《Trials of a God》 Chapter 0 Sometimes the world seems dark. Boring, tiresome, not worth the effort. At least, that was the way a being once known as the human ¡°Grant¡± thought. With no ambition, the inherited rich had few choices, unwilling to climb any ¡®corporate ladder¡¯ or deal with tiresome politics. He¡¯d been diagnosed with depression, but never let himself feel suicidal. Every day he¡¯d struggle to even get out of bed, only feeling alive when he was knee-deep in fiction and fantasy. Forging was an extension of that hobby. ¡°You¡¯ll never make anything out of yourself, hitting metal all day! Get a job!¡± came his father¡¯s voice, the day of the incident. The small, fat man adjusted his glasses and scowled for the umpteenth time at Grant. Greasy stands of grey hair sparsely covered the father¡¯s skull, and his piercing blue eyes once again reminded Grant that no pride would ever come from the sour old bastard, Grant was the mistake who killed his wife after all. With a sigh, Grant plunged his semi-finished blade in icy cool water. It would be brittle, he didn¡¯t get to fully finalize the process. A glance was all he gave his father before walking outside his off-shoot forge. The mansion was large, not that he ever bothered to figure out how large, and his forge was an offshoot behind the building, hidden from his father¡¯s golf and pool by a large copse of trees. Some babbling followed Grant out, but the man didn¡¯t give a shit. He couldn¡¯t find the motivation inside himself to do so. Instead, he continued to ignore his father and went towards a cellar door hidden on the side of the house. His father refused to have him in the house, after one too many skipped dinner parties. Insead, he was relegated to a basement separate from the rest of the home, still providing what he needed to keep him distracted. Good internet, a ton of video games, and an ample supply of books. Worlds of fiction and fantasy excited him, they were what inspired him to take up forging. Honestly though, being self taught he was shoddy at best. No, what Grant excelled at wasn¡¯t forging it was world-building. Online his username was, always, no matter what, some variation of ¡®TheUltimateDungeonMaster,¡± or ¡°TheCreationGod.¡± Cheesy, yes, but well deserved, or so he had been told. He had a website set up even, where he would create extremely detailed worlds full of lore and adventure for a fee. Not that he needed the fee, but he wouldn¡¯t survive being swamped with requests as tended to happen to free services. Today, he was creating a Dungeons and Dragons based world for an online client, going by the username ¡®RebirthofTheThousandHeavens¡±. It was a ridiculously long name, but based on the fact that he wanted the DnD world to be modified to suit Wuxia/Xiaxania or whatever that Chinese cultivation crap was, it did make a little sense. After checking to ensure the door was locked, his pillow-fortress was comfortable, and his laptop was charged, Grant began. Some later, he woke up. No loud snore or sound woke him, just a groggy and sudden ¡®awakeness¡¯. Grant had a groggy recollection of finishing the job and sending it for review, falling asleep while waiting for a response. Glancing at his computer, there still wasn¡¯t one. However, he did feel rather hot so he got up to go adjust the air conditioning. To do so he¡¯d have to go through the main house, but it was too stifling to go back to sleep in the heat and so he decided to risk the journey. ¡°Damn it¡­¡± muttered the quiet man to himself. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The problem occured when he tried to unlock the cellar door. When he touched the handle, he pulled back from the intense heat. ¡°F...ou...shit.¡± Grant was smart. There were very few situations when a door would be so hot. Considering the circumstances, it was likely a fire. The main problem with there being a fire, is that Grant¡¯s only way out of the cellar was the door¡­ which was made out of metal and hot enough to burn him with a small touch. There was no other way out, the walls solid cement with wood panelling and the roof above constructed out of wood, though not being an architect he couldn''t tell you how. ¡°...I¡¯m going to die.¡± ¡° Sure, there was shock. Fear. Even some sadness. However, all he could imagine was the pain of burning to death. ¡°Maybe¡­ it¡¯s not a fire? Father wouldn¡¯t¡­ that careless¡­¡± He grabbed his pant leg and bit his lips. He saw the wood above begin to blacken, and started banging as hard as possible on the cellar door. Each time, he¡¯d come back with a hand burnt more but he refused to stop. Even as a burning building collapsed on top of him, he banged and kicked the door, trying to open it. Pity he forgot about the lock. ____________________________________________________________________________ As the judge finished reciting a tale of Grant¡¯s final day, the soul had come to terms with it¡¯s situation. The blob of milky-whiteness couldn¡¯t really see or feel anything, but it could think. And it knew whatever this ¡®judge¡¯ being¡¯s goal was, the being itself was both incredibly uncaring with regards to detail, and very uninterested in being in the¡­ void space area with him. ¡°Now, you have neither sinned nor¡­ benefited society in any way whatsoever. So, you get the lottery. Lucky you.¡± Came the bored, almost monotone voice again. It seemed like a woman¡­ but judging people based solely on voice was a horrible way to live a life. The possible-woman reached over and plucked the pathetic soul from the voidhood and plopped it somewhere else in the voidhood. At least, the one-who-was-once Grant felt him¡­ itself move, and normal people move things by picking them up. Then again, whatever being this was probably didn¡¯t abide to normal person logic. ¡°I¡¯m spinning now. Don¡¯t go insane.¡± ¡®Going insane is a possibility now¡­¡¯ thought the soul. ¡®How unpleasant.¡¯ And then it was spinning, with some force keeping it anchored to a certain spot and a different force pulling it and squishing it and molesting its very being, all while it felt like it was being torn apart from the very core. This torture went on for what seemed like an eternity, and very well might have been one, before it suddenly stopped and the soul felt a ¡®power¡¯ slowly seeping into whatever the substance that made up its body was. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re done.¡± Came that dreaded voice. ¡°You aren¡¯t broken at least¡­ Let¡¯s see here¡­¡± Then there was a gasp and silence. ¡°C...Congratulations your holiness! You have been given the race of¡­ God. E...Enjoy your reincarnation!¡± Hurriedly, worriedly, and frantically the maybe-woman grabbed the soul and plopped it into something. ¡°Go, go, goddammit go! I¡¯m gonna get such a promotion for this! A God!¡± She seemed to have done something, as suddenly the new god-soul was plunged into an icy blackness, entirely unlike that of the previous empty void. Ominously, however, the last words the new god heard before being plunged into¡­ wherever it was were ¡°Shit! The memories!¡± Chapter One: Rebirth Being born is a traumatic experience. The sudden emptiness of your lungs, your first exposure to light and to the various free-floating gasses, the fear of being forced from a place of comfort and home. A mortal birth is a traumatizing thing. It¡¯s good for our soul then that being born is quite different for gods. Sure, the birds and the bees is a required step but, instead of being created inside the womb of a goddess(imagine the hormone-fueled disaster that would create), a new god is formed within the womb of the very world, a sacred and incorruptible place that ensures all the various laws that allow the universe to function stay functioning. Gods are born within the Universal Aether Pool. ¡®Plop¡¯ Silence greeted the birth of our God, the now golden soul plummeting into the Aether Pool like a drop of water into an ocean. Unnoticed and unopposed, the new god-soul slowly sank into the pool, as the aether changed its very being to suit the laws of the world. Greetings new god! Came a sudden message, directly into the mind of the god-soul. Would you like to select a domain yourself? Y/N Our god-soul didn¡¯t remember much from its time as Grant, only the important details such as ¡®how to build a world¡¯ and ¡®I died a virgin¡¯. The majority of it was traumatized from pain, broken beyond repair. Warning! Dangerous mental condition! Choice will be put on hold. Now drawing in ambient Aether to repair damage to cognitive ability. EST: 30 seconds EST:29,28,27,...3,2,1, ¡®DING¡¯ Cognitive damage repaired. Greetings new god! Would you like to select a domain yourself? Y/N For the first time since¡­ well, pretty much since he was actually Grant, the soul felt in control and aware. No longer in a pain/death induced daze, he could think and reason. A large step up from the broken soul he had been before. With this returned awareness, he was also given a total and complete calm. The panic had all died out during ¡®torture time¡¯, and while confused he knew to calmly and cooly advance. Congratulations! Of the -ERROR- gods to be reborn, you are the first to select your own domain! You have been rewarded with -1- extra choice and the title -¡±Cognitive King¡± +3 to created species base intellect-. Please select a domain: Torture, Creation, Forging, Learning, War(Inherited), Beauty(Inherited) As the soul mentally hovered over each choice, it could innately tell the ¡®quality¡¯ of the domain. Creation was at the top, then learning and war, followed by the others. As creation was obviously the best, he mind-clicked it. Please select a domain(Extra): Torture, Forging, Learning, War(Inherited), Beauty(Inherited) The second choice was harder, however. Torture was out of the picture, he didn¡¯t enjoy the idea of being a god of¡­ that. War was next, as while it was vital towards driving civilization, he wasn¡¯t a particularly violent person. Forging was next to go, as much as he hated to do so, simply because it was a lesser version of creation. It hurt, but it was the logical choice.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. That left learning and beauty. Normally, he would have tossed out beauty¡­ but this was an extra choice. Who doesn¡¯t want to be attractive? At the same time, learning really suited him. He knew it did, being a total nerd, geek, or whatever you want to call it in his last life. But¡­ at the same time, he really wanted to be handsome. In the end, he made his choice based on a feeling. He could become a God of Learning later, as his people would be naturally intelligent thanks to the bonus, but he couldn¡¯t just suddenly become a god of beauty. It was one of the few domains you could only gain at birth. How did he know all this? The knowledge flowed into his soul, from the Aether surrounding him. He was being given the common sense required for a god to survive in the world, it would seem. So, being that this probably wouldn¡¯t put his life at risk, the soul mind clicked Beauty. Congratulations -God of Creation and Beauty-! Please design your core avatar! Note: Due to the selection of Beauty as a domain, your avatar will be adjusted to the most attractive possible state while remaining true to your base template! Note 2: If you change your gender setting to female or any other alternative, all titles will change in order to accommodate the change. And, suddenly, the golden soul could see the words instead of them being transmitted directly into his head. He was looking at a giant tv-like screen that held an incredibly attractive version of his past self. In fact, it was to the point where you wouldn¡¯t recognize him as the same person. Using your mind, you may customize the avatar in any way you wish! Have fun! Mind-blinking was the closest description to the soul¡¯s current bewildered state. ¡°I¡¯d do that¡­¡± He thought unconsciously, before catching himself. ¡°Even though I¡¯m not gay and that¡¯s me? What the hell, me?¡± Ignoring his self-cest thoughts, the soul got to work, or at least tried to. Turns out, beauty is in the eye of the beholder¡­ so he¡¯d appear as the most beautiful possible male being to any who see him. Meaning, he could appear as the most glorious dwarf to one and the most elegant elf to another if he wished. Instead he decided to stick with a human whose features change depending on who looked at him. He might have blond hair to one person and brown to another, for example. Congratulations! You have finished designing your body and selecting your domain(s). It is time to be born! Came the words. As the son of a Goddess of War and a Goddess of Beauty, you have been granted the following traits. -¡±Fierce¡± +1 to both personal and created species base physical Strength- and -¡±Charismatic¡± +1 to both personal and created species base Charisma-. As a God of Creation you receive the following trait -¡±Creative¡± +2 to both personal and created species base wisdom.- As a god of Beauty you receive the following trait -¡±Flawless¡± +10 personal charisma, +2 to created species base charisma.- Congratulations! You have received many gifts and rewards! A genius, is what some would call you. But be warned! Nothing will ever come so easily again! Trials and tribulations must be weathered for you to grow, young god. Live well, live long! Be born! Then, a bright light flashed in front of the still unnamed god before he faded into a pseudo-unconscious state. Many hours passed by as the soul became a boy, and the boy travelled to his new home. ¡°I knew sleeping with that whore was a bad idea¡­¡± came a rough and strong female voice, waking the boy from his slumber. ¡°I¡¯ll be damned if he isn¡¯t a cute bastard though.¡± This was the point the soul realized it was in a body. The being who was once Grant slowly managed to force his eyes open, only to realize there was no need. His body responded perfectly to his needs and wants, his eyes opening without resistance. Holding the boy was a strange... ¡°Is that a dragon?¡± he thought. Anybody would be afraid viewing a giant dragon eyeing them upon awakening, so the boy tried to throw himself away from the lizard-bird. He regretted the decision, as he plunged straight into the hand of a barbarian queen. A small squeal escaped his lips, and he nearly wet himself. Whatever calming force was in the Aether was not present here, so panic threw open the doors with the force of a hurricane, and the boy broke down crying, ¡°Damn it! Is he broken! You damn lizard, if you did something I¡¯ll skin you myself! Get out of here!¡± Came the voice that woke him, the woman holding him scolding¡­ a dragon. This was a bit too much for the boy and he passed out. Being a god didn¡¯t seem to do much to help with natural biological reactions. Chapter Two: Creation When the god-boy-man-thing woke up again, the dragon was nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, the crazy dragon-queen barbarian lady was still holding him with a single hand, almost as large as his entire body. A nap didn¡¯t seem to help the situation very much, he noted. Deciding to put off the terror of being held by a giant woman, shelving it in the corner of his mind, the god decided to get a look at the surroundings, in the off-chance that he got the chance to get the hell out of dodge. Being that one of his core memories was ¡®I died a virgin,¡¯ the god tended to find certain things rather scary. Like powerful women and¡­ well, any other type of woman. Call it a character flaw. For the first time in quite a while, the boy could see more than just blank objects floating in a void. The warrior-woman was sitting on a throne made of broken and discarded weapons. It did not look comfortable in the least. The throne stood in¡­ well, not exactly a throne room. It was more like a warrior longhouse. She was on an elevated platform, above the rest of the very, very spacious room. Four other, smaller, thrones made of the same type of discarded weapons stood to the sides, angled slightly toward the main throne depending on the side they stood. Below the strange weapon thrones, there was a humongous room filled with burly men and women, of various strange and bizarre races. He simply glossed over them, looking for an exit. He was still looking when the barbarian-queen noticed he was awake. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re awake. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re my son, pathetic. Passing out because of a dragon!? Shameful! You will have to work hard to erase that stain upon my honor, boy.¡± At this, the wide-eyed fool turned his attention back to the scary giant woman. He blinked a few times, and then tried to throw himself from her hands onto the floor, only to find he couldn¡¯t do it. While his eyes and head moved according to his will, his body itself did not. ¡°Trying to escape are you? With that pathetic body?¡± She sighed. ¡°Juntum, take the boy to his plane. You¡¯re in charge of raising the pansy. I have battles to fight and wars to oversee! Can¡¯t be bothered with a god of beauty.¡± Suddenly he was no longer in the hand of that evil giant lady but insead being carried by what seemed to be a child-abducting demon from online myths. With the complete lack of a face, impeccable dress, and 8 giant shadowy tentacle arms the being looked utterly terrifying. Once again, our pathetic god passed out. Thankfully, when he woke again he was another void space. Unfortunately the faceless Jun-something was standing next to him. ¡°You have awakened. I am pleased, your holiness.¡± When the Jun-something spoke, its impeccable face broke and a terrifying maw of teeth and tongue was opened vertically. Our unnamed god, fortunately, did not lose consciousness, for once. Instead, he just stared in shock. The last thing he expected was for this... thing to sound like a refined englishman. ¡°My name is Juntun, that woman was your mother Hyldum. Can you understand me?¡± Our god nodded, not sure if talking to this being was safe. The english accent had really thrown him off though, so he didn¡¯t bother to wonder if it was normal to be able to understand people(or monsters) as a newborn god. What kind of monster sounds so refined and cultured, after all? ¡°Ah, goody. An early bloomer then. You must have integrated rather quickly with the Aether. We can get started now, then. I was quite worried about how long I would have to stay in this dreadful place. I so do hate newborn planes. Always so empty, not even a single soul. Quite creepy, if I do say so!¡± Our god, who currently was simply a small, golden, and glowing outline of a humanoid figure decided to try and speak. ¡°Where¡­ am¡­ I?¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Juntun exclaimed. ¡°You can already talk! Good, good! Even less teaching needed then. Though¡­ the pause between your words is still quite long. No worries! Practice should help! Now, as to where we are.¡± The monster took a bow, 4 of his tentacles theatrically out to the side. ¡°Welcome to your plane! Your seat of power and home away from home!¡± The tentacled gentleman stood straight again. ¡°You hold infinite power here, uncontested and truly¡­ godlike¡­. Is what I would like to say, but your power is rather limited. Sure, you can¡¯t be killed but the creation you can do is¡­ limited. Say ¡¯Status¡¯, if you would.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Status?¡± As our still-unnamed god voiced the word, it felt as if the very universe heard and responded. In front of him sprung a number of statistics in an almost game-like manner. -Status- Name:-Unnamed- Race:God Age: Newborn Domains: Creation, Beauty Subdomains: -None- Titles: -¡±Cognitive King¡± +3 to created species base intellect- Traits : -¡±Fierce¡± +1 to both personal and created species base physical Strength- -¡±Charismatic¡± +1 to both personal and created species base Charisma-. -¡±Creative¡± +2 to both personal and created species base wisdom.- -¡±Flawless¡± +10 to personal Charisma, +2 to created species base Charisma.- Stats: Charisma: 11 Strength: 2 Agility: 0 Dexterity:0 Intellect:0 Wisdom:2If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Constitution:0 Devotion Energy: 1,000 ¡°Your stats should be about rather low, but your trait should bring charisma up some. 20 is the best and 1 is the worst, for a mortal. Those stats don¡¯t apply to you here, thankfully. You can fluff about with that all later though. How much devotion energy do you have?¡± ¡®Well¡­ Traits affect me. Do titles not? And created species? Should I ask¡­ No, I¡¯m a god. That would be dumb. There are plenty of stories of gods killing each other. No need to reveal my hand¡­ is that how that expression goes?¡¯ thought the god. ¡°One¡­ thousand¡± ¡°Ah, good. About a hundred higher than average. Now, what you need to do is select the first male and female of your species. Your race should be quite beautiful, the aether is good at that kind of thing. Ah, but you do not know how, yes? Mind-select the devotion energy and it should allow you.¡± The boy mind-clicked the devotion energy and a character-creation window appeared before him, showing a base human. ¡°Now,¡± started Juntun, ¡°You can probably figure out what to do.¡± He put four of his tentacles on his chin-area, and looked deep in thought. It was rather strange, considering his lack of facial features. Then he raised a single tentacle to the air, as if in revelation. ¡°I am leaving. Ah, if your mother, the war one not the beauty one, stops by tell her she forgot my pay last week so I¡¯m going on strike. She¡¯ll be absolutely furious! How fun! So much better than this damn void!¡± With a poof Juntun was gone and the boy was alone in the void. ¡°...Jerk¡± complained the boy. It had seemed the monster was friendly and would stick around to help. Now the god was left without instruction and help, despite the fact that he was now trying to create a goddamn living being. Not cool man, not cool. After raging internally for a few minutes, still mostly unable to do anything but talk and blink, the god decided to get to work. After all, he got to create a custom race, with no limits. How fun! ___ Three days later(if time could be measured in such a manner within an empty void), the boy broke from his trance. In front of him sat a pair of glorious beings, with a large group of the same race behind them, also standing in pairs. They stood at about 5-6 feet on average, with most being somewhere in between. Both women and men were the same height wise. They had scales as white as untouched snow, small yet somewhat strong, that made up the outermost layer of their body, with delicate 6 fingered hands that had a thin webbing which could be attached or detached at will. The ends lacked human-like fingernails but were naturally sharp, like claws almost, instead. The women had a tail that could act as an extra hand, with 3 finger-like appendages, while the men had a tail that was more suited towards stabbing things, ending with a sharp thorn. When it came to muscle structure, aside from the tails and reproductive organs, men and women were close to identical. The structure was dense, lacking definition, but held deceptive power. The legs and hip area was where the second largest difference between men and women lay. As these beings were closer to reptiles than mammals, they laid eggs and protected them outside of the body. Women had far more flexible legs than men and naturally produced more body heat, meaning the scales were less abundant. Men had small white fuzz growing out of their scales, allowing them to keep the eggs insulated after they had been warmed by the women. A safe birthing process thus required both man and woman to take turns, hopefully preventing some of the problems humans faced with childbirth in society. The feet had six ¡®toes¡¯ that once more ended with claw-like tips. In the end, the biggest difference between men and women lay in the very uppermost end of their body. The head, and all the crucial features that came along with it. Both men and women had a pair of small but sharply pointed ears. They also all had 3 eyes, two human-like eyes, and a third eye located on the forehead that saw in heat-vision. Normally, the third eye remained closed. Only during the most intimate romantic situations and the most threatening situations would the eye naturally open. Women tended to have bright eye colors, like blue and green, while men had dark eye colors, like red and purple. Then the real differences start showing. A male¡¯s facial structure is entirely different to that of a female¡¯s. The face of an average male is sharp and direct. The chin was strong and the angles attractive. It was alien yet had the best features of a human. Females were similar, but different. They had an entirely alien face. It was exotic, full, and strangely attractive. When it came to mouths, men had smaller but sharper teeth behind a pitch black mouth while women had longer, sharper teeth but that became omnivorous quicker. They had lip colors ranging from pink to purple. The skull was another telling difference. Men had one to three bull-like horns while women had two horns that wrapped around their head. The hair of the creatures, both male and female, ranged in color from bright pink to pitch black, only brown was excluded. Brown was boring after all, far too common on earth. The same could be said about blue though, so the god was just a hypocrite who didn¡¯t like the color brown for hair. ¡°Beautiful¡­¡± said the boy. And they were, as a god for beauty he naturally made them symmetrical and extremely appealing to his own, though skewed, human sensibilities. As the boy had worked, he slowly came to understand how the creation process worked. He could change aspects of the creatures at will, but when it came to large changes that would affect how they function or look significantly, Devotion Energy was used. As a god of creation, it seemed he could spend more than the limit. Still, without the fact that he got some extra energy to spend when he decreased certain aspects he wouldn¡¯t have been able to create the species. For example, he couldn¡¯t create super-strong scales as it would have cost too much alone, but if he decreased the natural brain size he would be able to make them stronger than average. He did decrease the brain size, but not by much. He also found out how to use traits and titles. When he had finished his design and went to ¡®create¡¯ them, he found that the aether automatically changed the beings. The brains, despite being shrunk slightly, gained the ability to make connections quicker than usual. The muscles got denser, and the beauty of an average being was upped closer to the high-point that was being admired. He didn¡¯t just ¡®know¡¯ all this though, there was a status table showing the projected average stats of his creations. Creation Status Race Name: -Undecided- Age: -Uncreated- Population: 0 Inhabited Worlds: 0 Achievements: -None- Heroes: -None- Race Traits: : -¡±Fierce¡± +1 to base physical Strength- -¡±Charismatic¡± +1 to base Charisma-. -¡±Creative¡± +2 to base wisdom.- -¡±Flawless¡± +2 to base Charisma.- Innate Skills: -Third Eye- Unlike the eye of legends, this eye does not give you the power to see through lies. It does grant a nifty night vision ability though. -Adaptable Fins- The ability to attach and detach the webbing between their fingers and toes makes swimming a much easier task without giving up the dexterity of hands. Projected Level 1 Stats: Charisma: 15 Strength: 12 Agility: 9 Dexterity: 9 Intellect:14 Wisdom: 13 Constitution: 8 And with that he was done. All that was left was to name the creation and¡­ well, create them. Chapter Three: The Avatar Congratulations, God of Creation and Beauty! You have created your first race, the Sag''ebu, and they have been added to the Aether database! You can now take on their characteristics in your Avatar form! Stats will be adjusted accordingly. You have received the title -¡±Creator¡±- for creating a race! As this is your first race there is no Devotion Energy cost! For creating your first race, you have received an extra hundred point discount! Would you like to take your Avatar form? (Y/N) The god stared at his wonderful creation. He smiled and nodded yes, before his very form began to shift. No longer was he the epitome of human beauty, but rather took on the form of a flawless Sag¡¯ebu. -Status- Name:-Undecided- Race:God Age: Newborn Domains: Creation, Beauty Subdomains: -None- Titles: -¡±Cognitive King¡± +3 to created species base Intellect- -"Creator"Proof of Sag''ebu creation- Traits : -¡±Fierce¡± +1 to both personal and created species base physical Strength- -¡±Charismatic¡± +1 to both personal and created species base Charisma- -¡±Creative¡± +2 to both personal and created species base wisdom- -¡±Flawless¡± +10 to personal Charisma, +2 to created species base Charisma- Stats: Charisma: 26 Strength: 14 Agility: 9 Dexterity: 9 Intellect: 14 Wisdom: 13 Constitution: 8 Devotion Energy: 1,000 The young god took another look at his creation¡¯s status and saw that -Undecided- had been replaced with -Sag¡¯ebu-. It seemed the Aether itself named his creations, though he wasn¡¯t entirely sure why it chose such an exotic name. The creation menu had closed while his Avatar form was being assumed, and the boy was left floating in space alone. The Sag¡¯ebu he had seen before seemed to have disappeared, leaving him stranded. He frowned and tried to figure out what to do next. ¡°Status?¡± He asked, but it hadn¡¯t changed. ¡°Sag¡¯ebu Status?¡± There was nothing new there either, though the sheet did appear. Then a realization hit him. ¡°World Status? No¡­? Realm Status?¡± -Realm Status- Name: -Unnamed- Type: Void Age: Newborn Residents: God-1, Sag¡¯ebu- 0,Flora & Fauna: Nonexistent Size: Infinite,Potential: Nonexistent, Invested Energy: 0 Congratulations! You have accessed the World Status! You have -1000- Creation Energy to spend. Please select a Realm Type. Suddenly the boy saw a list spring to life in front of him, listing hundreds of thousands of variations. From floating island to the void-like existence of Earth, he had a mind boggling selection. He noticed that there seemed to be a search bar at the top, almost like Google. With a thought he input ¡®Habitable by Sag¡¯ebu and half the selection disappeared. Having understood the function he narrowed it down further, restricting rules such as physics to be earth-like, possessing magic, integrated with Aether (That seemed to be another really important piece as the selection was reduced by half again upon selecting it), water-based, and naturally beautiful. He was left with 3 choices, his strict standards cutting out many other possible options. When he added a final straw to the camel''s back, possibility for growth, there was only 1 option remaining. Custom Realm- Cost: 10,000(7,500 due Creation Domain) Devotion Energy. Cost dependent on requested capabilities. Can only be chosen for your first World.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Suffice it to say his meagre 1,000 Energy was not enough. ¡°Well. How do I get Devotion energy then?¡± Devotion Energy can be obtained by descending to your current Core -Cradle- , from the actions of your creations and followers, and by completing Quests. ¡°Seriously, what are these screens. They can read my mind?¡± The boy seemed worried, but ¡®clicked¡¯ on the bold Quests as it seemed important. Quests are tasks given by the Aether. They are often formed to further your own goals in an indirect manner. For example, if you are fighting a war you may receive a quest to kill 100 enemy soldiers. Quests will always be challenging but the greater the challenge the greater the reward. Quests: You currently have none. While that was good to know, it didn''t help his current dilemma at all. The only option seemed to be to go to this Cradle place. Would you like to descend to -Cradle-? You may take 10 followers with you. (Y/N) The god sighed and selected (Y)es. WARNING- YOU HAVE NO FOLLOWERS. DESCENDING ALONE IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU WISH TO DESCEND? (Y/N) He gulped but selected Yes again. He wasn''t going to waste the opportunity of a lifetime, he needed those points. Anyhow, worst case he dies a second time. When you know what lies beyond it¡¯s far less terrifying a thought. With a ¡®plop¡¯ the newborn God was gone and the void remained a silent abyss. - When he came to, light stung his eyes and words from an unknown dialect stung his ears. To his surprise, he found he could understand the foreign words. ¡°What is it? A new kind of monster?¡± ¡°No, you idiot, only Gods appear like that. I''m surprised his race isn''t ugly, his domain should be something like reptiles. Must have some good traits.¡± ¡°Reptiles? Can you really get such a lame domain.¡± ¡°Probably. Newborns seem to be getting screwed these days. Last decade, that woman with Steel showed up. Reptiles is within the realm of possibility. ¡± After blinking a few more times the boy took proper stock of his surroundings. He seemed to be in the middle of a street, with a few¡­ people staring at him. The cold ground felt distinctly less comfortable after he laid his eyes on the walking and talking statue who was speaking to what seemed to be a short and stout human with a fiery red beard. The god would have assumed dwarf if he didn''t vaguely remember that talking about a short person''s height tended to end with bruises and a bellyful of blood. Those two were the only ones on the street who stopped, the other 5 or 6 people from various races were going somewhere and didn''t have time to deal with him. Now that he had descended he felt weak, vulnerable, missing the sense of invulnerability he had felt within his Realm. ¡°W...Is this Cradle?¡± He brushed a strand of his hair aside, his wide eyes glancing every which way. The two didn¡¯t acknowledge him however, with the dwarf speaking up. ¡°He¡¯s remarkably attractive for a Reptile, think he has some Trait or Title that enhances his beauty¡±? ¡°I don¡¯t think a reptile god has descended before though, so it¡¯s unlikely. The race must just have naturally good Charisma¡± Shakily, the boy took to his feet, his barbed tail pushing him up. It felt natural, despite the fact that he had only been in this body for a matter of minutes. His wide eyes locked onto the statue-thing as it seemed to be the leader among the two. ¡°Is this the Cradle?¡± Now the two acknowledged him, the being of carved rock crouching in order to meet the boy¡¯s eyes. ¡°Yes, young Divine it is. It¡¯s awfully dangerous down here, where are your heroes?¡± ¡°Heroes?¡± ¡°You came without heroes!¡± A shocked expression graced the granite face. After a brief, uncomfortable silence the shock changed into joy. ¡°That¡¯s perfect.¡± Suddenly the rock being had its hand around the boy¡¯s neck, granite scaping at reptilian scales. ¡°The Godslayer title is supposed to be Legendary.¡± As the beautiful Sag¡¯ebu child was swept up, the dwarf stared at his rockky friend in shock. ¡°Penia!¡± he shouted. Surprisingly, her friend hadn¡¯t shouted her name because he was mad at her, but rather because he was worried about her. Moments after she sweeped up the god, said god had used his tail to pierce through the crystal that made up her eye into a softer, weaker rock that made up her brain. His tail was too large to fit in its entirety, but his thorn pierced directly into the vital organ. The encounter didn¡¯t last even a minute before the rock woman died. Starting from the wound her very form seemed to dissolve into grey particles that were absorbed by the boy-god. Her body quickly fell apart and the god landed on the ground with a soft ¡®Thud¡¯, using his tail to stab the ground while he got his feet under him.. His enchanting form seemed brighter somehow, visibly more refined. This caused the other figures in the street to stop, though the lack of any buildings within sight meant that these people were probably the only ones who could have heard or seen what he had just done. The street was running along a disturbingly empty plain, with green grass the only thing visible. There were no animals, not that he could see, just the street(perhaps more appropriately titled a road) and the 7 remaining people who had their eyes locked on him. There was the Dwarf who had been friends with the Rock-Lady, 2 of what seemed to be human, 1 extremely short elf, 1 man who had cat ears, and another Rock-Dwarf pair. Rather than deal with these people, the boy¡¯s first action was to stab the Dwarf who had been friends with Penia, attempting to jab his tail into the man¡¯s eye. Unfortunately it seemed he wasn¡¯t Dexterous enough and the dwarf sidestepped the obvious blow and muttered something, before a battleaxe and black leather armor were suddenly equipped. The dwarf swung his battleaxe from below, with the axe slicing through the god¡¯s arm and spinning him around. Painclouded his mind as the boy collapsed to the ground in agony. His arm was still attached, but the blow had broken and dislocated the arm, not to mention the bloody mess that the axe¡¯s blade had left. The boy tried and failed to get on his feet, his dwarven foe glaring at him. ¡°Tell me your name God. I shall know the one who has slain my mate before I exact my vengeance.¡± Blinking away the pain, the boy managed to pick himself up, his third eye open as he glared at the dwarf who dared to defile his holy form. ¡°Venrick¡± he said, the word coming to mind unbidden as he waited for the dwarf to attack again. Venrick was not dissapointed as the axe cut through the air, an overhead swing meant to crush the boy into paste. The dwarf had obviously thought that he had weakened Venrick enough that his blow would undoubtedly miss, no boy would be able to withstand that pain, and his guard was weakened as he accepted his victory. Moving in, the boy allowed the wooden haft of the axe to slam into his wounded shoulder while he jabbed his thorn into the dwarf¡¯s brain from below. The god collapsed after, the pain reaching a level he could not withstand, while the dwarf crumpled as well. The last thing the god saw was the dwarf turning into the same ash ashis''mate'' had.