The inside of the little house was quite convivial; everything was made of wood, and there was no technology.

  The members of the cohort all thought the man desired to reconnect with nature. But no, in fact, Glenn sincerely wanted to return to the comfort of his telephone, TV, or even radio. But here, there was none of that.

  Glenn indicated the few seats around a large table.

  "Go ahead, sit down."

  The members of the cohort complied immediately. They couldn't help looking around them; the house was quite small, but compared to where they lived, it was on a whole different level.

  Glenn opened a cupboard and took out a bag of leaves. He then placed the bag on the table, opened it, and poured out its contents onto the table. Black apples.

  The cohort remained silent, but the confusion was clearly visible on their faces.

  "I haven't given it a name yet, but here's a kind of fruit I've just created. Go ahead, taste it."

  The members of the cohort swallowed; they had never seen fruit before; they had always thought it was a legend, but no, there was fruit in front of them.

  Without waiting, the puny man picked one up and bit into it, not even questioning the truth of Glenn's words.

  Instantly, his eyes glazed over. He opened his eyes wide, then took another bite, then another, then another, until he had finished the black apple in a matter of seconds. He was still in shock from what he'd just devoured, but he smiled intensely before speaking shakily.

  "This... This is the best thing I've ever eaten. The best thing in the world!" He glanced at Glenn, who was watching him with calm amusement, then asked. "May I have another?"

  Glenn smiled back, then pointed to the table.

  "Go ahead, eat all you want."

  The other members of the cohort glanced at each other before nodding and each taking one of his mysterious black fruits. They all had the same reaction as the puny man, his eyes glazed over and his voice trembling.

  It was the reaction of people who had eaten nothing but synthetic food all their lives. A few minutes after eating the first black apple, there was nothing left on the table; they had eaten everything. Glenn gave them a bright smile.

  "Well, isn't it good?"

  The members of the cohort looked at each other and then laughed. Gregory then spoke on behalf of everyone.

  "Yes, it was the best we've ever had in our whole lives." He glanced at Glenn, then continued. "In fact, the situation inside the tower has not been good for some years."

  'The tower?'

  Glenn didn't understand what Gregory was talking about; he assumed the bunker was built to look like a tower. Meanwhile, Gregory had been talking about the hierarchy that was built: the powerful, who had everything, and the weak, who barely managed to survive. In short, it was just like before, but with humans locked in a tower.

  Glenn sighed loudly enough for everyone to hear.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Haaaa, humans are the same wherever they are."

  Gregory, who had stopped talking because of Glenn, looked at him incredulously. Everyone listening to the conversation had their ears pricked up.

  "But... aren't you the one who created humans?"

  Glenn stared at him, then looked sad and regretful. Deep down, however, he was laughing at his magnificent acting talent.

  "In reality, when I created mankind, I gave them an insane amount of freedom, naively thinking that they would manage to live well, but they began to emit a thirst for power that was stronger than I could have imagined, each one thinking of its own benefits. There have obviously been some good, genuine people who have managed to live in this corrupt world, but very few."

  "There have been many wars and experiences that are morally and ethically reprehensible, even just horrible, with powerful people wanting to be even more powerful. People killed and worse for no reason, particularly powerful cruelty and egotism."

  "But also great kindness sometimes, a fascinating spirit, great independence, and powerful bonds. There is good in humans, but very little; when they are stuck in stupid prejudices, they no longer think correctly; when they are alienated, they can't get out of this dangerous state for themselves and others."

  The members of the cohort nodded, touched by Glenn's words.

  'Hahaha! You morons! I'm too good an actor, haha!'

  "But sir, why didn't you intervene?"

  Glenn laughed at Gregory's question, and after a few minutes of laughter, he slowly stopped.

  "A god never intervenes in the problems of his creation unless it's totally necessary. Like the fact that I had to intervene to save the planet when it was on the verge of dying because of human actions."

  Glenn paused, looking at everyone around the table.

  "But that's it; I'm not going to stand by and do nothing any more; I'm going to live directly with humans and help them in any way I can, avoiding wars, corruption, and injustice."

  With that, Glenn stood up and turned towards the door.

  "Tomorrow we'll be leaving for the tower. I'll meet your leaders and take up my role as creator."

  The members of the cohort all nodded in complete agreement with Glenn's words. Little did they know that he was, in fact, a complete fraud.

  The next day, they set off once more for the bunker, Glenn going to collect what little business he had and some fruit to bribe the bunker's leaders and prove to them that he was indeed a god.

  When he arrived, he ran into quite a few problems with his identity. To prove who he was, he had to pass a series of tests, disinfection, showers, etc. In short, a real nightmare. What's more, each test lasted a day, so he had to spend several days in a disused room.

  After these few days, he was finally able to talk to the various leaders of what they called 'the tower' and managed to convince them that he was a god.

  He had managed, with the help of this title, to achieve a high status in today's human society. Proof that his immortality could be useful.

  Over the years, he had played his role as a god to perfection, allowing humans to settle outside, and his knowledge of the past allowed him to give pertinent advice.

  Time passed, and he lived the quiet life of a god, controlling the human race. Everything he had done had been for the sole purpose of having fun. He wanted to have fun because, since the world had sunk, he had been unable to do anything for hundreds of thousands of years, so he wanted to have fun.

  Since this would probably be his last chance to have fun for a long, long time.

  As Glenn left his house, he sat down on a comfortable seat outside. He couldn't take his eyes off the sky. Since nature had taken over the world and pollution had disappeared, nothing could stop him from admiring the infinity of the sky.

  The stars, the planets, the constellations—everything was magnificent. However, a bright speck shattered this stellar harmony. A bright, giant, moving speck.

  A fireball the size of a country was approaching, ready to make contact with the Earth. The more time passed, the closer this light seemed to get, at an extremely rapid pace.

  A meteorite was hurtling towards the Earth without slowing down, inevitably destroying it. Glenn had known this day was coming ever since a new point of light covered his field of vision.

  He had lived so long that he knew every corner of the sky, so when he saw a new dot appear, he suspected what was coming. But the worst thing was that the dot was approaching at an alarming rate.

  In a few days, it would inevitably hit the earth.

  Glenn sighed for a few long seconds and closed his eyes; this would probably be one of his last moments of rest. So he wanted to spend them away from the chaos. Away from other humans, at least at night.

  After a few minutes, only a soft, regular breath sounded under the infinite sky, beautiful and soon to be annihilated.