There once existed a god.

In fact, he could even be called 'the' God as he was the only one left.

He stood at the top of existence although he wasn't by himself.

Though not quite gods they might as well have been to the common people. They were his angels.

While he considered humanity a treasure to be cherished, the angels were simply something he created to help him maintain them if some external factor were to ever come about.

He couldn't have done it himself as his power was too great for the world to ever handle (though he was at times able to find workarounds). He adored humanity but couldn't help but wonder if his own bias towards them was impacting them in any way.

While he liked to believe he was impartial to humanity and would only interfere at their most dire hours, he knew better than anyone that was not the case. He tried to respect their self-autonomy; he couldn't help himself sometimes if they would tear themselves apart with no inference from demons or work on the demons' behalf to drag their fellow man.

He soon came to a conclusion.

One supreme being is not enough.

While the angels were indeed created to help him guide humanity he soon found himself loving them almost as much as humanity. He initially thought of them as nothing more than drones but eventually saw them develop individuality however minute it may have been compared to humanity.

So he decided who better to pass on his power towards than them. Specifically his archangels. The beings that stood atop of his creations. If one felt like it, it would make an afternoon activity of ridding the world of any sort of life larger than an amoeba. Yet that would be the last thing any of them would do. It would be blasphemous to even consider destroying a creation of their master.

When presented with the proposition they profusely refused it. Yet their master would not relent. He had seen his existence as flawed and hoped they would have been an improvement. What he asked was simple.

"Protect humanity and this world the best way you may see fit. That is all I ask."

They refused and called the rest of heaven to their aid but unlike the archangels themselves, those below could in no way disobey their creator no matter what their true feelings were.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

God looked at this and felt sympathy for his creations. He felt as if he was rigging a vote by simply existing but he still believed this was the right decision. He may be almighty but he was still only one being. Having multiple almighties would surely be for humanity's benefit.

After seeing their lord's seriousness most of them accepted. Their creator breathed a sigh of relief and made one his penultimate act.

He visited every angel and said his goodbyes. He was unsure after he distributed his power if they would feel the same they did now but if comforting them would lessen the sorrow they currently felt it was well worth it. He even visited those that had fallen and treated them no different than those in the heavens.

After comforting his archangels, he performed his final act. He distributed his power to each one of them transforming them from mere archangels to fully-fledged gods. One became tied to the concept of femininity, one tied to strength, one was unsure what direction to put himself in, one became the final judge, one dedicated himself to observation, another to defence or rather protection. After they confirmed they could no longer find their lord's presence in the world, the heavens cried continually for decades. After finally getting their sorrows out they began to follow their lord's request.

They soon spread the word of their lord's departure but it took some effort to convince the hard-headed priests of the church. Some even dared to accuse them of usurping their creator's throne for themselves. They found solace in the fact that most of those who did so had already lived a life worthy of being sent to hell.

Most of humanity was astonished by this as the original only delivered messages in dire times. Though, one could argue that having new gods in charge was a dire situation.

The churches of old soon faded and new ones came from its husk.

Futile struggles began but as most things do they faded with time and the four churches eventually ended their qualms (The gods had a heavy hand in this). For the gods, claims of land and riches and all other reasons religions would use to justify their attack on another was less than desirable for them even if it was something their former lord would find interesting.

They had one and only goal. To protect humanity in the best way they saw fit. While some formed churches others had no interest. Humans were fickle creatures and would defy even gods if they felt like they had a just cause. Those two believed that, though their reasons greatly differed. They went about performing the task without the use of a church in their own unique ways.

While they were carrying their master's last request it did not mean they didn't have goals of their own.

Although most of these were quite mundane such as "become a better god" or "find a role that suits them", one of them had a much more tangible goal.

To find the fallen archangel. While the others were somewhat concerned about this, the fallen angel had shown no signs of movement even after their lord's disappearance.

In fact, it seemed the forces of hell had slowed down, though what this meant they did not know. After realizing how annoying it was not having a church he decided to do something else to help his search.

'Making' humans.

Though the word making is used loosely here he did in fact modify several humans in an attempt to find the fallen angel. And it seems his work is now starting to bear fruit.