CHAPTER 1

  Well, this day could have been better.

  I stood in a clearing, surrounded by a forest as far as he could see. He looked down at his body, to understand this new mortal form of his.

  I don’t feel short, so I’m not a dwarf. I’m not slim either, so not an elf. No animal features, so not Talonis or Beastman. Guess I’m human. Not sure how I feel about this.

  I’m above average height, with a sturdy build. I appeared to be in my late 20’s or early 30’s. I had black hair, and eyes that seemed to change color the longer you looked, according to my children. I have a 5 o’clock shadow, and felt haggard, but with what happened to me just a few minutes ago, it was no surprise. I’m tanned, with some muscle tone. All I had on a simple tunic, with leather pants, and simple sandals.

  But why would my children betray me? What are they plotting? Could they have allied with That? But I never told my children about That, so how did That make contact with them?

  ““FATHER!””

  The sudden shout makes me wince, and he turns around to look at his son and daughter. Jus and Nil, the only twins born among the gods, but also looked the most different. Jus, the God of Darkness, looked to be in his teens, with a tall, slender, pale frame. His hair covered his face, but all that could be seen was one red eye. He was dress plainly, with a white linen shirt and black vest, black trousers and boots. A shabby sica hangs at his left side, its naked black blade exposed, chips and cracks barred for all to see. A faded black parmula was strapped to his back.

  I then looked to my youngest daughter. Nil, the Goddess of light, appears to be a teenage girl at first glance. She has shoulder length black hair, tied in the back to keep it out of her face. She has golden eyes, with a smattering of freckles across her nose. She is deeply tanned, but is tall and slender, like her brother. She is dressed in well fitted silver chain mail, with golden leather armor over it. She has a blue cloth tunic on underneath all that that reaches to her knees. She had golden greaves on her legs, and past those were sturdy brown boots. She held a golden hasta in one hand, glossy and well maintained. Strapped to her other hand, a silvery clypeus gleamed in the light of the day. A sheathed gladius is at her side.

  ““FATHER! CAN YOU HEAR US?””

  “Yes, I hear you kids, you can stop yelling. I was thinking.” I gave my children an apologetic smile. I know that these two are just concerned about me, since what happened is unprecedented.

  “Dad, I swear you’ll be the death of me.” My son gives me a relieved smirk. I can see the concern in his flippant expression.

  Suddenly, I feel my head wrenched to the side, to see my daughter’s face way too close to mine.

  “Father, are you okay? Is your mind intact? Is there a problem with your body? We kept calling your name, and you wouldn’t respond.” My daughter has thrown her weapons aside, and is holding my head with her hands, turning and jerking it every which way to get a closer look. I bring my hands up and take hers into mine.

  “I’m fine, little one. Now if you could stop that, before you twist my head off, that’d be great.” I smile at her, while tightening my hands on hers so she understands. “I am mortal now. If there is any damage, I’ll just have to live with it. But since you asked so……insistently, I feel fine.” I let go of her hands and take a few steps back. I then turn and make eye contact with both of them.

  Stars above, I’m mortal. I can’t heal, or fly. I can’t stop time, or freeze space. Oh sweet merciful heavens, I can’t even sing my song. If I can’t sing, then That could awaken and then- Nope, nip that thought trail in the bud. I will regain my power, and I will sing again.

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  “Now then, do either of you want to explain to me why my other children rebelled against me? I would truly love to know this information, since I’M GETTING MORE PISSED OFF AS I THINK ABOUT IT. WHEN I GET BACK UP THERE, I’M GONNA-” I interrupt myself, knowing that getting mad is not going to help.

  But once I get up there, no power in the ‘verse will stop me from beating them from one side of the palace to the other.

  “*ahem* I mean, please explain. Before I lose touch with reality again.”

  My son and daughter exchange a worried glance, and that makes me more worried. My daughter and son keep looking at each other, speaking without words, clearly arguing. Back when I was a god, I monitored them to see if it was some sort of power, but nope. They just seem to know each other that well. My daughter snorts, clearly winning whatever argument they just had. My son looks at me, and begins to speak.

  “Dad, remember how you laid down the restrictions on us? You know, the really annoying ones that limit our influence on Terrene?  Well, it caused us to be scared shitless. I mean, all of us are all powerful beings in our right, but you just showed to us how powerful you are, and how much weaker we are compared to you. I mean, we knew you created the world, but we thought that if we all worked together, we could match you. Instead, you created something that, in an instant, limited our powers. Something that all of us working together couldn’t damage, much less undo. Sis, you want to take over from here?” My son was having trouble looking me in the eyes. Did he think I would be mad? If my children had just come up and talked to me, I would have changed the restrictions.

  “Father, the others felt too scared to talk to you, and they thought that if they made you feel as powerless as they do, you would either get rid of or change the restrictions. So they decided to trick you into wanting to visit the world. Knowing that you would weaken yourself temporarily instead of lifting the restrictions, because you have an image to uphold. The rest you already know.” My daughter is also not meeting my eyes, and fidgeting in place.

  So I scared my children that bad, huh? Good to know. When I get back, I’m going to show them true fear, and then apologize, because I never thought about how the restrictions would feel for them. If I found them annoying, it must have been torture for them.

  I look at my children, then look at the sky.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of how you kiddos would react. But when I get back up there, we are going to have a ‘talk’. Be ready for some punishment, because this is not just a small inconvenience.” I gave my toothiest grin to the sky, and I think I saw it shiver. I then look at Jus and Nil.

  “You have to leave me soon, because if you stay much longer, and the restrictions will kick. The only reason it hasn’t yet is because there are none of the major species present.” My kids started to object, and I cut them off. “I’ll be fine. I just need to find the key. But I need you to head back, and tell the others that if I can’t recover the key, they are going to need to get ready for things to start change in the heavens. I can’t tell you what will be coming, but know that I may have been the first god, but I was not the first being. Go, and prepare for war.”

  My children looked at me with wide eyes, and nodded. As they began to open their mouths to say something, I felt the wind pick up, as my restrictions started to activate. I looked at them and just mouthed the word “Go.” And then all I saw was an explosion of light get sucked into an implosion of light, and I was alone on my world, weaker than I have ever been before.