***The World***

***Ascathon***

I appear in my hidden hideout, humming happily as I carry the corpse down a long corridor and into my laboratory. My personal place is a huge, hollowed-out cavern deep down in the world's crust, layered so heavily with protection spells that pretty much nobody has access to it. It's only possible to enter by using the pathways and by knowing exactly where to go. It's my little safe-haven, though I have a suspicion that it won't help me against the Council's world-enchantment.

That would require me to disconnect this place completely from the flow of energy which links the amulet around my neck to the world. I suppose it would be possible if my laboratory didn't happen to be on the exact same world on which the Council stationed me for their experiment.

I take a moment to ponder that little fact. Out of the countless worlds throughout the multiverse, they chose exactly the place where I set up my hideout. It's possible that they simply made their choice based on the assumption that I have a hidden base on this world. But throughout the centuries I have learned to always make my decisions based on the worst possible scenario. That would mean that they can track my movements and know where I tend to disappear to. Which means that they know about my hideout, but can't enter it without causing attention or expending a lot of energy. Somehow I doubt that people with an ego like Tjenemit's would hold back on educating me on my weaknesses.

If he could, he would already be here and lording it over me like some petulant bully.

Not to mention El Shaddai, the leader of the Council. If there is an opportunity to make someone weaker than him kowtow, then he takes it. The only grace is that I hopefully went beneath their radar up until now. The only Council member who I was unfortunate enough to have regular contact with is Tjenemit. He is powerful, yes, but at the same time, he isn’t the brightest of the bunch.

I look down at the pale body in my arms. One might think that she is already dead, but thanks to my enchantments there is still a spark of life in there. Karin impressed me by gouging out her own innards, proving that her hatred for whatever was done to her is stronger than her will to live. She even was ready to abandon the life that was growing inside of her.

A move I would have also taken, had I been raped.

When she negotiated with me I took a few short glimpses into her mind and what I saw was a confused child who had to endure more than someone her age should. I guess that’s also why she isn’t behaving like a child her age should. Just by looking at her, I can tell that her soul is strong. In her past lives, she must have become pretty strong several times, but she hasn't quite reached the threshold that's necessary to keep some of her memories.

While Fluffy is scurrying around the room, innocently playing with some of its toys which are splayed out on the floor, I put Karin down on an operating table in the left section of my lab.

Even if I revived Karin right now with healing magic, there would probably be too much brain damage for her soul to connect properly with her physical body. So, first I have to repair the damage and improve on some things.

Luckily, I acquired some pretty nifty gadgets from other worlds. The multiverse is full of crafty people, so a god just has to know where to go when he needs something. There are worlds out there which are so advanced that even medicine is sold in form of neat, automated devices.

I have pretty much no clue about biology, medicine, or healing altogether, so having a stash of this equipment is always handy.

All I have is a high-level healing spell which I learned from a powerful priest. Then I trained it for months until I started casting it half asleep. There is also some of the necromantic knowledge which was imparted on me by an immortal benefactor who I always regarded as family. Sadly, she vanished and I never found out where she went, something that happens to a lot of new gods.

I have an inkling that the Council is responsible, but there is no proof.

Getting to work, I get girl's body cleaned up and inject her with some medicine-injector that's supposed to help with cell regeneration. Though, one of the medical scanners informs me that the damage is so extensive that I should consider replacing her innards altogether. Wandering off, I rummage through the forlorn hall, searching through my impressive assembly of abandoned experiments.

Good twenty minutes later, I return with a large, red orb. It's a monster core which I ripped out of a dragon patriarch who crossed me.

Some of the more powerful creatures in the multiverse develop a core of solid mana crystal which interfaces with their bodies. It's a weakened version of the true, blue mana crystals which can be found at the middle of all things.

In my research, I gathered several of these cores, since they seem to be the key to artificially created mana crystals.

Creatures with such cores also have it indefinitely easier to manipulate mana. On the other hand, a core is a big weakness that will be targeted by enemies who know about it, so I am not a fan of having one. For the girl, though, it will be a big upgrade and help in healing her body.

After inserting the core into her abdomen, I attach her to various healing machines which should aid in blood regeneration and cell replacement. To aid the process, I get a med-kit from a technologically advanced world.

Upon placing the robot in the form of a suitcase on her chest, the machine unfolds like a cage above her and starts automatically administering first-aid. I watch as the med-kit sews her wounds shut after scanning her body.

Spending a minute to ensure that there won't be any scars, I watch the process and use some of my necromantic knowledge to rid the girl's body of some of its mortal flaws.

Then, all that's left to do is to wait for her to wake up.

Scowling at my hands, I turn to Fluffy, who is licking up some of the gore which dripped off the operating table. “We both need a bath.”

Bending down, I try to pick up the kitten, but find myself under a dark night's sky.

“Not again!”

My scream resounds wide and loud through the empty wilderness around me. Groaning, I get back up to deal with whatever shit the world enchantment decided to throw at me. I guess that I should be happy that I wasn’t interrupted while operating on Karin.

I am inside a pentagram made out of blood, most likely taken from the group of moaning and crying mortals who are lying in their death throes just a few feet away.

“God! Ascathon, you heard my plea!”

A man in black plate armour falls to his knees, grovelling in front of me and giggling madly. “Ever since you answered my call, I tried to gain your attention for further instruction!”

Watching him squirm, I get the feeling that he doesn’t have all his marbles together. I clear my throat, not certain of what to say. “Who are you?”

He looks up, but his non-distinct face rings no bells. No wonder, because I tend to remember most mortals by their clothes. It's easier that way. For example, torn rags are easiest remembered as generic peasant A, or, people in leather armour as random soldier Z. Though... black plate armour is new.

“I am too unworthy of your indoctrination? I beg you to forgive me! In my quest for seeing you again, I weathered storms and monsters, bandits and even other gods! It’s a miracle that I survived!”

“I see,” I grumble. It slowly dawns on me that this might be the warrior who I first met when this whole debacle began. I kind of flipped out that day and gave my best to break him, having him massacre enemies and comrades alike, just to teach him the folly of mortals.

“I set out on a quest after receiving your guidance! In your name, I slew everyone who wished to exert their will over others!”

“That's good,” I answer, hoping that he gets on with it.

“I struck them down in the most heinous ways, ensuring that their suffering isn't over quickly!” He points at the group of moaning people. “I even started recruiting for a holy order in your name! The Knights of Chaos will spread your will into the farthest corners of the land! We will tear down the suppression of the light wherever we can find it!”

Okay, let's take a step back. I think this guy didn't get the hint. I never wanted a group of people to pray to me. “Stop it. Didn't I tell you that I don't want to be worshipped? You were supposed to make sure that people don't summon me randomly!”

“Yes, and I thought long and hard about how to accomplish such a twisted task. Because, which god doesn't want to be acknowledged? That's when I realized that only if people actually believe in you, they won't accidentally summon you like I did! When I called upon you the first time, I also didn't actually expect to be answered. Hence, I gathered a group of people and indoctrinated them to spread your teachings.”

Does that mean that there are already mortals running all over the place, preaching in my name!? I open my mouth to protest but stop myself just in time.

I raise a hand but fail to find the weakness in his twisted logic. The fellow has a few screws loose, but he is right that the random summons won't stop if people aren't aware that I am real. If they believe in me, then at least the coincidental summons won't happen that frequently... which gives me more time to take care of my own stuff.

“Okay, maybe you are right,” I admit. “How do you intend to spread my word?”

“With my battle-ax, my lord! We will split their heads and chop off their arms, just like you taught me to!” He hefts his oversized weapon which was lying next to him, a wicked two-bladed halberd. I refrain from educating him on the differences between an axe and a halberd.

“We will propagate the freedom of thought, fighting oppression with violence of the most heinous sort! We will bath in their blood until even the most wicked of them realize the errors of their ways!”

I don't think that will actually work, but just maybe it will? It can't hurt me to let him do as he pleases... for now. “Okay. We will do the following. You will found this Order, and then you will build me a castle as the base of a new, enlightened country. Inside it, there will be a temple, dedicated to me.” That should keep him busy for a while. “Then you can call me again and I will give you a set of rules of how to proceed.”

And if he fails and dies, then that's one problem off my mind.

***The World***

***Karin***

I awoke in something akin to a grotto.

The cool air causes me to shiver as I notice the cold metal on my naked skin. Surveying my surroundings, I freeze in shock at the sight of beeping artefacts with blinking lights, some of them connected to me. I look down on myself in horror, counting dozens of needles stabbed through my skin. Did someone try to torture me while I was unconscious?

Then the memories come back and I shudder, hoping that everything was just a bad dream. Though, another part of me wishes at the same time that it was real. That I had succeeded in punishing those who had wronged me and my family. That I had brought down hell upon them with my own hands.

And then I committed suicide.

Strange, shouldn't I hurt much more than I do? Do dead people feel pain? I pat down my body, which feels fine aside from the needles. Suddenly, I remember that I was stupid enough to strike a bargain with a deity who was associated with necromancy and undeath!

But to my surprise, I find no definite proof of being some kind of zombie. My skin is smooth and unblemished, bare of any scars. Even the birthmark next to my belly button is gone. Though a little pale, my previously anorexic body is now almost healthy. Any signs of the months of slavery I had endured were gone. For some reason, my body was now in a perfect condition.

But my clothes were still a gory reminder of what had transpired.

So I didn't dream.

My hands start shaking as I try to pull out some of the needles which connect me through tubes to various artefacts, unknown fluids flowing through them. This isn’t some kind of afterlife. Someone put me back together.

“Meow?”

I stiffen and look down at where the sound came from. The god’s kitten is sitting there, looking up at me with its head tilted.

“You gave me a fright.” I sigh in relief and continue my work, trying to ignore the strangeness of my surroundings. The cavern looks too unnatural for me to be comfortable with it. The walls are far away, but even from a distance, I can see that they are too smooth. Then there is the ground which looks like obsidian. Is this truly a cave, or am I inside a building? But shouldn’t a building have windows?

Glancing up, I study the unnatural lights at the ceiling which illuminate the large space with more power than any candle could. I’ve seen magicians use magic to summon light-globes, but they always had to power the spell personally. There are stories about ancient magitech which is capable of feats which seem impossible with today’s standards. Many adventurers explore the ruins of ancient civilisations to gather the remnants our predecessors left behind.

But I am just a village girl. All I can go by are the stories I heard from others.

My silent musings are interrupted by the appearance of the god. Out of nowhere, he appears in a flash of sparks and flicks my forehead with a finger.

“Are you trying to undo all my work?” He looks down at the kitten. “Do you see that? You save someone and they repay you by trying to kill themselves.” Taking one of the many artefacts on the table with the blinking lights next to us, he aims it at me.

“You are lucky. It seems like you haven’t undone any of my work with your hastiness to get up.” He puts the instrument aside.

“Wh- What would have happened?” I ask, unsure of how to address him.

“I would have had to redo everything of course… and this time you wouldn’t have had the luxury of being unconscious.” He gestures for me to get up.

“What did you do to me? What do you want? I- I never told you to save me.” The words are out before I can stop myself.

He shakes his head, looking mirthful. “It seems like we have a slight misunderstanding. The gods aren’t under some kind of compulsion to help mortals. Well, we are, but as you probably heard, the mortal’s well-being is secondary to us. There is a deeper meaning to our reasons, and I care not a bit about a single person’s fate. Now, get up and follow me while I explain your situation.”

I do as told and get to my feet, feeling a little strange. My body’s movements are a little off and it’s only then that I realize that I somehow grew a few centimetres. It doesn’t change the fact that the strange man is still towering above me.

Now that I get a real look at his handsome face, I realize that his short-cut hair is as black as the fine leather he is wearing. At some point, he cleaned himself up, now looking more like a real god. His choice of wardrobe is a mixture of leather and a robe, all kept in black.

His eyes though, two orbs of dark emptiness which seem to suck in all the light. They draw me in like a noble’s jewels at the market. More so, I can’t look away.

He nods, gesturing for me to follow, weaving a path through the artefacts inside the grotto. “Your determination impressed me. I gave you the power, but I never thought you capable of burning down that village. And ripping out the flesh of your own body just to-”

“Please stop!” I call out, not wanting to remember any of it. My hands ball into fists and my whole body shakes in rage as I am reminded of my weakness, my inability to protect myself. “It will never happen again. Before that, I’ll kill myself. Now I know that I can do it! Just tell me why you brought me back,” I whisper.

He waves his hand in a circling gesture. “I wanted to make you an offer you can’t refuse. Become my assistant and help me handle my affairs on this world. You will speak in my name and spread my will. Of course, you need to be taught first.”

I look down at the floor, trying to sort out the implications of such an offer. “I would become like the necromantic empress? The Mirai princess who conquered the world and ruled it for a thousand years? They said she was a god but was she, in reality, your puppet?” I look down, searching the floor for the ghost-cat which is a trademark for the Mirai necromancers. In every story, the Mirai always appear with their familiars, ghost cats. But the fluffy thing is nowhere to be seen.

“Ha!” He snorts and deviates from his previous path. “Let me show you something. The faster you get the reality of things, the easier it will be for me. First, there are other worlds out there. Countless worlds! Second, there is something you would call an immortal soul. The strength of the soul determines your lot in life. There are mortals, like you. If you die, you enter the stream of souls. Some also call it the white planes. There, you are nothing more than energy, drifting through the multiverse until you find a proper anchor point in reality, a physical body. Once you reincarnate on one of the countless worlds by being reborn, you may or may not retain the memories of your past life or lives.”

He continues his mad speech, dropping more information on me than I can handle at the moment. But I don’t dare to interrupt him, so that means to just shut up and listen to whatever he is willing to share.

“Mortals, such as you, have the shittiest lot. They forget everything during the reincarnation process and have to start as clean slates. Then there are a lucky few who managed to live very long lives several times in a row, allowing their soul to grow stronger and become more deeply connected to the physical plains. Those people may become immortals at some point, people who remember their past lives.

“Once an immortal breaks through the threshold which separates their physical anchor from their soul, they gain access to immense power. They are able to tap into the streams of power which connect the entire multiverse, the pathways. As far as mortals are concerned, those beings may as well be gods. They hold enough power at their fingertip to lay waste to entire worlds.”

We walk in silence, and I realize that he is giving me time to come to terms with what he just said. “Excuse me, but that’s not how the temple teaches it. They say that depending on your deeds, you will end up in heaven or hell...”

“Pah!” He waves his hand. “Do you want to believe the guy who is able to actually take your soul, or the charlatans who are trying to befuddle your wits and turn you into a compliant little slave?”

There isn’t much to think about. “The one who can hold souls in his hands?”

“Good choice!” He grumbles. “Where were we? Oh, right! Souls. I only chose you because I see potential in you to become like me. Otherwise, I would never bother myself with a mortal. They die and then they are gone. Become too attached to them and you will end up with a broken heart. That brings me back to dying. Avoid that at all costs. Like I said, even immortals pay the price of reincarnation with lost memories and the earlier in life you die, the steeper the price becomes.”

We arrive at two large glass-tubes, large enough to hold a human. One is empty, but inside the other is a woman so beautiful that I am left speechless. With pale skin and raven-black hair, she could as well be the god’s sister. Dressed in a regal regalia made out of gold, even in her seemingly comatose state, she makes my breath stutter just by watching her.

“Let me introduce you. Nova Mirai, the bane of the world, as they now call me. The one who told the idiots up above that slavery and suppression of free will is bad and all the other things they didn’t want to hear.” He wriggles his fingers mockingly. “And as it stands, my former body. Until I decided to kill myself.”

I force my eyes away from the glass sarcophagus and look at him. “Didn’t you just say that dying is bad? And why are you a man now?” That hints at some peculiarities to his character I could have gone without knowing.

“Yes.” He scratches his chin. “But I had my reasons for killing myself. Scientific ones and the hope to escape the Council. Alas, that didn’t work as planned. Nonetheless, I am happy to be a man again.” Waving his hand, he gestures for me to turn around. “But that isn’t important to you. The reason I showed you this was just to make a point of my teachings. Reincarnation always fucks with you, so don’t try it for fun.”

If he means that it fucks with someone’s mind, then I’ll gladly accept the warning. He has to know.

He guides me to another part of the grotto, where its ceiling lowers down and the walls narrow into a long corridor. I realize that the grotto itself is a tear-shaped space and that we are now leaving through the tip of the tear.

To each side of the corridor are doors, and the obsidian floor is replaced with an elaborate and expensive looking carpet. It makes the area far more hospitable than the dark and ominous grotto.

The god gives me a quick introduction, pointing at doors as we walk. “These lead to storage spaces. Then we have a pool and sanitary facilities, followed by living quarters and a kitchen to the left. Personal bedrooms to the right. Pick any you want, except for the first two. They are already in use and won’t open for you.”

“Two are in use?” I ask.

“Yes. One for me and the other belongs to my maid. She takes care of these facilities while I am gone.” He suddenly calls out, making me flinch, “Willow! Where are you slouching around?”

“Ascathon? You are back.” A voice comes from where the god indicated the living rooms to be. “What was that yesterday? You just stormed into your laboratory with that corpse in your arms and completely ignored me.”

A woman with silver skin and white hair steps into the corridor, parading her complete nakedness without an ounce of shame. Her milky, white eyes settle on me, and she grins, giving me goosebumps. Raising her arms and involuntarily pushing her ridiculously huge assets together, she pouts upon seeing my obvious rejection for whatever she had in mind for me. My eyes are naturally drawn to the bouncy display and I look down at my own nubile body. It feels stupid, especially after the experiences I had with men, but just by looking at her I feel somehow diminished.

Then she squeals. “Look at that! You revived the cutie! Will we adopt her?”

Ascathon shakes his head. “Don’t call it an adoption. I will make her my avatar in the world once she is ready. Which means that you will teach her the ropes. That reminds me, I still have to tell you about the latest shit the Council dropped on me.”

The woman approaches with long elegant strides, allowing me to see every inch of her perfectly smooth body. My heart sinks at seeing a big, green eleven hovering in front of her bouncy assets. Then I blush upon noticing that there is not a single hair on her perfect body, except for the smooth, white mane on her head.

Before I can stop her, she picks me up, crushing me to her chest. “You are really giving her to me? She must be special if you took an interest in her.”

The god chuckles. “Right now she is an unhewn stone, Willow. But I see the potential to turn her into a diamond.”