《Life As A God》 -3 Caste System Gods-Highest to Lowest: Almighty Three High Gods 12 Gods of Control 6 Elemental Gods Gods of the 7 Deadly Sins Unlimited Number of Low Gods Beings with Souls Beings without Souls Note: The Almighty chooses high gods. The High Gods choose the 4 of the Gods of power. The High God of Knowledge chooses the low gods. The High God of Life chooses the Gods of elements and sins. -2 Gods Almighty High Gods: -Life -Time -Knowledge Gods of Control: Under Time: -Contracts -Gifts -Mind -Death Under Life -Nature -Sun -Moon -Stars Under Knowledge: -War -Mirror world -Love -Hate Elemental gods: -Earth -Air -Fire -Water -Soul -Chaos The Gods of the 7 Sins: -Wrath -Sloth -Lust -Pride -Gluttony -Envy -Greed -1 Worlds Heaven: Home of Gods. Earth: Mainly inhabited by humans. Mirror World: Home the mythical creatures that did not die out yet. Spirit World: Home to souls waiting to find a good chance to reincarnate. Underworld: Home to those who have sinned. 1 Chapter 1: Regre It should not have ended up this way, Chronos thought, looking down at the devastation that had fallen upon what was once a paradise. The sky was lined with dark, gray clouds that had only a few minutes ago produced great streaks of lighting. There were craters everywhere. Almost all of the vegetation had been reduced to ash. The creatures that had remained hidden during the conflict had started to take note of what had befallen their homes. It would be hundreds of years until the jungle grew back. "Everything is going to return to normal now that the war is over," Neko said, trying to comfort her master. "Not everything," Chronos replied, looking behind him at the graves of his fellow gods, remembering their sacrifice for their cause. "You could easily bring them back," she proposed. "That would be against the law," Chrono forced himself to say. "You do not have to the follow the Almighty''s rules anymore, he is no longer our king." "They are not the Almighty''s rules," he said starting to walk the stone path back to his half-destroyed mansion, "they are the rules of Heaven." 2 Chapter 2: Prisoner Thousands of years later. ... "Mistress Death, there has been a total 4,646 souls that have started rebelling," reported the creature of pure darkness. It had no defined shape as if a blob of darkness. Yet, with its strength, it could crush mountains without breaking a sweat. At this second, this powerful creature was kneeling in front of a fair maiden with purple eyes that seemed to glow. Coldly she replied, "I told you not to disturb me! And what do you do?!" Without waiting for an answer she said, "Do not disturb me unless Hell freezes over." Her limbs were bound in chains, weighing her down, making her appear weak. Yet dispute his advantage, the creature did not dare make any comments about her rude language. He cautiously retreated from the room. When outside the room he sighed, full of relief. 3 Chapter 3: Remember "Do you miss them?" Chronos asked. After hearing the question, the room became silent. Everyone knew that since the war ended, talking about them was forbidden. For the Lord of Time to bring it up now, after so long... The other two gods did not respond. What can they say? That they miss Aru''s playful nature? That they miss the God of Air and his mischief? But they were enemies. You were not supposed to miss them. Nothing needed to be said. It was clear that the three of them would have done anything to release their dear friends from their slumber. However, every day they restrained themselves thing that it would be too late. They had already replaced all of them with new talented individuals. If only they could go back to before the war started and change everything. If only... 4 Chapter 4: Nothing For them there was nothing. There was no sound to be heard. There was no object to feel. There was no sight to be seen. Just nothing. They were just there. Alive but not truly alive. Not capable of any movement. Their skin was pale as snow. Their heat having stopped moving a long time ago. But they were alive. At least they hoped they were. Then there was a light. The first thing they had seen for tens of thousands of years. They could feel that the seals that had restrained them were losing their power. Until they were gone. With the seals destroyed, their memories clouded into their brains, causing them earthshaking pain. Ignoring it they look forward. Emerging from the light, they could vaguely make out a person. And then nothing as they lost consciousness. 5 Chapter 5: Bodies After I awakened, I sensed a great deal of magic concentrated at one spot. Not knowing what was going on with my body today, I decided to trust my instincts and go toward that spot. The weird thing was that this place appeared to be under me. As I concentrated, I felt a tremor on the ground and then nothing. An earthquake?, I thought, confused. Then, looking around, I realized that I was not in that office building anymore. Instead, there was a huge temple-like structure in front of me. It was breathtakingly beautiful; the stone walls were carved with intricate designs. The wooden door was as tall as two fully grown men.There was nothing around the temple. Just dirt and rocks as far as the eye could see. Taking in the sight before me, I could tell that the magic I had sensed before was coming from the temple. Slowly, I came forward and opened the door. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I found my self in a dome-like structure. The walls were covered by paintings of beings. All of them were young, not looking a day older than 20. Some human, some that can only be heard of in fairy tales. In one picture, a handsome young man with red hair was riding on a unicorn; both did not seem to be fazed by the blazing fire surrounding them. In another, a teen with wolf ears and tail was holding a gem while being surrounded by wolfs. In the middle of the chamber were huge pieces of crystal floating in the air. Inside each one was a person. Looking at them, I felt sad for some reason. Out of curiosity, I laid my hand upon the one nearest to me. Suddenly, a light shined from my hand and the cold crystal shattered into pieces. The girl inside looked at me for a second and then fell, unconscious into my arms. Not knowing what was going on with my life, I gently laid her on the floor and waited for her to wake up. 6 Chapter 6: A New Almighty? In Heaven, strange things happen. The weather was so bizarre that at one second it would be nice and sunny, and the next, it would be raining cats and dogs. The earth could turn into cheese for all you know. Such an occurrence was quite normal to the gods. Yet that day something happened that shocked everyone. First, a Heavenly Contract appeared. A Heavenly Contract signified that a new Almighty had been chosen. ... The War: In the war, a bunch of powerful gods banned together to get rid of the Almighty because of the beloved that he was not worthy to be their king. They succeeded in their rebellion and overthrew the Almighty. Since they needed a new ruler and only the current Almighty could pick a successor. So they reduced the Almighty''s lifespan to 3 days and forced him to pick a successor before his death. However, the almighty thought that there is no worthy successor in the current population of Earth and the Mirror World. So he travels to the future and picked a successor there. When he did this, the current God of Contracts, who could sense this event happening,would create an agreement between the successor and the gods so that both parties will have equal power. A scroll would them appear in front of everyone. They had to sign it if they agreed to the arrangements. ... That day such a contract appeared. However, the next second, before it could be signed, it was gone. Astonished, the gods did not know what to do. The God of Time had already predicted that the contract will appear this year. So when they saw that contract, it was expected. However, for it to disappear like that! They did not even have a good look at it! In the midst of the condition, the contract appeared again, causing greater chaos. The gods did not sign and instead decided to their respective High Gods to figure out what to do. 7 Chapter 7: The Girl Inside The Crystal @@ After setting the girl down, I looked at the other crystals. There were 14 more, still floating in the air. The one containing the girl had turned from an azure blue to black. Looking down, I saw that the girl moved slightly. She then slowly sat up and opened her eyes. They flashed red for a second before turning back to a dark blue. She had white hair with hints of pink, blue, and purple mixed in. She was wearing a white robe dotted with designs. Looking at me she spoke, "Greetings to the Almighty." She was now kneeling in front of me. Not knowing what to do I just stood there and she just kept kneeling. Breaking the silence, I said, "I''m afraid that you are talking to the wrong person. I am not the Almighty." She appeared confused for a second and then having come to some sort of realization, she got up. She curiously asked, "So the previous Almighty didn''t explain it to you?" Then answering her own question she said,"He must have run out of time." What in the world is going on?, I thought. As if she can read my mind, she said, "I can explain everything to you if you agree to free my friends." She then pointed to the crystals. Having no other choice, I got to work.@@ 8 Chapter 8: What happend? "Calm down everyone. I''m sure that the contract appearing and disappearing earlier was caused by the lack of magic on Earth," Chronos said, trying to calm everyone. "Just sign the contract and prepare to welcome the Almighty when he comes to Heaven." Chronos, being the oldest of the Gods, was well respected. After hearing him, the rest calmed down. Of course, there were some that were still worried. However, when they thought of the fact the Chronos, as the God of Time, can see the future and past, they abandoned those thoughts. ... After giving his speech, Chrones went inside his mansion. He looked towards the only person in the hall. He was a tall man in a suit that looked like he would never smile. "So, you were saying that you had to write the contract ... twice?" Chronos asked. "Yes, " the man answered. "The only way that could happen would be if the one the Almighty choose decided to pass his position to someone else..." ... In the ancient temple, the girl, who turned out to be the Goddess of Prophecy, had finished her explanation. "So you are saying that the 4th Almighty choose me as his successor and now I am the Almighty?" I asked. "Yes, " Prophecy said with certainty. "But..." I started. "But what? You are the almighty now and as the Almighty, you have to help us take Heaven back from those traitors!" the God of Pride said. He was a middle-aged man with an eye patch over his right eye. "Now. Now. No need to rush things Pride. We can always get our revenge later. Now we need to have patience. After all, a clueless Almighty cannot rule us," Wrath said. He looked like a 14-year-old kid with pitch black hair and glowing yellow eyes. Unlike what I would picture as the God of Wrath, he was calm and gentle. Kind to everyone. As if in a panic, Pride quickly said, "Of course, the boss knows best," I did not see why he was so afraid. Wrath did not look like he could hurt a fly. "As I was saying, I was not visited by anyone before I got these powers, " I said, getting back to the topic at hand. "Are you sure that no one was around?" After a while, Raphael added, "Even a dead body?" Reluctantly, I admitted, " There were 2 bodies." Hearing this, Raphael said, "That''s not possible. The Almighty would have come to you when you were alone..." 9 Chapter 9: Pas "Those idiots! " "What in the name of the Almighty are they up to !?" "Writing 2 contracts, the previous God of Contracts would never have done this!" Still trapped in chains, the purple eyed lady kept walking back and forth while throwing seemingly meaningless comments at her those a around her. Noticing the weird looks she was getting, she shouted,"And what are you doing?! Are the escaped prisoners captured yet!?" "No, my Lady" A soft voice replied. "Then what are you crowding around for!? Go get them!" After she finished, all of the Reapers, the guards of Hell, vanished out of sight. Looking at the emptiness before her, her anger intensified. "Why do I feel like a zookeeper?" She turned and spoke to the man who was hiding behind a pillar. He had snow white hair and yellow eyes. In his eyes, in place of white there was black. If you looked carefully, you could see a clock slowly ticking away. He had a red marking on the right side of his face which ran from his fore head to his neck. He wore a dark hood with a light blue lining. Ignoring the question that was asked he said," Did you help them escape?" "Who?" She said playfully "Did you help them escape?" He said, dashing forward and grabbing her by the throat. "How could I help them when I have been traped in here all day?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Letting her go, he started to walk away. "Chronos, what are you going to do when you see them?" She asked. "That is none of your business, Filaki." "Don''t call me that! And it is my business. If I wasn''t the Goddess of Death then I would be trapped with them." Hearing her, Chronos did not reply and kept walking. "What happen to you, Time? You should be happy that they are back. Things can go back to the way they were." "You know that is not possible. We have already found worthy humans to replace them. They don''t have a place in heaven anymore." 10 Chapter 10: Games "What do we do now?" I asked. Instead of replying, they all liked at the Goddess of the Mind. It was like they had subconsciously marked her as their leader. Which she was, I guess. Thinking back to the story she told me, after Time betrayed them and joined the rebellion, she was the one who took the position of leader. She made it so that the 2 sides were in a stalemate for who knows how long, despite facing all 3 of the high gods. So of course it makes sense that they would look to her now for insight. "We will go to Earth and wait until our powers come back," she said. Their powers had been sucked dry by the crystal they were in. They now needed to go to a place with lots of mana to gradually restore the mana they had lost. "Actually, we can''t do that." I said. "Why not?" asked Wrath, confusion clearly written on his face. "Earth does not have magic anymore." "As in everyone has forgoten magic or that there is no mana in the air?" "As in there is only enough mana in the air to keep the planet alive and humans think that anything related to magic is a myth." "Whaaaat!?! There is no magic anymore. But there are games right?" The kid with the wacky eyes asked. He said it as if games were more important than his life. "So what if humans don''t remember games? All that maters the mana." The one who spoke was like a werewolf except he was a were-fox. And he had nine, no ten eyes all over his body. He was definitely the weirdest specimen I had ever seen. "What are you talking about games are the best." "No magic is the best!" And just like that a simple question erupted into a great topic for debate. "Alright enough. Let''s get back to the topic at hand. But seriously do games still exist?" The goddess of Minds spoke putting an end to the conflict. Raphael, the fox god, how was agreeing at first was now giving her a look that said you-really-want-to-go-there. He was probably thinking that the work has gone crazy judging from his expression. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. On the other had, Games, the one with the weird eyes, was beside himself with joy. Wanting to put an end to this matter, I said,"Yes, there are games, but..." Before I could finish, I was inturupted by Raphael''s loud scream consisting of one long word: Nooooooooooooooooooooo. It was like he had been sentenced to die a milliom times. As if everything was normal, Prophecy, the Goddess of Minds said, "If there is no mana on Earth, we can go vist him." After that there was dead silence. 11 Chapter 11: Him? "Who are you talking about?" I asked no longer able to contain my curiosity. "The only Gid that remained neutral in the war." Prophecy said. ... In a pavilion overlooking a large lake, the God of Stars sneezed. "I must have caught a cold" he muttered. "Don''t be stupid. Us Gods can not catch colds." "You are right. Only the Almighty could do something as miraculous as catching a cold. Indead the powers of the Almighty defy logic." Stars responded, taking a sip of his tea. Speechless at the logic he used, Time did not know how to respond. ... "He is the most irritating person who you will ever meet. If you ask him to try a something then he goes around in circles telling you why he can not do what was asked of him. Worst part is that you don''t understand anything he says so you can not think of a way to respond." Chaos says. After saying such, he was out of breath. He looks adorable when he is flustered like this. It made me want to pinch his cheaks. ... After finishing a cup of tea and pouring another one for himself, Stars asked, "Why are you here?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Snapped out of his trance, Time replied, "I need you to bring me to the Astral Temple." "Well I would do so but then I would miss my tea. You see I can only drink my tea here because the fish here are very colorful. Their scales shine ever so beautifuly when the light hits them. I can not abandon the fish because the flowers around the pavilion like to eat and be eaten by them. So ..." 3 Days later... Without knowing it, Time was back at his mansion. After putting Time in the mansion, Stars said, " Therefore, gryphons have feathers and that is why I can''t help you. Oh would you look at the time, I am late for my 50th pot of celestial tea. Bye." With that he slammed door leaving Time who was still trying to comprehend what was said to him. (????) Just then a thought occurred to Time: Did I just get ditched by Stars? No, that wouldn''t ... Why is the door locked? How did I, Time, the most powerful God (Not considering the Almighty) get dooped by someone who spends all his time drinking tea!?!?!?!?!? 12 Chapter 12: Tea Pavilion Part 1 "Stone tea?" He asked, holding up a cup that was literally full of rocks and tea. Well, he seems like an interesting character. ...A few minutes ago... Looking at the others who were listing all the horrors that were associated with him, I displayed an unbelieving look. Sure he says crazy stuff once in a while but don''t we all? So in response to their chatter, I said, "Is he really that bad?" There was silence. Well, at least they stopped talking. I could use some peace and quiet. Then the God of Pride gave a sneer which set off a chain reaction and ended in everyone laughing as if I had made the joke of the century. "Did I say something funny?" "Foolish human, even if you are the Almighty do not assume that you know of all that exists in this world!" I was quite surprised when the God of the Sun said this. He had been quiet until now yet he spoke with so much passion. Must be all those years he spent in that crystal without blood. Wait. If he has not had blood yet shouldn''t he be in a coma or something. Or maybe real vampires aren''t like that. I will ask Prophecy about it later. "We''ll see how you deal with him boy. Then you won''t fell the same way anymore." Wow. He managed to sound tough while he was practically shaking from fear. As expected of Pride. "How do we get out of here?" I ask, changing the topic. "Through a portal that you are going to open." Prophecy says. "I am?" I say which was followed by the echo of "He is?" Wow. They certainly have a lot of trust in me. "He''s the only one with powers right now." "And the only one who doesn''t know how to use them," Raphael says bluntly. "He can learn." She argues. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Atiri, we don''t have enough time for him to learn. It will take forever for him to be able to make a portal much less control where it leads." "Well then get really for a long wait, Raf. You can go compose a poem in the corner." Raf releases a sigh and actually goes to the corner and pulls out a pen and paper out of his robe. The others also spread out each doing their own thing. Turning to face me, Atiri says, "Let''s get started shall we." She sits down and gestures me to do the same. In the background, I hear Games saying, "I bet the King of Diamonds that he can learn it within an hour. In Earth time." "No way, he''ll take at least a day no matter how talented he is," Air responds, putting down a King of Spades. "Ignore the idiots, and listen," Atiri says, grabbing my attention. "Mana is the energy all around us. It is found everywhere. If mana doesn''t exist in a place, the place does not exist." "Then why is there no mana here?" "There is. But is it just the bare minimum needed to keep this place in existence and nothing else. We can exist here only because we are Gods. Anyway, as I was saying, we use that energy to activate our powers. Normally, one would have to absorb the energy in their body and refine it. Only then can they use it without killing themselves. But as Gods, that restriction is lifted for us. We can directly use natural mana." "Then why can''t you use your powers now, if you can use the mana here?" "Because if we did so this space would fall apart." "Then how can I use mana?" "Because you are the Almighty. You produce your own mana and do not need to rely on the one already there. Any questions?" "How do I make mana?" "Well..." she said and I leaned in close to hear the answer. The others were also interested and came closer. And when the suspense had reached the peak... 13 Chapter 13: Tea Pavilion Part 2 "The method to make mana is... something I don''t know." Everyone had hints of disappointment in their eyes as they went back to their places. I, on the other hand, was disappointed as well and was starting to wonder if those crystals over there could make someone insane. They expect me to get this mana thing down easily without any idea of how to do it. They even bet a card on it! Ignoring my stunned expression, Prophecy says, "So all you need to do is imagine a portal and I am sure it will work." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. After some thought, she adds, " After a thousand tries. So better start now!" Okay, she is definitely crazy. "I..I don''t even know what a portal is supposed to look like." "Well isn''t that bad luck. Well, good luck imagining then." and she has the audacity to say it cheerfully. Cheerfully! And she''s supposed to be their leader. I looked to the side to see Atiri join in a game that looked similar to poker. But instead of money, they were using the crystals. First of all, there are everywhere, why would you play a game just to win them. And who would even want them? Oh, right, the insane people I am surrounded by want them. If I have to deal with them forever this is going to be a long eternity. And Atiri just won 5 mare pieces. Guess you have to be insane to lead insane people. But let''s think of that latter. Now it''s time to concentrate on the portal. So I need to imagine. A big whirl of dark colors that leads to the pavilion they described to me. Yes. Perfect. It looks cloudy from this side but when you step through you can clearly see the pavilion. It''s white and looks quite old with vines running along the pillars. There is a small pond next to it. Inside is a table. Hand-carved with delicate designs. It''s made of marvel. The whole pavilion is too. And sitting at the desk is a person. He has short white hair. His right arm, which is covered in bandaged, is holding a teacup. Noticing my presence, he looks at my smiles, showing off his razor-sharp teeth. But it was a kind and welcoming smile. "Stone tea?" He asked, holding up a cup that was literally full of rocks and tea. Well, he seems like an interesting character. 14 Chapter 14: Stone Tea "No." I denied the tea with what I thought was a justified reason. It has real stones in it! Is that not reason enough? But when I told him so he just glared at me and said, "Are you discriminating against nature?" "How is denying to drink stone tea going against nature?" I responded with a question of my own. "Oh, this is interesting. You actually came up with a bad come back. And I thought that the Almighty would be better than those 3 annoying pests. Then again you are somewhat better. Life would have poured my tea in the lake and ''kindly asked'' my dear fish to eat it." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Fish? I don''t think I remember seeing any fish in the pond. So I looked again. It still looks crystal clear nothing at all in it. "And Knowledge would totally ignore my suggestion and demand that I drink avocado tea for that is, in her opinion, the best tea that existed and will ever come into existence." "Why avocados? Why not grapes or apples?" "You better not let Knowledge and Earth here you say that." "Why?" I asked curiously. " ''Cause they''ll trap you in an enlarged avocado and you have to eat your way out." "Where would they even find an enlarged avocado?" I said, not believing him. "In their avocado ???? farm obviously! Or they could have Nature cast an enchantment and make a regular avocado grow bigger." And there goes my hope of being around normal people. "And lastly, Time is the worst! He would reverse time to before I even made tea. And then he would take out his own..dare I say...COFFEE! It''s an atrocity! It should not exist. Why!" "What has coffee ever done to you!?" I asked in an offended tone. I saw nothing wrong with the drink and I had a cup every morning. "It burned me!" He screamed. "Tea can burn you too!" I yelled back. "Not as much as coffee!" "Not the coffee I make." And thus a great debate started. ...5 minutes ago in a place floating in the middle of nowhere... I am so going to win that crystal, Atiri thought. In the distance, Air was yelling something about a portal. But as usual, everyone ignored him. After all, he was known for saying useless things. The game was more important. Who didn''t want candy crystals? 15 Chapter 15: Times Second Visi "Coffee is better! And that''s final!" "You must have lost your mind! Tea is better!" Why? Just why? Why did I decide to visit Star again? Why am I forced to listen to this? Whyyyyyy? Dear Almighty, what sin have I committed against you for me to deal with this! I only went against you and ended your existence. Oh. Then I probably deserve this. Might as well sit down! Hmm, that table looks like a good place to sit. And so I head over there. Oh, look at that! Someone was kind enough to prepare me a cup of stone tea with a lot of sugar cubes that look like stones. My favorite! Would it be Wrath''s favorite as well? He does like sweet things and he himself is such a sweet little kid...well, as long as you don''t include all the lives he has taken. Or the kingdoms he had destroyed. Or...Ok, he might not be that sweet, but he is still a good kid compared to Games. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I mean does Games have a candy orchard? I don''t think so. He could have one. What do I really know about Games other than he likes to play games and bug everyone, especially Raf, and he hangs out with Air and Water? Other than that I know nothing. Wow, I know basically nothing about a person that I have been with for thousands of years. Must be memory loss from the time that they have been away. I wonder how they are...I finished the tea. "Hey Stars, get me another cup of this tea!" Of course, Stars comes right over. And drags along the boy with color-changing eyes. "Who''s the new arrival? A low God?" I say while Star is bragging that I want tea, not coffee. When he hears my question, the boy looks at me with calculating eyes. It was Star who answered. "The new Almighty." It was said ever so casually that you would think he was still talking about tea. "What!" I said as I spit out the tea he gave me on to his face. I don''t know what''s worse. The fact that there is a new Almighty or the gross tea worms drinking the tea on Star''s face. On a regular day, I would have said that the worms we''re the worst. But today was not a regular day. "So you''re the Almighty," I say calmly. As I high God I must remain civil around him. So I start with a casual question. "Do you like stone tea?" I think that was a pretty good question. "No, " he says flatly. Let''s try another question. "What is your favorite color?" "Umm...black?" "Oh, then you must like your hair a lot!" "I suppose." I think I am doing good. We will be best friends by the end of forever. 16 Chapter 16: Assassin "A sudden decrease in the death count? What caused this?" She said, raising an eyebrow. "Did a war end?" "No, Mistress, " the shadow said. "No? No, what? No there was no decrease? No, you don''t know who caused this? Or no, you should not be here in the first place annoying me!?" "No. I mean yes. I..I, " it started but a glare quickly fixed its stuttering. "There was no war, Mistress." "Then what caused the change?" she demands in an exasperated tone. "We are looking into the matter." "So you don''t know," she says coldly. "Incompetent servents, " she mutters under her breath. Fearfully, the shadow says, "We..we don''t but we have a suspect in mind." "Oh, do enlighten me." "It''s an assassin, that disappeared." "You''re telling me one person caused this, " she says, getting serious. "And what do you mean disappeared?" "We don''t know. His disappearance was the only major event that happens near the decrease." "How big was the decrease?" "It went from 19.7473 humans to 19.74729 humans per second." "Impressive." "Do you think he is a good nominee for the God Of War?" "Yes, Mistress. But we can''t find him." "A sole like that can''t go to the Spirit World. It is too corrupt. It has to be here. Did life borrow the sole?" "No, Mistress. He has not borrowed one since the war." "Is his sole stuck on earth as a ghost?" "We did not check, Mistress." "Then what are you here for? Send someone to check." As the shadow away about to exit, Death changed her mind. "Wait, get my scrying mirror here. I will check myself." The servant quickly went out and retrieved an enchanted wooden box. When he came back, he knelt down in front of her throne and held out the chest. Death opened the box and looked upon the black surface of the mirror with a small smile on her face. Carefully, she took it out and placed it on her lap. The servant closed the box and moved to the side. Placing her hands on either side of the mirror, Death whispered in the language of magic. "Show me the sole that disappeared." Yet nothing was shown. Thinking that the mirror had not heard her, she repeated, " Show me the sole that disappeared." Yet again nothing was shown. That was impossible. The mirror always responded to her. Disbelieving, she tried again. And again. Yet no matter how many times she tried, the result was the same. Growling in frustration, she spotted the chains. Could it be because of the chains? No. I used the mirror with the chains before. It''s not going to change now. "Who was the last person he killed?" "Teo Garvale." "The supposed genius who is obsessed with ''helping humanity'' through his made-up existence that he calls God? (Author: I do not mean any offense to any religion.) As if it can still be saved. Why would he be targeted?" "Some people don''t exactly like his views, Mistress." "Oh. Where is he right now?" "In the Spirit World, Mistress." "Send a request for Life to send him here for a few questions." "Right away, Mistress." "Also, contact a Time Wraith to track the assassin''s soul." "Yes, Mistress." "And shadow." "Yes, Mistress." "Keep this matter under wraps. I don''t want to hear any low gods gossiping about this. Am I clear?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Yes, Mistress." Bowing once, it quickly left the dimly lit room. "Let the hunt begin." 17 Chapter 17: Wish "So what is your favorite candy?" He asked. This has got to be the 50the question at the very least. Why is this stranger asking me these questions? It all started when he found out that I was the Almighty. After spitting out a healthy serving of tea, he immediately straightened his posture and turned more serious. His intimidating figure immediately became even more frightening. Under is hood, I could see 2 bright golden eyes staring at me. It was as if he wanted to see through my soul. Yet in this same serious manner, he continued to ask such light-hearted questions. In fact, it would be better if the questions were more serious. Like: have you ever killed anyone before? If so how many people and where and how did you kill them? That would have been a lot easier to answer. Oh right, I have to answer. Let''s see. Candies. I don''t eat candy. Not that I have some weird disease that makes it so that I cannot. It is just I have never tried it before. So I have no how to answer. Hmm. "I love all candies so it is hard for me to decide." "Oh, is that so. You would get along great with Wrath then. He has such a sweet tooth." At this, I caught a flask of sadness going through his eyes. "He had a candy orchard near my mansion. Nature made sure that the trees still function properly." Function? Is it a machine? Then why are they calling them a tree and why are the goddesses of Nature taking care of them. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "When harvest time comes around, we take all the ripe candies and store them properly so they don''t decay." I didn''t know candies could be ripe. Well, at least I learned something today and made this trip a not complete waste. "I just wish that he would come back here quickly." He finished, sighing dramatically. And then the weirdest thing happened. Time, as if to fulfill his wish, sped up. Day turned to night and the spring turned to summer. The leaves on the tree fell and bloomed again. The Rose vines on the pavilion extended further. It kept picking up speed and I felt that it had to be stopped and looking at the other 2 for help. Stars were trying to cheer the stranger up by offering him some tea. They both acted as if everything was normal. But looking back, everything was not normal. It was cold one second and burning hot the next and time looked like it had no intention of stopping. Instead, it sped up more. Then, all of a sudden. Everything froze. The snow stopped falling. The moon stopped moving. Everything was still and silent. Confused, I looked up and immediately knew the reason why. There in the ground of me stood, those that had been trapped in crystals just hours before. They were back. Looking over at the table, a certain phrase came to mind; Careful what you wish for, it might just become true. 19 Chapter 19: Daggers Daggers. Short daggers. Long daggers. Beautiful daggers. Ugly daggers. Candy daggers. Decorative daggers. Sharp daggers. Blunt dagger. Ancient daggers. Anything you could think of was in his collection. Right now, this person was looking at his collection with a passionate gaze. It could easily be mistaken to be reminiscing about his lover. But that was not possible. His lover had long passed away and he had stopped feeling such emotions when he died. But that did not mean he did kit love his daggers. He loved them all. It did not matter if they were rusty or chipped. Of course, he loved them to different degrees. You could not compare a dagger in 10th place to one in 1st. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Today, he was viewing the daggers he deemed to be in the first place. The daggers were carefully placed on platforms/shelves that came out of the wall. The platforms were inlaid with many valuable stones and diamonds. The more precious the dagger the more valuable the decoration. The roof of the hall was made of glass to allow light to shine on the daggers and the decorations. They were arranged so that the light was reflected on the stones in the most eye-catching way. Special care was taken to not make the gems draw the attention of the daggers. Even the lone dagger in the last place could clearly be seen. It was obvious that he had taken a lot of time to come up with this marvelous arrangement. The decor for daggers in 1st place were especially eye-catching. Overall, there were 157.62 daggers in 1st place. The .62 came from the missing portions of daggers that had broken away as years went by. To make sure he did not lose any more parts, he had commanded Nature to cast a protective enchantment on them and had her replace it every year. This way threats such as Time and the Goddess of Water would not threaten his daggers. Not that she could steal another one of his daggers from her prison in the Underworld. But Time was still a threat. Who knew when he would have one of his time swings. Well, it is a mood swing but since time either sped up or slowed down when he had one, everyone just called it a time swing. Less work than say ''mood swing that resulted in time speeding up or slowing down.'' Anyway, these time swings were very dangerous for his precious daggers. If time sped up and there was not enough time to renew all the enchantments, then his daggers could decay into dust. If time slowed down, then... well, nothing really happens. It would just that he liked how it sparked in normal time and did not want that to slow down. Fortunately, the last time swing had taken place after the war and had not happened since. So, for now, his daggers were safe, he thought to himself happily. Then the time sped up and his daggers started decaying as if the world wanted to prove him wrong. "Why!" he cried and broke down in tears. 20 Chapter 20: Meeting When Time noticed them, his facial features turned serious. You would think that he expected something like this to happen when he made that wish, but the surprise that could be seen in his eyes said otherwise. "Who released you?" he said, coldly. Without giving them time to give an answer, he quickly followed up with, "How did you get here?" I thought that he was quite an amusing person. He went from having a tantrum about them not being here to interrogating them with a serious expression when they arrived. Is everyone like this? Or is it just him? Why did he do that? Should he not be happy they are here? Heaving a sigh, I think to myself that people are too complicated. With a calm smile, Prophecy replied, "I just came for a little visit. After so long, so missed everyone. So, how are you doing?" Alright, I did not expect that. Would it not make more sense to say something along the lines of, ''None of your business, '' or ''It is all the fault of the new Almighty and so we can''t be blamed for what we did not do.'' That would make more sense than acting like they just came back from vacation. As if to shift my view of the world, even more, Time politely said, "I am doing quite well. How about you? How did your trip go?" When Time saw my expression, he smiled and said, "Is it not polite to a question when someone is concerned about you?" I was going to reply, ''No, '' but thought better of it. I don''t know much about manners and I doubt he would listen to me. Besides, now that I thought about it, it does make sense to answer the question. So I let it be. "I have been well. The place we went to was kind of bleak and annoying, but most of the time it was boring. So we decided to come back here for some fun and excitement, " she replied enthusiastically. "Oh, I see. Let us put the past behind us now and enjoy a cup of tea," he suggested. "Well..." She seemed quite hesitant at first but then, Time added, "The rest can join as well and Stars is dying to make blood tea after so long." "He is?" she replied. After all, in her knowledge, Star was not a vampire and rarely made blood tea. "I am?" Stars seemed confused about how he came to be involved in this conversation. "Of course." He said this as of it was pure fact and nothing could change that. "Now why you don''t you go get the tea leaves, " he said, shoving Star in the right direction. " Then, he touched the table and whispered something. The table expanded enough to fit everyone. "Do come and sit while we wait for the tea, " he offered. Prophecy, thing that it was impolite to refuse this offer excepted and led her group over there. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. This brings us to the present scene of them having a merry tea party while Stars and I are still confused by the turn of events. Is this the way to resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner? I should write this down so that I don''t forget. Next time I meet an enemy of mine, I will use this miraculous method on them instead of killing them directly. 21 Chapter 21: Knowledge Humming a merry little elven tune, I was baking an avocado cake to enjoy with afternoon tea. It was almost done as well. I just had to mix this better for a few more minutes and it would be ready to go into the oven. To make sure everything was good, I tasted it. Hmm, it needs a bit more avocados. So I cut up another avocado and put a forth of it in the batter. That should be good. But... looking at it now, it seems that there is barely any avocado in there. And so 5 more avocados made their way into the cake as it was put into the oven. Perfect. Now I need to wait for it to cook. And then I can start decorating. Ugh, I hate waiting. Why can''t this go faster? Then, Time, being the kind person that he is, grants my wish and speeds up time. Yay! Thanks, Time. I take the cake out to cool as a set out the avocado frosting and cut more avocados as a topping. As I am putting them on, my mind wanders to the tea. Of course, today''s tea was going to be avocado tea. Earth went to get the tea from Star since it was her turn. Stars made the best avocado tea despite being crazy but I can get close with the new recipe I developed. One day I will surpass him and have the best avocado tea in all 5 realms. Well, I suppose that three of them don''t really count. Souls don''t need to eat avocados or anything else for that matter. And - this matter greatly breaks my heart but it is still true - that...there is n...no (gulp) avocados in the Mirror world. Isn''t it devastating! All off them suffering in a mana abundant world where everything is so magical that avocados evolve into their spiritual form and lose their original taste. (Sniff, sniff) I just wish that there was something I could do to comfort them. But I can''t! (breaks into tears) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. (Creak) Turning toward the noise, I glare at the one who disturbed me in my sorrow. Just as I was about to throw the avocado dagger (the one I had borrowed from Life) at the intruder, I noticed who it was. But I still threw the dagger. Cause, why not? Throwing daggers can be very fun. Life should use them more often instead of keeping them all caged up. 22 Chapter 22: Cell Cells. Not the ones in your body that humans claim to make up all living things. But sort of the same in threat only certain people are allowed to enter and leave. And she was not on that list to exit. No, she had to force her way through. Like a virus, except she has to go out not in. Out of a dark, dreary cell. Where you are left to rot as your mind slowly goes crazy. Or in this case crazier. With windows where no light can get through. In a prison. Not the one in Games'' games. One that no one has escaped alive. Yet. She was going to do it. She was going to be the first person to escape. Why her? Because she is not like the rest of the prisoners. She will not perish is she steps out of this prison. Why? Because she has a body. A living. Well, not that living. She did die once already. Moving. Even though she can''t move now because of the chains, her body still has the capability to move. Then again her whole body is numb except her eyes so she may not. Maybe her body has already rotted away and she could not feel it. Maybe she is already a soul. But no. If that was the case then the PHYSICAL chains would not bind her. And she can move and half-feel her eyes so she must be able to move. And she has a heart. Yes. A heart. A LIVING heart...that...is...not...beating (excitement to sadness). Ok. Ok. Maybe...just maybe...she is not alive, but she still had a physical body. How else would she be able to see the chains digging into her skin? Aww (in a depressed voice), that''s currently going to scar later. Wonder if the scar would look nice(happily). And she goes on to imagine what the scar will look like. Now, now, don''t judge her too harshly. Spending millennia alone with nothing to accompany you but your own thoughts can do that to some people. But she was not one of them. After all, if you asked anyone who knew her - except two individuals - they would respond, "Run FAR, FAR away and DO NOT look back." She is quite a lovely individual, don''t you think? Oh, you want to know who she is? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Why, of course. She is one who reduces to speak the common tongue of the Gods. She is the one who is tormented many and killed more. She is one you would often see only in your worst nightmares. With blue hair softer than silk and dark blue eyes that resemble a stormy night at sea, she is the Goddess of Water who is now reduced to a lowly prisoner in the lowest floor of the Underworld. 23 Chapter 23: The Pitiful Grim Reaper Part 1 As I sped toward my target, I was greeted with ... a hug? It would have made more sense if my home froze over. Or if demons were nice. [Not counting Lord Star, of course. He is only half-demon but the human half must have taken over. Then again, some humans are worse than demons.] But even then, Lord Star makes more sense than ... a hug. Is that how you say it? ...A few minutes earlier... I patiently wait for the figure to come to me. Hmm, how should I greet him? Or her, it could be a her. I try not to discriminate against that sort of thing. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. So do I just say hi? Or will a God find that to be too informal? How about ''Hello, Sir''? No, no, I could get the gender wrong. Do gods have gender in the first place? Well, I will find out soon enough. I don''t want to appear too stiff or too goofy. Hmm, how about a hug. It is a very friendly gesture and will certainly put me on their good side. Perfect. I will do that. ... We don''t really use that word at home. Mistress Death hates that word for some reason. Then again, she hates everything and anything. A hug is like...a...a... I don''t know. All I know is that it is bad. And doing it is bad. And...and...it is just pure evil. Then an idea flashes through my head. Is that measly human threatening me...with a hug? Me? A powerful grim reaper that has reaped millions of souls? WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?!?!?!?! ... I was about to embrace them all of a sudden when he attacked me, saying, "How dare you!?" I did not have enough time to react when his scythe suddenly stopped a centimeter away from me. Sighing, I was glad he stopped. He must have recognized that I meant no harm. All I wanted was a hug. I am innocent in all ways, no? I am happy he recognized that. As I was about to give a lengthy lecture about hugs, attacks, and apologies, the hooded person [or God] kneeled down in front of me and started begging for forgiveness. 24 Chapter 24: The Pitiful Grim Reaper Part 2 "I am sorry I did not recognize you, my Lord." What? Why is a God kneeling before me? Do I still go on with my speech? It is no longer needed now that he apologized. Do I haaaave to change my speech? It took me a full minute to prepare. A full minute? Do you have any idea how much of my time that wasted? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ... Why? Why did I choose to attack? Just why? I should have known he is a God, how else would he be able to cast a protection spell? And since it blocked my blade which has been blessed by Mistress Death herself, he can''t be a low God. He must be one of the humans chosen to replace them after the war. I have not been allowed to enter heaven at will so it makes sense that I did not see him. But my luck is just... just... fatal. I mistook him for my target. If he takes offense at me attacking him, he can have me destroyed. I can''t allow that. I treasure my scythe! If I die, my scythe will be destroyed. I can''t allow that to happen. Who cares what happens to me I must protect my scythe! He looks displeased, bordering on anger. I can''t allow him to get angry! And so I continued begging. ... Finally, I decide to put on a smile and say, " Now, now. Bygones are bygones. A magnanimous person such as myself would never hold a grudge over such trifles." Perfect. That was done perfectly. Now I appear like a great magnanimous person. I look down and see the sparkle in his black eyes (cool, must be a God thing) and I am sure that he thinks I am great too. ... Wow. My begging skills have really improved. It must be all the meetings I went to to learn how to appease Mistress Death when she is in a bad mood(which is all the time). Yes. I knew that my hard work would pay off! Just not in this way... Well, all that matters is my scythe. I look at it and my eyes sparkle. Literally sparkle. Like there are now stars in my eyes. Even, I am frightened some times. But he did not react at all. He is truly a great person! 26 Chapter 26: Only That One Time My daggers, my poor, poor daggers. (Crying) How could he do that to them? (sniffle) Does he have no sympathy? No humanity? Well, he is not human in the first place so I suppose that makes sense. But he is an elf. Are they not known for their kindness? (And arrogance, but that does not matter.) Why!? Just why!? What ever did my beautiful (and ugly), wonderful (none of my daggers are not wonderful), powerful (well, maybe not that powerful) daggers do to him!?!?!? Well ... there was that one time that the trio of Air, Games, and Water borrowed (stole) some (at least half) of my daggers. I would have demanded them back so that their spot in the hall would not be empty but then they told me what they had in mind... Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Oh, the idea was wonderful. Absolutely, positively, amazing! I could have sworn it is was my birthday. Why else would such fantastic news befall me? So I gladly allowed them to go through with their plan. I miiight have even helped them a ''little'' bit by letting them borrow (enthusiastically offering) the rest of the daggers. Now, now, do not blame me for what happens next. It really was not my fault. It was theirs. It was the trio that... that put me under some sort of spell! I remember it as if it had just happened. My heart was beating ever so rapidly, (out of joy) that they must have poisoned me! They had done it before (though not to me of course, how can they poison someone that is immune to all poisons?)! And...and...I fainted! Yes, in the end, I fainted! Seeeee, I was not to blame. If I was how could I have fainted? Surely it could not have been from the more fragile of my daggers breaking upon impact. No... I don''t think so. But the event of Raining Daggers (you know, like raining cats and dogs) would not have had much of an impact on Time. He was safe, snoring away in his mansion, completely ignoring the daggers thudding against the roof. So he should not have caused a time change for something so minor! "You do know that his garden was completely decimated by that, right?" Minor matters. Minor matters. It is just a garden. That plants can be grown again. "Most of the plants were hundreds of thousands of years old." He has a lot of time. He is the God of Time, if he wants he can speed up time to make his plants grow again. Simple. "Di you really think that with his lazy nature, he will want to plant all of them again. Even acquiring the correct seeds and getting the soil ready for planting would be an impressive feat for him." If he wants to leave it as it is then so be it. Nothing I can do about it. (shrugs) "Elves are every protective of their plants. Take, Nature for example. Break off one branch of her trees and you will have to face her and Wrath in his not so candy-loving mood. You know how deep their friendship is. On a side note, did you know the first time they met, they competed in terms of destruction and Wrath only won by a small margin? After that, they became inseparable, in eating candy and destroying things." Time does not have someone like Wrath. "True, but he''s a High God. Plus, if Nature is that dangerous while only being a half-elf, how troublesome would you reckon a full-blooded high elf could get?" Okay, I admit that is scary. Do you think I should apologize? "You did. And in the end, you were booted out of the mansion since you were disturbing his sleep..." Oh... "Are you ever going to stop talking to yourself, Lord Life?" How can I stop doing something that I have never done before, my dear daggers. (smiles) "..." 27 Chapter 27: A Once Serene Place The birds sang their melodious song. The crickets joined in with their chirping. The wind chimes sang their gentle tune. Occasionally a frog added a croak to the melody. The wind blew causing the leaves on the willow tree to sway. Some broke away and landed in the pond causing ripples on its smooth surface. The sent of tea wafted through the air. At the pavilion sat many folks, each enjoying their own specialized tea, chatting away as if there was no tomorrow. Enemies harmonizing over tea. This was the way it should be. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Such a great atmosphere this was that it made me want to frolic over and join them. Covering my mouth with my hand, I could feel tears of joy threatening to escape my eyes. My heartbeat with a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction as I... *crack* Wha...what was that?, I thought fearfully. Did someone want to destroy this peaceful scene? But why? *crack* And it happened again; I leaped in fright. "Who is it? Show yourself!, " I said mustering up my courage. *crack* Turning around, I face the perpetrator. It was a child with black ominous hair. Could he be a demon? The more powerful of them often have black hair when in human form. Star would be the only exception to this rule that I know of with his white hair. Then again, he is stuck in a stuck in a form that is a weird mix of a demon and human (though he hides it with his loose robes). Wrath would be a better example and he has black hair. But they both have the slit pupils. So he can''t be a demon. With his ever-changing eyes, how can he maintain the red that vampires have when using their powers. And he lacks the pointed ears of an elf. With his features, a lot of species can instantly be crossed out. It would be too troublesome to go through all of them now. I will just ask Archia during afternoon tea. Right, tea! I have to get the tea from Stars so I better deal with him quickly. ... Okay, I am starting to be creeped out. First, you come in and look like you are going to start crying. Alright, I can accept that. Who knows, you might have been moved to tears by witnessing their weirdness. I was too so I can''t blame you. But then, when I come over to comfort you, you jump in fright. Am I that scary? I ignore this and ask if you are okay but you ask me to show myself. Am I not right in front of you!? To make sure that you did not hit your head somewhere I started to circle you to check for any injuries. But halfway through you spun around to face me and your frightened features turned into a fierce glare. Then you began inspecting me as is I was merchandise that needed to be appraised. Tell me how am I supposed to deal with this?!?!?! As soon as I took a step back out of fear, you took one forward. As you cracked your knuckles, a chill ran through my spine. I was on the verge of tears. My dear Lady, do say what I have done to offend you so. 28 Chapter 28: The Only Think More Important Than Avocados Avocados can do many things. They can be eaten. They can become rotten. They can be delicious. They can... well, do a lot of things. And in this case, they can be a threat to the life of a certain bird. Believe it or not, avocado daggers are very sharp. They need to be sharp to cut the avocado cake, right? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I hope Ibis is not injured. Who else would fly into the avocado farm and get me avocados if not him? So I gently picked up the bird that was throwing a disapproving look at his wound. It was not too severe, just a scratch. Good thing he had excellent reflexes or he would have been impaled through the heart. Why would I aim at the heart of my dear friend? Because he interrupted me in most of making an avocado cake! No one can do that! Even Earth! Even the three of them stayed away when I was baking! (Though they would use that time to mess up the books in the archives.) But considering that this is my official avocado deliverer, I will let the matter slide. For now. Letting go, I watch Ibis drop to the ground unceremoniously. With an angry glare, I ask, "What troubled you so much that you have to interrupt me!" Ibis gives a long sigh and looks at me in an uninterested way. When my patience was running thin, he finally said, "We have visitors." "We always have visitors." There were many low gods or a time wraith or two that were looking through the records for various types of information. Again he sighed and began to order the feathers that had gone into disarray because of his fall. "Annoying visitors." "They''re all annoying." After thinking for a bit, it responded with, "True. But they don''t cause trouble." "Trouble? Who would dare cause trouble at the Archives? Only..." My voice fades away. It couldn''t be them, could it? But how did they escape? They must have had help. Powerful help. The only one I can think of would be the Almighty. But he died without a successor. The cake long forgotten, I started to run toward the Archives. Turning to Ibis, I commanded, "Get Time. No wait, he probably knows already. Get Life even if you have to threaten to destroy his daggers." Air better not have lain a finger on my books. 29 Chapter 29: Description "Well, to start off, he has blue eyes. Like you, my Lord." Oh, how interesting. "Go on." "He also has dark brown hair, also like you and..." "And?" "He is in spirit form just like you are..." That explains why I was mistaken for his target. By spirit he should mean ghost, right? "Do you know of any other key features, the ones you spoke of are quite common minus the spirit part." "I know that he was killed in this city just a few minutes ago." Then it can''t be me. After all, I was not killed. "Then we should get a list of all the people in this city that have died in the last 30 minutes or so. Then we can narrow it down based on their appearance." "That is a great idea, my Lord!" "Right, do you have a name?" " Yes, he goes by the name of Teo Garvale." Shit. That''s my name. It couldn''t be that he was after me right? But that would mean I was killed by someone. "Why do you want to find him in the first place?" I asked, hoping that it wasn''t to kill me. "I was asked to bring him back to my home." Good, so he did not mean any harm. Why did he attack me though? (Shrug) Whatever, I will just tell him who I am and he can take to his home, where ever that is. "Mistress Death wanted to bring him in for interrogation." I tensed. Interrogation? There might be more to this than I thought. I''m glad I refrained from speaking earlier. But who is Mistress Death? It certainly can not be someone good. "Mistress Death?" I ask, raising a brow. "Oh, my Lord would probably just call her Death. We add the ''Mistress'' in since she is the ruler of the Underworld and whoever rules the underworld rules us." So she is like Hades. Except she is well she. But what does she want from me? Is she not a God? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "What can I, I mean Teo Garvale give her?" Good thing I corrected my self in time. "Information on a missing soul." "Missing soul?, " I asked, confused. "Oh, right, since my Lord is usually up in Heaven it makes sense that you have not heard of the matters of the Underworld." Heaven? Since when was I there? My eyes widen, could it be that he has mistaken me for someone else? But why? "You know how the soul guides keep track of souls?" I nod. After all, I can''t give myself away. "Well, a missing soul is when they can no longer detect a soul." Confused I asked, "Is it that bad of a problem?" "Indeed, my Lord. There are only a limited amount of souls and if even one of them is lost the balance between them and the soulless will be destroyed. To compensate for this loss, a whole species of the soulless will have to be sacrificed." "Just for one soul?" These measures we''re clearly quite grave. "You should know how must the Second Almighty loved his creations. He could not bear to see them killed so he created such a rule." I try to digest all this new information as he continues talking, "The usual reason this happens is that they were chosen to serve as a God, but none have been chosen in the last 500 years. Besides, Lord Life would have to notify the guides if they were going to do so. So the only explanation is that the soul has been destroyed." "What does this have to do with me?" "With you? It has nothing to do with you my Lord, " he said, clearly confused. Oops. To cover my mistake I say, " I meant with Teo. What does it all have to do with him?" Though still confused at my slip up, he continued, "Teo was the last person to be in contact with the missing soul. Or rather the last person to be killed by the soul." 30 Chapter 30: Everyone is a Hypocrite "He''s talking to himself." ...A few minutes ago... I managed to sneak away from the rest while they enjoyed their specialized cup of tea. I got blood tea. Why? Well, that was the only one that did not taste like... like... well, nothing. It had a tiny bit of sweetness from the blood inside that was just enough to suppress the horridness of the other contents but not enough to satisfy my appetite. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Stars knew I hated that feeling yet every time he still gave me that same tea! He didn''t even try to add more blood in! Being around him is so infuriating! Dispute his displeasing (I am putting it very lightly here) personality, everyone still likes his tea! Even Prophecy''s taste buds were seduced! And I KNOW for a fact that she can be VERY picky. In her tea, she must have exactly 3.39517374928473738399 drops of pure blood. Even Archia is not that exact (and she''s THE goddess of knowledge)! If it is any deficiency she will (and I mean WILL) make you wish that you were not immortal. I see it happen before. Why do you think Raphael looks so miserable? Am I a bit bitter that my friend was outdone in the art of tea by Stars of all people? Yes. Definitely, yes. But that is not the reason I hate him. No, it is because of a time long, long ago where... Ok, that''s enough. We have plenty of time to think about that later. Now to focus on the utterly horrible, terrible, morbid, disdainful scene in front of me: Life talking to himself! That, that *censored* is a *censored*... an absolute *censored*... ...10 minutes later... ...how dare he! That *censored*... ...50 minutes later... ...I''m gonna kill that *cens* (stomach growls)... food first. I can''t kill him on an empty stomach and I certainly can''t curse him with a dry throat. So I ignore him and make my way to the portals. (Licks his lips.) It''s been a long time since I had a nice meal. (smiles) Might as well give those humans something to talk about; they always did make up crazy stories. ...What the ''innocent'' bystanders saw... "He''s talking to himself..., " Fire commented, appalled. "Humph, hypocrites," the phoenix next to him commented. Rolling her eyes, Nature said, "As if you''re not one." "Humph." (Notice that it never denied the accusation. This shows its noble nature of being honest.) 31 Chapter 31: A Life Without Idiots "Mmm, this tea is amazing!" I say. Stars always makes it the way I want so I am guaranteed to be satisfied. (smiles) "There is the perfect amount of blood! It just sweetens up my day. Not that it was not good before. After all, I did let out of that terrible place, not that I remember much. To me, one second I was taken there and sealed off and the next time I opened up my eyes, thousands of years had passed." "Oh, quite interesting, " He replies, taking another sip of his own stone tea. "So how are things here, Time?" Shrugging, he responds, "The same as usual but more peaceful without them." Looking over we see Air and Games having a contest on who could drink the most tea before they puked it all out. There was only one way to describe them: idiots. Smart, powerful, and dangerous idiots. "It must have been so lonely without them there to constantly trouble you, " I said with mock pity. "Indeed it was, " he starts, placing his hand on his heart and shaking his head with a pained look on his face. "There was no one to burn down the doors or reduce the walls to dust. No one to destroy my gardens. (It looked like he was going to start crying any second.) And...and(stutters) no one to wake me up in the middle of the night with horrifying screams!" Then, he proceeds to break into tears, burying his face with his hands. Feeling bad for him, I gently pat his shoulders and say, "There, there. It''s okay. Your not alone anymore. (gently at first but then I yelled) So suck it up and move on. (To finish off, I gave him a slap on the head.)" I''m not much of a hugger and I certainly can''t comfort someone to save my life so working with what I got, I think I did a great job. Leaning back, I sipped my tea and commented, "You certainly have improved your acting skills." "I know, right? I''ve been practicing daily with the help of the internet, " he cheerfully claims. Rubbing his head he adds, "Did you have to hit me so hard? vampiric strength is no joke." Ignoring the second part, I focus in on an unknown word. "Internet?" "Oh, right, you don''t know about it, " he says, "It is like a world that they access through this device they call a computer. And other gadgets but we will get to that later. Basically, it is a library of mostly useless information." "Why would they want useless things on there?" I ask, confused. "Cause their human." Oh. While I am contemplating how to respond to that, Air jumps into our conversation saying, "How durable is it?" "Is what?" Time asks. "The cimpoter." Cringing at the word, Time corrects, "It''s a computer." "Yeah, yeah. A compuetor, I got it. So how durable is it?" he asks impatiently. "It is a computer. Do you want to know how durable it is to time or the weather?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I wanna know how durable it is to me? "To YOU (sneers). It won''t even last a second." "Not challenging enough but I could give it a try." It looks like he is seriously considering breaking computers. "Oh, it has games on it, " Time adds, looking at Games who was listening in. The latter jumps up in joy and turns to Air with the most serious expression I reckon he has ever worn. "You absolutely can NOT destroy any of MY games." And of course, that threat worked. Air gave up on his quest, sighing. "And I wanted to compete with Wrath on that, " he mumbles under his breath with a slight pout. "Let''s go burn some books!" he says all of a sudden, instantly cheering up. And the two of them were off. "Idiots, " I say, watching their figures disappear. "Can''t live with them and you can''t live without them." 32 Chapter 32: How I Ended up Here My To-Do List: 1. Find out what powers I got. 2. Escape from the hooded man. 3. Find out who killed me. 4. Have a cup of coffee. (Because caffeine solves all problems.) 5. Don''t die. (If I can die after someone already killed me!) That should be it for now. Simple, no? Of course, not! First, a weirdo dressed in an ancient silk robe came to me and said, "I suppose you will have to do." Then, he proceeded to stab a dagger through his throat. Not to mention adding to the many injuries he already had, he even got blood on my brand-new suit! But did he stop there? No! He gathered up the blood in his hand had drawn something on my forehead. He must have used some tricks to keep me from moving. I couldn''t even blink. But suddenly, his finger stopped moving. He started looking around. I would have done the same due to curiosity but I could not turn. And then... Darkness. I do not remember what happened next. When I woke up, I was in the middle of the street but no one could hear or see me. They did not stop to help at all! I was engaged and tried to reach out to touch someone but my hand just passed through them. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. All I know was that after I woke up I was a ghost (or a spirit like the hooded man said) and this voice at the back of my mind kept saying that I have to become stronger and fully control the power I was given. I got annoyed at it and asked it to stop but the voice kept getting louder. Among its rambling, I heard something peculiar. It said, and I quote: ''You must get stronger so that you can get revenge.'' After that, it did not mention revenge again and when I enquired about it, the voice ignored me and kept talking about power. And while I was contemplating my situation and how to get rid of this voice, the hooded man came along. And here we are. Looking at my dead body. It really brightens up the day. "My Lord, he really looks a lot like you!" the hooded man said, sounding suspicious. "It must be my doppelganger, " I say, trying to play it off casually. "Oh, that makes sense." Surprisingly that worked. Wait... does that mean that doppelgangers really exist! 33 Chapter 33: Why me?! Why? Why am I here? Why was I ''chosen"? Why are they not fighting? (Are they not enemies?) Why is this girl attacking me for no reason? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Why can someone who looks so frail make a large crater in the ground with a casual fist? Why is it that when I try to do so, I feel like I am hitting steel? And why are the rocks here so good? (Gets weird looks.) ...A few minutes ago... The once timid girl turned deadly with resolve as she aimed a punch at my face. Not wanting to get hit, I dodge the attack. I''m glad I did. Where I stood just a moment ago was replaced by a crater. Not waiting for me to recover from my shock, she continued her assault. Another crater was made and dust went flying. Unfortunately, a small pebble made its way into my mouth. I was going to spit it out when I noticed its unique taste. It was sweet. Probably the sweetest thing I have ever tasted (which is kinda sad). It was like sugar but better. Sweeter but not too sweet, just the right amount to satisfy my taste buds. In my delight, I could not help but smile unconsciously. Have pebbles always been this nice? Could it be that everyone has lied to me my entire life? Were they so greedy that they want to keep the rocks and pebbles of this world to themselves? I felt cheated. After all, I had a good collection of rare rocks back home. If someone had informed me of their taste earlier then I could have tasted them. But now, who knows when I will see them again. I wish that I had accepted that stone tea. But now I am stuck fighting(running away). Oh, right. I have to fight. Left. Right. Stupid tree! Falling to the ground, I roll away to avoid another blow. I scramble up just as fast. If nothing else, I at least improved my dodging skills. Left. Right. Right. Left. Lef... why is there no ground here? (splash) She must have lured me to the lake, I thought, berating myself for not taking note of my surroundings. I try to swim up to the surface when I remember a little something. I can''t swim. 34 Chapter 34: The Archives "Books, books, books, We''re gonna burn some books~" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Surrounding us on all sides were Avocado Trees. I suppose that Knowledge''s interest in them grew along with the Avocado Orchard. And to think it all started when I dropped a raw egg on her head. Good times. "East from the portals, North from the mountains, through the avocado orchard, and though the big gates of old~" "Isn''t it ''past the avocado orchard''?" Games asked confused. "You can''t go past the avocado orchard if you''re surrounded by it, now can you?" Looking at the dense concentration of the trees, he can''t help but say, "True." And so I continue my song. ...Meanwhile, in the Archives... The doors were pushed (slammed) open and a girl hurriedly ran inside and shouted, "Get your hands off my books, Air!" Startled, many of the Gods browsing through their books released a yelp and dropped their books. Bending down to pick them up, they sent a glare at the seemingly uneducated girl. One scholar was enraged enough to respond with, "The laws of this place dictate that shouting is not allowed." The girl who was looking around threw him an uninterested look and simply said, "I am the law here." "Arrogant." "She doesn''t know anything, ignore her." "Who does she think she is, the Goddess of Knowledge?" The girl ignored them and continued on her way, checking each row for any damaged books. Finishing the first floor, she flew up to the second one. (The Archives consist of 3 towers. The space in the middle of each tower is hollow while there are different levels jutting out from the walls. There is a staircase that spirals around and leads to all the floors. There are also 5 cylindrical platforms situated on the ground floor that levitate slightly off the marvel floor. They can be used as an elevator to quickly access different floors instead of climbing up all those stairs. Only those with a high enough level of magic power can control them, the rest must use the stairs. Flying is highly forbidden here.) Seeing her fly, the Gods blinked their eyes in disbelief. Did she have a death wish? The last person who got impatient with the stairs and broke that rule was ''kindly offered'' a vacation in the underworld. When he got back, he was bedridden and some say that he is still there to this day. Lying in eternal pain, not being able to move at all. Truly a fate worse than death. The Goddess of Knowledge even said that whoever broke the rule next would face a fate ten times worse. What was that fate? No one was daring enough to find out. Until she came along. This girl who couldn''t be older than 25 now had to face the wrath of a High God. "She must have gone crazy!" "Poor child. She must be a newly inaugurated Low God who has yet to hear the rumors going around." "For her sake, let''s hope that Lady Archia does not come here today." "She has not been here for centuries, why would today be any different. Lord Ibis will probably report this to her, " an old man with a long white beard said. He was one of the survivors of the war long ago and had a high ranking among the Low Gods. "Senior is right but Lord Ibis will probably come up with harsher punishment for her." "Indeed, but why do I feel that I have seen her before, " said the old man. "Senior has most likely seen her at the portals." "Yes, yes, that should be it, " he replied absentmindedly while trying to think of all the people he had come across. Not many had bright green hair like her and he certainly had not met someone like that, but why was she so familiar? Meanwhile, the girl had reached the 20th floor and had not found even a page out of place. Could it be the Ibis lied to me? she thought totally unaware of the conversation going on around her. 35 Chapter 35: The State of Things The moon is high up in the sky and all the tea cakes are finished. Guess its time to go and discuss how we are going to handle this mess. At least, the idiots are not here (poor Archia). ...At the Archives Someone is Having a Mental Breakdown... Not here. Not there. Not anywhere. No, no, no. This can''t be happening. I can''t find them anywhere! Could it be that Ibis really lied to me?, I thought afraid. He has not returned yet... No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no... Calm down, Archia, I tell my self. Ibis would never ever betray you. We swore an oath, remember. And he cannot break it. But... what if ... what if he DID break it... "Nooooooooooooo! This is all your fault Air!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ...In the middle of a forest someone sneezes... "Could it be that I have caught a cold?" As I was thinking about how I got sick, Games suddenly grabs my collar starts yelling in my face. "Air do something! We''re lost! And in an Avocado forest at that!" He lets go of my collar and looks around warily, eyes wide open. Rolling my eyes, I say, "It''s just a forest, if we keep walking in one direction we eventually get out." "Eventually?" he questions weakly. "An hour or two should do it. But..." "But?" He leans in closer. "But if she was serious about expanding the orchard, it will take about a year," I say calmly. After all, it was just one year. Even a low god would not think that it was a long time. But apparently, Games was an exception. "One whooole year in this forest." And he started chewing on his nails. Sigh. I warned him that it was not healthy yet he still does it. "Get your hands out of your mouth. God knows what you''ve touched." I swat at his still trembling hands. "But I am a God," He says confused. "So you should know about all the filth you''ve touched." He is about to reply when... *chirp* He jumps into my arms, hugging me like a koala, refusing to let go. "Get off me," I say pushing him but he just holds in tighter. "What was that?" "It''s called a Blue Jay. Now move." "But Blue Jays are very aggressive," he whines. With no choice left I sing, "Wall, wall where are you? I want to bang my head into you~" 36 Chapter 36: Start of the Hun Looking at the report I could not help but get uncomfortable. ... Name: Teo Garvale Gender: Male Age: 38 Date of Birth: April 17, 2334 Time of Death: Around 5:00 A.M. on April 19, 2372 Location of Death: Penthouse of 59 Moral Av. Cause of Death: The head was chopped off with a clean cut made by a very sharp and deadly blade. Additional Notes: Traces of blood were found on the forehead. Later diagnosis revealed that the blood was not his and have yet to be identified. ... My last hope withered away just like that. It was official. I. Was. Dead. The hooded man, of course, attributed my glum mood to the lack of clues. To reassure me he said, "Don''t worry, My Lord, we will surely find him. He has only been dead for a day at most so he could not have found the pathway to heaven yet." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. How could he find the supposed pathway to heaven if he is stuck with a certain someone? And for me to die two days after my birthday...Truly tragic. Seeing that my expression only got worse he said, "Waiting and talking here will do no good so how about we start at the site of his death as the center and search from there?" Helplessly, I responded, "Sure." Might as well keep up my disguise. And so we put the autopsy report and the body back where we found them and left the morgue. Since it was a short way from 59 Moral Av., will arrive at our destination in less than 10 minutes. By our leisure walking pace, I could tell that the hooded man was quite confident about catching me. Having the opportunity to sort out my thoughts, I realized that I did not know this man''s name dispute spending the better part of a day with him. So I casually ask, "By the way, what is your name?" Instead of your topical response, he looked at me like I was an alien... and I had to admit it was starting to freak me out. 37 Chapter 37: A Successful Hun "What''s wrong?" I said trying to break the tension in the air. "It''s common knowledge to all species that we Grim Reapers do not have names..." he said, looking over at me. We had stopped walking. "Oh, you''re a Grim Reaper? I have not encountered a Grim Reaper until you came along, so I forgot that little fact." "All species have seen one of us before. All except humans that is." He takes a step toward me, forcing me, in turn, to move back. He continues, "Humans can only see us after they die." "Oh, is that so?" Another step. "Indeed, they used to be able to do so when they were alive, but that all changed after the war. But I suppose a human, like you, would know nothing about that, no?" At this point, he was directly in front of me, scythe drawn and at the ready. "I''m sure that you will learn of such things sooner or later." "That''s nice, " I say, trying to stay calm. Why did I have to go and ask for his name? I could have gotten away scot-free if I just kept my stupid mouth shut. "The devils in hell love to tell stories when torturing people." "..." Great, just great. Just then, the voice in my head seemed to become louder. Can''t you at least give me peace and quiet in this perilous situation so I can think? Apparently, it did not agree to my request as it just became louder. Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper in front of me swung his scythe down. "Wait, " I screamed, hoping that a miracle would happen again. But I suppose I was not lucky. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ... Finally! I was getting tired of pretending. That human was exhausting to deal with. He even wanted to give me a hug! The audacity! I hate creatures like him, just because they have a soul, they think they can do whatever they want. If not for him manifesting a mana shield at the beginning, I would not have spared so much time to deal with him. He didn''t know that doppelgangers only exist when Lord Life makes a mistake. How stupid. He basically accused the Lord of not doing his job correctly. And to think I thought he somehow got chosen as a God. The mana shield must have been a fluke. I look at him now, I can see his unconscious soul floating about in my scythe. Despite everything, I admit that he was quite amusing. 38 Chapter 38: Let’s Get This ‘Meeting’ Started Archia sat there mumbling to herself in depression: "Stupid Air...munch munch...how dare he...munch munch...get lost. Stupid. He even...munch munch..made me search thr...munch munch... through all...munch munch...twen...munch munch...ty floors." (Let''s stop here. I think you get the gist of it.) What was she eating? Of course, it was a 7 layer(because ''avocado'' has 7 letters) avocado cake with avocado frosting with avocado slices arranged into a form of(dare I say it) an avocado! And...and there is (my hand is shaking) even a cup of avocado tea in her hands! And there are the side dishes that are yet to be mentioned! And yes, I mean side dishes with an''s''!(Sound of fainting heard in the back. How odd.) Oh myself(because I am God)! Too much avocado. It is literally killing my eyes. And my appetite. And I''m supposed to be an elf who loves all manner of plants! But this? Even as a High God I am not strong enough to handle this level of avocadoness(Is that a word?). I look away and I immediately wished I hadn''t. My sight landed on Life who was (must I say it? *with tears threatening to fall*) staring at his dagger with a gaze full of passion. If it wasn''t a dagger that was in front of him, I would have left the room to give him some privacy. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Why?! Why, fate must you be so cruel to me?! What have I ever done to you?! ... All these thoughts are running through my head, but my face remains as blank as ever. How can I, who has tempered my poker face throughout my Godly life (and elven one), make such an amateur mistake? But even with all that experience I can not help but let out a sigh. Not at Life and Knowledge. No not at them. But instead, I sigh at the fact that their pets (familiars) are so much better than mine. Right now Ibis is refilling the plate with another slice of avocado cake (at a terrifying rate) to make sure that Archia never runs out of things to munch on. That arrogant phoenix is making itself useful as well my holding up that dagger of Life''s (well, there''s not much else it could do). But what is MY familiar doing? Sleeping! And on MY lap at that. Ugh! I hate cats! But... Neko(because cause I am too lazy to expend energy to come up with and remember a good name)... her fur is soo soo soo (x1000) soft that I can''t bring myself to hate her. Hmm, everything seems so nice and calm, I think to myself(Like have have been doing this whole time). A nap would be really nice... (And so Time slowly dozes off to sleep.) 39 Chapter 39: Making A Decision Part 1 After finishing the 10th cake, I let out a sigh. I knew that it is high time to stop this and get serious. "That will be enough cake, Ibis," I said to him as he put down the slice he was about to serve. As an after thought I added, "For now," causing him to reveal a look of helplessness. Now to handle the other two. Time would be fairly easy. I just go up to him and whisper a little spell causing him to wake up screaming (always so fun to induce nightmares). Because of the sudden noise, Neko(he really should come up with a better name) wakes up. Poor her, having to deal with Time everyday. "Come here," I say, gently putting the frightened cat into my arms. While stroking her fur I say, "There, there, everything is fine." "You are right, Archia, everything is fine. Thank you for reassuring me," Time says. "I was talking to the cat," I reply coldly. "But Neko is mine and what applies to her applies to me so you here reassuring me," he counters. I frown. He must be spending too much time with Stars. I move toward Life. Now how should I handle him in the least violent way possible. After all, I can''t get my hands dirty for such a simple thing. Oh I know. "Life, put away that dagger this instant or I will confiscate all your daggers." Snapping out of his daze, he glares at me. "You need a valid reason to do that." "I am sure Heaven would be much better if the God of Life was not constantly distracted." He looked like he was about to argue when he thought better of it. I provided a good reason that he could not argues against and so he could only put his dagger away while grumbling. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Still petting Neko, I take my seat. "Let''s start the meeting." "We all know why we are here. The Gods we had imprisoned in the Astral Temple have made their way out with the help of the supposed Almighty. Now that begs two very important questions. Why did two contracts appear and what should we do with them?" "For the first issue, I already talked with Contracts. It is most likely that the previous Almighty had chosen someone and was about to give them his power but at the mast moment found a better candidate. Or the first candidate refused him and so he moved to his second choice. Either way it does not matter much. We let the Almighty go so that he could choose a successor. We just did not think that he would go into the future to do so. But that does not matter much either. We just have to shape the new candidate so he does not end up like the last one," Time concludes. "You spoke to him previously, no? What did you find out about him?" "Well, for starters he is a complete liar." "Really?" Life said, astounded. "But the previous Almighty was so righteous. He would never pick some one like that," I added, disbelieving. "It''s the truth, I swear," confirms Time. "Who knows what was going through his head? All that matters is that that kid needs to change. I propose that we take turns to straighten him up like we originally planed." "I agree," I say and Time nods as well. "He can start off with me. Spending time in the archives will not hurt." The two had no objections and so we came to a decision. "Now the second matter. What should we do with Atiri and the others?" 40 Chapter 40: Making A Decision Part 2 "Imprison them again?" Life suggested. "That won''t work. The seals in the Astral Temple are all destroyed and even if we fix them keeping them locked up forever is not a feasible option." What Archia said was true. The seals took up too much energy and when they were replaced by their successors, they could not maintain them. And if they were released in the future, it would cause a bigger mess. Better to deal with them now and find them a place where they can''t cause trouble. "We also have to consider the position of their replacements," Life added. After they were sealed away, someone else had to do their tasks so the the of them selected replace mental. "Luckily there are only 4 that were replaced so far," Time commented. "So how about the rest just take up their old posts?" Archia suggested. "But..." Life began but was cut off by Archia. "With a new Almighty and the war ended, they have no reason to cause trouble. They might want revenge, but Atiri''s smart. She won''t let them go overboard. Besides they have experience and will not mess up." Clearly not happy, Life could only sit there and complain to himself. Ignoring him, Archia turn to Time. "I still can''t accept that you replaced Atiri so quickly." "I had no choice!" Time defended, "The role she played was too important. Heaven would not have functioned normally without her and her power." The room became silent. "If I could have one her position open, I would have, " he whispered. The silence reigned once again. Archia, unwilling to say anything, stayed silent. After a while, Life could no longer deal with the gloomy atmosphere and decided to put an end to the matter. Standing up, he pointed at them accusingly and reprimanded, "If you want her to have the position, then make it happen!" "I can''t just make it happen!" Knowledge says, sneering. "Why not!?" Life argues. "Why not!? Way not!? Had you taken even a second to think over the situation you would know why!" Seeing the situation getting out of hand, Time interrupts with, "Calm down. There is no need to fight. We''ll just settle this matter at a later date." "Absolutely not!" Life yells. "The both of you keep will keep pushing back the decision! So let''s decide things now!" "There''s no need to yell we can hear you perfectly fine, " Time comments. However, that only serves to make him angrier. "So we will let them take up their old positions. As for the four whose positions are occupied, we-" "Will do nothing before considering any and all factors, " Knowledge interrupts. "What! Did you not hear what I said?! We must come to a decision now!" "We can''t act rashly! Chrono agrees with me, right?" She looks at time expectantly. Furrowing his brows, he says, "I don''t really want to get involved in this but the 4 can stay at my place until we come to a decision later." "And when is this later exactly?!" "Quit shouting for goodness sake. You''re giving me a headache." Times leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. "You''re all so useless! This is why we can''t get anything done around here!" "We can''t get anything done?! Who is it that stares at scrapes of metal all day?!" Archia refutes. "At least I did not secluded myself for 10 thousand years!" "You-" "Let''s not squabble over such silly things," Time says, trying to mend the situation. "As if you''re any better! You only started to diligently do your work now since Atiri is no longer there to cover for you!" With those words, Knowledge got up and walked towards the door. "I will go and tell them what we have decided so far. You can do whatever you want." After she left, Time got up as well. "It''s time for my afternoon nap, have a horrible day," he said with a polite smile. He walked out the door leaving Life there to silently grit his teeth in anger. "Don''t ever become like them, Levi," he says patting his dagger and going out of the room himself. 41 Chapter 41: The Secret Life Of Pets "How! Dare! They!" A shrill shriek rang in the previously quiet room. "Yawn~ Don''t yell so loudly." "Are you not mad that they left us behind!?" the phoenix questioned. "I''m glad they left. I can now sleep peacefully with no noise. You should go out too if you want to yell," Neko responded. "But they completely ignored us!" "Your just jelly that he took the dagger with him but left you," the cat said and snuggled deeper into the comfy seat. "I am not jelly!" "I know you are not jelly." The phoenix gave a smug smile, but that was soon wiped off its face when Neko added, "Your a bird." "You!" "What about me?" Neko said with an innocent look on his face. "For goodness sake, don''t increase my work load." "What''s our conversation got to do with your work load, Owly," Neko said, glancing his way. "My name is Ibis. And if you fight, then you will destroy the furniture and it will be up to me to replace it." "We weren''t fighting, we were having a conversation. A very interesting one at that. And you just had to interrupt the fun." "It was not a conversation and it was not interesting," the phoenix said only to be completely ignored. "As long as you don''t cause any trouble you can continue your ''interesting'' conversation," Ibis concluded. "Whatever you say, Owly. By the way, what happened to Air and Games? I heard they wanted to make trouble at the towers (another name for the Archives)." Seeing that he had a bit of time, Ibis decided to tell them. So the three of them settled down of a nice story. "It all started when I was on my way back from Life''s castle..." ...Story... "We''re going to die!" Games yelled only to be hit on his head. "Don''t be stupid, Gods can''t die," Air reprimanded. "But, but, but..." Games seemed to be on the verge of crying. And as a kind-hearted owl (a snort was heard in the background), I could not just ignore this scene (he would throw a tantrum and destroy the orchard if I did). So I led them back to Star''s Pavilion so Atiri could keep an eye on them. ...back to the familiars... The cat and bird looked at him expectantly. Clearing his throat, Ibis said, "That''s the end of the story." Neko just gave him a black stare while the phoenix gritted its beak (cause it doesn''t have teeth) and said, "Your a horrible story teller." "You asked me to tell you what happened and I did. I cannot be blamed for the fact that nothing interesting happened," he defended. "To make up for your horrible story, you need to tell us something interesting!" the cat demanded. "Yeah!" Under their oppression, Ibis could only resign himself to say, "Well, the low Gods thought that Archia was a new low God who would be punished for breaking the rules of the Archives. Oh, and Archia thought that I had betrayed her since Air and Games were not there." "Only you can make those events seem so bland and boring, " the phoenix complains. "There seems to be a lot of things going around lately because of their arrival." "Oh, that reminds me, I saw Sun heading to Earth for a snack." "Oh, we should go and check it out later. I haven''t been to the human world in a while," Neko proposed. And so the three of them continued gossiping, completely ignoring the things that took place outside. Until...a soaked black-haired boy runs inside and slams the door behind him. 42 Chapter 42: Their Thoughts I do not get visitors often. So imagine my surprise when a grim reaper appeared and locked up a human soul in the cell across from me. Why would they lock up a mere human here? Surly there must be something special about him. I wanted to ask the grim reaper, but when I tried, not a word came out. Oh, I can''t move much less talk, I remembered. So I could only watch helplessly as he left. At least I can still see, I think, trying to look at the bright side. The human was unconscious but it looked like he would wake up soon. With nothing to do I just stared at him, taking note of his features. Blond, curly hair. Pale skin. A thin yet fit figure. Quite tall as well. Looks to be in his mid-20s, but then again looks can be deceiving. I remember meeting a 176 year old woman who looked to be in her 30s. Then again, I''m not one to talk. I look like a 17 year old despite having lived for thousands of years. I look at the human again. I wish he would wake up. It would make things far more interesting. Maybe I could have a conversation with him (disregarding the fact that I can''t hear or speak). Now that I think about it, when was the last time I had a real conversation? When I was free, I did not speak much. And if I did speak, it was only to Games or Air. Sometimes Life. But that was it. Even on Earth I only spoke when necessary. But that does not mean I don''t want to have a conversation now. Even I can get the urge to talk (as impossible as it seems). I glare at the human, urging him to wake up fast. Then my mind finds another interesting topic. Hmm, I wonder what color his eyes are. Are they blue like mine? Or multi-colored like Games''? ...While she is lost in thought, back on in Heaven... The two groups stared at each other, frozen with a variety of emotions. The boy was too astonished to see two birds and a cat talking while having tea and cakes. How can birds hold a teacup in the first place, he thought, but quickly dismissed the thought when he saw the evidence in front of him. The owl was surprised too, but that soon turned into anger. How dare someone disrespect Heaven by coming here in that state! And, more importantly, he did not knock! Does he have no manners or respect?! The phoenix on the other hand was out right confused. Were they not gossi-, no talking, a moment ago? Why is that boy here? Why is he wet? The cat, much like the phoenix, was also confused. Why would the new Almighty come here of all places? I could have sworn that I saw him talking with Earth when I when to get Time. Where did Earth go? And so the staring continued. Until the boy could not contain his curiosity and broke the silence. "By the logic that rocks are sweet and that you are having a tea party, am I to assume that you can talk as well?" Neko decided to humor him and responded, "Yes, we can talk." "I see..." "No, you hear, " she corrected, mumbling, "Humans these days." Rolling her eyes, she went back to her tea. "..." 43 Chapter 43: To The Mansion "I feel like we''re missing someone, " Atiri commented. "No, all of us are here, " Raff clarified. "Wait, what about the Almighty?" "I saw him and Earth going somewhere. Probably to the Archives where he will be staying." "Alright then. So Time, you said that three of us were replaced. Which three are you talking about?" Atiri asked. Too lazy to explain the matter, Time simply said, "You will know when we get there." Finding that there was no choice but to wait, she switched to another topic. "By the way Air, why are you tagging along with us? Don''t you have to report to Archia?" "If I go back there I will have to learn everything that has happened in the past few thousand years. And that''s going to take forever! The policy at the mansion is much more lax. I told I will work from there." "And she actually agreed to that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I threatened her that I will create a mess at the Archives, " he said casually. "A mess that you''ll have to clean up, " Raff added. "She cares more about the fact that there will be a mess than the cleaning up part. Besides, with Games and me working together we''ll be done in no time." "What?! When did I say I was going to help?!" Games questions, wondering how he got involved in this conversation. "Just a few (thousand) years ago. Don''t you remember? We even signed a contract about it." "But that already expired!" "No, there was still a thousand years left when we were sealed so those thousand years still count now." "That''s not fair!" "It is. Clause number five says that special circumstances can stop the countdown." "That''s only if all of us agree! Water is not here and I don''t agree so the deal does not count!" "You can''t just exclude her opinion. What if Water agrees?" "She certainly won''t!" "Where is Water in the first place?" Raff interjected. They all turned to look at Time, who pretended not to see their expectant gazes. Finally, Air, overcome with curiosity, asked, "Where is she, Time?" "Sealed." "Don''t be so miserly with your words. Explain, " Raff complained. I miss those days with peace and quiet. Sighing deeply, Time responded. "She is sealed in the Underworld." "Why did you not seal her with us?" Games asked. "The main consistently of those crystals was water. She could have escaped easily, " Raff supplied. "Oh. So will she be set free now?" Games asked eagerly. "We''ll see." "What do you mean you''ll see?" He pouted childishly. Feeling a headache start to form, Time was happy to see the Mansion coming into view. Ignoring the question he said, "Oh, look. We''re here." Starting from the beautiful fountain to the cobblestone steps to the manmade lake at the side teaming with fish, the entrance gave off a grand yet homely feel. The bushes and trees are well maintained and added to the overall appeal of the place. The double doors made of antique wood led into a simple yet refined reception hall. Though not as grand as Life''s palace or as spacious as the Archives, Time still liked his mansion the best. A man in formal attire came to greet the group. Dressed like a butler from western culture, he greeted them with a curt nod. 44 Chapter 44: Matters of the Underworld Rushing down the halls the grim reaper could not help but worry. He had made the Queen wait for far too long. Though it had been just a day on Earth, more than 50,000 years had passed in the underworld. Everyone knew that the Mistress did not like to be kept waiting. The last time someone had the guts to do so, they were sentenced to 10,000 cuts. And from their own blade at that! And immediately after the punishment, he was sent on a dangerous mission. From that day on, no one dared to be late. Thinking about the event, he could not help but break out in cold sweat (if their kind could sweat at all). Right now all he could hope for was a lighter punishment. After a few minutes, he arrived in front of a set of double doors. Taking a deep breath (he had heard that it helped humans calm down), he slowly pushed open the doors. He walked forward and knelt down, laying his weapon down next to him as he waiting for the Queen to acknowledge his presence. "Great, another one joins the party," Death muttered, taking a sip of her nectar. There were four others that were waiting just like him. However, she continued to ignore them. Noticing that her glass was nearly empty she motioned toward the shadow next to her and watched as it refilled the glass. At this rate, the nectar was only going to last for a month or so. She felt displeased at this fact but, then again, there was nothing she could do. The drink was made in Life''s palace and due to the lengthy time required to produce it, she could only get a bit of it every year. In fact, some of the low gods would be lucky to taste it every thousand years. Knitting her brows in displeasure, she looked over at the five grim reapers and questioned, "What?" The one on the far right was the first to get up and was about to voice his matter when she said, "And make it short." "Mistress, the rebellion has been fully suppressed and everything is back in order." "Good. Anything to take note of?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "No, Mistress. All is well," he responded politely. "Then, scram!" she yelled and flung her glass at him (it was empty, of course). As it smashed near his feet and blew up in smithereens. Not daring to stay any longer, he quickly bowed and, as per her order, scrammed. The shadow next to her quickly gave her a new glass filled with nectar, wanting to appease her anger. Great, her majesty''s mood swings are acting up again, the grim reapers thought, cursing their horrible luck. "Next!" None of them wanted to stand out, however, and so they remained still. Noticing their lack of movement, Death was furious and hit the table at her side causing a crack to appear on the smooth white jade. Shocked by the sharp sound and knowing the situation could only get worse, one of them stood up. He quickly reported, "The arrival of the sealed gods has been confirmed. They are currently in the process of taking up their old jobs." This piece of news caught her attention and her anger instantly dissipated by half. "What of the gods whose positions were filled?" "The High Gods have not come to a decision on the matter." She snorted and said, "Knowing them it will take a hundred years until they can agree on something. Notify as soon as they come to a consensus. Oh, and find out as much as you can on this new Almighty." "Yes, Mistress." With that, he bowed and made his way out of the room, relieved that he had not incurred her wrath. With him gone, Death turned her attention to the remaining three. She nodded her head at the middle one. "Mistress, there is one prisoner which we can''t figure out how to torture. No matter what we try he just laughs it off." "So?" "We were hoping that you could provide us with some insight on how to handle this matter." With that, she frowned. "Such a petty thing and you still come to bother me about it. Stop wasting my time. In the future, all such tasks will be handled by Amon." Amon was the only grim reaper personally created by her. He assisted her with a wide variety of things and was her most trusted servant. To repay his excellent service, she had bestowed upon him a name, an honor that no other grim reaper had. "Then I will go consult Sir Amon, Mistress." He promptly left. Another one got up and said, "I came for a similar matter, Mistress. If you''ll excuse me I will go consult Sir Amon as well." A nod from her and he was gone. Now, only one remained. "Speak." "I have captured Teo Garvale and have locked up his soul, Mistress." "Oh? What does he know of the missing soul?" "He does not know anything, Mistress." Her expression immediately turned dark. "So you came back late and empty-handed!?" Trying to control the fear building up in him, the grim reaper responded, "Not so, Mistress. In his memory, I noticed the figure of the old Almighty." After a period of silence, she finally inquired, "Are you sure?" "Yes, Mistress." "Bring him to me when he''s conscious ." "Yes, Mistress." After that, he bowed and exited. The room became eerily silent as Death slowly siped her nectar. 45 Chapter 45: Meeting Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Not that there is a clock here but it is fun to imagine. It gives me something to do. And so the clock in my head tics on. I hour, then two. Time keeps going. It passes so slowly when there is nothing to do; an hour feels like a day, a minute feels like an hour, and a second feels like a minute. Wait. Here a second is a year. What would that make a minute? A month? A year? Lost in her calculations, Water did not notice when the human in front of her stirred. Finished with the activity, she frowned (mentally, that is). She had lost track of what ''tick, tock'' she was on. Unable to remember, she turned her attention to her only companion. He should have woken up by now. However, there he was, sleeping like a log. An idea came into her mind. He must have been soul searched! But...why? What could Death want from this human? Her curiosity growing stronger, she hoped that he would wake up soon. Sadly, that was impossible. Human souls could not withstand the energy lost during a soul search and would fall into a dormant state. They would only wake up when they had recovered all their energy. This process would take tens if not thousands of years. Even gods with their enhanced souls would have to rest for a week or so. Not that a god would ever be soul searched; such a thing was unheard of. Anyway, all she could do now was bury her curiosity and wait. Though she had lost track of her ''tick, tocks'', she knew that less than a day had passed. It would be nice if Games or Air were here. She missed those days where the three of them would play a game at Star''s Pavilion while enjoying tea and Air''s gossip. She closed her eyes as she reminisced about the old days, her mood improving significantly. When she opened them, she nearly had a heart attack. She was stunned to find that the human soul was standing right before her, staring at her in a confused manner with his bright purple eyes. Since when did humans have purple eyes, she thought. Oh, he seems to have awakened much earlier than anticipated, was her next thought. But those purple eyes...they''re so pretty! Will he let me have them as a collectible if I ask nicely? As I continued staring at his eyes, he started talking, diverting my attention elsewhere. Lip reading was a skill I had picked up during my time on Earth before I became a god. It came in quite handy when spying on your enemies. It was quite handy now as well. "Hi, I''m Teo. May I know who you are?" Wow, what a polite human. Though it was kind of stupid of him to reveal his identity like that. I would like to reply back but since I could not, I just quietly stared at him, waiting for him to continue. An awkward silence descended upon us. "Can you not speak?" he asked, cautiously. I did not move. After all, silence meant ''yes''. "You can still blink, right?" Such a silly huma- no creature. He can''t be human or he would not have woken up so quickly. Anyway, he is silly for asking such a question. I have blinked at least 10 times since this conversation started. But I decided to humor him and blinked. "Then...how about this: I ask you questions and if you want to say ''yes'' blink once and if you want to say ''no'' blink twice." I blinked once in confirmation. This was a great opportunity to find out more about him. 46 Chapter 46: Introductions Part 1 "Who are you?" the boy asked. "Who am I? Who am I?! Should you not introduce yourself first before questioning the identity of others?!" the owl yelled back furiously. "Calm down. There''s no need to make a ruckus," Neko says, trying to get control of the situation. She does not want to offend the new Almighty over something so minor. "How can I be calm when a random low god decides to barge in and question us?" Without bothering to reveal the boy''s identity, she lazily replies, "Why don''t we see why he is here first?" Good thing Neko handled this matter well or else, the phoenix thinks, suppressing a shudder. Owly is scary when he gets mad. The three turn their attention to the boy who just continued to stare at them. "Well, speak!" Ibis commanded impatiently. "I was chased by someone and while I was running, I saw this place so I wanted to hide in here." "Chased? By who?" the phoenix questioned curiously. "I don''t know her. She has long wavy brown hair and light brown eyes." "Was she dressed in a western-style white dress?" the phoenix continued. "Yes. Do you know her?" "It''s Earth," he concluded and the other two agreed. "Earth?" Clearly, it was a girl that chased after him and not a pile of dirt, right? "The Goddess of Earth," Ibis clarified, and then muttered to himself, "This low god does not know anything." "Why did she attack me?" "Earth has two personalities: normal and dark. The dark Earth attacks things that she finds displeasing. She must have found you displeasing and so she attacked," Ibis explained as if it was common sense that such a thing happened. The Almighty, on the other hand, was speechless. She attacked me because she found me displeasing? But I did nothing wrong! I just stood there! Looking at how the owl is glaring at me, it seems that I am the guilty one here. Clearly, I am an innocent victam! Who is he to find fault in my actions? Wait, I still don''t know who he is. So he decided to voice his thoughts. "I still do not know who you are." "No manners. No manners at all," the owl scolded. "Did I not tell you to introduce your self first?" Yes, but before I could do so, you already shifted to another topic! I feel wronged. I''m already starting to hate this God and Almighty thing. I would rather go back to Earth where everything makes sense. Gritting his teeth, he picked a random name and replied, "You can call me Sionn." Neko raising an eyebrow at that. Her species were very preceptive to lies and she had picked up this one almost instantly. Though, she had to admit that his skill in coming up and telling with lies was very good. If not for her powers she would not be able to tell apart the lie. Amused at how the others were convinced at his words, she decided to play along and not ruin the fun. What other interesting lies will he tell? "Not your real name, your god name. What is your god name?" the owl questioned irritated. "God name?" he asked, confused. What''s that? The three looked at him as if he was an idiot. Even if he was new, he should at least have some basic knowledge, no? Did Atiri not tell him about this, Neko thought suspiciously. Anyway it is good that he came here. We can fill him in on the basics. Archia will faint if she knows he asked such a question. 47 Chapter 47: Introductions Part 2 "A God name is the name that you inherit when you become a god," Neko explained. "So the Goddess of Earth''s God name would be Earth?" he asked. "No, you idiot, Earth is her title. A God name and a title are completely different concepts," the phoenix chimed in. "Then, what''s a God name?" he asked, getting more confused by the second. "Take Time, for example. His title is Time while his God name is Chronos," Ibis explained. "Then, what about his real name?" "Who cares about his real name?" the phoenix complained. " He abandoned it ages ago when he became a god. You don''t have to worry about it." "So his real name is not Chronos?" "Use your brain, human. Of course, it''s not. Do you really think that his parents would name him Chronos when he was born because they had received some sort of prophecy that said that he would be the God of time in the future?" "...Perhaps?" The bird gave him a look as if it was calling him an idiot. The other two were not any better and kept gawking at his lack of common sense. The new Almighty felt wronged. He was new here and knew nothing so what was wrong with asking a few silly questions? Clearing his throat, Ibis asked, "You still have not told us your God name." "Oh, right. My God name is...is..." Wait, what is my God name? Atiri never told me! Not to mention he could not make up one either. What if they had a list of God names and the one he said was not on the list? He would surely get into trouble then. "Don''t tell me that you don''t know that either," the phoenix asked, appalled. "Well..." he said, embarrassed. It''s a good thing Archia is not here. She would have had a heart attack from hearing this conversation, the owl thought. This was taking a number on his health as well. "Then do you know what you are the God of?" Ibis asked weakly. "Ugh..." What was the Almighty the god of? Atiri did not tell me this either. It was only now that he realized how utterly clueless he truly was. He felt like crying. I want to go back to Earth (not the person), take a nice long nap, and forget this ever happened. Ibis started to feel dizzy all of a sudden and sat down with a thump. It is exhausting talking to idiots, he lamented. Neko, on the other hand, was trying hard to hold back her laughter. Not exposing the identity of the Almighty was the best thing she ever did. A clueless Almighty, a speechless phoenix, and an owl that was string to dought its own existence. Is there anything more interesting? Call it a sadist all you want but it was not giving up such good entertainment. 48 Chapter 48: Replaced "I don''t know whether I should be sad or happy," Prophecy commented. "Be happy! You don''t have to do any work," Air advised. "Easy for you to say. Not like you were replaced," Raf said, greatly disspirited. Nodding, Games added, "You don''t understand our suffering at all. Sob, Sob." Cuddled up in the corner of the couch, he looked to be on the verge of tears. Looking at the refreshments placed on the table, Air poured himself a cup of tea. ''Accidentally'' dropping the ceramic cup, he waited for Raf to reprimand him for his clumsiness. Instead, all he got was a deep sigh. "The cup is like my soul: empty and broken." Leaning against the window, Atiri added, "Scattered in the wind, never to be found." It must have been Games'' turn next because he said, "Lost and alone, living in misery and suffering. Sob. Sob." The three collectively sighed at their misfortune. Air was not sure what to make of this. It was as if they had planned everything out beforehand and were just waiting for him to drop the cup. Coming up with another idea, he went over to the couch and took a seat next to Games. Poking his cheek, he asked softly, "Want to destroy some avocado trees?" "Don''t feel like it. Sob. Sob." He sounded miserable. Patting his head, Air tried to comfort him. He felt helpless. No matter what he tried his friends would not cheer up. Usually, they were the most optimistic ones in their little circle, but look at how dull they were now. His heart ached for them. "Why did that stuck up a-." With a glare from Raf, Games quickly changed his words and asked, "Why did that person replace me? I don''t like him at all. He''s such a meanie." "Yes. Yes. He is a meanie. You are obviously better," Air quickly agreed. "At least you were not replaced by an annoying brat," Atiri lamented. She hated that kid with a passion seeing how he had messed up her room and turned it into a much ''cooler'' place. Whatever that means. "Actually, my person is a lot better compared to those two. She kindly packed up my stuff and stored it away in a safe place so that it did not get damaged," Raf said, pointing to the trunk next to him. "Your lucky in this regard. That brat just threw all my stuff in a corner. Who knows how many things are damaged?" "At least he kept your things. That big meanie directly threw all my stuff out. Sob. Sob." As the three continued talking about their sorrows, a light cough was heard. They turned toward the door only to see the new God of Contacts. "Great, the big meanie''s here," Games muttered. "How long were you there?" Raf asked. "Long enough," he said. Just like when they had first seen him at the reception hall, his face remained blank with no emotion at all. "Oh," Raf replied awkwardly. They had no choice but the follow him toward the eastern wing of the mansion. 49 Chapter 49: All Alone Again Letting out a sigh, Stars proceeded to clean up the table. After having their fill of tea it seemed that everyone had left him alone again. It was times like this that Stars missed his tea-loving uncle and playful older bother. At least they would not go away after having their enjoying his tea, not even bothering to have a pleasant conversation with him, he thought bitterly. Oh, how he missed those good old days before he became a god. He could not even go and visit them in the Underworld (where he was sure they would have ended up) because they were not human. Putting that aside, he was not completely lonely when he first became a god. The trio (as they were called) often accompanied him during that time and helped him adjust to his new life. Back then there was no pavilion and the four of them just sat next to some lake or river (as per Water''s request) as they talked about their (the trio''s) latest prank. While the rest of the gods might have found them annoying, he thought that they were quite endearing. Air was the one who suggested that he build a pavilion near his pond so that he could do his job while hanging out with them. Games readily supported the idea saying that it would be a great place to play games and drink Star''s tea(which they had taken a liking to). Water liked the idea as well since she could dip her legs in the pond near by whenever she started to feel nauseated. After getting permission from Knowledge(all infrastructure that was to be built on Heaven had to go though her first), they enlisted the help of Gaia and the God of Earth at the time and got right to work. The pavilion was designed to be a replica of his uncle''s favorite pavilion where Stars had spent a good part of his childhood. Sure he never saw it again after his father''s castle was destroyed, but he had always kept those memories close to his heart. Having a good memory from birth, he made sure that the pavilion looked just like the original. However, he could not use the original materials due to them being toxic to humans. Not wanting to cause pain to his fellow gods, he had opted for a sturdy white jade-like material that was common in heaven. On a side note, Life''s Dagger Hall was made from the same material. To add a touch of color to the structure, he had Gaia add a flowering vine around its intricately carved pillars. After its creation, the trio had helped him throw a banquet to celebrate. All the gods that attended were full of praises for it. As a surprise, the trio had even gotten permission from the high gods to invite his uncle and brother to the event which delighted him greatly. Sadly, that was the last time he saw hem again as they were killed shortly shortly after. All he could do was to spend his days experimenting on new variations of tea(like his uncle had done), seeking to distract himself from the cruel reality. He just hoped that now that they were back(well, two of them were), such a think would not happened again. 50 Chapter 50: Deal Not to mention the voice had quieted when he came near her. It even seemed to have a touch of... gratitude? With so many questions and no answers, there was no way he would abandon a prime source of information no matter how dangerous she seemed. After thinking it through, he then thought of the question he should ask. He could not reveal too much information about himself. He condemned himself for revealing his name for the sake of politeness. He couldn''t be careless anymore. She might be like the hooded man and betray him after making him feel safe. So she might lie if he just starts asking important questions. It''s best to get her on my side first. "Do you want to be free?" he asked, eagerly observing her eyes. They were dark blue as if taken from the depths of the ocean. *** Water was stunned. Never had she thought the first question he would ask would be that! Would it not be better to ask her where he was or what he was doing here? At least she could answer the first one. This creature is so weird, she thought. Why would I not want to get out of here? Who would want to stay imprisoned? Let''s just amuse him for now. She blinked once. "Then how about we make a deal? You answer my questions truthfully and I will get you out of here," he offered. The deal seemed fair at first, but Water knew that only Death or one of the High Gods could free her from these chains. Even if she wanted to help her, Death herself was in a prison of her own. Where would she find the chance to get her out? As for the High Gods? They would not bat an eye toward her suffering. The creature was clearly bluffing. If it was any other day, she would have declined. But it was not any other day. She wanted to get out. No matter how small the chance was, she would take it. So she blinked in agreement.