Chapter 6 EVERY CRUCIAL MATTER

"The most unfortunate thing about this situation within your heart is that I will not be able to demonstrate matter manipulation for you, and you will not be able to practice under my guidance. You'll have to learn everything like you're reading a book, and once I'm far from you, you'll have to put what you have learned into practice." The other Christian briefly touched the tips of our noses together. "I believe in you. You'll do beautifully."

Stroking the side of my face to bring my ear near his mouth, he began what he needed to tell me. "This world," he said smoothly. "Is fake."

I gasped. "What?"

"The planet Earth is fake."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that it did not truly exist in this location in the solar system. It was moved here and terraformed."

"You did?"

He chuckled. "I didn't. I said I wasn't the god of this world. Another god did the heavy lifting. He moved dirt, made continents, built mountains, planted forests, dug streams, and created a planet where people could live. This planet isn't naturally surviving here. The balance of sunlight, breathable gases, water, radiation, and magnetism is precarious. One tiny variation and everything goes up in flames. Like many other planets like Earth, it's a place to train mortal humans to become gods themselves. Maintaining the planet in order is the task of the little gods who were born here before they can move onto other worlds."

"So, people like Pricina haven't been doing a good job caring for the planet?"

"I don't know about her specifically, but I do know that no one is doing a good job caring for the planet at this very minute," the other Christian explained.

"Was that your job?" I asked, feeling a knot in my stomach.

"Yes. My task has been to restore balance to this planet. If I were able to accomplish everything I set out to do, I would have left already."

"Left and gone where?"

"To terraform another planet or to work on my own private world. I'm not from here. I came here because there was a critical problem the young gods couldn't manage. Weaker gods are meant to attend to earthquakes, tsunamis, meteors, and anything else that could wreak terrible devastation on the inhabitants who live here. They're supposed to practice caring for an entire planet. It's what you do as a god before you attempt to terraform one yourself."

"Those all sound like pretty big issues to me. If you weren't handling earthquakes and meteors, then what kind of problem do they call you in for?" I wondered.

He scratched beneath his eye. "Earth started trying to flip its magnetic poles about five hundred years ago. It needs to do so from time to time. For hundreds of years, all I did was keep the north pole where it should be. Usually, it's a task done by two gods. One controls the north pole, and the other controls the south pole. We didn't even have two candidates for the job among the little gods here. They thought I could do it alone because of my greatness due to the other versions of me who have mastered principles more challenging than moving a mountain. I did as they asked and waited for a better solution. The young ones were supposed to be learning, preparing to control the poles, but I can tell you for nothing, they failed." He sighed and closed his eyes briefly. "I can feel it now. The north pole is all over the place. It's splintering. We're quite near where it should be, but it's not here. Half of it is in Siberia and another fragment in Lapland. The other parts are so broken and fuzzy that I'm not sure where they are right now. If it keeps moving, it could be devastating to the human population."

I peeked around, feeling like I should have been able to figure that much out on my own. "Wait, so you know where Tombstone Mountain is? You know where we are."

"I don't know the name Tombstone Mountain, but I know we are very close to the area of a significant gold stream. I took most of it for myself."

"The Yukon gold rush," I sputtered. I was farther west than I imagined. "What happens if the poles flip?"

"We want them to flip. The problem is they're not flipping smoothly, and the erratic movement and splitting of the poles cause breaks in the earth's magnetic field. People need the field to protect them from solar radiation. I don't know how far along your people have come technologically since I was last flexing my muscles in the earth's core, but if your people have come a long way, it could cause a lot of damage. That's not even mentioning all the life that will be disrupted." Then, as if he thought of something he hadn't thought of before, "Why are you so close to the North Pole? Why are you here? You said you were abducted multiple times. What's happening?"

"Most recently, I am currently being held hostage by some of your 'little gods,' and I have been chained up in an empty fortress in the mountains for months."

"Chained up?"

"Indeed. They told me I had to learn how to get a metal ring through my ankle without cutting off my foot. I did it, but I am still a prisoner, and that's how I ended up eating the rocks off your abs."

He pulled me closer to him and kissed the side of my head. "My brave girl," he whispered, sounding so familiar it hurt.

However, even though he held me so close, even though I felt warmth in his arms and heard his words in my ear, I knew he wasn't truly there. What I saw was a physical manifestation of him, but I was talking to information he'd hidden in his heart. That bit of him took on the appearance of something I could recognize, his body. It was the same way his heart looked like a shrine when it was just a blood pump.

"Do you know where my body is?" the other Christian asked.

I shook my head.

"The lesser gods are panicking," he continued, his voice raspy and clipped. "That's why they chained you up and separated us. If we were together, there would be no reason for us to be tinkering around in each other's bodies. If we're separated, we'll go inside ourselves seeking a way to communicate. They're trying to get you to restore me and make us a real couple. Most immortals who have shared body parts can communicate without tools."

Then it made sense. That's how Brandon had contacted Pricina when his head was severed, and both parts of him were imprisoned. He still had his bond with Pricina because she was his wife. Considering her power, she could have gone to save him. Brandon wanted me to go save him in order to get closer to Christian. I suddenly hated him much less.

I looked at the other Christian. He didn't know anything about Brandon. He was only concerned about himself.

I chuckled. "You're about to tell me how amazing you are, aren't you? How you've always shown me how dashing you are on the outside, and now you'll

show me how brilliant you are on the inside? How even among gods, there's no one greater than you?"

He looked at me strangely. "My arrogance is funny?"

I dropped my smile. "No. Your arrogance isn't funny," I said before letting a corner of my mouth tilt up. "The constant reminders of your arrogance are quite amusing."

Unlike my Christian back in real life, this version of him didn't know what to do with my teasing.

"Are you surprised you love someone like me?" I prodded.

"Never. It's very obvious why I want you under my skin and why I want to be under yours. I'm waiting impatiently for the moment when you tell those lesser gods that you are the most powerful on this planet, and they will obey your every command because, without you, their immortality has damned them. I'm sure you'll find a way to say it so it sounds like you're flattering yourself rather than cursing them."

My mouth hung open.

He looked into my eyes, and I saw the part of Christian that challenged me to be more. It was clear that part of him had never been an act.

He spoke, "I'm going to teach you everything I know about manipulating matter. What I've told you so far is only the beginning. Then I hope I'll be able to bring your sword, forge an adequate connection between your body and mine, and I can return to my body. If all these things happen, we might be able to attempt to flip the poles and restore balance. It is a highly rewarding project because the new balance could last at least a hundred thousand years."

Had I missed something? "Give my sword?"

He smiled. "The stones in your belly. They're being forged into a sword."

"I can't fit a sword in my belly."

He placed his hand on my belly and then bent down to press his ear against my stomach. "This isn't a physical place. You weren't eating stones. You were processing knowledge-too much information for anyone to absorb at once. I'll help you process it. The part of me that you're talking to right now is a part I carved from my body. The rest of my body doesn't know how to manipulate matter. I was placed here as a package to be opened. I'm sure you understand. Things in the red forest take a form you can comprehend. That's why we're in a building, and you're talking to me... because I am a form you understand. It's very intimate that you turned me into a man instead of a book or a download."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying," I admitted.

"The sword isn't a sword; it's knowledge about how to manipulate matter and how to send messages through particles between two points. One point is you, and the other point is my body. Once you understand everything I do, you can send a vast spectrum of knowledge through the air to me, and my body can receive it. Once that's done, we'll be able to coordinate everything we think and do in a way that's beyond humanity." He paused. "In other words, we won't need to be together to communicate through our hearts. We'll be able to tell each other where we are and make plans to meet."

That meant he'd be able to rescue me, and if not, I'd be able to do more than just create doors. I'd be able to bring the entire fortress down.

"Well," he asked, "are you ready to start becoming everything I am?"

"I hope so," I whispered, biting my lip.

"At the beginning, it's going to feel like you're carrying every single diamond in Aladdin's cave. The weight of the knowledge may be unbearable, but as you get used to carrying it and using it, it will become as natural as carrying the calcium that makes up your bones. Listen well." He drew me closer into his arms and whispered how the different elements worked.