Damon watched cautiously as Naturum popped into existence. He was still invisible after seeing a being claiming itself to be God and was still not sure what to make of all this. Was this all still a dream? Did lucid dreams always give you complete control of the dream world? And if this wasn’t a dream…could he still create his violent personal utopia regardless?

He studied the figure in front of him, who sat on a comfy chair she had conjured into existence and was looking around expectantly at the endless void around her. Damon scowled. She looked like a naïve fool who would wholeheartedly believe the voice of this “God” and not even doubt for a second that this world they’d found themselves in wasn’t real. Her hair was medium length and golden, her face round, young and friendly, her smile innocent and beaming. The clothes she wore were fairly typical, some shirt with a tacky overly enthusiastic message that Damon haughtily dismissed and some basic jeans.

With a sneer, Damon noticed one curious detail and egotistically assured himself only he could notice such a thing. Her eyes betrayed her inner doubts, darting anxiously about too much to not suggest nervousness and by the crease of her brow and slight fakeness of her smile…she was sad? Damon couldn’t understand it. If what God said was true, they had absolute power and if this was a dream it would be over soon, so what reason was there to be sad? He thought a moment and with a sneer thought he’d figured it out. She was sad she couldn’t get home, wasn’t she? Experimentally Damon reached out with his mind and tried to create a portal back home. Nothing happened. They were trapped in God’s bizarre game show.

The God of Evil considered his next move carefully. Here was a problem, someone who would most likely oppose his cruel dreams and if what “God” said is true, there were five more of the bastards out there, each equally likely to complicate his plans for complete control over this universe. He wondered if he could kill them while hidden, like the most perfect assassin, able to wipe out his foes without them noticing, with nothing but the power of his mind. With a thought he tried to wipe this intruder from existence but like with the so-called God she seemed not to notice and started waving into the blank expanse, calling out and asking if anyone was there.

“So.” Damon thought, a grin spreading out across his face, “I shall have to undermine them subtly, earn universal control through machinations and schemes.” It wasn’t what Damon had hoped for, when he’d believed he could dream of a world where he tortured those who’d wronged him.

“But this could be fun regardless” the voice in his head hissed, “but we should change our form into something a little less…obvious.”

Naturum, chair abandoned had begun to pace across the floor of this strange new world, occasionally yelling into the nothingness around her.

“Yoohoo! Can’t make a world by myself now y’all! Where are you?”

Nothing. No response. She sighed and continued pacing up and down this…wait. This is a void. How was she walking? The thought had barely crossed her mind before she began to fall through the space she’d been standing in and desperately created some nice, carpeted floor to stop her fall and, gracefully, she smashed into it.

“Ow. Being a god doesn’t mean no pain, huh?”

Just how had she been standing without it anyway? Had she made it subconsciously? She could do that?? Woah.

“Wait. I’m standing on floor cos I made that. But how come there’s gravity?” and as she questioned that she began to float upwards. “Shit. Appear gravity” she yelled, pointing beneath her carpeted floor, an entirely unnecessary process but cos no ones looking it couldn’t hurt to indulge right? Once again, she crashed into her soft, yet not soft enough floor and unbeknownst to her, a malicious entity laughed as he praised himself for creating himself floating.

“Right” she muttered, “no more interrogating all the stuff I subconsciously made.”

“Like light?” her inner monologue asked as her carpeted floor winked out of sight. Above her the dark god blinked in shock as he no longer looked over at his new form. So, there was something he hadn’t considered.

“What about air?” the woman’s thoughts continued.

She paused expectantly before concluding “Huh. Don’t need to breath. Perks of divinity I suppose.”

“Right. Gotta sort out light. Wait that rhymes! Gotta sort out this light blight, it’s a serious plight, gotta do it before others a…rrive.”

She sighed again before pointing her hand dramatically into the sky. It was with very little enthusiasm she said “Let there be light.”

Now Damon could see once more he saw the disappointment on her face before she waved her hands and a clear blue sky appeared alongside the sun. He checked himself out in the mirror he’d created and smiled.

“Looking good, looking good. Now, time to reveal myself!”

Naturum sat dejectedly in a chair (a new one, the old one was falling endlessly through this depressing emptiness) and wondered for the last time when somebody else was gonna show up. Her head poked up as she heard a noise and saw, stepping grandly out of air that rippled to part around him, a brand-new figure at last!

His form was silver and resplendent, with two pure white wings sprouting magnificently from his back and a golden halo and golden robes tastefully accentuated his holy glow. Still, even as she tried to ignore these frankly rude thoughts, the woman who would become a nature goddess thought he looked like he was trying a bit too hard to look cool. Like, was this much muscle really necessary and did his face have to be an exact copy of Chris Hemsworth’s?

Still, she smiled, waved and exclaimed “Woah. Hello. Finally, another person, nice to meet you. Can’t believe I was the first one here, I’m usually late. But I suppose that’s cos of time management skills? Like, if we all started at the same point, I suppose I would be first cos I’m used to rushing? Wait, talking too much! Nerves. I’m Holly, nice to meet you!”

The radiant figure smiled back, although privately he was already done with this lunatic, and was internally mocking her claim that she was “first”. “Greetings. I am Damon and-“

“Wait, really, Damon?” she interrupted. “Wait, sorry that was rude. To be fair, that does not sound like a real name.”

Damon stiffened. This whole blending in thing was already going to be harder than he thought. Memories of failing to talk at school flashed through his mind but he held them back. This was different. He was omnipotent now, and more importantly anonymous. It was just like talking online.

“Well, Damon is my surname, but I thought it an appropriate name to adopt. Going around calling each other by our first names wouldn’t exactly inspire holy reverence now, would it?” A lie. In the old world Damon’s surname was Smith but he’d chosen Damon because it sounded like demon and he believed he could slip that fact underneath everyone’s noses and flaunt his evilness without giving anything away.

Regardless of whether Holly bought his explanation she replied “Oooohhhh smart. I should probably come up with some cool god name and god form of my own. Introductions first though! I’m from England and I’m 19! You sound like you’re from England too right?”

“Yes, I am from England and I’m 34.” Another lie. Damon was the youngest of the seven, not yet 18, but he wanted to claim seniority if the need came.

Holly opened her mouth to respond with a new flurry of words when a loud boom echoed behind her. Exploding into physical space came a new figure. One arm made of flickering fire, another made of flowing water, his head a spark of lightning adorned with wide, almost manic eyes, a crazy grin and no legs, instead beneath his torso was a swirling tornado keeping himself in the air. Speaking of his torso, it was an amalgamation of all the other elements, lightning, fire, water, air, all swirling in a chaotic maelstrom of force.

“Yoooo, you guys! We’re fucking Gods! WOOOOOOOOO!”

And thus, born was Rizzleritchensteineonizziism the first ever, God of Magic

The other deities were unsurprisingly shocked by the explosion and subsequent explosive outburst but Holly was quick(ish) to recover. “Yeah, I suppose we are, huh. Nice to meet you, I’m Holly-“

Immediately cutting her off Rizzleritchensteineonizziism cried “Yeah, I’m Rizzleritchensteineonizziism the first ever, nice to meet you, when we gonna make stuff?”

Holly blinked in shock while Damon suppressed his urge to roll his eyes at another claiming his rightful title of “first”.

Still, Holly attempted to answer as brightly as possible. “Um, I guess when everyone else comes through? We should probably talk everything through first, y’know this is a group project we all gotta be in agreement-“

“Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, okay, when they gonna be here?”

As if on cue a human appeared opposite Rizzleritchensteineonizziism who was only visible for the briefest of moments before Holly’s gravity took hold and they began to plummet through infinity. And thus, born was Loma, God of Geography.

With a wince, Holly began to extend her carpet as Damon failed to suppress a snort. After a moment, the new god slowly floated up and landed upon the one floor in the universe.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry” cried out Holly, “didn’t think about how gravity would affect y’all. You alright?” She conjured 6 new chairs, which both Damon and the new god sat on. Rizzleritchensteineonizziism stood (floated?) and still practically shook with energy.

The 4th being smiled very faintly and in a somewhat hoarse voice responded “No, no, I’m fine. A little shell shocked but what hasn’t been a shock since I went to sleep last night?”

He was in the form he’d had in his past life, a bit round, with the scraggly beginnings of a beard and curly dark brown hair. He was sweating a little, and his face was red and out of breath from screaming. “Well. Nice to meet you I suppose, or at least, as nice to meet you as it can be given the circumstances. My names Mark-“

“Whats your god name” asked Rizzleritchensteineonizziism, interrupting once again.

Mark paused and looked confused. “Should I have one? I only just got here.”

“I have one” Rizzleritchensteineonizziism exclaimed. “It’s Rizzleritchensteineonizziism!”

Mark paled. “I don’t suppose you accept nicknames? How about Richard, or Rich?”

“No! I am Rizzleritchensteineonizziism!” cried Rich as the others collectively breathed a sigh of relief as they decided as one not to remember that monster of a name.

The introductions concluded as Holly introduced herself and Damon. Mark looked around at the empty seats curiously and asked “So, is this all of us?”

“NO.” A new voice bold and loud, old and wise shook the floor that yet consisted of the entirety of existence (excluding a chair, still hurtling through an endless expanse). Stepping into reality was a tall man, human, with the exemption of his Ibis head, wrapped in an Egyptian loincloth, adorned with blue and gold bracelets and anklets, clutching a black staff in one hand and a notebook in the other. And thus, born was Scientia, God of Knowledge.

Or at least, so he’d have you believe. Truth be told he was the first to realise that this could not be a dream and created some basic senses to observe. After watching Damon create himself, he made his own form, styled unsubtly on Thoth, and then made a notebook to record all that transpired in this new world. By the time God had told The Seven their new roles were that of gods, Scientia knew his purpose. Before the others had even thought of allocating specialities, he declared himself God of Knowledge and swore to create the perfect encyclopaedia of this world, detailing all its history, species, science(/magic), geography and civilisations.

He would share some of the knowledge he knew, but we would never share this, not even with his most loyal worshippers. Thus, from the perspective of all others in this loreless new world, the first was Damon. Why did Scientia observe the others for so long before appearing to join the meeting? If pressed he would argue that it is because he wanted to observe their natures with his own influence absent. But the truth, this special bit of knowledge only Scientia knows is he was nervous. It’s all very well knowing how to make a grand entrance, how to socialise with your peers. It’s another thing to have the confidence to do so.

“Oh my god! Oh my me? Wow, welcome to our universe” exclaimed Holly. “Are there any others waiting to appear?” A pair of eyes appeared in the empty space next to Holly, nervous and unsure. You see, unlike Damon or Scientia the sixth to appear had no ideas of what god-like form to take and certainly not enough confidence to commit to one in front of the others. She had no love of her old form and would rather never appear at all than to appear in it.

She had, in fact, been procrastinating this whole time over what form to take and in an act of desperation, created eyes to see what everyone else had gone with. What she saw with those eyes was everyone else staring back at her. She gulped (or would of if she had created herself a throat) and hastily threw together the form of a generic human, hidden beneath a plain hoodie. And thus, born was Aomy, Goddess of Civilisation.

“Okay, hopefully final round of introductions” announced Holly. “I’m Holly, this silver chap is Damon,”

“Greetings.”

“This is Rich.”

“Rizzleritchensteineonizziism the first ever! Full names!”

“And finally, this is Mark”

“Helloo”

“And you two are?”

Scientia declined to answer as in a shock he realised that caught up in his observations he hadn’t come up with a good name. This just left Aomy to look around, panic, gulped (for real this time) and stutter “I uh- don’t know yet?”

Damon sneered. “What do you mean you don’t-”

“Bored!” cried Rizzleritchensteineonizziism. “Everyone’s here let’s make some stuff!” and with a wave of his fiery hand a huge, flat plain of dirt appeared. And thus, with this impulsive act began the age of creation.