r/Writingprompts

Written September 5, 2019

[WP] You are a newly hired, low-level god, managing a planet via a large board covered in switches, and sliders. There's one switch on the board that you don't remember learning about, and you can't find any documentation for it. You flick it on and off, but nothing obvious happens.

There's no label on that lonely button in the top right corner of the control panel. It was a few kilometers away but in this pitch black void-like space, inspecting it was a matter of simply wishing to. Life in the heavens was easy, thought was the vehicle of action. If you wanted to fly you just had to think it. If you wished for a 3 course meal completely made out of dairy products, it would appear out of thin air. I floated around it, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. Maybe there was a reference number somewhere around it? Strange, a button without a label... I flipped through the instruction manual in my head but of the tens of thousands of pages not a single one talked of a button without a label. I looked down at the Earth and checked the status screen. It was business as usual, all was well with the world and the Gods were in their heavens. Might as well push the button and see what happens. Following heaven's age old axiom I thought about the button.

I pushed it.

Nothing happened.

I pushed it again, but nothing happened.

Must be broken then, I'll report it to Brahma later.

I floated back onto my chair and felt its cloudy pillows grace my ethereal body. Sitting was the best. I set the system on autopilot and read the latest issue of The Daily Gospel. I skipped over Jesus' opinion piece on the front page and went straight to the tabloid section. I eagerly scanned line after line of drama and laughed a hearty laugh at Loki's misadventures as a mare. Re-reading the magazine got boring, so I put it down and reluctantly went back to work. As I yawned, someone had barged into my domain. Oh, it was Buddha.

"Yo Buddha, need an-"

Buddha laughed, "We need to undo the changes as soon as possible Krishna, press the button next to the one you pressed."

The button I pressed, did he mean that unlabeled button? What changes? I checked up on Earth and it was doing fine, the fear and devotion level was much higher than before but you could explain it away with some war or the other. I shrugged and we headed to the button. I stretched out my hand and was about to press the button... Wait, my hand? A blue arm stretched out to the button, an arm that I had last seen during my time on earth, thousands of years ago. I looked to Buddha who sighed.

"Buddha what's go-"

A golden light shimmered into view, enveloping both of us. Buddha's countenance was as calm as the tranquil sea as he observed the light, "Hmm... Looks like we cannot revert the changes anymore, but the system is on autopilot so it will be fine I suppose."

The golden radiance enveloping us disappeared. The void had faded, the skies were blue. For the first time in thousands of years I felt the sweltering heat of the sun bearing down on me and the beads of sweat that rolled down my back. Crowds upon crowds of people watched, rooted in their spots. Some faces stared in horror while there some people cried in devotion. My jaw dropped as I looked over at the crowd.

I turned to Buddha, only to see that he had already started walking away, "What're you standing there for? Come on, let's go meet the others."

As I heard the crowd wailing and chanting my name I sighed, "What the hell have I done."