Kiss of Gods

The light can be perceived many different ways. Some see it as the end, while others may see a beginning. Professor Blank saw an opportunity. An opportunity to meet the one that he would assume that created anything and everything. Every thought that has and will be conceived. Every beat your heart instinctually takes to its impending decommission. All created by one in the center of the universe, and Professor Blank was certain he'd be the one to find them.

The professor was well known and a very liked man. Students fought for his class and the faculty had no issues with the man that took donuts in every morning with a smile on his face. Let's not forget the wife and three beautiful kids he had back at home. Professor Blank had everything but that itch that couldn't be scratched, so he put his imagination to the test.

Over the years Professor Blank built his reputation participating in many projects so when he requested funding for the "Light Project," it didn't take long to get approved. To his assumption it would be a simple task of gaining the correct prisms made of different material to create the light he hoped to obtain, and that is what he did. It wasn't as simple as he thought it would be. He spent years scouring the earth in search of all shapes and sizes that were cut from gemstones to fluorite.

He searched for the prisms while his aides back on campus developed a simple machine to focus the light through what he sent back. Testing different combinations until they had in fact made the light." Once done, Professor Blank made his way back to not only congratulate the aides that have stuck by his side when everyone else started to think he'd gone mad, but to finally set eyes on what he had only imagined beforehand regardless if he wasn't the first to project it.

They kept the celebration small and the knowledge of the light as such. Only the professor and his aides knew about the breakthrough and the professor wished to take it further before bringing his findings into light, so to speak. He wasn't interested in simply making the light. He wanted to go beyond. He wanted to meet God, so after their small celebration he decided to head back to the lab after hours to step through what one would only see in death.

The professor took his time making sure everything was correct, then created the light once more. He admired the beauty before sticking one foot in, waiting a few seconds, then pulled it back out seeing that everything was still intact. This eased any discomfort he had up until this point. The only thing left was to close his eyes and completely step through and so he did. He opened his eyes to see that he stood….floated before who he would assume one would call God in what looked like the center of the universe.

Professor Blank stared in amazement at the entity before him. Its cloak acted as a veil that covered its body leaving tendrils reaching in every direction. Organic pistons were attached where the head would be pumping away. Each meat cylinder gave off clouds of everything that would ever to be conceived as a thought and poured them out into the nothingness we call space. Professor Blank completely overlooked the fact that he was in the vacuum of space with no support. As soon as that thought clicked, one of the beings' tendrils reached out touching his forehead making a smacking sound and from there the being spoke from within him.

"No need to worry yourself human. There are many beings having this very conversation in many different languages all in and at very different times. Yet, all at the same." The professor looked around as everything around him shifted through different realities all from one singular point. He looked down at his arm to watch it change different colors, shapes and clothing before ending on what was familiar to him.

His eyes made their way back up to the place he assumed the gods' eyes would sit just to be met with an organic contraption creating reality as he knew it. "The things you see before you, including myself, are all things your mind is able to perceive so that you're able to comprehend the matter at hand. You have all pursued such knowledge through curiosity and imagination all with different endgames in mind. I present to you three challenges. If you wish to accept, we can begin them now."

Professor Blank didn't have the opportunity to process the information before the beings' words invaded his mind again, "Perfect. The first challenge at hand is to create a catastrophe on your home world." The professor didn't understand why or how he would even do this. Before he could think of what to say, he was overlooking earth all by himself from afar. The professor pondered his options with the assumption that whatever decimation he conducts will be the end of everything he's ever known and cared for.

Zombies have always piqued his interest, but it seemed so cliche. Viruses was the next to come to mind, but he lived through rough times as they had brought themselves to end populations though pain and sorrow. The one thing he's always wondered is what would happen if the earth had all of a sudden come to a halt? Ideally it would affect Earth's population as a whole. Mass destruct with minimal suffering in his eyes, and he gets to witness what man would only fathom.

The professor blinked and he was now looking down on his planet that was no larger than a baseball spinning on its axis. He took his finger, placed it right on top and it came to a stop. He watched landmasses abruptly shift east and tsunamis engulf whatever was left standing in the same direction. The equator endured the bulk of the destruction. Apparitions appeared all around him showing each human on earth meeting their demise.

Humans on the equator were liquefied seeing that the human body could not handle the sudden halt of the earth. Those that didn't have that luxury were slung east at such a speed where when they hit they left nothing but a red impression of what they used to be. Others were pummeled by debis, and if they were unlucky enough to survive that they were wiped out by the tsunami soon to follow. Professor Blank marveled at the destruction he caused, because he was right. No one would ever have the pleasure of seeing such a beautiful catastrophe first hand.

With another blink he was overlooking the earth from afar as if nothing happened. The being spoke again, "Your next challenge is to destroy all that you love." The being said nothing more than this and left Professor Blank to his own thoughts once again. He figured he'd just extinguish all life once again, but that wouldn't be fair to those that he did not have love for. He thought long and hard about how much he loves his family and how he didn't want them to suffer, but was suffering the only option?

The professor took a deep breath and with that he blinked them from existence. Not as if they never existed, but simply disappeared from where they stood. He watched his daughter go down the slide during recess and vanish before exiting out the other side. His wife and two infants vanished while standing in line at a grocery store sending others into a panic. Friends and family followed suit.

He watched as he created a phenomenon by such a simple act. Cults and religions emerged under the guise of groups praying to a god to keep their souls and flesh bound to the earth, but still fought over who was correct. Others dove into conspiracies about how all that we know all stem from one creator and we're deemed heretic or crazy by the bulk of the population, but only if they knew.

Once again he marveled at the outcome of his choice being aware of the ripple effect, but to witness it at a magnitude as such was another story. The professor watched decades of change all stemming from one singular moment and had accepted his decision. Broken, yet satisfied, and within a thought he was floating before the being for a second time.

The being disclosed the third challenge, "For your final challenge you are to reimagine," and left the professor alone in the center of the universe with a blank slate. He couldn't get over how each challenge was more vague than the last and with less direction, so he did what he did best and thought. He thought long and hard trying to process the challenge at hand seeing that he was left in the vast emptiness of space.

To reimagine the earth is his image seemed so trivial, so that passed without a second thought. The professor knew just like that he can reimagine the universe, or take eons with the development so he can explore every possibility. This would give him the opportunity to squash any curiosity he may have about things that only exist in theory, but would he keep that information if he ultimately fails these challenges? Would he wake up as if he had never embarked on this journey? Still needing to scratch that itch.

Professor Blank had come to terms with what he thought would be best, that was to reimagine himself as the god that presented itself before him and so he did. The professor reimagined himself before the being as he was when he initially stepped through the light, but instead their positions were flipped and the universe was wiped clean.

The being spoke for the last time, "You have successfully completed each challenge and have earned your place as whatever you consider me to be. You thrive off of knowledge and curiosity. You have the ability to make decisions without letting your attachments hinder you from making selfless choices. You took initiative when all others focused on power within their insignificant existences. Now I bestow upon you my curse. To be all and know all," and like that the being was gone. Leaving Professor Blank to his imagination in the center of an empty universe.