1 God

"I- I am sorry," the petite beauty in front of me whispered. Her hourglass figure trembled as she sniffed and tried to hold her tears at bay. The slender fingers of her fair hands intertwined together in anxiousness. And I could see the deep fear etched on her face as she lowered her head to look at the shards of glass scattered on the floor.

Looking at her fearful yet adorable expression, I couldn't help but reach out my hand to touch her pale, soft cheeks. As soon as the tips of my fingers met her snow-white skin, her body shuddered every so slightly. Still, she didn't move away nor did try to swat my intruding hands. Instead, she tightly closed her eyes and shakily said, "Please- Please be gentle…"

As soon as her pleading voice fell into my ears, my breath halted for a moment… and then, it sped up. The beauty in front of me was far too adorable. Although I clearly understood the meaning behind her words — which referred to the punishment lashes, apparent from her torn rags and bruised skin — my sick mind couldn't help but wander in a different direction. My heart, with all its might, wished to devour the cutie in front of me.

As my fingers slowly caressed her cheeks, I ever so slowly leaned my head forward until I could feel our breaths caress each other's face. My thumb lightly traced her pink lips and separated the two succulent petals with the gentlest movement I could muster. At the same time, my lips reached forward, finally meeting their juicy prey.

Immediately, the beauty's eyes opened wide as confusion and surprise filled those bright, blue gems. I, on the other hand, hungrily savored the soft feeling between my lips with a content smile.

...…

As I opened my eyes, a piercing white light blinded me and a sharp, searing pain made its way to my head. The unbearable pain made me fall to my knees, clutching my burning head.

I felt as if someone was pricking thousands of thin needles into my head, starting from my eyes. I wished I could gouge my eyes out right then and there, and that… was exactly what my hands reached out to do…

"Hold your horses, boy."

Just when my fingers separated my eyelids and reached forward to rip out my eyeballs, a faint, soothing voice fell into my ears. Immediately, the piercing light and the pain it brought along receded like a tide, and I calmed down.

I shook my head to clear my mind, and then slowly opened my eyes to look at the one who helped me. As I blinked my eyes and clarity returned to my vision, I saw a slender, white-haired old man standing in front of me.

The old man had a thin goatee he continuously caressed, and he wore a pure-white robe without a speck of dust on it. Stranger was the fact that a golden light with a purple sheen covered him from head to toe, making him look somewhat holy and awe-inspiring. And his smile full of kindness only added to the holiness he radiated.

His skin glistened just like a newborn's, giving the illusion that even the slightest touch might leave a mark on his tender skin. For an old man, he looked far too… too… I could not muster a word to describe the elegant appearance in front of me…

As I looked up and down at the old man, he, too, scrutinized me with his eyes full of infinite wisdom. Throughout the process, the gentle smile on his face did not lessen, and he let me study himself in awe and wonder.

I couldn't believe someone like him could exist among human beings. No! He had to be a being of legends, an immortal… No, wait, he had to be God himself!

As my mind arrived at that conclusion for a reason I couldn't comprehend, the awe I felt for the old man… cough… for the great God increased multiple folds and a sense of reverence overtook me. Both my heart and mind urged me to prostrate in front of him and submit.

Just when these thoughts were sprouting in my mind, I heard the great God speak to me again.

"You guessed it correctly, boy. I am a god, indeed!"

The smile on the great God's face widened as he nodded towards me in praise. Immediately, a feeling of utter disbelief crashed my mind as my eyes widened, and I blurted out the question in my heart, "You can read my mind?!"

"What do you think, boy?"

At my incredulous response, the great God questioned me back with the same gentle smile of his. At that moment, to me, he looked like a magnanimous spirit that would bathe the world in the light of kindness, purging all the evil darkness that endangered the weak and devoured the pitiful.

'Are you really God?'

I couldn't help asking the question. But this time, I asked the question in my mind, to verify the great God's claim. And as expected, the great God replied with a nod, 'I am a god, indeed.'

But what truly made me lose all my bearing was the fact that I didn't see the lips of the great God move, even in the slightest. It was as if he directly spoke inside my head, and I could hear his voice as clearly as when he spoke before. There… was no difference in the sound and tone whether he moved his lips or not.

Holy! The great God in front of me could not be human. Either he was a very realistic hallucination my brain came up with to deceive me, or he truly was God in all his glory! Thinking of that, I crawled forward like a baby reaching out to get their favorite toy and soon arrived by the great God's side.

Looking up at the benevolent smile on the great God's face, I reached out my hands and tightly clutched onto his thigh. With an expression of great reverence on my face, I looked and said in a voice laced with awe, "Oh great God! Please take this humble mortal as your disciple!"