Gods ruin everything.

They accidentally made us

Played with us only to punish us and to abandon us.

Well, that’s what Baldemar thinks.

I’ve never met a God.

It’s all he talks about. Being stuck inside this place for days has lulled me to believe I will never leave it. I’ve even accepted the goo that they call sustenance.

A prisoner in the void stuck with jail mates that are a little cuckoo.

One is an old man who has killed a God, perhaps multiple times but won’t say.

While on the other hand, I have an automaton that speaks many languages fluently, knows advanced science and math and has the strength of ten people.

Both creating a device right now, that will somehow blow open the doors of heaven, or the gateway to the realm of the Gods.

This could drive me mad and join them in their reverie of a life.

I sit cross-legged on the floor under a window far from them, watching like a bird perched on the wire.

I have tried running, but the moment I stepped out of the house, the world literally turns dark. I could not see anything but infernal darkness, it still haunts me in my sleep.

Baldemar glances at me, ‘You ok, Benny? You’ve been rather quiet these past few days. The dark hasn’t scared you into madness has it?’

Perhaps he knows by experience.

‘I would prefer to be in the world I come from, I would eat a real bittergourd than the mush we eat here.’

Baldemar puts down a laser-like pen and takes off his gloves.

‘I’ll bring you some after my trip since you asked.’

‘A coke would be better.’

‘We’ll see, Ava is putting the final touches and soon I will have a key to the Realm of the Gods, now I just need Divine blood.’ Baldemar pats Ava on the back.

‘Don’t do that!’ she growls. Ava’s gets lost and obsessed when she works. It’s quite fascinating to watch from afar. I would love to see what they are creating, but I’ve been forbidden like a child with the TV remote.

‘Sorry! I’ll go get washed up and make some lunch.’ Baldemar smiles and leaves in a really good mood.

‘He seems happy.’ I stand to move closer to Ava. My legs were aching.

She simply grunts.

I move towards her. Moving around large metal boxes slowly not to scare her.

Past glass cabinets with odd items in Petri dishes sending shivers down my spine.

Ava hunches over her project protectively.

I am a few steps behind her.

Today she looked oddly ordinary.

Dressed in a normal although worn out long sleeve shirt with black jeans and black boots.

I am inches away but just as I peek over, she pauses.

‘I know you’re behind me.’

Ava is suddenly closing a wooden box and begins to wrap it with suede cloth.

‘Glad I’m done, or else you’d be in trouble.’

‘Why can’t I see it?’ I moan. I was so close.

At least I know it’s small enough to fit in a box the size of a book but what could have taken them days to complete that was that tiny?

‘You would go blind and turn into dust!’ she embellishes.

‘Right.’ I snort.

Ava pats me on the back. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.’

What plan? For what exactly? The last time I had been left alone with her she had bullied me into answering thousands or more questions about the world I came from.

She looked hysterical, eyes glinting like a mad scientist or it could just be the glass layer over her eyeballs.

Yet, madness could run in the family. Baldemar has definitely lost his mind obsessing over the Gods.

We head down together to the kitchen just as Baldemar sets down three cups of the disgusting goo on the table.

‘Drink up boy and girl. After, I am on my way.’ Baldemar grins raises the cup to us,  a salute.

‘How are you gonna find God’s blood if they blocked us out?’ I take the cup and try not to hurl as the scent rises from the cup sending my tummy roiling like a stormy ocean.

‘A friend of yours is a God’s child. I just need their blood.’ He gulps down the content of his cup quickly like an excited child about to go outside and play.

‘Are you gonna kill them?’

Baldemar puts the cup down and stares at me lost in thought.

‘Maybe.’

My stomach turns upside down and rolls around a bit before I could muster a reply. Who was the God child? Luna is special and Metior definetly looks like a God. Lucian and Kera looked so normal it couldn’t be them.

‘Please don’t hurt her.’ I say but Baldemar simply shrugs.

‘Aren’t you playing the same role as the God that you hate so much? Doing this will take away the one I love.’ I protest further.

Before I know it Baldemar slams his fist across my face sending me backwards smashing through the table and against the wall.

I feel something besides my overwhelming emotions for the first time in a long time.

I could feel blood oozing down the side of my head.

Baldemar laughs, ‘Well, it seems your not so immune after all. I lashed out with some of my Godly essence and BAM!’

God’s are a pain.

My head hurts and the world felt like a roller coaster ride.

I feel Ava at my side.

‘He has a small concussion. He’ll be immobile for a while. He needs to rest and heal.’ As unmanly as it can get, she carries me in her arms to my little cot in the corner of the living room.

‘That is good then, I won’t have to worry about him running into the void again. I don’t have time to go looking for him. Take care of him Ava, when I’m back we can go knocking on the God’s Door.’

Baldemar doesn’t bother leaving the house through the door, he simply creates a portal and without a word disappears into it.

Suddenly the world starts spinning excessively. I’m back in Ava’s arms and she’s sprinting towards the void.

In a second, a blink, I am somewhere else.

In the middle of a crowded street of a place, I’ve never been. Or I could barely recognize with all the spinning my head was doing.

‘I’m finally here.’ Ava gently drops me on a bench and begins to walk away.

That’s not good.