From the first time Fae had seen Lilly and what she could do, she had been deeply fascinated by her and her followers. She wanted to learn more about them, and given the chance, she would’ve loved to spend more time with them. After all, every new story she heard about them was more interesting than the last, be it rumors on the street, or second hand accounts by her fiance Bren. When Tomar stood in front of her door one evening and asked for her assistance in the upcoming Calling rituals, she was elated. Finally, she would get another chance to see them up close, and who knew, maybe something unexpected and fascinating would happen. It was an innocent wish that ended up coming true. Something had happened, though she could’ve never predicted this.

During the last ritual of the day, and the third one in which she was involved, an unusual Calling sign appeared. One unlike any other she had ever seen or heard about. Fae knew that she had witnessed something special when Tomar shouted for them to get off the ritual platform, and she followed his instructions immediately. The girl, Shadi, did not, however, and the situation got even more peculiar when the god Gallas appeared. Not only that, while she was rooted in place, everyone else seemed to be fine, and Tomar even started arguing with the god. For months she had been kicking herself in the butt that she had taken a day off on the exact date when Tomar fled the town as the Workers got back, and Shae appeared right outside the walls. But now she had a front row seat while someone was speaking casually to a god.

Fae had absolutely no idea what was going on, and she was somewhat wary, because neither Tomar nor Gallas looked happy about the current situation. However, even that uneasy feeling largely went away when she suddenly felt a strange energy enter her body. From one moment to the next the heavy air in the room was almost gone, and she was able to move freely once more, even though Gallas stood only a few meters away. Now she was able to properly focus on their argument, and the scripture sigils that the god started to write in the air.

“Whoa! Wait!” Tomar said in a panic, but Gallas kept going. He made another stroke, and another, until Tomar raised his arm. “God damn it, give me a second!”

Suddenly, an invisible force shook Gallas, and he stumbled back two steps, while his script vanished into thin air.

“That’s...!” Gallas said with trepidation. “How far along are you!? This can’t be happening!”

“What can’t be happening!? Talk to me!”

“You dare make demands of me!?” Gallas said, and seemingly got ready to start writing in the air again.

“Please, listen for a moment! Last time you sent me away, I got back almost immediately! The result was another awakened, dozens of dead mods, and now this! Do you want that to happen again?”

Gallas looked enraged, but whatever he had been trying to do with the scripture sigils, he didn’t attempt it again right away. He was indeed listening to this boy, who had apparently just attacked the god. It was mind-boggling.

“Let’s go over this calmly,” Tomar said. “I came here, into this very town, twice. I found my way into this... situation, twice. You guys might say I don’t belong here, but for this to happen more than once, what are the odds? And if you can’t get rid of me that easily, isn’t it more likely that my existence isn’t as unnatural as you claim?”

Tomar glanced at Fae and Shadi more than once, seemingly choosing his words carefully, while doing his best to try to convince Gallas of not doing what he was intending to do. One thing seemed obvious to the women, however. Tomar did not have the full support of the gods. Something was wrong here.

“You think you can talk your way out of this?” Gallas asked. “You’re just a bug, and you will be treated as such.”

A bug...? That sounds harsh... Fae thought, misunderstanding what Gallas was referring to, and figuring Tomar had been compared to an insect in the eyes of the gods.

“Ever heard the phrase ‘It’s not a bug, it’s a feature?’” Tomar asked.

“What...?” Gallas said, sounding surprised.

“Instead of trying to fix this by force, try working with me! You admonished me for not knowing what I’m doing, so tell me what I’m doing!”

“That phrase, where did you hear that...?” Gallas asked.

“Huh?”

Now both of them seemed surprised and confused. What Tomar had said made no sense to Fae and Shadi, but Gallas had evidently understood the meaning of those words. Meanwhile, Tomar was surprised that Gallas latched onto them.

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

“Those are the words of the creator...! Where did you hear that phrase!?” Gallas asked desperately.

“It’s a common expression where I’m from...” Tomar said.

Puzzle pieces nobody else knew about appeared to be falling into place for the god, and his eyes seemed to widen as realization about something dawned on him.

“... What’s your name? Where are you from?”

“Miles. Earth.”

Gallas looked at the boy slack jawed, and moments passed, until he stammered “M-master...?”

““Huh!?”” everyone present exclaimed.

***

Some Time, Somewhere

“It’s not a bug, Gallas, it’s a feature,” a translucent figure said to another, standing next to a water source in the middle of nowhere.

“A feature? But it’s not working correctly, isn’t that a problem?” Gallas asked.

“Nah. Let’s call it a special property of this world. Everybody can have rain, rivers, and oceans, but how many worlds have magical wells?”

“I’m not sure your supervisor would agree, Master...”

The translucent figure sighed overly dramatically. “I told you to call me Miles. Getting called ‘Master’ is weird.”

“I will try... Miles...”

“Anyway, it’s fine as long as it works. Just know that you can’t mess with the water shards. You stick to managing the rituals and the souls, okay?”

“Understood!” Gallas said.

“You could salute me while you’re at it.”

“Yes, Master!” Gallas said, and raised his hand to his head.

“God, I’m messing with you. Don’t be so formal. Relax. You’re the first ‘person’ I’ve talked to in a hundred years. Or ten minutes... Whatever fucking rotation we’re on.”

“It’s been seventy-eight years since your supervisor was last here, which, on our current rotation, equates to about ninety years in your perception, Mas—... Miles.”

“Oh? You’re able to convert the time on the fly? That’s neat! How long have I been working on this world?”

“Erinn came into existence two hundred and ninety-six years ago, or one hundred and thirty-one years in your perception.”

“Seriously, how is it that Dave keeps getting annoyed by me not following this weird time system? It makes no sense! You can’t just make time flexible like that, and have it change randomly! One moment a year is an hour, the next it’s a decade!”

Miles kept ranting about the way time was measured in the Outer Realm, and Gallas listened patiently. He had been created only days ago, but he had already gotten used to his master’s antics, and he understood that Miles needed to vent about certain things, now that he had someone to vent to. His architect was a very methodical being, enjoying clean and precise designs, but the Outer Realm was nothing like that. It was chaos, which Miles was desperately trying to bring some order to, by painstakingly creating everything he needed from scratch. Even if he hadn’t been Gallas’ creator, the god would’ve still admired him for attempting this, as his instinctive knowledge told him that it wasn’t something architects typically did.

“God, and why do they call it a year? At least come up with a new name for it!” Miles said in exasperation. “It’s no wonder Earth was such a mess. How is anyone supposed to create a properly working world in this environment?”

“Earth?” Gallas asked curiously.

“It’s where I lived last, before I came here. Ugh, sorry about going on a tangent like that. Let’s get back on track. Where were we though... Right, water shards will spawn randomly, and that’s okay, but the soul shards need management. That will be part of your job.”

“I understand. But what about the other types of shards?” Gallas asked.

“Well, I could fix them, but it might actually be fun to leave them be... those could open some possibilities for the inhabitants of this world.”

“Even the null shards...?”

“Even those. Though I’ll admit that that might be a little risky. Use them incorrectly and you take down the whole world... Or even more... Then again, what’s a fantasy world without a nice doomsday scenario, am I right?”

Gallas nodded in understanding, readily going along with everything Miles said, although he didn’t truly understand some of his master’s ideas. The system this world was running on was not only unique and neatly designed, for one architect to have created it within one design cycle was very impressive. But the world built on top of that system still seemed weird. Not that he would ever voice this out loud.

“I’m kidding, Gallas...” Miles said, shaking his head. “The null shards will be fixed before launch. We couldn’t possibly leave these in. I’m looking forward to you maturing a little, you need to at least get my jokes.”

“I will do my best, Master.”

“Yes, I know you will... Alright, let’s create you a friend, shall we? We need someone to manage the monster system and the mana distribution. Those will affect you both,” Miles said. He waved his hand in the air to make a screen appear, and after tapping on it a few times, a text prompt asked for a name.

“Hm... how about... ‘Celeth.’”

Pleased with his choice, Miles pressed enter, and the second god for his new world came into being.

Even hundreds of years later, Gallas still thought back fondly to these early days. In human terms, they were his childhood. He rejoiced over every sibling his metaphorical “father” gave him, and everything they created together. In the end, he hadn’t been able to spend as much with Miles as he had hoped to though. One day, the world was suddenly locked in, and the gods were unable to contact their master. He had disappeared without a word. Gallas had known that this was to happen eventually, but it stung a little that it happened so suddenly. More so, when nobody checked in on them for decades and centuries, he started resenting the beings of the Outer Realm, who were supposed to have an eye on the worlds they built. Especially their creators. He kept doing the task he had been given, as such was the duty of a god, but the happiness was gone.