Chapter 15: One Choice

Steve Davies

“A god,” I said. The word rippled through my soul. I had set things up to be hero-worshiped, for the entire world to see me as something more than them, but to hear my wife say it was intoxicating I glanced down at my phone, at the power it held.

So many edits left...

We used to be good Christians, but then we learned about all of this truth. How the Most High operated. Things changed. And now ... Now we were flirting with crossing the line into blasphemy. It was a heady rush. I stroked my wife’s face. I stared into her eyes and—

Light exploded around us.

My wife clung to me. She screamed but I couldn’t hear any sound. The light drowned it out. It rang with a note of pure creation. I pulled her tight against me, my hand gripping my phone. She pressed tight, clinging to me as the light surged us up and up and up.

What was going on? What was this?

The light burst from us and washed like a brilliant liquid through a room that now around me. It was like the light formed the floor, walls, and ceiling. It echoed and reverberated with the fading of a ringing bell. Gold reflected around us. Everything had this stunning radiance, all made of the purest substance on the world. Columns studded with gemstones lay everywhere. Tourmalines, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, amethysts, topazes, and other precious stones twinkled around us.

Linda clung to me as I whirled around, searching for something. In the corner, cloaked in smoke and fire, a presence sat upon a throne. The form hidden inside was impossible to see. Flickers of lightning crackled from the swirling flames and whirling fumes. The majesty radiating from it had me trembling in awe. It had my knees knocking and trembling.

Beside the throne, another figure stood, cloaked in light, a brilliant figure that shone like the rising sun, a star blazing in the morning. The figure turned to us, something in its face flickering with this smug radiance. I could get the impressions of arms crossed, eyes focusing on us.

“Steve,” whimpered Linda.

“The gallery is empty,” the figure cloaked in flame and smoke said. His voice boomed and roiled through the entire room, feeling it. “My Council has abdicated. Do you know anything about this, Steven?”

I swallowed. We stood before the Most High, his form obscured from us. The bible said none could see God’s true appearance and survive. It melted the minds of humans, too much for us to comprehend. We must be in his hall. We were in heaven.

My stomach melted with fear.

“Answer.”

“Yes,” I said, trembling.

Linda whimpered and groaned. Her fingers dug into my arms, fingernails biting into my flesh.

“Did I not send you a warning against this? Did I not promise consequences if you stole any more of my servants?”

“You did,” I said. “Through Sandalphon.”

“And you thought that if you had him under your power, that I would be impotent to act against you?”

“I was told I could do as I will,” I said, lifting my head. “So I did. I made decisions to change things. Your servants were the fastest way. Look what I have done to the world. With my influence, things will become better. Poverty and human-inflicted suffering will be things of the past. No children will go to sleep hungry. No homeless shall die in the cold through neglect. Humans will care for each other and stop being selfish!”

“You had the power to do that without taking any more of my servants.”

“Two cities a day? That would take a lifetime to affect everyone in the world.”

“You could have given yourself such a lifetime. You could have had the patience to work within your limits. You had constraints, and you chose to break them.”

“You gave me the power to break them.” I held up my phone. “Right here. You put this in my hand. The power of creation. That’s what you gave me. The power to remake anything I wanted. You can’t complain that I used it to the fullest. You’re the one that made it possible for me to take control of your servants. For them to give me more power. Why else would you do that if I wasn’t supposed to use them?”

“These are not the crimes we are here to judge,” said the figure glowing with brilliance. His voice had a cruel delight to it. This haughtiness. “Steven, your actions are not your own. You are merely a puppet for the crimes of your wife.”

Linda tensed.

“My wife?” I glanced at Linda. Her face had gone deathly pale. She stared at me with this look of helpless horror. “What did you do, Linda? What could you have possibly done to cause us to be here?”

“Steve,” she said, her voice tight and hoarse.

I threw a look at this other voice. He was as brilliant as the morning star. Was this Lucifer? Was the Devil standing before us accusing my wife of some misdeed? “I’m the one who edited Sandalphon. I’m the one who wouldn’t let anything stand between changing the world. I knew it was wrong, and I didn’t care. It was the fastest way to help everyone. To make the world into a better place. I’m the one who sinned, not her.”

“You have done that. It is an admiral act, but it wasn’t your will that accomplished it. Linda imposed her will upon you just as you have imposed your will upon billions.”

“Linda?” I glanced at my wife again. “What is he talking about? What is going on?”

She broke away from me. Her entire body trembled. She had this look of hopeless fear on her face. She clutched her hands to her chest. Fingers knitted together as she clasped them tight. Her breasts jiggled before her. Her breath quickened. The vein in her neck pulsed.

“Steve...” she croaked. “I did it for us. I did it so we could have more. So we could help everyone.”

“Do what?” I demanded, growing angry. “What did you do? What could you have possibly done to me?”

“She edited you.”

The Most High’s words echoed through the golden hall. It rippled around the columns. It spilled over me. I stood up against it, weathering it. Confusion rippled through me. I stared at my wife, pleading with her to explain.

“Linda?” I reached out to her. “What are they talking about?”

“The ... the ... app appeared on my phone,” said Linda. “Right after you beat Seth. It was your app, but different. It had one single edit, but I could do it to anyone, even someone protected. Even to you.”

My brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She glanced at the glowing figure. At Lucifer. “It came from Hell. From a demon. Lilith. She spent days tempting me. She tried to get me to use it selfishly. Tried to make me jealous of you.” She darted forward and grabbed my hands. She gripped me tight. She had this wild desperation in her eyes. This look of hopeless panic that rose from her soul. “She wanted me to build a harem of schoolgirl sluts. To make myself powerful. She whispered in my ear that I could make you obey me. That I could rule the world through you. I didn’t. I held off. I wasn’t selfish. I did what I could for our family. Not me. Us!”

“What did you do?” I demanded.

“You wisely rejected your wife’s suggestion to find Sandalphon’s true name. She merely saw a shortcut to power while you were tempered by caution. You were content to work in the constraints I placed upon you. And then she edited you.”

“Through my Lilith, your wife made it so you found Sandalphon’s true name, changing your history, and then put in the desire that you would do anything to change him. To fix the world. Look for yourself. See what she did to you.”

I grabbed my phone and opened the editing app. This boiling anger rippled through me. She had edited me. I had done it to her. I shouldn’t be mad, but I had come clean. When she edited me, I was open to her. She was my partner. She could have come to me and told me what she had. What she could do with it. We could have figured it out for ourselves.

We both wanted to take over the world. We knew we needed Sandalphon’s name. I hadn’t hesitated at all to use it.

I found my profile. EDITED BY THE MOST HIGH.

“There’s nothing here that says Linda edited me,” I said. “It just says you edited me, Most High.”

“That’s how my app works. It’s insidious. A hack upon the world. If it left obvious traces, it wouldn’t be effective, but it can’t hide the traces. You’ll see them. You know how new desires stand out.”

Desires...

I hit the Spiritual Menu and then Desires Sub-Menu. It opened up and I scanned it. They were all normal save one. One that stood out in bold. It was a new one. My heart clenched as I read this edited desire.

Steve Davies desires to take over the world and remake it in his image. He will not let anything stop him from doing that. No fear of threats even from Sandalphon will dissuade him.

I glanced at my wife. “Did you put this in me?”

“You ... You didn’t want to use Sandalphon,” Linda said. She gave me this pleading look. “It was clear to me that we had to. We would never be safe if we had his sword hanging over our heads. Our family would never find happiness so long as we were under the threat of death. What else could I do, Steve? I had the chance to fix you.”

“Without talking to me?”

Anger flared in her expression. “You edited me without talking to me. You made me enjoy incest. You put lusts in me for our underage daughters. You turned me into a woman who seduces every hottie I come across.”

Guilt rippled through me. “But you could have told me about this. About your views. We were open. I’m sorry that I changed you, but I just wanted to make our family harmonious.”

“You wanted to fuck our daughters!” she snarled, this ugly look on her face. “And I get that. So why don’t you understand why I wanted to protect our family! So don’t get all holier than thou on me, Steve. We both abused this power.”

Her words slapped me. I thought about what she said. I had the world. I hadn’t let anything stop me from seizing it. It felt so right to do it. I couldn’t even comprehend this other Steve who wanted to be cautious, that wouldn’t risk the chance of editing Sandalphon if he learned the angel’s true name.

Just like Linda couldn’t remember a version of her that had a shameful affair. A tryst that she couldn’t stop even as it made her hate herself over and over. I only wanted to help her. To free her from that guilt and assuage her pain. And since she was cheating on me, why shouldn’t I have the same. At least I made it open.

Something we could share.

I swallowed, staring at my wife. “You didn’t trust me to talk to me?”

“You would have talked me out of it,” Linda said. “And I had that demon whispering to me. At least I used it for a selfless reason.”

“That doesn’t mitigate your crime. You violated nature. Steven had the right, given to him by the Most High to edit reality. You did not.”

“You gave it to me!” snarled Linda at Lucifer. “You put that damned app on my phone, and then you judge me for using it?”

“I merely tested you. My accuser declared that you would sin. It was my task to find out if you would. And you did. You resisted. You tricked yourself into doing it. You told yourself it was for your family. But it was for yourself. Steven can check your desires. You hungered for power.”

I frowned at that. Did my wife crave power? She was always pushing me to edit things, but so what? I wanted to edit things. I wanted to change the world because...

Steve Davies desires to take over the world and remake it in his image. He will not let anything stop him from doing that. No fear of threats even from Sandalphon will dissuade him.

I stared at those words. She had made it so I had these desires. Nothing would stand in my way to taking over the world. But it wasn’t my desire. I could see what she had overridden with this decision. The desire that was supplanted.

Steven Davies desires to change the world and make it better. He chafes at the restraints but doesn’t see the risk in editing Sandalphon worth the potential downfall of disobeying the Most High.

I switched over to Linda’s profile. I had to know why she edited me. Did she even know the truth of her actions? She stared at me. So close. My entire body shaking. I navigated to her Desires Sub-Menu.

Linda Davies desires the power to change the world. She is eager to experience it through Steven Davies. He controls the world, and she wants him to keep modifying things. To make them more and more powerful.

I glanced at my wife. “You crave power, Linda.”

She bit her lip. “No, no, I did it for our family.”

Linda Davies tells herself she does it for her family, but she wants the power to change things. To edit reality. To guide Steven Davies to change things to her whim.

I turned my phone to her. She trembled as she stared at the screen. She leaned in. She bit her lower lip as she read the entry. She swallowed and then she looked up at me. She looked shocked. She recoiled back from what she’d read. What she truly desired.

“But ... I...” She had this look of horror in her eyes. “I love you, Steve. I do, right? I did it for our family. Right?”

“You did it for yourself,” I said.

Linda Davies

I shuddered at the sight of the phone. Right there on the screen. I had been using Steve for power? Not for my family, but so I could have more control. It horrified me. It wasn’t who I saw myself as. I was a loving wife and mother. Not ... Not...

Not someone who edited her husband to take over the world so I could be his queen ... So I could be a goddess.

“Oh, god,” I whimpered.

The Most High’s swirl of flame and fume blazed harder. I shuddered, fear rippling through me. I grabbed my husband’s wrist. I had to know. Did I love him? I couldn’t just be using him? If I didn’t love him, I would have just made him my slave, had him do whatever I wanted. I tapped the screen, frantic, blood surging through my veins.

I shifted to the Relationship Sub-Menu. Steve was at the top of the list, followed by Becky, Sam, Marissa, and James. I tapped my husband’s name and let out the largest gasp. My knees buckled. I sank to the glowing floor, trembling, my auburn hair spilling about my face. I stared up at my husband standing over me.

“I love you, Steve,” I said, tears spilling down my eyes. “Maybe I wanted to have power.” I could feel that greedy need. I was looking forward to being the queen of the world. A goddess. “But I still love my family. I still wanted us to share it. Right?”

Steve turned the phone and studied the screen. “Yeah.” Emotion shown in his eyes. He cupped my cheek. “I understand. I get it. I do. I wanted to have power. I remember wanting it even before Sandalphon. It’s intoxicating what this app gave me.”

“I just wanted it,” I whimpered. “What you had. And then I got it. I knew it was wrong. A sin. I tried to fight it, to find the will to delete it. I thought it would be okay if I did it for our family. If it wasn’t ... absolutely selfish. It was this lifeline. I grabbed it, a way to escape the temptation without destroying myself.”

“Only you committed a crime against the Most High,” said Lucifer.

Anger rippled through me. He put that app on my phone and now gloated that I used it. I wanted to claw out the fallen angel’s face. If he even had one beneath that glowing radiance that shone about him. My heart pounded in my chest. It pumped hot through my veins.

“You are the font of sin that has sprung into the world,” continued the Devil. “From you, a new wellspring of corruption stains it. Your actions have caused your husband to spread it to every living human. You have delivered the world into my hands, Linda Davies.”

My jaw dropped. I bounded to my feet. “What?”

“Like Adam in the Garden, you sinned knowingly. You were told by the Most High through Sandalphon not to edit any more angels. You ensured it happened. Steven might have done the act, but what choice did he have after you were through with him? You have tainted him. He has imposed his will on the world. Upon all of creation. Now it is MINE!” The figure seemed to whirl on the Most High. His light swelled in radiance. “You are sitting upon my throne. Your instrument has stolen everything from you and delivered it unto me.”

“Judgment is not complete.”

I trembled. I had given the Devil all of creation? I grabbed my husband’s hand. I held onto him. I gripped him hard. My fingers dug into his hands. The fear dragged at me. This massive weight that wanted to pull me lower and lower and lower.

I shuddered. This couldn’t be happening. “I didn’t mean for this,” I whimpered. “I didn’t know it would cause this, Steve.”

“I know,” he said, his face pale. He squeezed my hand. “We’re in this together, okay?”

I swallowed and felt strength from him. I rose on unsteady feet and faced the triumphant Devil and the Most High. I couldn’t read God’s emotions. His flames swirled and spiraled. The black smoke howled around him.

“Make your judgment! You must, Most High. You have made the rules. You cannot break them! You never can!”

“What is the point in making the rules if I break them?” The Most High seemed to focus on us. “I gave others the choice. They could follow them or not. I stamped my Rules upon the hearts of all. Many have trouble following them even some of the time. Others try hard. But most do not so knowingly and blatantly disregard them as you have, Linda Davies. You were told my will and still defied me.”

I quivered, feeling some of the weight of God’s presence pushing on my mind. He was so immense. I had a glimpse of his true nature. The Most High sprawled larger than the entire universe. Something vast and beyond our measly, little eternity. I shuddered, clamping onto Steve’s hand. The Most High could erase me. He could destroy me with a thought. My knees shook and quivered and quaked.

I clutched tight to him. I bit my lip and whimpered.

“Steven Davies, you must understand the magnitude of what your wife has done. Her actions have left the universe vulnerable to a new owner. My rebellious child has exploited this loophole to bring us to this point of crisis. You have co-opted all of my Divine Council, the entities that affect my will, in subtle and small ways, upon your world. They are the agents that work the editing. They are the ones who manipulate all. They are extensions of my will, and you have removed them through the very tools I provided.”

I clutched so tight to my husband as we faced him.

“Because it was your actions that have caused this, even though you did not have any choice in what you did, you can negate it. You did not break my rules through your own free will. For this, and this alone, I give you the chance to set things right. Your actions in these next moments shall determine who shall rule my Creation.”