Everything was dark and cold. The air felt heavy and the space felt vast. I didn't know what to make of it, but i felt afraid. I was just beginning to accept that I would have to make a life in the odd world I had awoken in previously, and now I was transported again? Was that to be my future now, being transported to weird places every time I fall asleep.

Shaking, i moved my hand, puffing out a breath of relief when it moved. At least I wasn't back to being a vegetable. Maybe I was blind now. As soon as the thought crossed my mind I waved a hand before my eyes. I could not see it, perse, but my eyes did pick up the movement. Son not blind, just in a very dark place. Shuffling my feet confirmed that I was, indeed, standing on some sort of solid surface.

Well, what the hell? Now I was just annoyed. Could a girl not catch a break here?

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a growling laughed echoed about my head, the vibration making me a little dizzy. The hairs on my arms stood on end as I registered that wherever I was, I was not in it alone.

"You are quite small, human." Vibrated the voice. My hands flew up and I slammed them against my ears, confirming that i really did still have ears and that they felt like they were going to bleed. "Small and weak." It said, each syllable getting just a little more tolerable to listen to. Even its presence in the air became more barrable and less invasive.

"Who- What are you?" I asked to the endless darkness, head wiping back and forth despite not being able to see a thing either way.

"A god." it said.

"Not Aeros I hope..." I said, pretty sure that running into a god famous for hating humans would be a bad thing.

the voice laughed and I thought I picked up a slight movement in my peripherals. "Oh, do humans from other worlds even know my name?" Great... well, at least he sounded pleased.

"The foxkin were speaking of you..."

"Ah. pathetic little things, but I took pity on them and welcomed them to my forest all the same." Now the disembodied god voice sounded contemplative. "I am quite surprised they are still alive, if I am to be honest."

"From what I understand they are in a bit of a bind at the moment." I said, feeling a little protective of the people who had taken me in when they had every reason not to. Wasn't he their god? Should he really be speaking so badly about them?

"that does not surprise me. the weak are often preyed upon by the strong. It is the way of things."

"It doesn't have to be." I answered.

"Ah, you wish to put your human logic onto monster affairs. Such is to be expected of a human, I suppose."

Irrationally irritated when, logically, I should be more afraid than anything, I snapped at the god. "Look, why am I here? Why aren't you answering the Foxkin's prayers? they really seem to need you, you know?"

Aeros laughed again. "I suppose I can answer your questions. Let no one believe that Aeros was ungrateful to those doing him a favor, yes? what was your first question? Why are you here?" I saw a flash of movement but when I spun I still only saw darkness. "that one is easy. You are here- If by 'here' you mean this place of darkness- because this is your space. Inside your mind. Inside your soul. Every person has one after all. Mine is a great deal more impressive than this depressing hole."

I made a disgusted noise which the God promptly ignored. "As for why I do not answer the Foxkin's prayers? I could give you many and varied reasons, and all would be the truth... but the simplest explanation is that I do not want to."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "But you are their god! Doesn't that make you responsible for them or something?"

"No." He said with such conviction that it confused me for a moment. "I am a Land God. i am not a baby sitter of mewling mortals who ask me for the moon and more. Let this be a lesson for you, little one, a land god's job is to keep the land. And for a great many years I believe I did that quite well. The comings and goings of the people who walk upon the land are incidental. In fact, it is their job to provide the land god with the means to protect the land. And by protecting the land, those people have a place to live, to eat, and to breed. the circle of life, you know?" he seemed to collect his thoughts for a second before continuing. "And that leads into your last question. Why should a god help a people who can not help themselves? Is that how it works in your world, little human?"

"I don't know how to answer that." I admitted.

"Indeed." He growled. "The truth of the matter is that every god governs his or her lands as they see fit. I took a mostly hands off approach and that mostly work for the people who decided to live in my lands."

I thought about that for a moment. It was true that the foxkin said that the people of the forest were accepting of Aeros's rule for a very long time.

"Okay..." I said. "But that isn't completely the case. I know I have only spent a day with the foxkin, but they did say that it wasn't just their people that were suffering. All the people are suffering. They mentioned food shortages and things. Does that not fall under your responsibility then?"

This time Aeros sighed. "Yes, and that leads us to why I have come here, to your empty place of darkness, to speak with you."

Okay, now i was really confused. What the heck would a god- one who hasn't even shown himself to his own worshipers- want with me?

"I have grown warry of my time in this world. Being a god holds little to no draw for me any longer. In my youth? Yes, I wished for this job above all else and was quite pleased with myself when I achieved it. But all things must come to an end. given the fact that I have let my lands begin to rot and my sheep have begun to desert me, I have decided that it is time for the next great adventure: what ever awaits after life."

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I didn't know what to feel about that. He did sound tired, I had to admit. "So, you are just leaving?"

"No, I had one last job to do before I left."

Confused, I tried again to catch a glimpse of the constantly moving creature that was a god. the only thing i was sure of was that he was not human in shape or size. "what job is that?" I asked, squinting into the darkness.

"To get my replacement ready. After all, there must always be a land god. Bad things happen when there isn't one."

"I... guess that makes sense? But why are you telling me this?"

The voice laughed again. "Not very swift, are you human?"

"Well, you don't need to be rude! it was just a question."

"Very well then, I will tell you. You are the replacement."

Now it was my turn to laugh, "What? You have to be kidding me."

"I find it quite unbelievable as well. But It was not I who chose you. I am sure you were made well aware how I feel about your kind. It would be up to the true gods of this world who is to be the new land gods. I had no say in the matter."

"Wh- hu?" This had to be a joke. Me? No, no way. And what the heck did he mean the 'true gods'?

"Yes, just like I was chosen when the god of these lands passed before me, you are chosen now. There have been humans who have become land gods before, of course. Even those who once came from the same world as you had. But they had full lives as heroes and such before becoming a god. I do not think that a Human has ever been summoned to this world for the express purpose to become a god. You must be a very special human..."

"What?!" I shouted, my voice echoing in the void. "I am not. I would go so far to say that I am right up there with the most useless humans. I couldn't even walk! No. No, no, no. You have to be wrong..."

"I am not. Can you not have this nervus break down after I am gone? I would like to get this over with to be honest."

"I am so sorry you have to bear with my poor human frailties!" I snapped, now pacing from side to side, not even caring that I could very well walk off a cliff and not know it.

"It really is not that hard of a job." Drawled the god. "You do not have to do a damn thing if you do not want to."

"Oh, really?" I asked sarcastically, trying not to hyper ventilate.

"It's pretty simple. You funnel energy into the land, the land feeds off that energy. The more energy you have the better the land fares."

"I don't understand."

I could almost hear the eye roll coming from Aeros as he growled. "Of course you don't. All souls have energy. Magic, if that is easier for you to process. It is the land gods job to collect a disperse this energy, you see. Some gods do this passively while others direct the flow in an attempt to influence their lands and even their worshipers. And it is from these worshipers that you will gain most of the energy needed. It is why prayers and offerings are needed. Well, needed if you wish to support their lives in your lands, at least."

Feeling run down, i squatted to the ground and just tried to breath.

"I do not see why you are having such a hard time with this." Sighed Aeros. "You, literally, need to do nothing. An odd summit here and there, but other wise, you can just sit around living a life of luxury while people waited on you hand and foot, just grateful that you exist. From what I know of humans, this would be an ideal life, would it not?"

"So you say but that's not how it feels." I said angrily. "and you are not exactly leaving this land in the best of shape now either!"

"Hmmm. I suppose I can not deny that. But that is why I am leaving the job, now isn't it?"

"Your worshippers are on the brink of war you know?" I said harshly, glaring to where i thought Aeros might be.

"If you are that concerned over the little foxkins, then lend them your favor." He huffed, now sounding irritated and even a little petulant. Like a putting child. "though, I would put my support behind a more impressive race of monsters than those little fur balls..."

"I really don't even know what to say at this point..."

Aeros sighed. "Look," He said a little more gently than i thought him capable of at this point. "If you want to have an easy go of it, I suggest you just take a back seat and let the fates decide the comings and goings of the land. you simply existing is all that is needed here."

"But?" I asked, feeling drained and deflated. And, oddly accepting of this fate. I was terrified, true, but not as much in denial as I felt the situation called for.

"But, if you decide to be one of the more involved gods... well that can come with its own ups and downs."

"How so?" I sighed.

"Being more involved means your worshipers benefit- or not- from your decisions. Directing your influence to redirect a river may benefit one group and harm another, for instance."

"I can redirect rivers?" I asked, voice rather high pitched.

Aeros laughed again. "right now? No. You are just a tiny little god right now. Most new land gods at least arrive to their powers with a little magic to their names. You are a blank, powerless, slate."

"Gee, thanks..."

"I came to my position with a lot of power. I did not need any followers. Indeed, I pretty much ignored them all for several generations at the end of my two thousand year stint, and everything still lived and breathed. It is only in the last decade that i have let things slip... you are weak."

"So you mentioned. Often." I replied dryly.

"Indeed. What I mean by that is that what you can influence will be minimal and personal."

"Personal. You mean like waking up in a strange world and being able to walk on my own two feet for the first time in twenty years?"

"No. I suspect that that was done by which ever god thought to bring you here to take on the job of land god. What I mean is that if it means a lot to you, than you will- unconsciously- direct the energies that way. Say you are very impartial to the color red. So much so that you could not stand there to be any color greater than it. then it is quite likely that there would be red flowers growing around you, or maybe the grass will turn red. At first it would just be in your immediate area, but as your influence grows, so too will your area of effect, till your influence spreads to all corners of this land."

"ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick..."

"Tch." Said the god- former god?- a breeze shuffling my hair. what ever he was, he was big enough to feel like a gust of wind. "with all that being said, I do believe that my job is done and I can now leave this abysmal place."

"Well that's rude!" I snapped, pretty sure that he just called what amounted to my inner soul as 'abysmal'. "And, you can't just leave! I have so many questions."

"Not my problem. Go find another land god to harass if you like. I am out of here."

"Wha-!" I said, incredulous. "That's it? No 'good bye' to your people or anything? you are just going to abandon them?"

"If they haven't gotten the hint in nearly two centuries than I doubt they would believe me one way or the other. And, again, not my problem any more. You want to make all the monsters feel all soft and warm, then you do it."

With that i felt another shift of air and heard a slithering, shuffling noise. then silence. "You are a really shitty god you know!" I shouted out into the nether.

I couldn't be sure, but I thought I heard a chuckle echo out into the distance. Then I was left alone with my thoughts in the dark.

this place really was quite abysmal...

then something pulled my attention away. A light. It was feint but warm and inviting. Seeing it, I felt relief. I shuffled toward it and saw what looked like a small camp fire on a dark barren ground. That was it. no trees, no grass or rocks scattered about. Shivering and feeling quite over whelmed and alone, I sat down next to the flames, taking what comfort I could from its warm light.

Its glow was warm and friendly. It provided a surprising amount of comfort to be honest. As I gazed into the cheery flames I felt my eye lids droop. It wasn't so much like I felt like I was falling asleep. more like the opposite. I was pretty sure it was the feeling of me coming back to wakefulness.