As soon as he stepped into the new world, Walter lost all composure. He fell to his knees, his lungs again hacking up seawater.

Sod looked at the man with pity, "Apologies. I forgot about the domain difference."

Walter coughed out a leaf of seaweed. "Domain difference?"

"Davy Jones is a god of the sea, and his power reflects that," Sod answered. "Your soul was suppressed, for lack of a better word. All the unconscious actions your body would take drowned out by the god's power."

"Did you just make a pun?" Walter asked. He was having trouble following the god's conversation and so focused on the familiar.

"I suppose I did," Sod answer. "Anyway. A soul is a reflection of the body it inhabits, complete with all its quirks and nervous tics. And you, being human, cannot breathe underwater. Without Davy Jones's power suppressing you, your soul would have felt like it was drowning the entire time."

Walter sucked in a breath as he felt his stomach wobble. Suddenly everything that happened came back to him for a second time. Spring break, the cruise to the Bahamas, the storm, the dumb dare that Walter made with his friends while drunker than a skunk.

The strange rising terror as he slipped on a railing and fell. The abject horror as his drunken mind realized he fell overboard. The dread as his body fell under the waves, gasping for air that didn't come.

The finality at the end of it all.

A hand pressed down on Walter's shoulder, startling him.

"You are fine," Sod said with certainty. "A soul doesn't need to breathe, and you cannot die a second time."

The words weren't exactly comforting, and Walter found himself falling into a panic. Sod waited as Walter hyperventilated, his body seizing up in alarm. His hands and feet were numb, and yet he could feel the nerves somehow burning. His lungs couldn't get enough air, and they heaved in and out faster than Walter thought possible.

It was too much for the man, and Walter cried out in terror.

Sod sat and waited. Watched as Walter convulsed in terror, doing nothing for the man.

Some time later, Walter finally stopped. His soul had finally worked its way through the terror. The man whimpered, the images of his death still haunting him.

More time passed, until Walter eventually sat up and looked at the god.

"Good, you're through the worst."

Walter snorted, "You definitely aren't the comforting type of god."

"Correct. I'm a primordial, not a crafted god."

"You could've at least tried," Walter complained. He shuddered, the experience still in the forefront of his mind.

Sod shook his head, "It would not have worked. Your soul wasn't going to accept words until it worked through everything."

"Don't go to you for therapy, got it," Walter shivered. Somehow he could still feel the cold waters that took him.

"Now that you're ready, we can begin," Sod continued.

Walter almost snapped at the god, then realized it would be like talking to a brick wall. The deity had no reference for Walter's pain and wasn't about to try. The man shook his head as the specter of his death appeared again. He needed something else to think about. It was a good thing that Sod had the perfect distraction.

"Alright, hit me with the specifics," Walter answered.

Sod pulled Walter to his feet, directing the man to look at his hands. "I mentioned an underworld earlier, as well as crafted gods. Simply put, you shall be the crafted god of the underworld, a god of consumption that counteracts my growth."

"That only brings up more questions," Walter replied.

Sod nodded. Walter watched as the god's hands moved in a pattern, revealing a web of starfire and darkness that danced in erratic arcs. "We'll start small. This is my universe. An image of it, to be exact. I have spent countless periods working on making it align with my interests and tastes. I actually drew a lot of inspiration from the god of your universe. What they did with fractals was truly outstanding. And the way they formed stars? Truly breathtaking."

Walter was starting to think Sod had a bit too much reverence for his universe's creator.

The bits of starfire and darkness whirled, congealing into a multicolored ball of lavender and emerald.

"This," Sod continued. "Is the first of my attempts to craft a cycle. The inhabitants call it many names, but I'm partial to Jewel."

"It certainly looks beautiful," Walter said.

"It was," Sod answered.

Walter watched as the man turned the globe and zoomed in, revealing a series of islands in perfect geometrical shapes.

"That is so weird," Walter answered.

"Quite," Sod said. "This particular marring is when I first noticed my mistake. You see, when I crafted Jewel and the people on it, I gave them an ability."

"Like magic?" Walter asked.

Sod shook his head, "Nothing quite like that. How to explain? Take you, for example. Humans all have the power of deduction, the ability to observe the world around them and make guesses. Then they can use those guesses to compound deductions until they create a vast library of the world around them."

"Other races can't do that?" Walter asked.

"Some can," Sod admitted. "But most gods prefer different routes. Magic, or an underlying system of rules that break reality, is one way. Other gods treat things like one of your video games, granting specific influxes of knowledge after successful tasks. I decided to go a route I like to call delineation."

"I… don't know what that means," Walter admitted.

"It means to describe something precisely," Sod answered. "The idea was that every soul could look at an object and know its nature completely."

"So appraisal," Walter stated.

"Not completely," Sod answered. "Appraisal as you think of it still generalizes. A tree is still a tree, no matter the life it has lived. Delineation knows the exact difference between every tree, rock, and person."

"That sounds like a lot of information for a mind to process," Walter said. "I'm amazed your people's brains didn't explode to bits."

"How do you stop your brain from exploding at all the information you observe?" Sod asked. "It isn't difficult to craft workarounds. Most people filter out the information that isn't relevant. Of course, my mistake was failing to realize that one glimpse of divine energy would change everything."

"Oh?" Walter said. Then his brain caught up with the sentence. "Oh."

Sod nodded, "The ability to understand, to know divine energy exactly was not part of my intentions. Now a variety of souls have learned to harness the power and are actively meddling in a world they don't have complete control over. The result is… chaotic."

"I'll bet," Walter said. "But you can't just smite the interlopers or something?"

"Removing the problem with force only treats a symptom," Sod answered. "A soul does not lose its power on death. Therefore, once it is introduced to the world once more, the same problem arises. Often, the soul gains knowledge about the process, which has caused even greater issues. Before you ask, the reason for this is that my nature is that of growth. I cannot strip away; it is counteractive to my nature."

Walter shook his head, "And you want me to do something about all this?"

"Your job is relatively simple," Sod replied. "I will grant you some of my power, and you will craft a domain for souls to enter. Inside, you shall strip the soul of its divine power. Some of it you can use, but most of it should be sent back to me. I care not how you do this, only that it is done. I don't wish to spend more eons re-crafting a universe."

"So no pressure then," Walter snarked. "Got it."

The man stretched, loosening up after the deluge of information Sod had just burdened him with. He took a metaphorical breath, steadying himself. Everything had come at Walter so fast. He hadn’t even graduated college for Pete’s sake! How was he supposed to run an entire afterlife?

Walter looked at Sod, trying to glean something, anything from the formless deity. Nothing came.

A sigh passed through Walter’s lips and the man almost asked to go back. But then he recalled his death, along with Davy’s words that reincarnation would require him reliving all his past experiences. The man shuddered. One recollection was enough.

Steeling himself, Walter turned to Sod. "Alright then, let's start with a domain."

Sod weaved his hands together, and a ball of light appeared in their hands. Walter looked at it, turning away as his eyes started to water. The object looked like spheres stacked in spheres stacked in spheres, and somehow it reflected and absorbed its own light.

"What in the world is that?" Walter asked.

"Divine energy," Sod answered matter-of-factly. "And with it, you'll craft a domain."

The god shoved the n-sphere into Walter's gut, causing the man to stagger from the force.

"Now," Sod said. "Craft your domain."

"Um, how?" Walter asked. He could definitely feel something, though it could just be indigestion from the god shoving a ball of light into his stomach.

"Imagine your space, then craft it," Sod answered.

"You're going to need to be more specific," Walter said. "How do I even access this energy?"

"You just, access it," Sod said tonelessly.

"Okay, I see we're not going to get anywhere with this," Walter sighed. "Is there someone else I can talk to? Maybe we can contact Davy again?"

"Call him then," Sod said.

Walter gave the god a sidelong glance. Sod was definitely in need of some negotiation classes. Or perhaps an interpreter. All these toneless statements were getting on Walter's nerves.

At least Walter remembered Davy's words. "I need a sea or some water."

Sod conjured a vast ocean. "Done."

"Wow, showoff," Walter joked. The man turned to the sea. "Davy Jones. You there? I need a bit of help with things, and Sod's not the best explainer."

The two waited for a moment, Walter bouncing on the balls of his feet. He could tell that dealing with Sod would be difficult, like a boss that refused to adapt to change. Walter had listened to professors like Sod, teachers that thought everyone learned the same way they did, and marveled at those who couldn't understand. Only this was worse, as Sod was so alien to Walter the man had no clue how to act.

A ship appeared on the ocean's horizon, Davy Jones's spectral vessel emerging from a conjured mist. Seconds later, it was in front of Sod and Walter, Davy Jones standing at the prow. The old god grabbed a piece of dangling rope and jumped, sliding down to land in front of the two.

"Been a long time since I sailed new waters," the god spoke.

"The debtor requests your help," Sod stated.

Davy nodded, turning to Walter. "Ye got a question for me?"

Walter pointed, "Sod here is trying to explain how to make a domain, but he's a terrible teacher, and I'm not learning a thing."

Sod's eyes narrowed at Walter. "Be careful of how you address others. Many don't take kindly to disrespect of authority."

"I'm sure the lad meant nothing by it," Davy said. "Now, give us a bit of time to talk, and I'll make sure he gets everything down pat. I'm not too far gone to forget all the deific duties."

Sod nodded, then vanished, leaving Davy alone with Walter.

"Primordial gods," Davy said with a shake of his head. "Always strange, the lot of them."

"You're sounding a lot more coherent than last time," Walter commented. "Less… spacey."

"A good term," Davy nodded. "Fits how I was it did. But primordial gods tend to give a bit of a wake-up call. Shocked me out of a few things for sure. Can't believe I thought you was a sailor before."

"You're telling me," Walter said. "Now, about this whole domain thing?"

"I'm gettin' to it," Davy answered. "You got all the time in the world right now, you know."

Davy leaned against his ship, crossing his arms in concentration.

"I guess first, you gotta understand what divine energy is," the god stated. "Sod probly told ya what it was, but failed to mention anything else. 'S what happens when a god spends too much time in their universe. They tend to lose track of th'other powers. Since you're human, you got deduction."

"So I need to observe the energy?" Walter asked.

"Eh, not as such," Davy said. "Observin's part of it. But another part is quantifying. You gotta know how much you have and how much you can use."

"Great!" Walter said excitedly, "How do I do that?"

Davy chewed it over for a second, "Best news is that th'energy is flexible. You don't gotta make something specific; just think of something familiar to you that you used for keeping track of things. I used bone dice at the start, and some other gods used pools and the like. Long as you can visualize it, the energy should do the rest."

Walter frowned. Not because he was having trouble, Davy had explained things well enough. It was just, Walter knew exactly what he used to keep track of things, and he really hadn't wanted to see it again now that he'd died.

The man sighed as the divine energy took shape, a piece of the strange n-sphere breaking off and twisting into a familiar grid format. Several options appeared nearby, ways to fill in the grids with letters, numbers, colors, anything that Walter could dream.

"I was really hoping to be done with spreadsheets," Walter said morosely.