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She started small. Just a simple microbe.
. . . Although simple would be a hard term to use. Prokaryotic cells were only simple in relativity to the rest of the universe, and still contained a head-spinning amount of information that Hifumi had to add in personally. Nahi would help her occasionally, but seemed more concerned with making sure she didn’t collapse again like she did after making the stone.
The stone was easy. It was just a mix of solid elements packed together in a rough shape. She hadn’t needed precision, even when carving the fortress. For the microbe however, she needed to be maddeningly specific, and had to account for countless tiny factors in its creation, everything from light level, to atmosphere, to water, to electrons, proteins, stray dust that clung to her body, and what felt like a million others.
She had created a small star– again, just a lump of elements squashed together, she had only passed out twice making it– which was close enough to her castle to provide it with ample light and warmth, as well as create a simple day-night cycle caused by the rotation of the stone. She had given her castle an atmosphere, and added a small pool of water that lay just outside the walls.
The last part was designing the cell itself, which was what was really giving her problems. Progress in the DNA formation took a huge amount of time– measured using her new star– for even the smallest of additions, and she wasn’t even sure if it was possible for her to create life. For all she knew, she could have done it perfectly, but the microbe would never be alive because she wasn’t the Grand creator.
She tried manifesting another prototype microbe. Attempt number unknown.
It just floated there. Not dead, because it was never alive.
She sighed and got back to work. Nahi was apparently preparing some food for when she took a break.
Honestly. It was like a grandparent sometimes.
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During her Nahi-mandated break (enforced by way of disappointed look), Hifumi decided that part of her problem was a lack of power.
Magical strength was determined by will, with more will meaning more power. The most skilled magic users spent years, decades, and sometimes even centuries increasing their willpower in the interest of gaining magical strength. Some were fortunate enough to be born with great magical power, most had to work for it, and still others would develop it over time even without training.
Gods were no exception. Hifumi had been born with average magical strength (for a god) and had never taken it upon herself to intentionally train her willpower all that much. She was already stronger than any mortal, why would she need to be any stronger?
Now though, she had to, because she didn’t want to spend the rest of time (or lack thereof) trying and failing to create life. Without the ocean of the universe, her ability was already weakened, forcing her to rely on her own will both to shape and to control, rather than using the leftover will of the Grand creator.
Nonetheless she would succeed. She’d form her own universe, and her own lifeforms, all separated from the rest of existence. She would make her intended prison into her new home.
Nahi seemed to find the idea amusing, and did not attempt to dissuade her.
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She was getting closer. Her determination empowered her, strengthening her will, and although the microbes still refused to manifest alive, it felt like they were a puzzle gradually approaching completion.
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While training her willpower, she worked on her fortress.
She made windows of colored glass, depicting the creation tales of every race she had lived with. She practiced over and over until she could make the finest of details on the carved faces, and spent a week assembling it piece by piece. She carved a library to fill with tomes of information, with bookshelves that reached the ceiling. One day, she told herself, she would need to carve other rooms just like it, for she knew that it would be filled far too quickly. She made a massive hall for feasting, though only herself and Nahi were there, and she never sensed Nahi eat anything.
Every now and then she would be reminded of the mansion that she was enslaved in, and her newfound status as the sole ruler of her own castle. She assured herself that she was different. After all, she wasn’t enslaving anyone, and she didn’t–
Nahi.
. . .
Nahi wasn’t a slave. Was it?
It didn’t seem to acknowledge its status one way or the other, but that didn’t answer anything. It was made to serve her. It probably couldn’t even imagine not obeying her.
. . .
Why did she call Nahi an it?
Was she–
“My lady?”
She whirled her head towards the sound of Nahi’s voice, eyeholes wide and on the verge of tears.
Nahi’s voice was low, almost careful, and its hands were slightly in front of it, like it was about to rush towards her if she needed help. The chains that bound its wrists clawed at her attention, and the robe reminded her of the simple clothes that the enslaved goblins wore.
She was–
“My lady!”
She was on the verge of collapse. Nahi’s hands were supporting her in a gentle hold, only barely keeping her from falling apart completely. Had she really become just like those that she hated so much? Just like those spoiled, cruel, disgusting–
“My lady, please!”
She had to know. She had to ask. “Am I just like them?” her voice sounded awful, and she could only barely force the question out. “Am I your slaver, like they were mine?”
For a moment Nahi said nothing. But the words came as surely as did the sun or moon. “That you ask means that you are already different." The soft words pierced the despair that shrouded Hifumi's heart, filling it with an emotion that she had not felt in years. And still, Nahi continued. "You are my lady, not my slaver. Though I was made to serve you, Adho gives to all his creations the power of choice first. I do not serve you out of obligation, but out of decision. You are my lady, and I will serve you. But I am not your slave. You are not my owner. And you should know now that you will never be anything like those who hurt you.”
Hifumi's mind started to clear. . .
And without a moment of hesitation, she pulled Nahi into a tearful embrace.
Nahi did not resist, only comfort. And when Hifumi fell to sleep, the weariness of years of tireless work, a banishment to the worst prison in non-existence, countless failures to create life, and now an emotional breakdown finally becoming too much, Nahi carried her to the castle's courtyard, and set her down on her blanket.
While she slept, Nahi prepared a full meal for her. She would need it when she woke.
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Hifumi found herself in a dream most horrible.
She stood in the ruined ballroom that she had died in, the bodies and blood nowhere to be seen, but the damage to the room remaining. An imagined ocean of the universe flowed throughout, casting strange and beautiful colors upon the remembered shapes. She was even wearing her tattered dress, even though she had discarded it as soon as the opportunity arose.
She didn't want to remember this. She didn't want to imagine this. She willed her dreamscape to change, to show her the fortress she had made, or the orc tribe camp, or even her bedroom back in Kyou. But it didn't shift. She was trapped in the rubble.
What was she going to do? She couldn't spend any longer in this place! She had to get out. She had to–
Think.
Like from nowhere, a thought sprung. She had to think. Of course she did. What was she going to think about though?
Her mind almost went blank, but then the answer erupted forward. The cells. the life she was making. How was it going? What was she doing wrong?
And then,
The idea struck. The answer. The missing piece. She knew what she had been missing.
Nahi would be so proud.
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Her waking, several solar rotations later, resulted in another embrace, one just as tearful.
It took Hifumi and Nahi several hours to eventually separate, after which Nahi gave Hifumi her meal. A full course breakfast like the kind given to heroes of war. Hifumi suspected that Nahi may have been a stress-baker.
And when Hifumi finally manifested a living cell, one so simple but so unique. . .
Nahi was proud.
So proud, in fact, that the hug Hifumi received almost made her cry again.
Just like a grandparent sometimes. Honestly.
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