A long time ago, the young humanity had left its cradle to spread the wings among the stars. Only after setting their differences aside, uniting their goals, combining knowledge and resources were they able to achieve that. Curiousity, bravery, cunning and willingness to help each other had turned them into an unstoppable force. Soon, they had found out their kind is not alone in the void.

Humans met a lot of creatures of every sort and manner on their path. Some could become a force for the galaxy to remember, if given time, and some couldn't even dream of leaving their home, ever busy fighting among themselves. Yet none of those could oppose humanity. Revered as benevolent gods or feared as cruel demons, the humans had taken over the entire galaxy. Then another... and another.

Eventually, the humans had grown lax in their might. With all the riches they could dream of, with all the knowledge they could grasp, there was nothing else for them to do.

As the age of calamity made way for the age of exploration, the latter in turn gave place for the age of the bored gods.

And so the universe had turned into a playground for the unopposed rulers to entertain themselves. A sandbox for an overgrown child, lonely and cruel.

The temple of the Circle has reached its final destination, space-time yielding its integrity to let the planet-sized structure make its appearance. Six equally humongous monsters appeared next to it, blocking light from a young star. Each of them was different, proudly displaying the might and mindset of its owner. In the very center of the temple, a round table stood, always empty. But not this day.

A woman as beautiful as a legend, wearing nothing but transparent silks assembled atom by atom, took her rightful seat for the first time since forever. She cast her gaze onto the planet she has found. A cloud of observers had shown that its denizens had no chance against the Circle. The woman's little bare leg touched a small bag she had placed under the table.

She found it funny. This temple had so many rooms fit to host a king. And all of his court. And the rest of his subjects. It had enough inert biomass actuators to feed all of them, for the rest of the century. Nanoforges could dress and arm a whole army, continously. The void depressors, which served both to move and to power the temple, could put a dwarf star to shame with their combined energy output. And yet she hid her bag under the table, like a shy teenager.

She was a member of the Circle, a group which served to represent the will and desires of the entire human kind. Needless to say, the members, while infinitely useful to each other, never appeared face to face, for there was no more trust among them than between a snake and a spider.

Five avatars appereared at the table, indistinguishable from their originals. The meeting to decide the fate of a newly discovered cradle-world thus begun.

"Where is your citadel, slut?" – a deep male voice inquired, skipping all pleasantries. Its owner was a hulking figure clad in power armor and a fearsome helmet with a hateful scowl forged into it. It had skulls of both man, beast and alien origins decorating it.

"Greetings to you as well, Morth the Warmonger! You're as charming as... usually, I see." – replied the beautiful woman.

"Don't test me, Lililith! Where is it?!"

"Crashed it." – came the short answer, and Lililith shrugged innocently. – "The void have smiled upon me, and Emperor Alexander the Benevolent, may he rule forever, gave me a free ride! And what a ride it was, truly..."

The woman approached the member in question, a tall man clad in shining armor and a ruby crown, made entirely from a sole crystal. She took the replica of his hand and gently kissed a ring on it. The emperor smiled coldly, and the Warmonger, despite his mask failing to express all but one emotion, looked like he was about to throw up. He growled like a beast and was about to share his displeasure, however...

"Can we cut the chase and get to business already? I'm wasting a fortune a second being here with you." – a woman dressed sharply in a business suit shamelessly interrupted. – "Lililith's scouts, which I didn't know she had, found a probe launched by a cute, naive baby civilization. I want it, and I'm willing to pay double of whatever Asuro offers." – she blurted out, putting her feet on the round table.

Asuro, a human which was neither man nor woman, with pale blue skin and dressed in a revealing costume made with tiny black cubes and gravity itself, threw a withering glare at the previous speaker.

"And I shall offer THREE times of what Midas suggests!" – Asuro yelled.

"It doesn't work like that, you art for brains!" – the business woman replied.

"If you are wasting time here with us, then leave and keep building your utterly tasteless ball of gold. I hope it will crush you with its pull someday. Shoo, shoo." – The pale blue human said, supplying the appropriate hand gesture.

Lililith clapped her beautiful hands three times, calling for attention.

"Now now, my comrades. We need to cast our votes to decide which of us will make this newly discovered paradise useful. However, there is still one missing. Where is Io? His citadel has arrived as scheduled. And yet..."

A booming laughter shook the meeting hall. It belonged to a man so obese there was no evidence of his legs in sight. He took another bite of some intricate fruit filled with alien larvae and hummed in delight.

"I bet the lazy weeb decided to skip on our little get-together, again! I'd be surprised if he showed up." – the obese man said and chuckled. – "You know how the saying goes: less the slices — the bigger pieces! Ha!"

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"Indeed! Last time, he has sent an AI replica of himself and thought we wouldn't notice. Pathetic." – Asuro said in a dismissive tone.

Lililith tittered, elegantly covering her mouth.

"Well, since it was at least the third time he did such a thing, I would say that it was pretty convincing." – she said, getting incredulous looks of both Asuro and Midas. Morth entwined the fingers of his gauntlets, appearing thoughtful. – "Anyways, I believe Mr. Chop is right. We shall cast votes without Io this time. Now, who would like to go first?"

As Lililith took her seat, all the eyes turned to Alexander. Yet he only waved his hand, showing his disinterest.

Mr. Chop couldn't stand, but his tub raised the massive body to make it seem like he did.

"Wait wait wait!" – Midas interrupted again. – "Guys, you gotta see this! She actually did it!"

The dome of the room switched off the illusion of transparency and split into many screens, showing a metal planet with color palette of a strip club turn an artificial moon into debris. There were raised eyebrows, and Mr. Chop shook the hall with his laughter again. The Warmonger rubbed the temples of his helmet so hard they got dented. Lililith had the decency to blush.

"Bloody hell, girl! How in the actual- IS THAT MY RESORT?!" – Midas yelled, switching gears mid-sentence. She stared daggers at the offender, her neural interface working at capacity limit to file all the losses and send a huge check to the suddenly sheepish woman.

Mr. Chop made a sound between a cough and something much less polite, returning the attention back to himself.

"You all know that each exotic world is full of culinary discoveries on its own. And this one has peoples almost ready to fly! Just imagine the new flavors, the new cuisines we could get out them! I can almost taste the unknown..." – the man made a rather disgusting gesture of licking his fat lips.

"Mr. Chop, I believe simple trade and cultural exchange would suffice to sate your... appetite for knowledge, then." – Lililith said, smiling charmingly yet mirthlessly. – "I have a strong feeling you might try to turn this one into a coop for sentient creatures, just like the last time. Does higher cognitive function really make that much of a difference for taste buds?"

The dreamy expression of the obese man darkened and his tiny eyes narrowed.

"What's your problem, slut? You wouldn't tell a cock apart from a kitten. Ha!" – he said, pointing a roasted leg of a bipedal creature at the woman.

Midas muttered "Chop. Gross." and Alexander cast a stern look at the glutton. The latter bit a huge chunk of the leg, effectively silencing himself.

"I do have a problem with your proposition, Mr. Chop, because I want this world for myself." – Lililith said, her tone serious for the first time since the meeting began. She withdrew a small pocket watch from her bountiful bosom. It had only taken humanity thousands of years and technological marvel to combine the ideas of "hammer space" and "lady's pocket". She opened the watch before her eyes and set it upon the table. – "Let's take the wise words of Midas to heart and cut to the chase."

All the eyes focused upon the woman in the transparent dress.

"We have guided our kind for hundreds of years, trying to cater to their needs and herd their interests. Put all that energy and wit into something that would further ascent humanity among the stars. Midas makes sure there's always more money to earn, Asuro and Chop keep the wheel of creativity spinning, Alexander fuels the ambition of every politician who'd like to take his place, Morth starts endless wars with no victors, Io offers paradise in the virtual reality. And I... I was supposed to rule over the desires of the heart."

"Where are you going with all that, Lililith?" – Morth inquired, the calmness of his voice intimidating.

"We are failing at our duty. Humanity is dying. My best efforts have been futile, and soon only elderly people stuck within Io's realm will remain, should we continue upon this course." – she said, her expression unreadable.

"And so, what is it that you offer?" – Midas asked.

Lililith picked up her pocket watch and rubbed its glass screen with a thumb.

"Time is what everyone has, but nobody can get. We had a head start, and so we had won this race. And now that we're on top, we've hit the roof. There's no more reason to grow."

"What kind of tasteless nonsense are you spouting, Lily?" – Asuro asked.

"I want to give this new civilization a chance. Give them the time that only we had." – Lilith cast a thoughtful gaze at the young world. And then at her watch. As two of its arrows met, avatar of Morth the warmonger froze and slowly turned to dust. His citadel exploded into many beautiful colors. Molten debris bounced off force fields of its neighbors and the temple harmlessly. – "And give us a bit of a handicap. Make the game interesting again. That is what the hearts of our people desire the most. That is what we have failed at."

Lililith finished her speech and turned to the others. Everyone but Alexander began to panic.

"There is simply no more use for us, but only I and Lililith could see it. She has opened my eyes." – the man in the shining armor began. – "I will lead humanity back to the greatness in this coming age of calamity."

Alexander's citadel opened fire on the other planet-sized constructs. As they tried to retreat into the interdimentional space, Io's domain unleashed a wave of darkness so black it could be seen over the void of the cosmos. All the citadels under fire stayed to meet their demise, unable to move.

"Alexander! This is crazy! Stop this madness! I'll give you anything you want!" – Midas screamed in terror and desperation as Chop's avatar turned to dust.

"You may have everything money can buy, yet you don't have anything I desire." – Alexander replied, putting a hand on Lililith's elegant waist.

"What do you want, then?!" – Midas yelled, covering her head from an unseen threat. She then fell apart along with her stronghold.

"Become a god." – the emperor proclaimed, making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. The woman in his embrace leaned close to his ear.

"There's a thing with gods, Alex. They are supposed to be immortal."

A massive implosion made Alexander's citadel disappear. After the purge, only the temple and Io's fortress remained.

"That's where we go our separate ways, Sloth." – Lililith said to her pocket watch. – "I hope you have succeeded in collapsing the interdimentional space, as you promised. It was all for naught if you didn't. I hope our paths will never cross again."

Lily sighed deeply. This "Circle of Sins" nonsense was finally over. Now, she was just a very old and tired woman. She took the bag from under the round table and changed into pajamas, casting the skimpy dress away in disgust. Nothing beats the real fleece, especially not this trendy cyber-quantum-nanocrap.

A little girl peeked into the meeting hall.

"Mama? Is it over?"

"Yes, my little moon. Now, let's go meet our new friends, shall we?"