Kev (32 page)

Was Galthinon a trap? I remembered my journal
entry about traveling there, but it did not give me much to go on.
Why hadn’t I been more descriptive in my entries? Even my entries
about the girl lacked detail.

I still didn’t have all of the knowledge the
black cube had given me back and wondered if buried within that
knowledge was anything about Galthinon. The memories I did have
offered nothing about this place. Where was it? I believed,
wrongly, I could teleport there, but worried that going there could
lead to the end of all creation. However, something about that
didn’t fit.

Something else struck me as odd. Clive signed
his note, “Love, Clive.” Why would he write that? Did he really
love me? Was this just some sick joke? I sensed a playful tone in
this note and wondered if Clive really wanted to end all creation
or if this was all just part of the game.

I heard footsteps and looked up, seeing two
men in black with maple leafs printed on their chests, one carrying
a strange device that looked like a taser. That was no taser. It
was a containment field generator. I tried to teleport, to no
avail.

“Look at the hoser we have here, Bob,” said
the one with the containment field generator in his hand.

“You know, Doug, he looks an awful lot like
Kev Pryce, ey?”

I believed the end was near. That or I would
discover that this was all, in fact, just a game. I had to escape.
I couldn’t take the chance that this wasn’t a game.

Captured

“Don’t bother trying to run away, Kev. You’re in a
class Y containment field. There is no way out, at least no way you
know of, I bet,” laughed Doug.

“Yeah, you hoser, ey?” said Bob, the least
articulate of the two, I thought. Perhaps I had a chance of getting
away. However, before I had a chance to probe my memories for
information that would allow me to manipulate Doug and Bob, two
remarkably stupid men hand selected by Clive to retrieve me, I
appeared in a small cement walled room with no windows or doors.
The only thing in the room was a yellow, floating sphere, a sphere
I remembered. Bob and Doug were nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Kev,” said the sphere.

“Hi,” I said. “So, you are in on this
too?”

“Me? No way. Clive has gone insane. I want
nothing to do with this, but he has some sort of control over
me.”

“Lovely,” I said. I knew there was a way I
could connect to the sphere and recreate the universes without
giving it all of my dreams and nightmares, a controlled creation
process, but I had not yet recovered that memory fully.

I tried to teleport, failing, and then
continuing to search through my memories, looking for memories of
how to escape a class Y containment field, the second most powerful
containment field in existence. Unfortunately, I could not remember
anything helpful. I prayed I would remember something that would
help me before Clive came and ended all creation, if, in fact, that
was what he intended to do.

I didn’t have to wait long before Clive
appeared in the room, looking like he had something on his mind. I
waited for him to speak.

“Forever, Kev. That’s how long I have
existed, as have you, and in all this time, you have subjected the
others and me, the whole universe, in fact, to your rules, your
stupid rules, and I know that you will never stop.” He started
pacing around the room and I could see he was shaking, a wild look
in his eyes.

“I’m sick of the rules. I’m sick of living,
of existing. I am sick of existence itself, and the reason I am
sick of it is because of you, because of the rules, the stupid
rules you make, rules you know none of us are going to be able to
follow.”

He looked me in the eyes, waiting for
something, but what, I did not know. I said nothing, searching my
memories for a way out of this situation.

“Of course, you don’t remember the rules. You
never remember the rules, and so, we are stuck in this thing you
have created for eternity after eternity, waiting for you to figure
things out, watching you bumble around, doing stupid shit. Yes, I
said it. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Rule twenty-one
is stupid, Kev. Do you know that? It is a stupid rule. All of the
rules are stupid! You know that, don’t you? Of course, you do, but
at the same time you don’t, so we are forced to live countless
lives waiting, praying for the end, praying that when it ends you
will give us a break, but you never do. You have never given us a
break. This is all we do. Do you have any idea how boring this is
for us? Do you have any idea how abusive you are? What about doing
something we want to do for once?”

If this was an act, it was a really
convincing act. I said, “Clive. I am sorry. I didn’t know. Help me
figure out a way to stop this and I promise you I will never
subject you to this again.”

“You did know! You do know! You know
everything, but you remember nothing for countless ages, and when
you do remember you just do it again. When you do remember, I know
you know we are all miserable, but you keep doing it. Why? I know
why. You are a sadist, the ultimate torturer. This will never
change unless I change it. I know you don’t see that right now, but
it is the only way, and as much as it pains me to do what I am
about to do, I feel, I believe, I know it is the only way to make
this end.”

“Clive, just help me remember. If I remember,
I can end this and I swear I will never do it again. Ending all
creation, you, the others, everyone in the infinite universes, and
me is not the answer.”

I now understood who I was, what I was, and I
now believed that I had neglected my creations, that I had forced
something terrible upon them, perhaps to entertain myself, the most
selfish of reasons. I felt horrible and prayed that if I did
remember everything I would be able to do the right thing.

“Too late, Kev, or should I say, God. It is
too late. You are. You are the one. You are the everything. You
won’t change. It is hopeless.”

“The girl doesn’t want you to do this, Clive.
The sphere doesn’t want you to do it. I am willing to bet anything
that Bri and Jesus feel the same way.”

“Because they love you, despite the torture
and disappointment. They love you, and I love you too, but I can
take no more. How many times have you trapped me in hell? Do you
have any idea? Do you remember some of those times, times when I
spent billions of years in hell, tormented by demons and other
horrors? Do you have any idea how many times I have ended up on The
Show because of you? Do you think I enjoyed that? I most definitely
did not.”

I vaguely remembered tricking Clive into
going to hell, and remembered giving him the blue cube when he was
not aware of its purpose, and felt tremendous guilt for doing that.
How many times had I done that? I did not know. All I knew what
that I had subjected him to many horrors. For what? For
entertainment? Did I truly believe that I was doing something good?
What kind of a god was I? “I’m sorry, Clive.”

While I agreed that my behavior had been
abominable, I did not believe ending all creation was the answer.
However, I did not have the memories I needed to stop Clive, or at
least buy some time so I could try to set things right. I did not
believe he would allow me enough time to figure things out, now
fully convinced he would soon end everything.

“Sorry? You’re evil is what you are. Pure
evil. I know the others don’t see it. They are fools.”

A thought struck me. “Clive, why did you
write that note in my journal? Why do you want me to go to
Galthinon? Do you think that might change me somehow?”

Clive looked at me, a glint in his eyes. “Do
you know what Galthinon is, Kev?”

“No, but I know I have been there.”

“You have been there an infinite number of
times, Kev. You created it. You created everything. I have tried to
get you to go there an infinite number of times so you will figure
things out, and it has never worked. You go there and then nothing
happens. You never see the light.”

“Maybe if you let me go there now, I will
understand. Maybe I will remember enough for whatever it is that I
will learn there to sink in. Why not give it a chance?”

“Too late. Anyway, I’m sure you don’t know
how to get there.”

“If you disable the containment field, I will
go there,” I said.

“Won’t work, and I don’t know how you can get
there.”

I remembered something, and felt like a
terrible fool. I remembered an entry in my journal, something along
the lines of “Make a wish to go to Galthinon.” That was the wish
that would recharge the red cube. That was the way to get to
Galthinon.

“Clive, I promise you I am going to figure
this out. I will be back.” Before I made my wish, I saw Clive’s
face change, his expression now one of surprise. I made my wish and
appeared on a world that no words can fully describe.

Galthinon

I appeared in the middle of a forest of statues on a
world of immeasurable size, something I knew because I remembered
that it was, in fact, infinitely large, a world that, in itself,
encompassed and represented all creation, my creation. I looked at
the statues, representations of all of the beings that had ever
existed in all of the infinite universes, my creations, although
how I created them, I did not know.

I knew I was God, of that I had no doubt, and
realized that I had wiped out my own memories to play this game
that had caused Clive and the others, possibly the whole universe,
pain and sorrow. What would happen if I remembered? Would I reset
the pieces and start again? Clive indicated I had done that many
times, and implied that this time we had been in this game for an
eternity. I realized that Clive and the others, again, perhaps
every being in the infinite universes, must all have retained their
memories through the entirety of the game, and that the infinite
universes were, in fact, instances of one universe, a universe
created and destroyed over and over, part of the game. What kind of
game was this? What were the rules? What had I done?

I realized I had recharged the wishing cube
by wishing to be in this place, and knew what I had to do. “I wish
I will never again force everyone to play this stupid game and that
the game is over and that I will allow my creations to find their
own destinies, to have free will and be happy for all
eternity.”

Nothing happened.

“I wish I could remember everything,” I
said.

Nothing happened.

“I wish I knew why Clive wanted me to come
here.”

Again, nothing happened.

“I wish I understood what is going on.”

Nothing happened. I felt no different,
completely unenlightened.

Had I wasted four charges of the red cube? If
I had, I had only one wish left and then I would have to wish to be
on Galthinon again to recharge it. Would that work if I were
already on Galthinon? Why hadn’t my four wishes worked? Did the red
cube work here?

Maybe I could wish that I was on Uthio Minor
and then wish I was back on Galthinon, thus, recharging the cube.
Maybe then, I could try different wishes, and repeat the process
until I got it right.

“I wish I was on Uthio Minor.”

Nothing happened.

I tried to teleport to Uthio Minor and
nothing happened. I screamed at the sky, cursing myself for
creating this insanity.

What was I missing?

I remembered an entry in my journal, the
entry about Galthinon, something I wrote about flying. I willed
myself to fly, floating up into the sky, looking down on an
infinite plain, seeing that I was on the edge of this immense
sculpture garden. Off to my left I saw what appeared to be a giant
theme park and beyond that I saw something that looked like a
temple. I had written about a temple in my journal.

I flew to the temple and landed. The
structure, made entirely of marble, with thirty-seven spires
stretching to impossible heights, had a single entrance.

I entered into a chamber the size of a
football stadium with a high roof covered with paintings, paintings
of moments from my infinite lives. In the center of the chamber I
saw a pedestal. I walked over to the pedestal, finding a piece of
paper resting upon it. I picked it up and read.

Kev,

I know you know this already, and I know
nothing I can say will ever make you know it any more than you
already know it, but I have to tell you I love you and that I can
never repay you for giving me everything you have given me. I have
a life that is beautiful beyond compare, a blessed life full of
joy. I have friends that are better than anyone could possibly
imagine, including you, my creator.

You have allowed me to choose my own
destiny, to break the rules at will, to find pleasures that can’t
be described by words. You have given me everything and I wish that
I could give you the same. You are. You are the one. You are the
everything. I love you with everything I have and give everything I
have to you. Now, come finish the game, you dummy.

Love, Clive

“I am,” I said, feeling different, but unsure
of what I felt, also feeling the clear cube vibrating in my
pocket.

“I am the one,” I added, now filled with hope
and love, the clear cube now going absolutely mad.

“I am the everything,” I finished, and the
world around me transformed.

Surrender

I found myself surrounded by every being that had
ever existed in all of the infinite universes, beings I had created
in this simulation, some free actors in the game, some not, all now
looking at me, space warped in such a way that I could see every
last one of them.

Closest to me, I could see Clive, the girl,
Jesus, the Proth Sphere, Aputi, Ruby, B24ME, and a young, towheaded
boy I knew was Bri.