A Place On Earth

Jerry took a sip of his triple caramel double espresso latte with chocolate sprinkles as he quietly regarded the painting before him. “Yeah, I don’t get it,” he said. Modern art continued to elude him. That was understandable. After all, it seemed to elude the humans as well. 

It just… lacked that certain something. What was it the poet had said? “In truth, beauty.” Or something like that? Yeah, it was something like that. But there was no beauty in it. And no truth. He’d been assistant manager at the gallery for long enough to know that most of the art that passed through these days existed solely for the financial. And that was a pity. When you create something beautiful, you take a little piece of Heaven and bring it to Earth.

That was what Jerry believed, anyway.

And he would know, having been in Heaven before. Heck, he’d created the place, with his own two hands. If anyone could recognize a spark of the Divine, it was Jerry.

He had been the first Divine, after all, brought into being by the collective psyche of the early humans. God of Chiefs, the morning, and light – the greatest of all the great goods. It had been he who had taught them about fire, and helped nurture their gift for language.

They’d adored him, and he had adored them in turn. They were always so grateful for his presence. Some of the women had even shown him how grateful. From those unions had been born the chaotic semi-divine, shaped by the thoughts of those early humans. Some had become mortal champions. Others, warped by the fears of humans, had become monsters. The champions protected their people from the monsters and all was more or less fine.

At some point, one of the humans had begun telling tales of how Jerry lived up in the sky, upon an island on a great ocean in the clouds. Armed with the power that belief granted, Jerry dove into the ocean and pulled forth a great serpent, spawn of the Divine who ruled the seas, a complete jerk who the humans had created in their fear of the vast ocean.

Once he had risen above the clouds, he had slit the throat of the serpent with a stone knife, and purified its blood with his magic. The waters flowed onto the clouds, but did not seep through. This created a freshwater sea within the sky. From a lake, he pulled up a great tortoise, whose shell he used to create the island. Then he reached down and plucked up twelve great oxen. From their hides, he fashioned his palace.

In time, the humans began to forget Jerry and the others of the First Pantheon. Some of his kind faded away, but Jerry had reinvented himself, becoming one of the gods of the next pantheon. He did so again and again through the years. Sometimes he hid his true nature. Sometimes he would bargain with the incoming Divines and openly join them.

Either way, with his new form, he would persist, remembered by the world’s peoples. And he would retake his place within Heaven.

There had been a time or two where a pantheon wasn’t forgotten, but fell out of favor. Those Divines would persist so long as they were remembered. Still, Jerry would seek to join the next group if he could. If not, well, as long as he was remembered and could stay within his home, then that was fine.

Not that he spent all of his time there. He’d often visit the humans and see what they were up to. They truly were such interesting creatures. But they often failed to see the obvious before them. So, from time to time, he’d give them a little nudge.

And, of course, the monsters sometimes spawned by the union of the Divine and mortals had to be kept from running too rampant. Not that a little mayhem was bad. It was wanted, even. It allowed humans to test themselves and rise above it. With each challenge, they would grow. And how they had grown. From huddling, terrified little monkeys within caves to on the cusp of reaching out to the stars themselves.

But eventually, what Jerry had long feared finally came to pass. The humans had created a new deity. And this one was selfish. He would allow the worship of no others. And he wouldn’t even allow those who had not been forgotten to remain within a quiet corner of Heaven.

He had drained the great sea above the clouds, causing a massive flood. That, more than anything, irked Jerry. There were no more great serpents within the oceans for him to use to put his home back as it should be. Well, okay. So there was one of their lineage that remained, but she was nowhere near ready to revive her dying race. Not until she found those she sought. But perhaps he could give that a little nudge.

And while he was at it, he had to do something about that creature who failed to abide by Sacred Hospitality. That whole concept had been Jerry’s idea, and it irked him when someone abused it. He would leave humans who did so to the human authorities. That was part of his deal. He couldn’t bring his wrath down on them. But when a monster stepped out of line, Jerry took that personally.

Ah, yes. The deal. It had all started when he and his fellows had taken quite the affront to being denied Heaven. So they’d fought against the new guy. Odin had marshalled his forces from Valhalla. The great wolf Fenrir cut down many foes. Even the gods of Pantheons that were still in favor fought alongside the cast outs. But it was all in vain.

The humans had given the new guy a full army. An entire host of angels, semi-divine beings strong enough to contest a god. Many gods had died that day. Others retreated, deciding that it was better to make new homes elsewhere, rather than be wiped out. In the end, it was Jerry alone before Heaven’s new master and his millions of warriors.

“Wait!” Jerry had called out. “I propose a compromise!”

The vast army of angels had frozen in place. “What could you possibly offer?” the voice had boomed over the sea of clouds.

“In time, the humans will seek to create an adversary for you. It has happened to all other singular deities. He could become more powerful than even you. So instead, let me become your new adversary. Let me take on the role, and let us nudge the humans towards belief in that. Cast me from this place if you must. But let me become the great Adversary. Let them believe that I am powerless before you, so that you will never need fear the rising of one who can challenge you, and so the rest of us need not fear the great power that will supplant you should a different Adversary arise!”

The silence that followed was deafening. But eventually, the new guy had spoken. “Agreed.”

Time resumed and the angelic host was gone, all save one. The archangel Michael, greatest of His warriors, grabbed Jerry by the shirt, and cast him down from Heaven. Jerry had tumbled, slamming through the ground itself, into a deep pit, next to a pocket of magma.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Jerry said to himself. “But He is a fool if He thinks this is over.”

Jerry called forth those monsters who remained that could be of use to his new plan and shaped them anew. Meanwhile, on the surface, the angels had begun their own campaign, spreading word of the new, mostly powerless Adversary.

Jerry’s new minions – demons as they were called – began their work as well. They continued to give humans something to rise against. And as a side effect, they inspired humans to create things by showing them a bit of the truth in the world. In truth, beauty.

And Jerry had recognized the beauty inherent in what they created for what it was. A little piece of heaven.

“I don’t know what your game is,” the figure standing next to him said. “We have reports that you’ve been seen all over. So we’ve been checking up on you.”

“Find anything interesting?”

“You’re definitely up to something. But it’s so random, we can’t quite figure out what it is.”

“Gabriel, my boy, perhaps you’re merely looking at it wrong. After all, maybe I’m just doing what I’m doing because I like humans.”

“Sometimes I forget that it was we who gave you the moniker of ‘The Prince of Lies’, since you’re so good at it. But we will not be fooled.”

“No lie, my boy. I really do love these silly, hairless apes.”

“We all know you’re working some kind of plan to storm the gates. Michael’s keeping his sword sharp to cut you down once and for all when it happens.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, my boy. My days of grand fights are all over. And I understand that I can never go back up there.”

“Well, we’re keeping an eye on you. We’ll figure it out one day.”

“Never gonna happen,” he said once the angel was gone. They really lacked creativity up there. Why else would they be fixated on the thought that he was going to march in with an army?

He kept walking through the gallery, then stopped and smiled at a piece of art, a simple portrait of a young mother and her child. It wasn’t the best from a technical perspective, but you could see that the artist had put a piece of himself in his work. It had that certain something Jerry loved. It had soul.

“Oh wow! They really did display it! My brother’s gonna be stoked!”

The young woman was rather beautiful and in that, there was a spark of the divine as well. Jerry smiled. “Indeed, my girl,” he said. “I take it you’re Jacob’s sister? We left a message on his voicemail, but he hadn’t responded yet.”

“Yep, he’s my big brother. He’s been working on his art for so long. He’d almost given up on it until his manager suggested he try switching mediums and got the whole office to pitch in to get him a gift card to an art supply store. Looks like oil paints were just what he needed.”

Jerry smiled. “Well, if you see him, remind him to check his voicemail. We’ve already had a couple offers.”

“Definitely!” the girl said. “I’m Megan.” She held her hand out. “And you’re… ‘A man of wealth and taste?’” She raised an eyebrow as she read his nametag.

“Sorry, just a little joke we have around here. Name’s Jerry.” He shook her hand. “It’s great to meet you, Megan. So tell me, does the art gene run in your family?”

“Well, not really. I’m more into poetry.”

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “Is that so, my girl?” he peered into her aura. Yeah, there was potential there. But she’d need a little push. Some adversity, maybe. “Well, keep at it. I expect great things from you. After all, every time someone creates something beautiful, they take a little piece of Heaven and bring it down to Earth.”

The pieces were small, and they were subtle. And everyone up there was so focused on figuring out how to counter his supposed frontal assault, they couldn’t see it happening. By the time they did, it would be too late.

“Thanks!” the young woman beamed. “I should get going. Gotta go tell Jacob! He’s gonna flip when he realizes that you guys are displaying his art! I bet Mom will fly down to come take a look, so don’t sell it too quick!”

Ah, an airplane. So many moving parts. All it would take was a tiny little malfunction of the right piece at the right time and well… Megan didn’t yet realize that her mother was already dying as the cancer had returned and spread. He could save her the long, drawn out suffering but provide just enough of a push. He reported what needed to be done to the nearest shard of himself, the one working as the shift manager of a greasy spoon diner a few miles away.

Heaven was closed off to him, as was its power. Well, if he couldn’t go back to Heaven, if he couldn’t return home?

He sang to himself as he headed to the back to take his break. “In this world we are just beginning to understand the miracle of living. Baby, I was afraid before. But I'm not afraid anymore…

“Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth? We’ll make Heaven a place on Earth.”