A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

The Risen god sat on the ground, cheering on the children as he taught them fun games to play as the sun was high in the air. A gentle breeze kept everyone cool, along with the passing clouds that occasionally blocked the warm summer sun. He relaxed into the grass of the park he resided in, allowing the quiet chatter of those around him to lull him to sleep. His eyes opened as he felt his clothes being tugged and pulled. Looking around, the children that were once playing were now using the Risen god as a pillow and joining him in a mid-day nap. The majority of Hollow had taken the day off to celebrate the tenth year of the Risen god’s rule, so everyone was enjoying the lazy Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Anodyne and Conductor sat in space staring down the Risen god, a rage building inside of Anodyne that grew the longer he stared. The cold of space chills his skin and makes the hairs rise on his back.

“What are you to do, my lord?”

“I am going to kill a deity; I have done it once; I shall do it again.”

Without thought, Anodyne started to fly towards Hollow with great haste. As he approached the planet, he swirled clouds above the Risen god, casting a great lightning bolt down upon him. Awaking from his slumber, he looked around him, hands shaking as he sifted his hands through the ash that was the children. Those around him stared in disbelief, but before anyone could scream, the Risen god called the god of life to his side, bringing the children and the ground back to life before disappearing once again.

“Calm down all, I do not understand what just happened, but we are fine now.”

With a wave of his hands, the clouds vanished, giving sight to Anodyne flying down in full force. With haste, the Risen god spun, teleporting all those around him to a safe distance away. Anodyne’s eyes erupted with a blue flame as he flew downwards, fists first; Risen raised his arms and braced himself right before Anodyne made contact. A thunderous clap sounded as they collided, the earth beneath Risen compacting under the force. A shock wave pulled the dust and loose plants from the ground and tossed them around. Their energies sparked as layers from each peeled back from the devastating blow. As the momentum from his approach faded, the two were left standing before each other. Anodyne’s eyes still spewing blue flame, while Risen stood with his hands up with a calm expression.

“Easy, Anodyne, I don’t want to cause trouble. Let me take this planet; take your poison elsewhere.”

Anodyne struggled to speak out but managed to pull forth a few that he screamed at Risen.

“No one takes what is mine.”

“What if…”

Anodyne lurched forward and struck at Risen but failed to make a purchase with even his fastest strikes. Risen moved in a way that baffled Anodyne, his back steps always half a step ahead of Anodyne. As Risen led Anodyne, he spoke between strikes.

“Please, this world is not yours anymore. Leave in peace, or I will have to force you to leave.”

Anodyne ignored his words; he also failed to notice the vast energy surging into Risen as all the surrounding Holites gave faith in him.

“This is futile; I am above you now. This world is min…”

Anodyne realized that hand-to-hand was failing; as Risen spoke, Anodyne summoned a scythe to his hand to make the distance. Swinging at Risen, he slashed him, cutting the words from his mouth and tossing him further back.

“Alright, you chose your path Anodyne. I was going to be nice.”

The Holites all watched from a safe distance, cheering for Risen as he brought forth a shimmering blade, plain in design but beautiful.

“I have the fuel of a planet powering me, a planet you tortured, a planet that gave birth to me. Now I have returned to save it from your rule.”

“Clearly, I have not been cruel enough because if I had, you would have run as far from here as soon as you were reborn.”

Risen quickly cast a bubble around Anodyne and himself; Anodyne tried to strike out at Holites but collided with the energy that housed him.

“I know you, Anodyne, you are so predictable. Always about pain, but what are you if you can’t do that? A sniveling child who gets mad when you take his playthings.”

Anodyne screamed out and launched himself towards Risen, strike after strike, explosions of light and dark energies that escaped with every collision of the two blades.

“You look tired; I still feel great. Maybe you’re not as strong as I initially thought; your first strike made me a little scared. I see now that was all you had to offer.”

With little effort, Risen moved behind Anodyne and plunged his blade through his chest. Anodyne went to turn to continue fighting but quickly found himself lying on the ground. As he looked at his hands, he could see he was pale, shaking, and dizzy. His vision blurred as he looked upwards to Risen, his focus changing to something approaching from the distance.

“The fuck is that?”

Risen turned to see another deity colliding with his shield, collapsing it. Sylum landed on Risen, crushing him to the ground, while prone Sylum grabbed Risen and tossed him upwards as far as he could.

“You damn fucking idiot, got a death wish?”

Sylum grabbed Anodyne and teleported them both away from the planet, leaving Risen floating in the air above the crater of conflict.

“See, I am stronger than those that would seek to harm you. I banished the old gods of this world that still held allegiance to Anodyne, along with their followers too. Now I have banished Anodyne himself along with his torturous friend Sylum. This world is mine, and I shall protect it.”

Sylum patched up Anodyne and sat him down on a planet at the edge of the universe.

“You literally defeated another god by using his followers to empower you; why would you pursue someone on a planet where they are adored and you are hated?”

“I nearly had that cunt multiple times. I just slipped up.”

“Slipped up? He was toying with you; his power was so above you he could bypass your energy shields. All of yours are still intact, more or less. Even I have to break through your energies when we fight. The power he gets from that planet would destroy me; hell, he would destroy both of us at once.”

Anodyne laid down and let his body restore back to full health; staring into space, he spoke softly.

“Did you find someone to forge that deity soul I have?”

Sylum sat down on the ground next to Anodyne.

“No, but even if I did. You only have enough to make a dagger at most, nowhere near enough to craft a scythe.”

“I don’t need a scythe, I like them, but if I could have a much stronger weapon, I would happily take it. My scythe is made from the strongest material here, which I have learned is nothing special.”

“I don’t think even with a dead god as a weapon, you could kill Risen.”

“Xarius, his name before he was reborn was Xarius.”

“Whatever, the point is a dead god weapon would do insane damage to him. But the issue is that one hit from him will kill you. I have never met a deity that has been reborn or has known one. I don’t think we get multiple chances in this life. Be careful, abandon that planet, start a new life, create a new world.”

“No one takes what is mine; I will make him pay.”

“Get the fuck over that; I have restarted so many times because of other gods. Sometimes you lose; the Eternaverse’s size is beyond comprehension. Literally, anything can happen; I created a universe where it was common for black holes to appear from a fraction of a second all the way to a whole second. But I only found this out after my humans had reached the space stage; what did I do? I fucking gave up because that destroyed everything. Sometimes it is fine to give up on a losing cause.”

“No offense, Sylum, but fuck that. I made Hollow, it is my planet, and I am going to get it back.”

“Ok, mister, suicidal, how do you suppose you are going to do that. I am not going to help you; the level of worship that Xarius has would see us torn apart. I ain’t dying for a shitty planet.”

Anodyne stood up and walked past Sylum.

“I have a want, a want that cannot be accomplished in my universe. We are going to leave; we are going to harvest more deity souls. Eventually, we will find a smith and have them crafted; we shall then return with our new weapons and smite the violator.”

“I don’t want to bum you out, but unless you have visited it already, you can’t control the jumps. You are tossed to random universes no matter how much you want something.”

“I don’t want this; I need it. I will not let the chaos of the Eternaverse decide my fate; I am going to get to where I need to go.”

A colossal door appeared before Anodyne, intricate details carved deeply into the wood.

Anodyne walked through without hesitation; Sylum followed, staring at the door, intrigued by its design.

“Anodyne, I have never seen a door like this; it appears to have designs in it that have purpose. An almost instruction of what is behind it.”

As Sylum finished his sentence, he took notice of his surroundings, eyes wide he looked around the walls of the white room he stood inside. Before them stood a man holding an umbrella with an isolated rainfall above him.

“Welcome to the room of request, please; what is it that you need?”