After a while she calmed down, and I sort of got used to the constant feeling of dread and death. I've been treating this situation too lightly, without realizing that although she doesn't want to hurt me, she doesn't need to.

I'm knee deep in shit.

The magic ball was pretty chill and she seems harmless, but they are Gods. Down to earth and pretty fucking real gods, I almost died just by seeing the silhouette of the magic ball, and the reflection in Ben's eyes plunged me into a catatonic state.

Fuck.

One little mistake is all it takes and I'm gone.

"You seem tense, mortal, is something the matter?"

And I'm cuddling with a God, this is not going to end well.

"Ah yes, you said that Cthulhu was coming? I thought you didn't get along."

"Ah yes, the outer gods and our pantheon never got along, but after the fight that my master had with Azathoth, they disbanded, and they started to do their own thing. Cthulhu, like me, wasn't really high in the hierarchy, so he was sealed only for a few thousand years. After that? He started to drift away from his family, he seems pretty indifferent most of the time, and he doesn't seem interested in the chaos and corruption thing. Nowadays he likes to collect shiny rocks, and he hangs out with us."

That...that was a lot to take in. She talks about thousands of years as if they weren't much, and Cthulhu is a chill guy? Maybe a loner? Should I go to the beach and pick up some fancy rocks? Maybe he won't even look at me.

"Wait, you told me that you couldn't pierce the veil of reality. How come a guy like Cthulhu and the other guys are roaming around the universe?"

"Ah, yes, but I was referring to my pantheon. We don't know how, but Azathot left our home a long time ago to explore the universe. Cthulhu and many others were born outside, They, like Azathoth, can come and go at will."

Noted, the evil eldritch gods can pierce the veil of reality and invade other worlds.

As if noticing my worry Ben said.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Don't worry, mortal, the elder gods beat them up from time to time so they don't cause trouble."

Ah yeah, more gods who can probably smite me just with their gaze, yay. At least they are not evil.

"Quick question, Ben, if the outer gods are real, then what about Satan?"

"Mephistopheles? He is a moron."

What?

"Are we talking about the same Satan here? The fallen angel that rebelled against God and everything?"

"Ahhh, that Satan, well...to be honest, I don't know."

"You don't know?"

Color me surprised.

"No, all that I know is that my master told me to be careful around fallen angels. I told you mortal, I'm not very high in the hierarchy, and that was the very reason why I was chosen for this. I can create avatars and leave from time to time , like now, unlike my master who is still trapped, but lesser ones like me? We can still scurry through the tears he makes."

I feel a pit in my stomach. I wasn't that serious when I talked about making a shrine, but now? Now I know that Satan is very real, and so are the various evil variants of him, FUCK!

Ignorance is really a bliss.

"Is it too much, mortal?"

She asks me softly.

"Yes... last week I almost committed suicide, and now? And now I should thank you for killing me, it scares me to even think what would have happened to my soul otherwise."

I hug her seeking comfort, but I find none. I'm severely aware of how insignificant I am now.

"Don't worry, mortal! Your soul and mine are inseparable now! So nothing will happen to you."

Ben, that doesn't reassure me, but I'm not telling her that, right now? I'm terribly afraid of her.

I should probably cooperate with that mission, yes, my soul is at stake here.

"Ben?"

"Yes, mortal?"

"Could you please continue your explanation of the gaming pods from earlier?"

She shifts her body in the bed.

"Can we do that later? I like doing this."

"We don't have to get up, just tell me about it."

"Well then, as I told you, the first mode will be virtual reality, it will be a kind of tutorial so we can know which mortals will be eligible for the second mode. They can die as many times as they want in that mode, they will not really die, so it's all okay."

I doubt it, I've already died once and I'm already quite traumatized.

"They can adjust the level of pain, right?"

"Yes, also the time dilation between the virtual world and our world will be 7 to 1, so they will have plenty of time to acclimatize and learn."

"Time dilation? Really?"

"Yes! To create karmic threads strong enough in the worlds, the players will have to create big waves and heavily influence the history of the worlds that they will arrive in. To ensure that, we set the time dilation between worlds to be big enough so that the players could grow quickly."

I fall silent at that. We are playing God. We will send people to alien worlds just so they can do crazy shit on them and create karmic threads, and I am afraid they will not necessarily have to do good deeds to achieve this.

"Ben?"

I whispered her name, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what's going to happen.

"Yes, mortal?"

"Can I choose who I send to those worlds?"

She is silent.

"Please, Ben? You will make me very happy if you allow me that, we can hug whenever you want if I'm happy Ben."

She perks up at that.

"Really?"

"Yes, Ben, I promise."

She squeezes me tightly.

"It's a promise then, mortal."

A sigh of relief escapes me, baby steps Martin, baby steps.

"So, if I'm guessing correctly, the first mode will be a simulation of the world, and the second mode will be your actual arrival into the world?"

"That's right, not everyone is capable of changing the world, only the bravest and most skilled mortals are capable of doing so, and even then, they will still sometimes fail in their missions. In order to send them to other worlds constantly, we will need to create clones of their bodies in the new worlds, after that, we will need to send their souls to the clones and stabilize their bodies so that a rejection does not occur. It goes without explanation how difficult this is, mortal, so only those who have completed the first mode and done so in an exemplary manner will be able to use the second mode."

...

I have a long road ahead of me.