It's Tough Being a God

For all intents and purposes within this story, my name is Arnold Pierrot. In the eyes of the world, I'm a six-foot-four, broad-shouldered and muscular Black man in his mid-twenties. I'm a Criminal Justice student at Howard University in Washington D.C. Just another guy at one of America's most prestigious institutions. And yet, I am much more than that. For you see, the real Arnold Pierrot died a year ago. Struck dead by a lightning bolt. And that was no accident. For I am the lightning bolt that struck him. And I have been trapped within his body ever since.

I wish I could tell you my True Name but to do so would be suicide. You see, I am an Immortal and an Immortal's power is directly tied to his or her true name. In our natural state, we exist as pure thought and energy. I hail from a dimension called Mal. It's not another Planet, it's another world altogether. A world where mind matters much more than body. And I lived there for untold eons. The society I hail from would seem very strange to you. One made up of entities who spend much of their time in meditation, contemplation and analysis. We watch the other worlds, and we learn through observation and occasionally experimentation. And for the others, that suited them just fine.

The Supreme Council is the ruling body of the World of Mal. It is made up of twelve entities, the oldest and wisest of us all. For eons they watched countless worlds, thus gaining knowledge and power. Yet they never did anything with their power. I had different ideas. After watching countless mortal creatures on a myriad worlds for millions of years, I grew tired of observation and yearned for action. I visited a world called Vyrden. It is inhabited by tall, reptilian humanoid creatures. They called themselves the Saur. I visited them and stayed among them for a long time. At first, I merely observed them and observation was definitely permissible by the Laws of the Supreme Council of the World of Mal. However, one day, I entered the body of a Saur male named Atik. He was a magnificent specimen of his species. Eight feet tall, powerfully built, and destined for greatness. He was the son of Ala, the Matriarch of the Vyk Clan, the largest and most powerful Clan among the Saur people of the Planet Vyrden.

I don't know why I chose to enter the mind and body of this Saur male. In hindsight, I should have been more careful. However, it was an experience which changed me. You have to understand, I didn't even know this was possible. I've been alive for millions of years. As a bodiless entity made up entirely of intellect and power. I have flown among the stars under my own power. I have gone inside the sun, and traveled to thousands of Planets. I have ridden the backs of asteroids as they collided with other celestial bodies in spectacular explosions. Immortality is my natural state and death is as foreign to me as wings are foreign to mortal man. I knew no fear. No hunger. I had no idea what it would be like to move about the world in a body made up of flesh and blood.

As I moved about in the body of Atik, I experienced a myriad sensations. As a Saur male, he fought for the survival of his Clan against the stronger males of other rival Clans. He also hunted the massive amphibious flesh-eaters which his people called the Marissalok. Titanic beasts which dwarfed the whales of the Earth's oceans. Imagine a three-hundred-foot serpent with armor-like scales that spat a venom which could melt the strongest of metals. Imagine this beast snatching poor Saur sailors out of their vessels and devour them. The Saur people feared them. A Saur, male or female, would be considered very brave if he survived an encounter with one of these beasts. One day, Atik decided to face them and I went with him. Atik was the leader of the Hunters, the great providers of the Clan. The Hunters numbered forty, mostly males but with a sizeable number of sturdy females. Both males and females participate in the Hunt in Saur culture.

Atik was bonding with a Saur female named Rasha when we became one entity. They were from rival Clans and their union was supposed to signify peace. As was the custom, the happy couple and some of their friends went on a ritual Hunt prior to their honeymoon. While fishing at sea, they were attacked by a juvenile Marissalok beast. The massive serpent attacked the small fleet, and would have done away with all of them if I hadn't intervened. I summoned the lightning, and struck the Marissalok beast. I fried it and it died. Then I summoned massive winds to whip up enough gale-like force to guide our ships back to shore, with the dead serpent's body in tow. To say my actions stunned the other Saur would have been an understatement. They thought Atik was the reincarnation of one of the ancient deities which the Saur people worshiped in ancient times.

Thus, when we returned to Kabor, the largest City of the Saur people, Atik was crowned the Sacred One, Avatar of the Holies. For the first time, I had revealed myself to mortal creatures. The Saur people became enamored of the awesome creature which Atik and I had become. Using my powers, I helped them a great deal. I helped their crops grow at three times the normal speed. I defended their fishing fleets from the gigantic sea serpents. I healed the sick, and brokered peace treaties within the different rival Clans. I never sought to rule the Saur people. I told them I wanted to help them reach their greatest potential. I was not worshiped. I wasn't a God. I didn't erect Temples in my name. I was their Hero, but never their God. When asked about the source of my powers, I told them that there were great forces at work in the universe and I was but one of them. I didn't want to be worshiped by them, merely loved. And they did love me.

How could they not? I healed the sick, the wounded and the dying. I slew the massive predators that preyed upon them. I taught them how to build much bigger cities and fortresses. I gave them knowledge of metallurgy, medicine, art, writing, cosmetics, and weaponry. Over a six-hundred-year period, the Saur went from a tribal culture of hunters and gatherers to a society of artists, warriors, traders, philosophers and thinkers. Under my watchful eye, they lived longer lives. In short, I was the Architect of Saur Civilization. I was happily married to the lovely Rasha, and she bore me many sons and daughters. Our son Keb proved to be a prodigy. Somehow, even though he was a mortal just like all the Saur, he inherited some of my abilities. Keb had prodigious physical strength far exceeding that of twenty healthy male Saurs. And he could run so fast it was eerie. In time, his renown as a warrior earned him the title of King among the Saur. He united the Saur people under one banner, forging the numerous cities and villages into one Kingdom answering to him.

King Keb married a lovely Saur huntress named Aliva and their descendants became known as the Royal Line. For the next thousand years, they ruled the entire Planet. I entered a semi-retirement from the public affairs of the Saur people. I was the ancient God they spoke of fondly, but they hardly ever saw me. In truth, I had become bored of this experiment and longed to go home. Little did I know that the Supreme Council of the World of Mal had been looking for me for a long time. When they finally found me, they were dismayed at what I've done. They snatched me from this Planet which I had come to love, from the Saur people which I cherished. And I was helpless to stop them. They summoned me to the Supreme Council Chambers, and condemned me for what I've done. My sentence? Eternal banishment from both my homeworld and the world of the Saur people, the only places I've ever loved.

I fled, and somehow ended up on a young world, a place called Planet Earth. When I landed on Earth, I caused the death of the man in whose body I dwell. I've never caused the death of a sentient being before. I feel a terrible sense of guilt for it, even though it was an accident. I cannot free myself from Arnold Pierrot's body. I want to make up for what I've done, both to Arnold Pierrot by taking his life accidentally, and to the Saur people. For you see, the Supreme Council of the World of Mal has trapped me inside this body. And severed my link to them. Now, I still possess certain abilities. I am quite strong. Perhaps twenty times stronger than the average healthy human male. I am quite fast. Not cartoon character fast, but definitely faster than a cheetah. Oh, and I can leap really high. Hundreds of feet into the air, in fact. Maybe someday I'll be able to fly again. I can't seem to get hurt. Somehow, the body in which I dwell has been rendered invulnerable. I can't be shot, stabbed, burned, crushed or whatever. I consider it a mixed blessing. Arnold Pierrot's body is indestructible and it's not aging. This means I'll be trapped in it forever...and I'll never be able to go home.

I struggle to adjust to my new state. It's not easy. Arnold Pierrot is well-known at Howard University. He plays football for the school, which means I play football for the school. Oh, and his ex-girlfriend Rachel Darwin is back in town. A tall, good-looking young Black woman with light brown skin, auburn hair and hazel eyes. A native of the City of Toronto, Ontario, studying Law at Howard University. This Black Canadian lady had a whirlwind romance with Arnold a year before he and I collided and became one. And she wants him back. I feel for Rachel. For some reason, she reminds me of the Saur female Rasha, the first entity in all of existence whom I've ever loved. However, I question the morality of getting involved with Rachel. I don't want anything to happen to her. I've done enough damage to mortal creatures in my time and this time, I can no longer plead ignorance. I have to take responsibility for my actions.

For some reason, I keep running into hairy situations. My existence was revealed to the world when I stopped a group of gangsters from killing a lady and her son during a bank robbery. The bank camera watched me, a young man in a hooded sweatshirt, shrug off numerous bullets before moving at super speed while taking down the gangsters. Thus, Washington D.C. and the rest of America, indeed the rest of the world, became aware of me. They called me The Superhero. Seriously. Not Mr. Amazing Guy. Not Strong Dude. Nope. Just...the Superhero. And as much as I try to hide, my world would never be the same. A lot of bad guys from all over the world have descended upon Washington D.C. to make their mark. It's a tough time for the town's law enforcement personnel. And a really tough time for me.

I've been trying to balance things, you know? Lead a normal life. Protect the people I care about. People like Haitian-born Washington D.C. Police Sergeant James Pierrot, Arnold's father. And his mother, schoolteacher Jeannette Joseph Pierrot. Along with his ex-girlfriend Rachel Darwin, with whom I renewed a friendship filled with sexual tension. I thought I could handle it, until I learned about the Others. You see, I wasn't the only Immortal who left the World of Mal in search of knowledge. Others followed my example, and unfortunately, they broke the rules too. Now they've come to the Planet Earth.

Dozens of them. They now walk the Earth, housed in the bodies of ordinary men and women. Unlike me, they retain their full powers. They are invulnerable, they can fly, they can also hop from one dimension to another merely by thinking about it. And they have had a taste of Godhood by visiting other worlds and pretending to be Gods by wowing the different mortal creatures over there. Unlike me, they lack any sort of respect for mortal creatures. They merely want to be seen as Gods. They're addicted to the adulation and worship. Earth is just the latest planet they've targeted. And the Supreme Council doesn't know what they're doing. I doubt even they could stop them. Which makes the Others my responsibility. Looks like I've got some Gods to confront. Wish me luck, will you? Each of them is more than enough to kick my ass but I've got a world to defend so I'll give it my best shot.