Not everything was all smiles and laughs, there was a small group of people that absolutely hated being told what to do and now wanted nothing to do with the religion that their species were creating. Some of this group was already a part of the religion and turned away, some were thinking of joining and just decided not to, and some were firmly not a part of it and just continued not being a part of it. That was fine by me. The point of these commandments was to help mitigate some of the leading causes of bad things that would happen. But another reason for these commandments was to get people thinking about what is "good" and what is "evil"... to introduce morals.

Honestly though, if everyone really did follow these commandments then the world would be a better place. But I know that's never going to happen, so at least this would help people to start thinking about their own morals. As long as people follow what they consider good then the world should head in a generally good direction. It would certainly be better than them just doing whatever they felt like for no reason other than they could.

As the days passed after I gave the commandments, there were, of course, people who didn't follow them. The people who couldn't hear me, obviously didn't pray to me daily. There were people that didn't love others as I do. There were couples that decided to make love before marriage, some had even heard me give the commandment and did the deed anyways... mostly because they were caught up in the passion of the moment and had forgotten about it until afterwards.

There was something strange about the breaking of a commandment though. Each time someone broke a commandment, all the sparks of divinity that are aligned with their Will darkened slightly. The bright white light of divinity was slowly darkening, becoming gray with each breaking of a commandment.

What was interesting though was that the amount of "darkening" that happened was different for everybody. For those that never heard about the commandments, the darkening wasn't as bad as someone who did hear about it. The darkening was the worst in those people who know the commandments and yet break them intentionally just to spite them and to spite me. The state of mind of the person also seemed to affect how much darkening occurred, but it was very miniscule.

But while it was interesting that this darkening was happening... It was also revolting. Something about the graying of the divinity made me want to puke. It wasn't something that was supposed to happen. It was unnatural. Why was it even happening? Just because I spoke the commandments out loud? Did I accidentally make the commandments into some sort of universal natural law, and because the laws are about choices it doesn’t apply to them since I wanted to respect Free Will, and since they have Free Will they can break it, but because they break it they create some sort of paradoxical corruption inside themselves and thus polluting their divinity and becoming filthy?... Yeah, that was probably it.

Wait a minute... is this permanent? Did I just accidentally make it so I wouldn't be able to stand looking at people?... At least Fay and my children aren't being corrupted.

I took a moment to really look at the graying divinity. It wasn't increasing until they broke a commandment. Which was good, normally divinity slowly increases but not this stuff. Looks like the darkening process corrupted the divinity enough to where it no longer multiplies itself. The bad news though, was what I just saw when one of the naga died just now.

That naga wasn't one of the Devout, but he frequently heard them talking and teaching so he knew about me and my commandments. He was even able to hear me a couple years ago, but he stopped paying attention and stopped caring and eventually became unable to hear me. Point is, he knew I gave commandments but didn't care and went on with his life. He was rude with other people and was selfish in his old age. He died after accumulating a small bit of grayness in his soul, just a day after I gave the commandments.

When he died, his Will held only a small bit of his divine sparks to form his soul... but the rest dispersed into the surroundings. His soul was still slightly grayed, and the sparks that dispersed into the surroundings were also slightly grayed. I was hoping that the corruption would vanish once it was no longer a part of the Will that created it, but no. The corruption stayed, the grayed sparks were lingering in the air. Miniscule amounts, sure, but over time it will eventually build up and become a problem.

So... how do I fix this? Could I just say "let it be that breaking commandments doesn't cause corruption"?... but the corruption is the result of someone breaking a natural law which is paradoxical... If I say that the corruption just wouldn't be formed, wouldn't that mean that paradoxes would be ok to happen? Any paradox? I don't know what kind of consequences that would have. What if I come up with some way that they can be forgiven for breaking the commandment? Would that clear the gray out of their spirits? I mean, it should if the paradox was forgiven... or maybe not, because the commandment was still broken, the paradox still happened so maybe it won't just disappear if they're forgiven.

The only way to know for sure would be to just do it and see what happens. So, now I had to come up with a way of forgiveness...

I think anybody should be forgiven, so long as the person is actually sorry for what they did. And besides, I know their thoughts, I would know if someone is sorry or just pretending. So, people can be forgiven for breaking the commandments if they are truly repentant, and the first step to that is to recognize that they have done something wrong. After recognizing that they have done something wrong, the next step would be to apologize and make amends or restitution... and that's it... and not do it again of course. If they do end up breaking a commandment again, then they'll have to start over with the repentance process.

The first commandment should be easy to make amends for. If they didn't treat someone with love and kindness, then just find that person and apologize. If they can't find the person they wronged, then they could just do their best to keep the first commandment, and I would know that they tried. The second commandment should be the easiest to repent for, they could just start praying again... and I guess they'll have to apologize to me... The fourth would be really easy as well, it would just be to start trying to be a better person. For the third commandment... that's tricky. They could just apologize to the person they slept with and not do it again or they could make things right by marrying the person they slept with... but the commandment, even though the main point is to not have sex until marriage, does state to "wait until marriage with somebody you love" so if they marry someone they don't love that would technically also break the commandment...

Wait! Doesn't this mean that if they marry someone they don't love and have sex then they'll still break the commandment? Even though they're married?... Is that a good thing?... I mean, in the mental simulation I did, I saw a lot of young women and men, mostly young women, being forced into political marriages. Maybe this commandment would help prevent some of those forced marriages. But wouldn't this commandment punish those poor young women and men even further?... GAH! Why didn't I think this through some more!?

Quickly, I set numerous trains of thought going at once to start another mental simulation of the world going. A train for each person, making the most probable decision at each moment... and the world I saw was a lot better in this simulation than in the first one... but it was still not as good as it could be. But that was fine, this was only one of many probabilities.

One thing I noticed was that there were a little less political marriages. Not a dramatic decrease, only a slight one. But there was also an increase in the number of elopements, running away to be with the one they love. I thought that was lovely. Better to elope with someone you love than be forced into a loveless marriage... but then again, some of those political marriages have prevented wars or would have prevented wars, and some of the forced marriages actually grew to truly love each other. But most do end up miserable experiences... would it be better to sacrifice the happiness of an individual for the good of the majority?

That shouldn’t be the case, there should be other ways to solve those issues without sacrificing individual happiness. Marriage shouldn’t be a diplomacy tool... but they don’t have to marry, they’re still technically choosing to... they could just run away... or be killed, death isn’t the end after all. Speaking of death, I still need to figure out reincarnation... But people shouldn’t be forced to choose death... What a mess. I’ll think about this and decide later, none of what I predicted should happen for a couple more centuries. I have time to think.

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I sighed. Being a God is hard. The only thing I should do is to give advice and let them make the decisions. Following the commandments I set is the best advice I can give in general, but I'll do my best to give advice to each person for their more personal problems... then I'll just hope for the best.

Back to the repentance process... After recognizing the wrong, apologizing, and not doing it again, then they’ll be forgiven for breaking the commandment. Is that enough for the paradox to be solved? Would the corruption disappear? Only one way to find out.

Speaking up again, I sent my words to the entire world.

“Many among you have questions concerning the commandments I have made and what would happen if you break them,” I said. It was true, many people were wondering about the consequences of breaking the commandments, but no one has directly asked me about it yet. “When you break one of my commandments, your soul darkens and becomes filthy with corruption. It is not pleasant to see. However, there is a way to become clean again. The first step is to recognize what it is that you have done wrong. Then apologize to those you have wronged and to make restitutions. Then go on with your life and try not to break the commandments again. If you do, then repeat this repentance process. You will only be forgiven if you are genuinely repentant. I will know.”

All of divinity rippled once more, adapting to the words I just said.

Did that do it? Problem solved?

There wasn't a way to know for sure until someone actually repented. Which should be soon, there were a couple Devout that were feeling guilty for feeling angry at someone else, or for forgetting to pray one day. They seemed to be the closest to repent, they'll try in a little bit. For now, let's get these recently dead souls over to Corprimal.

Among those five souls was that naga with the slightly grayed soul. There was another slightly grayed naga soul as well. None of the other races have died yet, but they were close.

I slowly pinched the planet to grab the souls, and gently placed them onto Corprimal. The three normal souls were fine, but the two that were slightly grayed burst into flames as they fell, before slamming down onto the surface of the white-hot iron sphere.

What is happening!? Why'd they catch fire? Why is the gravity affecting them so much? Didn't I make it so that the gravity and heat doesn't affect beings of pure divinity?... I think I just answered my own question. Beings of pure divinity. Pure could mean beings made up of only divinity or it could mean being that are made up of divinity that is completely clean... and these guys aren't. The corruption in them is burning... If I leave them long enough would the corruption burn away and make them clean? But I shouldn't leave these two to just burn, I should probably grab them and... and what? Where would I take them? Anywhere other than Corprimal and their spirits would just decay away. But if they stay here then they'll burn...

Before I could think what to do with them, the two burning spirits stopped burning. The once gray divinity that made up their forms was now as white as any other spirits. They slowly picked themselves off of the ground, no longer being so affected by the gravity and heat. The other spirits were gathered around them, worried.

... Well, that is good news. Even if they don't seek for forgiveness their spirits will still become clean again... they just have to burn for a bit, which isn’t good, but it looks like they come out of it just fine. Harrowed from the experience, sure, but fine...is it selfish of me that I'd rather let them burn out the corruption and become pure divinity again than let the corruption stay any longer than it has too? Probably... but who knows what will happen if this corrupted divinity manages to build up? Better they burn it out. It probably wouldn't be good to drop flaming souls into the middle of the others though... I should drop them on the other side of Corprimal. Their house would appear next to everyone else's though, so once they finish burning then I'll have to move them to be with everyone else... hmm, I wonder...

I reached out to pinch Bri between my fingers again and this time I focused on grabbing the grayed divinity in the air that was expelled when those two naga died. I carried it over to Corprimal and released all of it onto Corprimal's surface... Nothing. The corrupted divinity just kept floating around, completely unaffected by the heat and gravity of Corprimal.

Looks like the spirits were only cleansed because Corprimal is meant to preserve the dead, the pure dead specifically, and random sparks of divinity are not the dead so there is no effect. That's what I thought would happen, but I just had to make sure. But if Corprimal doesn't affect the divinity, then where would I put the stuff?

Not anywhere on Bri, that's for sure, and not on Corprimal... maybe on Rapu? No, that'll ruin the planet's beauty... oh, I know!

I drifted over to the ring of asteroids on the edge of the star system and plucked out the largest one. It was smaller than Bri's moon and it was covered in icy mountains. I set it into orbit around Dopprimal between the asteroid belt and Rapu. It was big enough that gravity molded it into a sphere, but its pull wasn't strong enough to pull in all the other asteroids in its path, so it couldn't be considered a planet.

Why did that make me sad?...Oh well, let's name this dwarf planet. It is going to be the container of all corrupted divinity, so I can name it after that. Wait, no, it’s not all corrupted divinity because there would be some in the people who have broken or will break the commandments. So maybe just the container of corrupted divinity... What else? Maybe I could name it the purifier of corruption. When I name things, those things tend to have effects based on the name, like Corprimal’memil’bemisa with the preserving of the spirits. Maybe this way there will be a way to completely get rid of the corruption. Ok, that sounds good. Two parts to the name. Container and purifier of corrupted divinity. I already have a syllable for ‘home’, should I use that for ‘container’?... No, ‘home’ is a welcoming and comfortable place of living, not a container. Then ‘tain’ can be for ‘container’ and ‘purify’ can be ‘ur’, then ‘corruption’ can be ‘rup’ and ‘divinity’ can be ‘in’... so the name will be Tainrupin’urrupin. Two parts, one name... even if it sounds a little repetitive.

I looked at the icy dwarf planet and said, “Let your name be Tainrupin’urrupin... I’ll call you Tain for short.”

Divinity rippled in the little planet... Sorry, not a planet... in the dwarf planet, the ex-asteroid.

With that done, I went and pinched Corprimal and grabbed only the corrupted sparks of divinity. I moved back to Tain and released it. The corrupted divinity sank to the surface and stayed there. I watched expectantly to see if they’ll actually get purified... and I did see some results... The sparks were brightening slowly over time.

A little slower than what I was hoping for but it'll have to do. Corrupted spirits become pure again on Corprimal and corrupted sparks are contained and purified on Tain. Now I just need to see what happens when someone repents through the process I declared... Can the corruption in a person be purified while they are still living?

Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long. Lorkin, a beastkin man, got on his knees in the woods away from the village to pray in private.

"Um, God?" He said hesitantly, "I heard you when you gave your commandments a couple days ago... and I didn't follow them because I thought it was too late for me... I mean, I haven't been that kind to others... and I haven't visited your shrine in the village in a long time... and this is the first time I'm praying in a couple years... But today you said that..." He swallowed hard. "That we can be forgiven. God, I know I'm just one of your many creations and you probably don't care one way or the other, but..."

"I care," I interrupted him, "Lorkin, son of Jonil, son of Anolon, son of Darkin, son of Fakin. I know you and I care about you."

Lorkin froze, eyes wide and mouth agape in shock. A tear welled up in his eye and fell, then another, and another, then they were pouring out. Flowing freely.

"God, I'm sorry, please forgive me," he cried, lifting his tear-stained face to the sky.

Instantly, his divinity shifted and brightened. The grayness of the corruption faded away in the glowing light. Lorkin's divinity was pure once more. And the good news was that not a single corrupted spark remained in Lorkin and none were released into the atmosphere during the whole process.

"You are forgiven," I said looking at his pure divinity and seeing that he really was forgiven... I mean, even if the corruption didn’t go away just then, with that apology he was forgiven in my heart.

Lorkin started crying once again. Once he was done he thanked me and ran back to the village to tell everyone what happened.

And Lorkin wasn't the only one that repented. More and more of the Devout nagas, the Speakers of the harpies, faithful beastkin, and even some of the giants prayed and asked for forgiveness. Most of their "sins" were forgetting to pray one day or were in a bad mood and treated someone curtly because of it. Nothing serious yet, but still, it was good to not let the corrupted divinity build up inside.

Speaking of serious sins, a situation was happening with the humans that might lead to something bad. Anger was building, contention was rising, and no one wanted to compromise.