I was on a cruise with my girlfriend of two years. We both graduated from Ohio State University and set off on this cruise to the Bahamas to celebrate our milestone. I had just turned twenty-one, and I had too many drinks and found myself falling off the side of the ship.

I let out an ear-piercing scream as I heard Ava calling out my name. “Alan!” she yelled as I plummeted downwards. Damn it. I don’t want to die now. Life was just getting good. My future. She already had the names of our children picked out. We were going to have one boy named Alan Jr and one girl named Sarah. We were going to live in the suburbs of Cincinnati and have a peaceful life.

In an instant, I could feel the air leaving my lungs as the water under me made it feel like I landed on concrete blocks. “I don’t want to die,” I thought, but at this point, that was a given. As I started to surrender my feelings, I noticed something. I wasn’t dying. The world was stopped. I was in the ocean, and I could see fish all around, but none of them were swimming.

“Let me ask you a question.” A voice had pierced my mind. Or was it just invisible? I wasn’t sure.

“Hello?” The voice called out again. “I am certain that you can hear me.”

I wasn’t sure if this was my brain playing jokes or was this real? Did I have too many drinks? For no real reason, I answered the voice. “Yes?”

“Ah, there you are. I started to wonder if I got here too late,” he said.

“Too late?” I thought. “Too late for what?” What was going on? I was so confused. Was I really dead, and this was God judging me?

“No, I’m not here to judge you,” he said after reading my mind. “I am here to offer you a gift. A gift of immortality.”

“Immortality, huh? That’s a crock of shit,” I thought. I had watched enough horror movies to know when someone offers you something like immortality; it’s a demon trying to steal your soul. He could try that on someone else. I wasn’t falling for that.

“Not even close, human. I am no demon, and I am a god. The God of Wandering, to be precise.”

The God of Wandering? I had never heard of that one before. “Hermes?” I asked.

“No, you fool. Don’t confuse me with that Greek Mythology you humans created.”

Ouch. It seemed like I touched a sore spot with him. “Note to self: never call a voice in your head a god that you learned about watching Hercules.”

“What do you want with me then?” I asked.

“To be honest, I am bored,” he admitted. “I want to see what would happen if I gave a human the power to teleport between worlds.”

Ok, now he had caught my attention. Two things here. The first he was saying there were worlds outside of Earth. The second. Teleportation? If Not-Hermes was telling the truth, this could be interesting. “Ok, you have my attention.”

“Good,” he said. “Now, this other world is far behind yours in technology, but…they are a world of magic.”

“Magic?” This was getting a bit absurd. If this voice hadn’t been so clear and vivid, I would have believed I was already dead.

“Yes, magic,” he said impatiently. “Now, there are rules you must follow.”

“Rules, huh?” I asked. I figured there was a catch somewhere. First, he leads with this immortality bullshit. Now, there are strings attached. Speaking of immortality, “Hey, you said something about immortality.”

“Yeah, about that. Well, you will live through this. Doesn’t that count?” I could hear him give a nervous chuckle.

“What the hell was that laugh about? So, the immortality was bullshit then?”

“Ahem,” he said, trying to change the subject.

“Oh no, you aren’t changing the subject,” I said.

“No, it’s not a lie, it’s just,” he paused. “Think of it like this. It will be very difficult for you to die.”

What did he mean by difficult to die? I didn’t know if I should be excited, nervous, or scared. He didn’t exactly give me the heebie-jeebies, but I didn’t trust him either.

“Basically, Alan, by taking some of my power, you will notice some changes. You will run a little faster, be a little stronger, and well….Ava might be a little happier.”

Even though I couldn’t move, I could feel my face getting flushed. “Elaborate, please,” I asked.

“Look at you, the little pervert,” he accused and ended it with laughter.

“I swear to God,” I thought.

“You rang?” He asked.

Shit, I forgot he could read my mind.

I started to wonder if all gods were like this. He said he was the God of Wandering, which meant there were others. Was he really this bored? I couldn’t help but think this was a joke. He dropped this bombshell on me and, in the process, made some comments I wouldn’t have expected a god to make. But, if this means I can see Ava again, I would do it.

I finally broke the silence. “You spoke of rules. What are they?”

“Simple, really. If anyone finds out about your power, I will make sure you find your way back here at this exact time and space without me.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

That seemed a bit too simple. “So, basically, you are saying I just need to keep my mouth shut?”

“Yup, that’s it,” he replied. “I am also going to throw in a bonus. Since you have gained part of my power, that means you can use mana now. I will grant you a skill. It’s called language translation. This should help you communicate with your new world.”

Ok, I started to be convinced this was real. This god and his power were real. Make sense or not, I was excited. I could think of endless ways to use this power.

“So, are you sure this is the only rule?” I asked.

“I know what you are thinking,” he answered back. “And yes, for now, this is the only rule. If I see that you are getting out of hand, I might step in. Just don’t try for some global domination mass genocide stuff, and you will find that I am fairly lenient.

“Ok, I am in. How do I do it?” I asked.

“Ok, so what I am going to do first is teleport you to your new world. It is called Gailia. I want you to take a quick look around you because then I will teleport you back. Whenever you want to head back over, just visualize it, and you will feel the mana within you moving. Now remember, this is important. You can only teleport to places you have been to already.”

“OK?” I questioned. “Why do you have to hurry and bring me back?”

“Well, you know that ship you fell from? It will be turning around. Do you really want to be teleported INTO that ship? If so, you will find out that my immortality gift is, as you called it, ‘bullshit’.’”

Ok, that made sense. I didn’t think of how time could change a place. It was something that I needed to remember.

“Alright, I am ready. Let’s do this,” I said, expecting the worst but hoping for the best, and in an instant, I found myself in a forest with trees three feet in diameter and taller than any Redwood I had ever seen. I didn’t get a chance to see much else as I heard him say, “Time to go. This is farewell. I will check up on you from time to time. Now go and amuse me.”

The next thing I knew, I was back in the water, flailing around. Time had started to move again. The God of Wandering had dropped me back off.

I couldn’t tell how far I was under the water, but with a few kicks of my feet, I found myself surfacing above the water. Ahead in the distance I could see the red and white cruise ship fading in the distance with its alarm bells ringing. Only a few seconds had gone by.

Panic started to set in as the cruise ship moved farther and farther into the horizon. I had read a story once that it could take up to an hour for a cruise ship to turn around. I did the only thing I could think of. I started swimming towards it. I started to stroke my arms and kick my legs. I knew I couldn’t keep up, but if I just swam in a straight line, I figured it would make it easier to find me.

Left and right, and kick and kick. Head up. Breath. Head down, and again.

I didn’t think much of anything as I tried to retain my focus on my rhythm. I didn’t notice the water pelting my face at speeds that humans couldn’t handle. The next thing I realized, I was flying across the water like a fucking Ski Doo, dodging schools of tuna before I splattered them like a mosquito hitting a windshield.

It didn’t take long for the ship to come back into sight. I could see them hoisting down the boats. Then it occurred to me. I wasn’t stupid enough to think it was normal to ski on the ocean without a boat. They would question me. How could I answer the question of how I could swim like Michael Phelps on Meth?

In a smart move, I kept the boat just in range as I watched them finally get the rescue vessels in the water. Once I saw them on their way, I quit swimming toward them and just treaded the water like I had been there the whole time.

“Help!” I screamed out as they got closer. One of the two vessels had heard me and made a beeline in my direction. “Help me!” I yelled out again.

Now, I didn’t really need help, I just needed to play the part, so as soon as they got closer, I quit kicking my feet so that I would bob up and down. “Help me!” I yelled again, this time spitting out a mouth full of the nasty salt water.

“Hurry up!” I heard one of the men finally say. “He’s still alive.”

“Perfect,” I thought. They look convinced. I played my part perfectly.

The vessel glided toward me and as it reached a few feet away, one of the men in a blue uniform reached out and grabbed my hands and pulled me up.

“Are you ok? He asked. He must have been one of the doctors on board, because before I could answer, he already had a stethoscope out and was listening to my lungs.

“Your lungs are clear,” he said. He then put his fingers up to my next to check my pulse.

“Heart rate at…” He paused and looked at me. He tapped the buttons on his watch and put his fingers back on my neck.

“Oh shit,” I thought. Was I busted?

“Heart rate is at,” he paused again. “Fifty-two.”

“How many drinks did you have before you fell?” He asked.

Oh yeah, I was drunk, wasn’t I? I guess the shock of dying and being teleported must have sobered me up.

“I dunno,” I said. “I remember I had four Long Island Ice Teas and a couple of shots of rum and tequila.”

“Patient claims to have drank a lot of alcohol. His body is exhibiting symptoms of severe intoxication.”

“Do you remember how you got here?” He asked.

What kind of question was that? Of course, he knew. Ava and I were dancing around the deck when we decided to throw a few quarters overboard. Well, I would have probably blown a .15 in a breathalyzer, so what I considered dancing, was more like my flailing my arms and legs. The rest was history.

By the time I could recount the story, we had already made it back to the ship. They dropped some ropes from above and connected them to the front and back of the rescue vessel. I could hear the engine turning the pulleys to crank us upward, and when we reached the top, I noticed three men idly standing by as everyone was off-boarding.

Standing next to them was the doctor taking my vitals, whispering something into their ears.

“Alan Harris,” one of them finally said. “You are under arrest for drunken, disorderly conduct. Please place your hands behind your back.”

“Are you serious?” I asked. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I was dumbfounded. I almost accidentally killed myself, and now I am being arrested.

I guess he was a police officer because he turned me around and slapped a pair of handcuffs on me just in time for me to hear my name from across the ship.

I didn’t need to hear the voice to recognize who it was. I wouldn’t ever forget that light brown hair that fell to her shoulders and the pair of knockers that were nearly slapping her in the face as she ran toward me. It was Ava.

“Get off me,” she yelled as one of the officers was restraining her. “Are you alright?” she yelled out in panic. The officer was playing as a Pro Bowl-level Left Tackle because he was repelling every swim and spin move she tried. Eventually, Ava gave up, realizing she wasn't getting by Anthony Munoz.

“I’m ok,” I told her, trying to calm her down. If she kept throwing a fit, she would be locked up next to me… Wait… Maybe I want her to keep throwing a fit. I thought better than to antagonize her. If she were to get arrested, her dad would kick my ass. He was an MMA fighter, and I was just a bean sprout with brown hair.

“We are taking you to the brig,” Officer 1 told me. He kept his hands on the chain of my cuffs as he led me forward and down some stairs.

For some reason, none of this really bothered me. Perhaps it was due to my near-death experience and being granted some new awesome superpower, but I wasn’t overly worried about a misdemeanor on my criminal record.

“We will be at the Miami Port in two days. From there, you will see a judge,” the officer told me as he led me into the jail cell. I guess cruise ships get their fair share of idiots because I figured I would be handcuffed to a pole. Instead, I found myself in a nice 8x8 room with a bed and a toilet.

After he uncuffed me and closed the door, I walked over and patted the bed. It was hard, but that wasn’t unexpected. Besides, I didn’t see myself sleeping much anytime soon. I had a new toy to play with.