Chapter 26: Chapter 25: Establishing dominance

‘Hold me.’

Those are the words that I spoke to him, back when it happened.

I know that it… I know that it doesn’t make any sense. I know that God obliterated every wall, monument and house from that distant place of impact, all the way to where we stood, as if it was just stray hairs, being blown off of a tabletop. I know that he couldn’t hear me, because of the rumbling of our hearts, the rupturing of our ears and the glory, scorching our eyes. I know that his body, mortal, could offer nothing special to protect me from the light that the walls and foundations of our civilization couldn’t already.

— I still can’t hear or see right, to this day.

But… well… It’s just what I said back then. It’s what I said, as the light pierced down from the heavens, as the quake started, as our lives shook before our very eyes. It’s just the simple, nonsensical thing that my hissing, lizard-brain told me to say in that moment, because it didn’t know what else to say - how else to react. It sounds crazy, I know but…

— He didn’t hear me, I’m sure. But he grabbed me anyway.

The light washed over us all. It tore through the city, shattering the windows of every home and the hearts of every fresh mother, whose soft infants would not survive the pressure of God crushing itself down unto us.

After that, after the two of us were dug out of the rubble that he had protected me from, he asked me to marry him just as randomly as I had spoken to him before and I didn’t even consider saying no.

What clearer a sign could there be that our union was ordained by more than love? God itself told us what was right and we listened.

It’s been fifty years since then and I haven’t regretted my destiny for even an instant. I’m happy. Blessed, even.

— But I can’t really hear or see right anymore. Did I already mention that? I get forgetful these days.