1 1. First meeting with the Origin

"Interesting book. As I recall the villain tries to destroy an entire race?" an old man with a grey jogging suit and a hoodie asks me as he stops by next to my bench.

I respond with a non-committal jerk. But he does not seem to take the hint as he sits down beside me. He looks at me while lowering his hoodie. "Assuming that world, is real will you try and save that race." He says while pointing at the book.

"No!" I say. "Because this is a prequel. It is 50 years before the plot of the story." "And if those people survive they will have children and their children will have children and by the time the plot of the story starts there may not be a functioning civilization."

"Also good is only good because there is evil to compare it against. So, the villains are needed every now and then to remind us how good we have it".

"So you are rooting for the villain" he says while frowning.

"You see his evilness but not what drove him to it. He may be the villain of this story but he definitely is the hero of his own story." I adjust my body to face him as I say those words.

"He is certainly pitiable and relatable despite trying to destroy a race." I used his own words against him. This seems to make him happy. "But no I am not rooting for the villain. As some of his actions are too damnable."

"I am rooting for the civilization that brought about this fascinating tale. This world seems way too real. For instance, without that ethnic cleansing there may not be a church that tries to protect Universal Rights."

"Church has been corrupted," he says with a smirk. It was at that point that I start noticing the sarcasm and anger in his voice. I am certain that it was anger and not passion. Which makes even less sense than this conversation as no one gets that worked up unless they are talking about his own family or someone he personally knows.

I hold out my hand and says "Raphael Franklin Scarlet Michelson" as I start to memorize his face when he faces me to shake my hand. It was a fake name but I figured it is best not to give my real name to a nutcase. And I wanted his name in case I needed police assistance. He takes my hand. It was rough and filled with callouses like a blue-collar social worker.

"Origin" he says smiling as if knows what is going through my mind.

"Origin of what" I asked. I was certain that he was crazy at that point. "The Origin of this Universe" he says.

"I am tired, very very tired. And I am responsible for many Galaxies in this Universe and many planets with intelligent lives on them."

"Including this one" I says while holding up the book. "Yes. And the world we are in now" he responds sluggishly.

"So are you like God".

"Yes, but I don't listen to what people pray or complain to every day. Also, I don't give a shit about the deals you people try to make with me." he gives me a dead stare. "You know giving money to churches or donating hair to get your means." Then his voice goes way down. And says, "What the hell am I suppose to do with hair?" bearly above wisper as he looks away.

It was that face again. I have never seen anyone that defeated before. And trust me I know what I am talking about.

"I used to give a shit. I listened. I answered prayers. I even ate the food that they sacrificed in my name." Then he looks into my eyes and says, "They burned or gave food the poor in my name. I used to line up to get a piece of it." he throws his hands in the air like a manic as he does so.

"I even send messengers and prophets to guide humanity on the right path. All in the hope that you all will change and the goodness in you will prevail. That one day you won't need me and I can rest". He stops at that point.

He only went on after a while.

"Then I learned of other worlds. They needed me more so I went there. And every time I came back it was worse."

" Recently it was Dark ages and Cuba missile crisis. I had to create avatars on all the planets. That worked for a time." he seemed defeated at that point from all his lunatic ravings.

"It was exhausting. So no more answering prayers, sacrifices or avatars. I stopped enabling across the board." then suddenly there was microexpression of happiness on that dead face. I wanted to give life to that ember. But what do I say what can I say I am barely following his train of thought. Then he started to talk again before I can say anything.

"Funny thing happened after I left this world to focus on other worlds. When I came back the world was still there even without my interference, people started to share their ideas and fascinations in the World Wide Web. I was getting inspiration and ideas to unsolvable problems. I was sure that people would regress when I left but they prospered."

"I still don't give a shit about humanity. But their ideas are marvellous."

"So I've got a new mission, if a world is about to be destroyed or too much of History is about to be lost. Then I choose to interfere and preserve their knowledge as I am about to do in this world right now."

"So the third World War is about to Begin that sucks." I summarize from his lunatic ravings.

"Not really. Because without this war this world will run out of resources in 20 to 30 years."

"So even you are uncertain sometimes."

"Yes, I see possible futures like grains of sands falling between my fingers. They are usually alike. But, not all of them comes true. Foresight is for gaining knowledge to increase wisdom. And using them I know the future that is most likely to happen."

"If your God then what about free will."

"But you have free will did you not chose to wear those clothes, buy that book and sit on this bench. Does my knowing your choice somehow changes your choice? No. because you remain ignorant of my knowing. My power of Foresight has little to do with your choices. In the sense that there are many possible futures. I use my wisdom to figure out the future most likely to happen"

"So there is a future where WWIII does not happen."

"Yes, you just have to colonize Venus and Mars simultaneously."

"Yes…, nice knowing you. Good luck with the end of the world". I try to run from the nut case. Totally forgetting about his problems.

"If you want to see me again and be my successor press the mark on for wrist and think of me." he yells as I walk away from the bench.

And in a lower voice, "something tells me we are more alike than either of like to admit."

I instinctively look at my left wrist there was a tattoo there. And it starts to glow golden reddish when my right-hand goes near it. This is some kind of a trick. This can't be real I repeat that mantra as I head home after taking many detours to ensure that I was not being followed by the lunatic.