Goddess, May I Please

Twenty years ago, the Gods announced themselves to the world. They came down upon the earth with a mighty force that caused a series of world-wide earthquakes. No one was harmed, but many were left in fear of their power. The Gods told us their will, their desire for all suffrage to end. They wanted to bring peace upon us and create a utopia.

They lied.

They sent our world spiraling into chaos. They corrupted our minds and gave us false hope. They set out a series of tasks for each person to complete, and only those who fulfilled their wishes were given a chance to be blessed.

Society across the world was split into four sections. Unworthy was made up of non believers or people who were unable to complete the God's tasks. Climbers were people who were in the process of completing their tasks and had at least completed one of the hundred. Dreamers are those who have completed their tasks and were simply waiting for the Gods to notice them and bless them.

Lastly, we come to the elite of society: Demigods. Those whose wishes were granted and bore the mark of the false Gods as if it were a badge. They were the idols of our new world, who everyone aspired to be. They were the ones who spoke for the Gods and kept order with their reign. They were also the worst people in existence.

This was the world the Gods had created. They had come to us with promises of peace and unity. They said they would make the world a better place. Instead, it became much worse. Unworthy were treated like trash, spit on and run out of nicer areas. Climbers, while treated better, were ridiculed for not having completed their tasks. They were mocked and forbidden to enter holy grounds. It was insane.

Everything that the world had become was insane. Power, money, greed. It was all so much worse than ever before, and it was all the idiots of the world wanted. Some people fought to become Dreamers for non-selfish wishes, but their prayers fell on deaf ears. The Gods never came. The Gods never helped make the world better because they were too busy being selfish liars. They were greedy for attention and adoration, but at what cost?

I did it - everything they wanted - and my mother still died, leaving me alone in a cruel, broken world. I was a teacher, underpaid and underappreciated. I was a Lesbian in a world that couldn't accept me. I was a human in a world of monsters.

My name is Lilah. I am a Dreamer. I am a teacher. I am a member of the LQBTQ community. But above all, I am a vengeful human whose only wish is to dethrone the very Gods who promised us happiness, but gave us nothing but grief.

"Lilah," she called to me as she always did. My eyes fluttered open and looked around the empty room with a heavy heart. My mother was gone, but I could always hear her calling to me in the morning like she used to.

"I'm awake." I responded, despite knowing no one was listening. Sitting up in bed, I looked toward my alarm clock with a frown. Fifteen minutes. Without fail, her voice always woke me up fifteen minutes before my alarm could go off. It was like clockwork.

My mom had what she called The Rule of Fifteen. If you managed to wake up fifteen minutes before your alarm, it meant you were up fifteen minutes before sunrise. Any pain, sadness, anger, or bad feelings that remained from sleep could be shared with you and the dark. You had fifteen minutes to vent, cry, scream, and then breathe. Somehow, it always worked. It always made helped me get through the day.

Hugging my pillow, I let the tears roll down my face as her voice echoed in my head. I was an idiot. I should have looked for scientific solutions and medicine instead of hoping for some stupid Gods to fix my problems. While I hated the Gods, I also hated myself for being foolish enough to believe in them. I was a teacher. I should have known better.

With my fifteen minutes up, I washed my face and moved on with my day. I got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed out to work. It started off as just another day. It was on my way to the school that everything changed.

While driving down empty highway, my tire suddenly hit something and popped, sending my car spiraling onto the other side of the road. I gripped on tightly to the steering wheel and screamed at the top of my lungs, waiting for an impact that never came. No, my car had come to a perfect stop at the shoulder of the road. Terrified, I quickly undid my belt and jumped out of the car as if it were going to explode.

"Calm down." I told myself as I reached for my phone with shaky hands. No signal.

Just my luck.

I was miles away from any type of civilization, and cars wouldn't start passing through for another hour and a half where I lived. With no phone service, I couldn't call for help or even call the school to tell them I'd be late. Kicking my car in frustration, I sat at the side of the road and looked out toward the wildlife that stretched out on either side of the highway. Spooky. That was for sure.

Locking the car, I shoved my keys into my pocket and dropped my head into my hands. It didn't take long before my body began to tremble as small cries escaped my lips. I was tired. I was so tired. It took every ounce of will power for me to continue on the way I was. I was crashing hard, and I hated myself for letting it get to that point.

"Lilah." She's not real, I tried to convince myself.

Rubbing the tears from my face, I turned to look at my car in anger, only to freeze when I saw the blade that was stabbed into my back tire.

"What the fu-?"

"Lilah!" She called again, cutting me off. This time, I couldn't deny how real it sounded. Her voice was so loud that it echoed through the trees in front of me.

"Mom?" I called, forgetting all about the tire and moving toward the forest. It was as if some invisible force was calling to me.

"Lilah." She called again, and I continued forward into the trees, leaving my car and the open road behind. That was were I made my mistake. I shouldn't have followed her.

I kept walking, turning only a few times when my feet demanded it. I wasn't sure how long I had been walking for until I noticed the sky was beginning to fade to red with sunset. My legs were sore and my muscles were on the verge of cramping up, yet I kept going. I wasn't sure what was driving me forward anymore, but I couldn't resist the pull. I wasn't one for nature, and the wildlife in the forest would sniff me out eventually. That alone was a problem since I wasn't sure which direction was the way back to my car. I wasn't sure about anything really; I just knew I had to keep going.

The hairs on the back of my neck never settled, and the goosebumps on my arms felt like they had become permanent. With chills running up and down my spine, I was surprised I hadn't run back yet. There were so many signs warning me to return to my car and head home. Maybe I should have listened to them, but I was too entranced by whatever was pulling me forward.

And then, I stopped. My feet came to a halt at the entrance of a clearing, and my breath caught in my throat. At the center of the open field was a woman with a bright red cloak and an old lantern. The cloak was so long that it formed a wide circle around her small frame.

"They lied." She said, and I nearly jumped with her sudden announcement. Her voice was high pitched, yet it carried with it a gentle tone that would ease any worry.

"Umm, who lied?" I asked, not really sure if she realized I was there. Who else would she be talking too, right? I took a tentative step forward as she put the lantern down and raised her hands toward the hood of her cloak.

"The Gods," she answered as she removed her hood and turned to look at me. I was frozen in place as her golden irises stared back at me, locking me in place. Her pale complexion stood out against the vibrancy of her eyes, and her chestnut hair was braided over her left shoulder, cascading down to her hip. She was stunning, to say the least, but there was also a cool air around her that made her seem unapproachable.

"Why do you say that?" I questioned her, nearly starved for her response. This was the first time I'd ever heard someone say anything remotely bad about the Gods. It was shocking, yet oddly comforting.

"They came with a promise of happiness, but it never came. They gave hope, and then burned it. They vowed for peace, but there is only corruption. They lied, and they shouldn't be forgiven. They shouldn't get away with the chaos they caused." She feels the same, I thought as I dared my legs to move forward. They were heavy, beyond tired, but I still pushed myself toward her, stopping only when I was directly in front of this stranger that I so badly wanted to know.

"My name is Lilah. I'm a Dreamer." I introduced myself, extending a hand out toward her. It was customary to share your title; we were never taught another way.

"My name is Xoe. I am a Demigod." She said as she took my hand.

"A Demigod that hates the Gods. That's unexpected. So tell me, Xoe, what did you wish for?" I wondered as I helped her up. Once she was on her feet, she tightened her grip on my hand and looked me directly in the eyes.

Something about the way she looked at me in that moment awakened my senses to the chill in the air. It was cold, and my sweat-drenched shirt was all I had as cover from the night winds. A shiver passed through me as the sounds of nature around me suddenly became audible. This woman, whoever she was, had drawn me from my trance and pulled me back into reality.

"I wished for a way to kill a God, and I got it."