Moon

God is on the moon and I am going to kill them. I have known only pain in my life, only grief and loss. In the world around me, evil tramples the holy. Selfish monsters murder and manipulate for scraps of power and the meek are crushed beneath. And I have had enough. God has shirked their responsibility of justice far too long.

I began by searching for god’s residence. I read every scripture and listened to every myth until I knew they hung over us in the sky, ignoring our prayers. Then I sought out every priest, shaman, monk and medium, and asked how to become divine. I wrote down every theory and shut myself away. I meditated and honed my mind for years. First mastering my own body, then the world around me. Energy and matter bent to my will and I reshaped it with a thought. Finally, I conjured a blade with an edge to kill a deity.

I willed myself to the moon. They were waiting for me. I expected this. I imagined them furious, ready to snuff out this impudent creature. Secretly I hoped they would cower in fear. But they greeted me laughing and with a jig. At last, at last, They crowed, One worthy to kill a god! My anger burned. I knocked them to the ground. Is this funny to you, I screamed, The suffering of humanity? I pummeled their face into a slick mess and forced them to look at the world they neglected. Look at what god did, Said I, The world festers. Their crimson lips split into a grin, Yes and one finally had enough.

Their callus words shatter any remaining restraint. I stab the blade into their breast and rage, Who are you who tortures us? They seem to gasp in ecstasy as the light drains from their eyes, My name is Atlas. I am not the first, and you will not be the last. With these words, god dies.

There on the moon, a god corpse at my feet, I feel something shift to my shoulders. My eyes snap to the globe hanging above me. I feel every falling leaf, hear every bleating sheep and know every human thought. The currents in the skies and the seas and the rocks flow through me, my will. Everything. The weight is unbearable. Maddening. Relentless. As scarlet sweat beads my brow, I grasp my doom.

God is dead. It is only me now.