When my vision returns to normal, I notice that I've moved to a large office. I'm sitting in one of two chairs in front of an ornate wooden desk, and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line the walls around me. Overall, the room has the ambiance of the dean's office at my college.
Across the desk, a man is sitting in an expensive-looking high-backed leather chair. He has sandy blonde hair that is probably shoulder-length normally, but it's currently pulled back into a neat man bun. He is almost comically handsome, with a chiseled jaw line and light stubble that matches his hair. His physique is similarly impressive, boasting a tall, lean frame covered by a thick layer of muscle that is evident even through his clothes.
In laughable contrast, his attire screams 'bookworm'. He is wearing a black turtleneck sweater underneath a white lab coat, and his face sports plain round glasses that look suspiciously ornamental. Overall, I'd describe his vibe as a Hemsworth LARPing as a tv scientist.
Is this guy the god of Azura?
When I first arrived, god-scientist Hemsworth was leaning over his desk reading a book, but after noticing my presence he looks up to meet my gaze. Pushing his glasses up on his nose, he offers me a polite but businesslike smile.
"Ah, Mizuki I presume? It's very nice to meet you. My name is Azazel, and I'm the god responsible for Azura. From what Dio told me, it sounds like you've been through quite the ordeal! I hope you're feeling a little better now. Can I offer you any refreshments?" (Azazel)
Azazel materializes a bottle of water in his hand and gently offers it to me. The label reads 'Heavenly Water'. Huh, I guess every god has their own sense of humor.
"T-T-Thank you, that's very kind of you. Having the secrets of the universe dumped on me by an indifferent god – sorry, godling – was a little overwhelming. However, I'm very happy to be here now, so thank you very much for this opportunity." (Mizuki)
As I respond to his greeting, I nervously grab the water bottle from him. Maybe my past interactions with Dio are making me suspicious, but I'm downright on edge about how pleasant this guy is. Also, the name 'Azazel' sounds vaguely like a powerful demon from Earth mythology. Am I really this jaded?
"Tch…yes, I apologize for any unscrupulous behavior on Dio's part. Even among deities he's somewhat of an acquired taste. In his defense, godlings' personalities are amalgamations of the beliefs they incarnate from. Naturally, a being that personifies partying and entertainment might be a little…dramatic…so, I hope that you'll forgive him." (Azazel)
Jeez…he's being generous with his defense of Dio. Putting aside the fact that Dio totally doesn't deserve anyone's compassion, it's obvious that Azazel is a good dude. He's orders in magnitude more likable than Dio – this soon after meeting, Dio had already insulted me at least three times.
If it'll put Azazel's heart at ease, I think I can stomach letting Dio off the hook, at least outwardly.
"Please, no need to worry. At the end of the day, Dio brought me back from the brink of death and advocated for me getting this opportunity, so I should be quite grateful to him when you think about it!" (Mizuki)
While true, I'll cut out my own tongue before I ever admit that to Dio. However, Azazel seems to take this at face value as I'd hoped. He lets out a smile filled with relief.
"Excellent! So then, about transferring to this world…how much did Dio tell you?" (Azazel)
"Err…that there were humans living on Azura as well as a wide variety of other species, including several intelligent ones. He mentioned that this world is plentiful in magic, but much less scientifically advanced than Earth. Oh! He also implied that people transplanting to other worlds is something you have experience with?" (Mizuki)
As I recount the limited information I got from Dio, Azazel listens intently while resting his chin on his clasped hands. He nods along politely to my statements, seemingly acknowledging their truth.
"Very well, that's a reasonable starting point. Allow me to give you a short summary of the history of Azura." (Azazel)
In terms of politeness and thoroughness, explanations from Azazel are far superior to those from another jackass deity I won't name. Apparently, Azazel is considered somewhat of an oddball among deities, since he finds mortals fascinating and loves studying them.
Originally, Azura was only home to humans and several unintelligent species. However, whenever Azazel would meet with other gods for one reason or another, he'd also take the opportunity to check out the planets they governed.
Whenever he found a new species that interested him, he would appeal to the local god of that planet to let him transplant some of those beings to Azura. To minimize the impact, he'd just revive beings of that species that recently died and de-age them, if necessary, then transfer them to Azura. He'd repeat this over several days until he had enough to jumpstart the population.
For newly transferred intelligent species, he'd introduce himself and explain the situation. As a result, every species on Azura started out aware of Azazel's existence and his status as the only god of the planet. He also apparently told them that he had no intention of interfering, except to transfer new species or prevent planetary-level extinction events. So, he emphasized that they were free to live their lives however they wished, and their lives would be the result of their own efforts and chance.
Since all these new species spoke different languages from their home planets, and Azazel wanted to minimize friction between the residents of Azura, he imbued every new resident with the ability to speak a common language already known by the human tribes indigenous to Azura.
Over time, the various intelligent species of Azura passed down all this knowledge through the generations. Because everyone started off knowing about the state of gods and godlings on Azura, and they were clearly told that they'd be on their own, no godlings have been born. The only thing close to a religion is a deistic one centered on Azazel.
I asked Azazel how all these different forms of independently evolved life can coexist on a single planet. I worried that species from different planets would need different atmospheres, carry strange pathogens that are uniquely dangerous, not fit into the same ecosystems or food chains, or be otherwise incompatible with one another. Apparently, the reason this isn't an issue is because all forms of life across the universe share a common ancestry.
According to Azazel, gods didn't come up with the idea of carbon-based lifeforms. It was just some absurdly rare chance occurrence that only ever happened once, and the deities that found it just nurtured its evolution, then copied and modified it to spread life across the universe. The most common intelligent species now is humans, by far.
Planets deemed potentially suitable for this type of life are assigned to gods, who then tweak the planet's conditions until carbon-based life can thrive. He explained that creating full Earth-like conditions from scratch, or even significantly altering barren planets and star systems to mimic them, is a feat beyond even gods, so surveying for suitable planets is quite important.
So, there you have it, the history of why Azura is such a diverse and vibrant world. As best he could calculate, Azazel has been accumulating species on Azura for hundreds of thousands of years, but the last new species transplant was over ten thousand years ago. So, the societies on Azura have mostly stabilized.