The New Elemental God

The age difference between them was abyssal. Not just physically but also mentally. Calder sneered at how predictable the Playboy was. Of course Adam wouldn't take no for an answer even if it hadn't even been a whole day since he reincarnated. 

There was only one way of making him understand. 

"Let's play a game. If you win I'll take you back to Earth. Deal?" 

The Gray-headed man extended one hand to the Newbie who did not think twice to take it. 

"Cal, there's people here." 

Shu had been by their side all long. Although the Deity seemed distracted with people's requests and peanuts, their warning was very serious. 

Calder turned ready to go, but Shu held him back. Pulling his ear closer. 

"Go easy on him." 

The Grizzled-man nodded, before turning to Adam.

"Follow me."

Not even when Calder was in his God mode he sounded that firm. Silent, Adam stood up and they both left the premises. Down the alley, the older God took off heading for the darkest part of the forest. 

Not one word was said during the flight. Due to the lack of light Calder summoned some water that he turned into a glowing orb, lighting up the way ahead. 

It was a sinister atmosphere, further intensified by the Water God's dark expression and lack of small talk.

Still mute as they reached a random spot, Calder glided past Adam and stopped in front of a tree behind him. 

"All you have to do is punch this tree without breaking it and I'll take you wherever you want." Finally he said in a plain tone.

"Is this some fake tree?" Smelling some kind of dirty Godly trick, Adam hesitated this time.

Before his guide could answer, the newbie God started to touch the gigantic tree trunk. He wouldn't be fooled this time. The trip to Earth was important to him.

"It's the same type of tree as the World you lived in." 

After some examination, Adam decided it was in fact a real tree. A remarkably large one, in fact, requiring several dozen steps to go around it and not in a million years a single punch would break that thing.

"I just have to hit it without breaking?" 

It was far too easy, yet Calder looked completely serious—just like the Fire Goddess when she spoke about the rules—which only made the whole game feel even more suspicious.

"Yes. No tricks. No powers. Just you and the tree." 

"Screw it."

There was no point in arguing or overthinking the situation. The easiest way of knowing if Merlin was telling the truth was by punching the damn tree. 

The tree trunk was fifty times larger than the boy who was about to hit it. Adam had absolute certainty he would actually hurt himself if he used all his strength to punch it. 

Turning to Calder with a snicker on his face, the Playboy softly bumped his fist against the wood and closed his eyes.

He watched the spot where the punch had landed with uncertainty. When nothing happened, a smile of celebration spread across his face—until a crack of lightning suddenly echoed behind him. 

As an instinct Adam jumped back from the tree and looked to see what Calder did to scare him. 

Facing his target, it looked intact. Then he heard a few snaps on the treetops that slowly made their way down to the soil.

In the next second a crack split the colossal structure in half from top to bottom. Branches and leaves started to rain over them as the twin boards began to fall in slow motion. One to the right and one to left of where Adam was. 

"That's why you're not ready."

Calder ignored the devastation and stepped in front of Adam. The boy was speechless, unaware of what just happened. 

"You don't even know what you did… what you are capable of."

Pressing his eyebrows together the Earth God was trying to put words together to challenge what just happened.

"But..." Adam was lost. It made no sense.

"But you didn't have the intention to break." The Old God finished his sentence for him. "I know."

The agitated shade of blue the Water God had in his eyes since they left, started to gradually calm themselves. 

"You bumped into it using as reference your human strength because you have no idea of how strong you are now." 

Calder took Adam's face between his palms. 

"You are A God, Adam" 

The word resonated inside the boy's head. Looking right into the man's eyes, the boy realized how ignorant he was about his powers.

"You can't just do things the same way you did. Now one misstep and you can change the world forever." 

Letting go of the Young Man, the wise God, stepped back.

"So... Is this actually real?"

Quiet, the blue eyes just stared back at the young God, as if he was talking into a mirror. 

"I'm really dead, aren't I?"

Accepting the truth was harder than the Playboy anticipated.

Soft-hearted, Calder pulled him into a hug. Adam pressed his forehead against the old man's collarbone. Even though they were completely alone in the woods, he wished to hide.

Protected by the sea of trees, Adam leaned onto that man that smelled like morning dew until he lost track of time. For the first time since he arrived he felt physically tired. 

Pulling back with his head down, the Playboy noticed the sun was up. Under his feet he felt the earth waking up, so to speak. Thinking back to when he was lost in the darkness of his mind, his senses were a lot more sharp. He could hear, see and feel things he never knew were possible. 

"My first night out as a God was crazy." Inspecting the surroundings, he saw the sliced tree. It reminded him of one party where he sawed a tree in half. "At least, not everything about me has changed."

"It hardly ever does." Calder gave him a tap on the back. "Should we go see your house? I bet you're feeling tired." 

"I have a house?"

"Well, it's passed on from one Earth God to the other."

"What are we waiting for?"

Adam boosted himself up and looked back to wait on Cal. The Water God shook his head before flying ahead to take the lead.