Anodyne awoke from his rest, he found himself alone in Plo’s workshop. His tongue ran over his new teeth, feeling every ridge, and polishing every surface with each pass. “Not quite the same, not natural. These damn spores better work.” Anodyne climbed out of his chair and made his way outside. The cavern walls curving down towards the tribal’s that inhabited the lands below. “Life was so simple as a mortal, just spend each day surviving under the leader’s rule. Now, now everything is much harder. I just want to rest, but I can’t, I need to get my world back.” Anodyne stared out over the tribal people with a cold blank expression, he raised his hand. He let loose a beam of energy, carving his symbol into the stone below him. “No, I don’t want to rest. I want to burn the life out of the Risen god. I want to return to how I used to be. I am weak, but soon I shall be strong again. I just need to let the madness in.” Anodyne began to grin as he finished carving his symbol. A crazed determination filled his eyes as he focused on his goal. Finally remembering what he had lost, he could focus on what he needed to regain. Plo emerged from her workshop, walking up behind Anodyne. “Do you want to head out now?” Anodyne turned to face her, eyes wide, and mouth grinning. “Let’s go to some fighting pits.” Plo grabbed Anodynes shoulder and they both disappeared. Reappearing in an enormous colosseum. All around them other deities were teleporting in. Filling seats they all awaited the next fight as the remains of the last one was cleaned up. “This is one of many fighting pits. Anyone can enter, the reward depends on the severity of fight. At the beginning of each fight the announcer will call out the stakes, anyone who wants in jumps in.” Anodyne looked around and the cheering masses, while some were clearly there to spectate, there were others that looked battle ready. Armoured from head to toe they brandished their weapons to show all around they were armed. Anodyne brought his short sword to hand, comparing it to those held by the fighters around him. “Anodyne, I can see you look disappointed. Soul forging is hard, it requires a lot of souls. We will get you a better weapon, it will just take time.” Anodyne stored his sword back into his pocket dimension. “I am not disappointed in what I have compared to them, I am disappointed that I have forgotten what fighting is really about.” “Which is?” “The demonstration of skills and resolve. A one on one where the winner wins because they are better than the other. I know weapons require skill, but it is not the same. Weapons make killing by accident possible, with unarmed it is about how much you can take and how much you can throw back. The purest form of fighting.” “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” A deep voice rang in Anodynes ear. Behind him stood a grizzled old man, covered in scars. He shook Anodyne’s hand before waving his other, silencing the crowds. His voice echoing through the entire colosseum. “Today I have been reminded about the spirit of fighting, this next fight will pay homage to the old days of fighting. Two individuals will enter, one will leave a champion, the other a bloody mess left breathing on the ground. Left alive to remember that they will always be second to the other, unless they get back in the ring of course. No weapons, no armour, the prize.” The old man raised his hand, in-between his fingers he held a key. “A key to the library, an item that requires more materials than the 17 quintillion of you have together.” A huge uproar of cheers called from the crowds, armour and weapons disappearing as those who were willing got ready to leap into the arena. All awaiting the final call from the old man. “Looking around I can see I have more than a few of you interested, instead of one on one it will be a free for all. Everyone will enter, you will fight till you can’t move. You will beat others till they can’t move, then you will move on. No deaths this fight. Last one standing gets the key. Oh and if your intent is to hide, it won’t work. I will know and you will be ejected. With that let, us begin.” Everyone started leaping into the arena, some were repelled by a barrier which left them standing in the stands. “I warned you, those with intent on hiding will not be allowed in. We are here to relish in the purity of combat, not cheap tricks.” The old man sat next to Anodyne. “I am the one in charge around here, my name is Tama. Why aren’t you jumping into the pit? No risk, all reward.  A fight tailored to your ideals.” “I believe I mentioned one on one. Not a billion free for all.” “looking closer to a quadrillion actually. But I see your point.” The old man stood up and made another announcement. “While there will be many of you, you will only ever fight one on one. While duelling you will phase out of existence with everyone else. Meaning only the terrain and the one you are locked into combat with can affect you.” He sat again next to Anodyne. “How about now?” Anodyne looked confused. “Why are you so insistent that I enter?” “Because I don’t like people that talk big about what they want, then when they are presented with what they want they back out. I don’t want to see you become another spectator. I see fight in you, and I want to see it on the field. Now fight you spectating piece of shit.” Anodyne got ready to strike Tama, but resisted and focused on the pit. “Yea, get mad. Get in that ring. Taste the glory of battle and claim your prize.” Anodyne felt his anger well up inside him, he looked at all the others that were leaping in and sat on the verge of following. Tama leant across and whispered. “Don’t let them know you are a bitch.” Anodyne leapt to his feet and launched himself into the arena, hitting the ground with a three-point landing. He looked back at Tama as he grinned. “The arena is sealed and the fight begins.” The central part of the arena was surrounded in a shimmer that faded. A few more tried jumping in but were held back, some from the inside tried leaping out but were held in. Anodyne could feel his frustration and anger fading, but reigniting as he was lifted from his feet with a swift punch to his gut. He recoiled from the pain but was quick to respond. Dispatching of the individual quickly. “You have all come to rely on weapons and armour too much. The real fighting starts now.” He made his way deeper into the arena before Anodyne woke up in the grand stands. “Where, where am I?” Plo was clutching her sides laughing. “You got destroyed, you knocked someone over then got knocked the fuck down.” Tama was sitting nearby laughing as well. “Do not take it personally kid, there are a lot of gods here that have been fighting here since day one. You were never going to match up.” Anodyne grabbed his head as he felt it throb. “God damn, there is the pain. Why send me in if you knew I was going to lose?” “Because I like to see people get pummelled into the dirt. That is why I own a fighting arena.” Tama moved closer. “You got flicked half way across the arena too. Like a damn rag doll.” Anodyne felt shame run across his face as he slumped over the chair in front of him. “But I do agree with you. People have come to rely on weapons and armour too much. They are much softer than what they should be, the chick that hit you should have killed you. But she was too weak, too unconditioned to the harshness of battle, true battle.” Anodyne stared at Tama with an inquisitive look. “Why do I get the feeling that you are trying to offer me something?” Tama grinned and took to his feet. “Woah, battle smart and general smarts too. Yes I am offering you something, I want to train you. Everyone here stares at the weapons and armour that pass through here. No one looks at the fighters, I watched as your eyes skimmed over the weapons and you gazed at the fighters. Judging their worth as opposed to admiring the worth of weapons.” “As enticing as that is, I don’t need to know how to fight right now. I need someone to help me fight, I need to reclaim my world from an imposter, I need it back now, I don’t have time to train.” Tama recoiled at Anodyne’s impatience. “You know that in order to truly reclaim your home you need to dominate your foe yourself. You would not have beaten them otherwise, simply skipped an issue and claimed the glory that hid behind it.” “That glory you speak of are my children, all seven of them. They have been caged like animals, and treated as such.” Tama started to walk away. “You want to show your children how to cheat a win, or do you want to show them how to take what you want from anyone who opposes you?” Anodyne sat and let sadness overwhelm him. “I can’t though, I can’t beat this guy. He is simply better than me.” “Then rise above, claim what you want. Don’t expect it to be easy, because you are not owed anything. No one is ever owed anything, you have to fight for it, take it before someone else can. Be the better that others strive to be.” Anodyne stood up and locked eyes with Tama. With determination in his eyes and a strong voice he outstretched his hand. “Train me then, get me to the point where I can conquer those who stand between me and what I desire.” Tama grasped Anodyne’s hand. “I won’t just get you to the point where you can conquer your enemies, I will get you to the point where you can enslave anyone you desire. I don’t want to train a conqueror, I want to train someone with ambition who wants more. Someone who won’t stop at destroying an enemy, someone who wants to find enemies and dominate them under their will. I want to get out of the fighting business, I want to be in the slave trade. That is where the real money is, but I need fresh blood, I need someone willing to put in the work.” A grin grew across Anodyne’s face as he tightened his grip. “You train me to enslave my foe and I will help you enslave the entire Eternaverse.”

Anodyne floated in space, letting his body fall limp as he stared blankly at a nearby sun. His mind empty as he enjoyed the warmth. “You’re giving up?” Anodyne became alert as he spun around to see where the soft voice came from. “Damn I am going insane out here.” Assuming he was hearing voices, he returned to his limp position, emptying his mind once again he returned to relaxing. “You used to be mad.” Anodyne spun around again, this time looking around intently. “But now you are weak.” Anodyne remained still, unspoken, and waiting. “What happened to the rage? Where is your madness? We watched you lose them both.” “You may be right about the madness, but I still have plenty of rage.” Anodyne yelled into the black of space. “You don’t need to yell, I am right here.” Anodyne started grasping around him, first at a slow pace, but quickly increased in speed as he failed to touch anything. “You may still become angry, but you do not have rage. You have lost all you were.” Anodyne went to respond but was cut off by the voice. “That is why you have lost Hollow. The risen god know what he is, he plays to his strengths.” Anodyne clenched his fists and his eyes erupted into blue flames. “Want to test my temper? I assure you, you will not like the outcome.” “You call that rage? That is frustration at best, you have forgotten what it is like to be truly enraged.” Anodyne let loose, causing explosions to form all around him. He caste beams of burning light from his hands in all directions. Short of breath he lowered his arms and his eyes returned to normal. “Already out of breath? You are a shell of your former self. Being disconnected from Hollow has made you weak. Your daughters want to help, they have been calling out to you. Can’t you hear them?” “I don’t have daughters.” Anodyne heard no reply, he sat quietly. “What daughter could I have?” He whispered under his breath. Anodyne waited until an echoed voice reached his ears. “A,a,a,a,a,nodyne.” The very sound of the call ran chills down his spine. “A,a,a,a,a,nodyne.” He flew through space trying to hear the source of the call. “A,a,a,a,a,nodyne.” He followed blindly, travelling great distances, he followed the voice that called out to him. Colliding with an unseen force he looked up, before him was Hollow, protected by a barrier. “A,a,a,a,a,nodyne.” Once again it called, originating from Hollow. “You hear them now? I guess their voice travels slower than I thought.” The disembodied voice called out as Anodyne pressed his hand against the barrier. “They are, in essence, what makes you, you.” “I only hear one echoed voice, where are the others?” “Listen closer.” Anodyne listened intently to the sound of the girl’s voice crying out to him. “Oh, that isn’t one echoed voice. That is seven all talking slightly out of sync.” “They miss you, they have been trapped and they need you. Your seven little, orphan, scared, girls need your help.” “My girls!” Anodyne cried out as the memory of the seven orphan girls he saved flooded back into his mind. All the times he spent on Earth keeping them company before the governing god claimed their lives. “How could I forget them? “Because Xarius, the god that took your throne as god of Hollow knew what they were to you. He knew he needed them out of the picture if he was to defeat you. He hid their presence from you and your memories faded as their maddening voices stopped calling out to you, now this barrier holds their power from you.” Anodyne lashed out at the barrier, with each collision a vibrant color spread across the barrier as it absorbed all the power Anodyne threw against it. Down below on Hollow the inhabitants gazed up at the night sky, watching on with awe. None of them aware of what was truly going on. His strikes slowing, Anodyne began to give up till his final blow left his hand resting against the barrier. “I forgot them, they never forget me though. I will come back for you girls, I will help you out of that hell hold.” “But how, if you can’t even get to them? What will you do when strength fails you?” The voice seemed to trail off, signifying its leave. “I am going to get more strength.” Anodyne focused on the planet as he searched for his girls, searching he found them. So far away from him, locked in a cage made from the same barrier that held Anodyne back. “Xarius, you are going to suffer the worst death both I and my girls can think of.” Anodyne blinked away from the planet, leaving it in Xarius’s hands. He returned to Appretend and Plo, as they were harvesting living stone from the universe he left them in. “How do I break through barriers?” Appretend turned to Anodyne, wiping sweat from her brow she stepped away from the sun. “What kind of barrier?” Anodyne took them both back to Hollow to allow them to witness the barrier in person. Appretend laid her hands on the barrier, she closed her eyes and felt the pulses that ran through it. Her fingers twitched as the powerful pulses collided with her finger tips. “This barrier is powered by devotion.” She said letting go of it. “Getting through this would require something very serious, or having everyone on this planet lose faith in the god who created the barrier.” “Can you two make me something to break this?” “Oh no, this is not weak to weapons. You’re going to need something more organic to drain this of power.” “Organic? What the hell do you mean?” “Hey Appretend, you have this right? I am going to go back to harvesting that sun. You help Anodyne out.” Plo disappeared leaving Appretend and Anodyne alone. “You will need a plant, plants are the masters of absorbing energy and using it to benefit itself. If you want to kill the host, I would suggest a fungus.” “cool so I throw some spores on this and in a million years the barrier falls?” Appretend laughed at what she thought was to be a joke. Her smile quickly fading as she noticed Anodyne staring at her. “Um. No. We will need to buy some special ones. I know a guy who can help us, but he is hard to deal with.” “What makes him hard to deal with?” “Well for one, he is extremely well guarded. So death threats are off the table, and he is the definition of insane. We think it has something to do with all the fungus.” Anodyne was still confused to what Appretend truly meant. “Take us, now!” “Ok, but just as a heads up. Don’t touch anything, his fungus can be very hard to get off, and it can be an extremely painful experience until you do.” Appretend rolled her arm over, revealing blackened veins in her fore arm. “And it takes an extremely long time to fully heal afterwards, if you heal at all.” “Noted, now let’s go.” “Final note, he is a little different. He does not take a human form like most of us. It can be a little intimidating at first, while it is humanoid it isn’t really.” Anodyne started to glare at Appretend. “Well at least he makes me feel uncomfortable, but he might not make you uncomfortable. Let’s go.” Appretend spat out her sentence as fast as she could before grabbing Anodyne and teleporting them away. They reappeared in a different universe, in front of a new planet. “Wow, this guy really does love fungus.” Anodyne exclaimed as he stared at the planet below him, its surface completely covered with a dense forest of fungi. “We have to be careful, this planet was nick named god eater by gods far stronger than us.” “Then why are we venturing onto it?” “Oh don’t worry, I have a pass. I can bring people to the surface fine. Just make sure not to touch anything. Nothing will move out of your way either, so please make sure to move out of their way or you will suffer.” “What do you mean?” “There is a lot of things down there that move quite rapidly, some of them walk. They don’t care if they bump into you, and if they do you will suffer not them. So just stay out of every things way.” “Noted.” “Come on, follow me.” They both descended upon the planet, the fungal canopy parted as they drew close. Appretend went in without hesitation, while Anodyne slowed his decent. He monitored the plant life sway unnaturally. He raised his hand to the sky. “Weird, no wind. Then why are these plants shifting so much?” Anodyne lowered himself to the surface of the planet, touching down he remained floating for a moment. He placed his foot back down slowly, watching as it pushed the surface inwards. As he allowed all his weight to push against the ground Appretend jumped in front of Anodyne, once again causing him to lift off the ground. “You can stand on this, it is not the ground though. The ground is down there.” Appretend pointed down off the bulge in the ground they were standing on. “This is some kind of fungus, these pop up all over the place. They are usually covered in ants though, this one must be new.” She bounced on it like a trampoline as she made her way to the ground. Anodyne floated and landed on the ground next to her. “Really? That is a fungus? I would never have guessed. Now where are we going? Where is this damn god killer?” “First off, the planet is the god killer. Secondly are you nervous?” Anodyne’s eyes were locked upwards as the canopy closed overhead. “You take me to a planet named as a god killer by stronger deities, warning me of how brutal the planet is. Not to mention the governing god is a shapely monster that is insane, and you want me to be calm?” “Well yea, I know him. We will be fine. But don’t forget, there are things that move around, don’t get in their way.” “You keep saying that, but I have not seen anything move that wasn’t tethered to the damn ground.” Just as Anodyne finished his sentence his eyes were dragged to the side by a humanoid slowly making its way through the fungal forest. “That is a big damn mushroom, what is it even doing?” The humanoid stopped in its tracks and turned to Anodyne, it paused for a moment before moving towards him. “Don’t move!” “I thought you said I was supposed to move out of the way.” “That is different, he is smelling you. He needs to add you to the safe scent or you will be hunted.” The mushroom humanoid made its way to Anodyne at a quickened rate. “I swear, if it starts hurting me I am killing you before I die.” The mushroom man stopped centimeters in front of Anodyne’s face. An odd grouping of clicks and sniffs sounded as Anodyne laid his hand on Appretend. An energy already burning her arm as Anodyne stared down this creature. His hand shook as he watched a series of spores leave the fungal humanoid and land on his forehead. They seemed to sit for a moment before returning to the humanoid. The clicks increased in frequency before the creature made its way off into the forest. “You were actually scared, you seemed stronger when I first met you.” “I have been told that a lot recently, I am kind of sick of it to be honest.” “Then maybe you should start fighting like you used to. But not really, I watched one of those tall fungus people crush the god that originally owned Slag. …

Anodyne stormed his way through the remain of Slag, clearing a path through the remains as he quickly made his way to Plo’s shop. Running through the door he shouted with desperation. The land lord of Slag, is he powerful?” Plo and Appretend turned as they were both hunch over the furnace. Plo gestured to Appretend and she quickly scurried over to Anodyne while they Plo continued. “What did you say? Please be quick Plo will need me soon.” “The land lord, the induvial to whom you pay rent to, are they powerful.” “What do you think, they own territory in the Eternaverse, they are incredibly powerful. We are the latest project he has had, he has many more projects at much further stages of progression.” Anodyne started to sweat. “We need to leave, we need to leave right the hell now.” Appretend ran over to Plo, they both discussed for a short while then Appretend returned. “We can’t, we have gone too far with the process, you will lose your souls you have gathered if you leave now.” Anodyne’s mind seized as he was posed with a conundrum that pushed his wants to the limit. Apprentend returned to Plo as they continued the process. Anodyne started to shake as he stood in the door way. “I’m fucked, I’m actually fucked. If I leave I lose my progress but keep my life. If I stay I may get a sword in my hand, or one in my heart.” Anodyne started to pace back forth as his mind ran in circles. His movements stopped as he turned to see a very mad looking individual standing just outside with a couple of familiar faces from the conflict standing behind him. “Hey there friend, I got all dressed up for this destroyer of worlds. But before me I see a lowly god barely able to explore the Eternaverse with any form of precision. At least I will look good as I slaughter you.” The gods armour shone as the light from a nearby sun illuminated it. In hand a vast spear with barbs and lightning arcing around it, crackling as it went. Anodyne’s eyes widened before he raised his hands above his head and clapped. A small bubble appeared around the store and quickly vanished, taking the store and a chunk of Slag with it. The land lord stood mildly amused. “Hmm, never seen someone so weak muster the energy to teleport with so much external matter before.” One of the two scared individuals behind him spoke out quietly. “Are you going after him? He destroyed everything.” The land lord looked down and grinned. “He destroyed trash, this asteroid was an embarrassment to my accomplishments. It is annoying he took the best of this asteroid, but he did cull the weak. I could follow him, but I see no point in killing someone so low.” The land lord watched as the energy of Anodyne’s ability slowly faded from sight. “And… now I cannot follow him. Besides, it was your job to ensure you stayed safe, I can’t be expected to baby sit all the time. I am a busy man. You survived, congratulations, you are the only two shops on Slag. Now excise me while I go find some more crafters to occupy this space.” The same well carved door that Anodyne summoned to find Slag appeared before the Land lord and he wandered through. The two weak gods looked at each other and one after another they disappeared from Slag, leaving it to be a just another ruined rock floating through space. Anodyne stood with his breath falling heavy, hands still above his at their final positions. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Safe.” Anodyne slumped to the ground and let out a sigh. “He did not follow, he could not be bothered. We are safe.” Plo looked out the door and then back to her work, after a second she realised what she was looking at and dropped what she was doing. She walked to the door and stared out to the new area of space she had just been transported to. “Where are we?” She said as Appretend struggled to maintain the soul forge while Plo left to enquire to their new location. “We are safe, they did not follow. Now you can finish my sword in this new space.” “But where are we Anodyne, where did you take us?” “You can know that once I get my sword. Now hurry up. Your apprentice is struggling.” Plo turned and quickly rushed to take over once again. Anodyne, feeling safe sunk into his sitting position and closed his eyes. Before he realised it he was fast asleep and the other two were left to continue the forge un interrupted. Towards the end of the process where concentration was not needed they both relaxed and started to talk. “I don’t know if you noticed Appretend, but we have moved. Anodyne has taken us somewhere new.” “I did, when you ran off I looked out the door. Does it matter, was this not part of your plan?” “I mean not really, I assumed we would stay on Slag getting other work. How much work can one god give us? Even if he does supply us with work how much can he offer us?” “He ran from our land lord, and he is extremely powerful. So at a minimum he is good at escaping stronger foes. Which means he can help us avoid dangers. Not money, but good value.” “But only if he is with us, I was thinking we could leave his weapon here and then make our way back to slag.” As they finished their conversation and the final touches on the sword Anodyne woke up and rushed over. “It is done, I have a sword forged from the souls of deities. I am one step closer to getting my world back. Now for your payment, do you have harvesting tools?” Yes, no good forge can run without them.” Anodyne focused and clapped, shifting the house forge to a new location. “I found this universe a while ago, you can have free reign to harvest what you need.” The two forgers wandered out of their home to be surrounded by stone. Laying before them was the liquid stone that provided both sun and moonlight. The very same material that was used in their forge. “This universe is just air bubbles surrounded by matter of diverse types. Instead of standard suns they have these, so you should have all you could want to harvest here.” “I guess he does have a lot to offer us ae Plo, because this is more valuable than anything we have been paid.” “Feel free to hang out here and visit me whenever you need anything, or have anything you can help me with my goal.” Plo walked up to Anodyne to confront him face to face. “What do you need this all for? What are you investing all your effort into?” “A world I named Hollow. It is my world and another deity has taken it. I want it back, I am not going to stop till have killed the usurper and claimed my world again.” “You are doing this over a planet? You know you can just create another, why spend so much effort on a world that is impossible to reach. You can make a whole multiverse where you could make as many worlds as you want, yet you are spending all your efforts on this one?” “Not anymore, not really. The universe I originally took you to was a new one, I am going to build my presence on as many worlds as I can and then I shall return to my first and claim it back.” “You are insane, no one cares that much about a single world, but if you can continue to show us to places like this, with rare resources. I don’t care what you do, as long as we get to forge. I assume we find you at your new universe?” “Yes, I am going to work on that for a while, but I have to get back to Hollow before too long. There is an occurrence that only happens once a year, and I cannot miss it. So work hard and help me claim my world back, or I will hunt you down and burn all that you love.” Plo turned to Appretend as she was examining the fluid rock sun. “I will do whatever it takes, to be honest this is more advantageous to us than it is a hindrance. But if you think you can get to her without having to fight me think again.” Anodyne smirked and started to fade. “It was a fact I was counting on, now get back to work.” Anodyne faded fully from sight and left the other two to their work. As he appeared in his new universe he found Sylum waiting for him. “So finally made a second universe ae?” “Yup, trying something new with this one. But this is just the first of many. I just need more praise to conquer the shit of a deity that has claimed my world.” “So is this Hollow two?” “No, my worlds are very different. This does not deserve the name of Hollow. It is close, but will never be what I first created. Nothing ever will be.” “So what do you call this new world?” “Dolor, and it is just one of many.”

Anodyne and Sylum both stood inside the blank white room, they both stared at the man before them as he stood waiting. “I shall warn you, this room will not last forever. It will collapse soon, so please place your request.” Anodyne took charge and marched forward till he was standing just outside of the rainfall that relentlessly poured onto the man standing before him. “I need someone who can craft deity souls, give me a door to one.” The man started to sit and a chair appeared below him, flicking out his wrist a desk appeared mere millimetres in front of Anodyne. A large book and quill were the only things that decorated the desk, adjusting his umbrella the man made sure that no rain touched his book. “What level of god souls do you have?” Anodyne went to answer but stopped himself as he realised he could not. Pulling forth the soul Anodyne laid it on the desk. The man lent over to examine before sitting back into his chair. “Base level soul I see, do you have more?” “No just the one, first I need to find someone who can forge. Once I have this I shall seek new souls to claim.” “I don’t care. I am just here to find out if I can find what you need, fortunately your request is simple. Please leave out the door you came through, you don’t want to be here when my world collapses.” Anodyne looked around at the walls and how they were cracking slightly around the joins. “Come Anodyne, I don’t like the feel of this place, let’s leave.” “I am done here, we can leave.” Anodyne and Sylum headed out of the door, the handle glowing as he reached for it. Anodyne turned to see the man scribbling in his ledger. Determined to get to what he needed, Anodyne pushed forward. Grasping the handle, he stormed through the door, a bright light blinding him to his destination. Before his eyes returned he heard the chatter of many others, his eyes slowly coming back he saw he was in a market place residing upon an asteroid which was traveling at extreme speed through space. “Sylum, what is this place?” Anodyne turned to realise that Sylum was no longer with him. “Alright, going solo I guess. It does not matter, I just need to find a smith.” Before Anodyne could search a young-looking woman tapped his shoulder. “You said you were looking for a smith? My partner is the best smith on Slag.” Anodyne looked at the woman and her heavy apron she was wearing. “I assume you are the forge assistant, based on your attire.” “Yes, I can’t forge many things yet but I am learning. Come check it out, you can always leave if it is not what you are looking for.” The girl started to walk off down the street, Anodyne followed cautiously. “What is your name? I am Appretend, my partner is Plo’Farrier.” “Anodyne.” “Not much for words ae Anodyne, well you better speak up when we get to the forge otherwise Plo won’t know what to do for you.” “How about we walk in silence.” “That might be hard, too many people on here to walk in silence. If you really wanted to you could…” Appretend continued to ramble as Anodyne followed, looking around at the various small shacks and occasional well established small buildings. All around he could see various blacksmiths along with merchants that sold many interesting items. He watched as plants and decorative items lit up the market, illuminating the various weapons and ores that laid dull in their stalls. Anodyne bumped into Appretend as he was looking elsewhere, bringing his attention back to her. “Did you not hear me say we had arrived?” “To be honest I stopped listening after I asked to walk in silence.” Anodyne looked at the two-story stone building that stood out from the rest of the smaller shacks. “Well even if they are not the best, you two have the biggest building here.” “Yes, rent is pretty insane here. Plo and I still make enough though, come on in I will show you to the forge.” They both walked inside, a heat hit Anodyne the forced his hand up to shielded his eyes as they adjusted. “What in the great expanse causes that much heat, especially something that is in a damn house.” “First off this is the forge, secondly it is a rare liquid stone that is both a sun and a moon. Plo got some condensed a while back and has it as the fire pit. I believe there are three suns worth in there. Not many, but enough for what we do.” Anodyne turned the final corner to see a woman sleeping on the floor holding onto callipers and a hammer. “Plo, we have a potential customer.” The woman’s eyes slowly opened and she sluggishly pulled herself up. “What does he want?” Plo asked as she propped herself upright. “He wants, well what do you want?” Anodyne pulled forth the deities’ soul, and showed it to Plo. Her eyes instantly lit up and she ran over, snatching it from Anodynes hands she examined it thoroughly. Anodyne went to grab it back but stopped as he realised she had no interest in stealing it. She grabbed a few small tools and started probing into the cracks of the hard-outer layer of the soul. “Weird, it has a good strength which would suggest a higher-level soul, but the cracks are a sign of a low-level soul. Must have been in a developing stage of his life.” Anodyne stood unamused by the chatter. “Can you craft it into a weapon or not?” Plo and Appretend looked up at Anodyne and started laughing. Appretend grabbed a hammer and handed it over. Plo brought down the hammer onto the soul, the exterior cracked open and revealed a small nugget of unrefined metal. Appretend grabbed the nugget and held it up. “You want a mighty teaspoon to slay your enemies?” Anodyne’s eye twitched as he looked at the small portion of usable material, his eyes starting to let off a light blue flame. Plo’s smile faded, and she started to look a little worried. “Ok now just so you know, we did not break this. This is simply the only usable part of the soul. The cracks would have let out the souls energy as it was forged. Probably because of the weakness of the killer, and the weakness of the individual.” Anodyne’s eyes started to burn with a brighter flame. “Point me to a low-level deity, point me to as many as you can. I have souls to collect!” Plo and Appretend looked at each other with desperation both of them muttering grasping at the air for location names as they recoiled from Anodyne until Appretend spoke out. “Well no one on this asteroid is particularly strong, we all focus on skills as opposed to power.” Anodyne grinned and walked out of the shop, looking around he counted the souls that resided on Slag. “One, two, three, six, twenty, twenty-five…. Twenty-five souls would be more than enough for a dagger. Looks like I have some harvesting to do.” Anodyne dragged his scythe forth from his pocket dimension, raising it high above his head he flew into the asteroid swinging. Plo looked out her door across the street as Anodyne collided with an opposing store, crashing through the tin rough and cutting down her neighbour with one strike. A maniacal echoed around as the sounds of crashes and screams sounded. A few determined battle cries called out, but quickly they were silenced. One induvial landed at the entrance of Plo’s shop, gurgling on their blood before falling limp. Beginning the collapse of their body into a soul. As the screams and destruction raged on Plo and Appretend say in their workshop home. “I am really sorry Plo, I did not mean this to happen.” “Look this is fine, this actually works we have just gotten the competition killed off. We just have to make sure that we stay on the good side of him and we get work. Not only work, but protection.” “That is insane, he is insane. He started murdering people just for the chance of having a weapon forged. Something I would like to point out is not a guarantee. So if we fuck it up and lose all his souls what do you think he will do. Do you think he will be forgiving?” Plo grabbed appretend’s face and pulled her in close. “We won’t fail, we can’t. This is our first step out of being the bitch to other gods, we can’t miss this opportunity. This is where our story begins. We can be one of the remembered ones!” Anodyne burst through the partially destroyed front door of the forge and laid down a pile of souls before the two forgers. “A few nearly got away. But I ran them down, they did not run very fast.” Anodyne sat down and relaxed in a chair, his body covered with blood and wounds. “You know, I did not know deities could get this weak. You crafty people really are fucking disgraceful at fighting.” Anodyne grabbed a rag and started to wipe the blood from his brow. “I thought I was the worst fighter there was based on my previous fights, hell one of my previous fights is the main reason I am doing all of this.” Anodyne leant forward in his chair and rested on his knees. “Well is this enough for a weapon or not?” Appretend remained on the floor in shock while Plo scampered forward and started to smash the exterior shells of the souls, then pulled the useable fragments from the flak. “I have, I have, enough for a short sword here maybe. Maybe something a little more.” Anodyne grabbed one of the unused fire pokers, resting it under Plo’s chin he turned her frantic face towards him. “I have exerted a lot of energies to claim what lays before you, don’t waste my efforts. Make my damn sword.” Plo stood up with an armful of soul ore, and ran over to her furnace. “Aprretend, I need you to stoke the fires and prepare a mold. Right the hell now.” Snapping out of her delirious stare she jumped to her feet and started preparing as Plo gathered all the souls. The couple ran around their workshop in a mad rush, ensuring everything was done to perfection they tended to the souls they had to craft. Anodyne relaxed back into his chair and watched as the two scurried around, working hard at the forge. “How long is this going to take, I am not a patient individual?” Plo had her head stuck into loud machinery that removed her ability to hear, so Appretend answered. “Close to around twenty hours, soul forging is hard. Very hard.” “I am going for a walk, if you run. I will find you.” Anodyne tried to solidify his terror but neither of the couple had the ears to hear his words as they were working to diligently in the heart of the forge. “I trust you are too scare to run, I will be back soon.” Anodyne left the building to look around the remains of Slag. All the shanties laid in ruin after the brief conflict Anodyne had with the previous inhabitants. “It is a shame, nothing is left.” Anodyne tried turning over some of the shacks to find anything left but most of what was for sale was easily destroyable. “Those assholes really wanted to live. I don’t see why. They weren’t achieving anything here. Just drifting through space with a handful of customers.” Anodyne sat down and looked at the nearby nebula churning in the darkness, slowly building up density till it could reach its final life cycle as a star. “Wait, they …

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 gods 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 chilling his skin, and making his hairs raise 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. Anodynes 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. Anodynes 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 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 lead 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 to him. “This is futile, I am above you now. This world is min…” Anodyne realised 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 re born.” 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 snivelling child who gets mad when you take his play things.” 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 laying upon 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 time 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 blackholes to appear from a fraction of 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 aint 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 of. 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?”

Anodyne stared down at his planet, with eyes of disbelief as he saw those who resided upon it celebrating. His body shook with rage as he spied a new deity being praised by his people. They sowed seed and the new deity would fly by, waving his hands causing the crops to mature instantly. The swirling clouds Anodyne crafted to reside upon Hollow had long since departed. “I guess travelling universes has a downside.” Anodyne peered to his side and noticed a familiar face. “Lord Anodyne, your absence has been noticed.” “You are full of useful information Conductor.”Anodyne turned towards his old friend “What have you been doing in my absence then? How did you let my world become over run?” “It is simple, you did this by neglecting it, then leaving it for over a century.” “What do you mean? I thought me leaving was the neglect, what neglect are you referring to?” “Why, leaving your arrogance all over the place by allowing that other deity to live.” Anodyne dug his hands into his skull and pulled down his skin as he spiralled on the spot in frustration. “Sylum said that the cross was one of the absolute ways to hold a deity.” “Oh it was, but unfortunately a hundred years of a deity whispering in the ears of mortals is too much for them. That coupled with the fact you have made no presence during that time lead to those forgetting. They never forgot you, but they forgot how you were.” Anodyne stopped his turning and faced his planet with a fire in his eyes. “I say we make them remember.” Energy started to rise around Anodyne as he let his rage fill him, a rage that was subsided by a hand being placed onto his shoulder. “If you are to fight on Hollow you are surely to lose. The Holites will give praise to the Risen God.” “Wait, the Risen god is the name he is using? Does this have any relation to the psychos we followed in Hell?” Both Anodyne and Conductor stared at each other, they thought hard for a moment before Anodyne spoke. “I guess, time does run weird in there. My deity for time made it their pet project, it confuses me to death. It runs the same as current time, but multiplies the time for every permanent resident. Eventually the sun burns out and the sentence is served.” “Even by that logic the Risen king could not have served his sentence, that time has not passed.” “That is just the first rule, there are around twenty. I don’t remember, that was a job that I was glad to pass on. Fuck having to deal with time, that guy has like a ridiculous number of rules to follow. Hold up.” Anodyne disappeared and quickly returned with another individual, she seemed a little shaken by the experience. She shook her long hair out and turned to Anodyne. “I can’t be here, why am I here?” She started to fly away but Anodyne dragged her back against her will, forcing her to remain still. “Please I need to be elsewhere, I can’t be here, please let me go.” The desperation in her voice gave grins to Anodyne and Conductor, she squirmed as she tried to release herself from her invisible binds. “Listen Tukon, we just need to find out if the Risen god is the Risen King from Hell. You should know hell, your bizarre project.” Tukon stopped squirming and started staring into the distance, her vibrant green eyes swirled and turned black. Muttering under her breath she turned back to Anodyne. “Risen left.” “So he did finish his sentence, must have already done his one hundred years.” “Did not finish his sentence, left.” “They can’t leave Hell, it is not possible. He must have finished his sentence.” “I don’t make mistakes, if I did this universe would be in chaos. Risen left, did not finish his sentence.” All three stood in silence before Tukon muttered. “I can send you to when he left. Since you don’t believe.” “Right now.” All three disappeared in a flash, appearing in Hell. “Follow him, he leaves soon.” Tukon left again leaving Anodyne and Conductor in the rocky landscape of Hell. “Where do you think he is my lord?” “My guess is the stone pillar, the one with a cave on the top and scaffolding made from bones. Why do I ever leave this place?” As Anodyne stared out over the blood streams that carved through the landscape he failed to notice those behind him. A crude blow made purchase with his head, turning with fire in his eyes he saw two scared individuals. “Oh we are dead, that is Anodyne.” “Beat it, I am busy.” Before Anodyne finished the two ran off with full haste, leaving anodyne to stare back at the shanty town made from human flesh. “You leave because as fun as it is, people here are inherently stupid. At least those on Hollow create things of actual interest.” “Are you telling me you don’t find that interesting?” Anodyne pointed to the top of the stone pillar before them, atop swaying in the slight breeze were strange plants. “Let’s look at that.” Anodyne teleported over to the top of the stone pillar and found himself in the middle of a lush garden. Deep crimsons and dark purples spread like a weed over the top of the stone pillar. The spined plants curled and swayed, others had large fleshy openings that let loose plumes of a red mist into the air. The violet sun illuminated small intricate patterns over all the plants, giving them a slight glow. Standing centre on a raised piece of stone was the Risen King, a staff in hand. Swirling his hand over the top of the staff, the eye adorning the top followed his hand. The eye then snapped its direction off into the distance and the Risen King spoke. “Xai, xai, xai, XAI.” From under the plants bones started to shift, pulling the plants from their rocky binds. What seemed to be a large bulging bush covered in eyes rose into the air. A colossal serpentine body made from bones and flesh rose into the air, the head was a vast collection of eyes that all peered in different directions that gave a spherical shape for a head. The mouth less creature strained and attempted to pull up its vast wings, but kept falling under their weight. A collection of bones started to stack upon themselves, climbing upwards towards the serpent, then another pile starts, and another. Soon the monster had six angular legs that braced its body. Again, it strained at the wings, this time it ripped the plants that grew over it. Raising its wings high in the air those around cheered as the voiceless beast held its form. “You said these idiots can’t make anything. But they built that monstrosity, and these plants have been cultivated. This world is interesting.” “What interests me is how this beast is involved with the escape from this world.” “I guess we watch on.” The beasts million eyes focused on one point after darting aimlessly. They stared intently at the eye that resided upon the Risen Kings staff. He moved it side to side and watched with a grin as the monstrosities eyes followed. Risen king turned and walked to the end of the rocky top, the serpent leaning slightly trying to follow the staff. He called out to the crowds of those that amassed in the skin shanty town. “This is the fruits of our labours, we have grown a creature that will be our salvation. Using the psionic plants to bind the bones of our scrap pile into a body and legs, the skin we harvested bound to be wings. Finally, the eyes of those who vexed us all grouped in a bouquet to give vision to our creation.” The Risen King leaped forward off his perch, the winged serpent coiled around the spire, destroying the scaffolding stairs that gave others access to the top. Once below the Risen King it stopped, forming a small podium on its spine out of bones it received him. As many eyes that could rolled back and stared at his staff. “I have absolute control of this creature, this great serpent of eyes. Our saviour. Now watch as it takes me high into the sky where it shall use its abilities to release my soul from this realm.” The great serpent flew higher in the air, its body laid relax and drooped towards the ground as its wings kept it aloft. The eyes started to move and started to wind around the Risen King. Laying on his back he was carried across the eyes till he sat in the centre of their cluster. With a pale blue light, everyone watched as the Risen king fell limp, his tense body loosened completely and fell from the eyes. His corpse caught alight as it fell and burned to ash before colliding into the ground, his staff however collided with full force and shattered. Anodyne watched as the creature started to fly erratically, everyone below understanding that the beast was angry. It started to swoop down and claim people into its eye mass, disintegrating them and absorbing their souls. “Well that is how he got out, they created a demi god from psychic plants and the remains of the living dead. That makes this the third demi god the Holites have made.” “Maybe they will create too many demi gods and replace themselves with these greater being.” Anodyne gave a light laugh at what Conductor said. “If that does happen we reset this world. Demigods are strong, but they need lesser beings, they would all fight for territory till only one remained. Not fun to rule over one being, I have tried it before, not that great.” “One day you will have to tell me about that my lord, but for now shall we follow the Risen?” Anodyne let off a long winded sigh. “Can’t, he left this universe. He must have finished his 100-year sentence of life before I sent him down here.” “What 100-year sentence are you referring to?” “I assumed you knew, every being in existence has to live life as all stages of life. At the sentient stage like humans you live 100 years, either in one life or through reincarnation. After that you are reborn as a deity, like me. Sylum hinted at further stages, but I can’t imagine a stage after deity.” “Ah so this Risen must have already lived 100 years, so once he died he should have become a god. Instead you sent him to hell meaning his soul could not pass on, then this demi-god used its abilities to remove him from this plane by killing him and releasing his soul.” “Yes, but unfortunately that staff broke. Because the lives it took after that did not have their souls released, the demi-god ate it. Should be interesting to see what this thing will become.” Anodyne snapped his fingers and Tukon reappeared. “When did this happen? Relative to my current time in Hollow.” Tukon thought for a short while and used her fingers to try and calculate in her head. “A short while.” “For fucks sake Tukon, this is the third time I have asked you this, and this is the third time you have said a short while. The first time it turned out to be around forty years, the second time it was slightly over a billion years. So please use a more specific term for measurement.” Tukon thought again for a short while, her eyes darting around as they closed slightly. Muttering under her breath she concluded. “Close to ten billion years ago, with a variation of a few million either side.” “One of these days you are going to have to write down your rules …

Anodyne stood in the middle of a perfectly spherical cavern with a large orb of light, illuminating the diverse rainforest below. Around him tribes of people were tending to what little they had. “Hmm, seems that instead of planets this universe has air bubbles inside an endless expanse of earth and stone.  Wonder how this affects the development of civilisations.” Anodyne closed his eyes for a moment and held concentration. When he opened his eyes again they were as human eyes. With limited vision, he looked around the cavern once again. “Alright, so that light sphere blinds me to what is behind it. I guess that will lead to speculation of what is above. There should still be the concept of gods then.” Anodyne returned his eyes to normal, turning his head to the very near wall of stone beside him. “But judging by the crude ladders scaling the cavern they have at least attempted to figure out what is beyond their vision. Which is more than the Greeks from Earth attempted.” As Anodyne was analysing his surroundings he failed to notice one of the tribal men approach him from behind. The man moved silently, carefully placing his feet to avoid stepping on anything that would make noise. Spear in hand he tapped Anodyne’s shoulder and got him to turn. “Goh alar sho?” Anodyne stared blankly at the man’s request. He repeated his words and shook his spear angrily. “Ok ask again I think I have figured out your language.” Again the man repeated, this time anodyne understood. “What clan are you?” “I am no clan, I am a god. That is why I am dressed differently to you.” Anodyne flourished his coat showing off his pants and waistcoat that resided beneath. “You are not god, it is god.” The man pointed up towards the sphere in the sky, making Anodyne sigh. “Fucking typical, always worshipping the floating ball of light and heat.” Anodyne got an idea and ran away from the tribesmen. He did so in such a way that he would appear human, trying not to raise any more suspicion towards him. Easily he manages to run blindly, losing the individual behind him. Quickly after feeling no eyes on him he turned invisible and flew upwards. He flew right up to the large sphere in the sky, investigating it. “If I turn myself into this material I could pose as their sun god. Should make for a good laugh.” Anodyne touched the hard stone that was their sun. “Odd, I have no idea what this is. Why can’t I replicate this? What a strange material.” The longer he examined the material the more he realised this was no simple matter. As he was taking his hand off the stone he felt it change, it became more like a thick putty and started to stir. Rotating and mixing the thick putty slowly stopped and became solid once again. “Hmm, ok so I can’t replicate this matter. I guess I can play god for a while as I study this orb. If I can’t be this matter I will just look like it.” Anodyne removed his clothes and gave himself a godly physique, changing his skin colour to that of the strange sun. Finally, he made himself glow lightly like the sun. He slowly started to make his way down when the sun started to change again. He turned to see the sun starting to churn violently. The colour faded from a bright yellow to a dim blue, Anodyne making sure to match the colour. “So that is how night time works here, this actually works well for me, good time to descend.” Anodyne took this time to his advantage and started to lower his form above the rainforest, ensuring that he was glowing particularly bright. All around tribesmen started to swarm around. Looking around Anodyne could see the different colours of all the opposing tribes. “six tribes here, and about another twenty can see me. This should make for some fun times.” After a drawn-out time, Anodyne landed in the forest, as he passed through the canopy he made the trees walk away from him. Clearing the forest floor below him and making a small barrier of trees he dragged a circle alter from the ground and rested upon it. Taking a pose of crossed legged meditation he waited for the tribes to appear. Slowly peeking through the tree lines the tribes started to make their way into his small area, each staying in their own groups. Five groups of tribe members entered his sanction while the last tribe fled back to where they came. “You five are the worthy, you have taken the first step to pleasing me. You were brave enough to approach me, I sense great strength in you all. You shall form one large tribe and rule over the others.” The tribesmen all looked around confused. “Which one of us shall be the one to claim the other four tribes?” “None, you shall form a new tribe under my name. I am Anodyne, god of shadows and night. You shall all become my Anodytes. Give up your old names and start your new life as the dominant tribe of these lands.” The members of the different tribes all returned to their respective homes, telling the story of Anodyne. Anodyne, still sitting felt a small boost in energy. The same feeling that he felt when he first brought humans to Hollow. The five tribes fully made their way back to Anodyne, bringing all their people with them. The leaders of each tribe climbed into Anodynes small clearing as the remainder of their people waited eagerly just outside his tree line. “What you want Anodyne? Why you choose us?” “I have seen this area as the strongest, one of your fellow tribes failed to brave my appearance and will be left out of our rule. You shall all form one united tribe under my name, with that you shall rule over the other tribes. They shall give you offerings as you shall be the only ones I will allow to contact me. You will become my acolytes, and your children shall take over your rule.” All the tribes gave a cheer and started to rejoice, one of the leaders did not join in celebrations. “Who will lead, we have five leaders. Which tribe becomes home?” The other leaders heard what was being said and turned to await for an answer, each one of them hoping to be acknowledged as the sole leader. “You will rule as five, always five. Only to be replaced when another challenges you to combat. If anyone out of these five tribes challenges to rule, they must fight all five at once. You are to move your home here.  I am to be your centre, you shall build your new tribe around me. I shall be a beating heart, giving life to all who live in this tribe. Now go, migrate your supplies. Join as one.” As Anodyne spoke his last phrase he stood with his arms outstretched to the orb in the sky which currently maintained the image of a moon. “I shall remain in meditation for the rest of the night, once day comes I shall return to the sky to light your world.” Anodyne returned to his meditative sit, those around him bowed before rushing off to their homes. Again Anodyne waited till he felt no eyes on him, leaving behind an image of himself he rose and flew to the sphere in the sky, leaving behind a decoy to distract the tribals. “Ok so with the savages distracted, lets figure out this orb.” Years passed and Anodyne observed the orb, trialling his knowledge so that he may replicate it. All through the years the tribes people migrated their wears and surrounded his decoy with everything they could carry from their original homes. Establishing a powerful religious tribe that started to govern the other tribes. Come one morning the orb started to churn and turn back into the bright yellow sun. Anodyne’s decoy turned yellow and stood without word, those around him started praying. The decoy rose back into the sky and merged with the sun again. Anodyne watching it as it went. As it disappeared into the sun Anodyne noticed someone floating nearby the sun. “Who are you, the deity of this universe?” The individual disappeared, then reappeared behind Anodyne, peeking over his shoulder. “Welcome my dear friend to my travelling store. Looking to buy rare materials? I can help.” Anodyne spun on the spot and summoned a scythe to his hands. “I am sorry, what did you say? Did you say you are a shop?” “Yes, I travel universes collecting rare materials and selling them on to others. I see you are looking at some of that DNC stone. I got enough to make two whole suns if you are interested in buying.” “How do I buy, what is used as currency for deities?” The individual floated around Anodyne, forcing him to turn to maintain eye contact. “Well I can see you have travelled a few universes, each time you visit a universe you pick up the energy of the governing deity. If you acquire these naturally they are bound to you. They naturally form around you and if broken through force they will eventually reform. Us deities use these forces as shields to defend against attacks, they can be unbound from you to be traded, or even forged into items among other uses.” Anodyne went to respond as the individual took a long-winded breath, but was interrupted by more explanation. “However, if you were to be given one of these energies it will not stick to you, and so can be destroyed. So if I were to buy some off of you I would either have to be careful not to be hit by great force, or I would have to store it in one of these for later use.” The individual pulled out a cracked jar that seemed to be pulsating with an energy. “Now these are rare, mine aint in the best condition but she still works. The material to make these pots are insanely rare, not to mention the ability to craft it or the tools. So what do you say friend, interested in buying?” “Do you have anything else?” “Sadly not, my wares are low due to high sales. You don’t find this material in many universes. Besides I have enough for two stars, it is a good start. For the low price of 10,000 energies I can sell you one star’s worth.” “Let me get this straight, we are currently in a universe where this material naturally is generated and you want to sell me some?” “Yes, this is a rare material. Quite valuable.” Anodyne leaned in close to the individual. “I have explored this universe, there are a few more than two stars worth here, I could harvest myself. If this material truly is as rare as you say I assume that you would not sell it where it forms, I am guessing this is your universe.” “Yea, this is my universe. I was lucky enough to spawn in this material when I created this place. But harvesting them takes so long, saving up to buy some better tools to harvest faster.” Anodyne turned to the sun orb, he pushed his hand into it to attempt to harvest it. Quickly he discovered that this material magnetised to itself and made it very difficult remove. “I see what you mean. I assume that you have made some sales, seeing as your jar is glowing quite nicely.” “Yes actually, I have sold a few thousand stars worth, just neglected my universe to harvest constantly. Because I know that if too many stronger gods arrive here I will lose everything. I have enough for a nice set of tools I just need to find …

Sylum and Anodyne were silent and still in the vacuum of space as a nearby planet’s surface burnt. “Anodyne, I have enjoyed carving my name into this planet with fire, but you really need to hurry the fuck up. I am getting bored.” Anodyne scrunched his face and tried to focus, heat started emanating from his body. A small explosion erupted from his body as he was thrown to the surface of the charred planet’s surface. Sylum followed him down to the crater he rested in. “What am I doing wrong, I mean am I even doing anything right? All you said was I had to want to leave here and I should be whisked away to the multiverse preview room.” Sylum landed next to Anodyne and helped him up. “I believe the words I used were, the window to the multiverse cluster.” “Potayto, potato. Besides I am a deity I should be able to call it whatever I want.” Sylum let out a loud laugh and started to hold his sides. “Yea but you might as well be a lone atom on a planet, you don’t realize how small you are. You live within your universe, if you so desired you could create another, making your own multiverse which you are the ruling god. Then you could go visit anyone else’s multiverse through the cluster, and that is just the non-competitive areas.” “Competitive areas, what the hell are you on about?” “I can’t tell you, literally. I am only able to mention the competition, my mouth binds if I try to explain further.” Sylum started to explain but his lips melted together, his eyes glazing over due to a lack of amusement in the situation. He stopped moving his jaw for a moment and his lips stopped oozing like a hot cheese over his mouth, he rolled his eyes and flexed his jaw. The skin on his face ripped as he released his teeth from their fleshy prison, slowly his skin returned and he stood normally. “So there you go, that is all I can say. You’re just going to have to find something good enough to make you want to leave your universe. That is why it was easy for you to leave before, you wanted to learn how to create life. Which you didn’t by the way, you still can’t create life. You still suck.” Anodyne struck Sylum, but once again an unseen energy kept his fist from contacting him. “What made you want to leave your universe then mister fucking wise guy?” Sylum stood motionless staring blankly out into space, his body started to shake ever so slightly as he whispered as if her were in a trance. “Necessity.” Anodyne slowly walked away from Sylum, leaving him to his issues. “Alright then, what could I want that I can’t find inside of my universe? New powers, maybe inspiration, increased strength? Yea, increased strength, maybe then I could actually fight Sylum.” Again Anodyne focused his mind on what he wanted, a want that would require him to leave his universe. This time as the heat rose from his body a small doorway started to open, a rippling blue energy that he remembered from his time visiting Earth. He reached out but he could not pass through, there was still something stopping him. He pushed relentlessly but did not make any progress. As his hands pressed forward he could feel something much stronger pushing back. “You are nearly there, but there must be something you want more than whatever you’re thinking about. Dig deeper, there is clearly something you want more. Maybe something from one of your past lives. I had around ten past lives from memory, so I had a lot of inspiration, not that it was needed.” Anodyne searched his memories for his past lives, causing the doorway to close once again as his focus changed from the want of strength. Anodyne cycled through all three lives but failed to find a point of interest. No real desires drove his past lives, other than the want to work. Something he could do in his current universe. Sylum watched as red feathers started to cascade around Anodyne. “Hey, do you have a fond memory of birds with red feathers by any chance?” Anodyne’s eyes widened and a door opened behind him. This time the door was a dark wood which seemed to be leaking water from the base of it. Anodyne turned and reached for the handle. “I don’t remember why, but yea. It feels somewhat distant but familiar. It feels like something I want, but I don’t know why. I remember a red bird but I don’t recall which, or even its significance. But I do know it is significant, it is weird I don’t really remember wanting anything so badly. This is a first for me.” Anodyne leaned forward and grasped the handle, a chill ran up his arm and down his spine. He felt his body shake a little before pushing on. The handle turned and flew open towards Anodyne, releasing a torrent of water that forced him backwards. He remained standing as the relentless water poured over him, Sylum walked passed him and wandered through the door with Anodyne in tow. As they wandered through, the door closed behind them. They looked around and found that they resided in a universe filled with water. Sylum made a vacuum for the two to stand in. “Odd, never seen a universe filled with water before. I like finding new places.” “Why did my door bring me here? This does not look like the universe that would house a red feathered bird?” Sylum laughed as he looked around with amazement. “No, well maybe. You had a need to leave, so you made a way to leave, the universe won’t just take you to where you want to go. You got to work for it.” “The fuck does that mean?” Sylum sighed and started to walk off, creating an air bubble in the water as he went. Strange luminescent fish started to gather around their location. “Look there is a lot you are still to learn, and not much of it can be taught. The belief system that governs the universe is designed in a way that makes you learn who you truly are before you can transcend to the next stage of life. First animal, then sentient species, next deity, and then more yet to be discovered by you. You need to slow down, you are going to be in this stage for a long time, answers will reach you some day.” Anodyne stood confused. “So what the fuck am I supposed to do, search the multiverse for a red feathered bird?” “I mean that would be a start, and you might find it. But some things will be much further than that. You have no idea the scale we are working with. This place looks like fun, I will catch you round.” Sylum transformed into a shark capable of consuming planets and swam off into the universe. “Yea thanks cunt, it is not like I know how to get back to Hollow. I swear if I get lost I will kill that fucker.” Anodyne watched as the shark form of Sylum swam off into the black of the universe, the small luminescent fish swimming around him as he went. Looking around Anodyne could make out a planet in the distance, it seemed to be glowing. staying within his air bubble he moved towards it. All around he noted a plethora of interesting fish species, most of which glowed. But among them were plain fish that did not. As he approached the planet he realized it was not what he had thought, although planet sized it was not a planet. It was an intricate coral reef. Anodyne looked around once again, this time he searched intently. He noticed that there were hundreds of planets within a short distance, each of them producing light, creating a night sky effect in the water. “Do you like my work?” Anodyne turned to see no one, he took a moment to peer around him but did not find the source of the voice. “I am down here.” Looking down he saw a very short woman grinning back at him, a large gathering of many different fish all huddled around her. “It is different, I never really liked the ocean before I became a deity though. Not so bad now that I am not worried about drowning or being eaten.” The small woman took off her goggles and rubbed her eyes. “I will take that as a compliment, the other one said you were a little odd. Your shark friend that is.” “Not friend, acquaintance.” “I am sure that that might offend him.” The small woman leaned in, close to Anodyne. “He seems a little stronger than you too, so I would try not to offend your, ‘acquaintance’.” Anodyne turned away from the woman and looked out into the universe, just to be greeted by a colossal eye. He took a step back as the eye seemed to focus on him. The eye dwarfing the planet of coral that floated in the calm waters. Its focus shifting outwards before it moved on. “You can still be swallowed in my universe, you are very small here.” “You know what, I am getting pretty tired of people telling me that. Any red feathered birds around here?” The small woman looked very confused. “There has only been two times where there has been air in this universe, once when I arrived, and now because of you. So no, no birds.” Violently another door appeared before Anodyne. The wind from it suddenly existing flaring his clothes outwards. “Well then, no point in me staying any longer.” Without another word he opened the next door and stepped through. “What a strange individual, I wonder what he wanted with a red feathered bird.” The air bubble collapsed as the door closed behind Anodyne, once again returning the universe to one without air.