The first thing I remember was dying. I was ok with that. The pain and suffering were gone. Yes, it was weird to recall dying when I was supposed to be dead. I floated in a blank nothingness. It was hard to describe. It wasn't white or black, it was just nothing. I floated there for an undetermined amount of time before I felt a change. Could I even feel?

It was like a switch was flipped and my surroundings coalesced into an endless landscape of white. I looked around and everything was the same white. No shadows or seems anywhere. I looked down and was surprised to see feet. I assumed they were my feet, but I don't recall my feet being made of glowing shifting light of every possible color. It was a spectacular sight. I tried to reach out and touch my feet, only to realize I now had arms as well.

I inspected the flowing changing lights of my arms closely. I also touched them. Each touch caused the colors to shift like the ripples caused by a pebble dropped into a pond. I was so mesmerized by my inspection that I didn't realize I had a visitor.

"Ahem."

The sound didn't scare or surprise me. Was I capable of those emotions anymore? It was, however, angelic? Yea, let's go with that.

I turned to face my visitor.

"Good, you're cognizant. Then we can proceed. I am a guide; I assist in helping souls pass on."

I tried to ask a question, in fact, I had many questions. For some reason, they all spewed out of me at the exact same time. That was a neat trick if a little disorienting.

"We will get to your many questions in a moment. First, I must verify if you wish to move on or be reborn into your old world."

I think I suffered enough in my old world time to move on. I didn't want a repeat of my mass question so I concentrated on only saying the one thing.

"M- Mov- Move on."

It took a little bit but I managed to get the words out. Another odd sensation since I was pretty sure I didn't have lips or a mouth. I reached up to my face, yup nothing but a blank slate.

"Good," the guide replied tapping his fingers on something I couldn't see.

"Would you like me to answer your questions in the order they were received, as well as speed? Or would you prefer mundane speed?"

"Mun- Mundane, and same order."

"Excellent."

"No, I am not an angel. This is neither heaven nor hell, this is the crossroads. Those places do not exist. We do not judge mortals on their actions. All souls come here after death and are given a choice if they are cognizant. No, your old dog Rex is not here. All non-cognizant souls are sent back into a new form, eventually working their way up as the soul matures. No, I am not God or a god. Good and evil actions can taint the soul but only if the being committing the acts perceives them as such."

I put up my hand to stop the guide before he got too carried away. His Idea of mundane speed was talking as fast as a hyperactive child. Since I had no idea how many questions I blurted out at once it was just better to stop him now. I had a general picture of my situation.

"So, wha- what comes n- next."

"Are you familiar with the multiverse theory?"

"Sort of?"

"Well, your old world postulated that there was an infinite number of universes where anything can and did exist. It's not technically correct but its close. The truth is that when a soul passes on they are given the choice to either go back as a newborn or move on to create their own universe."

"So, you're saying there is a Hitler universe out there?"

Seems that I finally figured out my stuttering language.

"I cannot confirm or deny that as a soul loses their identity after death. For all I know, you could be this Hitler."

"Fair enough."

"Do I get to pick my universe?"

"The nascent realities are all the same, what you do with it is completely up to you. You are the ultimate authority over your domain."

So I was a god, did I like that name, eh not so much. Maybe I would just go by The Creator.

"So anything goes?"

"Anything you can imagine."

"How do I get to my nascent reality?"

"If your questions are complete I can show you the way."

I nodded.

The guide spread his hands and trillions upon trillions of lights began to appear. They looked like soap bubbles mixed with oil as multicolored lights played across each surface. They all butted up to multiple other bubbles of reality.

"What you see here is a representation of all of reality, each light is its own universe. Think of them like soap bubbles all riding together yet apart from one another. Each created by the soul of someone who chose the second path."

I was momentarily overcome by the stunning beauty of creation, my mind reeling from the massiveness of it. I turned towards the guide.

"Farewell soul," was all he said before a tiny flick of his finger sent me hurtling at untold speeds through the boundaries of the bubbles.

I got a glimpse of fantastical universes as I raced by, most my mind couldn't even comprehend because they were so far out of my experience that it just didn't register. I traveled like this for what felt like eons before I slipped inside a bubble.

I floated there in the void, not quite sure what to do.

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I floated for an undetermined amount of time. I guess since I hadn't created it time didn't exist in my universe so I really sat there for no time at all. I pondered over what to create. Then I attempted my first tests.

Creating a planet was not as cut and dry as I thought, even being omnipotent.

My first mistake was trying to create it without having any matter in my universe. I would like to say I realized my mistake right away... but I didn't. Eventually, though I figured it out. On a small scale, just a galaxy in size, I created my first matter. I forced the matter together to form some rudimentary planets and moons. I even recreated Saturn from my memory. I had always wanted to go into space. Now I could just walk along the surface like nothing.

My next big project was creating a star. And oh boy, was it a doozy. The massive white orb floated in the void with me. I was dwarfed by its monumental scale. I floated there watching the solar flares and fusion reactions. Eventually, I collapsed the star, forming a black hole.

Even being a god it was disorienting looking at a black hole so I wiped the slate clean.

I enjoyed most of my old universe, perhaps I would use that as a base template to create mine. Just with no cancer, what was that god thinking.

So I got about creating time, and space. Then I created a big bang. I wanted most of the universe to be as organic as possible. I did, however, create one planet. Perhaps I would do more later on.

The world was much larger than Earth by a factor of three. I fiddled with the rules of gravity to make it still feel Earth normal. A ring and three moons orbited the beautiful world, still in its infancy. I tried to create sentient life but found the task impossible. Then I recalled the guide's words.

So I created single-celled life. This brought a flood of young souls. A river that only my eyes could see, it was magnificent.

I watched my life grow for thousands of years. Barely changing, but each day I marveled at my creations. One day I felt something brush against my boundary, what I had come to call the bubble that surrounded my universe. Curiosity drove me to seek out the cause.

I wasn't sure if I could pass outside my boundary. Those fears were alleviated as I got closer, the boundary letting me pass without issue. Once outside I was greeted by another soul-god.

"Greetings," I said.

It looked towards me and I felt its elation.

"Greetings, I wished to get to know my neighboring gods."

I beamed back my happiness, I was so proud of my accomplishments I couldn't wait to show them off, maybe this god would let me view his. Perhaps I should ask his name first.

"What should I call you?"

"Hmmm... call me Gholob, I think that was my name before."

"Well Gholob, if you wish to see my universe, would you mind if I saw yours. Mine is quite new, so I might be able to get some ideas from yours."

"Very well, follow me."

I followed in his wake. It wasn't far as his universe butted up against mine. We passed through the boundary into his universe.

Immediately I could feel a difference. There was so much more life in his than mine. It wasn't quite as vibrant as mine was though. Dull lifeless rocks seemed to house trillions of sentient life forms. All seemed to be fighting over sparse resources. I didn't want to tell the god how to rule his universe but it all felt very survival of the fittest here, turned up to 11.

"I can tell you are concerned, do not be. We gods grow by having more sentient life. That is why the worlds are so packed. I could choose to wipe everything clean and start over but that would be counter-productive. Now, should we have a gander at your creation?"

I didn't see why not. I led Gholob through my barrier from his. We touched down on my lone life-bearing world.

"Behold my masterpiece!"

Hmm, something felt, off. I turned towards Gholob and saw black tendrils leaking from him.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

I could feel the malignance penetrating my world.

Gholob radiated an aura of cruelty, but his aura faded and he screamed in irritation at the lack of sentient life he could befoul. I waved a hand banishing him from my universe. He raged against my authority until he passed beyond my barrier.

I froze time as I studied the taint Gholob left behind. The essence wormed its way, even with time frozen, into every living thing on the planet and beyond. I cried tears of multichromatic light for what was to happen next.

With a clap of my hands, everything was reduced to nothing. Not even atoms remained. I couldn't afford to let them or the corruption would spread to those. My tears still flowed, being reabsorbed by my form as they slid down my face. How could someone be so cruel, and why had I been so naive.

I spent the next millennia making sure there was no trace of the taint before I began again.

"Let there be light!"

My voice echoed across the universe causing an explosion of matter to come into being. I reformed my world, better than before. This time I decided to add something I had fancied in my old life.

Creating worlds was a lonely business, so I pulled off two small chunks of my soul and formed them into Day and Night. These godling's, beamed up at me because I gave them life.

"Creator, what shall we do?"

I needed to give them a purpose, and I had a perfect one in mind.

"On the planet below sentient life will form eventually. I have given you knowledge of what gifts to extend to them. Grow in your powers and help nurture them along. Do not involve yourselves directly."

"Creator, where will you be?"

This was the hard part. I had created something that would help me see the future. I called it the time vortex and it existed on the astral plane that I would have the gods reside on. I walked to the edge of the pool, Day and Night standing behind me, staring at the raging waters of time as they were sucked into inevitability.

They would never be strong enough to brave the tides completely, but perhaps in time, they would be strong enough to glimpse some possibilities of the future. This was necessary for me because of my oversight with Gholob. I wasn't willing to let something like that sneak up on me again. I turned towards my sons.

"Forgive me for what I am about to do."

I touched each lightly on the forehead and removed any thoughts of my existence from them. When they recovered they would create more brothers and sisters. Eventually, a pantheon would exist and with it my hope for this planet. They didn't need me to get in the way of that.

I turned and stepped into the raging vortex of time. Each step felt like a mountain being piled atop me. I was waste deep before I glimpsed the first coming of sentient life. I beamed. Two more steps in and agriculture began. Another step and communities popped up. Another and kingdoms formed. That's when I saw my mistake.

I had been so fixated on destroying Gholob's taint that I didn't realize the fracture he left in my boundary when he passed through. It was far in the future but he would come. I wasn't strong enough to extract myself from the vortex of time yet so I could only move forward while trying to come up with a plan to thwart him.

Despite all of his sentient populace, he was not much stronger than I was at the time. I wondered about this until I concluded that for the god to gain the most that life had to have free will. It's something I doubt he would ever understand. I recognized his corruption in all of his sentient's now. I took another step and there I saw it. He oozed his way into my universe through the crack. It wasn't all of him though. He also didn't corrupt everything at once. I guess he expected swift retribution if I caught him.

These were all visions long into the future. I formed a tiny ball out of a piece of myself and plunked it into the stream of time. All my hopes rested on this little essence, but I didn't have to play fair either. Using what little available power I had free I mirrored my universe tens, hundreds, thousands of times. My own little multiverse. Gholob would be forced to occupy every instance of it, further weakening his power in my realm. It was the most I could do for now. The rest would need to wait for humanity and the other races to come to fruition.

Day and Night recovered, they felt a loss but couldn't explain what caused it. Tears were shed from their eyes, creating more siblings. Eventually, sentient life would give names to the deities. For now, they were just called the maker and the breaker. More tears fell and the god of magic was formed as two tears came together. Magic spread his essence across the planet along with the maker. The breaker consumed the dead, but the souls eluded him driving him mad with envy. Other gods were born when people began to pray for a good harvest, or luck, or protection during a conflict. Dark gods were born of the less civilized races. All resided on the astral plane, watched over by Day and Night.

The twins occasionally stared into the vortex of time, too afraid to step foot in the currents lest they be swept away. Why were they so afraid? It was a question they had no answer to.