Acedia POV:

Instead of verbally explaining, I decided to use her as a guinea pig.

It sounds a lot worse than it is, hopefully.

“Well, Death and the Devil were threatening my realm, so I decided to strengthen my borders a bit with my recently acquired mastery over Creation.”

So I gave this incredibly inadequate explanation on purpose.

Not that I could explain it even if I tried.

After all, ever since the world came to be, I’ve never had anyone to truly talk to, let alone people who’ll listen to what I say.

So my conversational skills, aside from voicing my anger or hatred, are severely lacking.

And that’s why I decided to use this opportunity to see how I can create other powers, in this case some sort of power to transfer memories.

In a way, this could be done via a Soullink, but then I would still need to actively explain it through my mind, although problems with wording would be eliminated.

But I just want something that is instantaneous, to explain what happened without needing to put in any effort.

As expected, their faces indicated they didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d get that, so let me just show you.”

I said to Emily in a serious tone.

I shifted my gaze towards Anna and Damien.

Should I just let them know too?

Even though they are simple mortals now, they’ve seen many things a mortal would never witness.

Besides, I still need to ask them whether they want to be mortals or want to either be like Emily is now, an Immortal, or like me, an existence tied to a specific or multiple different powers, basically a God.

I’ll explain it to them too, so they know what it means to choose between mortality, Immortality and Godhood.

"Let me show all three of you."

I said smilingly to Anna and Damien.

I summoned something I already knew how to do; a golden thread of Creation.

Both the powers of Energy and Souls consist out of threads; purple for Energy, although the density of Energy could turn it anywhere from invisible to black; and white for Souls, although mending a Soul after damage done to it could lead to various discolourations.

So the basis of everything are these golden threads.

I made a single strand in my mind and tried figuring out what to do next.

When creating the power of Energy or Soul, I could simply imagine it without sparing much effort, since I already own these two powers and know intimately what they are.

Creating a new one should be the same; simply imagine what it feels like and the thread of Creation will create it.

However, how do you imagine a new power?

Energy and Soul have many restrictions placed upon them, like Energy converting into matter when the boundaries are reached, or the Soul attaching itself to matter capable of supporting life.

Both these powers are allowing for my realm to exist and work together in synergy, so to make a new power, it should somehow be linked to this world.

That was the problem.

But thankfully, for this power, it was rather easily fixed.

The Soullink already allows for a sort of telepathy, so why not improve upon it?

Why not give some, if not all, Souls the power to establish a connection and send a thought or memory through it in its entirety?

So, I did.

Using the golden thread, I imagined this power, making the golden thread turn into a blue thread, and then connected that single strand among the many other strands that incorporate my Soul.

It was the basics of Mind Magic; the power to send thoughts and, if strong enough, impose your will onto others.

To try it out, I separated one end of the thread from my Soul and shot the now-disconnected part towards Emily, connecting to her Soul without any resistance.

It felt amazing!

Even a single thread allowed me to send my memories, thoughts and feelings through it without effort!

Can you imagine what I could do if I separated from this Soul and become this newly created Mind Magic?

If I created enough threads to connect to everyone, I could make anyone alive turn into my personal puppets!

With this, I could counter the instinctive hatred mortals have for me, just like that.

What an amazing power, and created so easily too!

Although, if the ownership of this power was given to someone else, it would be terrifying...

Emily hadn’t noticed it yet, so I gathered my thoughts and memories, and tried to select the necessary ones out of these.

If I wanted to, I could instantly let her realise my whole life-story, but to condense 257 billion years into a single thought?

It seems like something that could easily break her.

Instead, I gathered my memories from the encounter with her look-a-like, the conversation with the Devil, my perspective of the encounter with Death, my ascension and realisation of the Devil’s tricks, and the discovery of the Furnace of Creation along with the way she helped me attain its power.

Also, as a bonus, I gave her some knowledge about how Energy, Souls, how other powers work and also some of my plans for the future.

Gathering these all, I somehow ‘pushed’ these through the connecting blue thread of Mind Magic and sent them to Emily.

The effect was immediate.

Emily POV:

One moment, I knew nothing, was confused and lost in the world.

Although things have become better lately, that doesn’t mean life is all peachy, no, the opposite is still the case.

When I was sixteen I saw my father get killed in front of me and my mother broken beyond repair by some guy who was supposed to be the family’s benefactor.

Then, for the next three thousand years, I was first shunned by all and then hated, hunted down for a reason I could not comprehend.

I became more and more bitter and eventually began to slaughter those that hunted me and afterwards using their bodies and Souls to create monstrosities.

Forever running, forever hiding, forever fighting; such was how I saw the future, and I blamed it all on one man.

And then, seemingly from one moment to the next, everyone was gone by some virus that spread around like wildfire.

I became alone for the next ten million years, rebuilding the city my mother once made great along with the thousands of mindless servants I created.

During this alone time, I blamed everything on him, deceived myself I couldn’t have done anything to better my life and simply wasted away.

When he finally resurfaced I confronted him, expecting to find a man so vile, so evil that simply his presence would corrupt the world.

What I found, however, was a man like me, except hundreds of thousands of times older than I and much, much more hurt.

Even though he had killed my father, I could sympathise with him, though never truly like him.

Even just a moment ago, indebted to him for saving the two lives I truly cared about as well as sparing me an eternity in an empty space, I felt very uncomfortable around him.

After all, Acedia was both my saviour and my father’s murderer.

And now, the next moment, thanks to some strange power he created, everything was laid out before me as clear as day.

Two beings; one named ‘Death’ by him, because he gave an end to life and because he feeds of the Souls freed by death; the other named the ‘Devil’, because of his beguiling voice, his manipulation of living beings to punch a hole through the network of passive Energy holding this world together, and because of all the lies he told Acedia.

Especially Death was to blame.

He was the one who created me and gave me Immortality, afterwards setting the stage of my father’s murder, afterwards making me hated by all, which resulted in an inevitable hatred towards Acedia.

All my misery – and Acedia’s too – because of one thing: the Furnace of Creation.

Both these Gods fighting each other and manipulating everyone for a thing located in the middle of Acedia’s realm.

However, they made a mistake and Acedia struck first, consuming two-thirds of existence, sacrificing hundreds of billions of lives to get that small piece of Creation.

But, he obtained it, partially thanks to me.

He has the power to create what he wants, when he wants and how he wants.

He has the power to take revenge and give us our freedom back from this misery.

Not just that, he planned to share it.

He doesn’t want to become a despot, a tyrannical God like the others, even though he does get absorbed in his powers sometimes.

No, he just wants to be released.

And gives me the power to be released alongside him.

All I have to do is to agree.

“Well, what do you think?”

He smiled a wicked smile, but this time, he didn’t seem as crazy as before.

I noticed I had fallen to the ground after getting hit by his created Mind Magic.

He was squatting in front of me, staring me right in the eye, with Anna and Damien also staring at me, although with concern instead of anticipation.

I gave him the same wicked smile.

“Of course, count me in.”

His smile became brighter and he stood up.

“Good! Great! With both of us combined they stand no chance! Hahahahaha!”

He offered me a hand and I took it, being pulled to my feet and afterwards wiping away the sand on my cloths.

“Ermm... what happened?”

Anna said cautiously with Damien standing by her side.

“Ah, right. Almost forgot about you two. Alright, prepare for- no, wait...”

He turned his gaze from the children towards me.

“You know what I want to do, right? What does the mother think?”

Although he had prepared to give Anna and Damien the same knowledge he had just given me, so they could prepare their decision about mortality, he had now given the choice to me.

However, I was not going to change it.

“Let them know. They’ve deserved it.”

They’ve gone through so much already.

Despite being so young they’ve gone through and seen much, much more than a child should have to.

Giving them this choice is the least I can give them.

“Very well. All right you guys, on the count of three.”

He said, rubbing his hands together and switching into a stance as if he was about to tackle them.

They looked at each other and braced themselves, ready to receive the same impact I got.

They turned towards Acedia and give him an approving nod.

“All right, ready? Three.”

He didn’t even count to three and immediately ‘attacked’ them with Mind Magic.

Their faces paled and they fell backwards, seemingly feeling unwell by the shock they received.

“Not giving them time to prepare, just pushing them down the hill huh?”

I said, watching the children struggle to stay conscious.

“Well, after seeing you, I figured it’d be just like skydiving. Push them out of the plane before the count is up.”

He said, scratching the back of his head in a half-assed embarrassment.

Well, I can’t say he doesn’t have a point.

It’s not a small thing to receive.

After a minute or so, they were fully conscious, although still sitting on the ground.

Instead of the feeling of clarity I got, they seemed more confused than ever.

Fear, anger, bafflement, uncertainty and many, many other emotions were battling it out within them.

“I already gave them the options for the future.”

He said to me.

I see.

“Anyways, you guys figure out what you want for your future. No matter what you choose, I will always lo- no, we will always love you.”

I said to the children.

Acedia blushed slightly at the statement, but he didn’t refute it.

It was funny to see a God being such a softy.

Acedia scraped his throat and started talking.

“All right, we’ll be gone for the moment, as you know. We’ll be back in about an hour and until then, quickly decide what you want to do. I’ll need to know as soon as possible.”

They nodded half-heartedly and looked down at the sand between their legs, confused and uncertain what to do.

God, I want to help them, but this is something they’ll have to decide for themselves.

He grabbed my arm, placed a shield around me and off we went to our destination.

Acedia POV:

Within a second, we arrived in front of the giant ball of purple and white.

The Furnace of Creation shone as brightly and as powerful as before, perhaps even larger, seeing as most of my realm had ended up inside of it.

There was no particular reason to give her the power over Creation here since I could just recreate it with my power, but it seemed to be more fitting to give it here.

And besides, Anna and Damien need some time alone to decide what they want.

That’s also why I gave them an hour, even though this should be over soon.

“So, what do you think? Quite impressive in real life, eh?”

The shield I cast over her allowed her to be here without instantly being devoured by this thing.

Even though we were far away and a vacuum was between us, it was still powerful enough to kill anything near it.

The reason I don’t need a shield is because the power of Energy and Soul created here are a part of me as soon as they leave the vacuum, so it was unable to harm me and only strengthen my realm.

“So this is the thing Death and the Devil want. Why do you not destroy it?”

I shrugged.

“As long as it’s here, they will fight each other over it, so if I destroy it they will instantly gang up on me. And besides, Souls and Energy is constantly being devoured by them and their realms, so in the long run I would need to build another one anyway, since I don’t plan to completely destroy their realms.”

What I said seemed to surprise her.

“Why not?”

“I think life and death is already thoroughly a part of this world and allowing Souls a place to go, perhaps I could create heaven. Or hell for that matter. And when mortals find a way to punch a hole through the net of Energy, I’d rather it be absorbed than it shooting out into the vacuum. Although a bit of Energy probably won’t do anything, who knows?”

It was a bit paranoid to expect a bit of Energy to cause something bad, but better to be safe than sorry.

“How will you manage heaven, hell and the Darkvoid? Don’t you want to experience real life once everything is over?”

I laughed a little out of embarrassment.

I had already made a plan for that, although it might seem a bit laughable.

“Honestly, it’s because I expect Anna and Damien to become Gods like us and if they do, I will give them these two realms and allow them to manage it. It seems fitting, doesn’t it? Anna with her wings becoming the Angel of Life and Death, and Damien with his horns becoming a demon that devours Energy. Of course, they’ll still be able to come to this realm whenever they want.”

I quickly added the last part.

What will she think?

To me it seems like pushing away responsibility, while also playing a strange prank on Damien and Anna.

However, she laughed rather loudly, trying to muffle it with her mouth as she did so.

“You-you have a strange sense of humour, don’t you.”

She said, trying to catch her breath.

Honestly, she looked rather cute as she laughed, making me feel even more embarrassed than before.

“Hahaha...”

I laughed softly, almost shyly while, once again, scratching the back of my head.

For a minute or so, there was an awkward silence between us until I decided to break it.

“A-anyway, let’s give you your powers.”

I said in a rather anti-climactic tone of voice, as if giving someone near-absolute powers was something done every day.

She nodded vigorously in response, seemingly relieved that I had broken the silence between us.

Conjuring op four strands – white, purple, blue and gold – I made them hover in between us and started explaining.

“White is the Soul, purple is Energy, blue is my recently created Mind Magic, and gold is the power of Creation. It will hurt like hell as I try to shift your existence from your Soul into these four powers, but I’ll make it as quick as possible, so you won’t have to suffer as long as I did. Any questions?”

She shook her head.

“Also, I’m going to establish a rule beforehand. If one of us wants to create a power, you need to say it before you create it and share your rule over it with the other. Agreed?”

She looked at me for a second before asking...

“Why?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I want to share this realm with you and if we suddenly decide to both create and give out power however we please, this place will become a mess. It’s not that I don’t trust you, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t give you anything at all. I just... don’t want to cause any sort of strife between us. You don’t want that either, right?”

She seemed to understand and nod in response.

“All right, I agree.”

“Good. Now, let’s get this over with. On the count of three, okay.”

She seemed to laugh a little, and fully braced herself for immediate impact.

“Ready? One.”

It was a cruel prank, but I just couldn’t let the chance slip.

She looked confused, but before she could say anything, I send these two threads right into her Soul.

They were immediately all attached and I began ripping into her.

Taking control over her Soul and the Energy inside it, I quickly but gradually separated them – although not fully, just like with me –, leaving only the four strings connected to each other and a barely connected Soul and Energy floating around it.

A horrible scream arose from her mouth for just a second, but the thinner the connection with the Soul and the Energy, the less control she has over her body, eventually making her body fall unconscious.

However, her mind should be fully active still.

Since I hadn’t seen it from the outside, I didn’t know what to expect, so I simply waited, praying it worked.

I saw the four interwoven threads suddenly tremble, and then disappear without a trace.

Immediately, I left my body and controlled the now supposedly shared realm.

“Emily?”

I asked cautiously.

“Fucker! That prank was not funny! And my God, did that hurt!”

Strangely enough, even though we both had control over the same powers, there was seemingly no discomfort.

In fact, I could sense that there were two distinct people here, ruling over the same realm.

I had been very unsure as to what would happen, even expecting the realm to simply split into two distinct parts, but it seemed it allowed multiple owners.

What a relief.

Both that it worked and that there were no horrible consequences.

“Alright, Emily, try to go back into your body and Soul again or else we might have to talk to those two bastards again, and I don’t feel the need to do so. You should know how to, right?”

“Yes.”

I could sense a person ‘leaving’ the omnipotent God-like state and I did the same, returning to my own body and Soul.

Looking directly at her, I saw her face flushed red and heard her breathing heavily, all the while having a big, almost insane smile on her face while she looked at both of her hands, as if all the power was stored in there.

“Feels good, right?”

While still hunched forward, she shifted her gaze from her hands to me.

“Feels good?! It feels fucking great! No wonder you get drunk with this amount of power, no wonder those two Gods want this feeling! Holy shit, I feel like I could do anything!”

I returned a similar smile, understanding fully what she meant.

With this, freedom and revenge is just a small step away.

I could already taste its sweetness!

--------------------------------------------------------

The end is nigh!

At least, for the fifth arc and first "book".

Hope you enjoyed!

P.S: at the switch towards the second Acedia POV, I had the POV of Acedia and Emily switched up half-way and had to correct it all, so if you see any traces of it, let me know and I'll fix it ASAP!