Fire, spreading everywhere. Michael couldn’t run, he was just a boy. It tore through everything he loved. His old home, his friends, all gone in the blink of an eye to the horrible flames. It was terrible... But he managed to escape! To a wonderful place with his parents and his sister, a white room that seemed so small yet stretched on for miles. Nothing to see, nothing to do, nowhere to grow… He was fine there, since nothing could burn. Not unless he wanted it to. Not unless he tried to destroy it.

Michael woke up, shocked. He was slouched over on his side, sleep had made him fall over apparently. He tried to stand up but his body wouldn’t let him. It was just him, alone on the forest floor with his heart beating out of his chest. He tried to forget about the dream, about what it meant. It was hard to do when he was so mind crushingly sore. He pushed this new body of his too far, apparently. His legs were the main culprits, feeling like a fire was going through them when he even twitched.

He was stuck there for a second. The pain was intense but he managed to pry himself back up to lean on the tree. It was so pathetic he almost forgot about the reward. The snake in his arm had moved again, facing towards the back of his hand. The gem was there, red and untouched, with an apple surrounding it. He was pissed. “I’m falling apart here. The reward better not be more fucking information.” For a second everything went quiet, and he felt like he said something wrong. “...better at least have a spell.”

The weird feeling went away and he sighed in relief. The goddess must have been watching him. It wasn’t fear but more like… Guilt? He might have felt bad for the goddess, until he remembered what she had done to him. Without anything else to do he summoned the book, watching it float into the air and flutter through the pages. He waited patiently for the show to be over, eyes closed as he rested. For a while it continued until he opened his eyes in annoyance. What the hell was taking so long? The book kept itself in the air, flipping through pages like mad.

Was the reward really good or something? His excitement suddenly went up a level. Whatever it was, it must have been good. After a while, though, he groaned in annoyance. Ten minutes passed as he knocked his head against the tree in boredom. His legs still hurt too much to move so he just had to sit there and wait for the thing to be over. Another ten minutes passed before the book floated back down to earth, much to the relief of Michael. Boredom turned to excitement as he reached for the inside.

“Eat the apple and gain it’s knowledge.” It read, dampening his excitement a bit. Imformation was nice but he didn’t really care for having it injected into his head. He probably needed it, though. If what he heard about goblins in his past life was true they were easily the weakest monster, and he almost died twice. With a sigh he activated the mana in his arm, the snake tightening around him once more.

It stung but it wasn’t too bad, and as the snake slithered towards the apple it opened its mouth and took a bite. Nothing happened. As it finally swallowed the apple whole Michael watched as the gem turned black once more. And yet still he felt nothing. It was weird… was the reward really not as big as he thought? It took so long to appear though, he didn’t expect it to be so subtle. Maybe he just had to wait-

His body shifted and for the second time in his life, he was back in the complete darkness, nothing but himself in the middle of a void. “What the? Is… this the reward?” He turned everywhere to look for the goddess, but even so she snuck up behind him, grabbing his cheeks and pulling his head into an awkward angle. “Why didn’t it work? You were… your body was supposed to match a normal mage… what happened... Oh.” He had no idea what she was mumbling about as she ran her hands all throughout his body.

In any other situation this might have been weird, even a bit uncomfortable. But whatever magic she was using on him made him feel safe around her, pacified. Though the effect was less pronounced than before. “Uh, Origin. What didn’t work? I’m sorry, I’m a bit out of the loop.” He flashed her a smile, flirty and full of confidence. It was the one he used whenever he was desperate to gain control over a situation. She looked at him and rolled her eyes, before going back to inspecting his body.

Right, mind reading. He sheepishly smiled as she looked at him, trying his best to keep his thoughts secret. She wasn’t impressed. “Don’t, it’ll just distract you from the situation. You saw me use my magic, didn’t you?” What? He raised his hands in defense. The question caught him off guard, was he not supposed to see that? It was the only thing he could see when she separated him from the body- “Yeah, I get it. It’s my fault, how was I supposed to know you’d learn how to manipulate your soul? Goddamn forsaken, always messing things up.”

Although the words came out of her mouth he could still see the smile in her eyes, the excitement in her voice. Was she happy about this? Then this was good, despite the obvious setback it caused her, right?. The smile vanished from her face, replaced with annoyance as he formed the thoughts in his head. “I’m supposed to be the mind reader, you know? I should have taken one of you primal forsaken, they’re a lot dumber.” She stepped away and stretched her arm out, summoning a dingy notebook that looked like it belonged in a high school.

“This was your reward, you know. I saw that you were being stupid so this was going to be a little common sense thrown your way. I didn’t expect you to just up and… reject it.” Michael was shocked, “I almost died out there. I definitely was not going to pass on my reward.” She gave him a sad look before shaking her head. “No, look. Your mind has built a barrier around itself while you were just a soul. It protects you from magical attacks.” He was confused, the reward wasn’t hurting him, right?

She shook her head. “No, the spell was initially a low tier spell made to give you a migraine. I just manipulated it so that instead of overloading your mind with thoughts it… specified certain words.” She walked in circles, stressed and running her hand through her hair. “It makes the spell a lot weaker than normal but that wasn’t a problem, until now.” She rubbed her temples, suddenly pointing a finger at him in anger. “I made sure to put you in a place with no mind magic, just so that I wouldn’t have to increase your mental resistances until you were ready, and you still messed it up!”

Michael blinked, hewas starting to get what happened. Origin hadn’t thought it all through, had she? She gave him a look before opening her mouth. “Wait, no-” She had just jumped into this without much thought, hadn’t she? “I actually do think things throu-” In fact, he was sure that was the reason he was put in the middle of nowhere, to give her time to think things through while he blundered about. “I… It isn’t that I just...” She paused, but he didn’t say anything. He wanted an excuse, what did the great goddess have to say that would make everything better?

His eyes were cruel and filled with sadness. So this was all he was worth to her, huh? The pacifying spell had completely disappeared and he no longer felt nice. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so merciless, but the fact that he was still alive after all this meant she couldn’t kill him. By the way her eyes widened in shock indicated he was correct. He didn’t care, though. The excuse still hadn’t been told yet. The great god twiddled her fingers, a wobbly smile on her face as she looked down. “Um… I had never talked to anyone, not even the elder gods. Um. I uh… I just wanted to do what they did. I had given them the power to create life but I never had a reason to create my own. So I uh… took some liberties.”

Michael’s heart was pounding, his ears ringing from how stupid the explanation was. Was she a child!? How long had she been born? Did gods just pop out of the existential womb? Was he even the same person anymore!? She gave him an angry look. “No! I have been around longer than the first gods! Longer than the first ever creation! I never spoke to them because before then I hadn’t even an idea what living was.” He gave her a questioning look. Had she really spent all this time alone? She shrugged, her eyes looking to the side. “I just wanted to… watch?”

The silence was deafening. Michael just buried his head in his hands. He hated that his head was being read, that she knew he felt guilty for lashing out at her. Felt guilty about her being alone all that time. He didn’t want to feel sorry for her. He wanted to hurt her for her stupid plans... If he was supposed to understand anything out of that explanation then she was crazy.

He ran his hands through his hair, exasperated at how little he understood. Ignoring the fact she could read minds. “Well, whatever. Could you at least explain why you won’t kill me? I doubt I’d still be alive otherwise.” She looked hesitant to answer, but after a moment a smile showed on her face, suspicious. “It’s because… you’re technically a god now.” Both were silent at the revelation, Michael’s head was basically empty. “What?” He asked, his voice weak.

He took a step back, falling down as the words tried to enter his head. He looked almost sick before suddenly his expression changed, calming down, eyes cold and analyzing. A smile showed up on his face. His eyes almost looked wild, dangerous.

Origin jumped in before he did anything crazy, tapping him on the shoulder and paralyzing him in place. “In name alone! You’re nowhere near powerful enough to be considered an actual god. You just earned the title when I… sent you to a god realm. This one.” She motioned towards the black and empty void, looking a bit proud for some reason. “The moment I allowed you to be here I changed your body to fit a magical constitution… something that can eventually become a god.” She paused when she saw his face, giving him another disapproving look before continuing. “Around 40% of the world has magical bodies, so don’t act like you’re special. I can’t kill you because that would mean war against the other gods. I’d have to either die or wipe out all of existence.”

Michael’s brain was buzzing with the information, taking in everything that he could take advantage of. It was difficult to think when he knew she was constantly reading his mind, ruining any chance of secrecy he had. Eventually, he came to a conclusion. “So, technically, I have the whole universe hostage?” He paused after he said that, staring at her face with all the focus he could muster, looking for any sign that she was lying. He faltered when she nonchalantly laughed off the accusation. “No, silly. Gods can’t kill gods but mortals can. That’s one way you can ascend to godhood. No one except me knows you’re a god and no one knows about me. I can’t kill you but I can definitely send you off on your own. You did so well before, right?”

He snarled at the fact, he was just completely useless on his own, wasn’t he? The adrenaline started going away but his greedy smile was still in place, his eyes dilated, harsh and cruel. “I get it, you want to help me grow. I’ll help you too, goddess.” He had to properly act in this situation, even if she could read his mind. The way she frowned meant she didn’t like his face, the habit of looking violent when an opportunity showed its face. His uncle had slapped him plenty of times because of it, telling him it was a bad habit. Luckily his uncle had taught him how to act. At a moment’s notice, Michael straightened his back and took a deep breath, calming his heart. His eyes were back to normal, as his mind.

He didn’t say a word, wanting to give the goddess a chance to think, to give her back the role as leader. The tension between the two was thick, and a full minute passed before the goddess broke the silence. “Michael... I need to send you back soon, right now I need to tell you a few things to make your trip easier... ” Information? Was it because the mind magic no longer worked on him? How kind of her. She gave him a weird look before turning around and walking towards a table that wasn’t there before.

Origin took a notebook from it, opening it and taking a few pages out. He forced himself to remain calm at the sight. She was his goddess, surely a reason for barring him from that knowledge, right? “This has everything I wanted to teach you, um… It’s not as good as a brain dump so you’ll have to properly study it.” She handed the notebook to him, worn and tattered from use. He looked up to ask for questions but Origin was already gone, he was back in the forest, notebook in hand.

_________________________________________________

Origin sat sown, summoning a cup of chamomile tea. She sipped it as she rearranged her body to once again have organs, letting it flow through her and chemically calm her down. She was terrified and the tea had always helped her calm down, a lot more than most magic due to her resistance. She thought about what had just happened. Michael’s thoughts were jumbled and incoherent during the last few moments they spoke, already unclear through the mental barrier. Mind reading was never supposed to work on even the basic magically enabled but to learn to block it in less than two days?

It took others at least a week in the beginning to hide your mind, and he learned it in a fraction of the time! She had set things up on a normal human’s level. An easy training made for the most average of average. This was nowhere near that. She’d seen Life and Death create countless creatures, choosing one or two that stood out, tigers amongst cats. Michael seemed to have the same amount of talent… possibly more. She sat in the middle of the void, Her shoulders heavy as she stared at the pages he couldn’t see yet. She’d have to increase the limit on her strength slightly again to keep him suppressed. Were all forsaken like this?

Or did she just accidentally pick up a dragon?

______________________________________________________

Violent thoughts surged in his head as he realized he was back. Thoughts were swirling around his head so fast it was giving him a headache. Gods, magic constitutions, mind magic. All these terms that he barely had an understanding of filled him with anxiety. People who killed gods became one themselves… that basically marked him as an easy target, right? There was also his new body. Now that he realized the goddess wasn’t planning things out all the way he was unsure if he was still alive or if he was just a puppet. She was also too calm at the end, telling him such a huge amount of information. The only thing she didn’t want him seeing was a few pages she ripped out, and they were basically completely out of his reach. Speaking of which.

He looked at the dinky notebook in his hands. Studying… the last thing he’d expect to have to do when he was sent here. The notebook even looked like a tacky school journal, just mocking him. There were no magical properties in the book so he couldn’t just hide it away like the grimoire. With a deep sigh, he opened it, surprised to find it filled with text back to back. It almost looked the mad ramblings of a maniac. Nothing like the clean and orderly notes his sister had basically beat him into doing. It looked like someone threw up their thoughts on a page.

It was stupid and hard to comprehend, but one look at the information and he knew it was essential. Popping one of the glass vials with water and drinking it down, Michael got to work. At first, he just aimlessly read, almost becoming dizzy in how the thoughts melded together. After that he took it upon himself to take it page by page, shortening each page into five basic sentences that he memorized by heart. Five pages were all he could take before his brain started buzzing. He was never one to study.

He had to admit, the book was exactly what he needed, even without the ripped-out pages. One thing, in particular, had caught his eye, and he hated it. “I… goddamnit. I need to get back to the camp.” There was probably a magic crystal or two in there, maybe even more if there were more fire mages at the camp. He felt pissed about missing the crystal from the fire goblin but he couldn’t have known. He probably wouldn’t be able to find it again, either way, so he didn’t care. He struggled to get up, leaning on the tree as he tried to get used to the burning in his legs. He didn’t walk for long, barely a few minutes before he got back to the charred camp.

He chuckled to himself, guess he didn’t manage to escape after all. The fire would have taken him easily if it had spread. Luckily it didn’t leave the camp… Not that there was much left. The inside was left a bit intact but the outer walls were completely destroyed, nothing left but black piles of ash and charred bits of wood. It was silent, the animals nearby must have run away from the noise, probably smarter than what he was doing. Taking cautious steps through the rubble, he held the lantern in front of him, ready to burn anything that got in his way.

The inside was not like he’d seen in the visions. He didn’t expect the camp to be as big as it was, stretching on for a lot longer. Forget 14, if he hadn’t burned the place down he might have had to face more than 30 of the little green freaks. ‘What a nightmare’ He thought as he pushed over rubble, looking for corpses that might have had some use. It wasn’t until he started checking the rubble that used to be houses that he found something interesting. It was a hatch, covered in heavy debris and unharmed by the fire for some reason.

He almost cheered when he found it. Whatever was in there was probably important. Food, water, treasure, you name it, it was probably in there. He crouched down, ignoring the whining in his body, and pushed away the heavy wood and ricks on top. He reached to open the hatch, excited about the insides. Right as he almost touched it, however, there came a noise from inside. Nothing too loud, quiet and harsh whispers mostly. His eyes sharpened, he almost messed up. The noise might have saved his life, he thought as he readied the staff with the lantern.

As quick as he could, he flung open the hatch. “Let It Burn!” He shouted as the flames poured in. He couldn’t see much through the flames but he could tell the space inside was small, as well as the three little bodies trying to climb out. They were already on fire, all he had to do was keep them inside. He was quick to throw the hatch back on, cringing as he saw one of their little hands get caught and fall back in. As he sat there, on top of the only escape for the goblins, he looked away from it all.

He was doing something bad here… He could have just let them escape. It wasn’t like he was getting a reward for doing this, so why was he killing them? It bothered him how easily he came to that conclusion. Like he was no longer in control of his actions. It wasn’t like he could just open the hatch now, though. He was committed… and he almost forgot about the magic crystals! He had an excuse, now! He grinned as the voices calmed down, no longer filling him with guilt. His eyes were shaky and unstable, a far cry from the eyes he usually had. He didn’t have to feel bad anymore, the goddess made sure of it.

He slowly got up and reopened the hatch, looking at the three little corpses, charred and black. They looked too vague when they were burnt, almost like… He stopped thinking about it. His grin got wider, none of them had ruined the stuff inside, two barrels and a large circle of something covered in cloth. He jumped in to check, making sure not to land on the goblins. He already had a hunch as to what the circle was, his stomach grumbling as he hurriedly tried to unwrap it. Drool came from his mouth as he saw the glorious contents, a full circle of cheese.