-7.6 billion years ago-

"Hey dude, how's the star coming along?"

I looked up from the ball of light shining in my hands, and shrugged. "These things take time, Riencer. And I would prefer being called anything, even a nickname, over 'dude.'"

He laughed and threw up his hands. "But your name is way too long and hard to pronounce! Besides, I call everyone dude."

I sighed and covered the star with one hand, while reaching out and altering the paths of several hundred chunks of various elements flying through space. A nearby supernova that I'd helped along had formed all the substances needed for a planet that could support life, which is part of the reason me and the other two had chosen this place. "I understand that you're informal by nature, and though that is part of why I can tolerate your presence, 'dude' starts getting annoying by the 1472nd time."

He chuckled and said, "I don't think I've said it that much."

I began to gather more hydrogen and carbon, putting it into the star and giving it a little jump-start with the nuclear reactions to speed up the process. Usually the star would be finished much, much sooner than the planets, but the other two were impatient. I'd had to do ridiculous things to get this star where it is, all the time trying to delay the other two.

Still, I feel that this has been a learning experience. By utilizing some of the unique gases that few, if any, had ever seen before, I'd cut the usual time in half. I'd experimented on my own a little, and had been able to expand my elements table that now contained about 183 unique entries. One of the side effects of the particular gases I had used made the star quite a bit more radioactive, more volatile, and gave it an ethereal violet color. It would have a life much shorter than other stars, but I found the flaring violet beauty almost entrancing.

Once this project was finished, perhaps I'd go somewhere and experiment more on my own. I wonder what kind of colors I could make, if I really tried?

Replying to his comment, albeit after a short pause of about a half-million years, I said, "Yes, you did. I counted."

I looked over at him, and although most divines found it hard to decipher the expressions of others in ethereal form, I could tell Riencer was holding back his laughter. I poked him and asked, "What is it?"

He shook his head, which in this form basically meant his entire body of mist that spanned more than most galaxies, swirled and spun. "It's just that you're so absentminded. Even for a World-Maker, you think too much."

For a second, (or rather, a couple hundred thousand years) I was speechless. It shouldn't have hit me that hard, but it did. I shook myself, and tried to dislodge the uncomfortable feeling and change the subject. "Enough about me. How're you? I know how draining your job can be."

He cringed, and said helplessly, "It can't be helped. I don't have the technical genius of Aldious, nor your building prowess. For a useless jokster like myself, this is the most I can do."

I hesitated, (sixty-thousand years) then took my hand away from the star and laid in on his ethereal shoulder. "Riencer, you underestimate yourself. You're not a useless jokster. I know perhaps a half-dozen other gods brave enough to do what you are."

He smiled belatedly. "You call it bravery, but really it's boredom. The others are so fickle, they change every millennium, and are no fun to talk to. You two are the only ones I've found that actually care."

I tightened my grip while saying, "I don't wish to offend, but you're a moron. Half the intelligence of a micro-organism is more than you can ever aspire to. If IQ were measured by light yours would be negative black-hole. Sometimes I look at you and wonder how you've remembered how to make sounds with your voice, and others I wonder how you haven't sucked the entire universe into that endless cavern you call a cranium. Now, I think-"

He grabbed the hand touching him, wincing and speaking hurriedly, "Alright, alright, I get it. You don't have to be hurtful...I'll stop calling you dude, if you'll let go."

I gripped harder. "Riencer, you didn't let me finish. Now, I think you're the most decent person I've ever met. I say person and not divine, because comparing you to the gibbering pit of worms known as gods would be a worse insult than all the ones before. Do you not understand my respect for you?"

He now had both hands on mine, and was frantically pulling. "Okay! I get it! I love you too man, just please let go!"

I gripped harder still. "I know the sacrifice you're making. What you're doing is the most important part of this, yet the vast majority of divines, myself included, are terrified of the commitment. I only pray that the souls will all have your temperament."

He jerked back and forth with frantic panic and screamed, "I'm glad you feel that way and appreciate me, but please for the love of all this is divine, stop crushing me!"

I let go, then looked closely. It seems I had grabbed him a bit too hard..."I'm, very sorry...I seem to have made a fool of myself. If I can do something to apologize...?"

He rubbed where I'd made a dent in his form muttering, "Jeez, if you can crush a god in your hand, why is it taking you so long to make a star...? And what could you do for me?"

I bowed my head, though I doubted he was able to pick up the gesture in my swirling mist. "Anything. Less, and I would be insulting our friendship."

He grinned. The expression was so wide it spanned the breadth of my vision, a gigantic crescent floating in the empty space. "Anything, hmm...?"

I regretted the phrasing of my words. Still, I was satisfied with the meaning. I'd said them on instinct, or "from the heart" if I were to have organs, and I felt glad to feel this way. "Anything within my power, that is. Especially if it's against the law."

He grinned wider. "Then, from now on, you will no longer complain when I call you 'dude.'"

I let my head fall in defeat. I'd been outsmarted. "As you wish. I hope you'll be grateful-"

He held a finger up, a solitary spout in an ocean of waves. "I'm not finished! From now on, not only will you not complain when I address you as I wish, but you will also refer to me as, 'dude.' Capisce?"

I felt as if my entire being were filled with the essence of defeat. If I'd had knees, I would have fallen to them. "A...as...you...wish...d...d...du...dud...dude."

He laughed, then turned and started to leave. He stopped for a second, (two-hundred-thousand years) then said as an afterthought, "By the way, your star is melting."

I looked back to my star, and it had indeed started to fall in on itself. I began to correct it in minute adjustments. Oh for leafs' sake, this was going to add a half-billion years to the schedule. But then a thought came to mind.

I toyed with the star, pushing it around in my hands, feeling the heat and shape. "...think too much...if you can crush a god...why is it taking you so long..."

I took the star into the palm of my hand, then ripped the gases I wanted from wherever I wanted. I looked down on other divines who threw their power around like a right, and spit on patience. I'd unconsciously started to hate my own power, as well. I hated the others arrogance, their habit of looking down on others, and most of all I'd hated how they hated people who thought differently from them.

I guess that makes me a hypocrite. Doing this will make me twice a hypocrite.

Do I care?

...

I looked up my internal calendar, then crossed out the date I'd originally set. I went a billion years from now, and put down three lines crossing, in the shape of a star.

I may be a horrible person for doing this, but if I have all this power, why shouldn't I use it?

They called me 'Gulfriek-Eanter,' for a reason, after all.

-Present-

I admit that I'm irritable. I allow that I may have a short temper. I may be a bit impulsive.

But, if three lefts make a right, maybe by doing this I'll be a hypocrite three times over, and it'll cancel out. I'm god, if I can't make up logic, who can?

Living organisms are oh so fragile. They split like paper, and live for blinks. Just reversing the flow of their bloodstream kills them, and damage a few cells and they'll die with a vengeance.

Or, that's what other divines see them as. I know they're different. I know something other gods, ignorant gods, stupid gods, never bothered to find out.

Rock, fire, ice, animals, planets, they're all the same. You just need to look closely.

Surrounding me where four living, breathing species, one of which was cold-blooded. Thirteen sub-species of spirits hovered above. They all looked so different, on the outside.

Let's go deeper.

Hmm, muscle, bone, blood, scales, skin, spirit. Still too different.

Let's go deeper.

Let's see, cells, cells, lots of cells, and-oh, spirit cells. I guess they're a bit more different than usual.

Let's go deeper, shall we?

Ah, here is where all the differences are. Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, iron, to name a few. Now the spirits were just Coldfrean, Jelfrex, and Neorin. Or, as I knew them, numbers 134, 156, and 173. Along with a healthy dose of magic. I almost swore at that, but I knew that magic was integral. Without it, these elements would never have combined. Jelfrex and Neorin were like oil and water, Coldfrean and Jelfrex should be making a highly poisonus gas, and Coldfrean and Neorin should be creating a nuclear reaction right about now.

So, as much as I dislike it, I'll have to leave the magic in. So troublesome...but, it isn't a baseball game without a few curve balls, is it?

Doing this one-by-one would take too long, so I just stripped all the souls of their atoms, and rooted them in place. That way, I can make an accurate number when I'm finished.

The spirit yelled, as all of the living beings around us suddenly disappeared. To the spirit, all of them had just been vaporized and left with only their souls, rooted in place. The spirit couldn't see atoms, after all. To my eyes, however, I saw stars. An endless myriad of lights, made up of smaller lights orbiting clusters of light.

Now comes the fun part.

I spent perhaps a hundred years deciding, then o.ooo2 seconds arranging all of the atoms in a formation that pleased me. I then infused every atom with magic. A little overkill, but hey, I've never used magic before. I have to admit, it's kinda fun to not worry about what makes what explode and whatnot. Magic sure can solve short-term problems. Well, I say short term, but in reality it will take longer for the elements to become unstable and cause extinction than it will take for my star to die. So, all in all, no real downsides.

I nodded my head, satisfied, then attached the bodies to the souls, and left. I'd started with four-thousand-three-hundred-and-five souls with bodies, and I left four-thousand-three-hundred-and-four souls with bodies.

I doubt there will be any noticeable repercussions.

AN: School was ten years ago for me. I don't do planet-science for a living, made obvious by my not knowing the science-y term for that, so anything I got wrong was merely due to ignorance. I expect all of you to correct me, hopefully with hurtful comments. Just cause' I'm an S doesn't mean I can't enjoy a little pain now and then. :3