“Excuse me?” I finally managed to stammer out.

As he opened his arms wide in welcome, I didn’t know why the things the men did in this world continued to surprise and confuse me.

“My darling Amelia, you are beautiful! Your creation is truly something to behold! I have been waiting such a long time to meet you! You have no idea how patiently I waited for your arrival at my beloved temple!”

I started backing away and waving my hands frantically, “Wait, wait, wait! Chad, this isn’t funny anymore! Frankly, it wasn’t funny a moment ago! Roll your eyes back to the front of your head and let’s get out of here!”

Without warning, Chad vanished, a wisp of smoke was all that remained where he once was. Each of us spun our heads around, searching for where he might have gone.

This had to have been a trick. Right?

Suddenly, I felt something pinch my ass!

“Eeek!” I spun around to see nothing there, just more wisps of smoke.

I wrapped my arm around my chest, fearful of another assault, my head on a swivel.

“Satisfied yet?”

Chad reappeared at Obarith’s statue, lounging across one of the bare feet, head propped up on a fist and admiring the nails on his other hand.

I scowled at him. “Alright, you proved your point. Whoever you are, you obviously aren’t Chad. Bring him back! Now!”

The body of Chad sighed at me. “I already told you who inhabits this form now.” He looked up at me with a devious grin. “Would it help if I told you the private thoughts he has about you? The glances he sneaks your way when he thinks you’re not looking?”

My ears burned, “Pretty sure that stuff is his business. Don’t you have any respect for someone else’s privacy?!”

He simply waved his hand in front of a wide-open mouth with an exaggeratedly bored yawn, “We could move this conversation along so much smoother if you would just trust me.”

His colorless eyes opened again and gazed on us all, only now they were glowing brightly. Convinced it was, indeed, Obarith, the head God on campus, Dorian, Ash, and Max all fell to the ground in reverence, foreheads pressed against the temple floor as forcefully as possible. I stayed put. I had already bowed to one asshole today. God or no, that ship had sailed.

Obarith stood up and walked over to me. “Well, that’s mostly better.” He paced around me as he looked me up and down. “Usually, women know their place around me.” He stopped after full circle and added, “The Goddess certainly did.”

I bit my tongue. Everyone was trying to test my patience today. Was this a test to see how far I could be pushed?

Obarith continued, oblivious to the insult, “But you are my daughter, so I will allow the insolence.”

At that, I spoke up, “Listen, I don’t know who you think you are to me, but you are not my father. Neither my father back home, nor my father purely due to the Goddess’ hand in my presence on this world!”

He gave an exasperated sigh, “But you don’t seem to understand, Amelia! Your existence by the Goddess’ hand was only due to my grace! One could almost claim you are here at my behest as well!” His eyes glimmered a little brighter, “But I will not. I have grander schemes in motion and cannot be bothered with whatever quest she desires you for. Just know you are here because I allow it, and because I humor my beloved wife.”

My fist was a blur as I smashed it into his smug face.

I heard a crunching sound on impact as I punched Obarith, and Chad’s body flew backward, eventually landing on his ass, bouncing and skidding a bit after making contact with the ground. I probably broke something in his face, which Ash would have to work on later.

He didn’t immediately get up, instead remaining seated as he rocked in place and cradled the front of his head in his hands.

“OW!” he exclaimed loudly. “What the hell? Who hit— Amelia!” His eyes the brilliant blue again, I realized Obarith had left Chad’s body right before impact and had avoided the brunt of my frustrations.

His body once again his own, Chad was bleeding profusely from his nose, and I honestly felt horrible about it. He had gotten smacked around a lot today, and I had just unwittingly added to it. He hadn’t even deserved it this time. But there wasn’t time to dwell on that now. Where was Obarith?

I spun to the three boys still bent over on the floor. They had at least looked up to observe the commotion, but none of their eyes had lost their color. He hadn’t possessed them.

Yet.

Suddenly there was the sound of a slow clapping. I turned and saw a black mass appear from behind one of the statue’s legs. It stepped out from the shadows, and I saw the new form Obarith had taken. He was a shorter, unimposing slender figure. He sported a modern blue business suit and tie with thick rimmed glasses perched on his nose and his black hair styled in a smart, neat comb over. His brown eyes were tired but kind as they looked at me.

There was something familiar about him.

“….Dad?”

The figure chuckled and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “No, this is not the human you consider your real father. Merely a likeness I chose to possibly elicit better responses from you. I thought you’d be receptive enough in his form.” He nodded at Chad, still crumpled on the floor and tending to his broken nose. “But all I found was drama. Don’t get me wrong, it was entertaining! You both harbor some unresolved feelings for one another.” Obarith waggled my father’s eyebrows at me. “You should probably do something more productive about that.”

“Why does everyone keep insisting I settle down with Chad and make with the babies? Don’t you people have lives? A country, world, or a universe to run? My body and what I do with it shouldn’t honestly be nearly this high on anyone’s priorities!”

While looking at my father’s face while I protested Obarith’s stupid idea, a lingering pain formed in my head. I began to feel sick and felt like my stomach had bungie jumped without a bungie and was now free falling into a deep pit from which there was no return. Where was this sensation coming from?

And suddenly, it all came crashing back.

Another message from Dad saying he would be working late again. Another night of hot pockets in my dark bedroom, lit only by my computer screen. Another night of waking up with my face smushed into my keyboard. But this night was different. I woke up from a loud banging at the door. It was the police. Something had happened to Dad. He wasn’t ever coming home…

Like the Goddess had, Obarith knew what I was thinking. “What’s that sad face for? I thought you’d be elated at the opportunity to see your old man again!”

That’s right. Dad wasn’t at home. No one was. Dad had spiraled with Mom’s passing and, like me, had been lost in his grief. And one day, just like Mom, he had left me too. Why had I not remembered? How had I forgotten something so important? No. I hadn’t forgotten, just buried it under more grief. I didn’t want to think about how he had left me. About how, because I was almost an adult, the system didn’t care about me. My parents were both gone, and I was left to fend for myself.

And then the Goddess had found me and reached out to save me.

“I have given you the opportunity to start anew…”

I stared Obarith down and burned white hot at my core with anger. This… asshole… thought he was doing me a favor?! “I scowled as I stabbed an angry finger at him, “This is the only warning I intend to give! Get out of my father’s body!” I screamed.

He ignored my threat and instead addressed my previous question, “Please Amelia, just think of the genetic possibilities! Think of the potential your offspring would have by pairing with the heir to the Crown, a human that contains my glorious line within him! You could start a new family, to replace the one you lost!”

He reached towards the heavens for emphasis on the scope of his vision. “And why stop there?! You could be the mother of a whole new legacy for your race! You will be that mother! If you care at all for your children and the future of humanity, why wouldn’t you pair with a specimen as genetically perfect and magnificent as that one?”

He gestured at Chad still recovering on the floor, currently not the ideal example of the perfect picture Obarith was attempting to paint. Ash had decided “to hell with it” and had moved over to help with Chad’s broken face.

I stomped towards Obarith. “I’m still stuck on the part where you ignored my previous statement. I thought I made it perfectly clear it wasn’t a request!” I was clinching my fists so tightly, I could feel my nails cutting into my palms. “Next time, you won’t be fast enough, and you’ll experience a woman laying hands on you rather unpleasantly! Leave that form!”

Obarith didn’t flinch nor back away, instead just studied me as I approached, a smug expression, one I had never seen, plastered on my father’s face. He was confident he could call my bluff. Unfortunately, for him, I had backed down too many times today. he had tried to use my father’s appearance to his advantage, but underhanded move or not, I was going to win our game of chicken. I grabbed him by the lapels of his suit jacket and jostled him hard. I clenched my teeth and ground out another threat.

“Get. Out.”

He smiled and raised his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright. How could I say ‘no’ to that pretty face?”

His features slowly started to blur together and melt away as the shape in front of me changed. His form filled in and his shoulders became more rigid. he gained some muscle mass, where before the shape of my father had been more slender. His jawline pushed out, as if an artist had erased the previous rough draft and drew it back in with sharper determination. Some thin, attractive facial hair grew in on the chin and jawline and faded up into his sideburns. His hair changed from black to a coffee brown, swept back like someone was constantly sliding a hand through it. The glasses faded away and his eyes took on the Chaddington blue, but bristling with an electricity rumbling through them, barely containing his Godly power within. His new form now complete, he smiled softly, disarming me for a moment.

“Better?”

Confused, I glanced up at the statue and then back down at the figure still clenched in my fists. His clothes had remained modern, but he had lost the sport coat and was now wearing gray pinstripe pants and a vest, a black tie around his neck with a burgundy-colored button up shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing thick and powerful arms.

I released him and stepped back.

“Why don’t you look like, well, that?” I gestured up.

He looked back up at the statue, his acknowledged vanity captured in marble. “Times change. Keeping the same look for thousands of years is boring.” He looked back to me, “Besides, I figured this is a look you would be more comfortable with. A style from your home.” He raised an eyebrow, “A home you long to return to.”

I tried to come up with a quick comeback, but words failed me. Dorian and Max had sat up but remained on their knees. Chad and Ash were only partially invested on his injuries and, instead, were also watching my conversation with Obarith intently.

“So, my dear Amelia. What to do with you?”

I found my voice again, “Pardon?”

He inhaled deeply, “There is so much conflict within you, my child. You want so many things. To help these people, yet to return to your home. To be powerful, and yet to not be faced with the burden of responsibility and true choice! Those with the kind of power that you wield shouldn’t be so burdened with indecision! Everyone should cower to your whims! They are mere casualties in the wake of our turbulence!” He clinched a fist tightly in front of my face.

“Where you should revel in the potential laid out before you, instead you positively reek of self-doubt. You question everything you do.” He waved at the boys, who had all finally stood. “They squabble and fight for your affection and, rather than embrace the attention like your mind screams for you to do, you cower like a turtle in its shell. Like you have done your whole life, you take your true emotions, and box them away!”

He leaned close and loomed over me, close enough that I could have smelled him, if he had any smell at all. There was a predatory aura to him as he sniffed the air between us.

“I smell your fear. Despite all of the gifts you have been inexplicably given, all of the untapped raw power within, you still let fear control you. The blessings given to you by my wife are wasted on you! I don’t know exactly what task lies before you, but it frightens you down to your core. You should take up my recommendation for humanity’s best interests instead. The Goddess’ plans are obviously too large and involved for someone so insecure as you.”

He finally leaned back and stared at me, arms crossed, a sly satisfactory smile on his face. I felt naked under his gaze. There was nothing I could hide from him.

He was right. This despicable creature was right.

“I know I’m right. It’s part of what being omnipotent means!” he said.

I gave him a hard look. “Get out of my head!” I rested my hands on my hips, “I already brought up your flagrant invasion of other people’s privacy. Or was that another point in our conversation where you chose to ignore me?”

To further prove my point, he began circling me again and continued his own train of thought, “At least there is passion within you, there’s just no discipline to properly focus it. You remain too distracted, trapped with what you left behind in your old life. In the back of your mind, you long to abandon these responsibilities and to go back home. You cling so desperately to those memories that you have attempted to rip pieces of it here to this world!”

He was in front of me again, and started to tick off items with his fingers, “Your sword, your style of clothes, your nickname, your homesick stories to your friends.” He grinned slyly, “My appearance as your father was spawned from your very thoughts!” He gestured to himself, “My appearance now!” He sighed as he crossed his arms again, “For you to fulfill my greater vision of humanity, you must obtain a better resolve and not find yourself distracted with these frivolous emotions!”

With that, he vanished into thin air again. I looked for him frantically, hoping to avoid another close encounter. Instead, all I heard was a voice, almost like a whisper, “There is so much potential in you, my daughter. I am curious to see what choices you make with it, but before then you must find the will to use it.”

The voice was all around us. The boys were sweating hard, a mixture of awe and terror on their faces. This entire visit had taken them to an uncomfortable place. They had been speechless since Obarith’s appearance. I wondered if they had ever seen their God before. Surely Ash hadn’t, but the rest? If he really did reside here, it’s possible Chad and Max had. But even so, I was sure this interaction was completely out of the ordinary. Even my first experience with the Goddess hadn’t been anything close to this. As I dwelled on all that Obarith had done and said, I couldn’t help it. Everything he had said was true.

I was filled with fear.

I had seen just a glimpse of his power and already believed he could do anything. The split seconds of violence I had chosen hadn’t been displays of confidence. I had been running on adrenaline and rage towards this powerful deity. He could have killed me for it, had he chosen. For a brief instant, I smiled as I realized that maybe Chad and I weren’t so different after all.

“I seeeeeeeee yooooouuu!” Obarith’s voice floated through the still air. “There you are! For one filled with so much uncertainty, the few moments where your confidence shines through are intoxicating!” There was a disturbing chuckle. “While it is delightful sharing such a tantalizing secret shared by just you and me, let’s let everyone else in on the truth, shall we? It’s time to show the rest of Eitania who you truly are!” He paused for a moment before bellowing out one last word, a simple name.

My name.

“Amy!”

I felt an invisible finger press on the center of my forehead. Goddess, it burned! I let out a shriek of agony and grasped my face with my hands!

“AAAAAAAAUGHHHH!”

I collapsed, shaking on the floor. At the focal point of the intense pressure on my forehead, I felt his power press through my skin, into my now throbbing skull. An eternity passed and I felt his touch finally leave my face. The burning sensation remained, ebbing away more slowly. I panted and gasped heavily, quivering on the ground waiting for it to stop. I could feel my brow dripping with sweat.

Eventually, the searing pain ceased and all that remained from Obarith’s touch was the throbbing headache. I slowly slipped my hands away from my face and was not ready for what I saw next.

Sweatpants. Black, dirty, oversized, sweatpants.

I sat up and stared at my body in bewilderment. Gone were the curves that I had gotten used to, the ones I had slowly begun to appreciate. My long and shapely legs, my hips, my chest. I reached up frantically… my hair. Everything was gone. My Earthly form had been restored. I was no longer the tall and confident Amelia. I was short, basic, and bland.

Amy.

I was wearing my oversized grey hoodie I always wore back home, zipped up to hide a body that wasn’t impressive to begin with, one that hadn’t inspired me with any confidence to show it off. My dark brown hair had returned in my preferred style, short and straight, barely touching my neckline. Oversized glasses now framed my round face, my hazel eyes adjusting to wearing them again.

I was myself again.

A part of me should have been excited, I thought. But instead, I was filled with sadness. Was this really who I still was inside? Who I had always been? Was Amelia just the mask I wanted everyone to see? The persona I had shared with the people of Eitania, in those brief moments, because I was too ashamed and afraid to let them see my real self? A true self who was powerless?

Which one was real, Amelia, or Amy?

I looked up at the boys, all of them frozen in terror.

What would I say? What could I say?

“….Hi…?”