It was simple, or so it seemed to me at the time. My cousin, the newly minted angel, was certain that God was dead. The ring had not yet failed and the changes it had made seemed limitless. So I would verify the truth of her assertion. I would discover what had happened to God.
I wished then, out loud, to Sara, although she would not remember it, to know this. "I wish that I knew if there has ever been a God and what has happened to them now."
The answer was a searing truth burned into my mind. Sara was wrong, but yet not wrong. I knew in that blistering moment of awareness that there was once a God, but they had left long ago and in their wake, something else had taken up residence. The rings were the fragments of god left in the world, once unified by one being who had grown bored and had recently spread them about for their entertainment and thrill.
"The old woman..." I muttered, and Sara looked at me curiously. I believe she said something about God surpassing gender, but I knew. The old woman had distributed nine rings throughout the world, keeping one for herself. My head swam. What changes had they made? Was I entirely unaware of their changes as they were mine?
Sara was speaking now of the pitiful state of humanity now that God was dead, but I knew that God was merely hiding, this old woman, watching the nine ring bearers. I wished at once, "I wish I had all ten rings that grant wishes," but nothing happened. It wouldn't be so simple. Instead, I wished that I was aware of the changes the other ring-bearers had made. A flood of awareness rolled over me. Small changes made by a small-minded man, wealthy beyond measure, but I had always known of him as the richest man in the world. Other wishes, the fact that some people had pale skin and others dark, the fact that hormone replacement therapy worked, the existence of dogs. These were the consequences of wishes. Things I had until that moment assumed were always true were revealed as fabrications of this deific power, the same power I carried.
I stammered a wish of resistance, "I wish I was immune to the wishes of others, and always aware of them," and it was so, I believed. A moment later I was aware of two wishes. That time would stop for all others, and that someone was in my presence. Sara ceased talking, and her mother's porn star partner ceased thrusting.
I saw before me on the roof the old woman again, as bent and happily gurning as previously. "Well done indeed! You are the second the discover my game. As vapid and lustful as you are, you still got here faster than eight of the players."
I stared at her, lightning rippling around my form. "I can't say I care much for your look," she said, grinning, "But so it goes."
"You...this is a game to you?"
"Of course darling," the old woman said, "Everything always has been." She cackled, "Why, do you want out?"
I blinked, "What?"
"You can just give me your ring, or give it to another of the bearers. You must do so willingly, or your every wish will be granted."
I narrowed my eyes, huffing through my teeth, "You make that sound like a threat."
"It is to some people, James." She smiled, "But I can tell you're here to play the game for the long haul. We'll see how much you can stomach soon enough. Good-bye!"
Like that she was gone, and time resumed. I was aware of her wish to end the freeze and return home but it was strange. It was a wish she had made previously, one with may conditions and clauses to it. It was closer to programming, I thought, that to a simple wish as I had made.
"...so you see, there simply is no point anymore." Sara finished, unaware I had just spoken with the being she remembered as God. I shook my head, coppery mane flying. "Hardly." A wish was made elsewhere and I knew it and saw it at the same moment. All human men were made submissive to women. I was doubly protected, but I could see that the porn star below, still deep in Sara's mother, was begging and servile.
More wishes were flooding my mind moment by moment and I knew I had to do something, so I...