“WHAT THE FUCK!” Kane shouted, heart beating wildly. How in the ten hells was there a voice speaking in his head, was he actually going insane??

“Herm, no surprise there,” said the voice, “all these mortals are truly pathetic. Can’t even handle the most basic of divine projections. Unbelievable, all the time and energy we waste on trash like this. Perhaps I should just leave this one to his one to figure it out on his own.”

“Wait, wait!” Kane shouted into thin air. On the off chance he wasn’t going insane he should take every opportunity to learn about what was happening to him.

“What’s going on? How are you speaking in my mind; is this some experimental technology? How did you make that stone float? Where is my family?” Somewhere in Kane’s mind he knew that whatever was going on was far stranger than “experimental technology,” but a lifetime of western society was hard to let go of.

*sigh* “Listen mortal, I don’t have all day to answer your questions. I have another 2.3 billion of you humans to brief today. Truly a waste of my divine talent to assign me to this of all jobs.”

“You will have to make due with the standard information package like the rest of your … kind” The voice said the last word with hint of distaste, similar to how a human would sound when complimenting someone they disliked.

“Alright, human,” the voice drawled, “Here is the situation: your tiny planet has been integrated into the divine alliance, the multiverse, the heavenly influence, etc., etc... However, because of the pathetic grade of your planet, every single earthling must first undergo a trial in order to prove themselves worthy. The trial and its measly reward will vary based on the specific earthling.”

“What trials?” Kane interrupted, sensing that the voice might just up and leave. He was curious about whatever “integration” and “the divine alliance” were, but he figured that the information about this trial would be more relevant to him. The voice didn’t seem like it would be nice enough to answer all his questions either so he should get the most directly useful information.

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The voice sighed again “You test my patience mortal, but your strength of will seems to be slightly less pathetic than the norm. Therefore, since you might actually survive, I will deign to bestow to you excess information about this trial. Let it never be said that lord Verinath is not a generous patron.”

“To start with, the reward, although pathetically small, is suited to the earthling in question and to that earthling, will seem like a veritable mountain of treasure. An old weakling might be rewarded by a youthful vigor, a clumsy fool might be gifted some ability to improve his dexterity. Why, I imagine that right now you have some paltry reward in mind and are simply drooling over it.” The voice seemed to somehow be able to observe Kane’s shocked expression and spoke smugly.

“Hold on…” Kane whispered “So that means…”

“Yes mortal, your ailment will surely be cured, and you will likely even get some other reward, depending on your performance, of course.”

Kane almost burst out and asked how the voice, or God apparently, knew about his condition, but then realized that was a stupid question. This voice could levitate stones and speak in his mind, how was it weird that is knew he had cancer? Besides, who cared about that anyway? He was facing an opportunity to cure the incurable: aggressive stage four leukemia.

Before his thoughts could continue to storm, the god interrupted him.

“Don’t get cocky earthling, you don’t understand the gravity of your situation quite yet. You see, the true heavens does not go around wasting its energy bestowing rewards, no matter how pitiful, upon billions of weaklings like yourself. It only puts up the rewards to make sure that you all push yourselves to your limits. Only a bare fraction survives and gets even the lowest rung of reward.”

“This trial will be a brutal sieve separating the strong from the weak. “

“In any case, that is all I can disclose. Be grateful that I spared my time to attend to one such as yourself. You can repay me by surviving the trial.”

“Oh, and you have one hour before the trial starts.”

And with that, the voice and the tingling warmth fled from his body, leaving him feeling cold and empty. Kane sucked in a breath and nearly collapsed to his knees. He hadn’t realized how much strain he had been under until now. He felt drained, like he had just gone on a long hike.

He slowly walked over to log and sat down. He needed to process what had just happened to him and what the implications were, but he couldn't stop thinking about one fact. He had a chance. It might be faint, but unlike before he had a chance to survive. With that conviction, a flame began to burn in Kane’s heart.