Daergo’mo’na’kun smiled as the projections of all other Gods reunited looked at him.

Finally, it was His turn. It was time to awaken His Champions. He could barely wait.

In front of Him, the Divine Instruments awaited.

The Dice of Worlds.

The Hourglass of Eternity.

The Globe of Souls.

All marvel creations, miracles that bear witness of Their almighty power.

With calm and precise movements, Daergo’mo’na’kun held the Dice of Worlds and felt each of its thirty-seven sides. With each touch, the power of the races within emanated through Him, and the possibilities flashed on His mind. The tenacity of the Majunk. The inmensurable strength of Argoss. The artfulness of the Dolalu.

A vast variety of worthy Champions, each with a different aptitude.

“Would you go on with it? We are all eager to start with the real fun part.” Rumbled Tanavar’kul-ma impatience clear in his tone. Some of the other Gods murmured in agreement. They couldn’t be blamed. Many had passed through the Awakening already, but even more waited Their turn.

Three hundred Gods, every single one of them omnipotent and all-knowing. Usually, they wouldn’t have much reason to get involved in each other’s affairs. 

Except once every millenia, where the creators of everything got together to decide which one was THE God beyond all others.

The process was designed to be fair, in a way that none of Them could interfere, at least not until the game was already on its way. That was the fun part, They all knew it. Where the real contest would begin. 

For now, They were just picking Their Champions. Letting destiny decide the weapons and tools They would have at Their disposal. 

Daergo’mo’na’kun held the dice on His hand a moment longer, and silently uttered a prayer to Himself before throwing it onto the table.

“Argoss. Please, let it be Argoss” He repeated over and over in His mind, while He watched the Dice of Worlds roll.

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It didn’t land on Argoss.

It landed on Earth.

Laughter erupted from a few places, and some Gods made jabs at Him.

“All this waiting, and you get Earth?”

Daergo’mo’na’kun wasn’t the first God to end up with an Earthling as one of Their Champions, but to get Earth as His first roll was a bad omen.

Earth wasn’t the worst planet to get a Champion from, it all depended on the point in time. But it had some rough eras, it was very easy to end up with a bad one.

With even calmer and more precise movements, Daergo’mo’na’kun picked the Hourglass of Eternity.

The sand inside the glass flowed down, always going forward, slowly filling its lower half.

The instrument not only represented the past, present and future, it actually controlled the gradual passing of time. 

Without it, nothing would ever change. Everything was fated to be the same.

With His infinite power, Daergo’mo’na’kun shattered it, breaking time itself.

Outside the sacred realm of Gods, reality froze.

Comets stopped in the middle of their celestial journey, lives were saved mere seconds before their doom, scientists were denied their revolutionary insights. All part of a future that could exist no more.

The Gods waited, while the sand and dust and all the small bits of the Hourglass started to get back together, mending as new, as if it had never been broken.

In a way, it never has.

Within, the sand started falling again. But the balance inside was now different.

Outside the sacred realm of Gods, reality unfroze. Except, reality had changed, moved backward to match the new position of the grains.

As if nothing had happened, time kept moving.

Daergo’mo’na’kun couldn’t help but groan.

This time, laughter was everywhere.

At this specific epoch, it was almost guaranteed he would end up with a human.

His first Champion, and it was pretty much as spoiled as it could be.

He would have to accept it. A bad start, but nothing that couldn’t be saved, especially if He had luck with His next Champions. Seven other Gods had also got stuck with Humans, but they were still confident. After all, the Awakening barely mattered in the grand scheme of things. The Game was barely starting.

At least, that was what Daergo’mo’na’kun said to himself, but He couldn’t lose the sour taste in His mouth, and didn’t manage to laugh with the others. He didn’t even smile. 

The Globe of Souls, first just a black goo vaguely shaped as a ball, had changed twice by now. First, it transformed into the planet Earth, then it moved as time moved, always maintaining a perfect replica of the real planet, precise to its every millimeter. It now shined with bright white, occupied by billions of small dots, each representing a living soul.

And not a single worthy Champion. Daergo’mo’na’kun wasted no time with the last Divine Instrument, impatient for it to be over so he could start with His next one.

With a strong jerk from his hand, the Globe of Souls started spinning, and for long seconds it circled back and forth, until it finally stopped. Then, the image started zooming in, more and more, and finally a small region rested on its top, representing a small portion of the planet, and showing all the souls alive and going on with their lives.

Whatever. Who cared what part of the planet this human was from? It was still a human.

Internally, Daergo’mo’na’kun sighed. He watched as one of the small dots suddenly started blinking. A human dying, and its souls being released to the Higher Realms.

His first Champion was chosen.

A male human. From the year 2024. From a country called Brazil.

It wasn’t a great start.

Well, when it comes down to it, everyone needs some paws to sacrifice.

Daergo’mo’na’kun would find a way for all his pieces to be useful, in one way or another.