Prologue

Thunderclaps sounded as the Gods conversed. In this small dimension, even their low voices and polite laughs caused resonance through the fabric of reality that would have rent lower lifeforms asunder in an instant. As they played a simple game to pass the time, the more powerful of the two renewed his verbal testing.

“The time is drawing near for your third attempt at finding a Champion. You’re still fixated on that silly ‘Earth’ idea, Poratrells?”

The being that spoke these words was typically considered to be a man, though as a Major Deity he had long since transcended the point where that was a meaningful label. He could take any body he saw fit, even several at once, and to reproduce would take far more than a simple exchange of DNA. Even though his words were lighthearted and teasing, the raw force imbued in every movement of his body or spirit sent painful vibrations churning into Poratrells’ form. Had he still been a Minor Deity, as he was when he first gained an audience with Paltha, it would have been all he could do to stay together and not have his Concepts scattered or absorbed by the man. Especially given the resonance between Paltha’s Progression and his own Travel and Adventure, it was only thanks to significant practice that he could retain the sense of mind necessary to both play and reply.

The game they played was some sort of strange complicated alternative to chess. If either of the Deities expended more than a fraction of their power then they could likely have mastered it in an instant, but that would defeat the point. Instead, they both restricted themselves to the mental capacity of an average Aeon human for game moves. Paltha was obsessed with games, and several of the religious factions on Aeon that worshipped the God of Progression crafted new ones as part of their faith. Poratrells, not being interested in the slow development of tactical skill in a board game thanks to the constant tugging for novelty of his Adventure Concept, hated this obsession but tolerated it for the sake of his ambitions.

“I find Earth’s variation on humans interesting, and I still believe that the novelty of our world to them can provide a motivational boost. That is why I searched so long for a world that bore the necessary similarities to our own in the first place. I will ascend, sooner or later, and each Champion is simply a step towards that inevitability. Surely, as the Deity of Progression you can understand the Concept?”

His spirit quaked as he finished speaking, and he knocked over a game piece instinctively. That had been just past the line of disrespect, and Paltha hadn’t shied away from reminding him of their difference in status. Questioning a Major Deity’s connection to their Concept was the ultimate taboo, a challenge of war in some cases, and Poratrells chided himself for the slip in focus that allowed such an impulsive sentence to leave his lips.

“Having a goal you believe already completed is hardly an Adventure, is it child?” Paltha came almost to the point of shouting while his hands calmly moved game pieces on autopilot.

“I will not be supplanted so easily. With another World Challenge drawing near, will your next Champion even survive as long as the last two? Perhaps if he decides to settle down with a farm girl and become a Trapper like the last he might make it almost half a decade before an Orc slits his throat!”

Although the pain that shook Poratrells as Paltha raised his voice was intense, the evident irritation in the cursed God’s words did cause a savage ripple of satisfaction. If Paltha was deigning to recall specifics in his insults, he was genuinely irritated.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“We will see. Time is available, and I have no threats to my status that force ascension in any rush. The minnows that snap at the heels of my Concepts are more pitiful than ever, and you forget that I am the Deity of Adventure. World Challenges may draw danger and death, threat and chaos, but just as you value them for the Progression that they create I value them for the Adventure that they can foment.”

Paltha made a series of moves that defeated Poratrells casually, expression shifted in a way that Poratrells recognised as a sign that he was communicating with one of his Avatars. Preparing for the World Challenge was taking up a lot of the God’s considerable resources, more than Poratrells had ever had to spend on a Trial or Dungeon, and it was with some envy that he felt the soft whispers of the power changing hands during Paltha’s momentary conversation. He cleared the game board and set it for rematch.

Time passed as Paltha continued to defeat Poratrells. His talent for the game grew with each move that he made, his Concept far more suited to improving at the new skill than Poratrells’ own. He hated these regular games, where he threw himself pointlessly against the God’s talent for whatever new game he’d found among the people of their realm. Still, it was necessary that he forge his own spirit and Concepts in the crucible of repeated interaction with a Major Deity. Especially if he planned to supplant Paltha one day and become the new Major Deity of Progression, he would need to be familiar with the sensation of resisting the God’s authority. His own Avatar had sent communication that the Dimensional Pathway was stable, and he itched to end this constant cycle of defeat and activate it to appraise his options for a Champion. Forcing down the urge, however, he played another dozen games before Paltha declared himself bored and Poratrells was able to leave to his own domain.

Merging with his Avatar and taking over its’ place at the head of the Dimensional Pathway, Poratrells looked out over the forms of the half dozen humans available to himself. As he scanned them, he found himself disappointed. The game he had inspired on Earth failed to find mass market appeal, it seemed, and the calibre of player was geared more towards the overweight virgin than seasoned combat veteran demographic. Still, as he flicked from person to person and looked more deeply into their spirits and potential, he could see a few who might be worth choosing, and one in particular who was psychologically ripe for the translocation. Thrumming with excitement, he dove fully into the process, withdrawing power from all of his other Avatars beyond the necessary maintenance for his Trials and Dungeons in order to more fully dedicate himself to the task. If he was to bring his Champion in time for them to have a chance of participating in the World Challenge, even if only in a minor capacity, then the rewards would be more than worth the loss of influence it would cost him on Aeon.

Paltha had administrated three World Challenges in his time as the Major Deity of Progression, all long before Poratrells was even the Minor Deity of Travel, and just as he’d told the God when they played, his Adventure Concept was positively bursting with the potential another represented. If the people of Aeon weathered it and progressed as Paltha hoped to force them to, the realm would surge even further forwards and the benefits would trickle to every single lifeform big or small. Those who participated heavily in the events, though, would see a much larger slice of that pie. Even though the rules prevented him from disclosing the existence or nature of World Challenges to his Champion, and a whole host of other things besides, he planned to nudge his choice as much as possible. The last two failures had been learning experiences, both in terms of who he should choose and how he should prepare them, and he was going to apply that knowledge.

His Concepts were those of novelty and new experiences, the reason he’d even had the will or capacity to locate Earth and interact with the far-flung realm, and despite what Paltha had mockingly said about Adventure, the thrill of knowing deep in his core that he would one day ascend – but needing to fight and scramble for every piece of the process – animated Poratrells in a way he had not been excited since he first earned the right to an ascension process. Most Simple Deities were not even on the path to ascension, still consumed with defending claims on their Concepts, but he had not allowed himself to become bogged down in the same. Paltha’s Concept of Progression was pitiful, cautious and scared, and without Adventure driving it the God’s power was flawed. Exploiting that flaw might take another Champion or it might take a hundred, but either way Poratrells would see it done.