Replacement God

I shoved my way through the crowds packing the streets: some celebrating, some rioting, all of them uncertain about what the future might hold. Of course, who wouldn't be after finding out that not only was God real, but that He had been absent for quite a while and a new one would be taking over His position. For all they knew the next several hours would mean either Paradise or Pandemonium. And depending upon the outcome of our meeting, they would be right.

I dipped into a back alley, passing an old Harley, a white Rolls Royce, a battered pick-up truck, and a well used minivan. I banged on the steel door and when a slot opened I held up a gold coin. The slot closed and the door opened to reveal a large man with a sawed-off double-barrelled shotgun braced against his chest. "Down the hall, first door on the right, and take the stairs down," he said as he shut the door behind me.

I nodded, the serious look on his face deterring any questions. The coin went back into my pocket as I followed the man's instructions. At the bottom of the stairs, just like the vehicles parked in the alley, were an assortment of people who wouldn't have crossed paths if not for one common quality amongst them: they'd all been touched by the Divine. For most people, religion was about faith. Even the most devout in their faith carried the smallest amount of doubt. Those in this room, and others like it across the globe, though knew that a higher power existed, and worked tirelessly to contain it.

I took a seat at the table and waited for the meeting to start. "Can I see it?" asked a man to my right with a cocky smile. I reached into my shirt and pulled a small golden cross on a chain. The man shook his head. "That's not it," he said as his smile straightened.

I smiled at his sour face and pulled the gold coin from my pocket. "Aztec gold blessed by Huitzilopochtli," I said holding it between my fingers. As the man extended his hand, I snatched the coin away and slipped it back into my pocket. "Trust me, you're not going to want to experience this one." The man nodded in understanding as I closed my eyes. Any object blessed by The Divine carried its own weight. The memory of chests sliced open and hearts ripped out, and in exchange a blinding light that could dispel the ever-enveloping Darkness, washed over me like a tsunami of terror. Nightmares that haunted me since a crazed man in the park handed the coin to my twelve-year old self.

I opened my eyes to see the same haunted expression reflected back at me. The other man reached into his coat to reveal a single white feather, a streak of red marring an edge. "From The Fall," was all he said before turning away, the conversation over. I nodded. Contact with The Divine wasn't something most mortal minds are prepared to handle. It was the reason why The Dominion had called this meeting after centuries lying dormant, the tokens being passed along to someone who would hopefully never be called to serve.

A voice let out a short cough and the room silenced. A young woman stood at the front of the table, young enough that at first I thought she might be someone's college intern. Then I looked into her eyes and realized my mistake: eyes that had seen things over lifetimes, ages that the rest of the world only read about in books and some too old to have ever been chronicled. Not old enough to have heard The Voice proclaim, "Let there be light," but perhaps born in a time to have heard it echo across the world.

"You have been called as agents of The Dominion to respond to this new threat to the sovereignty of Humanity. You've all heard the broadcast, as did the billions across the globe - a new deity is coming to Earth. One that will want to play a more active role in out lives than our previous overseer. We are only human. We cannot prevent It. We cannot stop It. We can only work to minimize Its impact."

Though never having met before, without having spoken to each other before entering this chamber, we all nodded in agreement. We'd experienced the unfathomable power of The Divine. The wrath that destroyed cities, the love that ended famine and drought, the power that promised freedom while demanding obedience. No deity assigned to watch over humanity has ever been as benevolent as they claim. Most demand sacrifice of one thing or another. The ones that don't demand adherence to rules which humanity has no input in creating. Equality has never been the goal of an overload, only control.

The first meeting of The Dominion, and subsequent meetings, did what we were seeking to do again - wrest control of Humanity's fate from The Divine into our own hands. They too knew they couldn't fight directly against The Divine and instead sought to pull people away from the deity's control. Knowledge. Reason. Science. Humanities. These were their tools, and they would be ours as well. Persuading people that they didn't need a new deity to make their lives better. Sowing disinformation amongst the people to further distrust. Volunteering and funding efforts to help the most disenfranchised and vulnerable among us. Investing in medicine and technology to further advance humanity.

As we planned our missions, the woman continued to remind us that we were merely human, and to brace for the worst. People were still people. They'd give anything to just wish their lives even the slightest bit better. Or perhaps the new deity's idea of "hands-on" was more dictatorial in fashion - in which case we didn't stand a chance.

As I pushed back through the crowded streets to my apartment, I did something perhaps running entirely counter to our mission - I prayed. I looked around at the hope and chaos sown on the faces of every passerby and I asked the new deity, if It really wanted to help humanity, then  please, just stay up in the Heavens where It belongs. If It could do that, then perhaps all will be right with the world.

From the Reddit Writing Prompt: Humanity gets a message that a new deity is being put in charge after discovering the old deity has been neglecting its duties (it was a long prompt and I don't want to write it all out). So this took just a couple hours to not just write but to type as well. I hate that after not writing for so long because I was either sick, or tired, or just couldn't get started, or I was too busy, I was able to crank out something this quick because it just emphasizes how, really I'm just lazy if I can't get just one writing piece done per week as I keep promising myself I'll do. I also dislike how quickly I'm able to grind out the stories I write after long breaks as they've fallen into either the superpower or religious category. It makes me feel like I'm typecasting myself into these types if these are the subjects I can so quickly put together a story for. I guess the biggest inspiration for this story was Simon R. Green's Nightside series, or more specifically The Church of St. Jude. In the books, the church is just a lone stone structure with a set of benches and a table. It doesn't have a priest or anything to signify what type of religion it is associated with. The most important aspect of the church is that it is the place you go when you've got nowhere else to go because it is the one place in the Nightside you can be sure your god is listening and you may even get an answer. In the stories, the idea of God taking a personal interest in you and your situation is terrifying in that the answer you get usually will not be the one you wanted.