Checkmate

I had reached my limit with the horrors of humanity. I had witnessed too many blood soaked streets, littered with the bodies of the innocent. I had seen enough corruption and greed to put the devil to shame. I couldn’t take it anymore, I couldn’t stand by any longer. Usually people like me prefer to stay far away from historical events in time when we travel the Lines. Time was a fickle bitch and the moment a grain of sand shifted, she was altering and branching off into a new timeline causing further chaos, confusion and divide amongst humanity.

I usually spent my time going back to see places like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the Great Pyramids and majestic Sphinxes in their prime but not today. Today I decided I was going back to the very beginning. The Garden of Eden, birthplace of Man.

The world around me was covered in lush flora with vivid colors. Humans had no idea how close they were to the truth with their fantasy artwork. Birds chirped and flew about while herds of prey animals walked without fear among the carnivores. The air was pure, it was fresh and it almost smelled sweet. I could feel a presence here even though I could not see it.

“I know you’re here.” I said coldly, “Don’t do it. Do not create man.”

For a moment all was silent, the birds had stopped chirping and the world stood still as if in awe that I would dare to tell the Creator what to do. Who dared to do such a thing? The wind blew softly, rustling through the leaves of the trees and caressing my cheek like a parent soothed a crying child only I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t sad. I was angry.

“You can’t create man and then keep it like a pet, ignorant of life while at the same time knowing about another entity who is willing to teach man the truth and then punish them for the natural born curiosity you gave them.” I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes, “You set them up for failure from the very beginning.”

“One does not question God’s plan.” A voice spoke from behind me, I turned, seeing what I could only assume was an angel with its bright white gown and golden hair. His face reminded me of an impressionistic Van Gogh oil painting, swirling and shifting in its color, “He knows all before it ever happens.”

“My point exactly.” I snapped, “He knew that humans would be creatures of greed, lusting for power and turning on anyone who was weaker or different. He knew that the ‘love’ he had for his creation would be twisted and broken, melded into a hideous creature that would use violence as a means to gain more footing and demand the subservience of all. In his name!”

“Who are we to question him? He created all with purpose. Surely you do not question the purpose of man?” The angel asked.

“Yes, not only do I question it, I believe we are exactly the ones that should be questioning him! Are you that blinded by you devotion that you can not see what is wrong with this? Was it not an angel that stepped in and saved Iasaac’s son when God demanded him as a sacrifice knowing that he had made Isaac and Rachel wait until they were one year shy of hundred years old to conceive him in the first place? Or how about when he chose to murder hundreds if not thousands of children in Egypt instead of stopping the Pharaoh himself? We could get into the modern day atrocities if you like, child trafficking, religious cults in his name that marry off children, or here’s one.. Hitler and how he almost annihilated every Jewish person on the planet?”

The angel’s silence only pushed me to be more brazen, “But you didn’t know about any of that did you? Are you questioning him now? Are you wondering what not only our purpose is but yours? How do you know you won’t be the angel he sends to slay all those children because its one of you that he uses to do it.”

“You are treading on dangerous grounds, traveler.” The angel said softly, “God is an angry god, a vengeful god when provoked.”

“You mean when he’s questioned?” I countered, “If you really loved them like a father, you would do them a favor by never creating them in the first place. That’s what love really looks like, especially when you have the knowledge of what is going to happen once you do.”

“Father, what is she talking about?” Adam asked, stepping out of the forest with Eve by his side. Both of their faces held confusion like that of a child who had just learned Santa and the Easter Bunny weren’t real. That was when I noticed they did not have the same glow as everyone else and their once nude bodies now had leaves covering them. The deed had already been done and I smiled like a cheshire cat.

“He’s going to throw you out of the Garden for knowledge you attained. He’s going to pit your sons against each other for your favor and your oldest is going to kill your youngest and be cast out with a mark upon his head. Your kind are going to war with one another spilling the blood of many innocents while your God demands living sacrifices that will almost include one if not more of your children’s children’s children. Time and time again, you’re going to call out for him, you’re going to pray until you feel like you can’t pray anymore and he’s going to be silent and when he’s bored with that, he’s going to impregnant a virgin woman with his child and then kill that child on the cross after having him tortured and that’s only the beginning.” I smirked as they paled.

The winds whipped around me now, the presence I felt was angry, it rolled over me in waves but I didn’t care, I had altered reality and there was no going back. Even as I walked away, disappearing into the landscape as I shifted back I knew the world would not be as I left it. For better or for worse, I couldn’t help but smile,

“Checkmate.”