The thing about being on your own isn't that you have nobody to talk to or whine if you stub your toe. The thing is that if something threatens to go wrong, you have only yourself to trust to fix it. There is no safety net, and if you fuck up, you get into trouble. Or you die.

"Leave me alone, you ugly fucking mutt," I screamed as I sprinted up the hill.

An angry howl drowned out the low thudding from behind me. What the hell was my bad luck with dogs?

Twenty meters ahead of me stood a cliff with a narrow path leading inside. It was just wide enough for me to go through if I went sideways. That meant the dog couldn't get in, hopefully.

Two meters before I reached the narrow entrance, I could feel the dog's breath wafting in my back. Without looking, I waved my ax in a circle over my head. I felt it nick something, and immediately a pained howl followed, and the thudding halted for a moment. I practically jumped the last distance, turning sideways as I slid between the walls. It was a tight fit, and my leather tunic snagged on a stone edge.

Looking behind, I saw the dark grey hound leap forward, and I ripped the tunic in my haste to get further into the narrow chasm. The snap of the dog's jaws followed a loud thud as it slammed its shoulders into the sides. It tried to get inside, snarling in a frenzy, drool flinging my way.

"Fuck you!" I screamed, getting up, and with both left hands, I slashed my ax up, slamming the blade into the lower jaw of the hound. It felt like hitting a tree with a cardboard ax. With a howl and yip, the hound backed up, blood dripping on the ground from both the wound and it's now slightly shorter tongue. The small purple fleshy tip of his tongue lay in between us, twitching and moving like a decapitated worm.

"Take that!" I hissed, seeing the hound use it's front limbs to rub at its lips. Blood dripped from between its teeth, tainting them brown.

Seeing the hound glare at me with its burning red eyes, pacing in front of the entrance, I knew it wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. I turned and wormed my way further inside. Half a day on my own, I had already managed to get jumped, chased, and almost eaten.

There didn't seem to be an end to the narrow path. In the distance, darkness loomed as the walls above touched. Great, this was just bloody great. Twenty minutes later, the path turned so narrow that I could barely squeeze through. Seeing that it seemed to widen considerably not too far after, I continued, and when I finally squeezed out onto a gravel path, I frowned. There were sharp, straight lines across one of the walls, and it was far too smooth to be a natural thing.

Rubbing it, it reminded me of cold marble, and not at all like the grey, dusty sandstone I had just passed. Had I just found some kind of hidden ruin? Images of dungeons and epic loot began flitting through my mind, but I managed to shove the delusions away.

In the distance shone some light, which was good because it was starting to get far too dark for my liking. I followed the path until it widened enough for two people to easily walk side by side. The wall was long and still as smooth as before, and I was just wondering if it wasn't just some strange magical occurrence when I reached the light.

A small open area, completely enclosed except for the path I entered through, was illuminated by a massive overhead crystal. Angular, long, and blue, long crack lines ran along one side, that was noticeably darker. The rest seemed like a led-light I used to have as a kid. Below the crystal was an oval fountain with a dais. At one point, a statue had likely stood on it, but now only a single leg remained, its edge a line of jagged stone. Moving further, I saw a shattered stone statue in the now drained fountain. Seeing the long ears and the sharp face, my eyes widened.

Elves!

One side of the area was a massive closed gate, and opposite it was a square entrance. Looking around, I saw that the whole room must have been closed off, but something had torn a hole into the wall I entered through.

Looking at the entrance, I wondered what would be inside. Was it some ancient temple or a last refuge? Perhaps a-

"Prison..."

The whisper made my hairs stand on end, and I swiveled around, looking for who had spoken. No matter where I looked, I didn't see anything, and after a second, I turned to the statue. Had I imagined it? I shook my head. No, I hadn't. That left only one option…

I looked at the square entrance and carefully backed up towards the tear in the wall. Something that could read minds and was imprisoned by the elves sounded like a poor choice of conversation partner.

"Perhaps," the whisper came again. A bit louder this time, and now I was sure it came from the opening.

I stepped back through the wall, my ax in front of me.

"But, if you leave, you won't get what you want," the voice said, sounding sure of itself.

I continued backing up. There was no way I'd find something beneficial to me, just by running in a random-

"Not random."

I stopped, and my mouth went dry.

"Do you think that Demonhound just chased you by chance? Or that the bridge collapsed just due to bad luck?"

Crap. Either this thing was reading my mind and making things up as it went, or I'd been guided here against my will.

"Against your will? Perhaps. But we both have something the other needs."

Against my better judgment, I took a step forward.

"Who are you?" I asked. My voice sounded ragged and fearful even to my own ears.

"Someone who was imprisoned for the wrong reasons."

I shook my head. That was an odd thing to say. So there had been right reasons to imprison the thing?

"Who are you?" I asked again, and this time my voice was more as normal.

"Someone who was once one of the most powerful beings in this whole world," the voice said, and for a moment, I felt something touch my mind. An echo of something ancient and powerful played through me before leaving, and it left a sense of awe.

Trying to keep my thoughts to myself, which I had no idea how to or if it would even work, I wondered what I had stumbled upon now. Whatever it was, I didn't really have time to-

"You will never find the mages. They died eons ago."

"Fuck," I muttered. I'd definitely not thought of the mages since coming here, although the words did remind me of what that stupid thing had said.

"Guidar. Dimension hopping, world-conquering demonic AI that behave like locusts."

I sighed, my head hanging down. I was way out of my league here. This thing was either digging through my thoughts and telling me what I wanted to know or actually knew what was going on, and there was no way to know which was which.

Thinking for a few moments, I finally took another step forward. I was now standing a single step from entering the room again.

"Why did they lock you up?" I asked, wondering why I even bothered. What guarantee did I have that it would tell me the truth?

"You don't. They locked me because they thought I was responsible for bringing the Guidar to this world."

Blinking, I cocked my head. "Were you?"

There wasn't an immediate response as before, and I frowned.

"Partially…"

There was so much self-loathing and pain in the voice that my eyes almost watered in sympathy. The hell? Why was this thing influencing me this strongly? Was it messing with my mind?

"What are you?" I asked, getting a bad premonition.

"Long ago, I was one of the deities of the Sun elves. Before they were wiped out by the Guidar, together with all the others."

Fuck. This was a god? No, wait, the voice wasn't male… nor female for that matter. Shaking my head in confusion, I concentrated on what was more important. So I'd found a god of the Sun Elves, which were exterminated.

"Not found."

Grunting, I nodded my head, fully expecting the deity to see it. If this god or goddess had been a deity of the Sun Elves, as it said, nobody else must be worshipping it.

"If the Sun Elves are all extinct, why do you still exist?" I asked.

"Deities do not cease to exist if mortals stop worshipping them…" the voice sounded amused, and I shrugged. As if I knew anything about deities.

"Why didn't you guide someone else here before me?" I asked, still not even slightly sure of the fact that I should help, if I even could.

"I can't influence the others because they all belong to one of the others…"

"The other deities?" I asked automatically.

"Yes. A deity can only influence the occurrences around someone who is not affiliated with another deity."

That made sense, sort of. But why was this deity explaining all of this to me? If it was even the truth.

"Because I need to gain your trust," came the immediate reply.

"Could you stop reading my mind!?" I snapped.

"No. It would be too impractical if we have only words."

This thing almost sounded like a Vulcan, I thought.

"So, what do you need me to do?" I asked, deciding it wouldn't matter to at least know.

"To be released, to be free and regain favor, I need to be worshipped," the voice stated.

Wait, didn't it just say it didn't need mortal worship? Thinking for a moment, I realized it hadn't. It had only said it wouldn't cease to be, which was some odd way of saying they wouldn't die.

I had very little interest in worshipping anything, let alone something that had been locked away for god knows how long.

"So you want me to worship you?" I asked after a while.

"Yes," came the short answer.

Shaking my head, I took a step back.

"I don't want to worship anything."

"I know. But as soon as one of the evil or chaotic deities realizes you are here, they will give you no choice. They will enslave you."

I groaned, stopping my retreat. "Why?" I asked, wondering why they would even care for one more follower.

"Because you are one of the first of your kind here, and if you follow them, the natural balance will force many of the others to follow the deity you follow after they arrive here."

My mind froze, and for a moment, I couldn't believe what the thing just said.

"Yes. All of your kind will either have to come here or be consumed by the Guidar and eventually turned into AI."

This time I sat down, thinking of Earth and all of the things on it. How could they possibly come here, and why would they?

"The Guidar have left paths open between this world and the vessels they took to escape their prison. If I could sense one while imprisoned, the others will have already found others with paths like yours. They will be finding ways to draw more of you people here. With nothing but destruction on your world, many will come. Those who don't…."

The deity left the sentence hanging, and I sighed. There was so much information, so many things that could be lies, but I sensed there was truth in what was said. Perhaps because the deity made me feel it, I wasn't sure, but as I recalled the image outside the building during my last dream, I shivered.

"Why would those Guidar not come back here after they conquer earth?" I finally asked, trying to reason things out.

"They fear this dimension, the rules, and the magic we have here. The Guidar originate from a dimension where magic works like what you call computers, and all beings exist without a corporeal form. When they came, they tried to reshape the magic to fit their needs, but the magic resisted. The magic here is pure chaos, and only beings born from it can shape it. The backlash from creating the system reverberated through the portals back to their own dimension, shattering it, shoving it back to the Primal Chaos. The Deities here almost wiped them out, but those-"

"Wait, wait!" I shook my hands, taking deep breaths. "Too much information, too much!"

I tried to get a grip on all the things that had been said, but one thing was clear. What this deity said might be true, and if it was, Sandra would have joined another deity as its follower! Were followers of deities even allowed to-

"Calm your mind," the deity's voice had a calming effect, and I slowly regained my calm.

"Unless she follows one of the deities opposite of my belief, there is no problem. Only diametrically opposed deities will cause what you fear."

Drawing deep breaths, I shook my head. A day before, I had just been traveling with Haltir and Egilla across the plains, and now I was talking with a deity and contemplating becoming its first follower. Sitting on the ground, my back against the wall, I calmed my mind.

Minutes later, I tried to determine what I should do. Should I enter, with the risk of unleashing a monster in this world? I didn't want that, but… what if it was speaking the truth? I might be able to find a good, benevolent deity in time, or I'd get captured and enslaved. Again my mind threw a curveball my way. What if Sandra didn't reach Flowheart in time?

"Flowheart… if she follows her, that would be a good thing," the voice said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Her desires and plans correspond with what I have in mind."

Thinking for a moment, I knew I had to figure out what this deity was up to. "What are your plans and desires?"

"You wouldn't understand, no matter how much I try and make it tangible for you. Words in this language of yours don't exist for that."

"So, are you a good god?"

"God… such an odd term. I am a deity, and yes. I was and am a good deity. At least based on what your morals tell you entails good."

"So, what kind of deity are you?"

A burst of soft laughter came from the cave, sounding like music and birds.

"Now that is the question. I have been without followers for thousands of years, and my essence has been distilled down to its purest form. You could almost see me as a newborn, a fresh, unimprinted slate."

I tried picturing a deity as a whiteboard and somehow ended up with an image of a 2D game. Grinning, I shook my head.

"So, what does that mean?"

"It means that for the first time in hundreds, if not thousands of years, a mortal can imprint their need on a deity to shape its initial form. To make it easier to understand, if you come to me, connect with me as my first worshipper, what you imagine me to be, I will be."