“So this is how a dream looks like….” Said Devinn. He was floating hundreds of meters above a landmass.

He looked exactly like Alwyn.

“This is weird. I thought that every human looked the same as they looked like on the planet. There is no choice to change the shape of your astral double, but I do.”

“Is it because I am an alien existence?”

“Hehe…I will not complain.” He said before he changed his facial features. He ended up looking like a random person he once saw in the underworld.

“In Randall’s memories, this astral plane belongs to the Goddess of necessity. Her paradise is not too far.” Said Devinn as he went to investigate.

In the countless astral planes, each astral god controlled at least ten of them. They could go to a hundred owned astral planes and even fought each other for them.

An astral God died when he was forgotten or abandoned by all his believers.

If he still had a human lifespan, he would just go back to finish it before he died of natural causes.

Losing the power of faith gave them back their human bodies and the years they had lived.

The power of faith could keep an astral god alive for as long as there were enough believers to keep him at the astral god level. It did not care that you had to live your human life before you died if you had lived for centuries by its power.

Losing the faith power while you still had a human life to live caused no damage, rather it allowed for a chance at a comeback.

There was no true immortality in the world of faith, just hard work to remain at the top with the help of millions of believers or just living as a normal human.

The material plane offered no advantages for astral gods other than gaining more believers.

As for the astral planes, since they had existed since immemorial times and had seen countless astral gods of all kinds who died out and were replaced by others later, they were treasure troves on their own.

Some of the astral planes were ruins of ancient paradises as well as being the location of hidden laboratories of ancient astral gods who were searching for a way to prolong their lives through unorthodox means.

The unknown sacrificial spell Randall used was found in one of the laboratories hidden under the ruins.

Inside Alwyn’s church.

Alwyn was sitting on a throne as he watched the workers doing their best to make the church a bit more presentable than the rough construction that Devinn had created.

The workers only felt a deep regret of not being the ones to construct the home of their god. They could only swallow their sadness in silence.

“Good day. Netherwyrm God.” A voice woke Alwyn from his reverie.

Alwyn turned around and saw Randall finishing a bow. There was a young woman next to him. She looked twentyish.

Alwyn’s heart shuddered for a moment as he made eye contact. He immediately recollected himself and turned back to Randall for answers. This was one of the few moments he needed Devinn’s informative voice. He could use the power to read minds but he was afraid he’d make people crazy before he could master it.

The shrewd Randall did not miss a thing and inwardly sighed. He was relieved he did not make a mistake. He said: “Your highness. This is my granddaughter, Runa Jehlfeld.”

“Honored to meet you Netherwyrm god.” Runa bowed and said.

“Pleased to meet you as well.” Alwyn straightforwardly said.

A hint of redness appeared on Runa’s face.

The poor Randall managed to say: “You asked for a normal person without a huge amount of faith. My granddaughter is the perfect candidate.”

“Oh…Yes. I almost forgot. Let us go then.” Said Alwyn as he teleported them all outside the gigantic church.

Runa and Randall could not understand how a dignified God such as Alwyn could lack so much etiquette. He did and said things so normally that they thought they were talking to a normal person with no godly powers at all. Yet, the following moment they were witnesses to the power he held.

As they arrived outside, Runa who was a normal person lost her bearings and almost fell. It was the first time she had been teleported.

Alwyn was faster than Randall as he quickly teleported next to her and managed to keep her from falling.

“My apologies. I do this so frequently that I forget that I am no longer human.” Said Alwyn as he held her.

“Than…Thank you, your highness.” She managed to say as Alwyn made sure she was standing firmly on the ground.

“This is the reason why I needed your help.” Said Alwyn as a plain bracelet materialized in front of him.

Randall and Runa could not understand what was happening as they looked at the simple bracelet.

Alwyn saw their puzzled faces and coughed two times before he said almost embarrassed: “I blessed this bracelet with my divine power. It will be capable of drawing power from me for the benefit of my believers. If you believe in me as your God, you will be able to use my powers as if they were yours.” He repeated the three phrases that Devinn had left him.

Randall thought he was dreaming as he heard those words. In fact, he thought he was long dead at the sacrificial pyramid and had long been living n a dream since the arrival of Alwyn.

Runa was about to faint as she saw Alwyn give her the bracelet that now looked like the greatest treasure in her eyes.

She accepted it and put it on her wrist.

Alwyn was happy as he started giving some advice: “Just imagine what you want and it will happen or be created. Do not think about things that are too great in proportion for now.”

Runa closed her eyes and thought of something.

Nothing happened for a while before she started flying towards the sky.

Randall had long lowered his jaw in bewilderment as he looked at the miracle in front of him.

Only Half-astrals and Astrals gods could fly in the material plane.

Alwyn flew and joined Runa in the sky and said: “Remember to imagine an unbreakable barrier around you at all times because my power is too much for your human body to withstand if you ever make a mistake in your spells. Also while you are wearing the bracelet you cannot die and everything you make is going to stay around forever if you wish for it. How does it feel to fly with your real body?”

“It is too much fun. Can I spar with you?” she asked.

Alwyn appeared hesitant before he heard: “You said that I could not die while I was using your power.” She said.

As long as you gave a human who practiced faith a match, a fire would undoubtedly emerge.

Even Alwyn who had inherited the space element from Kron, needed Devinn to help him master it. In comparison to a human who could imagine almost anything and materialize it from birth, he was nothing.

Faith power created ethereal or solid things but could not truly bend the elements to its will in the material plane, just influence them. In the astral planes, it was easier to conjure whatever you wanted from your imagination. A fire became real because you wished it in the material plane, but was only attached to the imagination of the conjurer. There was no possible amount of faith that could allow someone to fly without an ethereal astral body that weighed nothing.

There was also no possible amount of faith that could allow for a fire to burn acres in the material plane.

Only the astral plane allowed for the mind to run wild. The sky was not the limit in the astral planes.

Having experience in the astral plane and returning to the material plane and be given a power greater than whatever you could imagine was a feeling that could not be comprehended.

It was the reason why Runa asked for a spar for the sole reason of knowing her limits in the material plane where she could not even die even if she wanted to now that she had the bracelet.

Doing the same in the Astral planes was suicide.

“Alright. I will not attack. Just do whatever you want. I will lock us in a gigantic invisible cube so you do not destroy the planet.” Alwyn said as he created a gigantic transparent cube in which they both looked like grains of sand.

“…so you do not destroy the planet…” those words reverberated in her head like a thunderclap. It was like a barrier was destroyed in her mind about what was possible with this new power.

“It’s done.” Alwyn managed to say before he was instantly engulfed in a torrent of fire. The fire spanned for miles before it took the form of a rabbit. Runa was standing on top of it inside a transparent bubble laughing hysterically. The gigantic fire rabbit was instantly given an armor and a staff that it swung downwards towards a laughing Alwyn who just embraced the blow and stayed unmoving.

Alwyn was thinking: “It seems like she doesn’t see the difference between this material plane and the astral planes with this power. When Devinn reads my memories, he will be too scared to continue the experiment. That simple blow could have made the entire island disappear and half the planet would be submerged in water.”

Randall’s heart was about to explode as he saw his granddaughter spar with Alwyn.

His plan of playing the matchmaker had evolved in an impossible situation to resolve. Nothing he could have imagined.

There was one gigantic fire rabbit inside the cube, now there were all kinds of life forms and even humans all made from different elements as well as wielding them.

Alwyn was attacked on all fronts. Yet could still handle it as he stayed unmoving at the same place.

She grew tired of using borrowed knives as she retracted the bubble she was in to only protect her body.

She created a staff of her own and closed her eyes.

She was trying to imitate Alwyn’s teleportation magic. She succeeded as she advanced mile per mile towards Alwyn.

“What the heck do they do in the astral planes. It took me a long time to learn that on my own.” Alwyn showed a panicked face for the first time.

Alwyn wanted to test the limits of this new student of his. He had even ignored the endless stream of faith power that was poured into him by Runa.

He teleported away as she tried to hit him. It was more fun to know how fast she could follow him.

There was a tacit understanding that the spar would end if she hit him with her staff.

He quickly remarked that she was trying to imitate Aragil in knowing where he would be next.

“She is still completely aware. A normal human would have long fainted from all this effort.” Alwyn observed.

“Well, I have to stay a god until the end and cannot allow myself to be defeated. I can’t believe I am being forced to use the third eye by an overpowered human.” Alwyn thought as the third eye on his forehead opened to reveal a shining violet eyeball.

He encompassed the area of the cube and teleported everywhere but the area Runa was in.

It was like there were infinite versions of him appearing at the same time. He gave Runa as many targets as he could by teleporting everywhere at the same time to only disappear as she tried to hit a version of him.

She was starting to show fatigue.

She wished that she was not tired and the black fire washed over her in an imperceptible manner for a millisecond and she was back to her peak condition.

She stopped and tried to mimic Alwyn.

She could not no matter how she wished it. She could only create another version of her.

“Wow…impressive…One version is at least something…I should stop her before she has access to the automaton inside the bracelet. That is a power that she cannot contain for now.” Alwyn thought.

“Runa. Let’s end it here. If you continue, you will truly hurt yourself.” All the version of Alwyn said at the same time.

“Yes...” She said before she retracted all her spells.

They came back down to meet Randall who had long decreed a viewing session with his workers as they had drinks and watched the fight in the sky that had lasted hours.

Even his sons were there to spectate.

The parents of Runa, Volkin Jehlfeld and Mira Jehlfeld were the happiest of the bunch.

Alwyn arrived to a kneeling crowd with the expression of Runa who was going to do the same when she was stopped by him. He said:” This evening is quite refreshing. Everybody please never kneel in front of me.”

“We would never dare your highness.” They all said the same thing at the same time.

“Look at the stars... Aren’t they beautiful…when I think that my first moment of freedom was during a night sky draped with stars… ” Alwyn reminisced the day he broke out of the subterranean world.

“Freedom ?” Runa next to him frowned as she followed his gaze and looked at the stars.

Alwyn who overheard her said: ”It is quite funny actually…look at me now…An almighty being…haha...when in my human days I was nothing but a slave with no future…. ”

The atmosphere around him stilled and they all looked up only to see a young violet face looking at the night sky. The hood of the cloak had come off at some time during the spar and was resting on his back.

It was too late to hide his face.

He looked at their faces of disbelief and laughed saying: “ Do you all want to hear the rest of the story?”

“Yes. Your highness.” Runa was the first to say it and it echoed throughout the thousands of workers.

“Hehe, I promise that you will stop with your honorifics and finally call me by my true name at the end of the story….”

A story that would later be told for generations to come….