3 Now, A Word From Your Mother

Jupiter reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a gilded piece of parchment that had been folded into thirds and secured with a wax seal. John outstretched his shaking hands while he whispered, "From mom?"

"Yes," Jupiter confirmed, "as I was commanded, I could not have contact with you or your mother while you existed on the mortal plane. But once either of you was passing through the divine realm on your way to the next life, I was free to seek you out."

Barely registering the words his father was speaking, John was now holding the letter before himself. He gazed at the wax sealing with was stamped with a seal that portrayed a photorealistic portrait of his mother. John felt a tear roll down his cheek as he smiled. He had not seen his mother since her wake 13 years prior when she had passed away from cancer. He cracked the seal and unfolded the letter, finally laying his text upon the familiar handwriting from his youth.

"John, My dear sweet son,

I cannot express in words how greatly I miss you already. By the time you have read this, you will already know the truth about your father, and he is a good man. I know you may blame him for leaving us, but I want you to know that I have forgiven him, as I knew all along that he was a being greater than we could understand. If you're going to be mad at someone, be mad at me as I did not dare to tell you your father's true origin and the possible reason for his untimely death on Earth as I was unsure if you would be able to believe what would have sounded like the ramblings of a madwoman..."

The letter continued to tell her son how much she loved him, how she was proud of him for facing so many hardships during his life on Earth, and finally about how she worked with his father to come up with something to show their son how much they love him.

"What is this gift mom talks about in the letter?" John asked, looking up from the letter. "The gift is what I have spent the majority of the last few decades, since I was cast back from Earth, working on. As I stated before, I was given a ruling from the other gods about how the decree further limited my interactions with my family on top of our normal limitations."

"Finding all of the loopholes in the decrees that have been made throughout time and skirting the bounds of what should be possible, I figured out what I was going to do for you, my son. Give you a new life, this time with the gifts and advantages you should have had in the first place as my child."

"How was mom involved in this?" John asked, not understanding what her role in this gift was.

Jupiter grimaced quickly, "I, unfortunately, was not able to witness you grow very closely due to the limits imposed. So who better to help me than my dear wife, the expert on everything that John loves and makes him happy."

"But what if I had changed since mom passed when I was sixteen, like my hobbies and interest..." John countered. Jupiter just shot him a knowing look. To which John let out a chuckle, "I mean, I haven't. I was just saying, what if I was a rare exception of a man who mentally matured beyond sixteen years old."

"I rule over a dozen world full of sentient life, and I have yet to see such a man." Jupiter joked back as he clapped his son on the back. Jupiter then led John over to some armchairs that had suddenly materialized to go over the gift's specifics.

Jupiter briefed John on what he had worked out for John in this new life before asking John if he had any other wants or questions.

"First question, will I be reincarnating or transmigrating into this new world? Second, will I have any way to contact you while I am down there? And finally, I think the only other thing I want is to make sure I have access to the music I like down there since you said it is a 'medieval-fantasy' world."

Jupiter stroked his chin in thought, "You will have your consciousness transported to the new world, Terra. I constructed a replica of your body on Terra as it would have been when you were 20 on Earth. The body is a little upgraded, though. It is in top form physically. Plus, to not cause you undue hardship of training the body, I have set it up with calluses and muscle memory to serve you best in the future. You will be able to discover the other upgrades by reading through the Primer I am sending with you."

Manifesting the Primer as a leather-bound tome in front of them, Jupiter continued to explain its functions. "To answer your second question, I will most unfortunately no be able to communicate directly with you once you return to the mortal realm. To help smooth your transition, I have created this Primer. It is a collection of knowledge and information to get you started in the new world. It can be accessed within your mind, or if you prefer, you can manifest a copy of it physically just like this."

"For the music, I was at first going to suggest maybe enchanting a cellphone from your old world to work in the new world so that you could use that as a familiar method to control it. But, alas, it did not seem very original, so I have integrated all of Earth's music into the Primer. The Primer can play the music back aloud, and you can make it seem to emanate from any object you desire that is close by."

Just as Jupiter finished his explanation, a sudden pulling sensation started tugging on John's consciousness. "It looks like the time has come, my son," Jupiter stated, noticing the process starting.

"Thanks for everything, Dad," John replied, hugging his father for the first time.

Then with a crack that sounded like thunder, John found himself lying on the ground. His fingers felt the area next to him, where they brushed across the grass under him. Opening his eyes, John found himself in a clearing in the middle of a treed area.

As he sat up, he noticed the tome Jupiter referred to as the Primer was resting on his chest and had slid to his lap. Upon landing in his lap, it opened to the first page.

"The Primer"

"Written by Earth God, Co-written by the God of Games."