Cassy felt at their location in frustration. Nothing had been going right since they were first brought here a few days before. Pulled from their car on the way home from the movies. She had ignored the summons from her father and mother for too long, and now she and her husband, Steve, were paying the price.

No one would tell her what had happened or why they had suddenly been brought back to the home of the Gods. All she could do is hope that nothing was wrong on Earth and that her children were alright in the meantime. Time passed differently here than it did everywhere else. Each day that passed here was equal to a month in the rest of the universe. Though, even that had been known to change at times.

From the limited amount of information she had been able to gather, their appearance had been a surprise. Her husband’s especially so. The sight of her once controlling father seeing her mortal, human husband had brought her no small amount of pleasure. Even the High-Gods, or True Gods, call them what you will, had their problems.

At least, HE, hadn’t been there. Dantanian had been a childhood friend of sorts, who always wanted something more. In the end, his constant advances had ruined their friendship.

Like she had been trying to explain to Steve, just because the High-Gods have the power to create worlds didn’t mean they were perfect. In many ways, they were no different from humans. They just lived longer, had far more power, and when they fought, it could wipe out solar systems on the low end. Entire galaxies had been known to vanish over minor skirmishes.

They tried not to fight in their normal forms anymore. Most preferred avatars, champions, or some other method that sealed their power. They believed it kept things fresh and interesting in a life that could drag on for eternity.

Thankfully, Cassy was still young and her power was yet undeveloped as they measured things.

“Chan—”

“I’m called Cassy, or Cassandra if you prefer now, father.” Cassy interrupted him with a glare. She had never liked her birth name, and he knew it. Beside him, her mother smirked and gave her a quick wink.

He growled and thumped his hand on the table, sending a portion of it crumbling to the ground. “Is that really how you want to start this?”

“I don’t know, is it? We’re the ones who were kept locked up for days in this place!”

“Come, dear, it was hardly prison. You were allowed to go out and about and do near anything you wanted.” Her mother interjected kindly.

“Yes, anything but talk to people, or find out what is going on with our kids! You even did something to my seal so I can’t remove it and find out myself!” Cassy yelled with a vigor that ignored her mid-forties outward appearance.

Beside her, Steve was quietly eating the dinner that had been laid out before them. He had always been the calmer of the two of them, even though he had freaked out in the beginning. After figuring out nothing could be done about the situation, he quickly went back to normal.

“That actually wasn’t us, dear. The same force that unexpectedly launched you back here with your husband in tow did that. It also changed him from a regular human into a High Human it would seem. A necessity so he could withstand the changes our higher realm would have had on his mortal body.” Her mother continued to explain.

“You’re making me less grateful to you both by the second, mother!” She ground out. “At this rate, the only thing you have left going for you is that you have managed to keep Dantanian away from me.”

Her father abruptly looked away.

“Well, actually…” Her mother began softly. “He’s not even here. He hasn’t been for some time.”

“I…” Cassy sighed in frustration.

“Look, I know I’m not exactly the son-in-law the two of you were expecting for your daughter. However, I do love her, and I’ve always done my best to make her happy during our time together.” Steve placed his utensils down on his plate and took hold of his wife’s trembling hand. “I think we’ve been incredibly patient considering the time-dilation effects this place has. Now, we would both like to know what is going on with our children!”

Cassy took in a deep breath and nodded. “Please, mom, dad. Tell us what is going on?”

“Your arrival shook things up. The other Gods took notice of your husband and have begun looking outward again. Such a seemingly simple occurrence is having rippling effects. Waning interest in the worlds and people we created and are responsible for is suddenly being renewed. All because you appeared in our midst with a mortal husband.” Cassy’s father took a drink from his glass and stared at them intently.

She nodded. “I know all about our people’s lack of responsibility and interest. It’s part of why I left. I was sick of the games and the eventual disinterest that came as one God after another eventually abandoned their creations. They abandoned the countless World Spirits in each galaxy and the lower gods that had been created to oversee the worlds in their absence. All for one silly reason or another. It was sickening.”

“You’re not wrong,” Her mother said gently. “But ours is the oldest race in existence. We do things differently, and at a different pace than those in the lower realms, or dimensions if you will. I’m not saying it’s right, just different. We’ve all been stuck in our ways for too long. Only a few of the younger ones have even paired off in recent years and gone to create new worlds.”

“What does this have to do with Earth and our kids? Your grandkids?” She demanded wearily, leaning against her husband.

For the first time in a long time, she regretted sealing away her Godly powers. It had never been a problem before now. She had intended to live like a human, and then either make her husband and children immortal at some point. Or she would let them live long, full lives and grab their souls before they could drift away for the next realm.

Heaven, as some of them called it, was really just a slightly higher plane or dimension than their current realm. It was a place where people were born again and allowed to flourish based on their previous life’s choices.

She hadn’t decided which she was going to yet when everything changed and suddenly they were eating across from her parents. It was her own fault for dragging her heels on such an important decision. However, it was one she couldn’t make herself, and she hadn’t been able to figure out a decent way to explain everything to her family, either.

Now she didn’t have to. That was something, at least.

“Well, a few things, really. It seems one of the younger God pairs took notice of the place after you went there. Don’t even ask how they found your location before Dantanian, but they did, and they made a pseudo copy of the Earth for their own amusement.”

Cassy groaned in frustration. “As I said, our race lacks responsibility and looks at everything through the lens of a game.”

“And that is exactly how they approached their creation. Many weren’t even fully developed worlds, but fragments and splinters, all connecting to each other through a system of portals. The entire network was artificially aged in a lower plane where time passes even faster. Each world is only brought into the main realm when they are introduced to the portals and prepare to undergo what they refer to as their world’s Change. Little do they know; a large part of the Change has already happened by then.”

“This is all very interesting daddy, but what does it have to do with Charlotte and Charles?”

“He’s getting there, sweetie.” Her mother said before taking a sip of her sweet tea.

“Well, tell him to get there faster!”

“Fine,” Conor muttered with a sigh. “Dantanian followed you to Earth, but it seems he was reluctant to seal himself dropping down to the planet would have required. By then you had already been there for several years, and a copy had already been made for another God’s amusement. Anyway, it seems Dantanian got sick of waiting around and still refused to drop down and riled up the lower gods to do something crazy.”

“Dantanian can’t seal his powers father, you should know that better than anyone. His unique abilities make it impossible.”

Clara set her tea to the side and grimaced. “I remember the first time he tried to seal his powers and descend realms was with you. It was then that his ability first manifested, and he started to always cover his face.”

Cassy nodded gloomily. “There was a group of us there when it happened. I honestly don’t remember if I said anything, but the others absolutely ripped into him. Even if I didn’t say anything, my silence certainly wouldn’t have helped. I think that’s why he became even more attached to me afterward. I felt bad for not doing anything and made an effort to include him in everything we did.”

Steve held his wife close, comforting her with his presence as she spoke.

“Eventually, I just had to get away from him. I drifted from place to place for a while before I eventually found and settled on Earth. Then I found Steve and started a family. I’d had the seals in place for so long by then that I never even considered the implications until it was too late. You’ll like Charlotte and Charles when you meet them.” She shook her head. “You were talking about them all doing something crazy to the Earth?”

He scratched his cheek and poked at the food on his plate. “It’s funny that you keep mentioning how we treat everything as a game because that’s exactly what they did. They used a game found on the world as the base and then most of the lower gods remaining power to fuel the transformation.”

Steve’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Couldn’t this Dantanian fellow have just done all of that on his own? Why go through all the extra steps?”

“It’s not his world.” His wife explained, with wide, shock-filled eyes. “Our ability to interfere with another God’s world is limited. He would have needed to find another way to get around that.”

“And he found one by doing this.” Her father agreed. “They created something different, but because of you, and the other young pair of Gods that had interacted with Earth, everything became complicated.”

Cassy leaned into her husband while she thought. “Okay, so, I’m guessing that’s how we ended up here, then? As part of the complication, you keep mentioning?”

“Indeed, the other part happened to a world called Alaria, which has already been solved after a fashion. I believe it is the location you visited before Earth?”

She nodded slowly; she remembered the world. It had been covered in a poisonous miasma that was barely kept at bay by the use of dungeons that refined the atmosphere. It was only around these areas that safe zones existed. Frankly, her opinion of the world was mixed. She had seen worse by far, but she hadn’t been able to understand why the two who had created the world had created the miasma in the first place.

“What about the young pair of Gods? Where does their complication come into play?” Steve asked, wanting to keep the conversation moving.

Conor ran a hand over his face and chuckled. “Well, you see, that’s where your son Charles, who now has a fiancé, by the way, gets involved. She’s an interesting woman. I think you’ll like her, though I must say her current race is a bit strange.”

“Charles doesn’t date…” Cassy found herself saying, somewhat distantly, before explaining. “He wants to, but most people confuse him. They always have. Emotional attachments to anyone beyond immediate family have always been hard for him to form. We should have gotten him a pet growing up. Maybe that would have helped.”

Clara snapped her fingers in front of her daughter’s stunned face. “Honey, focus. We were talking about Charles, and how he and Charlotte have become the focal points of Earth. If we want to do something, we’ll need to do it soon, before it becomes too late.”