The triumvirate stood reverently before an indescribable artifact of divine majesty. Upon the massive marble surface of the altar of creation hovered a liquified representation of the planet known as Earth. From the depths of space, azure and gold aura cascaded like rivers towards the altar and penetrated the spinning planet.

Vess felt a hum of energy pass through her, like a wave of power, as the planet churned and roiled. Continents fractured and creatures fused as a new world began to take shape. Vess yawned as she watched buildings and objects disintegrate back into their fundamental parts.

She’d seen this process many times and her curiosity eroded into boredom. She gazed at the altar beneath the planet instead, which never ceased to amaze. The altar was a fragment of an omnipotent system that ran the universe after the chaos of the collapse. That was when interfaces and rules appeared that governed everything, including ascension. Vess was convinced an angry god had wiped clean the slate of their first creation. She vowed it would never happen again; her order would make sure of that.

Her idle scaled fingers tapped the altar while her thoughts drifted. The system made claiming new worlds easier, even if the three of them were forced to abide by the system’s rules.

She just needed a handful of talented youths to fight for her, excluding the powerless natives. Each trial would make her chosen stronger; only one had to survive by the time the seventh trial started. The hard part was waiting. While the universe was boundless, sentient life was still rare and any planet home to such life was protected by the system until it had reached maturity. The system was designed to give everyone a fair chance — an opportunity to struggle and rise.

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Vess surreptitiously streamed her aura into Earth’s liquified representation.

“Are your grand orders ready for battle?” she said, attempting to draw attention to herself and away from the altar. She didn’t bother mentioning the smaller orders or Earth’s natives — none of them had won in hundreds of years and were of no concern.

She chuckled dryly. It had taken them lifetimes, but like disobedient children left with their creator’s toys, they had figured out how to ever so slightly manipulate the rules, but only when a new world was integrated.

Vess discreetly changed the terrain; the object of her desire was beneath floating islands, through the clouds, beyond the fathomless ocean and even the abyss. Each layer more terrifying than the last.

There, it should be impossible to reach.

It was worth the deadly risk of her two compatriots — or far worse, the system noticing.

Quite pleased with herself, she looked up. She was met with crossed arms; fur spilled from them like molten gold, blazing eyes pierced her soul as his radiant displeasure bathed the worlds nearby in light that melted flesh off bone. Her ice-white scales simply tingled. Vess rolled her chromatic eyes and lifted her scaled hands off the altar in a gesture of peace.

It was not long before a golden light pulsed on the altar, and she knew restructuring was complete. Earth was infused with a sufficient amount of aura, siphoned from all participants across the universe and the system itself.

The triumvirate of almost-gods gazed at the planet with a predatory grin.

Let the trials begin, Vess thought.