Justin's path

A man rides a horse through a field of workers, knowing full well he'll use the whip in his hand. He didn't want to use the gun at his waist but he would if need be. Justin was the last to see him come up. Lost in his work Justin was humming a song he had heard from the mans sermon. Three lashes to his back for what only the man knew.

"Slaves aren't to sing songs of church." The man spat at Justin with his bloody back.

"I was just remembering something I heard from somewhere." Justin knew it was a mistake to talk back to a master but he needed to see this through. A lash to the face, barbs scratching his skin into bloody stripes. And Justin fell. He knew how to fake fainting, he'd had too much practice.

The man continued on his path through the field, wiping the sweat from his brow after watching the wounds on Justin's face patch themselves. He had remained still for the entirety of it.

"Damn negro, unnatural is what they are."

The war came two years ago, and after Justin used the chaos to run away he joined the north of america in the fighting. And when they won he had rejoiced with the others in his regiment.

2007, Nottingham England. Justin sits in a cafe waiting for Chris. He'd been waiting for twenty four minutes and still Chris wasn't here. His new job had better be worth missing lunch. Justin heard a screeching noise and sirens, to better see what was happening he sat straighter in the blue plastic chair. Nothing, it must be too far away. Then he saw a black truck drive past with a man standing on the back. Justin stood up so abruptly that the chair toppled backwards as he ran from the cafe.

He was chasing after the truck staying ahead of the police officers. He saw bullets fly past him and hit the truck and saw the man on the back of the truck fire a shotgun. He put his arms up in hopes of protecting his head from the bullets. He felt his flesh peal away at the touch of the metal and his blood dripping down his arms. When Justin put his arms down he realized just how close he was to the truck. The man on the back of it reached down an grabbed him, pulling him up onto the truck.

"Hey kid. Who are you and what are you doing?" Asked the man in an angry tone.

"Um, I'm Justin, and you can, um, heal fast too, so I was, wondering, if um, you could explain some stuff?" Justin knew he was stammering and wanted to fix it but couldn't, it was all too much to find someone else who could heal fast.

"So, are you a demigod or a god?" Asked the man.

"What? I'm not a god or a demigod, and what do they have to do with anything they aren't even real," Justin began to say.

"Alright I'm gonna just stop you there kid. I am a god, and you are either a demigod or a god, gods can do stuff like control fire or metal and demigods can't. So, can you do anything weird?"

Justin thought for a moment remembering the steam that he could make. "I can make steam."

"That's cute kid, I'm talking real power, like this." Three blobs of color appeared around the mans head, red, green, and purple. The blobs then flew back at the police cars and took the shape of people. They charged and destroyed the police cars on impact. The only thing that Justin can think of is the steam he can make. It seems pale in comparison to the blobs of color the man can make.

"So what exactly does your smoke make?"

"It's steam not smoke, and it makes other people feel the same as I do. Ya know emotions." Justin thought he had recapped the steam pretty well but the mans looked unimpressed.

"Can I see you make this steam?"

"Oh, yeah," Justin focused on his left hand while he stretched it outward, pushing the steam out of his hand. A small layer of steam had coated his hand and still the man looked bored. Justin started to feel angry at himself for not doing better. He continued to push himself then a burst of steam came out of his arm and reaching out a few feet in all directions. The man started to look angry then happy, perfectly in time with Justin's own feelings. Justin stopped making the steam and it quickly dissipated.

"Okay kid that was good," The man said. "And I'm Manny, two n's."

Justin went back with Manny to an empty building downtown where Manny explained what it was to be a god. He was a chaos god who had different personalities that he could personify and have fight for him, and apparently the god of the insane. Manny also introduced Justin to two other gods; Grace the huntress and Dylan the king of gods and the god of fire. Another thing Manny said was that all of them had strengths that were useful for mortals but not so much as slowing gods down, but Justin could affect gods just as much as people. Justin thought of all the things he'd been told that day, he was told only to tell the people he trusted the most about his immortality. He had reasoned that the only person he really trusted that much was Chris even when he wasn't punctual.

Walking into the four room apartment they shared he found Chris asleep at the table. Justin shook him awake he couldn't wait until Chris woke up at noon to tell him.

"I'm up, I'm up." Chris mumbled. "Hey, I waited for half an hour at the cafe just for you to show up after sunset. What's up with that man." Chris said reaching for the can of beer he must have been drinking.

"I left early, you were who knows how late and anyways I met a three gods." Justin snapped back while taking the can and pouring it's contents down the sink.

"Oh no you don't, you aren't changing the subject. And after you dumped down my drink." Chris said back in a voice much smaller than what he was feeling. Justin knew that you couldn't just take Chris's drink.

"How bout this, we go out for a drink and I can explain." Justin proposed.

"Fine but first rounds on you."

They arrived at a bar close to their apartment called the half pint. Justin was the first one to try and start conversation, "So, I'm a god."

"No talk till I'm done with my drink." Chris said then chugged his mug of beer. "So what you can smite people from heaven?" Chris asked.

"No, I can make steam that makes people do what I want." Justin began to create a layer of steam over the bar. "And I don't get affected by it." He finished as the layer of steam filled the bar making everyone sober.

"Hey, I was half drunk, and I need to get the other half." Chris said, Justin let the steam fade. "Also its more of a fog than a steam." Chris said right before he went back to drinking.

"And no more talking about gods until you prove your immortal." Manny had said this might happen, and that Justin needed to be able to defend himself. So Justin pulled out the knife Manny gave him and lodged it into his chest. Chris spat out his drink with the spit and booze landing on the wound hurting like hell.

"Are you crazy!" Chris yelled, "You don't just stab yourself, how aren't you dead you just got stabbed, by yourself. What!" Chris exclaimed to end his rant. It hurt to pull the knife out but it was the evidence Justin needed to get Chris to believe he was a god. The wound had already close and no scar remained. Chris gaped at the knife now stained with Justin's blood, with pieces of Justin's flesh still stuck to it. And Chris set down his drink.

Justin explained everything as best he could telling about being a demigod and turning into a god. He explained the chaos gods and their rivalry with the order gods, and both clan's quest to restart the world in their image. And finally about how Justin is special because he can affect gods.