The day had come, and it was terrifying. Perspiration formed on my brow and the tie that had seemed perfect just moments before now hung around my neck like a noose. Loosening it slightly I smiled whispering my lines for the nth time. The door in front of me was made to look old fashioned, wood casing a normally biolocked frame, left open for tonight’s events. I’m ready, I thought, straightening and retightening my tie. What the hell does that  even mean? Pushing all doubts to the corner of my mind with all the other screaming but neglected voices, I breathed in and pushed forward.

Boy do I know how to crash a party.

What was moments before a room awash with friendly chatter and the clinking of delicate wine glasses was now an icy cold silence. My hands, still on the cast iron handles of the wood cased doors, made a quick transition from the Pacific to a desert. With great effort, I managed to force them off the last sense of normalcy I would ever grasp and tredge into the hellfire before me. The room, though dimly lit, was permeated by a presence more blinding and intense than the brightest star. All eyes traced my movements with the precision of hunters eyeing an injured prey. So, like any sane person in the eye of a storm that threatened to tear them apart at an atomic level, I turned to face them and smiled. As though waiting for this as a cue, a human butler came with a sparkling silver tray to offer me a drink. Subtle chatter started again in the room and while my hands and mouth moved to accept his glass, my eyes and mind took in the room around me.

Holy shit this is classy was my immediate thought. The HoloRoom was set to look like a 18th century ballroom, which was doable in most well off houses and hotels, but was dwarfed here by the sheer rarity of its contents. There were no helper bots to assist but actual people took a job they hadn’t in over a hundred years. But any surprise that came from that was instantly snuffed out by the beverages. From the corner of my eye, I glanced the ultimate source of wealth. The delicately made wood mixed energy tables held on them a feast more valuable and sought after than any type of currency could ever hope to amount to. Walking slowly towards the closest table, my thoughts were confirmed. Attempting to keep my composure I took a sideways glance at the golden ooze that twisted in on itself like a glorious shimmering whirlpool. Barely managing to resist the urge to gulp down the fluids through cupped hands, only one thought reigned my mind.

Ambrosia.

The food of the Gods, something dreamed of by generations and fought for by monarchs and Leaders alike since its discovery after the third War of Worlds. Mouth watering and eyes tearing slightly from the effort to keep myself from tasting even a slight bit of the godly drink, I distracted myself by attempting to strike the fear of a different God into me. Blinking the tears away, I strained my eyes to return fire on the red hot stares that had been permeating me since my entrance, but quickly found that I was going from the frying pan to the firing squad.

The first face my gaze met was one I knew as well as any other occupant of the planet Earth. Eyes like a fresh chestnut, skin like rich coffee, and wavy hair that emphasized his fine complexure. Standing an easy six and a half feet, wearing what might appear to be humble white robes on television but could obviously be seen to be a million credit RealWear product. In his hand he clutched a wine glass so precariously it would seem as though even the slightest pressure from any of his jewel encrusted fingers would have its pieces flying across the room. In this glass was a liquid that seemed to be mimicking the rile of emotions it’s holder was feeling, twisting and spinning in its clear glassy prison. The glass, that should have been full of a dark red liquid was instead a murky pool, swirling in distress of the disruption to its transformation. Upon taking this in, my eyes met with one of the three most powerful people in the New World. The self proclaimed third reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

Tension filled the air as I did everything I could to stop myself from knocking over the tables and ripping myself out of my skin textured prison. However this was but a step on a journey that would last a night and could either take me to my deathbed, or could lead me and the people of the New World to salvation.

Stealing my nerve, I averted my eyes from the payer of sins’ electric glare and began to do a faster paced room check. In one corner there sat part two of what people liked to call the Big Three, Pope Goldstein, who was attracting the attention of some minor Leaders and rulers. Eyes searching, I knew I had to locate the third and final piece. Amaterasu, the sun goddess of the Shinto Religion, stood eyeing me with the look of one who had seen the world rise and fall from a crowded table. Then, the tension started to truly set in. I was not simply glancing at these people through the corner of my eye at some religious convention. I wasn’t seeing them on my Lens or hearing about them from a friend. I was in a battlefield of wealth, power, and success and the only feeling that remained consistent from around the room was that there was an intruder in their midst that threatened to destroy the very fabric of the world they had so carefully knit together.

Pangs of anxiety resounded through my very being, the voices that I had managed to keep screaming but at bay were now flooding my head, and quite like Jesus’s death grip on his tender wine glasses stem, I began to feel my grip on the situation quiver. Years of hard work, pain, loss, and most of all planning had gone into this night, and I was not going to let any stupid emotions or doubts get in my way. Wishing there was a way to mentally splash water on myself, I took a deep breath and cleared my thoughts.

A one, and a two, and a three, and a four -- One step to break the ice, two steps to catch their eyes, three steps to shake the room, four steps and the world goes… As the final tap of my foot took me to the center of the of the world’s most influential room, I did my best to force a smile onto face. Momentum carrying onto my heel, I spun around to look every self righteous glare back in their smug little faces, and watched, as their identities were sucked away like a mouse’s tail through a cats mouth.

Boom.

Chaos broke out through the room as the center piece that had been moments before housing a gauntlet of ambrosia and a collection of high tables was now whisked away in a blast that resounded through the essence of every narcissistic ear in the room. Smiling at this smooth transformation, I took a short bow as to pay my respects to the only individual who seemed as though he could care less whether I was the ruler of heaven, or the king of hell. The butler, whose eyes must have been jaded for years before as to the true fragility of the world’s sanity, gave a slight nod and wondered what new magic would be unveiled tonight. With the precision of one whose life depends on not messing up a single thing, I stepped back into what was now an empty center stage, searching silently for my mark while smiling at the panic before me.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now begin tonight’s feature presentation.”

With no mic to speak through and a room designed so that the only conversations one would be able to hear were the ones a few feet away, the careful joking tone of my voice was heard throughout the room. The occupants of what had been moments before a little slice of heaven found that they were trapped in a room with what could only be assumed was a twenty something year old madman, started to make quick decisions as of what their next course of action might be. I calmed slightly at this. This is my game, I thought, you are all just pawns. Standing straight and counting the seconds to my next act, I began.

“Before one of you try and smite me with some kind of divine will, let’s have some introductions shall we?”

With a snap, the person on stage was flipped and the olive skinned man that had been satisfying himself with glaring at me from a corner was now in full view of the room.

“This man is Reginald Green.” Confused voices echoed throughout the room, my voice to them seemed to be coming from their heads.

“You see proceeding the war of 2120, Reginald had a thought. ‘What if, I were to use the wealth that had been gifted upon me by the success of my forefathers to lie, cheat, and at times kill my way to one of the largest and most influential positions in the New World?’”

Gasps and chatter started to mix around the room, the unity of spite for me was becoming mixed with the uncertainty of a new enemy in the room.

“How dare you tarnish my name, boy.”

The glass broke now, as did the olive skinned man’s composure. The words he let out were less a tone than a snarl. He attempted to walk out of the centerstage, but upon taking a step forward he collapsed in a searing pain.

“Sorry Reginald, your time is not yet over. You see, there is a common theme here tonight that extends past the maya of power and wealth. This self proclaimed reincarnation of Jesus has managed to use his wealth, as did the one before him, and as did all of you, to gain the power he so wanted. Seeing that the world was in turmoil from the mass destruction brought from the collapse of the Old World, everyone here saw it fit to place themselves at the center of a new system. A system, if done correctly, which could have led this world to salvation. However you all, through some means or another, managed to really fuck things up for me.”

“What on earth are you saying boy.” The snarl of the olive skinned man had gone to an even deeper semblance of hate.

“It seems we have a kyōjin on our hands.” The sun goddesses voice laughed, her presence still the only thing that managed to rival the unfolding scene.

“Sadly, Lady Yuki, I am neither mad nor a man.”

With another snap there were two to hold the center stage. The stark contrast in the characters was astounding in the room light. As Reginald's hazel eyes cased the room looking for the source of my voice, the woman next to him seemed to glow eve brighter. Her skin was pale to the point of a ghostly pearl, and her hair was as silver as the moon might have been before pollution had grown out of control and caused it to have a constant red glare. The only point in her that might have shown her to be a goddess of the sun were her eyes. Their red hue was a shocking contrast to the rest of her body, and while Reginald strained his to find me, hers closed.

“And who are you sir, who claims to know so much?”
The voice of the Pope echoed through the room, and before I could snap my fingers to bring the last piece to the center, he began to walk there himself.

“There will be no such enchantment placed on me, I can walk thank you.”

“I’ve been known by many names,” I muttered, “but you may call me Jo-ne.”

“Now sir, if I may ask, what do you want?”

I chuckled at this, the Pope had always been my favorite of the three. He was a stout man, and though his eyes spoke of years beyond that of a normal human, his face said he couldn’t have been more than forty.

“You all have been given a chance. A chance to take a world in ruins and turn it to something great.”

With an invisible wave of my arm, the 18th century room changed shape. Around us was the remnants of the Old World. Smoke came from boulders and cities burned in the distance. Where we stood, the great capital of the United States had fallen just moments before to a class 2 nuclear air strike. There were gasps at the change, but the man who had claimed he was the third coming whirled around in anger, his eyes wild.

“Why do you show us this infidel? Have you no shame for the dead?”

Standing behind him, I turned off my cloak and put my hand on his shoulder.

“Sadness comes from others Reginald,” I said quietly, ”anger comes from oneself.”

Without a moment's hesitation the white robbed man whipped around wildly, lashing at where I had been moments before.

“Many of you have speculated that this was a second flood of sorts, and that you were the new Noah's of what you so promptly named the ‘New World’.”

“And? Who are you to speak of this disaster, boy?”

The crowd of lesser Leaders and rulers around me was starting to get out of hand. One group attempted escaping into the wasteland, only to find themselves met with the solidity of a wall. They’re going to figure it out, move faster damnit. I breathed out and gave “Jesus” my best impression of a patronizing tone I could manage.

“I see you seem unsatisfied with the name I’ve given you. Today marks the first meeting of a new Order, and for now you may call me God.”