Chapter 1.4 - Impossible

Adam was really not impressed with the revelation. Among all the things that had happened to him in the past hour or so, being called a god was actually the most believable one.

"Is that it?" Calder softened and lowered his arms in slow motion as he watched the kid touch his chest, trying to catch his breath.

"I just told you that you are A GOD!"

He tried one more time, the grand gesture followed by the thunderous voice.

"I got it the first time, Gandalf. I just need a minute; my head is hurting like hell."

Drained, Adam took a seat at the feet of his statue. Inside his head, there were a billion voices talking—people walking, marching, jumping. All sorts of movements he could hear all at once. It was too much. Like lightning, pain radiated from his brain to his legs.

On his knees, the new God screamed while holding his head, as if pressure would tone down the noises. It was a different kind of pain—not physical, but it manifested in his body as a consequence. His soul was hurting.

The pain was so intense it spilled into the outside world as a reflex of his mental state. The ground began to shake. Pillars began to crack and lose pieces that dripped over them.

Calder was trying to talk to the boy, but his voice wasn't coming through the noises in Adam's head.

In the midst of angst and internal chaos, Adam didn't know what was happening around him.

Where was he?

There were so many strangers, paparazzi taking pictures and pushing each other. In the chaos, he sensed his mother was near, but he couldn't see her.

How was she? He hoped she wouldn't be mad at him. Even though he had disappointed her so many times, he never wanted her to cry because of him.

Adam didn't recognize himself. Not in the few moments before his death and not in that moment after his transmigration to that new world.

Who was he after all? A reckless playboy? A God?

Traveling at high speed, his mind navigated the human world until it found her.

His mother was in his room, sitting on his bed, looking at his bedside picture. The image was from when she got him his first car—after he had begged her since he was 12—for his 18th birthday. He had felt like the happiest boy in the world.

Little did he know, the joy wasn't in the car.

Feeling his chest hurt with the vision of his mother, Adam couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted out his pain.

In the temple, every wall and pillar began to move. Immense blocks began to fall from the sky, shattering the statues and sending Calder into a desperate attempt to bring the young God back.

"Adam!" He wasn't listening.

The son reached out to his mother, extending his arm as if to touch her shoulder. He wanted to tell her how deeply sorry he was for not listening to her and ending up causing her so much sorrow.

His desire to go back was so intense that Adam was lifted off the ground, levitating toward the ceiling.

A loud noise split the dome that covered the statues in half, making way for the Earth God to pass through and reach the sky.

From the ground, all the fallen marble stones lifted off to orbit the boy.

In the other world, he visualized his hand centimeters away from his mother's shoulder. She lifted her hand to dry a tear that had fallen on the picture.

Adam had such a silly face—a teenager pretending to be embarrassed about receiving a hug from his mother and grandmother.

In the temple, the whole construction was falling to pieces as Adam ascended, not in control of his body.

Calder approached the new God, without a clue on how to stop him or why that was happening. The Element was protecting him and preventing Calder from touching the boy.

"Adam, listen to my voice!"

In his bedroom, the son finally touched his mother on her right shoulder. The woman felt it; confused, she turned her head toward him.

Adam's heart was filled with sudden relief. It was a dream; he wasn't dead; he was in his room.

"Mom!" Adam called out to her. "I'm right here. I'm sorry if I worried you."

In the new dimension, Adam's power was so intense it was spreading to the landscape. A loud rumble erupted from the Earth. Trees in the forest began to shake, and the soil was moving, agitating the roots and sending 50-meter trees to the ground.

Calder had no idea what was happening. He had never heard of anything like it. New Gods just felt the pain of their new awareness but weren't able to use their powers, since the strength it put on the soul was too much for a young mind to handle.

Under the temple, a tremor erupted. The earth gave way, splitting the hilltop where the construction was positioned and sinking the temple into a gap.

As his mother turned her face, with Adam's touch, the boy smiled, and their eyes met. Helena had no idea how, but she felt Adam's presence, his touch, his pain.

"Son?" she asked, feeling crazy to be talking out loud with an invisible ghost.

"Mom, I'm okay!" he shouted, both in his room and in the new dimension.

Calder was trying to reach the boy when a crack began to open in front of Adam. It was a thin distortion of reality that was getting bigger as the boy held his hand up, pointing at it.

"It's okay, my boy. I know…" Even though she didn't hear anything, she could imagine what her son would tell her if he could. "It's not your fault!"

Hot tears began to run down Adam's face.

On the outside, looking at the ground, Calder saw the gap that had swallowed the temple follow a path that would lead to the city.

To make things even worse, if Adam was doing what Calder thought he was, he had to be stopped by all means.

"I'm sorry, son." Calder said before his eyes acquired a glowing blue color.

Summoning water from his own hand, Calder created four tentacles attached to his back. With two, he pierced the stone shield, trying to get rid of the rocks that orbited the boy at high speed.

Putting his strength into maintaining a continuous flow of water to prevent it from being evaporated by the heat, Calder was materializing it endlessly. That was how he managed to create an opening in the shield.

With the other two tentacles, the old man used them to enlarge the gap.

Inside, Adam was still watching his mother dry her tears and gaze at him from over her shoulder, but something pulled him back.

Back at the Gods' dimension, the gap on the ground was progressing, scarring the land with a deep cliff that swallowed everything in its path.

Calder had managed to get past the Element, creating a barrier of solid, impenetrable black ice that just regenerated after getting struck by the sharp rocks.

Adam opened his eyes to find Calder reaching out to him with his bare hand. In the boy's eyes, a glowing golden color, filled with pain and anger, surprised the rescuer.

A chill ran down the Water God's spine—something he hadn't felt in quite a while—fear.

That young God had something different within him, as if someone else was in control of his body.

Divided between his old life and the new, Adam looked back to see Calder reaching out and pulling his arm, dragging him away from his mother.

As Adam looked into Calder's eyes, he saw the man as a threat.

Suddenly, in the split second after their gazes met, the Earth stopped. The rocks were frozen mid-air, and the wind wasn't flowing. On the ground, the gap ceased advancing.

Calder's eyes widened. Adam had stopped the Elements.

"Who are you?" mumbled the old God in disbelief.

Fading in from within the boy, a darkness began to emanate. Calder didn't know what it was, but his instincts warned him to run.

Without taking another moment to think, the man launched himself and grabbed Adam, holding him tight in his arms, pressing his head against his shoulder. It was the only way he thought to shake the boy out of that torment.

Back in his room, Helena looked away and set the picture in its place. Adam tried to call her, but she didn't listen.

The jolt surprised the boy, making him blink, and the glowing light in his eyes disappeared as he was dragged back to his new reality.

As if someone had hit the light, the world went back to running. All the rocks fell to the ground, and the soil settled after altering the landscape forever.

In free fall, Calder only hugged the boy. The Elements were back to normal, but Adam was non-responsive.

At the edge of the forest, Calder laid the boy on a fallen tree trunk. His body was weak, and his energy drained, but his heart was running.

For the moment, he was okay.

The amount of strength that had possessed him was unprecedented. Calder didn't even know what to call it. It was like the boy was possessed by a more powerful Entity that was controlling the Earth—and maybe the other Elements too?

Impossible, Calder thought. Someone so strong shouldn't exist.