"Good job, Mark. I can see it in your soul, despite the regret and the pain, you'd choose to spare your family every single time. I've even done this 837 times now, and each time, you refuse to sacrifice your family, your girlfriend, even your friends. No matter the pain I deliver to you or the promises I dangle in front of you. You are a man of loyalty and appreciation."
What the fuck is happening?! 837 times? You've tortured me 837 fucking times? Why can't I move? I can't breathe. I'm NOT breathing. Why can I think? What is -
And suddenly a cool breeze flows through Marks being as he regains control of his body and feels all the anxiety and existential crisis calm down. The world stays stilled, with only Mark and the… being allowed to move.
Mark looks down to see himself fully healed and functional. Then turns to look at the man's face. It's remarkably average in all aspects. Not particularly good looking or bad looking. It's just a face you'd gloss over in a crowd. His skin tone too… somehow a shade in which you wouldn't be able to tell his race. No defining features, nothing except for those eyes…
"I'm sorry, Mark. Truly. I just had to be thorough that you were the one I was looking for. Let me introduce myself. Ahem. I am what you would call God. I don't really have a name, but I function very similar yet different to the main deity in conventional monotheistic religions on Earth."
The being that just tortured Mark and claimed to have done so hundreds of times just said he was… God? I… Wha…? God? Mark's brain crashed.
He let out a nervous laugh, "I'm sorry, you mean to tell me that you're God? As in creator of the universe, let there be light and all that? Should I bow down and worship you? I don't really understand."
Mark had never been a hard believer in religion, but had remained agnostic as he guessed there was never any irrefutable evidence of there not being a creator of the universe.
"Hahaha, yeah, I guess so. Let's go on a trip, walk and talk, per se."
And the scene suddenly shifted, high above the earth. The Blue Marble in all her glory was laid bare before Mark's eyes.
All he could say was "Wow. It's just - wow. It's beautiful."
God wears a warm, compassionate smile as he speaks about Earth. "Yes, your planet is definitely on the prettier side of all the planets in the universe. It may be surprising to hear that, but there is a certain charm, in my eyes, about the only planet with sentient life in the universe. Despite all your -"
"Wait. Pause. Did you just say the ONLY sentient life in the universe?" Mark asked with his jaw hanging slack from his face.
"Oh, yeah. The only one." He cracks an awkward smile and rubs the back of his neck as if he got caught stealing from the cookie jar.
The scene shifts again, now on the moon, looking up at the distant home of humanity and cradle of the only sentient life in the universe. And we're just… destroying it. Destroying ourselves over petty things like ego and power that barely lasts a lifetime. Lines on a map we make up to represent a world that cannot be captured in statistics.
"I have so many questions. Like, why are we the only sentient life? Is there a Heaven? Who's the correct religion? Have you ever been accurately portrayed in media? Have you ever walked the earth? Were you Jesus? Moses? Abraham? Muhammad? Someone important? Is there even an afterlife? Reincarnation? Wait, wait, wait. How many questions do I get?"
With a hearty laugh, he answers, "You get as many questions as you like. Time truly has paused for the entire universe. And before you ask, you can continue to see because I allowed it, otherwise, yes, just like you're thinking, no light would reach your eyes."
The physical implications of it all hits Mark like a truck. He can't even begin to think about what he means by 'I allowed it.'
The scene shifts once more to what seems to be the surface of Mars, right next to the Curiosity rover. Curiosity has always held a special place in Mark's heart. The small rover has persevered, so far from home, and continued chugging along well past its expiration date.
God begins to speak, like a proud parent, "Mars… humanity's next step. Oh, I just can't wait for you all to get here."
They sit in silence for a while, as Mark tries to formulate a proper thought. How do you begin a conversation with God? Especially when he just dropped two separate bombshells on you?
Mark musters his courage and asks the question that's been on his mind since the time stopped moving. "Why did you torture me… 800 something times? What did you need to be sure about?"
A sigh escapes God's mouth, "Well to be honest? There are two main reasons that tie into one another. First and foremost, I'm lonely. Incredibly so. I didn't even realize I was lonely or had the capacity to be lonely until I observed humanity. I observed how they loved, made friends, and acted beyond their base instincts. Ever since then… I slowly grew this need for a companion of some sort. Someone who understands what it's like to be an entity like myself."
"Who in the universe could possibly understand that? Definitely not me." At least I don't think so…?
They change locations again, this time appearing next to the sun. Mark is breathless, looking at the flaming giant while listening to God's problems. Definitely not the Tuesday he expected to have.
"No, definitely not you. Not yet, at least." God pauses, letting the implications of that last part set in. "The second reason is… inspiration. I've been working on something to add to the universe for the last few cycles, sorry, several million earth years, but it 'completely breaks physics', as you would put it. Because of this… little snag, I've been hesitant to actually implement it." Another shift in location ensues, to a volcanic alien planet not within the solar system.
It was too much information all at once. Breaking physics? What could possibly alter the foundational properties of the universe to the point that it would unravel everything we know?
With hesitation, Mark asked, "Why didn't you just add it? Work out the kinks as they came along?"
"Because of you. Your species and the possibility of sentience. I hadn't even considered that other things and life forms in this little sandbox I made however many cycles ago could be like me! I think therefore I am. How could a singular being like me be replicated? How could I possibly take that away from you all just because I wanted to run a little experiment? I couldn't. So, I didn't."
The scene shifted, and so did Mark's perspective, he began to see the universe as a singular whole, rather than scattered planets, stars, gases, and particles, he began to see a continuous whole. The beauty was beyond words. The connection between every particle, every wave of energy, every gravitational force that drew the stellar objects to one another, the dark matter that pushed it all apart, the entropy that gives unpredictability to the predictable nature of the universe. It all fit. This was God's compassion.
"You still haven't answered how that includes me. How you needed to torture me hundreds of times. How I, an insignificant, inexperienced, and relatively unintelligent, 22 year old kid can possibly help you. How does your loneliness relate to your need for inspiration?"
At that moment, the constant influx of universal truths ceased. And they both arrived in front of a black hole. The most beautiful structure in the universe and Mark's favorite stellar body. Absorbing light, energy, and matter while having a deadly accretion disc superheating matter makes for an unforgettable sight.
The question hung in the air like an accusation. But God didn't feel guilty, "I decided to solve both of my problems in one person. I wanted someone that fit my criteria for personality, morals, character, and a fixation on life beyond the mundane."
Mark looked away with a blush at that statement. He didn't go a day without cursing this boring universe and wishing for some meaning to existence beyond working for a system that benefited a few, and even then, it's not like any of these people would experience anything truly fundamentally different than any other human, no true personal power.
Everyone was fragile enough to be ended by a bullet, cancer that was caught too late, or sudden stroke or heart attack. Life was… boring, which heavily influenced his general disinterest beyond living comfortably.
"So, I somehow fit your mysterious criteria, then, despite being omniscient, in control of time, and capable of reading my thoughts, you still test and torture me?" Mark was desperately trying to make sense of God's thought process… but how do you make sense of someone you can't even begin to fathom?
God turns to face Mark with the most serious expression since this conversation began. "What made you think I was omniscient? I gather enough information at any given moment to be omniscient by your standards, but true omniscience would make me a robot. A function meant to solely execute a specific task."
He directs his gaze back to the black hole in front of them. After a breath, they appear back on earth, in the kitchen of Mark's suburban home.
"So, to answer your question: Yes, I still tested and tortured you because I intend to offer you a position of unimaginable potential and power. I intend to offer you the capability to raise your existence to my level one day. So, you tell me. If you were in my position, would you do anything different?"