When my vision returned, I was no longer in my room, instead I was in the stratosphere of a planet. The planet that I had seen on my phone. In a panic I began to do what anyone else would do, I began to try and rationalize the situation.
"I mean, hey maybe I'm just dreaming? There is no way this is real!"
However when I pinched myself, I felt a sensation I really didn't want to feel, pain.
'This isn't a dream! Then what could this be?'
[Welcome, God Michelangelo, to your first world!]
[This is the start to your universe, with the creation of other galaxies being automated for your ease. We will begin with just this world for now, and once you are a fully fledged God we can expand your responsibilities.]
[For now, you are able to adjust this world to your liking simply using your mind. If you ever want to exit MANIFEST mode, you can simply exit by thinking of leaving the planet.]
With that explanation, I decided to exit for now, to collect my thoughts before I lost my mind.
It was as soon as I thought of leaving, that my vision blacked out before returning to my room. I immediately lay down on the floor and felt that I had never missed the ground more than ever. Being in the stratosphere of that world made me feel uncomfortable. Even if I didn't have a fear of heights, being so high up still scared me.
I then took a deep breath, and then began to collect my thoughts.
"This thing... It called me a God? That world is my first one? So does that mean I have to manage everything? Maybe... Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try it out?"
I looked at the clock and saw that the time was now 3:45 PM, and I picked up the phone again. Clicking on the MANIFEST button, I delved back into that world.
****
When I arrived back in the stratosphere, I began to get used to moving around. First, I willed myself to fly around the planet, which felt very large. The world was almost five times as big as our world, while there was only one continent. This then reminded me of how Earth had Pangea, which then split into the continents we knew of now. However, since this was my planet, I didn't see a point in doing that right now. I wanted to see how the life on the planet would deal with one giant continent.
Speaking of life... I didn't sense any. I wasn't sure how, but I was acutely aware of everything on the planet, and I mean everything. I could tell the way the wind was forming, at every part of the world, or how the waves were going to grow. The direction of the currents or the wind, I could even feel rain clouds forming at different parts of the world.
'I really am the God of this world... Maybe I need to.. Create life?'
With that thought, I thought of single cells organisms, then willed them into existence on the planet. They had the same anatomy as cells in my world, and I waited for them to begin populating the world naturally. I felt billions of organisms in my consciousness, all at the same time, which caused a massive burned in my mind to form.
I felt the crushing weight of sensory overload, when suddenly a prompt appeared before me.
[Upgrading your mind to the level of a God.]
I instantly felt the weight disappear, feeling like my mind expanded, along with my consciousness. I could still feel every single organism, but it no longer weighed on me. I was watching a bunch of single celled organism begin to move around. There wasn't anything interesting though, as they simply floated around in liquids, or on the ground, moving around. I decided I would also begin to change the landscape, since I didn't know how long the cells would take to evolve.
I started with creating grass, weeds, trees, and all the typical things you would find in a forest. After I finished populating the forest, I began to create other topographies. Deserts, artic lands, jungles, and much more. I tried to focus on adding as much different plant life as I could remember, before leaving the planet to it's own devices.
It was then, right before I exited, that I offhandedly wished that time would speed up.
It was then that I suddenly felt time accelerate on this planet. I felt everything that happened during that time, vividly. It was so much, that I began to lose my consciousness, but I was able to shout 'stop' in my mind before my vision went completely black.
****
When I woke up, I was simply floating in the air, feeling a throbbing pain in my head. It was slowly going away, but it still hurt.
'What the fuck was that... I felt like.. I've lived millions of years... I feel.. Old...'
I felt like I had indeed existed for millions of years, but I didn't feel the burned out feeling of having been consciously thinking the entire time. I just felt like I had... Existed. Watching time pass by as nothing more than an eternal observer.
I realized now, once my head had cleared up, that there were different forms of life now. I saw animals begin to form in the oceans and ponds. Without limbs, they simply squirmed. I added a few creatures that had fins and basic limbs, before leaving the planet.
****
Once out of the app, I felt oddly... small. In my real world, or I guess I should say the world my body resided in. I looked around my single room apartment and felt the urge to clean. I spent the next half hour cleaning, before finally taking a break. I swiped the back of my hand across my forehead wiping sweat off it. I then took a look at the clock and was stunned to realized it was only 5 PM. It hadn't even been an hour and a half since I went back into the app, but for me it felt like millions of years.
'This app.. Is confusing... Just a couple hours ago I was worried about losing my job and now I had experienced the reality of time. Life... In comparison I feel like worrying about a job is so insignificant.'
As I thought these things, I began to make myself an omelet, since eggs and cheese were all I really had at the moment. I didn't care about the taste, as I felt that wasn't important, just eating was all I cared about. Once done, I began to feel bored just sitting in my apartment, so I opened the phone again and began to look at the other apps. One was labeled 'Chat' while another was 'Inbox'.
I clicked on Chat, and a typical messaging app appeared. However it seemed like there was only one room, and I was already in it.
[Michelangelo has joined the chat.]
[Silvanus: Welcome, Michelangelo! You must be a new! This is the chat for us Minor Gods. Feel free to talk about whatever you like here, but be warned that insulting one of the Middle or Higher Gods can result in them getting upset. If you have any questions feel free to @ me.]
[Merlin: Welcome! If you need any help testing a magic formula for your world feel free to ask me anything!]
'Is that... THE Merlin? From the King Arthur legend? The first Wizard. I never heard of Silvanus... Perhaps they're from a different universe... Maybe I should say a short greeting.'
[Michelangelo: Thanks for the warm welcome, I am still learning so please take care of me. *Bow**Bow*]
[Adonis: Hahaha! This new guy is funny! Do you like working out or are you one of those nerds like Merlin?]
[Merlin: Shut it you muscle head.]
[Adonis: XD]
...
I decided to close out the chat for now, as I didn't see any information that was very important, and I didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation. I decided to try and continue with my world building.
'Manifest.'
The familiar feeling of entering the world came, and I noticed my world had changed significantly. There was a vibrant ecosystem in the oceans now. I wanted to come closer but I was afraid of being attacked, since I saw so many creatures who's size was absolutely absurd.
[You are ethereal and undetectable right now. You cannot materialize or make your presence known until you have believers and enough faith.]
I took that as a sign that the app was able to read my thoughts to an extent, or maybe just able to sense questions I had.
Either way, I had the go ahead now. So I flew into the ocean, and began to move along with the creatures that came to be. They were beautiful, and infinitely unique. I saw so many different creatures, and I began to get an idea of the kind of world I wanted to build.
I looked for a creature that because to match what I wanted to do. I roamed through the world, heading towards where I knew it hid. Closer to the coral reefs, and near the underwater caves, I found it.
A small creature that had arms, but instead of legs it had a single large fin. I tweaked the direction of it's evolution, by creating a small net and having it float into a cave where these creatures stayed. I watched as it used the net to begin to catch fish, to eat. I watched for hundreds of years, helping the young creatures that had the genetics I wanted to live love than they naturally should. I offered visions of buildings, how to structure them, and other various things.
I then decided to wait while they developed, and I also decided to introduce other races into this world.
I started by creating land creatures, while doing the same thing of giving them basic limbs and guiding their evolutionary paths.
Millions of years passed again, and I watched them create nations. I saw the different races finally get to the point where I could influence them again. I began to flesh out the details.
I created the Elves, giving them increased agility which allowed them to thrive incredibly well within the forests, and increased lifespans. I moved Dwarves to Mountains, Orcs to more arid forests, and created more races. Humans were my weakest creation, and although I was a Human I was feeling completely impartial. I was happy with all of my creations, and while I didn't like seeing them fight, I knew it was natural.
My sentient races were now fleshed out, but I wanted to do something more. I wanted to introduce mana to this world, but I didn't know how. So I left the world, which I had named Arsenia, and looked at the chat.
I put in a simple message asking how to get mana to appear in my world, and I got a reply back pretty quickly.
[Merlin: Oh, you don't have mana yet? Well, you just have to create the laws of your magic, then will it. It's that easy. However you should be careful about the foundation for your magic, as the laws you set will be hard to modify when sentient creatures have experienced the old ways.]
[Silvanus: Of course you can always just do a simple dark age, and have it be lost as Ancient Magic, but that comes with it's own complications.]
[Michelangelo: Thank you all, I appreciate it! Let me know if there is any way I can be of help to any of you.]
[Merlin: It's okay! We are all here to help each other improve, just don't forget us when you become a big shot! Haha!]
I made small talk after that, joking around with Merlin and Silvanus, until I bid farewell and went back into my world.
I now was sure, that I could create whatever I wanted, as long as I created the necessary laws of the universe. With that, I began to flesh out something I wanted to do.
I was now trying to create a 'System' for all creatures to use.