Chapter 8

“In order to discover the Self, you must realize your place in the universe and solidify your self-value. You must realize that while we are all individuals in a sense, we are all exactly the same in the grander scheme. The only true differences are the ones we create ourselves, while in reality, we are all made of the same atoms, molecules, and energy. Our DNA may be different and we may have different thoughts, but that only shows that the pieces that built us all don’t always go together in the exact same way, especially in the mind. Let’s say you took DNA out of the question and compared any two humans. Other than perhaps differences in how they are built in terms of bulk and size, the only conceivable difference between them is how their minds work via neural pathways and component affiliation. Even between genders, there is no difference.

If I wanted to, I could complete change each of you into someone else, including each other. Which woman would Tyler become and which woman would become a man, oh it makes me laugh just think about it.”

Tyler and the two girls laughed nervously, knowing that he really could do it.

“I don’t just mean rearranging atoms either, your DNA contains all the information for humans in general. While it may require a Y chromosome from a sperm to fertilize an egg and create a male human, the DNA in every woman contains the biological information on how to create a child of the opposite gender. And that’s not all, all organisms stem from the primordial laws of anatomy, and each and every organism carries those primordial laws. Plants use photosynthesis and animals use cellular respiration, but if you had the ability, you could without a problem take the genetic information from either and turn them into the other. As long as the atoms are there and you can manipulate them, you can turn anything into anything.

However, if you go even deeper, you realize that we are actually no different from non-living matter as well. Take any object in my room, or even your own clothes, just pick something. You and whatever object you picked share the same principals of containing matter, energy, and chemical reactions. Even a cold stone has energy passing through it and molecules breaking and forming within it. You may be thinking to yourself that this is a load of bullshit (pardon my French), but you are each no different than whatever object you chose.

While the atoms, amount of energy, and number of chemical reactions may be different, all matter is the same. It all depends on how it is put together. Tell me, what is the difference between a dead body and a living one? At the atomic level, none. In terms of energy, great. Cellular condition and health? Well that depends on reason of death and how long ago death occurs. Imagine a human dying, not from any illness, accident, or even age. Just imagine life leaves him like a dead battery, and for the sake of the metaphor, his cells remain in perfect condition. Do you know the only difference between you and that body? Nothing more than the amount of energy you contain and it contains. Hell, since the cells are still intact, you could bring him back to life with a jumpstart.

In essence, the only difference between you and any dead body is the amount of energy you each have and the condition of the cells if you want to be nitpicky. That’s it. It still has matter like you, it still has chemical reactions like you, and it still has energy like you, albeit a lower amount. There is nothing different between you two, and since there is no difference between a dead body and inanimate matter, there is no real difference between life and inanimate matter.”

“So how does that tie in to self-worth?” Kelly asked.

“If you see yourself as exactly like everything else, then you see yourself as an equal part of the universe. Instead of thinking that you’re a person on the only known planet that can support life, you realize that you are a conglomerate of atoms and energy, held in the gravitational pull of another conglomerate of atoms, orbiting a nuclear fusion conglomerate of atoms in the universe. You see yourself not as an organism on the dry earth, but as a drop of water, more energetic than the dry earth but made of atoms just like it.

The next time you go out and maybe glance up at the moon, I want you to realize that the difference between you and it is little more than how you are both built and how far apart you are. If your ever bored, reach out and touch the nearest object. Try to visualize the atoms in your body coming into to contact with the atoms in that object, the energy swirling around within it and you, and realize that you are nothing more a bigger copy of that with more atoms and different chemical reactions.”

He then paused, letting the words sink in to everyone’s mind. Mulling over everything he had told them, Victoria, Tyler, and Kelly looked around the room and the floor, doing what he said and visualizing the atoms and energy. In their eyes, he could see that they knew he was right. He could see that they were realizing how matter and energy were the only changes.

“Once you realize this, then you will see pain in a whole new way. You will realize that what you feel as pain is nothing more than chemical reactions in your body, reacting to other chemical reactions or physical collisions. At which point, the value and meaning of that pain becomes up to you. Imagine someone plays a prank on you, humiliates you in front of the whole school with everyone pointing and laughing at you. Unless their prank involved physically harming you, your only pain comes from the value you place on the prankster’s intentions and the laughing of everyone. They cannot force this pain on it, you can only choose to let it happen. If you can see beyond the social meaning implied in the ramifications of that prank, if you can see the insignificance of something as insipid as the opinions of the people laughing at you, and if you can look at yourself and realize that since you are not hurt, there is no reason to be upset, then you realize that you have achieved complete self-reliance.

Victoria and Kelly, I told this story to Tyler, and I think this will help you understand what I am saying. Back in my old school, there was a girl I knew, one who I had taught to discover the Self. Unfortunately, she became the victim of a sexual assault. However, she did not allow her to affect her the way it would to normal people. The event splashed off her soul like water on rock. To understand why, let’s take a look at the reasons of why sexual assault normally hurts people.

1. There is the physical damage. She had her virginity taken away, but to her, it did not matter, because that didn’t mean she couldn’t still know the feeling of making love to someone for the first time in her life. Any other scars would inevitably heal.

2. There is the loss of power, the loss of the ability to choose who touches you in that way, when a woman is normally very selective in who she allows to establish that bond. She said that she didn’t mind, because nothing he could do could hurt her mind, only her body, and I’ve already explained the meaning of that. That man could penetrate and violate her body, but no one could penetrate or violate her mind, and that is the one place where she would always have control and the only place she needed control.

3. The issue of sex itself. Let’s face it, we learn more from the faceless media and society about sex than from our parents when they give us “the talk”. But ladies, try to imagine that you knew nothing about sex, rape, or sexuality. You’re basically one of those feral children that you hear about in India. Now imagine that a stranger sexually assaults you. You have no idea what is so you don’t fight back, so he in turn isn’t rough or cruel. Do you think that you would feel the same pain and fear as a woman who has grown up in modern society? At most, you would be wondering what the hell he was doing and what that sensation was.
Before you start thinking I’m full of shit, you can see this effect in animals. Have you ever seen a female dog freak out and have a psychological break-down if she get’s mounted by a strange dog in the park? It knows nothing about what it means to be raped, only of its instincts to mate and reproduce. You’ll see this throughout the animal kingdom, females are really only picky about finding the best member of the opposite gender to give it the healthiest offspring. The rest of the time, a female will basically just stand there and smell the roses, barely even registering it.

If you can see your body in an instrumental way and look at intercourse in the same way an animal does, then you see that the pain of sexual assault comes from the victim’s perception of the act. My friend was able to see it as some damage to her body, nothing more. Though whenever I have this conversation, I like to remind who I’m talking to that I am strongly against sexual assault and do not make light of the damage it can cause.”

Victoria and Kelly were both silent, incorporating what he had said into their minds. Hearing it, they almost felt safe, like Jack had just given them a special defense against sexual assault should they ever become a victim. They almost felt like should such a thing ever happen to them, they would be able to retain control and would have a safety net, protecting them from the worst aspects of the assault.

“If you can learn to see the world from this view, then you can live a life without anger or grudges. You see that a materialistic life means nothing since the value of objects come from you, and if you can look beyond pain and no longer be negatively affected by others, then you can learn to forgive in just about any situation. You can forgive someone who burns down your house, since you don’t need material possessions. You can forgive someone who kills a member of your family, since you know that death is only an illusion. You can forgive someone who hurts or robs you, because you know that you will recover and that you will get more money if you really need it.

If you can learn to forgive and become immune to the negatives, then you’ll have nothing left but positives. You’ll help everyone because you’ll have no fear of being hurt and you won’t care about the cost. When that terrorist shot me, I held no ill will. I forgave him and worked to help him, and you will with whomever you meet. Happiness comes from the Self, but it also comes from people, so since you have no fear of cost or betrayal and see only the light, your greatest joy becomes making other people happy. You see that since you don’t have to live in a negative world, no one else should have to.

The next time you are driving through the rain and see someone with a flat tire, I hope you’ll stop and help them. So what if it’s raining? You’re body will tell you that it’s wet and probably cold, but that only matters if you mind it. So what if the person you’re helping isn’t very likeable. Maybe your kind act will help them become a better person. What if you are late for an appointment or date? You can always reschedule and only a person who is truly important will understand and won’t mind if you’re late. You’ve learned how to not be unhappy, so do whatever you can to make sure that others aren’t unhappy in your place.

Once you learn how to always be happy, you can do things for others that you didn’t like before and help them become happy. You can work down in a soup kitchen and help others, while being as happy and carefree as if you were at home doing what you would normally doing. I know today I’ve sounded like someone who devalues the human experience, but believe me, I believe the one and only true positive in this universe is the ability to be happy.”

Everyone smiled at his words, feeling a warmth in their hearts. Right then and there, they knew they would never again be miserable. As long as they had a choice and the knowledge Jack had blessed them with, they could always be happy.

“Now I’m going to cover one more subject and then we’ll have to call it a day. The subject I want to go over ties in with the original topic of self-value, as it deals with the final equalizer in this reality, the equalizer that dictates what reality is: time. I’ve gone over this with Tyler, but you two need to hear it. Everything in the universe is predetermined by time, with there being one and only one reality. Have you ever been in a situation, where later you wish you had made a different decision or chose a different act? Have you ever blamed yourself for not doing something you were capable of?

In truth, there is no point in being angry with yourself, because what you did was unavoidable. Every event in reality is destined; it is the one and only path that time can take. Imagine you are walking down the street; visualize it. Every step you take has already been preordained by time, including the next one. You raise your foot, lean forward, and are about to touch back down. At this moment, an unlimited number of variables are switching to the points required for your next step. Temperature, air density, stamina, sense of balance, distractions, the ground itself… all are parts of the equation for this step, and every one is exact and unmovable.

Now imagine the step and where you touch down, its exact point on the sidewalk. According to the variables, there was no other place you could have landed. All the variables had lined up for you to step in that exact geographical spot, not a single micrometer out of place. Every single variable guaranteed it at that instant, it’s not like all the variables said your foot would land there but the variable for your sense of direction said you would momentarily lose balance and step an inch short. Every variable lines up exactly to create one single reality without any other possibilities.

Everything you do, think, feel, and say has been predetermined by fate. This conversation was guaranteed, the way you are sitting was guaranteed, the way you are breathing while you listen to me was guaranteed, and every decision you make about it is guaranteed as well. However, like I said, every single variable has to line up, and this includes decision-making. Every event happens because the variables allow that one path of time to exist, and like it, every decision you make is only possible because you have the ability to make it.

Imagine you have to make a very important decision, one which requires you know all the facts and understand the consequences of your choice. That said, time cannot make you give a well-informed decision without knowing the facts, understanding the consequences, and being capable of making that decision. No event can take place without the setting just right, and no decision can be made unless you have the ability to make a decision. Just as a worst case scenario cannot happen without the setting supporting it, you cannot make a smart choice unless you yourself are smart enough to make it. Even if your decision is just a guess, you are only able to make that guess because you have the mental prowess required to make it.

And with that, we’ll call it a day. Now just like yesterday, your assignment is to mull over everything I’ve told you and incorporate it into your own minds. This information is useless unless you choose to let it impact you. Like they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

Feeling like their minds were about to burst from the massive psychological injection, Victoria, Tyler and Kelly all gave sighs of relief and joy while they stood up and stretched.

“By the way Jack, I have football practice tomorrow. Is it ok if I come later for tomorrow’s lesson?” Tyler asked.

“Of course, have fun!” Jack said with his usual carefree smile.

“I guess that means me, Kelly, and Jack will be spending some quality time together,” Victoria said, looking right into Kelly’s eyes with the smallest of smiles.

Kelly’s eyes widened, almost as a nonverbal way to question if Victoria meant what she thought she meant, and with a tiny nod, she confirmed it and Kelly lit up like a Christmas tree.

——————————————————

It was a warm morning, at least slightly, warm enough to turn the would-be snow storm into a torrential downpour. Wet, freezing, and probably guaranteeing a cold, Tyler twisted the bolts of his spare tire onto the axle of the motorist’s truck, since she didn’t have one. He was more than twenty minutes late for class and uncomfortable in his wet clothes, but he didn’t mind in the slightest. His body could handle it, one late class wouldn’t kill him, and he could always just get another spare. He was just glad the two trucks had the same-sized tires. Humming the song that had been playing on his alarm clock radio, he tightened all the bolts and then put his jack and tire iron back into the cab of his truck.

“I borrow my husband’s truck one time and I pop a tire, just my luck. I can’t thank you enough, please, take this for the tire. It’s the least I can do.” The woman said, clutching an umbrella and holding out all the money from her wallet.

“Don’t worry about it, consider it a freebie,” Tyler replied.

“Please, I can’t get a tire donated and changed in the rain by someone without giving them something. Please let me make up to you.”

“If you want to make it up to me, pass on the good deed to someone else,” he said cheerfully before climbing back into his truck and driving off without a care in the world.

——————————————————

“Watch it, whore!” a student said as Kelly bumped into him in the hall and knocked his phone out of his hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, picking it up for him. Noting the scratch on the screen, the punk uttered a loud curse.

“Goddammit, shouldn’t you be off sucking from freshman dick?”

Instead of feeling anger or shame, Kelly just smiled. “I don’t do that anymore. Sorry about the phone.”

——————————————————

Victoria yelped as the cup of hot coffee splashed across her chest and soaked her favorite blouse, turning the radiant sky blue into sickly brownish-purple. It took her everyone in the cafeteria only a second to conclude that the huge stain would never come out.
“Oh Jesus, I’m so sorry, Victoria!” her friend exclaimed.
“Relax, no harm done.”
“Oh come on, everyone knows this shirt is your favorite.”
“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to find a new favorite. Here, sorry about the coffee,” Victoria said with a smile while handing her friend a few dollars to get another drink.

In the corner, sitting at his usual table, Jack looked up over his book of poetry and smiled with pride.

——————————————————

“Ok, so just to make sure, this is a one-time thing.” Victoria established, standing with Kelly and Jack in his room, all three nervous.

“Agreed,” Jack and Kelly said.

“And this is YOUR one time, no more women after this but me,” Victoria said, pointing at Jack.

“Yes dear,” he said with a fake groan.

“Have you ever been with a women?” Kelly asked.

“No, but I’m always open to new things. You?”

“Plenty of times. Don’t worry, it’s fun.”

“All right, here goes nothing,” Victoria said, walking over and planting a kiss on Kelly.

Jack watched with a raised eyebrow and an erect dick as the two women stood like statues, their lips pressed together and unmoving. After several seconds, they separated, stared into each other’s eyes, and started kissing again, this time with more passion and tongue. Immediately, they began feeling each other up and panting heavily as they kissed over and over again, sucking on each other’s tongues while fireworks went off in their heads. For Victoria, the feeling, taste, and acknowledgment of being with another woman was even greater than in her dream, since this Kelly was real, and for Kelly, the same unique kinky arousal experienced when kissing another girl was flaring back up.

Jack took a step forward and wrapped his arms around them, reminding them that he was still there. Victoria ended her kiss with Kelly and then began kissing Jack while the former began undressing. Once Kelly was naked, she pressed herself against Victoria and took her place kissing Jack, letting Victoria get undressed. Pressing herself against Jack and Kelly, Victoria joined in and added her lips to the fray. The three-way kiss ended after several seconds and the two women climbed up onto Jack’s fold-out bed. While Jack undressed, Victoria and Kelly explored each other’s bodies with their hands, giggling and relishing the softness of each other’s skin.

All three now completely nude, Jack climbed onto the bed with them, immediately moving over to Victoria. Setting his head between her legs, he began to hungrily lick her cunt, slurping up the juices already dripping from between her legs. While Jack ate out Victoria, Kelly leaned over and began sucking on her breasts. The sensation of feminine lips on her nipples made her blush and pant, a sensation almost more intense than Jack tonguing her clit. After thoroughly painting Victoria’s tits with saliva, she moved up and resumed kissing her for a few seconds, but then it was time to move on.

Victoria lied back and Kelly got on top of her, straddling her face. Without any hesitation or sign of discomfort, Victoria sent her tongue up into Kelly while working her lips against the entrance, causing the young woman to begin whimpering in bliss. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had gone down on her, and now that she was a virgin with an untrained body, every lick from Victoria’s tongue was as potent as during her first time. For Victoria, just the fact that she was having her face sat on by another woman was practically orgasmic. She felt so kinky, so naughty, and yet she wanted more. Maybe it was because of Jack’s lessons or the dream she had had before, but there was no unease in her heart at the thought of being with another women. The act of flitting her tongue between Kelly’s virgin lips felt completely natural.

Grabbing Kelly’s hips, she moved her forward on her face. Knowing what Victoria was doing, Kelly smiled and got up on her hands and knees in a crabwalk with Victoria’s face kept buried in her young, tight ass, while facing Jack so that he could see her chin and lower lip.

“Damn, you’re kinkier than I thought!” Kelly said, feeling Victoria’s tongue penetrating her asshole like a power drill.

With Victoria now wet and loose and Kelly giving him room, Jack got up and brought himself up to her level. Without his hands, he pushed his manhood deep into her slit and began fucking her. With short fast strokes, he worked himself through her cunt with only his lower body, keeping his upper body stationary so that he could lick Kelly’s sweet snatch. With a tongue in her ass and a tongue in her cunt, Kelly was whining in happiness, desperate and wishing for Jack to start fucking her. Victoria, feeling Jack’s manhood slam her interior like a machine while she licked every corner of Kelly’s tight anus, was on cloud nine and at the peak of her euphoric potential. But like all good things, the position had to change.

After a minute of fucking Victoria, Jack finally sat back up and pulled out of her. Quick on the scene, Kelly pounced on him and hungrily took his cock in her mouth, sucking it clean of Victoria’s pussy juice and relishing the feeling of his member on her tongue.

“I’m ready, Jack. You gave me my virginity, so you should be the one to take it,” she murmured, lying back and spreading her legs.

With a kind smile, Jack climbed on top of her and Victoria backed off, patiently letting Kelly have her turn. With Kelly running her tongue through his mouth, Jack slowly entered her, spreading the lips of her pussy with his cock and moving in centimeter by centimeter. Even though she had been fucked hundreds of times, the feeling of penetration was completely new to Kelly’s healed body, and she unknowingly dug her nails into Jack’s back as he reached her hymen. Without ending their kiss, she nodded and he obeyed, pushing all the way in and deflowering her.

With formerly virgin blood streaming from her torn hymen for the second time in her life, Kelly moaned happily and Jack worked up to his usual rhythm, quickly forcing her to further spread her legs and raise them as he pumped her snatch like a hammering piston. Victoria watched the two of them while chewing on her lip and working her fingers between her legs, wishing she could have her turn again, but there was something about watching the two of them together that strangely turned her on. By now, Kelly’s feet were up in the air and Jack was working her with all of his strength, waiting for her to give that key moan.

Finally hearing it, Jack gave ten more powerful thrusts, delivering her to her first orgasm. With Kelly as limp as a ragdoll, Jack sat up to catch his breath. Quickly, Victoria climbed up onto Kelly to get her turn, shaking her ass at Jack and grinning.

“Come on, stud, put it in me. Right here,” she said, spreading her ass cheeks.

Smiling at the honor, Jack leaned forward and first ran kisses across her taut shapely rear, teasing her and using the opportunity to finish catching his breath. Then, to make sure he would be able to move inside her, he flitted his tongue through her back door. The sensation of her lover going down on her from behind was like nothing she had experienced, even kinkier than when she had done the same to Kelly, since she knew what was going to follow it. Jack was certainly diligent in his licks, plunging himself as far into her perfect rear as he could, relishing the naughty taste.

With her ass as ready as it would ever be, Jack got up on his knees and pressed the head of his cock against her tight ring. Leaning forward, he slowly began to enter her, causing Victoria to wince and whine at the strange and almost painful sensation. Moving slowly to spare her as much discomfort as possible, Jack slithered in, millimeter by millimeter. With Jack working himself inside her and stretching her virgin asshole, Victoria was holding onto Kelly tightly for support and Kelly was returning the embrace. With time and patience, Jack eventually worked his entire cock into her and waited for Victoria to stop trembling.

“How are you doing, champ?” Kelly asked beneath her while stroking her hair.
“I’m ok,” Victoria said softly.

“How does it feel?” Jack asked while rubbing her shoulders.

She looked back at him with a tender smile. “Fantastic.”

“I’m glad. Ok, I’m going to start pulling out. If it starts to hurt, tell me and I’ll stop.”

Victoria answered with a simple nod.

Holding onto Victoria’s hips, Jack slowly retracted his phallus, pulling out of her as gently as possible. Feeling the huge mass being removed like a knife from a wound, Victoria gagged and whimpered with Kelly talking her through it. Once he was back far enough so that only the head was inside her, Jack began to push himself back in, this time getting a lot less resistance in terms of tightness and Victoria’s reaction. Time passed, and after a few cycles through her, Jack was finally able to stop being gentle and start fucking her.

Leaning forward on his hands, Jack began thrusting into her with his speed building. Quickly becoming accustomed to the feeling, Victoria’s pain was soon replaced with ecstasy. After a couple minutes, she was giving soft moans of pleasure which rose in volume as Jack’s speed increased. Beneath the two of them, Kelly was focusing less on the physical sensations and more on her awareness of what was going on. Knowing that a sexy young woman had her naked body pressed against her own was even better than the sensation itself, and that was really saying something, as the feeling of Victoria’s warm soft breasts against her own was practically orgasmic. But above all, the knowledge that the girl on top of her was getting sodomized for the first time made it incredibly kinky. Every time Victoria moved from one of Jack’s thrusts, it charged up Kelly’s horniness and made her feel like she was getting ass-fucked as well. With no other stimulation, she just focused on the feeling of Victoria’s warm, soft, naked body interlaced with hers and erotic knowledge of Victoria’s first anal pounding.

By now, Jack was moving at top speed, slamming Victoria’s loosened anus with almost brutal power. To Victoria, the feeling of being both sodomized by the man she loved and held by her naked friend was almost too much to describe in terms of the pleasure they were generating. The foldout bed beneath them was jumping on its foundations and creaking like a house on the verge of collapse as Jack hammered Victoria’s asshole like a mallet driving a stake into the ground.

“Oh god, I’m cumming!” Victoria moaned as her body drowned in its own deluge of happiness.

“I need a break,” Jack panted as he pulled out of her.

“Don’t worry, just lay back and I’ll take care of everything,” Kelly said coyly.

Doing as he was told, Jack lied down on the bed and Kelly moved onto his lap. With lots of courage and years of experience, she grasped his dick and pressed it against her asshole, slowly lowering herself onto it and moaning as it entered her for the “second” first time. Victoria watched her with almost a mix of amazement and adoration, simply impressed with how well she was taking it and completely doing so on her own. Once Jack’s manhood was completely inside her, she began to rock back and forth on him, using the changing angle to control how deep inside her he was. Damn, she really knew what she was doing!

Bouncing on Jack’s cock, Kelly suddenly yelped in surprise as Victoria came up behind her, giggling coyly as she used one hand to fondle Kelly’s modest B-cup breasts and used her other hand to finger her. She even upped the ante by running kisses up Kelly’s neck. With the multi-directional sources of pleasure, it only took Kelly only a minute to have a gushing orgasm. With her ass sore, she dismounted Jack and Victoria quickly went down on him, hungrily sucking his cock and cleaning it of Kelly’s juices. Straddling his lap, she worked his cock into her pussy and began riding him while Kelly sat on his face, letting him gorge himself on her slit and asshole. While the women rode him, they both leaned forward and started kissing and touching each other, even teasing each other by pulling on each other’s nipples.

Once Jack had regained his strength, they switched again, this time with Jack mounting Kelly in the doggy-style position and fucking her pussy while Kelly went down on Victoria, eating her out while she massaged her breasts. Now that they had all gotten accustomed to what they were doing, they began switching more frequently. Taking every position they could, Jack fucked Victoria and Kelly like an animal, while the two women found themselves incapable of going long without pawing at or licking each other. Over and over again Jack would enter one of the women, fuck her with all of this strength, pull out and receive a quick blowjob, then enter the other woman all over again in a different position.

After an unknown amount of time, the three teens were on the bed, Jack lying on his back with Victoria and Kelly sucking him off, taking turns or working simultaneously, often with their lips and tongues stopping to mingle with each other.

“Girls, I can’t hold it back any longer. I’m going to cum,” Jack said softly, completely exhausted. It was a miracle he hadn’t erupted already.

At his words, both women grabbed his cock and began stroking it quickly, jerking him off with their faces right above it, pressed together with their mouths open. In a huge spraying mess, Jack fired every drop of semen he had like a cum volcano, covering both women’s faces and more than filling their mouths. The two women then finished by licking the semen off each other’s faces and cum-swapping it back and forth, followed by a long French kiss in which they swallowed it all and licked the remains out of each other’s mouths.

Completely exhausted, the three teens laid side by side, once again out of breath.

“You know, I doubt I’ll be able to keep the one-time-only rule,” Victoria said.

“Well I certainly wouldn’t blame you, that was easily the greatest sex I’ve ever had,” murmured Kelly.

“That truly was very enjoyable,” Jack said happily.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, they all looked up as the door opened.

“Hey Jack, hope I’m not to late. Is there still time to…” Tyler said, stepping inside and trailing off inside them.
Everyone was dead silent, Tyler staring at the three naked teens and the huge wet mess that they had turned the bed into, and Jack, Victoria, and Kelly staring at Tyler and wondering what he was going to say. Finally, Tyler burst into uncontrollable laughter, cackling to the point where he had to hold onto his sides and looked like he was about to fall over.

“Jesus Christ, we really are a cult!”

——————————————————

It took a while for Tyler to get all the laughs out of him and even longer before he, Victoria, or Kelly could look each other in the eyes. Regardless, they eventually moved on and returned to the lesson.

“Now, since we’re short on time, this lesson is going to be short. Tomorrow, we’ll go over everything and won’t stop until you all discover your Selves. So far, we have mostly talked about humans and their roles in the universe, the universe itself, and perceptions of pain. Now, we continue from yesterday and delve into human relationships and interactions. For this, we will return to the Tree of Life and focus on the Chokhmah Sephirot, the Binah Sephirot, and Da’at Sephirot. As you may recall, Chokhmah is the power of intuitive wisdom and the ability to draw meaning from the abstract and form a solid truth, Binah is the ability to process and learn from what we encounter and form connections between subjects, and Da’at is the balance between them, the ability to understand meaning and create our own.

These three work in human interaction and help unlock the enigmatic quagmire known as the minds of others. In order to understand yourself, you must understand others, and vise versa. The original requirement for understanding is empathy, defined as the ability to feel others’ pain. Through empathy, you can see different paths in life by using other people as test subjects. It lets you see the alternatives to yourself, the paths not taken. By knowing others, you gain a point of reference as to knowing yourself.

Now, if you can gain a mastery of empathy, then you gain the ability to look past almost all conflict. Just about every argument or fight is drawn from a misunderstanding; they are the results of two parties not truly knowing each other. However, if you learn to put yourself entirely in someone else’s shoes, then you become incapable of misunderstanding. I don’t just mean imagining yourself living that person’s life with their problems and opportunities, but being able to replicate their very thought process. If you can see the world exactly as they do, then you gain the ability to solve any problem. You can create the perfect compromise, you know who is right and who is wrong without relying on stereotypes and assumptions, and you know exactly how to defuse them.

When I talked to that terrorist, I put myself in his situation and mindset exactly, and with that information, I knew just what to say to calm him down.

By mastering empathy, you gain the gift of omnipotence. When you put yourself in someone else’s shoes and look at the world exactly as they do, then you can do so with everyone, and can therefor see the entire world and understand all problems. You understand all social dynamics and are able to break down the barriers between your mind and the minds of everyone else. However, it’s not quite that easy. It requires a great deal of skill in being able to read other people and draw forth information from what you see in them. But if you can understand how your brain works, then you can understand how their brains work, and if you can understand how their brains work, then you can understand how your brain works.”

“So basically the Self can be used to replicate the minds of others?” Tyler asked.

“Well I wouldn’t quite say it like that. It’s more like it allows you to connect with others and become one with all of mankind, and from that, you gain complete understanding of who you are. Think of other people as like maps of your brain, each one inaccurate in some way. However, if you take all those maps and figure out which parts are true, then you understand the build of your subconscious. Now, I believe we should call this a day.

Tomorrow, you will all reach the final step and discover your Selves, I promise.”

——————————————————

Jack’s apostles lay in their beds, unable to fall asleep. Their minds were all buzzing, wondering what it would feel like when they discovered their Selves, as well as wondering if it was really going to happen. Jack had guaranteed that they would all succeed tomorrow, but was it really possible for people to have such a drastic metamorphosis in just twenty days? And on Friday, they would get the answers that they had all been waiting for…

——————————————————

“Very good Kelly, it seems my words did have a strong effect,” Jack said with Kelly having just finished retelling her dream on the night of their first lesson.

He had asked all three of his students to do so, to help share their knowledge with each other.

“Now before we begin the awakening process, there are two more branches of the Tree of Life we must go over; Netzach and Hod, the most important Sephirots in discovering the Self. These two Sephirots are tightly linked, Netzach dealing with action in the desire to find the Self and Hod with submission in the face of nature. In other words, they are your individuality vs. your self-worth. With Netzach, you are a completely unique person, a living being, a human with his or her own thoughts, ideals, and beliefs. With Hod, it all comes back to how everything is the same, including life and inanimate matter. In essence, Netzach allows you to act while harnessing the Self, and Hod provides the universal view that keeps your mind wide open without any biases or limitations. By devaluing yourself, you become part of a larger and larger group, up until the point where you realize that you are nothing more than matter and energy, which in turn lets you understand the universe.

You must remember these two Sephirots when the process begins: Netzach to keep you from becoming completely submissive to the universe and basically turning into a vegetable, and Hod to remember your place in the universe, remain humble, and know that all is one and one is all. Now for this to work, I need you all to sit as comfortably as possible. Find a position that you can maintain up to the point where you feel like you’ll fall asleep. Close your eyes and try to visualize what I say while remembering everything I have taught you.”

Victoria, Tyler, and Kelly all did as they were told, getting as comfortable as they could be while sitting on the ground and closing their eyes. When Jack spoke again, he did so softly.

“For now, focus on your breathing and your heart rate. Keep your mind pinned on each breath passing through your lungs. In and out, in and out. Direct your attention to the air moving through your body. In and out, in and out.” He waited a minute for their brains to all reach a calmed state. “Imagine yourself sitting on this floor, feel the carpet beneath you, and below that, the hard wood floors. Slowly, you begin to sink into them, the floor beneath you is melting. Further and further you are lowered, the floor basically turning into a net that is now snapping one strand at a time. Finally, the floor breaks, and you fall into darkness. Deeper and deeper you fall, no ground beneath you but no fear in your mind, you simply fall, fall until you lose all track of time.
Now…”

——————————————————

Victoria was hovering above the earth, naked and completely at peace, sitting in the lotus position. Above her, a diagram of the Tree of Life appeared, the size of a lake. From each Sephirot, tendrils of wood began to extend out and merge together, turning into a literal tree of truly gargantuan proportions but barren branches. Becoming as large as the state of California with the diagram glowing in the side of the trunk, the tree reached down with its roots and began to wrap around the earth. Billions upon trillions of times, the roots separated and spread out, each one plugging into an organism on the planet. Piercing the atmosphere and cloud cover, each root came down and injected itself straight into every living thing like a syringe, from the largest whales to the smallest bacteria. The roots then expanded, with a layer of bark covering each organism and cocooning them as they merged with it.

As the organisms were absorbed, the tree continued to grow in size with its roots even digging into the ground. On the branches, leaves began to appear, one for every organism absorbed. Riddling the planet with more and more roots, the tree continued to grow, enlarging to the point where the tree was like someone’s forearm and the earth was their fist, now held together only through the roots of the trees. The tree completed, Victoria began to float backwards, coming into contact with the tree, specifically in the Da’at Sephirot. But instead of being completely consumed, she only partially merged with it, with the whole front of her body completely exposed.

Like Victoria, the tree began to float backwards through space. As it zoomed through the null void like rogue meteor, Victoria basked in the sea of minds churning within the tree. All the identities and individualities had been melted down like scrap metal, but there was still so much passion within it. Emotions, instincts, and desires rose up in foamy tidal waves, with all the life of earth having basically turned into one colossal mind. In the center of this sea and almost controlling it was Victoria, taking in incomprehensible amounts of information from all the organisms that the tree had absorbed. But there were more than the life forms that had just been on earth at that time, it felt like every organism in the history of earth, even the history the universe, was now swirling within the Tree of Life.

For several billions of years, the tree flew through space, with Victoria spending the entire time bathing in the waterfall of knowledge from all the organisms. As the tree flew, it picked up more material and continued to grow in size. Now instead of consuming organisms, it was consuming asteroids, planets, stars, black holes, entire nebulae, and even galaxies, with all the information and history of each and every piece of matter passing through Victoria’s mind like the entirety of Niagara Falls being forced through a garden hose.

She could see it all, every planet’s formation, every star’s life and death, and every black hole’s birth. She could see every rock colliding, every wisp of gas or dust, every geographical feature on the endless number of barren planets being formed. And yet, while the tree was absorbing everything, it didn’t really feel like the matter was being devoured in any sort of way. It felt more like the tree was a metaphysical medium, binding all matter and energy together like a protein bonding atoms into molecules.

Finally, the tree reached its destination, the very center of the universe and origin point of the Big Bang. The very heart of the universe was a colossal black hole, several times larger than even the largest galaxy, and surrounded by a spinning disk of matter that took up half of the universe’s surface area alone. Passing through wave after wave of matter, the tree approached the black hole while absorbing everything around it and growing in size.

Reaching the event horizon, the tree was practically drowned in a sea of light, created by every photon in the area being drawn in to the black hole. Like a swimmer diving into water, the Tree of Life entered the heart of the universe. Penetrating the mass, all the information and history that had taken place around every single atom and light particle that the black hole consumed was channeled through Victoria’s mind. Immediately upon the tree’s insertion, roots and branches began to appear on the surface of the black hole, and in a matter of seconds, the entire mass was consumed and became part of the tree. Now the largest thing in the universe, the tree began branching out once again, sending wooden tentacles out in all directions, each tendril grabbing and binding with a single atom. The atoms were absorbed, as well as their information.

The roots continued to spread out, exceeding the speed of the expanding universe itself. They consumed every single atom in space and drank up all the energy, but as they reached the edge of the universe, something happened. The universe stopped expanding, and instead, began to contract like a deflating balloon. As the universe closed in on itself, all the branches and roots were pushed back, causing the tree to curl up like a dead spider. Quickly, the universe became so small that the Tree of Life was compacted as densely as water, without a single nanometer of open space. Yet the universe kept on shrinking, crushing the mass of the Tree of Life itself and condensing it.

Smaller and smaller, the Tree of Life was crushed from all sides like a dying star turning into a black hole. Quickly, the atomic pressure and the temperature skyrocketed, until finally, the Tree of Life had been compacted into a single speck, as hot, dense, and small as the primordial particle that the universe was born from.

FLASH

In a radiant light that surpassed all human understanding, the particle exploded into the second Big Bang, recreating the universe in a flood of energy and molten quarks.

——————————————————

Victoria’s eyes flew open and she took the deepest breath of her life. She felt like every cell in her body was on fire, and yet she felt no pain. In fact, the flames were euphoric. Looking down at her hands, she almost thought that she had gone blind, as it looked like her hands and the background behind them had merged together, but in reality, she was seeing her hands in a new way. She wasn’t seeing them as parts of her body, but as masses of atoms, just like the floor beneath her. It was almost like they were camouflaged. Landing on her palms, tears poured from her eyes.

She looked around, finding Kelly and Tyler in the same state as her. All were staring at their hands or the ground, looking like they were about to suffer a seizure. Like her, they were crying tears of joy, as if feeling true happiness for the first time in their lives. Victoria’s head whipped back and forth, trying to take everything in. Just a moment ago, she thought she had been blind, but now she felt like she had the eyes of God. In every direction she turned, she felt like she could see all the way to the edge of the universe and discern every single atom in the way.

With all of Creation now in view of her mind’s eye, she truly realized how insignificant everything in her life was, how small she was compared to the goings on in the universe. She felt vulnerable, like a mouse in the shadow of an eagle, but so too did she feel comforted, as never in her life had she felt so at home and where she belonged. She was a part of the universe, exactly like the stars and planets that were scattered across the cosmos, and the universe was also part of her. They were one and the same, and so too was she one with everyone around her and all life on Earth. Unable to think straight, Victoria looked at her hands again, trying to describe how she felt. She felt smarter, more sensitive, more open. She felt like a thick blindfold had just been removed from her brain. She felt completely open, open both in terms of her soul and open to the outside world.

Everyone turned to Jack, who had a proud smile on his face. He had not used any of his abilities on them for the enlightenment process, the visions they had were all brought on through his words alone.

“Congratulations, each of you has found your Genesis.”

——————————————————

It took a while for everyone’s mind to settle so that they could think clearly, the effects of reaching enlightenment being similar to those of LSD. For each of them, the entire universe was in view of their mind’s eye and complete and total understanding of everything within their memories and awareness had been discovered. Even more than understanding the world around them, everyone felt like they now truly knew who they were. Compared to what they were experiencing now, their view and knowledge before was like that of an ant’s. They all felt like completely different people, both in how they saw the world and how they saw themselves and what they were like.

When everyone at last became used to their new perspective, Jack found himself at the heart of a group hug, with his friends shouting their gratitude and crying tears of joy from the emotional ecstasy he had allowed them to experience and everything he had done for them. Never in their lives had any of them been so at peace and happy, their very souls feeling weightless. Jack had turned their lives around and he did it without being asked or asking anything in return. To them, it felt like he had appeared simply to bring happiness to everyone he met, and they were all unable to find the words to describe how grateful they were. Jack could do nothing but smile in pride and try not to get trampled and crushed to death.

——————————————————

Jack and Victoria were lying in bed, staring into each other’s eyes after having just made love.

“How do you feel?” Jack asked while stroking her hair.

“I feel… I feel so good that I can’t even describe it. I never thought it was possible to be this happy. I feel invincible, like nothing can hurt me or make me lose my smile. I just see everything in a positive way, it’s like being in a fantasy world.”

“Now you know why I’m always smiling.”
“I can’t even begin to say how much I love you and how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me. We’ve been together for less than three weeks, yet you’ve completely reshaped my world in ways that no one else could. Compared to what I have now, my previously life could barely even be called a life. I feel like I’m in heaven and I can see the entire universe.”

“I’m glad, your happiness is the light of my life.”

Victoria’s smile slowly faded and she bit her lip.

“Jack, am I going to like the answers you’ll give me tomorrow?”

“That is up to you. I’ve given the three of you the exact time and place to meet me and I will answer all of your questions. How you feel about them is all your jurisdiction.”

——————————————————

10:33 AM, December 21st, 2012

Victoria, Tyler, and Kelly hurried across the school campus. They were headed to the intersection next to the school, where Jack had told them to meet him at exactly 10:35. All four teenagers had pretended to go to the bathroom and left school, but Jack had gone early. Even after each discovering their Genesis, the three teens were nervous, wondering what he would tell them.

They found him at the street corner, waiting for them with an excited smile. “Ah good, you’re here just in time.”

“So now you’ll answer our questions?” Tyler asked.

“In just a minute. Here, follow me,” Jack said, walking out into the intersection with cars honking at his sudden carefree stride into the center of danger.

“Jack, what are you doing?!” Victoria yelled as cars continued to pass by, honking at him.

“If you want your answers, you’ll have to stand here with me.”

Drawing up their courage, Victoria, Tyler, and Kelly followed him into the street. All cars came to a screeching halt and the morning was hammered with the blaring of horns, but Jack remained still.

“Jack…” Tyler began.

“Wait for it.”

“Get the fuck out of the road!” one of the drivers shouted.

“Jack…” Kelly began.

“Wait for it.”

“What are you, retarded? Get out of the fucking road!” the driver shouted, climbing out of his car.

“Jack!” Victoria screamed.

“And here we go,” said Jack as the time reach 10:37.

In a bright flash, a line appeared in front of Jack, jagged and containing volume on all three axes. It was a crack, a crack in reality itself. Streaming from this crack came visible energy, forming a shed-sized sphere of light that looked like electrified neon. Gusts of wind began firing off from the sphere while the sky above went from blue to green and purple. Seeing what was going on, all of the drivers who had been honking their horns either tried to turn around or just climbed out of their cars and ran for their lives.

“What the hell is going on?!” Tyler shouted, trying to shield his eyes from the wind.

Wearing his usual smile, Jack turned to the three of them. “This is what was predicted by the Mayans, Hope Indians, and countless other indigenous groups and cultures throughout the history of your world. It is the beginning of the new celestial year, which is the equivalent of 5125.36 of your Earth years.”

“What is this, the end of the world?!” Kelly yelled.

“Far from it. The Mayan Calendar, as you call it, is just like any other calendar, resetting for the next year after its completion. However, what matters is what happens on this day and the opportunity it creates. Every celestial year, these cracks open up in our universe, not as a sign of damage or gradual deterioration, but as a sign of its imperfections. This universe is not what it was meant to be; it disobeyed time, something that is supposed to be impossible. This universe is flawed and filled with inferior matter and energy, gathered together into random clumps by gravity.”
“What are you talking about?” Victoria asked, stepping forward.
“Atoms, dark matter, gravity, magnetism, radioactivity… these are all abominations of nature. Quite simply, this universe is like a deformed newborn, imperfect compared to the rest of universes and dimensions within creation. These imperfections are ruining the harmony of existence and weighing down the other universes like a section of dead brain matter crippling the rest of the brain.

Cracks like this can be found across the universe, but they only appear at the beginning of a celestial cycle. So do you know what the smoking gun is? Life. Every spot in the universe that contains one of these cracks has a planet sharing the same space, a planet with life. Suffice to say, I lied a little bit about there being no difference between life and inanimate matter. The truth is that life is powered by a very unique form of energy, different from the energy that powers all other chemical reactions, and that energy leaks into this dimension through the cracks.”

“Who are you?” Victoria asked.

Hearing the question made Jack laugh. “There is no human word for what I am. You would be right if you said I was God, if I was an angel, and if I was an alien. The best definition I could give is that I am the soul of this universe and the manifestation of all life. I guess you could say that I am the Tree of Life and the essence of this dimension.”

“But you said you were human!”

“Yes, as in I took the form of a human when I arrived here. I came to this town seventeen years ago and chose a family to be born into because of the proximity to the crack. It was the easiest way to stay around it for when this day finally arrived. I came here, took the form of a fertilized embryo in my mother’s womb, and she gave birth to me, not knowing that I had chosen to be born. My powers are the result of my unnatural existence. Quite simply, I am an abomination brought forth by the birth of this imperfect universe, which in itself is an abomination. I am not supposed to exist, but I was born with the Big Bang due to the flaws of this universe. I was born with all of this knowledge, knowledge of everything. You could say that the only reason why I exist is because of those flaws.”

“What are you trying to do? What is your goal?” Tyler asked.

“Again, there is no human word to properly express what I shall achieve. I suppose the best name would be Celestial Nirvana. I am here to fix this crack in reality, just as I have fixed every other crack across the universe. Once that is done, all universes and dimensions shall merge together into a single space beyond all comprehension. Everything will be recreated and made perfect, and beginning and end will become one and the same in everlasting equilibrium.

This imperfect universe is preventing Celestial Nirvana and the perfection of all existence. This is the last world, the last crack in the universe. I have spent almost fifteen billion years traveling through the cosmos, closing each crack when the celestial year ends. With this, everything will become perfect. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a universe to recreate.”

Jack turned to the sphere and placing his hand on it.

“No, Jack, don’t!” Victoria cried out.

Knocking the three humans off their feet, a deluge of energy shot up from the sphere and into the sky. Firing off through the vacuum of space faster than the speed of light, the beam of energy crossed the entire universe in only a few moments before striking the very fringe. Upon contact, the all-encompassing edge of the universe began to glow with the intensity of a billion suns and started to constrict. Closing in on itself, the edge of the universe devoured everything like a tidal wave of light, converting all it touched into a “perfect material”, something that was neither matter nor energy. It was both nothingness and everything.

With the one and only flaw in a limitless line of perfect universes and dimensions fixing itself, the merging process began to take place. Like cellular division in reverse, each dimensional plane began to merge with the others, creating one super space in which the concepts of existence and nonexistence no longer had any meaning or difference. Time was moving both forward and backward, the laws of physics were being undone, and the ability to define anything was disappearing. It was all-encompassing neutrality that no living mind could comprehend, a form of perfection that transcended all opinions and perceptions. It was beginning and end, infinity and nothing, it was beyond all reason and the formation of the fabric of space and time. Only Jack, the very soul and essence of his universe, could fathom the meaning of the Celestial Nirvana.

Fighting through the gusts of wind, Victoria rushed over to Jack and grasped his arm. “Jack, please! You have to stop this!”

“Why? You of all people should understand and appreciate what I am doing.”

“But I don’t want it to end this way!”

“I never expected to hear that from someone who had discovered the Self. Victoria, once this is completed, beginning and end will be both simultaneous and nonexistent. Everything you are will be recreated into the perfect form that all of Creation was meant to be. Every atom, every spark of energy, it will all be reformed and you shall truly become one with everything, including me. We will be joined in a way that words cannot describe, a true nirvana.”

“But if this was your goal, why did you bother helping us? Why did you become my boyfriend? Why did you come back?”

“Because I saw potential in all of you. I normally come to planets with life just before the end of the celestial year, but with Earth, I arrived early, seventeen years early. You humans fascinated me; you were the most interesting species I had ever encountered. Wanting to study you and having seventeen years to wait, I changed my form into that of a human embryo and entered this world to watch you humans until this day arrived. In the beginning, I simply sat back as an observer, but as I got older, I decided that I wasn’t living the full experience. I wanted to know what it meant to have friends, and as the years went on, curiosity filled me, curiosity for what it felt to feel true love.

I came to this school, wanting to fully immerse myself in your world one last time. I found wonderful people to talk with, laugh with, and teach. I made friends and got to see into their lives. And I found you, the most beautiful girl on Earth with a heart of gold, someone that could win the love of even a cosmic spirit like me. I love you, Victoria, and you and I will spend all of eternity together, just like you wanted.”

“Please, Jack, you don’t have to do this!”

“This is neither a matter of want or need, it is something I must do. Every organism must come to terms with its own creation to meet the end of its sentience peacefully, be that reproducing, choosing not to have offspring, or even destroying their own creators. That is what I am doing; I was created through a mistake, so it is my duty to fix that mistake. I was born with the ability to do this, so I must do this. This is the path laid out for me; I must erase the problem and install perfection and the Celestial Nirvana. This has been the conclusion of my life for almost fifteen billion years, to bring about perfect and ultimate peace.”

Victoria bit her lip, trying to think of something to say. Suddenly, it came to her. “I never expected you to want something so boring,” she said, prompting Jack to look at her quizzically. “You want to live in a perfect existence? It’s pathetic. Beauty is created from imperfection but perfection brings nothing. Your music, your books, your philosophies, and the woman you love are all the result of this flaw that you seem to loathe so much. If this perfect universe of yours does come to exist, will that honestly make you happy? You’ll just be a bunch of perfect particles in a perfect universe, completely devoid of thought or feeling.

There will be nothing for you to appreciate; you won’t even be able to feel appreciation. It will be the same as not existing at all. You aren’t doing this because you’re supposed to; you just think that perfection is the answer. You, who talks so much about value, are giving value to something that goes against everything you stand for.

You call this peace, but it’s nothing more than death. Life creates conflict, but true peace isn’t the absence of life. It is when life has the capability to cause conflict, but chooses not to. True peace isn’t a world without people; it’s a world where people can come together, despite their differences, and choose to exist in harmony.

The Self is the true identity of the person, the desires, fears, and feelings we possess but keep hidden with the Superego. You showed us our true selves not to make us perfect, help us understand one another! A world where people can be their true selves without fighting, that is peace! That is the possibility that you have given us!”

At her words, Jack looked back at the sphere of light in front of him and the beam of energy shooting up into space, having lost some of the color in his face.

“Ask yourself this, Jack: would you rather exist in a universe where you had no thoughts or sensations and there was nothing to experience, or would you exist in a universe with music and art? Would you rather exist as nothing but a pile of lifeless atoms in a universe filled with atoms just like yours? Or would you prefer to live in a universe where you could appreciate and study everything around you? Jack, would you rather exist in that hollow perfect universe as something without life, sensation, or meaning, or live in a universe where you are with me, an imperfect girl whom you love and who loves you with all of her heart?

Face it, you lost your temper back in that Washington garage because you cared about me so much that you couldn’t accept my death and you couldn’t forgive those guys. You know that what you are trying to achieve won’t bring you the same joy as spending a lifetime with the people you love. Admit it, love without life is meaningless, just like how life without love is meaningless.” Jack didn’t answer, he merely stared at her with his smile gone. “I made this for you for your birthday. Would you rather live in a meaningless universe where it has no value or doesn’t even exist?”

She reached into her pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, she handed it to Jack. It was a sketch of the two of them embracing each other in the same position as the sketch Jack had seen in her room. It was exactly what they had looked like on the night they made love.

“You say that the majority of reality is what you make of it and the values you add. Why would you want a reality where you are incapable of perception and there is nothing to value? Is being perfect really better than being alive and happy? Is being perfect really better than being in a world with music to listen to, a world with books to read, a world with people to help, a world with friends to talk to, and a world with someone to love?”

Jack looked away from her and stared at his hand, pressed against the orb of light. His mind was raging struggling to come up with a decision. His entire existence had been culminating all for this one purpose, this one action that would shape everything. But was there more to his existence than that? Was it possible that he was wrong? No, he couldn’t be wrong, this was his purpose. But what if his purpose was as flawed as the universe itself? What if this imperfect universe was supposed to exist this way? What if that itself made reality perfect? Was the presence of this imperfect universe what made the true Celestial Nirvana perfect? But if he had the ability to mend the fabric of reality and implement the Celestial Nirvana, didn’t that mean he was meant to? Or was that simply applying meaning to his existence because of a flawed perception?

“You told me that all you wanted was to make others happy and to be happy. So do it, Jack, be happy. Don’t do what you think you’re supposed to do, do what will make you happy.”

Slowly, Jack lowered his hand and took it off the orb of light, causing the energy beam to come to a stop, as well as the universal rebirthing process. As the beginning of the new celestial cycle came to an end, the crack closed back up and the sky returned to its normal color. Silence had returned.

With a small smile, he turned back to Victoria. “I’ve waited almost fifteen billion years for this… what’s another 5125.36 years? I’ll let this universe continue to shine on for a while longer. I guess I’ll come back and try again when you won’t be around to nag at me.”

Crying tears of joy, Victoria wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as possible. “Forget it, you’re going to make me immortal so that I can make sure you don’t destroy the universe. Oh god, Jack, I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Victoria, and you’re right, I would rather be in an imperfect universe where I am happy than a perfect universe where I am incapable of feeling anything. I’m sorry for scaring you, all of you.”

“I don’t think we’re the ones you should be apologizing to for the scare. The whole world is probably flipping out with how the sky changed color. Is there anything you can do to fix it?” Tyler asked with a sigh of relief as he and Kelly walked over.

“Sure.”

Now that Jack had revealed who he was, there was no longer any need to hide his powers and what he was truly capable of as the soul of the universe. Without so much as a twitch of his eye, every single human being on the planet, save for Victoria, Kelly, and Tyler, exploded into a molecular mess, broken down at the atomic level. Before the bloody mist could even settle or stain the surroundings, everyone was reformed exactly as they had been before, save for their memory of the past few minutes being wiped.

With every single human frozen in time, waiting for Jack to restore life to them, he used the opportunity to repair anything that might have been damaged in the panic, rearranging the atoms back into their original places and making everything good as new. Everything completed, he kick-started everyone on the planet, returning them to their schedule with nobody being the wiser.

“There, it’s done. Aside from us, nobody knows about what just happened.”

“Well then I suggest we get to class. Since the universe isn’t getting a remodeling, detention is still an issue,” Kelly said with a small laugh.

“Jeez, it’s not even 11:00 and I’m mentally exhausted,” Tyler sighed, turning around and walking back towards the school with Kelly.

Jack and Victoria remained in the empty intersection.

“I love you, Jack,” she said again.

“I love you too,” he replied, wrapping his hand around hers.

“Oh, and Jack? Happy birthday.”

The End

To my loyal fans who loved this story when I posted it 4 years ago and the new fans who will love it now, I have good news! I’ve published it on amazon! The new version has updated writing, more characters, and new content.
You can find it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Sephirot-Atticus-Greene/dp/1522920080/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1480181746&sr=8-1&keywords=Sephirot+Atticus+Greene

You can also find the published version of Light of Hellfire, Hellsteel, again with updated writing, more characters, and new content.
https://www.amazon.com/Hellsteel-War-Arrived-Atticus-Greene/dp/1511648406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456886268&sr=8-1&keywords=Hellsteel

As well as My Dear Sweet Slave:
https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Sweet-Slave-Hannibal-North-ebook/dp/B01GBQW806?ie=UTF8&keywords=My%20Dear%20Sweet%20Slave&qid=1464886508&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

And The Man of Sin:
https://www.amazon.com/Man-Sin-Hannibal-North/dp/1530131006/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1457326345&sr=8-3&keywords=The+Man+of+Sin

---