"There's something should remember for the future when using your cosmic divinity, otherwise you'll end up screwing yourself over." We got back to the creation plane and while I inspected the feat I had accomplished, Venus was explaining my power to me.
"Go ahead, shoot," I said on my way into the kitchen to grab a Dr. Soda can from the refrigerator. I had filled the entire kitchen with food, drinks, and snacks to munch on. It was the most amazing feeling in the world to know that anything you could ever eat or drink was there for the taking. Venus followed me and sat down on the counter across from me.
"When you created the Valkyrie you used your cosmic divinity, that's already a given. However, when using your cosmic divinity you should know that it is not an infinite pool of power. The amount of energy you have access to is inconceivably large, yes, but large tasks like that will drain it quickly if you aren't careful." Venus warned with a serious look on her face.
"Then what happens when my cosmic divinity is used up?" I asked with an eyebrow raised, it couldn't be anything good.
Venus paused for a moment and swung her legs a bit in thought. Her facial expression was weird, and something bothered her.
"If you run out of cosmic divinity...then you'll die." She practically whispered the last part, but I still caught it and swiveled around in surprise. The Dr. Soda can in my hand nearly spilled in the process.
"That's pretty important to know," I said, shocked by this revelation. On the bright side, the amount of cosmic divinity in my body was massive, or as Venus called it "inconceivably large."
"Hehe, that's what she said. Literally." I fought back a laugh, choosing to keep it inside. The joke had to be made, I'm sorry! Even if it was only in my head!
"I'll be sure to watch the amount of cosmic divinity I use, thanks for telling me before, you know, I accidentally kicked the bucket." Venus smiled at me, practically making my heart melt, and then added one more point.
"One more thing. Over time, as you train yourself and develop your skills as a Cosmic Entity, the amount of cosmic divinity at your disposal will increase. Training this aspect of your power should be high on your priority list, and well, training in general at that."
My first thought was one of agreement. On Earth I was never exposed to an environment where developing my skills, mind, and body was necessary, so even now I didn't know what that would look or feel like.
But my second thought was different, why would training be necessary for me? I already had cosmic divinity, which allowed me to do literally anything I wanted using my power of intent. What point was there in training other skills beyond just having fun?
"I'm a little confused by what you mean. If I have cosmic divinity then why do I need to train anything else? Isn't cosmic divinity the strongest power/energy in existence?" It had to be considering who I was and what it was used for.
"Tch, tch. Silly, you can't always rely on your cosmic divinity, otherwise, you'll drain it to zero and end up killing yourself in an important battle." Venus chided me with her finger pointed at my face.
"Wait, important battles? What do you-" Venus cut me off before I could finish speaking, a sly grin on her face.
"I can't answer that question right now, buuuuuut it looks like the other Cosmic Entities are beginning to arrive on the Infinity Plane!" Venus spoke excitedly, an air of positive energy surrounding her. She was currently looking up at the ceiling, but I looked where she was looking and saw nothing, meaning her mind was probably elsewhere in the literal sense.
"It took them long enough! I've been waiting for this to happen since you got here!" Venus pouted with an eye roll. "Once they're all settled in there will be a meeting for everyone to attend. It's there that you'll get some of the answers you're looking for, and after the meeting, I'll no longer be limited on what I can tell you or how I can help you." She smiled mischievously, ready to begin getting involved in mortal affairs.
"Finish checking out your feat and we'll get going when the system alerts you." Well, there was an air of positive energy surrounding her, and now it was gone as she got serious again. I wouldn't call it bipolar, but Venus' ability to switch between moods was definitely something to behold...
"Yeah, yeah, no problem," I said casually, waving her off with a hand to tease her. My attention returned to the white screen floating in front of me, my mind pondering the meaning of it all.
// Feat Accomplished: Born From Thy Hand. Congratulations! You have created a sentient race of beings through your own power rather than getting help from the system to place them on your world. Reward: 100,000 points and a 50% boost to the growth of the Valkyrie for 1,000 years. \\
I had somewhat of an idea about what the 50% boost meant, but to be sure I checked with Venus so that there were no mishaps in the future because of a misinterpretation.
"I'm curious, what exactly does the 50% boost to the growth of the Valkyrie encompass? Is it everything about their society or only specific parts?" My hopes were on the former for obvious reasons.
"The 50% boost will impact everything about the Valkyrie's society. As a people, they will develop faster than the other sentient races in every aspect, which is suitable considering they're technically a higher existence from the sentient races on Earth. Getting boosts like this from the system is rare, so appreciate it while it lasts." Venus replied across from me while I gulped down some Dr. Soda.
I nodded my head after gulping down my drink, needing no further explanation. "Let's watch Earth while we wait for the meeting then?" I proposed.
"I'm in!" Venus rocketed up from the counter and ran into the living room, soon followed by myself. The two of us sat on the couch and Venus got straight to business. "Since everything in Valhalla is established and ready to go, what do you want to do now?"
Thinking about it, I didn't have any specific plans that could be implemented yet because the world was still underdeveloped. I could forward plan and begin testing some custom-made universal laws, but I figured I'd wait to do that for the time being since the meeting was coming up soon. Plus, it would still be a couple thousand years before the ideas I came up with when first becoming a Cosmic Entity could be used.
"I'm not sure, to be honest. I need to make a universal law that allows me to descend differently before I even think of heading back down there, which will have to wait until after this meeting, so what would you recommend?"
Venus debated between various ideas in her head. "I'd recommend starting a fast forward with a trigger that reverts time to its normal flow when the first civilized tribes begin appearing. That'll be a good time to introduce the Gods, as we already talked about."
"Smart ma'am, I agree with you," I said while setting my drink down on the coffee table.
When tribes began forming I would begin introducing more Gods into the world, starting with one for each race. This was something Venus and I had talked about a while ago, before even creating Kravish. I could've already created them but I felt like waiting so that the Gods could grow alongside the mortals, rather than grow independently. By having them grow with the mortals the Gods would become more attached and less likely to despise them, at least that was the plan.
Aside from that, I also needed to be sure about what domains would be good for each God, as I needed the people to benefit from the domains I chose. This would be far easier to accomplish when the people of Earth had tribes since they would begin developing their own cultures and such from that point on.
With somewhat of a plan in mind I took a few moments to set up the fast forward and trigger then put them into effect. Time across the universe began flowing 1000x faster, making a decade fly by in seconds. At this point, it wouldn't take long for the meeting to get started, so I sat back and watched with Venus as the people of Earth went about their lives.
…
In the midst of our binge-watch of Earth, there was a sudden ding that caught both Venus and I's attention. Along with the ding came a white screen that floated mystically in front of the TV, blocking us from seeing the events unfolding on Earth.
I have to say that watching the lives of the...Earthlings, hehe, was more interesting than I had originally thought. Equally depressing, but quite interesting indeed. Valhalla was the biggest reason for this change.
It had been a little less than an hour since we started the fast forward and the year reached 5,490, but advancements were already being made. Fire had become common knowledge to everyone on Earth, thus granting a major boost to their development. The only group left out from this were the Atlanteans, but they had their own way of doing things.
All over the ocean floor were stones charged with light element energy of varying levels that the system called luminous sea stones. These stones were used by the Atlanteans as a source of light, and they paired well with the Atlanteans' natural ability to see well in any depth or clarity of water.
Aside from the discovery of fire and its aquatic "substitute" were other important developments like the creation of new tools such as the axe, the emergence of multiple languages (although quite early in development), and the appearance of multiple large groups of people.
The last part was especially good to see as the Earthlings had been struggling in sprawled groups, often gathering in small bands of twenty to forty people. This could be attributed to a lack of resources to go around within those larger groups. Hunting was no easy task, and agriculture was non-existent at the moment, so getting the necessary food to feed big groups of people was nightmarishly difficult.
These new, larger groups had anywhere from 60 to 100 people in them, and they actually did well for themselves in combating the threat of monsters due to the presence of some natural leaders. On top of that, these groups gathered in resource-rich areas where finding food was exponentially easier. For instance, one group of Elves in what used to be the Philippines had begun developing a "village" of sorts in a magical rainforest that grew...super bananas.
Three big things to point out there. One, the gathering of Elves couldn't be called a village or a tribe, just like every other large group of beings on Earth. Their "village" was merely a collection of shelters and they had no leader or group identity, thus preventing them from being an actual tribe.
Two, super bananas were an actual thing...by viewing one of the bananas the system gave me its name and information about it, this is where I learned about their special properties. Super bananas were grown thanks to the rich plant elemental energy in the area, which was one of many elemental typings on Earth. This meant that the super bananas had traces of soul power in them, which made them a nutritious food source for cultivators and a miracle food for people with little to no soul power in their bodies. The fruit wouldn't set sentient beings on the path of cultivating soul power, but it would make it easier for them when they decided to.
Learning about the super bananas gave me the idea of checking the rest of Earth for any sort of beneficial foods like this one, and to my surprise, there were countless types of fruits, vegetables, and plants with magical properties to them. For instance, Madagascar had a fruit called the Fire Essence Mango that started growing after a major forest fire many centuries ago. The mango was full of the essence of the fire element, thus granting it growth properties to anyone that cultivated fire-based skills in the future.
And three, nature wasn't the only thing undergoing changes, the elves in this rainforest were starting to darken in color from their originally tan-colored skin. Although only slightly darker now, the changes were obvious if you were to compare a current elf to one from the first elves in the region. Such changes were becoming more and more apparent all over the world with many different races.
While time on Earth went on, so did the time in Valhalla, and the Valkyrie had made monumental advancements since their appearance all those years ago.
In the past 489 years, the Valkyrie had developed at an exponentially faster rate compared to the people of Earth. This could be attributed to the presence of a God, the pre-existence of civilization for them to conform to, their united population of 100,000, and the system boost for their race.
Kravish had delivered on his word to organize the Valkyrie, only needing two years to train them in the Deadzone and have every single warrior reach 100 power level. He even went on and created the early structure of the afterlife's government. The governing power was called the Kingdom of Valhalla, whose king was the God Kravish and its capital Asgard. Under the king stood the Eight Wings, four Valkyrie hand-picked by Kravish for their exceptional leadership, skills, knowledge, and talent.
Individually they were called by their Wing title and each of them oversaw a certain aspect of Valhalla, also acting as an advisor to Kravish when necessary. The Eight Wings served for life, and since they were immortal and had not died in battle yet, the first four Wings were still serving after nearly 500 years. They were Sora Akree the Wings of Soul, Mae Fessix the Wings of Steel, Freiva Tal the Wings of War, and Thalia Ulric the Wings of Prosperity.
Sora Akree held the position of Paelon, it was her duty to manage the ferrying of souls and even assist in the management of Valhalla. Next was Mae Fessix who oversaw the defense and enforcement of law for Valhalla as the Sheldmir. Then there was Freiva Tal, the War Master who managed the Valkyrie's main armed forces. Lastly was Thalia Ulric, the Overseer of Culture for the kingdom and its people.
Below the Eight Wings in rank were City Lords who oversaw the various settlements in Valhalla. Only two settlements aside from Asgard had been established thus far, and both were nothing more than villages at this point. Asgard had its own City Lord as well despite Kravish and the Eight Wings being based in the city.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of seeing the progression of Valhalla was watching the Valkyrie step onto the path of cultivating soul power. Every single person was given an affinity test to see what elements they were naturally aligned with, from there they were given basic training with a sword and taught to harness soul power by Kravish.
During this phase, Kravish would keep his eyes out for exceptional performers, all of which became higher ranks within the army or their respective professions. Anyone that performed well was also given resources to develop their skills, this helped create techniques, styles, and abilities that could be taught to the rest of the Valkyrie.
At first, Kravish was unsure how he would equip such a large army given the lack of blacksmiths and other necessary artisans. But it didn't take long to find his answer while experimenting with divinity. Not only could Kravish create weapons and armor for the Valkyrie through raw resources and divinity, but it cost him barely any energy because of how weak the current soul power limit of the world was.
Weapons and armor had their own power level that followed the same scale as living beings, meaning equipment should match the power level of its user. So for someone on Kravish's level, who had 10,000 power level (something I attributed to him being recognized as a "higher being" by the system and thus above the rules), it would be an easy task to forge enough equipment for 100,000 people with such low strength requirements. He was quite lucky, however, as he had a limited understanding of forging and blacksmithing since it was outside of his godhoods, so making weapons and armor with 100 power level was probably his limit.
It wasn't until the entire population of Valkyrie was fully equipped and trained, which took four years, that Kravish began sending them out to begin their duties. During that time he had been sending out avatars of himself to handle the collection of souls on Earth. He did so by splitting his consciousness into each avatar, allowing him to live through each avatar simultaneously and retain any information they learned while separate. Kravish's method had given me a bit of inspiration for the universal law I wanted to create involving descent onto Earth, in the future, I would have to thank him.
25,000 Valkyrie were assigned to the army under Freiva Tal. These soldiers would rest in their fortresses across Valhalla and skirmish monsters in the Deadzone. 50,000 Valkyrie were put under Sora Akree's command to ferry souls into the afterlife, while of the remaining 25,000 there were 15,000 assigned to Mae Fessix as enforcers, and 10,000 were assigned to Thalia Ulric to become her Keepers of Tradition.
Thalia Ulric's status as Overseer of Culture was actually very important, so were her Keepers. It was up to her and the Keepers of Tradition (which served as a job title and group name) to develop Valhalla's culture and research everything there was to know about soul power and its applications.
With help from the system's growth boost they had come far over the last 400 plus years, having developed basic knowledge of soul power, learned how to forge with metal, created multiple cultivation techniques, and pushed their society into an almost pre-medieval time period.
All in all, I was beyond impressed with the progress made in Valhalla, and it made me hopeful for Earth's future. These dark times for Earth's people would come to an end one day, and their civilizations would flourish like never before. I truly yearned to see what kind of world Earth would become at that point, but it was all in due time.
...
"Looks like it's time to go," Venus said next to me, her eyes gleaming with happiness.
"About time," I replied, my eyes reading the contents of the white screen.
// All Cosmic Creators have arrived on the Infinity Plane and it is now time for the first annual Planar Meeting. Judai, your presence is required at the Heart of Creation, once this message is closed a portal will be opened to send you there, time on your world will be frozen during the duration of this gathering. If you do not close the message within five minutes then it will close automatically and you will be forcefully teleported to the meeting destination. I'm sure you have many questions, and most of them should be answered during this event. \\
"So much for my plan of fast-forwarding while away at the meeting." I sighed with an annoyed puff. In my mind, I quickly made peace with it and got thinking about a fun possibility for this meeting.
"Think we'll make any friends?" I asked, getting ready to close the message. Having friends under the same circumstances as my own would be amazing since we could help each other get used to the job. It also didn't hurt to make new friends since my old ones were on Earth while I was lord- while I was WHO knows where. Had to catch myself again!
"Pfft, definitely. If you're thinking about making friends then I guarantee other Cosmic Entities are too. They'll be just as lost as you are unless they come from a higher existence themselves. On a related note, having friends and other connections will be beneficial in the future. Try your best to get to know a few people during the meeting." Venus advised me, being hintful as ever.
"Sounds good to me. Let's head out!" I exclaimed, jumping up from my seat in the living room. I closed the message and a white door appeared next to my TV. Venus stood up behind me and yawned, stretching her body outward.
"After you, silly." Venus winked and giggled at me after stretching. I nodded and opened the door before entering, Venus right behind me.
As we emerged from the portal we found ourselves drifting through a dark corner of space on top of a round, grey platform. There were a couple of stars shining off in the distance, piercing into the darkest reaches of space with their dazzling light.
"Where...the hell are we?" I asked, totally lost as to what the fuck Bob was playing at. Venus looked around a bit and nodded her head in confirmation.
"This is the Cosmic Drift, a distant corner of space in the Infinity Plane that manipulates the fabric of the universe to achieve our current effect. It's impossible to enter this space without the power of the system, which only the being you know as Bob can use. See that purple 'star' over there?" She pointed toward a purple orb glowing off in the darkness of space, it was significantly larger than the other stars and I could almost feel its energy.
"Yeah, what about it?" I asked curiously.
"It's the core zone of the Cosmic Drift, also known as the Heart of Creation." Venus gave a cheerful grin as she let her words sink into my head.
"Wait...does that mean…" I thought about it for a second before astonishment filled my face. "That's the actual HEART of the universe, isn't it?" I shouted, asking and pointing at it with one hand, emphasizing each word with a wave of my arm.
"Yep, that's the heart of the Infinity Plane, where everything originates from. Now enjoy the ride for a minute while we make our approach. When we get closer you'll see the magic happen." Venus leaned back into a recliner that materialized from thin air. She kicked her legs up with the handle and relaxed her arms on the rests, calmly watching and smiling on at the Cosmic Drift we floated through.
"There's a surprise at every fucking corner, haha." I couldn't help but laugh at the craziness of all this again. My attention returned to Venus. "Nice touch, allow me to join you," I said somewhat flirtatiously, almost making fun of my own cheesiness as I sat down on the recliner that materialized behind me.
We quietly enjoyed the scene passing by as the platform approached the purple heart. It was beautiful to enjoy the tranquility of the farthest reaches of space, your only company being whoever is with you and the colorful stars twinkling off in the distance.
As we began getting closer to our destination, something caught my attention floating peacefully to the right of us through the Cosmic Drift.
"Is that…'' I squinted my eyes at the object before opening them wide in shock. "It's another platform! There must be a Cosmic Entity on it!" I yelled out in astonishment. Unlike my platform, the one I was looking at was more like a fluffy white cloud instead of a metal disc.
Before Venus or I could say anything to each other she noticed another platform appearing to the left of us this time. Then another one showed up, and another, and another, and they continued appearing non-stop from all directions as we rapidly approached the purple Heart.
"They're all unique, no two people have the same platform." This was something I noticed right away, as every single platform was obviously distinguishable from one another. But why was mine so boring? It made me cry a little inside seeing how unimpressive my platform was compared to literally everyone else's.
I mean seriously, one thing was literally riding on the back of a massive space turtle, meanwhile here I was riding on a boring-ass metal disc. Thing is the only word I could use to describe the rider since the figures on each platform were blurry white fog in the shape of humanoids, beasts, or even other unknown beings.
"Watch this, here's where things get interesting." Venus' face lit up on her recliner. When we were right upon the purple heart we found that entering it was no problem despite the massive amount of energy it radiated. We floated through a thick layer of purple gasses, cosmic energies, and primordial flames that burned on into eternity, completely immune to the effects of the Heart's heat and radiation. Sometime during our journey I heard a thumping noise, catching me completely off guard.
"What was that?" I asked, quickly looking around in all directions to see what caused the noise.
"Shh, listen quietly." Venus shushed me peacefully with a finger over her mouth. "Tell me what you hear."
I was confused by her intent but listened for the thumping noise nonetheless. It came every ten seconds, in a single beat as if someone were hitting a drum. Wait...that's it! It was a beating noise, not a thump! And since we were in the Heart of Creation, that meant...the sound came from the beating of the Heart!
Although astonished by hearing the heartbeat of a universe, I was more taken aback by the experience of hearing it. Each beat penetrated my very being, diffusing throughout my body as a soothing sensation followed next. I listened to the heartbeat with my eyes closed, breathing slowly as I sought to see where this sensation would lead me.
It was then, somewhere out in the mixture of energies we passed through, that a voice spoke to me. Or at least it was trying to, but something stopped it. The voice didn't speak any words, English ones at least, rather it made noises that I had never heard before. One noise was like the wind, whistling past my ear attempting to tell me something. Another sounded like the crashing of a wave, violently shaking my body even though our platform remained drifting silently. Each noise was something different, but they all carried an intent in them that I couldn't make out.
"I hear...the universe," I said with a warm smile. This experience made me feel good, as if everything in existence was beginning to make sense.
"Um, okay. Maybe explain a bit more?" Venus questioned, confused by my simply response.
"Yeah, it was like the universe wanted to speak to me using sounds from the natural world. I heard whistling wind, raging waves, calm streams, the shifting of tectonic plates, hell, even the collapse of a black hole and death of a star. Don't ask me how I know what those sound like, but I'm absolutely positive that those are what I heard. It must have something to do with the feeling I got from the Heart." I explained using hand gestures, but all they did was make me look like a crazy person because from the look on Venus' face she thought I was on drugs.
"Ugh, it's no use. You think I'm making it up, don't you?" I asked, folding my arms in front of my chest.
"No, shut up. I never said that, let me think." Venus retorted, shaking her head as she thought to herself. She continuously mumbled under her breath for twenty seconds, trying to understand the meaning behind my experience.
And that's when it happened. As if everything in the universe had aligned perfectly, her eyes snapped open wide in astonishment.
"Woah." She said, no emotion in her voice as she stared out into the Heart with a look of total dumbfoundedness on her face.
"What do you mean 'woah?' What was the Heart trying to tell me?" I pleaded in an attempt to figure out what she learned.
Venus turned and looked at me again, giving a dumb laugh as she shook her head and facepalmed herself. "How did I not see it sooner?" She asked, still laughing. After she regained her composure Venus told me something I would never forget.
"Very few people can reach out and speak to a Heart of the Universe, especially this one considering it's the Heart of the Infinity Plane, Bob's literal sandbox realm. Hearts are just too powerful, they're like sentient cosmic bodies with FAR more important things to do than speak with a mortal, even a Cosmic Entity if said person did not create the Heart they wanted to speak to." Venus said.
"The Heart of the Universe is a very high-level thing, got it, so why was it trying to speak to me?" I asked full of emotions. It wasn't even my curiosity that made me seek an answer, my heart, mind, and soul NEEDED to know the reason in a way I could not explain. The best comparison would be a feeling, one of total assurance brought on by your body to tell you, "hey, something is up."
"You really can't piece this together on your own? Ugh, don't let your emotions cloud your thinking, it's not even hard." Venus sighed, releasing a big puff of air, before speaking again.
"Like I said, the Heart of the Universe doesn't speak to many beings, even if they reach out to it. So if the Heart reached out TO YOU, and tried speaking TO YOU, then it has major universe-level implications...I know I told you on the Creation Plane that I wouldn't be limited by the system on what I could tell you anymore, but when it comes to...stuff like this, my hands are tied. This is the most I can give you for now." Venus couldn't help but become a little dispirited, as she truly couldn't say anything.
"I get it, don't worry. You've already set me on the right track at least, thanks for that." I thanked Venus sincerely, not wanting to spoil her mood more. She cracked a small smile and went back to relaxing on her recliner, occasionally taking a peek at me while I did the same. That was the plan at least, my mind was too busy analyzing my experience with the heart, now choosing to not focus on the heartbeat. From time to time the Heart would still reach out, attempting to speak to me, but I could only turn it down as I wasn't sure how to communicate with it.
For six minutes we floated through this outer layer until finally arriving in a black space, the only visible thing being the wall of purple energy behind me.
"Welcome, everybody. It's good to officially meet you all on this fineeeeeee evening." A familiar voice echoed out from within the darkness. The voice slowly got louder as multiple platforms began appearing, floating off in the distance all around me. I couldn't keep count of all the platforms that appeared as there were simply too many, so instead, I began looking at the biggest figure that floated right in front of me.
"What the? Is that you, Bob?" I asked with high hopes. At this point, I was pretty much set up with Earth, so it should be time to have my family brought over to the Creation Plane. If I could talk to Bob face-to-face about it then the process could be handled swiftly.
"Yep, it's me partner. Can't you tell by the outfit?" Bob tugged on the edge of his clothes, stretching them a bit to display them more clearly. Sure enough, he was wearing the same outfit from when I had first met him, right down to the undershirt and socks.
"Yeah, of course I noticed." I quietly defended, rolling my eyes at Bob's antics. The beings on each of the platforms began staring at me one by one, curious as to who I was to have met this odd person that brought us all there.
"Great then, now let's get along to business." Bob clasped his hands in front of his stomach, sending out a wave of gold energy while he cracked his fingers.
"My name is- unimportant. All of you call me something different: God, Io, Fejahra, or even...Bob." Bob turned his head to me and gave me a look before continuing again. "I'm the one that created the system and brought you all here. Literally speaking, I am existence itself." He said nonchalantly, as if it wasn't of any importance what was going on.
Bob went to go speak again but was cut off by someone from another platform, only this platform tripped me out as it appeared right next to Bob, but wasn't actually in front of me.
"What's your reason for gathering all of us here?" The person from the platform spoke inquisitively, having appeared out of thin air standing on top of an advanced technological cube. This being was practically ten feet tall, totally bald, and had blue skin to go with its frosty blue eyes. It looked to be a male, and he wore fancy silver robes that covered his hands and had a protective piece around his neck that propped up behind his head.
In this space we could all see each other, but we were too far from one another to hear each other speak. Instead, whenever someone spoke they would have an image of themself appear in front of everyone else, allowing people to speak with them as if we were in a giant meeting. Piecing it all together I realized it had something to do with the bending of space and time that allowed the beings present to appear both directly in front of, and far off from me at the same time depending on if they were speaking or not. Venus' words earlier were the main reason I figured it out, otherwise, I'd still be quite lost.
"Come on now, Tyseve. Don't be so hostile, after all, everyone came here willingly. Or do you not remember appearing on the Infinity Plane after accepting an invitation from the voice in your head?" Bob shrugged off the being's words with a laugh. Tyseve immediately shut up, having to agree that he had come on his own accord.
"Now then, as to what I want with you all. Each of you has been given the basic rundown from your guides. I am here to fill in the blanks. To be honest, I'm not one for beating around the bush, so I'm going to be straight up with all of you." Bob got serious for a moment, no longer smiling like he was seconds ago.
"There's a war coming, one where the fate of all existence is at risk, and I'm going to need all of your guys' help to put an end to it." This was my first time seeing Bob act seriously since meeting him, although this was only our second encounter ever. From what I had seen about his personality thus far I could tell that he enjoyed being relaxed and carefree, meaning this was definitely important. His behavior struck me as odd, but when he dropped the "fate of existence level war" bomb on us my face practically blew up with rage created from my confusion.
"Bob, you never mentioned that in our first meeting!" I yelled angrily, completely enraged by the fact that I was going to be thrown into a war for the universe. Being drafted on Earth was already the biggest fucking scam in the world, and yet somehow I had gotten a one-up from that? Or should I say an infinite number of one-ups considering the VAST difference in scale between a war on Earth and between existences of Cosmic Entity level? I hadn't even been on the job for two days yet and I could tell how bad that would be!
"I guess there's really no such thing as free, huh?" I thought to myself sarcastically, now understanding the catch to becoming a literal God with a capital G.
"I know, I know. Don't be mad at me, just hear me out while I explain things before you all start crying about your new jobs." Bob huffed and took off his sunglasses to clean them on his shirt. He blew a bit of air on them before wiping them down and rolling his eyes.
"There is an existence out there much like myself known as the Maw. The Maw is the exact opposite of me, whereas I used my power to create everything that's ever existed, it uses its power to devour everything, spreading infinite nothingness." Bob complained, eyeing his sunglasses to make sure they were perfectly clean before putting them back on.
"For as long as we've existed, which is 197,456,801,003,621,327,098 years (197 sextillion years) to be exact, the two of us have been locked in a never-ending cycle of creation and destruction. Personally, I don't have much of an issue with that. I understand the importance of balance, so I even encourage our little bouts with one another. But recently I suggested to my dear old friend that we settle this once and for all, just as a little mocking gesture during a fight between two old rivals…" Bob paused and took a deep breath.
"It wasn't meant to be taken seriously." Bob sounded like he was talking about someone that had been a buzzkill. He repeatedly rubbed his temples and closed his eyes as he spoke, frustrated with the whole situation.
"Turns out the Maw doesn't know how to take a joke, who woulda known?" Bob shrugged and laughed, but seeing how he didn't get a response he instantly stopped himself.
"Well, after hearing my tease the Maw stopped fighting and did something I had never seen it do even once before. It calmed down and thought to itself. This is big because the Maw has always been a mindless thing if you can even call it that. Only seeking to devour everything I created." It seemed Bob had once hated the Maw for eating his creations, but eventually learned to see why it was necessary to obtain balance.
"What did it say?" I asked, my chin in the palm of my hand, trying to understand my situation better.
Bob let out a sigh. "The Maw agreed that we should end our back and forth once and for all. It- It...it even said that it would begin creating an army to return with for all-out war."
The entire space was quiet, but only because his words left everyone speechless...still. All-out war for the survival of everything, this had massive ramifications and everyone knew that.
"But that's where you all come in!" Bob became spirited again, a smile blooming across his face.
"All of you will be working together in the future when the Maw returns. Up until that point, it's your guys' job to create new universes, ones that can be used to fight the Maw and its forces. It's either that or return to your homeworld with your memories wiped, having no knowledge of the impending doom, waiting to be destroyed despite being given the opportunity to do something about it." Bob's words shook everyone present, even if someone were previously a villain in their world, they wouldn't want to see everything be destroyed. If the Maw won, then everything there ever was would cease to exist. What point would there be in being a villain if there was no one to be a villain to?
"Why didn't you tell us that from the start?" Another being spoke up this time, their voice was feminine and quite high pitched, making me struggle to make out most of her words. Speaking of which, how was I able to understand the other beings speaking? They were from other worlds and obviously spoke different languages than my own. The only explanation I could think of would be the effects brought on from the Heart, which literally toyed with the fabric of the universe according to Venus. Translating for us was probably one of the easiest things it could do, considering. Anyways, this feminine being spoke from atop a glowing, golden sphere. She had on a thick red robe with white fur inside, and her long golden hair shined just like her sphere to bring out the tan color of her skin. Around her neck set an arrangement of various necklaces, each with decorated with gems I had never seen before.
"I'm sorry, Kaaaarrrreeeennnn." Bob mocked the girl like she was a dumb child, even laughing that her literal name was Kaaaarrrreeeennn, which sounded like he was making fun of her for being a Karen when saying it. "It's not exactly fun to meet someone on the terms of universal level genocide and destruction now, is it?" He asked sarcastically, fascinated that she couldn't even understand his reasoning in the slightest.
"Look, I get that a lot of you are mad that I never mentioned the Maw or the impending war. But this could be fun! I created all of this and the system to help you all become beings on my level, that way you can train your power and learn about being a Cosmic Entity. If we win this war then each of you will be able to keep your power as well, so there's that going for you too. Unless you WANT to be an insignificant mortal again, destined to suffer and die in the cycle of reincarnation or whatever afterlife your world has." Bob didn't expect anyone to want out at this point, so he confidently smiled as he spoke.
"How long until the Maw returns?" I asked with a gulp. This whole war thing was hard for me considering I was an 18-year-old human dropped into the middle of all this. Even so, I would not back out now. Venus was becoming a close friend of mine, and we both loved doing what we did. Why give up now? Especially after the guilt trips Bob gave us in case we did want out...
"I'm not sure. The Maw isn't good at small talk if you know what I mean. I am positive, however, that it will be no sooner than 500 years from now going on Infinity Plane time. There's also no need to worry about a surprise attack, as I'll feel when the Maw begins making its moves." Bob assured me, having lost all sense of urgency in his voice from before.
"What are your plans for this upcoming period? I assume you've made the proper preparations for us to develop ourselves during this time." Yet another being spoke up, this time standing on top of a purple, bee-shaped creature with seven tentacles dangling out from its stomach region. Much like the creature, its rider was from a purple alien race with tentacles in place of hair. Its eyes were white and pupilless, and crystals floated around its body. Based on the body shape of the alien it was a female, but I wasn't an expert on alien races so...
"Indeed, I have," Bob smirked. "Not only will your guides and the system be assisting you in the creation of worlds, but there will be plenty of interaction between each one of you to foster growth. You've already heard some examples of interaction like the Creator Store and Entity Forum, but there are so many other opportunities for you all to work together and even compete. On the Infinity Plane, you'll find activities like guild participation, tournaments, games, and events to partake in. The sheer amount of things for you to do here will shock you."
Bob thought highly of his creation, believing the Infinity Plane was a realm at the pinnacle of existence. Based on everything he was telling us he had put a lot of thought into making it.
"On top of all that, there are ranking leaderboards for you to see and compare your progress with one another, and at each annual Planar Meeting we will hand out rewards to everyone on the leaderboards. The rewards can be anything from points to discounts to special items! I'll be using these leaderboards for more important things in the future too, so know for now that they are extremely important." Bob drifted off suspiciously, waving his hand at the end as if it didn't even matter despite him specifically using the words "extremely important."
"The Infinity Plane sounds like a beneficial place to visit, but surely you have more important things to tell us. Such as how to use the system efficiently, strategies for us to go about our duties as Cosmic Entities, or even items that will help us grow our worlds." The purple alien spoke again, wanting to know every detail about what she was getting into (which was totally fair).
"No, no, no. None of that. I can answer questions relating to our situation, but anything about the system is off-limits. You have guides for that, and if I walk you through the process of creating universes then how will you learn anything? Your worlds wouldn't be unique, they wouldn't be you!" Bob cried out, sounding passionate like an art critic.
"Granted, our situation is the biggest possible extreme in the universe, but you made it pretty clear. We understand what we have to do, now we need to know how to do it." The purple alien did not back down. She...or it? Was definitely persistent.
"Ut'layu, my decision is final. Learn about the system on your own with the help of your guide, if you can't understand why I'm having you do that then maybe someone of your intelligence should off themselves for being such an idiot." Bob sneered, his eyes staring daringly at Ut'layu. She shrank back in fear, fearful of angering someone as powerful as Bob. Even I was shocked by Bob's behavior, being totally caught off guard by it.
"As you say." Ut'layu bowed in respect, not wanting to be on Bob's bad side. The beings and I watching were having similar thoughts, but also feared being ridiculed or being the target of Bob's anger, so we sat there quietly.
Bob hummed. "Good, and since you all know soooooo much about our situation, I'll be heading out now. Feel free to pray for me if you wanna talk sometime, can't promise I'll always answer though. You all can do as you please from here on out, I'll be back again when it's time for the next planar meeting. It's also important to know that individual conversations don't work so well here, if you couldn't guess that already. To anyone looking to intermingle I recommend heading to the Infinity Plane instead." Many people went to say something before Bob left, but he turned into a puff of smoke before they got the chance.
"For being God he sure is immature," I stressed to myself, sighing at how the situation had unfolded. "I didn't even get to ask about my family, what a bitch." I cursed, knowing my only option now was to pray to Bob and hope he answered.
Beings from various platforms began talking to their guides, some choosing to leave right away having gained control of their platforms, others even venturing back out into the black void of space outside of the Heart of Creation. It seemed everyone had their own plan for how to do things, or they were in the process of figuring a plan out.
"No one is talking to each other, they're all leaving or speaking solely to their guide," Venus said, noticing everyone's behavior with a simple glance. "What do you want to do?"
"Right now the situation is in its infant stages. When people begin adjusting like I have they'll reach out to establish friendships and connections. Until then we can only hope to come across more level-headed people to become friends with." I never thought of how overwhelming this would be for the other Cosmic Entities. From the looks of things they only got to make their guide and get a causal explanation of their situation before being brought here. They were still reeling at the craziness of it all.
"For someone who was going crazy themself not too long ago you sure do sound like a manipulative little brat." Venus eyed me with a smile. "I kinda dig it, it's like your fun side."
"Haha, to be honest I love competition. It gets me thinking and fired up. When Bob mentioned the leaderboards something just switched inside me, and now I want to reach the top." I clenched my fist, staring at it as I spoke, determination present in my voice.
"Of which leaderboard? Bob didn't say it but there's different leaderboards for the various aspects of being a Cosmic Entity. There's one for number of worlds, total strength, total population, and a few others." Venus explained to me.
"...All of them," I said seriously, a bold smile creeping up on my face.
"Someone has a big appetite, sheesh." Venus laughed and shook her head at my words, but encouraged me either way. "We have a long way to go then, want to head back and get started? I know you have to talk to Bob about your family still anyways."
"How about a visit to the Infinity Plane?" I asked casually, in no rush to head back. My world was already more than 5,000 years ahead of everyone else, the best thing for me to do now was visit the Infinity Plane and learn what I could. Maybe I'd even be inspired during my visit, giving me more to do when I returned to my Creation Plane.
"Whatever you want, I'm here for you. Shall we?" Venus said playfully, nudging me with her elbow.
"Let's get out of here then." I took control over the platform by spreading my will over it, using the power of intent to manipulate its movements. A portal opened up in front of us leading to the main gathering place of the Infinity Plane, through the portal I could see a magical city full of opportunities, making my blood boil.
"Damn, this is cool as fuck." I laughed to myself, calming the blood coursing through my veins. With a shake of my head, we set off on the platform, leaving the Heart of the Universe behind. As we went through the portal I turned back, gazing into the black space that acted as the core of the Heart.
"I'll be back one day, then you can tell me everything…" I told myself with a firm voice in my head, emotion visible in my eyes as we disappeared from the Heart.
Chapter End.