Bonus Story ─ Origin (1)

I still remember.

Despite becoming a god, the memories of my human life are not gone.

They're still inside me, like matchsticks in my ears.

Normally, one cannot see how one is born, but I can.

I was watching my mother lying on a stone table with grass underneath her.

A group of women were helping her to push.

The language they were speaking was so ancient, it was very different from the language of the gods I speak.

Pulling me out from under her, the old woman lifted me up.

They were all celebrating my birth.

You'd think that would be a good thing, but in my case it wasn't. I never expected the next thing that happened.

I never expected the next thing that happened.

"He's not breathing. He died."

Said the old woman.

My mother, who was the daughter of a rich and very powerful man in the country, was crying without even checking her son to see if he was really dead.

She believed this stranger just because she had helped deliver several babies.

The old woman handed the baby to a young woman to take it to the ceremonial hall to begin the cremation.

Or so she was supposed to do.

After leaving the place, she fled at high speed.

Both she and the old woman were in conspiracy, they were related and the old woman decided to help her.

When she reached the outskirts of the city, a cart with a man holding several earthenware jars was waiting for her.

She climbed in calmly and the two of them got out of the city thanks to the fact the man was a small merchant.

I was alive, I just couldn't cry.

I was born calmly, which is rare for a baby.

Surely the old woman would look for an excuse to say that I died.

But because I didn't cry, they were able to kidnap me, take me away from my biological family and the riches that awaited me.

The reason for the kidnapping was because the woman could not bear children.

And because she had been working taking care of her employer's daughter, who was not a nasty man like the others, she was able to take advantage of his kindness and plan to steal me.

She was sterile.

She tried to have a child, but couldn't, then tried to be impregnated by her employer and that didn't work either, confirming that she was the one with the problem.

Envy was born because she couldn't have children.

She longed for that child that was not hers and told her husband who accepted.

They both fled from my hometown, Babylon.

◇

"You big idiot!"

Four years had passed since then.

My fake mother, who at first gave me love and care as if she was my real mother, began one day to mistreat me rudely.

My father passed away a year ago due to a plague that hit us out of nowhere.

You could say that those of us who survived were lucky.

But the land for crops, livestock and crops died too.

We had to move to another town.

My mother made me go outside to work.

In her own words she said.

"I don't care if you have to steal, if they cut off your fingers for it. Or even if you have to give up your body for it, I want you to bring money to eat!"

When I didn't bring any money.

She would beat me, hit me roughly and even choke me.

I was afraid of her, but I was more terrified of the street.

I watched a boy two years older than me get his hand cut off for stealing.

I was afraid that the same thing would happen to me.

I didn't want to steal, the fear invaded me to such a degree that it scared the blood out of me.

But I wanted to eat.

The hunger makes you do unthinkable things.

At that time, I hadn't eaten for three days, even water denied me.

I had to drink water from the ground or like some others, drink directly from my urine.

So, today I will steal, was what I thought at the time.

I watched as my foolish child self-condemned itself forever.

For that day, it would be the worst day of all.

The fisherman had obtained fresh fish, I took one as I watched him negotiate a purchase.

Due to my small size I was able to hide in the water and my hand came to the surface to grab a fish.

"I did it" was what my silly child self-shouted inside as he walked away.

It was the perfect crime.

Today I will eat at last I thought.

That happiness didn't last me long because as I crossed the alley....

"There you are!"

The fisherman's wife caught me.

"I thought it was suspicious to see you hanging around here. Huh? What's this? A little petty thief."

The words would not come out of my mouth even though I wanted to beg for forgiveness.

The fisherman's wife took me to the other fishermen.

None of them noticed me as they were busy.

"I caught this little rascal stealing. Stealing merchandise!"

They all got angry with me.

Getting angry at a little boy for stealing was normal.

For many times the guards stole money or merchandise from the merchants and they had to let off steam.

I watched them gather around me.

Tears were streaming down my dirty cheeks.

They were not interested in hearing my words or my pleas.

They just approached, and with their fists or sticks, gave me the beating of my young life.

◇

I woke up hours later completely bloodied.

I got up and headed straight home.

The situation was only made worse by what I heard.

"Damn it. If only I hadn't stolen it."

"My husband, my life, everything I had wouldn't be gone. If only that damn kid had really died, I'd be living a happy life with my husband and my real son!"

Hearing my fake mother burst into tears devastated me more than I thought it would.

Still with blood pouring out of my head, I ran away.

I don't know where I wanted to run.

I just ran.

I ran as far as I could to get away from that place.

But most of all, to run away from my life.

Before I knew it, I ended up in the desert, far away from the city.

I wanted to go back, but due to exhaustion, I fainted.

Poor me, I thought.

(I will die like a mangy dog in the desert where insects and lizards along with crows will devour me.)

Hope dwindling drastically with each passing second, I finally closed my eyes to die in peace.

... Or that's how it had to be.

(Open your eyes, son of man.)

I heard a voice.

It was a man's voice, similar to that of a middle-aged man.

I didn't have the strength to get up, but suddenly, a strange energy filled me.

The blood dripping from my head stopped as the wound closed.

My broken bones were mending.

The sand that touched my face slowly turned into something I never touched, grass.

The sand around me turned green.

Trees.

Shrubs.

Even a spring came out of nowhere.

A ray of light shone on me.

(Get up, son of man.)

The same voice with a strong expression, but with a pleasant tone called me.

I stood up trembling.

I was really frightened.

I thought something worse would happen, but what I got was something unexpected.

(I have been watching you, son of man.)

(You have suffered so much... but so much. That it is unthinkable that it is not a punishment.)

(That's why I have decided to give you a gift.)

(I have decided that you should be my voice. So that you may save this world from human depravity.)

(You will become an apostle of God.)

(Tell me your name, son of man.)

I was trembling as I wept.

I felt that my existence was being rewarded at last.

I was glad to be alive.

"Z-Zel. My name is Zel, god."

(Very good son of man, Zel.)

(Engrave in your soul this name, it is the name of the god who created the universe.)

(The one who created you, who created life and death.)

At that moment where I thought I had obtained hope.

(Zeus.)

(My name is Zeus.)

It was too late when I discovered that it was only the beginning of the real hell I would live through.

___________

Origin part one, end.

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Let's move on with a bit of fanservice from him.

https://chan.sankakucomplex.com/es/post/show/30457737