"Help me! Please god help me; have mercy on my soul! I beg of you; spare my life," Liam screamed aloud from his solitary cell, buried deep beneath the city of London. He knew that tomorrow he would be hanged unless, by some miracle, he was spared, but what were the chances of that? This cry had been merely a release of emotion; he hardly expected an answer. But as he let his body begin to slip into the abyss of sleep, his prayer was answered by a resounding crack which filled the room, accompanied by a single bolt of lightning enshrouded by swirls of black smoke. Startled, he leapt to his feet, but, as the smoke cleared, he threw himself flat on the ground once more. This time in a position of worship, for in front of him stood the figure of a man. It was no mere man that stood looking down at Liam. He emitted a golden glow and his eyes shown with the wisdom of the ages; his body strong and muscular stood a full seven feet tall. This was especially odd, for Liam, who was a full foot shorter, was forced to crouch from the low ceiling, yet this being stood fully erect and the ceiling remained high over his head. This Liam knew was God, creator and ruler of the universe, powerful beyond human comprehension yet gentle and fair in his judgment. Cowering on the dirt floor, Liam tried to pronounce his worship for the almighty deity, but was quickly stopped by God, who ordered him to his feet. "Have you come to save me, then?" Liam asked hopefully. "I'm afraid I can't do that," God's voice boomed from all directions at once. "You can't possibly think that I have done what I've been accused of, can you?" Liam responded almost indignantly. "No, it's not that. I am simply unable to save you. I really wish I could. I'm sorry." God apologized almost humbly before Liam's growing anger. "Unable to!? You're God! You can do anything," retorted Liam. "No I can't." "Yes you can. You created the universe, you created mankind, you rule mankind." "No, I didn't and no, I don't. Let me explain," God pleaded. "What are you asking my permission for? You can do whatever you please and I am powerless to stop you," Liam practically yelled. "I'll ignore that and simply begin my story," God responded. "Fate created Earth. On the earth fate created the primordial soup that was to evolve into the creatures of the world. Then as its final act, fate instilled every existing bit of soup with a destiny as well as every creature ever to be created from that soup. Then fate went off somewhere in the far reaches of the universe, climbed into a hole, and died. Since then the creatures of the Earth have evolved, each one fulfilling its destiny whether it wanted to or not. Eventually the inhabitants of this planet will achieve their ultimate destiny: becoming fate for the next Earth- a slight improvement over this one. That Earth will create another one which will, in turn, create another one and so on until perfection is achieved. However, perfection is impossible because good cannot exist without evil. And so when the 'perfect Earth' is formed, it will revert back to the very first one creating a viscous cycle." "Oh great. So while I'm stuck here listening to a God who doesn't even believe in himself, I'm supposed to be out fulfilling my destiny so that the progress of the past Earths can be utterly destroyed and the universe can start over again. Makes sense to me," Liam yelled back defiantly. "You're not paying attention. No matter what happens you must fulfill your destiny by the end of your life, or in the end of your life. There is no way of avoiding it," God answered coolly, "and as for me not believing in myself, I have good reason not to; I don't exist. I'm simply a manifestation of your belief in God." "If you are no more than a manifestation of my belief in God, then how do you know so many things that I don't and believe in so many things I don't?" Liam questioned suspiciously. "You believe that I am an all knowing deity, thus I am all knowing," the pseudogod responded. "Then why can't you get me out of this predicament? I also believe you're all powerful," Liam countered, finally regaining his sense of logic. "No, you don't. If you did you would think of yourself as no more than a puppet with no free will. Which you obviously don't believe because you're standing here arguing with the being you worship as your deity. You can't possibly believe that I would allow you to tell me that I'm wrong if I had any power over you at all," Pseudogod answered. "He's right of course," Liam thought silently to himself, "Maybe he's right about the rest of it, too." "Ok, so you're saying that I have to die in order to maintain a balance of good and evil in the world and to fulfill my destiny as a creature of this earth?" Liam asked. "Exactly; I guess you finally caught on. Now all you have to do is accept it. Which means I can get out of here and back in there," Pseudogod responded gesturing towards Liam. With that he disappeared in another swirl of smoke, leaving Liam alone with his thoughts. "Well then," Liam thought, "I guess I may as well go to sleep. Wouldn't want to be tired for my own execution, now would I?" The next morning Liam awoke refreshed from his night's sleep and instilled with a greater sense of understanding, thanks to his discussion with Pseudogod. On the way to the gallows Liam attempted to explain his new found beliefs to the throngs of excited spectators. A single person of the crowd listened to what Liam said and left questioning his own beliefs. Liam's destiny at last had been fulfilled.

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