John Almighty

John Brady was the smartest kid at Maschen U, or at least everyone seemed to think so. He was tall and lanky; not ugly, but not handsome either. Today had been among the best days of his life: He had landed his dream job as a writer-intern for a tech magazine, he had been awarded a full, retroactive scholarship for his entire undergraduate career, with stipend, and he had been selected for a prestigious study abroad program. He had lucked out in the housing lottery and landed with a good roommate, and had no money worries. It was his 19th birthday.

Unfortunately, at about 4PM, his great day almost became his worst. Little did he know what was coming.

"Hey Brady, think you're pretty cool don't you," yelled Mike from across the playing field. Like nerds everywhere, he was shunned by most of the kids at Maschen U, though had a small in group of friends, and was persecuted endlessly by the jocks who had not yet realized that their lives were going nowhere after college and still thought they were kings of the hill. Mike and his posse had been making his life hell all semester. They had apparently decided that he was the king nerd and would be their new whipping boy ever since he had the bad luck to get stuck with them in the mandatory physical fitness course.

John looked around, searching for a way out, but there was none. "Can I help you, Mike?" John replied, hoping that someone would come onto the field and see his situation. He had almost made it out of the athletic field, but with the coach gone, his flimsy shield had vanished before he could. "Shut up! You think you're so smart don't you? Well I've got a scholarship too, what do you think of that?" yelled Mike, beginning to move towards him.

John snorted and did his best to stifle the laugh that had involuntarily escaped his lips. He immediately realized his mistake. "Come back here, you little prick!" Mike yelled as he began running after John, his cohort not far behind. Mike James was a football player, a halfback, and as such believed that he could get away with anything, a belief that had thus far held up to experiment. John had seen Mike's glaring face during the award ceremony earlier in the day, and knew that Mike hadn't taken the news of John's good fortune at all well. Mike continually ran off at the mouth about how nerds were the scum of the earth and only athlete's deserved... well anything.

John broke into a run, not looking back, knowing full well that they were running after him. They were all faster than him on open ground, but he knew that if they caught up to him, he'd be dead meat. He could hear Mike gaining on him; the only reason he had managed to clear the field had been his large head start. He veered off into the woods behind campus, hoping to loose them in the underbrush. His saving grace was his smaller size, he could fit through gaps where Mike and co. had to go around them. Despite his best efforts, he could still hear them behind him, yelling profanities and promising him pain when they caught him. He realized too late that he had also run away from help; the forest was almost a half mile of protected habitats. Barring a small group of campers (who probably wouldn't want to get involved anyway), his only chance was to loose them and loop back around to the dorms. The trees and undergrowth were getting thicker and it was becoming difficult to see too far ahead. John cut to the side, trying to confuse his pursuers.

"You are going to pay big time when I catch you," came Mikes voice, sounding closer than John wanted to think about. He burst through a group of trees, and as he put his foot down, the ground crumbled away, leaving him hanging over an open space for a minute, before he began to fall, quickly slamming into the slanted face of the hole. He began to slide down the steep slope, trying to grab onto something, and he finally managed to get a handhold several meters down.

Mike appeared at the top of the pit, laughing down at him. "Didn't you know this was here cocksucker? I directed you right to it. Covered it up nice and good so you wouldn't see it in time."

"Please Mike, help me," begged John as he could feel his footing starting to crumble away. "If I fall down here, I could die!"

"If you're lucky, you'll only fall to your . I hope you enjoy it down there. One less nerd wasting air. Otherwise, I'll be waiting for you when you come back to school," he pounded his fists together for emphasis, "and I'll make sure that you learn proper respect for your superiors." Mike disappeared from the hole's mouth. John could hear him yelling to his friends that the nerd trap had worked, before Mike moved out of earshot.

John could see no way out of this. There were no handholds and his shelf was giving way. He hoped the bottom was soft as he began to slide down, trying to slow himself on the wall.

He slid down further, grabbing for anything that might help to slow his descent. With jarring suddenness he hit a thin rock shelf, barely keeping his momentum from carrying him over the side. The ledge was not wide, barely enough to lay on. In the minimal light from the open hole, he couldn't see his surroundings very well. He felt around to see if there was some way he could climb up, but his hands just went into the soft dirt, causing it to rain down upon him. He closed his eyes as the dirt blinded him, and coughed and sneezed as dust clouds enveloped him.

Something metal hit him on the head and fell down between him and the wall. After a moment, John regained his composure and took hold of the object. It was an old fashioned pocket watch, aged and worn from being in the crevasse who knew how long; something he would have been thrilled to find under normal circumstances. He studied it for a moment, trying to read the strange markings on the cover. He began to put it down and continue his escape attempt, but for some reason he was compelled to open it. He pressed firmly on the button. Clogged with dirt, it wouldn't budge. He tried again, wedging one of his keys under the edge to use as a lever, and it popped open with a loud crack. A bright blue light gushed out of the watch, forcing him the look away. It formed into a strange cloud, slowly sinking towards and then into him. He could hear a humming sound, and he could feel energy crackling through him.

"Greetings John of Brady, you have inherited THE POWER, rejoice in your good fortune. This vessel that you have awakened contains enough power to do anything... anything at all. You have only to desire it and it will be done. How would you use this power?"

John at this point assumed that he had landed at the bottom of the pit and this was some sort of trauma induced hallucination. "Oh ok, right. Well, umm...Can you get me back up to the top of this pit?"

Instantly, John found himself sitting on a log, a few feet from the pit. he coughed a bit, clearing the dirt form his lungs.

"Holy crap!! Either I'm dead or this is real! Man, I wish the rest of my day had gone this well."

"This has been granted. Several of your dreams came true earlier today. Know that you cannot change events such that you would not find the power, for this would be a paradox. This is one of only 5 restrictions on the power."

"So I can do anything?" John asked, deciding that if he was dying, he might as well have fun, and if it was real, it was just awesome.

"Yes," stated the voice, inside his head now. "Save that you may not destroy the world, destroy humanity, alter the fate of the universe, alter the past in such a way that you do not find the power, or ascend to heaven using this power. You may alter the past, but your finding the power will remain constant, although the way you came to possess it may change."

John sat stunned on the log, running his fingers over the writing on the watch, now restored to pristine, working order. A thousand thought ran through his head.