Darkness surrounds him.

“I can’t do this anymore,” says the man’s voice, resounding out around him in the darkness. “Back and forth, back and forth, over and over and over.” It’s quiet for a time, and then he sighs. “First it was this reality, then it was that reality, then it was this other reality and… I just… I can’t keep doing it. I’m tired of going in circles.” He drifts. “I want it all to just… stop. I want to go back to zero.”

Hineni looks around himself as the vision comes into focus, not being entirely sure who he's talking to in all honesty. A sheet of paper flies past his face, falling apart into cinders as it unravels.

It’s the name-list again. The one that spelled ‘Horse Kills’ out with their individual names.

Hineni watches as the room comes into focus. It is the restaurant of the old adventurers' guild. The vision of his old childhood seems to be repeating again.

His feet land on the ground and he stands there, where he stood before together with Eilig as he watches the memory of his step-parent’s death replay one more time.

His step-father opens the door and is evaporated by magic. Hineni watches him vanish into a mist. Importantly, the magic is not ash this time around.

After all, why would the horse-god have access to ash magic? Ash is death's magic.

That memory, that last vision he saw of this place, it was just as distorted and manipulated as everything else.

— Nothing is clean. Nothing in any existence or dream is free from the gods’ manipulations.

His step-mother vanishes next, her scream echoing around the room, and then, the boy on the floor erupts, his ash-magic violently exploding out into all directions. The horse-god thunders towards him as before, barreling through the magic of the fearful child, not all of that bothered by the ash.

After all, why would he be?

Hineni’s ash-magic has only ever mildly hurt Obscura, like when he burnt her during their meeting, or Nekyia during his latest kidnapping, a little. It never really endangered them. So why would the horse-god have been any different? How could Hineni's ash-magic have killed him? It couldn't have. It doesn't add up.

The man watches as the horse lifts the boy up with a massive hand and then just crushes his neck. A blue light shoots in from the side and is caught in a second hand and there is a second cracking.

The horse-god drops both of them to the ground, the ash fading away as the caster has died. It turns, leaving the house with all of its inhabitants dead.

He died?

Well, he sort of already knows that, right? After all, in the previous version of this memory, he had died too, only because of the ash. He supposes the difference in this and that version is that the horse is the one who killed him directly. It’s a little grim, but it doesn’t change much, does it?

Hineni looks at the anarchy, wondering why the vision hasn’t faded yet?

— There is a horrific screeching. Hineni turns his head to the side as his favorite window shatters, a massive, hulking behemoth breaks the glass, flying through it. The horse-god falls over as something hits him. Attached to his face are a set of talons that cling to the bone, as a horrific bird gouges out his eyes and slashes at his throat.

The owl-god.

She was here too?

“It is true,” says Obscura. Hineni turns his head, looking at her as she stands there and watches the vision unfold. “Obscura had been watching her Hineni-prize for many days before his parent's decision,” she explains. “But he was stolen from me,” hisses the woman, narrowing her eyes as she watches her past self mutilate the horse-god, killing him.

“Hey…” says Hineni, looking at her. “How old are you?”

“FOOLISH HINENI-MAN!” shrieks the real Obscura, pointing at him. “This question is not relevant for the fantastic reveal of Ob~ scu~ ra’s secrets!” she argues, her eyes going wide.

Hineni blinks, looking at her and then back at his own dead child-body. “I mean… it kind of is?”

“IRRELEVANT!” she hoots.

Hineni shrugs and then looks back at the mess that is the dead horse-god, the owl standing triumphantly on top of his corpse.

“So… the horse-god killed me and you killed the horse-god, that sums it up, right?” asks Hineni. He isn't sure how this final piece of the puzzle fits into everything.

Obscura nods. “Yes. It sums it up like the math that smelly sock-elf likes to do in her books.”

“You really should think of a better nickname for her,” sighs Hineni.

“FOOL!” hoots Obscura. “YOU DO NOT SEE THE GAME BEING PLAYED!”

Hineni shrugs. “Honestly, I’m kind of giving up at this point.” He spins his finger. “Can we just like… sum it all up in three sentences? Please?”

She clicks with her mouth and turns away, watching the memory. “The smell of socks is a familiar smell,” says the owl-god. “It smells of horses.”

“Wait, what?” asks Hineni. “So she was working for the horse? Called it.”

The owl of the past that had just killed the horse-god walks over to the dead boy, pressing and prodding him with her beak, hooting in distress. There is a slight commotion. By the time she turns around, the horse-god has escaped out of the broken window, having not been dead after all. Is that all that's different in the 'real' memory of what happened in the past? So, the horse-god is alive and not dead? How is that relevant? Unless…

“I don’t understand anymore,” says Hineni. “This memory is from Death’s reality, right?”

“It is,” she replies.

“Why did Death want to kill me?” asks Hineni. “I mean, he could have done it any time, but… why wait until I was a kid?” He shakes his head. “Especially if he’s actually my dad. That’s just bad parenting, you know?”

She clicks again. “That is because the Hineni understands parenting in the way of a human.” She looks at him. “In the ways of a god, you are a threat.” The owl-god pokes a talon into his chest. “A child of a god is destined to overtake them one day. It is the nature of things.” She tilts her head. “The owl-god surpasses the owl-god. The death-god surpasses the death-god.” Obscura’s yellow eyes examine him. “The title remains, the cycle continues.”

“What?” asks Hineni. “You’re telling me the old man thought I was gonna steal his gig?” He looks around himself. “Is that all this was the whole time?” He shakes his head. “I don’t even want the job. Plus, I guess I’m… dead, so…” He narrows his eyes. “Is that a prerequisite or a disqualifier to being the god of death?”

Obscura hoots. “Those are both pretty words. He will teach them to his Obscura, yes?”

“Sure,” replies Hineni. “So what were the other gods trying to do the whole time? We beat death, so… what’s their agenda?”

“To push forward in a reality with no god of death,” replies Obscura. “In the place Hineni and Obscura just left, the many others would have liked to live as masters of all dominions.” She ruffles her feathers. “Death is the thing that keeps other gods from leaving their own trees. But without it, the water may go into the fire and the fire may go into the rocks.”

Hineni thinks for a moment, looking around the void. “And now?”

“And now, Hineni must decide,” says Obscura.

“Decide what?” asks the man, holding her hands. “Nekyia told me something about a decision too.” He sees the annoyed expression on her face at the mention of the big-frog's name. “We’ll talk about her later.”

“Hineni must decide which reality he prefers,” says the owl-god.

Hineni sighs. “Can’t there just… be one? You know? Just base reality, with no manipulation?”

“Impossible,” says Obscura. “This is what Hineni must understand,” she says. “For this wish to be the case, there may be no more gods in the world.” She looks at him. “And that includes his Obscura.”

“And my other choices?” he asks.

“You must choose another god to base reality on,” says Obscura. “You may choose your Obscura, or another,” she explains. “To hold the world aloft with their mighty talons.”

Hineni stares at her, wondering about the many mysteries of life for a time. But there’s something he doesn’t get. “Why am I making this choice?” he asks. “Is this how reality works?” The man shrugs. “I’m hardly qualified.”

Obscura tilts her head, staring at him with wide eyes. “The Hineni-man does not listen. I just told him. He has usurped the god of Death,” says the owl-god, lifting a hand to press it against his chest. “Now my MIGHTY HINENI holds the title!” she says, screeching a little.

Hineni stares at her, blinking. “Oh… wait. I’m the new god of death?” he asks, looking around himself. “Damn. I feel that might be a little over-exaggerating, I mean.” He looks down at himself. “I’m in good shape, but I don’t really feel uh… goddy, you know?” Hineni shakes his head. “Besides. The old man can keep the job; I don’t want it.”

Obscura looks at him. “In this reality, Hineni is the new god of Death,” she explains. "It is."

“That sounds like a terrible position. I’m not interested,” says Hineni.

She tilts her head. “He is not interested in incredible cosmic power?” she asks, clicking with her mouth. “In the amazing gifts of primal divinity?” asks the owl-god. She spins her head. “No matter what wish he has for his Obscura or himself, Hineni could grant it.” The owl-god lifts a hand. “The river-boy’s father. Hineni’s parents – they could all be returned to us in a reality of Hineni’s choosing.”

He looks at her, wrapping a hand around her palm on his chest. “And yours?”

She looks at him and then shakes her head. “It saddens Obscura, but her father would insist on eating her Hineni,” says the owl-god. “Our union would not be approved by my family.”

“Rough.” Hineni sighs and leans forward, planting a kiss on her head. “Can we just… go back?” he asks. “I just want to be me,” says Hineni. “With you and Rhine and everyone else. That’s it.” The man looks around the void that they’re in. “The dead are dead. We can join them when we’re ready. No need to bring them back to us.”

“And the Eilig fairy?” asks Obscura.

Hineni looks at her and then down to the ground for a minute as he thinks about the last piece of the puzzle.

Why did Eilig just… give up and go? Death’s influence over reality, right?

That means it doesn’t count.

“Can I ask you something?” asks Hineni, looking back at her. “This is a serious question.”

Obscura looks at him and nods. “How important is godhood to you?” asks the man. She tilts her head. “I’m sick of all this,” he says. “All of this mind-control and reality-bending, I can’t keep track anymore. It’s such a mess. I just want it all to stop,” explains Hineni.

“He wishes to banish the gods from their own world?” asks Obscura.

“Fuck them, it’s our world,” replies Hineni, pointing at himself. “Gods were made by people.” She hoots. “There’s something I want, honestly. But I need to know how you feel,” asks Hineni.

“And of the others?” she asks.

The man shakes his head. “I don’t give a frog’s ass about what Avarice or any of the other gods think,” explains Hineni. He looks her in the eyes. “I want to know what you think.”

Obscura stares at him for a time, her fingers moving around on his chest as she thinks. The owl-god looks back up his way. “There is a way,” says Obscura. “But Hineni must understand the situation. There is no return from this,” she explains. “Once a chick falls from the nest, it may never return.”

“Good,” says Hineni. “I don’t intend to come back. I want a world without the gods messing everything up all the time,” explains the man. “I just want to live and die a normal life with my family,” says Hineni, holding her hands. “That’s it. No power, no war for the south, no frogs or owls or any of that. Just us.”

She clicks once more. “He is truly a selfish creature,” explains Obscura.

“You know it,” replies Hineni. “So?”

The owl-god tilts her head. “Obscura agrees,” she says. Hineni feels a strong sense of relief come over him. “But he must finally fulfill his sacred promise to her,” explains the owl-god, lifting a finger. “Her hand remains ringless. Hineni is a creature of little shame, yet she longs for him to feel it deeply in his soul,” explains Obscura. “A wedding!”

Hineni nods. Fair enough.

Reality begins to unravel as the work begins.