Blast of blue give me sight. The burrowers fly off in a series of fireworks and sizzles. I shoot up with a wince and see my insides trying to be on the outside but it doesn’t hurt. I shove them back in with one hand and blast a few with the other before I see them cowering back underground. Their digging sounds trail into the distance. I take several shaky breath and look back at Kikito. Someone crouches next to him.

A young woman bathed in ash-toned, purple skin and hair to match, strands broken with highlights of light yellow-green. The strands flow as if she is underwater. She wears nothing but she’s built like a Barbie doll. Her ears visibly perk and she turns. Her eyes glow a dark forest-green against an ambiguously ageless face.

“Kelvin,” she says. She sounds like my mother and the sister I never had, a dear cousin and an even dearer friend.

I drop to my knees. “Can you help him?” I ask. Her eyes darken and she looks down at me. She threads her hot fingers through mine.

“I can’t,” she says, “but you can.”

My blood runs cold. “How?” I ask.

She smiles and says, “Of all, you should be open to impossible possibilities.”

I look to my stomach. The shirt is mostly torn away showing off my hairy, bloody, midriff and the bottom of my cropped binder. The abdominal flesh is in the final stages of healing itself, thin lines hatch marked across from the burrowers. I watch them disappear like magic.

My breath bunches up in my throat and I have to clear it before I can speak. “Who are you?”

“You’ve called me God. Allah. Shangdi. I’ve been your creator, in one form or another.”

“And you can’t help him? You’re the most powerful being in the universe and you can’t help him?”

She laughs, soft and comforting even if it’s at my expense. “Hardly. Now would you prefer to help Kikito first or would you rather explain this all over again after hearing it from me?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I dart forward, crouching over him with her. “What do I do?”

She takes my hand. Our touch sets me on electric fire from head to toe. My hair shoots up and I taste metal. Her grip tightens when I jerk back.

“I mean no ill will,” she says.

“I know. It’s just been a lot in a short amount of time.”

“I know. It’s going to be okay now. We’re together again,” she says and places a hand on my body, “you felt the pull when you used your power, remember how it tugged at your organs and nerves. Lean into it. Think about what you want to do most with it. Intention is crucial.”

I nod and do what she asks, feeling my shoulders drop and my stomach burn like I just back-to-back vodka shot. My brain doesn’t feel much different. A bird’s eye view of Kikito take over and he’s all I see. Fresh memories of our interactions and his lifeless gape ravages through my brain. I scream. Blue light pours out of me and showers over him. I feel every piece of his DNA sizzling and repairing itself until I’m pulled back. I fumble at Kikito but God slams me into the wall. She’s eye-level with me, glowing eyes wide with relief and wonder.

“Inbetween,” she coos and hugs me tightly. Sparks of purple and blue spew from us. Now I’m wide-eyed.

What the hell is happening? Confusion muddies my thoughts but I hug her back. Wrapping my arms around her is a home I didn’t know I had.

A series of coughs yanks me away. Kikito hunches over himself hacking up torrents of water. I kneel in front of him, gripping his shoulders in a frantic hug.

I must be yelling because he shoves me and says, “Wha—” another series of wet coughs— “what are you yelling for, Kev? Sheesh!”

“Dude you were dead,” I cry, “you drowned. And then we ended up here, these burrowing bugs tried to eat me and then...God showed up?”

“I prefer to be called Life. God implies many things that are outside my control,” she says perkily. Kikito’s gaze shoots to her and his cheeks flush.

“Did she save my life?” He asks.

“As much as I would love to take credit, this was doing Kelvin’s doing.”

Kikito looks at me like I’m a foreign object. “What are you?”

“I was hoping she knew,” I said.

“Not here. Somewhere more secluded. This energy will attract things to us, like that creature pursuing you. We just gave it our location.” She says and walks away. Kikito stands but stumbles. I swoop underneath his armpit to hold him up.

“Thanks, Kev.”

“Kev?”

“Sorry, Kelvin. I like nicknames.”

“No, I do too. Do you think I’m too freakish to be your friend?” I ask. It has the tinge of a joke but I mean it.

“Nah.” Kikito immediately says. “Makes me wish something cool happened to me,” he laughs but his eyes grow distant, “maybe I spoke too soon — listen I saw shit when I thought I was asleep.”

“You weren’t sleeping. You were dead.”

“That just makes it weird.”

“We’ll talk about it later. Right now we’re losing her,” I say. Kikito picks up the pace, quickly gaining strength and leaving me chasing after both of them.