Finally, after several months of consuming the elder god, I went back to my chambers and sat down. Awe struck by my growth and the power he had. Normally, it only took about 3 to 5 minutes to consume a galaxy's worth of souls. We spent months in a state of nonstop consumption. 10 of us all devoured his soul for months. On top of that we all ranked up to the SS Rank God of creation. That means he was perhaps only 1000 years or so from reaching the Rank of Divine One. Each stage of the S Rank was roughly 10 times more powerful than its predecessor. Yeah, that means he was 100 times more powerful than us. We can consume his universe remotely, so I opted to do it from the comfort of my chambers.

Waving my hand, a screen appeared showing his creation. My breath caught as I gazed at what he’d created. It was magnificent. The sheer scope of his vision, the myriad of creatures and environments. It was like looking at the work of a master painter just after learning how to paint yourself. Regret gripped my heart then. We just killed a master among masters. One who could have shown us how to create such diversity and majesty. Now it can never be.

Hardening my heart, I went to begin the consumption, but something was off. I couldn’t connect to his Domain. What’s going on here? I know that you can’t connect to another god’s domain while they’re still alive unless they’ve given you permission. But once they die it’s free game. Granted harvesting his domain would take probably another year but connecting to it shouldn’t be an issue. Unless.

My thoughts were interrupted as I received message after message from each of the other council members. All of them coming to the conclusion that I just realized moments ago. The first of us, Master God of Creation, most powerful creator, and favorite of our creator wasn’t dead! This is bad. We have to find him right away. For a moment my mind shifted to other thoughts. What if instead of hunting him down to kill him, I find him and help him instead? What could he teach me? Surely, I could become a Divine one with his aid. I mean he was nearly there.

Gears turning in my head. I sat down and began the search for our mentor.

My eyes opened. I was laying on the ground of a well-made tatami mat floor. Surrounded by goblins. Each looking at me with awe and concern. Blinking a few times, I recognized where I was. I was in Savas’s cave, Heaven, I believed he called it. Where I was dying from injuries dealt to me by my former hunters. Oddly, I felt fine. I started lifting myself up expecting to be wracked in pain as I had before.

Everyone jumped out, ready to catch me if I fell or worsened. But that never happened. I sat all the way up, my body feeling amazing. Like I was 400 years younger. I lifted my arms into the air stretching. Involuntarily closing my eyes due to the pleasure, it brought my stiff body. Opening them I saw that my skin was now green. There were small black claws attached to each of my fingers.

While I started looking over my body my vision began to change. I could see small, blueish-white flames centered inside the bodies of the goblins. Looking into my own body, I had the same thing. I also noticed a strange spiraling tattoo on my stomach with weird emblems following the line making its way to the center of my body. I placed my hands on my face to rub the sleep from my eyes and my hand came into contact with something that wasn’t there before. Horns. I had two thin horns poking out of my forehead.

Jumping to my feet about to panic I heard his voice.

“Settle down Thorn. I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me, and I promise I’ll answer them all in time. But for now, just know I kept my promise to you. I’ve given you a body I created by my new skill. It considers you a dungeon creature and with that it comes with a few perks. First, you’re now effectively immortal. You will no longer age and will even heal far faster than normal. You also have gained natural access to several types of magic as well as resistance to most of them. As a defender you would normally be tasked with protecting this place. But you are free to do as you please. I do, however, want you to consider this place your home. You are always welcome here and you can choose one of the rooms to take as your own. Oh, and before I forget I also gave you a skill that I think will help with self-preservation. Though let's hope it never comes into play. With all that said, how do you feel?”

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I tried to get all the important information out before he had a chance to freak out, making it far more difficult to say anything to him.

I was looking around the room looking at the souls of everyone here. And noticing my own soul I started to panic. It was like I could reach inside my body and pull it out. Before I got there though I heard Savas’s voice. It gave me something to focus on, keeping me from overthinking. Which I'm sure was his goal from the beginning. After I’d calmed down a bit, I looked around the room to find the source of his voice. I don’t know how I missed it in the first place.

From what I gathered everyone’s soul was no larger than a fist. With a small degree of size and color difference. But Savas’s soul was incredible. It was like he was cloaked in a blinding white light in the shape of a man. It had golden wings that let off twinkling lights that reminded me of the stars in the night sky. A crown of golden light rested atop its head. So magnificent it was hard to describe. And behind him was an array of celestial bodies orbiting his back like a halo. Each one defined in such detail that I would think that I could just hop inside, and it would be a world of its own. One of them looks surprisingly like my world, Sylvenis.

Eyes wide, I fell to my knees. My body, moving of its own accord. Realizing on some instinctive level it was in the presence of something grand.

“What are you? I knew you were different from everyone else when we met but you’re something else aren’t you?” I said in a whisper.

Taking my time to think about my answer to him I asked him another question, “Do you want an honest answer, or do you want something to placate your mind?”

Gathering himself, Thorn looked me in the eyes and said, “I want the truth.”

Sighing, I said, “Your gods are not real Thorn. I am the one who created you all. I created the elven people. I created the humans. I created the dwarves. I also created the world you live in and every living thing in it. I am a god of creation. Created by a Divine One to create, populate, manage, and oversee everything in this universe. I told you that I was betrayed by my colleagues. That is true but my colleagues are gods not men. I am to get revenge on them for their misdeeds and the murder of myself and all of the other gods they’ve done this too. The only reason I’m alive is because the Divine One chose to protect a small portion of my soul. Shielding it from them while they consumed me in our realm. That is the truth of your world. Unfortunately, with the loss of the majority of my soul. Most of my memories went with it as well as my power and I need to grow stronger in order to challenge them. So, what do you say Thorn of the Village Forest Rain. Want to help me get revenge on the gods?”

To my surprise Thorn started laughing. Grabbing his stomach, hands on knees, laughing. I stood there confused for a moment. Wondering if he’d lost his mind or if he didn’t believe me. Wiping away tears from his eyes, he proved my concerns wrong. Getting to one knee and placing his fist to the food.

He said, “I will serve you to the best of my ability till the end of time. I asked you to give me a chance to help someone in my next life. I begged you to plead to the gods for my salvation. Not only did you bring me back as I asked you. You have given me the opportunity to serve and protect not only you. But now you’re asking me to help you protect other gods as well. Who in their right mind would refuse their god. How not only showed pity and compassion. But handed them the opportunity to achieve goals beyond their wildest dreams on a silver platter. Though I would like to request one more thing. Thorn is dead. His body is laying on the floor only feet from me. I would request that you call me Whisper going forward. It was the superhero name my son gave me when I first became a hunter and I would like that to be my name going forward.”

“Welcome to the team, Whisper.” I said with a wide smile on my face.