Somewhere and somewhen.

“He did it.” (???)

The soft, angelic sounding voice echoes throughout the cavernous space. It instantly causes the other voices, which before that point had been a constant bubbling of conversation, to come to a complete halt. A pale aura of disbelief soon follows.

“What?! How could he? Our task was for him to kill a Fallen God! On top of that without even a touch of divinity of his own!” (???)

Almost instantly the silence is broken by a great amount of consternation and bickering back and forth. Voices raise one after another, as if trying to drown out the last due to the incredulousness of it all. No one could believe it.

“He stole it from the Fallen God himself through trickery. It was, quite simply, amazing.” (???)

The first voice speaks up again after what seems like several minutes, this time with a touch of awe in her voice. The other unseen beings within the space fall silent again. Several let out displeased ‘tsks’. Others admit their admiration with ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’.

It isn’t every day that a mortal manages to trick a god, even a fallen one, into relinquishing the power that could then be used to kill ‘em. Gods, after all, are higher in status and power. The main reason for that is their divinity. The lifeblood of gods themselves. A single drop can turn a farmer’s boy into a Hero.

“Adrena, what should we do now? He managed to complete the impossible task we set for him…” (???)

This time an older seeming, almost ragged voice calls out. It was no doubt directed to the first voice, because simply saying her name causes the whole of the space to shudder. The others all fall silent again and wait for the space to stabilize once more.

“Moe! How many times have I told you all to call me Addy here? This space is too delicate for the full force of my name.” (Addy)

This time the angelic girl’s voice calls out, even as she appears within the space. With golden hair and equally golden eyes, she looks every inch of a divine being. Well, almost. To put it bluntly, she looks like a six or seven year old girl. One wearing a one-piece white dress that falls to her feet.

However, there isn’t anyone there who’d dare to comment on the ‘loli-goddess’. In fact, besides positives like ‘beautiful’, ‘graceful’, and ‘cuteeee!’, no one dares to mention her appearance at all. The reason for that is simple. Because Adrena is the Goddess of Fate. And her anger can be a realllllllly bad thing, even to other gods. She’s also rather sensitive on that subject.

“Kaal, what was the agreement we signed this time?” (Addy)

This time an old man appears, with grey hair and a neatly trimmed grey beard. Tall and gracefully built, he looks every bit of a professional with a ram-rod straight posture. He also, for one reason or another, is wearing a very nice butler’s uniform. No one makes a mention of it though. Kaal, at one point in time, was hailed as the King of the Gods. And with very good reason.

Then he had a bit of an accident. He angered Addy by making demands upon her. After several eons she got fed up with his constant belligerence and made him into her personal manservant. The only god to force another god into direct submission. Everyone, from the highest of the highs to the lowest of the gods know the story. So besides getting a quiet laugh from behind Kaal’s back, no one says it in public. They dare not to.

“Adr… Madam Addy, this time the agreement was about the chance for him to live a life without restrictions. He called it a ‘vacation’. Or as he put it: ‘I’ve been running around doing these fucking trials for 374 lifetimes! I want one gods damned life off!’.” (Kaal)

The other gods,whom have yet to reveal themselves, get a laugh out of that. Especially because Kaal even went so far as to mimic the voice as well. They could all just imagine the oozing, dripping angst the man had on his face when he made that demand. Then again, they’d all played with him at least once. Most of them several times, throughout multiple lifetimes for the man.

Lately he’d gotten really good at completing the trails. Too good, in fact. Too fast and efficient. Used to be he’d slaughter half a world to complete one. These days though he rarely causes any collateral damage. In short, he’s started to get a little boring.

Of course, the fact that he also knows it causes quite a bit of pique with them. The entire reason they throw him into these trails is because of their boredom. Sure, for the most part they could do anything. But even they have rules and laws that keep them from going overboard. That, and they could lose large chunks of their power if they start doing things willy-nilly and end up killing their faithfuls.

Letting a mortal do it for them is almost just as fun, and even more entertaining to watch. Of course after a while all the ‘natural’ problems started to get fixed up, so they had to get creative in order to watch even more. They started putting limits on the mortal, restrictions to his power and ability. Or extra objectives for him. Then they had to actively work on creating interesting things for him to do.

In the end, the greatest challenge they could think of was to let him fight one of them. Of course, they couldn’t bring him here to do it, or go into the mortal worlds. So instead they unsealed the Fallen God. A really old, really powerful god that broke the rules and was thus banished from the heavens.

It was supposed to be the ultimate challenge, one that’d finally see the mortal fall and lose. He occasionally had, during his first couple of dozen lifetimes, but afterwards he never once died. In fact, it had only been a little over seven years since he was given this last trail.

Seven years, to kill a god. It was amazing, and yet at the same time really bothersome. To a god, a mortal’s lifespan is really short. They come and go in the blink of an eye. Some of their other trials required the man to find a way to prolong his life in order to complete his objective. Cultivating until he’s immortal. Turning into an undead. Hibernating in deep sleep that let him skip dozens of years at a time.

But seven years is just too damned short! How messed up is that? Not even god-blessed Heroes could pull that off!

Addy though lets out a little laugh before shaking her head, causing her golden hair to cascade across her thin shoulders. There’s even a hint of mirth in her golden eyes. And a flash of something else, that’s gone as quickly as it had appeared.

“Very well. He did it. He killed the Fallen God Vasi. As such he gets the ‘vacation’ he desired.” (Addy)

The loli-goddesses decision is final, as far as the rest of them are concerned. At the same time, she raises a hand and a dark sphere slowly forms, causing the entire space to shudder again from the heavy feeling of raw power that comes pouring into it. All of them recognize what it is though. Vasi’s divinity. His soul.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The mortal isn’t able to do anything with it, so he didn’t bother trying to take it for himself. He’d been told not to, in fact. Otherwise he’d just become possessed by the very being he’d killed.

“Hello again, Vasi. It’s been a while.” (Addy)

“Adre… AAAAAH!!!” (Vasi)

The soul lets out an agonized scream as Addy squeezes her little fist around the sphere, causing the other gods to flinch. They could all imagine just how painful that was.

“It’s Addy, Vasi. Do not speak my name so blatantly.” (Addy)

The heavy glare and thick ominus atmosphere Addy releases causes even Kaal to step back, his face going pale. The soul in her hand however stays silent, no doubt nursing the wounds that’d just appeared on his soul itself. Without a physical body, he’s very weak right now, and he knows it.

“Now that we got that out of the way, what’d you think of the mortal we sent to kill you?” (Addy)

This time her tone had gone back to the happy voice she has almost every time she talks about the man. After all, she was the one that had originally found him and arranged for all of this. The trials were her idea, and the other gods just got to play and enjoy themselves with it.

“The kid, huh. In a word, ‘scary’. I couldn’t see through him at all. He even went so far as to trick me! Then he cut me down as if I were an ant. Totally embarrassing.” (Vasi)

This time the soul of the Fallen God cannot help but voice both his anger and his admiration. Even as a fallen, the other gods wouldn’t have dared to go at him toe-to-toe. Yet the kid, the mortal had done so as if Vasi was nothing.

“Kid? Ah, yeah. It had only been about eight years since he started the trial. He hadn’t even grown up yet.” (Addy)

The other gods can only sigh, while Kaal stands behind Addy and shakes his head. The mortal had to be crazy. He completed the trial so damned fast! As Vasi had put it, it was scary.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. He did it, so he’ll get his reward. We should make his passing interesting~ though. First we have to figure out where to put him. And what to do afterwards. Tsk. Anyone have any ideas?” (Addy)

Soon afterwards the space is filled with the constant babble of conversation between the various gods. A whole bunch of ideas are tossed out, but the vast majority of them are thrown aside. Those that are agreed upon are noted down as they could be useful sooner or later.

+ | + | +

Some time later, somewhere else.

The earth was totally barren. There wasn’t a speck of life to be seen anywhere. Even the sky was covered in grey overcast, turning the light dim and drab. Within that wasteland is an old temple, which has been mostly destroyed and left in ruins. The black stone of the temple is weathered and greatly cracked.

Within that temple is a throne, set upon a raised dias. The black stone throne is broken however, looking as if a massive sword had cleaved through its back, sundering it nearly in half. Seated upon that broken throne is a boy. A boy with white hair and grey eyes. Grey, lifeless eyes that stare out at nothing.

The boy is dressed in torn clothing of common make. It’s all cotton and itchy wool. Well, it was. At this point the clothes are basically falling apart. They’re stained, torn, and ripped. Long strips of both the tunic and the pants have been torn from it in order to create a tied belt which holds up the trousers that are otherwise just shorts by now. There’s also a bit that has been used to tie up the boy’s right hand, which is all but mangled and still bleeding.

The cause of such an injury would be obvious if anyone could take a good look at it. He’d used his own hand to slice through the throne he’s sitting on as if it were butter. Not to mention the fallen god that had original sat there.

That’s right, this seemingly beggar boy is the one who threw the heavens into such disarray. Looking between seven and eight years old, he’s all skin and bones, as if he hadn’t eaten anything in days. In truth, he hasn’t. He’s been waiting. Waiting for the end of all of this.

Suddenly, his head comes up, and there’s a slight, almost childish smile on his dirt-smeared face.

“Finally. It’s been nearly two weeks. Kaal, right?” (Kid)

The kid’s voice is still high pitched and squeaky, and yet the tone he used is totally irrelevant. After so much time spent around the gods, he no longer carries any sort of worship or idolization for them. After all this time, he just knows that he’s a toy for them.

“You’ve gotten quite good at noticing our presence, haven’t you? Well, no matter. You slew the Fallen God Vasi, so Addy has decided to grant your request. You’re getting the free lifetime you desired.” (Kaal)

Of course, as a god Kaal really isn’t there. None of the gods are able to manifest personally in the mortal worlds. Instead, the kid just picked up on the divine presence that signified that Kaal was watching personally.

“Good to know. Tell Addy I said ‘hi’, but please don’t come looking for me until my vacation life is over with. All this running around has worn me out.” (Kid)

“Heh. I’ll be sure to pass the message on. Now then, off you go… But before that, you should look up.” (Kaal)

For some reason the kid didn’t find the gods amused tone to be anything good. Still, he glances up, through the broken roof of the old temple. It takes him a moment to spot what’s happening, but when he does all he can do is let out a sigh.

“A meteor, really? At least leave an intact body for this one’s ‘family’.” (Kid)

The boy cannot help but grumble in dissatisfaction even as the flaming ball of rock hurtles straight toward him. It isn’t the worst ending he’s ever had, nor is it the best. However, it isn’t exactly original, either. Still, he cannot help but quirk a smile onto his lips.

“Goodbye, another life.” (Kid)

Sometime later a high ranked adventurer group will find the blasted remains of the temple, as well as the surprisingly intact body of the kid. As the news spread, the kid was heralded as the ‘Flaming Hero’ who gave his own life to destroy the Fallen God who’d awakened on their world. In truth, it’s just one of the many titles he’d come to be known across across the hundreds of worlds he’d been born on. The vast majority had been given to him posthumously.

It’s kind of amazing just how discontent a person can get from dying after the completion of every object. For the most part though that is part of the entertainment, at least for the gods. Except for Addy, who knows exactly what is going on in her chosen’s mind. Still, there are some things even the gods cannot foretell.

Which is why there is No Rest for the Wicked.