The next thing I know we’re standing on the top of Mauna Loa, an active volcano. How did I know that? Well there was no bubbling lava but I could feel the heat emanating like a steam room.

We are going into that?

“Why do I have to go with you?” I squealed.

“Because I can’t go into the afterlife, at least not if I want to return. So I send you in, pull you out once you have Katana.”

He made it sound so easy, “Oh and don’t leave my side, my protection only extends so far. If you stray you will overheat and suffocate.”

Great!

I stared into the hardened lava, “So, how do we do this?”

“Hmm, like this,” Eternal pushed me over the edge.

Suddenly the overpowering heat enveloped me as the ground grew closer by the second. I screamed, flailing my arms.

Eternal appeared below me, looking up at me.

I noticed I started slowing down, it felt more like floating than falling now. Screaming seemed silly as I landed on my feet, unharmed.

“Come,” Eternal draped an arm across my shoulders and we began to sink, “Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow.”

I tried to take deep breaths to calm my panic as we sank through the crust. It felt like vices clamped on every part of my body as it got enveloped. I had to keep filling my lungs to convince myself I wasn’t suffocating.

Eternal looked at me, “Are you suffocating?”

“I’m,” deep breath, “okay,” deep breath.

Eternal gave me another look. “You can only belong to one god, you know” Eternal spoke as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

And to them I guess it would be--humans would always be objects to belong to someone. We came through the crust into what looked like a cavern. It seemed to lead down and Eternal started walking.

“Right,” I said instead of arguing, “I’m pretty sure we can talk about this when we get out of here.” Plus I thought as a river of magma flowed below us, pretty sure I wouldn’t survive down here on my own.

“You’re not scared of me…anymore, while being around Prince still freezes your limbs. Who would you rather spend eternity with?”

I froze, eternity? That has to be a turn of phrase, right? He kept walking. The further apart we got the harder it was to fill my lungs. Focus, Emma, I chided myself.

“You know what I’ve never seen gods do? Dance,” I ran up to him.

He only spared me a glance, “I’ve watched humans dance, there is something entrancing about a physical expression of emotion.”

Yeah, couldn’t have said it better myself. “And you guys don’t express any emotion, so…dancing, see?”

“Oh we show plenty of emotion, humans can only read anger because it is the emotion we learned from them.”

“But you don’t remember anything before people. How do you know there was no anger? Plus if you’re saying you created human--”

“Never claimed that, I’m a firm believer of evolution. Humans were an accident, a bi-product of everything else we created.”

“Oh,” I suppose a smarter person would have dragged that sentence into a thesis paper but I just wanted to stop talking.

“That’s it? Do you believe the subject is so thoroughly changed that you can stop there?”

“Well what are you going to do now that you’re free anyway?” I didn’t skip a beat.

“I suppose travel and see the world that I could only glimpse through my televisions,” he shrugged, “Then I think I’d like to explore this idea of outer space.”

“You guys didn’t create that?” I tried not to sound mocking. I still only half believed he wouldn’t leave me here to die at the drop of a hat.

Another shrug, “Remember, it was a long time ago, we don’t remember,” okay that sounded too convenient. He was still talking though, “But if humans could evolve on their own, what else could exist out there. Plus there may be more gods, ones that remember the Beginning.”

“You mean that’s not just another god’s name,” I laughed but the look he gave me had me murmuring, “just kidding,” under my breath.

“Perhaps there is, one god who started this whole mess, it would explain why none of us remember it.”

“So, do you think…”

“That one of us is sitting on a throne listening to all of humanity’s problems? Only if that is his amusement every morning.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“But--”

“We don’t know, yes, yes. Still if it were even true in bits and pieces, where are we in the mythology?”

I shut up, no way I would win this argument. Not like I ever had a concrete belief in God myself.

We finished out descend, arriving at a pool of magma. “We have to go in,” Eternal held out his hand.

“Um, what?”

“Just don’t let go and you’ll be fine,” he took my hand and squeezed.

A god trying to reassure me? This was just not going to get any less weird.

The magma bubbled, Eternal stepped into it looking as if he was about to take a bath in a hot spring.

In the next moment, we were fully immersed. A tingling sensation played over my skin, quickly growing unbearable.

“Why are we down here?” I wanted to itch everywhere.

That got me another glance, “Just wait.”

It was pretty the way the magma shifted colors from deep red orange and blazing yellow. Almost pretty enough to forget that one touch would incinerate whatever went into it.

Unless you’re an indestructible god; I glanced at Eternal.

This trip was silent. I found myself fidgeting, trying to think of something to say.

Finally we hit the Earth’s mantle. But we didn’t stop, we passed through like ghosts through walls.

I started hyperventilating, the thick tar-like material pressing around me. Eternal squeezed my hand, “You were fine going through liquid fire but this bothers you?”

“Shut up,” I snapped, attempting to squeeze his fingers till the meat squirted out like toothpaste out of a tube. It didn’t work. Drats.

“It will take a little more than that,” was that a half-smile, half-smirk? How did he start acting so human?

“Why are you so irritating? Is it on purpose, or is it a god-trait that’s just inherent?”

Eternal smiled, pulled me closer, moving his hand from mine to my waist. And before I could even blink, planted his lips on mine.

What the--?

I expected the same manipulative desire to course through me that I associated with kissing Prince. But, no, it was just lips on top of mine. Soft...tangible...normal. Not to say that was all it took to make me passionately involved in the kiss, but it did distract me from the fact that we were encased in solid rock.

When he pulled away, I noticed we either were lip-locked for a really long time or we had sped up. We were through the mantle and inside the liquid metal outer core.

“Feel better?” his hand didn’t leave my waist.

Don’t you dare blush, I screamed at myself, “Yeah, thanks.”

He leaned close, “You know, I can hear your mind when you scream like that.”

I grunted, “Fine, then why would you kiss me, it’s not like you feel attraction.”

He shrugged, “Because it’s fun to see you uncomfortable. Even gods are capable of enjoying themselves.”

We made it through the liquid outer core and stopped at the solid iron core. Eternal looked beneath us as if he could penetrate the solid metal just by staring at it. Hey, I don’t know, maybe he could.

“What are we doing here?” I asked again.

“The Earth started at the center, it stands to reason that if there was any place on earth that connected to the afterlife, it would be here.”

“Why am I here then?” I snapped.

“Because,” he took me by the arms, “I can send you where I can’t go,” and he flung me into the iron ground.

I screamed. Until I realized I was not inside a solid metal ball. I was hanging above another white room, well more of a hallway. Somehow I knew this one wasn’t the same as Eternal’s world.

I looked down to the ground. People, the room was filled with people dressed in white practically blending into the walls. They shuffled like zombies.

How am I supposed to find Katana in this?

Then I saw her, running towards me. She wore all black, sticking out like a sore thumb. There was something chasing her…

My arms were starting to feel like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

She was getting closer. I tried to pull myself up, taking the pressure off my arms. I really should have worked out more in the last three years.

I looked down again. Katana’s pursuers were catching up. What…is…that? I strained to see them clearly but no matter how close they got they still appeared…fuzzy.

Is this really the afterlife? Death seemed like a joke now. I could see the strain on Katana’s face now.

What would happen if those things caught her? Or worse yet, caught us?

Katana leapt at me, grunting. Her weight added to my own and I was sure Eternal was going to drop us.

Instead his hands clamped down on my arms like vices. The things following Katana leapt at the same time.

I screamed.

“Pull up,” Katana yelled.

Eternal jerked up and the things missed us by inches. He caught us, somehow managing to change holds by wrapping an arm around each of our waists.

“Hold on,” he said, making the best Superman impression as we practically flew out of the center of the earth. He didn’t take it slow to let me adjust this time, through liquid metal, semi-solid plastic and stone, magma and through the volcano. We popped out of the earth like newborn babes. Okay, never mind, that image was disgusting.

Blade stood waiting, grabbing Katana out of Eternal’s arms.

“No gratitude required,” Eternal griped. I laughed, I will need so much therapy after this.

Then it hit me.

It’s over!

Eternal got his freedom. Blade got his girlfriend and Prince…

Oh.

“Come,” Eternal grabbed me by the back of my neck dragging me away from the scene.

“No, Eternal, you will let her go, just as I have,” Prince appeared in front of us.

He let me go?

Why did I feel disappointed?

I looked from Eternal to Prince and back. They seemed to have entered some kind of staring contest.

“Hey guys?” I nudged Eternal.

Neither moved.

“They’re having a private conversation,” Princess tugged me out of Eternal’s arms, “Come on, before they wake. I have a job for you.”

“Job?” I kept watching the two for signs of movement.

“You fear them more than me?” Princess smiled reminding me of the Cheshire cat, no wonder she called herself Kitty.

“What job?” I said.

“A liaison position,” she rolled her eyes, “Well, that is putting it nicely, I need a lackey between us, the gods, and the humans. You are human without powers yet with a strong connection to us. I’ve been watching…television,” she seemed to gag, “And I believe we need some good PR, they called it.”

Not what I expected, “And what do I get?” Yes, I said it.

Again that smile, “Not to be a burden on others.”

I felt my face blaze.

“And not be their toy, there is one--a yoyo, I believe it’s called.”

I guess it would be too much to ask for them to just leave me alone. But…I looked around, if I was really honest with myself--where would I go back to? Would I be able to just be the coffee shop girl after getting superpowers, dying and going to the center of the earth. I mean I know for a fact that there is an afterlife.

“Can I--” be firm Emma, “As long as you all follow my ground rules.”

Apparently the raised eyebrow was about to become Princess’s favorite human expression.

“What will you demand of the gods?”

Ah! She is so annoying! “Well, for starters, how about not worrying about that,” I pointed to Prince and Eternal coming out of whatever it was they were doing.

She cocked her head, “That I find as annoying as you, so agreed.”

“And no more threatening my life.”

“Fine.”

“And--and--and,” I know there was more.

“How about you tell me when you think of it,” she put an arm across my shoulders and led me away.