Rumbling sounds echo into the abyss as cracks spread up the black stone of the Soul Citadel. Chunks of the structure break and fall into the abyss, while the soul seekers turn to dust with the flick of Ben's metaphorical wrist. Mere minutes later, the Soul Citadel is nothing but fragmented chunks of black stone clinging to the realm's bedrock like artificial stalactites.

"So the key to staying awake was souls all along?"

The feeling of that abomination's merged souls flowing into Ben brought him out of his slumber, and with it a torrent of fresh power. Souls are something Ben created himself, therefore they can't be what fuels his powers.

"If not souls, then energy? I'll have to experiment another time."

Ben's attention moves from the ruins beneath the world to the surface; He quickly checks up on humanity while weaving his divine power into the fabric of reality. The handling of souls is too important to leave to a middleman, therefore Ben is making a divine law to ensure no soul is mistreated. The human's progress causes Ben's metaphorical eyebrows to raise.

"They've all figured fire out, and some have clothes?!"

The humans have impressed Ben, yet they have so much further to go. Ben returns his focus to his power for a moment, and finishes creating a complex divine law governing the souls of the world. Souls below a certain density will be absorbed into Ben's body while souls dense enough to be sentient are sent to orbit Ben in an array of rings. The innermost ring of souls is to contain the densest souls while the outermost will contain the barely sentient souls.

With the divine law enacted, uncountable quantities of souls start to flow in a grand torrent toward Ben. He's enamored by the sea of glowing lights as they flow toward him. Dense souls are swirling like a storm as they approach while the less dense ones approach Ben directly.

Immense relief washes over Ben's mind as he feels the first rush of the thinner souls being absorbed into his ethereal body. With this new divine law in place he shouldn't have to sleep again, albeit he can probably force himself to if he so desires.

"This gives me a lot more freedom... so why not put it to use?"

Excitement boils up in Ben as he flexes his golden power up into the world. Tendrils of divine energy flow into the minds of every human being, and a message is sent directly into their brains. Ben is sure to tone down his power so as to not harm the humans.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

~

Six humans sit around a fire while the quiet chirping of insects announces the sunset. The rumbling quakes hours prior feel like a bad dream now, and the group is feasting on a freshly caught batch of fish with a few fresh apples in the mix.

"We've nearly got the fence done, yet you haven't had much luck with shelter?" Gol jabs at Cara.

Cara rolls her eyes while biting into flakey white fish meat. The group has been making good headway on their encampment despite the earlier earthquake ruining their work. Cara and Tack have been working tirelessly to try and create a tent of sorts out of the fern textiles, but they've had no luck in making such a large tarp. Cara opens her mouth to retort when something interrupts their revelry.

"Attention, this is God speaking." Says an ethereal voice.

The group all stares blankly at one another at the same time; The shock of the situation is too much for them to process before God speaks again.

"You've had ample time to learn how to survive in this world, and now it's time you put your knowledge, skills, and resources to the test." God continues speaking.

Tears drip down Dar's face as he listens to the voice speaking into his own mind. Their creator had not only saved Dar's life, but is now gracing them with his presence. Dar has thanked his creator many times for his generosity, and now he has a chance to prove himself.

"For the next ten days you will be besieged by monstrous beings; Defend your lives and your kin. When these ten days are up you will be rewarded with my blessing. The first wave will arrive tomorrow at dawn." God explains.

~

Ben watches on as the humans all stop what they're doing at the sound of his voice. The feeling of being a god is a unique one, and if he isn't careful he may get drunk on the power. He notices several humans get emotional at his presence, and one man even verbally insults his creator.

"Hopefully the majority survives. I'd rather not kill them all, but I don't want to go easy on them either."

The transmission ends, and Ben moves his attention back to the abyss beneath his world. Here he intends to create a prototype for his invading monster, and test its abilities to ensure a balanced challenge for humanity.

White bone and black fabric coalesce into existence as Ben shapes his first monster; The thing looks almost exactly like a soul seeker, and in fact it is an improved version. This one cannot simply float through everything, nor does it only reside in the plane of souls. These new soul seekers retain their ability to sense and collect souls, however they are given permission to kill using weapons given to them by Ben himself.

"This will probably give the humans a scare, but they should feel confident knowing its a test sent by God himself."

Several soul seekers are manifested in front of Ben's gaze. He arms them with a variety of simple weapons made from refined nirnum with wooden handles. The first soul seeker is equipped with a shield and short sword, the second is given a lengthy spear, and the third is given a heavy two handed war hammer.

Ben watches in satisfaction as they ready themselves for combat; The three of them are spread apart on a chunk of void crystal wide enough to function as an arena. Refined tarnum manifests in the shape of a huge bell above the arena, and Ben rings it with a small chunk of tarnum to announce the start of the mock battle.