Today you’re a demigod.

But you can’t help feeling that at the end of this, you’ll be a god .

Each century, all demigods compete against each other. The one who wins, becomes a god. A hundred years ago you were caught cheating, drinking a health elixir during the trails. The gods banished you to earth until today. Your time spend on earth has been terribly difficult. You faced countless battles and climbed endless mountains. The worst has been the pain deep inside you. Humans are so fragile, but you couldn’t help caring for them. You wept each time one of them betrayed you and each time one of them died. When she betrayed you, you broke more than you thought you should have. But you made it through. Stronger than ever. Your tribulations have prepared you for what’s about to happen.

There’s a barren stretch of land 100 miles long, filled with obstacles. If a demigod successfully makes it through, he becomes a god. Seems simple enough. However, once a demigod succeeds, the trails stop. The rest have to wait another century to have this unique opportunity again. So it’s the task of all hopefuls to ensure that no one – other than themselves - pass the trails. As part of your punishment you will be the last one to attempt the trails. If you were to fail, the trails will start anew and everyone will get a second chance. But that is only if you get a chance. What are the odds that no one preceding you will succeed? Will you let them?

A thunderous blast fills the air as the first demigod starts his trail. Fresh from you stint on earth, you’re still bubbling with emotions. Humans can’t really control how they feel. Some of that must have rubbed off on you. You signal to the others that you will go first. You could have waited for them to attempt to stop him, but your pounding heart wouldn’t let you. As a defender, you receive a mystical orb directing you to the general location of the challenger, usually somewhere in front of him. The challenger, however, is not allowed to have any aids. Oh right… that’s the rule you “forgot” last time around, idiot.

The orb leads you to a field of gigantic columns. The challenger is here somewhere. You press your back up against a column, close your eyes and lend all your concentration to your ears. You have to wait for your heart to stop thumping against your chest. Finally all is quiet, and you wait. There! To your right! You open your eyes and allow them to hunt for a while. You can almost hear evil laughter in your head as you spot him. Not too far away, running from one column to the other. Each time he hides behind a column, you dash to one closer to him. You’re so close now, you can’t contain your excitement. Carefully you study his timing. At the perfect moment, you sprint as quickly as you can, aiming to pass a few inches in front of his column. You close your eyes, tilt your shoulder and bow your head. A few hundreds of a second before you were scheduled to pass in front of his column, he jumps out on his way to the next column. He jumps right in front of a shooting demigod.

Time bends under the strain of two demigods colliding. It’s like the whole universe is running on a computer that is struggling to calculate what will happen in this collision. Bones shatter. Skin rips from flesh. Blood sprays like mist into the air. Your eyes are closed, but you see white light flash through the pain. The shock wave trembles the ground and levels the surrounding columns. Once time had returned back to normal, you can barely stand. The challenger however can’t even move. His attempt at godliness has come to a premature ending.

The two of you drink an elixir and go to sit on the sideline, as good as new. The next few challenges go by uneventful. The other demigods seem to do a good enough job at stopping them. Now and then you get involved. Not always succeeding in taking the challenger out, but weakening him substantially. One by one, they fail. The list of challengers in front of you is getting shorter and shorter. Anticipation steadily builds inside of you. You might actually get your chance…

You stand at the starting line, staring at the wasteland in front of you. You made it! Your chance has arrived! The agony and pain you endured the last 100 years made you so much stronger than you anticipated. You didn’t suffer in vain!

You step over the line. That distinct thunderous blast alerts everyone of your intentions. You stare in front of you with a confident grin on your face…

“Bring it on!”


I’ll finish the story in a couple of days. It could be a good one. You might gain new perspective on the hardship you’ve faced in your life so far… it could also suck noodles… I hope the former.