that better?”

“Yes, it is. What did you just do?”

“All of your questions will be answered as soon as you come with me.”

Jason pushed me out of the way and went in front to protect me. I loved this man so much. “You are not taking James anywhere!”

“This is not for you to decide. He is coming, and he will also find out what those dreams of his actually mean.”

“My dreams? What do you know about my dreams? Just who are you?”

The door closed behind Amitiel all on its own and he walked toward me. “I’m an old friend who has missed you deeply. We all have missed you.” He held out his hands to me. “Take my hand and all will be revealed.”

Jason grabbed my shoulder and said, “James don’t do it!”

“I have to Jason. I need to know what is happening to me.”

“Then I am coming with you.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.”

“I wasn’t asking for your permission. I am coming with you, because I will never again let anything happen to you.”

I looked over towards Amitiel and he nodded. “He is more than welcome to come along. It involves him as well. Grab my hand.”

When I grabbed his hand, a sense of peace washed over me. Jason put his hands on my shoulders, but I barely felt his touch. Suddenly, bright white wings burst forth from Amitiel’s back and the room was lost in a dazzling and blinding radiance.

When we were able to see again, we were in a place other than my apartment. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen, and I could tell from Jason’s expression that he thought the same thing. In the background, I saw what looked like a park; a park at least ten times the size of Central Park. Now, I hadn’t been to Central Park since I was four years old, but suddenly it was as clear as a bell to me. This was clearly what they envisioned the park to be if they had unlimited space. 

 The foreground held a palace of immeasurable splendor. I don’t think my brain was able to fully comprehend the shapes I was seeing on this thing. Upon a first glance, it appeared to be the size of the White House, but then I blinked and it was the size of Washington D.C.

I looked back at Jason and he was struck with awe. He asked, “Where are we?”

“My first guess would be Heaven.”

“Heaven; are you serious?!?”

“Amitiel is clearly an angel. Where else could we be?”

Amitiel smiled and lead us to the palace. “You are correct James, this is Heaven; your home.”

I stopped walking. “My home; what are you talking about?!?”

He grabbed my hand again and kept walking forward to the palace. “Doesn’t any of this look familiar to you?”

I started to really look around as we walked and I did see some things that had a familiar glean to them, but nothing that I could get a grasp of. It felt like a memory wanted to form, but it didn’t quite make it. Without warning, I gripped my head and doubled over because the pain was overwhelming. I began to see a memory of me walking up these very stairs to that distant palace. Amitiel was walking with me and we were discussing the planets and what we had found on many of them. The pain stopped just as fast as it started and the memory was over. “Why do I have a memory of this place? I’ve never been here before; and why do I know you?”

He smiled as he looked back, but said nothing.

We kept walking up the stairs for what felt like an eternity. I felt a little tired from all of the climbing, but not as tired as I would have thought. Jason, on the other hand, was having a hard time keeping up. That seemed odd considering that he was in better shape than I was. And then finally, we reached the doors of this huge and other-worldly structure. The doors opened of their own accord and Amitiel walked in. He de-materialized. I stopped short causing Jason to bump into me. “Sorry babe.”

I just shook my head and said, “No sweat, but I do wonder if we are to continue or not.”

“Does it matter? This doesn’t feel real to me. It feels like a dream and that I could wake up at any second. Or maybe we died and Amitiel has brought us to be judged.”

I slapped him hard across the face.

“Oww, why did you do that?!” he asked a little surprised.

I laughed and said, “That hurt didn’t it?”

“Of course that hurt, but again I ask, why did you slap me?”

“Well, other than the fact that you deserved it for what you did to me, I wanted to prove that this wasn’t a dream. If this were a dream, you probably would have woken up from the pain. If we were dead, I don’t think you would have felt the pain. This doesn’t seem like a place where pain exists; well, except for the living I would wager.”

Jason rubbed the spot where I slapped him and he nodded in agreement. “If you say so, but did you have to hit me so hard?”

I just shook my head and headed inside. As I walked past the threshold, I was transported somewhere else. The place I arrived in was not the place I saw as I was walking inside. It was like we went deeper into the building. Jason suddenly appeared right next to me. My guess is he teleported. I did watch a lot of TV and read a lot of fantasy. I would say it was a safe assumption that I was right. “You are right James.”

I looked up to a huge throne where the speaker was seated. It was the guy from my dreams. He was the one who put his hand on my shoulders causing me great pain. He looked just like me only 1000 times better. “I wouldn’t say that at all. You are a very attractive man James.”

Was he reading my thoughts like Amitiel? Speaking of Amitiel, he was standing to the right with seven other angels. Well, I guessed they were angels, but I wasn’t seeing any wings. “They are angels and yes, I am reading your thoughts.”

Jason chimed in first and asked, “If I may ask sir, but are you God?”

The man who looked like me smiled and got up from the throne. “Yes Jason, I am who your people refer to as ‘God’. That’s not my real name, but it’s fine for this first meeting.”

“Wait,” I said, “You’re God?!?”

“That is correct.”

“So then, you’re the creator of the universe and father of all things?”

“That would be me, yes.”

I was totally confused. Something was wrong. “Why is it that you look like me, or rather why do I look like you?”

“Your bible does say that I made man in my image does it not?”

I hid my laughter at that comment. “The bible also says not to eat pork and that homosexuality is a sin. I was never one to believe everything that I read.”

“Such insolence!” One of the angels was walking towards me; probably to put me in my place.

“That’s enough Michael. You should remember how he was; not much has changed in 200 millennia.”

“You’re right my Lord; please forgive me.” Michael sulked back to his original spot.

“Of course I forgive you Michael. Now James, the reason we look similar is because you were the first being I made after I created the universe.”

“What are you talking about?” I said. “Other than the fact that I was only born like this twenty-four years ago today, I had a memory of what I looked like and I didn’t look like this. I was basically white; almost pale, so that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Actually, you were created billions of years ago by human standards of time. You are an angel James; an arch-angel to be exact.”

I looked up at the man claiming to be God. I might have believed what he told me if he himself were an angel, but to say that he was God?! There was something he wasn’t telling me. I couldn’t place it. If I were an angel 200,000 years ago, why was I a human now? Had I been reincarnated several thousand times only to end up being like this? I didn’t understand any of this. It was all just crazy talk.

“It’s not ‘crazy talk’ as you say. I am God, and you were an angel. As I said it’s been many millennia since, but you were once an angel. If you’ll allow me, I shall explain. That is why we brought you here.”

I looked over to Jason and he just shrugged his shoulders; so I wasn’t getting help there. When I woke up this morning I expected a low key birthday. To have said that anywhere in my mind I had thought that I would be having a conversation with God, would be to have said something insane. Seeing the situation for what it was however, I really had no choice but to plow forward and see what happened. “All right; I’ll listen to what you have to say. It’s not like I have a choice.”

“Never say that. You always have a choice, so let me start at the beginning. You and Samiel were the first arch-angels I created---“

Jason said, “Samiel... I know that name.  Where have I heard that name?”

"That was the name of Lucifer before the fall," I added.

Jason then let forth a little cry of surprise.  "Lucifer?!?  You mean Satan?!?"

God continued. “Yes that is correct. We, however, still call him Samiel. After those two, I created the other arch-angels you see here; your brothers. There were once hundreds of them so they could run the day-to-day activities of the universe. Following that I created the lesser host of angels. I made them in the millions. The arch-angels would govern them and keep their activities in check. I eventually got bored with just having the angels so I sped up evolution a little bit so other beings could be made in the lower realm. There have been many civilizations in the universe. The first came about before your star system even formed about 10 billion years ago. Some of those societies are still around today. You’re kind will eventually run into them, but not in this century.

“After that, I realized that I was still bored, because there really wasn’t any one like me in the universe. That’s when I decided to put Earth in the evolutionary formula. 200,000 years ago, the first Homo-sapiens came about; they were your ancestors. There were other humans, but they didn’t have what I was looking for so they didn’t survive, well, not all of them anyway.”

I chimed in after that weird comment. “So, you let them die just because they weren’t like you? That doesn’t sound right at all. How could you do that to your own creation?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. The way the planet had been set in motion, your kind would have actually killed them, so the planet did it first.”

“And you think that way is better?” Jason said.

“I do think it was better that way. Your kind would have enough blood on its’ hands without genocide added to it. As I was saying, it was about that time that Samiel, or Lucifer if you prefer, came to me and asked why I favored your kind so much. I told him that you wouldn’t serve me blindly like the angels had and would do so forever. Many of the intelligent beings in the universe follow me without question. It was a slight flaw in the design. And yes, I do make mistakes. It hardly ever happens, but it does happen every other eon or so. So, I corrected the flaw in humans. I gave you all the power of choice, but this angered Lucifer even more. He didn’t think it was fair that humans got to choose the course of their lives. I told him that was the only power they would be given. They would still have to struggle and unlike angels, they couldn’t shape reality with the snap of a finger. I reduced their brain power to no more than a fraction of what some other beings were capable of and let them fend for themselves. That still wasn’t enough for Lucifer. He knew what they would become and he still didn’t find it fair, so he led a revolt against me.”

I knew this story. It was what they told in church a lot.

“Well, the part of the story you don’t know is, you were part of that war here in Heaven. You and Lucifer fought against each other. Unfortunately, you both were evenly matched. You are twins after all. He was given superior strength, but you were given superior matter control.”

“Matter control; what’s that?”

“You would call it ‘magic’ on Earth. It was all too devastating. The war lasted for over 100,000 years. I hadn’t intervened up to that point, but something happened to force my hand. Lucifer took you captive while you slept. When I learned this, I took drastic measures. I went on the field of battle myself and decimated Lucifer’s forces. The war ended at that moment and I sent the surviving traitors to Hell; including Lucifer. You were still their prisoner, so you went down as well. I stopped your decent and you landed on Earth. That is where you spent the last 100,000 years, however, your shame at being captured and being forced to live amongst the humans you so desperately fought for, made you very bitter. About 100 years ago, off of the western coast of South America, you unleashed a devastating tidal wave that killed millions. I punished you by turning you into the very thing you had come to despise, a human being. However, since humans don’t live that long, I had you reincarnated for the past 200,000 years. Ironically you were the first of your species. That process of reincarnation made you lose your memories. That was the case until Amitiel approached a few weeks ago. That was when your memories began to return in the form of dreams.”

Jason became furious. He started ranting on how they could do such a thing to me. He was totally defending my honor. It was quite beautiful really. Despite his heroics, I was perplexed by something God said. While I was finding a way to put my thoughts into words, Jason said while still fuming, “Why put James through all of this?”

I piped in at that comment. “It’s quite simple Jason; they need me.”

“What do you mean, ‘need me’?”

“It’s just as I said. They need the power I once possessed so I could help them with something.”

God smiled and said, “Go on.”

“I see eight arch-angels, but I see a place for ten. Two of those seats are next to you, so I would venture a guess and say one seat was for me and the other for Lucifer.”

“He’s a smart one,” Michael said.

“That’s what I said to you the other day Michael. You forgot how he used to be.”

“I forget nothing Amitiel.”

“Ladies please, you’re both pretty and I was still talking. As I was saying, I’m also guessing that my punishment was more than what it seemed. I would assume you are able to see the future and all versions of it at that. You would have known that I would do something terrible to incur your wrath. I can think of far worse things than being a human, but as a human I would know that. As an angel, there wouldn’t be anything worse. You needed someone who was once pro-human to return to that state, but with the power of choice. Am I right so far?”

The angels looked over at God, and for the first time since I and Jason arrived, he was not smiling.

“That’s a very interesting theory James.”

“But is my theory more than that?”

“Well, you aren’t wrong.” What do you think Jason?  Wasn’t I right about him?

I never doubted you Janus, but is he supposed to be this smart already?  The ceremony hasn’t even started.

He was already a genius, and his other personality is returning on its’ own.  As you can see, he is no longer in pain.  His body is already adjusting of its’ own accord.

 �“Umm, excuse me, Janus is it; what ceremony are you talking about? And is there another Jason in this room I can’t see or is he one of the angels back there?”

 He can hear us.  That’s impossible!

“I can hear you just fine. I’m only having trouble seeing you.”

The most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life, next to Jason of course, appeared right next to Janus; aka God. He reminded me a lot of my Jason, but they didn’t really look anything like each other. This new guy walked down the stairs and stopped right in front of me. He gave me a once over and then put his hands over my head. It felt like my hair was standing on its end like I was electrocuted. When he was done, he walked back up the stairs and stood next to Janus. “Umm, not to be rude, but what the hell did you just do to me?”

“I was just checking your brain power mortal. Is this your doing Janus? Of course it is; look who I’m talking to.”

“I’ve done nothing Jason. I really don’t know what you are talking about, because it is all as it should be. Now Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Remiel, Saraquel and Amitiel, Uriel and Selaphiel; let’s begin.”

God pointed one of his hands in my direction and my body became stiff. I could no longer move on my own. He raised his hand higher and I started to float in the air. All eight of the arch-angels gathered around me in a circle. Their wings materialized and touched each other. They each grabbed the hand of the nearest angel and their wings began to glow brightly. An energy circle formed around them and began to contract. It went over their heads and came inside the circle they had formed. It settled around me. Right before it touched me God said, “This might hurt a little.”

The energy circle touched my skin and I began to scream bloody murder. It was by far the most painful thing I had yet experienced. The only thing that came to mind to describe the sensation was that it felt like someone was pulling off all of my nails. It felt as if all of the hair on my body was being torn out one at a time; like someone was tearing off pieces of my skin and then putting them back on only to do it again. Why couldn’t I just pass out? It was so unbearable. Tears were streaming down my face in rivulets. And no matter how long I thought it had been or that I couldn’t take it anymore, it continued. I could vaguely hear Jason begging them the stop, but no one paid him any attention.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, I started to feel something inside me well up. The feeling got stronger and stronger each second. Before long, I no longer felt the pain. The energy circle that had enveloped me was now covering my whole body. The feeling inside was starting to overwhelm me and I thought I was going to burst. The energy that was covering me suddenly disappeared and a massive force left me and knocked the angels over. Jason also got knocked over, but much harder. I fell to the ground and blacked out.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I came to, I was in my bed. Well, not my bed in my new apartment, but the bed I had when I was an angel. I was in my old house in Heaven. Everything was just how I left it all those millennia ago. I looked over and saw Jason asleep in a chair by the bed. I remembered making that chair. I used one of the cypress trees from my back yard. Amitiel laughed at me for making the chair by hand. He said, “You have the power to shape reality and you’re using a hammer.”

“Sometimes I like to feel the work in my hands. I don’t always want to snap my fingers and get what I want.”

That memory felt like it happened yesterday, but it actually happened like 500,000 years ago; long before the events that caused the current predicament. It seemed that my full memories had returned. I was the arch-angel Adonael. I was the first living being to see the faces of the gods. Oh my goodness; the gods. I forgot all about the lady Sonja and Lord Ganu. Sonja was like my big sister. I came to her when things were bad. I always knew that pissed off my parents Jason and Janus but I think that’s why I did it. She technically was my half-sister I guess, since she was actually their daughter. Lord Ganu was like my awesome uncle. He taught me how to fight since I wasn’t born with a lot of strength. It was the same with him he told me one day. He wasn’t that strong to start off with, but that just meant he had to train harder and he did. My father Jason treated me like his favorite; at least, that’s what it felt like. Janus always seemed like a stranger to me. We always had these long and meaningful conversations, but I never truly connected with him. Lucifer was his favorite. I secretly disliked my brother for that very reason. He had the attention of the creator; I wanted that. I’m sure Janus knew how I felt, but he never said anything. I think the reason I chose Janus’ side during the war was to finally have that connection. Nothing went according to plan though. I was still banished from Heaven and ended up in his disfavor.

Those years on Earth were brutal. It wasn’t like I couldn’t take care of myself. I was still the fifth most powerful being in the universe. The brutality was I still had to fight for the humans. I had lost my home because of them and I still had to fight on their behalf.

Janus never once visited me or even spoke to me. All of His messages were relayed through the angels. In the beginning, the ones who gave me messages were one of my eight brothers. Closer to the end, it became the lesser angels. My brothers couldn’t even be bothered to talk to me any longer. I think it was that which caused me to lash out the way I did. I only wanted to get His attention. I never intended to kill so many people. And the punishment was rather harsh, from an angel’s point of view. I didn’t like the reincarnation part either. I remembered who I was each time I got reincarnated until the last time. Janus must have done something to me just like Jason said. Oh well; it was time to get to the bottom of things.

Jason stirred in his chair and then opened his eyes. I looked at him and smiled. He got up really fast and ran towards me. He grabbed me and pulled me in for a fierce hug. “I so thought you were dead. You didn’t have a pulse. I started to yell at God. I couldn’t help myself. I thought he had killed you.”

I felt my neck and then felt my wrist. He was right; I didn’t have a pulse. I was still me, James Taylor, but I was also Adonael. However, that personality was not in charge, it was mine only; with his memories.

“Are you all right James?”

“I think so. I….don’t know actually. How long have I been out?”

“You’ve been unconscious for the past two days.”

“Two days; we’ve been here that long?!?”

“Yeah, I know, but I gotta tell you; the food up here is amazing!”

I laughed and said, “Well, this is Heaven.”

“Do you feel like…..well, like yourself?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean are you still my James or the angel Adonael?”

“It’s arch-angel and yes I’m still James, but I’m also every other person that I’ve ever been; including Adonael. Who told you that name?”

“God told me. So then you now have multiple personalities.”

“No, it’s nothing like that. How can I put this?” I scratched my head trying to put how I felt into plain enough words. “It’s more like I remember being these other people and I have all of their memories, but the only personality present is that of James Taylor. I guess it’s like I lived all of that and am just over thirteen billion years old which I guess is the case. Basically, the new guy is running the show and I like that just fine.”

Jason sighed in relief. “I was afraid I would have to get to know you again.”

“No such luck mister,” I said while laughing.

While we were talking, God appeared and stood next to my bed. Jason flinched at the sudden appearance of Janus, but I just went on as if nothing had changed. Despite my current personality, I was used to His sudden appearances. He said, “You’re finally awake. How are you feeling James?”

“I feel like my insides were pulled out of my nose and then fed back to me. And then it was repeated.”

“What a colorful analogy.”

I continued to stare at Janus. “Why am I here God?”

“It’s Janus, please. We were once friends you know.”

“Were we?” I asked. God got upset. “All right then, Janus, why am I here?”

“You’re here so you may recover from the ordeal we just put you through.”

“You know perfectly well that was not what I meant.”

Janus sighed. Why was God sighing? He said, “Are you sure that you’re up for this right now?”

“I am; absolutely!”

God looked over to Jason and said, “Jason, could you excuse us please? I need to speak with your boyfriend about some very sensitive information.”

Jason got up from my bed and moved closer to me. “Can’t I please stay with him my Lord? I really don’t want to leave his side.”

"My Lord?!  When did you get to be so formal?" I asked.

"When I found myself in the presence of the creator of the universe," was Jason’s retort.

“I told you to call me Janus, and no; this is for James’ ears only.”

“All right then. I still can’t get over the fact that I’m talking to God. I’ll go have a chat with the other arch-angels then. See you babe.”

I waved goodbye to Jason, but I didn’t take my eyes off of Janus. It was amazing how much I looked like him. But the real reason I was staring was because I knew that he was hiding something from me. “So…….”

“Yes James; you have something you want to ask me?”

“Please stop playing these games. I know why you did all of this, but I don’t understand what you get out of it.”

“I have no idea what you are referring to; out of what?”

“You are so infuriating! How does Jason put up with you?”

“He puts up with me by exercising lots and lots of patience,” Janus said as he covered a smile. “Okay, okay; I will stop now. What do you want to know? And no I will not tell you the meaning of life.”

“That’s very funny. I want to know why we look alike.”

Janus sat down in my chair and it began to levitate. It moved through the air to the right side of my bed and returned to the ground. “You are the very first creature I made, remember? It stands to reason that I would make something like me.”

“I don’t buy that at all. When I was first an angel I didn’t look anything like this. If angels had races, I would have been Caucasian.”

“Your memory might still be a little off from the procedure. It could still be affected after the transformation you’ve made. This might actually be your original form.”

I shook my head. “You know that this isn’t my original form. I know that because you said ‘this might be’, and not ‘this is’. And for some reason, I can read your thoughts. I was even able to read them before you changed me back. Why is that?”

“It’s one of your powers. You have the power of telepathy among other things. Yours was the strongest out of all of the arch-angels. And if you remember right, we don’t communicate up here with our mouths that often. Most every bit of communication is done telepathically.”

“I get that, and yes I do remember how we would communicate, but I couldn’t hear the other angel’s thoughts before this happened. Your thoughts came in loud and clear however. We’re connected somehow but you won’t tell me how or why. Why aren’t you answering me? We used to be so close; maybe not as close as you and Samiel were, but you still trusted me. I mean, you’re my father.”

Janus cried a single tear from what I said. He then wiped it away. “I’m sorry James. It was not my intention to cause you pain or to avoid telling you the truth. I also needed to be closer to Samiel for this to happen. I’m truly sorry if you felt slighted by that.”

“Father, what’s wrong?”

“I told you to call me Janus.”

“Sorry; old habits….”

“I always knew this would happen. I planned for this actually. I knew that if I failed, my time would be up soon. I knew that time was now when you were born again as James.”

I grabbed his hand. “What are you talking about?” So, he told me. Janus said that the universe was about to be destroyed, and him along with it. Until the moment I became an arch-angel again, the universe had ten years left. My return had given us more time. He said about another 100,000 years. “Hold on; you mean the universe was about to disappear?”

“In a manner of speaking; yes that’s correct. There was actually going to be an implosion followed by an explosion. All dimensions and everything in them would have been killed.”

“If that’s the case, why can’t you stop it? You created the universe; shouldn’t you be able to redo the whole thing?”

“I no longer have the strength. As soon as I created this universe, 99% of my power went into maintaining it.”

“How is that possible? Plus, I thought the angels maintained the universe. There is no way that could be true.”

“Well it’s true. The angels do maintain things, but only what I tell them to. They are more of a placebo and I’m the actual cure. I am living with about 1% of my power in order to keep the universe from exploding.”

“That can’t be. I can feel your energy and I have to tell you; everyone in Heaven put together still doesn’t compare to you.”

“That’s sweet.”

“I’m not trying to be sweet. I sense energy and what I’m feeling from you isn’t weakness. And if this is you at 1%, you must have been something extraordinary before the creation.

He gazed off with longing. “Of course I was amazing. No one could touch me before I created this universe. Before I took over from the previous God, I was the shit. Pardon my language.”

I let go of his hand and looked at him in shock. “What do you mean the previous God? Are you not God?”

Janus got up from the chair and it flew back to its original spot. “I am God; the current God any way. There have been others. There were seven others to be exact.  Or rather, that’s all we seem to know about.  None of us have been able to stop the destruction of the universe, so we do a reset. We take it back to the very beginning and see if there is anything we can change to end the inevitable apocalypse. I have gotten the closest. You are the reason I have come so close. The reason we look alike is because you will be taking over for me as God when I die.”

I have to tell you; this was not a typical birthday for me. First I found out that I was an angel, and now I was going to be the next God. Was he serious? “So, um….I don’t really know what to say to that. I am supposed to be the next God. How is that even possible?”

“I was in your shoes once. It is a little jarring to find out that you have to start running things as the leader supreme. I’m not going to lie and say it gets easier, because it doesn’t, but you eventually learn to manage. Hopefully you’ll be able to do what I couldn’t. That was the reason I created you. I gave you limitless potential in order to save all of existence. No pressure,” he said while smiling.

“Is this the same universe or a different one?”

“Well, at its core it’s the same, but to be honest, I don’t know how many there have been. Each version of me has had over 100 trillion years or more to get the universe right, but all have failed. However, where we failed, you will succeed.”

“Why would I succeed when you couldn’t? You don’t strike me as a dumb God. I’m sure you’re a genius a million times over.”

“It has nothing to do with being smart, but about making smart decisions. Not all of my decisions have been smart ones. I believe that when the time comes however, you will make the right decision when I didn’t.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I honestly don’t know myself. I can’t see past a certain event; long after I’ve moved on.”

I sat for a few minutes in stunned silence. Why was this happening to me? I was completely ready for him to avoid all of my questions or give me some bullshit answers to placate me. I would ask a question like why he had never answered any of my prayers. I would also ask why there had to be so much pain and suffering in the world.

“I would have told you the truth no matter what. You know that, right?”

Whoops. I forgot he could read my mind.

“Yes, you did.”

“Stop that.”

“Stop thinking out loud.” I gave him my patented stare and he just laughed at me. “You really shouldn’t use that stare any more. With your powers, you could literally kill someone with that look of yours. Or you could turn them quite stupid.”

“Back to the previous topic, the reason I can read your thoughts is because of the God thing?”

“That is correct.”

“Can you hide any thoughts from me?”

He laughed at that. “I can hide every thought from you. I am God, after all. You’ve only been hearing what I let you hear.”

“Oh.”

“Ha ha ha, don’t get all upset now. You are still very important.”

“Do the others know about this?”

“What others?”

“I mean, does Lord Jason or Lord Ganu or Lady Sonja know about this?”

He sighed heavily that time. “No, they don’t know.”

“But Jason is your husband. Why wouldn’t you tell him?”

“Well, they are aware of the universal decay, but they don’t know how long it has or that most of my power is keeping it at bay. They don’t even know that there were more gods than the last. They helped me take over from the last God, so they know that much.”

“Why tell me then? I mean, why now? Why didn’t you tell me this before when I was still just an angel and not part human? You could even have waited until it was time for me to succeed you.”

“The reason I did it now was because I’m trying to change things. The last God never told me what I am telling you. I can only assume it was the same for him and his predecessors. I’m counting on this change to help. We were not given the proper information to save the universe. You will be. I know there is one out there that knows how to save it, but I haven’t been able to find them. I now know that I wasn’t meant to find him, but you were. The rest can wait however. Today you need your rest. You have a long journey ahead of you.”

“But I have more questions.”

“I know you do, but you need to regain your strength. That angel ritual took a lot out of you. We will talk more tomorrow.”

Janus left and I was abandoned yet again with my chaotic thoughts.

How was I supposed to marshal enough strength to save the whole of existence? I remembered how powerful I was before, and that strength wasn’t even one-thousandth of what God had right now. This was him at only 1% of his power. I definitely had my work cut out for me. I had to get that strong, no stronger, in 100,000 years. There was no way I could do this alone. I wondered if they could make Jason an angel too.

I was deep in thought when I finally drifted off to sleep again. When I woke up, it was morning again. Well, I could only guess that it was morning. I didn’t know if it got dark in heaven. If it did, I didn’t actually remember that part. Hold on a minute. It did get dark there. The darkness was really pretty though. It had a purpose. But, the fact that it got dark meant I had been there for three days. I really needed to get back home.

I got out of bed and realized I was wearing bed clothes. I looked around hoping to see them somewhere. I had just bought them before going up to heaven and they looked really good on me. I looked everywhere in the bedroom but didn’t see them anywhere. I couldn’t go home looking like this. Then I realized something and laughed. I was a super-powered being again. I snapped my fingers and my clothes appeared on me, and they looked better than ever. This was going to be so much fun.

I left the place that used to be my house and started to look for the others. I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t even sense anyone, which meant they weren’t on that level. I decided to go look for them at the palace. I wanted to try out my teleportation skills, just to see if I truly remembered how. Having a different body and all, a human one at that might have changed my abilities. I concentrated on the throne room with all of my might. I totally over shot the room. I ended up in the banquet hall and had left a crater where I landed. It seemed obvious at the time, but my powers were stronger in the human body. I looked around and realized that I wasn’t alone. That was where everyone was.

Jason looked up, startled by my entrance. He spit out the juice he was drinking. None of the angels were in attendance, but it looked like the other gods were. I hadn’t seen them since my banishment from Heaven thousands of years ago.

“Yes, it has been a long time Adonael; or should I say James now?” Sonja said cheerfully. She came over to me and embraced me in a monstrous hug. She nearly broke all of my bones in the process.

“Ouch, that hurts Sonja!” I exclaimed.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m not used to holding humans in my arms anymore.”

“Wait a second; I’m still human?”

Jason, well God’s Jason, came over and shook my hand. “No, you’re an angel again, but you are still in your human body. Your previous body was destroyed, and besides….humans are more durable. They have such a high capacity for healing. However, you are more prone to sustaining injury. You will have to get stronger for that not to be a concern.”

Ganu came over at that point and looked me up and down. “Lord Ganu.”

He looked at me some more and then he broke out in laughter. “You’re definitely cuter now than when you were here originally. Welcome back James!” He came over, grabbed my hand and shook it while patting me hard on my back. Janus came over next and pulled me in for his turn at hugging me. It was at that moment that I felt his warmth and fragility. I hugged him back and began to break down. All of the gods smiled and came in to give me a group hug. I had been looking for this my whole life without truly knowing what it was I had been looking for. I always felt out of place as James Charleston Taylor and I didn’t think I would ever be complete. I finally found what I’d been missing, and now my life could truly begin.

My tears finally subsided and they all let go of me. I walked over to Jason and wiped up the remains of the tears. “You’re not going to hug me as well?”

“I hugged you yesterday. How are you? Is everything good now?” he asked.

I smiled and said, “Yes; everything is good now. It feels as if a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. So, are you ready to go back home?”

“Absolutely!”

“I’ll send you back. I need to ask them a few more questions and then I will join you.”

“I’ll just wait for you.”

“That isn’t necessary. You’ve been through a lot too and could use some rest. Don’t worry; I’ll be fine.”

My Jason got up from the table and gave me a deep and passionate kiss. I knew that was his answer and what a great answer it was. I should get turned into an angel everyday if it brings about that kind of affection from Jason. After the kiss, I looked at him and my eyes began to glow. White lights appeared around him; he turned into light and then disappeared.

After my Jason was gone, the gods gathered around me. Janus said, “No, we can’t turn him into an angel, but there is something you can do.”

“What’s that?”

“There is a spell on Earth in the Vatican library that can make him immortal, like you, but still human.”

“He could have powers like yours if the spell is augmented,” Ganu said, “but on a smaller scale of course.”

Sonja chimed in next. “Given sufficient time, he could be just as powerful as you.”

“But, you’ll want to get stronger before that happens or you won’t be able to do what you were made to do.”

“Wait a second; what was he made to do?” Ganu asked.

Jason went over to Ganu and said, “Don’t worry about it, but James knows what I’m talking about and that’s all that matters.”

Janus laid his hands on my shoulder. “If you train hard every day for the next million years or so, you’ll reach the power necessary to achieve your goals.”

“What?!? I don’t have a few million years to train. I thought I only had until----.”

“The way will be made clear to you in a few years. Now, off with you. Your boyfriend is waiting for you.”

Janus blinked and then I saw light pass from his eyes and suddenly I was standing in front of my Jason. “Sorry to keep you waiting babe. I just had to ask them a few things though they already knew what I wanted to ask them.”

He looked at me oddly. “How did you have time to ask them anything? We arrived at the same time.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Time is different up there. It moves much faster than here.”

“So that means…..” Jason ran to the TV and turned it on. He turned to CNN. “I was right.”

“You were right about what?”

“Look at the date and time.”

I looked and saw that it was still Thursday, my birthday, and only 10 minutes had passed since Amitiel took us to Heaven. My memory certainly wasn’t what it used to be if I forgot about the time difference, but it was pretty cool that I still got to spend my birthday with Jason. I would also be able to make rehearsal for the church since our dinner reservations were so late. It was perfect. And if I found that spell to make Jason immortal, I could actually be with him forever. It was shaping up to be the best birthday ever! I couldn’t wait to see what the next 100,000 birthdays brought. Hopefully I would have millions or even billions more.

Next Chapter: Powers