Hey everyone, so this is the third chapter, and I'm having issues with my decisions. Basically, I'm suffering from writers block for this story. I have two other stories that I will be posting the first chapters of, and I need your help to tell me which I should continue writing on. Just comment on which story you think is best, and I will devote myself to that story. Please help me, I'm feeling so conflicted. And thank you to everyone who has followed this story, it means a lot.

I felt like there was something pulling me somewhere, and I got this image in my head of a clean white room, with women rushing around, busying themselves, while one hovered next to my vision, I assumed that was my mother. They were all dressed in white robes, with golden sashes around their waists. It seemed to be from an era similar to the time of the Greeks.

While I had that image in my mind, in truth, all that surrounded me was darkness. Just, nothing. That is, until, a giant white hole opened up in front of me. A saw a face through it, a weathered face with many lines carved into it from age. It was the face of a stern looking man, with a white beard on his chin, and a bare lip. His wispy white hair floated in streams around his head, while his blue eyes seemed to bore their way into my head. They saw whatever I kept there, things I didn’t want to see. They saw the last scene of my life, the scene I myself watched not too long ago. But I mentally shut my eyes, for I feared that my mother might have died, and I didn’t need that reminder.

That’s when the stern face smiled, and I saw a golden hook solidify inside of the blackness. It pulled at me, and I was tugged into the open air. But, the scene I saw was not one of nurses bustling around. It was a different scene, I saw that we were in a forest, surrounded by mighty oak trees, and wavy willows. Mossy boulders dotted the landscape, and around us flowed a bending river. We were on a small island in a great river.

In front of me was the man who I had seen before, with the same blue eyes and the same wispy hair. I tried to speak, “Hey, who are you? I was supposed to be reborn into the 10th realm, but this doesn’t look like what I was suspecting?” But there was a problem. When I spoke it sounded more like, “Hashel relk yonow? I as suposled o e ebon te teth eal ut is doent ook ike as uspeting.” I raised my hands in front of my eyes and saw that they were short and pudgy. I was a baby. A toothless baby.

Of course, it made sense. I was reborn, why would I be reborn into a body that was already 12? That wouldn’t make sense.

The man spoke with a voice similar to his eyes. Cold.

“Hello, Merek, my name is Wodan. Well, Wodan, or Odin depending on where you are. Actually, in the Demonic Plane I am known as Frost Burn, but that’s just because I am known to torture people by freezing them in such cold temperatures that their flesh burns.

            Anyway, you are one of the few pure souls to ever exist, so be proud. I suppose I got lucky since I only had to wait 8 years before you came here. I would have expected a wait of a few hundred years.

            So, to cut to the chase, I have been monitoring the teleportation from the Plains of Judgement to the 10th Plane. You came along, so I plucked you out and pulled you here, the 7th Plane. Here I will teach you and train you as soon as your body is able. Once you turn 10, I will let you leave this wilderness, and you can integrate into the society of this plane. Once you defeat the Gods who rule this plane, we can continue to defeat the other planes before challenging the 10th plane. The whole process should take about 1000 years. I think that about covers most of what I have to tell you. Once you can speak the language of this world, you can ask questions. I will help you out with that a bit though with that part”

Once this guy finished speaking, a single thought was running through my mind… “Rambler.” Well, that, and the thought that I was talking to Odin the Norse God. That part was kind of cool though. Eventually, I just sat there staring at him until I finally fell asleep.

            It had been two years since the day I met Wodan. After the first three months, I had learned the language of the planet well enough that it was comparable to most of my prior vocabulary. Some of that was because of Wodan’s easy learning spells, but I still did a lot. I was proud.

            After 6 months, not only did I have enough teeth to talk fluently, I had developed the ability to walk, and write. By 7 months, I was reading and writing fluently. At 10 months old, I started a regimen of running and squats, as well as climbing up the trees on the island. When I was a year old, I doubled the load on my workout, and Wodan began to teach me to cultivate both battle power and mana.

            By 18 months, my mana was the size of a large puddle, about three feet across. My battle power at that point was the size of a rock, way past the pebble of most 10 year olds. Not only that, but my body was comparable to the average 4 year old, but more muscular. I was too young to have actual muscle though, so what I really had was a streamlined body that showed that my youthful body had endured lots of exercise.

            Now, at two years, Wodan was teaching me both spells and ways to use battle qi. My mana and qi was at a level comparable to an above average 16 year old. Of course, I was still only at the level of genius 14 year olds, but still. Impressive.

            Through all of the two years of my constantly changing regimen and training, one thing had stayed the same. Wodan had always been like the most stern coach you’ve ever had multiplied by 100 times. The second I did something even slightly wrong, I would be yelled at and punished according to the severity of the mistake. For example, if I accidentally slowed down while doing my sprints around the island, then I would be forced to stand on a tiny rock in the fast flowing river without moving. Whenever this happened, the water would come up around me, nearly encasing me, giving me no room to move. Wodan also, using the same technique, would make it swirl around me with intensity. I would get injured if I moved, and this entire time I had to stay in the Standing Tiger position. That is, with one leg up, on the toes of my other foot, with my arms crossed at different elevations in front of me.

            But, however strict Wodan may be, he was an amazing teacher. If I did something wrong, before the punishment, he would show me how to do it perfectly. The amount of skills I learned so far under him wasn’t many, but I was so good at the ones I knew that low level techniques were comparable to top level techniques. And I was learning top level techniques.

            My days were divided between battle power training, mana training, physical body training, eating, and sleeping. I woke up with the sun every morning and ate a quick breakfast Wodan had prepared. This took 15 minutes. Next, for about 5 hours, I trained my body. I would then eat lunch, 15 minutes again, and train my mana for 5 hours. I would then spend 2 hours and 30 minutes training my battle power. I would eat dinner in 15 minutes, then train my battle power for another 2 hours and 30 minutes. And, with the final 15 minutes, I would map out what I would take time out of the next day to preform my punishments. Wodan made it always be one of my meals, or maybe my physical body training. This is only because the punishments are usually physically taxing.

            I was now 5 years old. For the past three years, I had trained about 3 times harder than previously. Everything from the punishments to the taste of the food was harsher. However, it all has paid off.

            My mana pool is now the size of a large lake. This is comparable to an average 20 year old, or a genius 17 year old. My battle power was at the level of boulder, and a very large one at that. This was comparable to the average 19 year old, or a genius 16 or 17 year old. And my physical body was at a peak physical condition. It was at the point where I most likely looked like a fish I was so streamlined. What muscle my body had developed was bulging and so clearly defined that you might think I was a fully grown hobbit. I was disappointed when Wodan told me there were actually no hobbits in most worlds, including this one.

            When I was 3, not only was I given a sword, I was given a wizard’s staff. The sword was simple, but was sharp enough to cut off an arm with as much force as you would use to chop carrots. It was silver, but apparently enchanted by Wodan himself. Silver made like that was referred to as God Silver, a fact Wodan told me himself. The staff, too was simple yet powerful. It was made by the Greek god of nature and given to Prometheus as a gift. However, Prometheus had an equally powerful staff, which he gave to Wodan. Now, Wodan was giving it to me.

            It was made from the heartwood of a dryad, enchanted by the nature goddess, then adorned with a Compass Star. A compass star was a great treasure by itself, as it could tell what kinds of mana or battle power were being used. Earth, fire, wind, water, light, abstract, or darkness. It would also tell where, as long as it was nearby.

            But when the Compass Star was put on the staff, it greatly enhanced control over the elements. Wodan had told me the only difference from a weapon and a lump of materials was what you called it. So I had named my weapons. The sword was called King’s Blade, to live up to my title as Reborn King. The staff was named North Star.

            I turned 9 a while ago. To be specific, 11 months and 29 days ago, I turned 9. And tomorrow Wodan would take me to the nearest human city. He stressed the human part, because apparently there were different races on this planet.

            I rose out of my silk bed with a peaceful smile on my face. I left the simple stone cottage Wodan had prepared for me, and stood in front of the tallest tree in the island. I didn’t recognize what type of tree it was. Either it was similar to an exotic tree from Earth or it was a completely different kind. It had pine needles for leaves, but the tree was shaped like an oak tree on Earth. It was one of those things that shocked you no matter how often you looked at it.

            I only waited for about 3 minutes before Wodan came, emerging from the shadows the tree cast on the ground. It was odd, but he had explained to me long ago that once reaching a certain level of skill, you can rip a hole in the plane, and create a mini-plane. Places like the Plains of Judgement are mini-planes. The only thing is, unless you’re really powerful, it’s not permanent. Apparently, a god named The Great Spirit, head of a religion known as Spiritual Way had made the Planes of Judgement. Wodan made this one.

            I had no idea what it looked like, or what it was, but every night he would go there, while I slept. And every morning, when I woke, he came from out the tree’s shadow. He told me though, that he could access it from anywhere there was a shadow. But I assumed that he liked the dramatic flare of melding into a tree’s shadow and disappearing.

            “Good morning, Apprentice Merek. I believe that it is time for your test.” This was normal. Every morning, he would say the same words. ‘Good morning, Apprentice Merek. I believe it is time for your training-‘ wait, what? Test!

            “What do you mean by test, Master Wodan?” I asked, curious. Wodan just smiled, saying, “Follow me.” Then he sped away, at a pace I could only keep up with by using my battle power. But his speed was by using only the power of his body. I had a long way to go.

            We turned to go to the northeastern side of the large island, and I just followed along. After only about 10 seconds, we arrived at the beach. He kept going. I kept following.

            Once we entered the lake the water seemed to part around him, creating a column of vacant space in the water. I followed behind him, all the way down to the murky bottom of the river.

            There, I saw a spark of flame, eagerly devouring the oxygen in a ball of swirling air. Around the pocket of air was a cover of pure blue water. This ball was half sunken into the mud at the bottom of the river. The lighting was off, and half of the ball was cast in shadow, while the other half was lit up. This ball of elements was the size of 2 grown men. Wodan turned, and looked at me.

            “This is the entrance to the 6 Elements Hall. It is a miniature plane made by a Goddess called Athro. She happens to be my cousin, so she told me the technique for creating an entrance to it. 6 Elements Hall is used for testing new gods and rating their strength. This is used to determine which plane they watch over. Because there are 10 planes, there are 10 levels. Level 1 is the easiest, and if you can survive in the first level for 1 minute, you pass my test. You will undoubtedly be injured, so for the rest of the day, you will be recuperating.” At first, I was elated. I was getting to be tested as they would test a new god. But then, I realized something. I was comparable to a 20 year old talented person in my fighting capabilities. That wasn’t anywhere near as powerful as a god. Perhaps this test was a bit cruel. And a lot harder than I expected. But still, I spoke out.

            “Could you please approximate my chances of passing this test as I am now?” Wodan, still looking at me with that still face, replied, “I couldn’t beat the 8th level. I am merely a 7th level god. To me, the 1st level was about as hard as it would be for you to climb a mountain in 1 minute. You just have to survive for a minute though. So I would give you a 40% chance of succeeding as you are now. However, if you do pass, then I will let you go to civilization tomorrow. If you fail you won’t get to do so. I also have a special surprise for you if you can pass.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

            Hmm. 40% isn’t that depressing. I still have a fairly large chance of passing. And, a special surprise, as well as getting to leave the island and go to civilization. It was a sweet deal, to me. You can only gain, right?

            I nodded and stepped/jumped into the ball of elements. I felt the tugging sensation that I had felt when I had left the Plains of Judgement, then I was in a different place.

             I got a sense of vertigo from the instant shift from one place to the next, and as soon as I did, I heard a growl. Looking ahead, I saw an average sized mountain. It didn’t look to treacherous, and I could probably climb it in those 5 minutes if I tried really hard… but there was no time limit. The problem… there were monsters everywhere, blocking my path. Immediately, I knew that every single one of them was as strong as me, a few stronger. And there were hundreds.

            They came in all shapes and sizes, although most of them were large and with a lot of teeth. There were oddly proportioned fiery wolves, bears with needles like a porcupine… the list went on and on.

            This all led me to a single conclusion… run. And run I did, like a fool, I sprinted around the area. I knew, that to pass, I would probably have to reach the peak of the mountain. Or kill all of the creatures. Or both. But I didn’t have to pass, all I had to do was survive for a minute.

            The good thing about me, was I was very well balanced. While there were some creatures stronger than me, some creatures faster, or had wings… I was average in all of those things. Flying creatures would attack from above, but I could kill them because their defense was weaker than mine. Fast creatures would track me down, but they didn’t have very much attack, so I could defend myself. And the strong creatures couldn’t keep up.

            But, there were hundreds of them, and one of me. Eventually, they started to work together, to trap me, to kill me. I knew, of course, that I could always say exit, and escape, but until the hope was all but gone, I refused to say it.

            We ran in circles around the mountain, though it was more like I ran in circles while they stayed within 10 meters of where they started. That was enough. While the fast ones chased, they would heard me in the direction of the strong ones. Meanwhile, the flying monsters would swoop down to attack, leaving myself almost at their whim.

            30 seconds had passed since I entered, and not only my body, but my mind was feeling the strain of constantly surviving, avoiding the monsters. Somehow, I doubted that I would be able to make it out of this.

            Although I did realize they were gods, I thought it was absolutely retarded that this was something the weakest god could accomplish. I could hardly survive for a minute here, and they could defeat it? But then I remembered how I had been training for less than 10 years. That brought me to my senses.

            “Well, Wodan, maybe you have overestimated me when you gave me a 40% chance of victory. I’d need something special that’s exclusive to me. An ability… A thought struck me. Something that I had forgotten for a long time… a special something… my power to control rocks! I was next to a mountain!

            I connected to that little strand of knowledge that told me how to use my special ability. Hmm, it was simply described as ‘think’. So I did.

            I imagine the process of a great boulder soaring over from the mountain. The boulder crashed into multiple monsters on the way over, not killing them, but throwing them off course. It continued on to me, until it knocked away every monster in my direct vicinity! Finally, I had found what gave me an edge over the monsters. My ability!

            I stopped running, and took time to have a large clump of dirt, rocks, and stones. As the huge clump flew over to me, the larger ones taking longer, they all clumped together. As soon as it was all in the spot where I had been- I had run away by now- I started compressing. All of the material I had pulled there tried to scrunch in on one spot, the resulting pressure bearing down on the stones in the middle.

            One the process was complete, a me-sized glowing red clump of some hard material I couldn’t name was floating in midair. My pride and joy, the thing that would keep me alive.

            This me sized rock then started flying around, ramming into every strong monster it could find. It knocked the weaker ones out, and damaged the stronger ones. Everywhere, monsters were flying.

            Although the faster ones could avoid the rock, they were too busy trying to survive to kill me. It looked like I had one.

            Of course, because I’m me, and for me to be as powerful as a weak god is impossible… all of the surviving monsters started to tear through the air towards one point, much as my rocks had collected at one spot. But the animals didn’t compress, they changed, becoming pieces of a huge, and living, puzzle. Eventually, it was a gigantic lizard with scaly horns all along its back. I assumed that it would normally have wings, but I killed most of the flying creatures, so it just had stumps. The mouth and claws were made of the strong creatures, the fast ones the legs, the rounded ones the body and tail… and the poisonous ones formed the fangs. I was screwed.

            Then I became super-duper screwed, because the mountain stood up. It shook off all of those trees and dirt, and became a lizard similar to the other one, but taller and thinner. I had no chance, but my internal clock told me I only had to survive for 5…

            The lizards came running, sprinting unusually fast for creatures of their size, 2 times faster than myself. And there were, of course two of them. Crap. 4.

            They reached me quickly, despite my full speed running, and all of my attempts to dodge. They batted their paws towards me from both directions, and I sunk down into the hole I made in the ground. 3.

            I tried running underground through a column I created in the ground as I ran. But apparently, they still knew where I was, as their footsteps pounded above me. 2.

            A thick, oily green mist billowed through the original hole I had created, quickly catching up to me. I knew I probably shouldn’t touch it, so I hopped up through the recently made hole in the ground. 1.

            I knew there would be something waiting above me, so I encased myself in the compressed dirt that I had made earlier, after taking in a huge breath. I felt the rock I had made shudder, and be moved, and I knew… I had been swallowed. As the poison started corroding the rock, the long awaited buzzer rang, as my body clock hit 0.

            Using my last breath of air, I yelled, “Exit!” and I was gone.

            I came back to the 6th realm unscathed, although tired, much to Wodan’s surprise.

            “So you made it, huh. I’m assuming you remembered to use your ability then?” Wodan grumbled as soon as I was back, rock suit left behind.

            I nodded, “I guess 40% was enough for me to win, right?” I said, proud in a way. I survived a minute in a ranking test for gods. That’s not something normal people can do.

            “You believed me when I told you 40%? Hah! You had a 0% chance of success if you didn’t remember your ability. However, if you remembered, you had a 100% chance of success. I gave you a 40% chance of remembering.”

            I looked at him, and my face creased into a frown. “If you knew I had the ability to succeed in your test, then why did you not tell me? What difference does it make?”

            The smile on his face was wide with laughter, “I just wanted to see if you would manage to remember. Although, you did exceed y expectations a little. I expected you to be injured before remembering your power. I thought that the pain might trigger the memory.” The grin which I thought was already huge enough, widened an impossible amount. Scary.

            Meanwhile, the frown on my face deepened, “Be careful, your face might crack.” I remarked. His grin didn’t ease up one bit, actually, I thought it might have gotten minutely larger. I didn’t growl at him. I roared.

            “Oh come on! I thought you were the stern guy who stresses training! What happened to the guy who set me to work immediately?! I want him back, the new you is annoying!” Hmm. Not my best angry screech, but I didn’t get much practice yelling at my mom. She was good at raising me, and even if not in the perfect condition of rich kids, but still comfortable. And we got along much better than those rich brats did with their parents.

            “By the way, what test did you get?” Wodan suddenly asked, and I tilted my head. “What do you mean? You said there was only 10 tests and I took the 1st.” Wodan gave a thin smile. “Actually, there are 7 tests for each level. The one you get is random. They get harder with each one, starting at 7. The seventh test is an obstacle course in a volcano, the sixth running away from a horde of poisonous bugs, the fifth dodging man-eating worms underneath the ground…” He took a deep breath, “The fourth is killing everything in a pond infested with sharks, crocodiles, serpents, and eels. The third, you had to fight a huge monster. The second, you had to fight a simulation god that is as powerful as the weakest of the gods, and the first, you had to fight thousands of monsters about as powerful as you. Once you possessed an overwhelming advantage over the monsters, they would reform into a giant monster, while a second monster would come out from hiding under a mountain. Which one of these did you get?” I groaned. “1.” I replied, sad at how easy an obstacle course would have been.

            Wodan grinned again. “Okay, so you might have had it harder than it could have been, but remember, I’m giving you a special treat. Well, 2 special treats actually.” I perked up, wondering what he would give me.

            Wodan spoke, “Your first surprise is that you get the rest of the day off even though you weren’t injured. The second is something that is rightfully yours.” I gave him a blank stare, not comprehending his limit when it comes to cruelty. I shook my head. “What’s rightfully mine that you took? I can’t remember anything that you took from me… other than my sanity of course.” He smiled.

            “Before your soul inhabited this body, it was formed from holy energy, the energy produced by prayer. However, this prayer is a god’s prayer. That makes your body super powerful, 10 times stronger than even a normal god’s body. However, to enhance your training, I took this property away temporarily. Now, I’m giving it back.” Wodan reached into his training silks, and pulled out a shiny black key, handing it to me.

            I smiled at him, though I was shaking my head inside. He would actually do such a cruel thing just for a laugh. Completely unreasonably insanely cruel to all life he came into contact with is the only way I know how to describe him.

            I did feel somewhat happy that I would be getting a 2.0 body, though how much of a difference could it make? Although, now that I think about it… what makes a god so powerful? How could the weakest god be two times stronger than the strongest human could ever be? Could it be their body?

            I accepted the black key, and as soon as I touched it, it entered my body. I felt it moving around inside me, and finally it exited my body. I looked at it, then at my hand. I flexed, but didn’t feel anything different.

            “Try jumping.” Wodan suggested, and I did. I crouched down, then like I was on a trampoline, launched myself up.

            I soared up over the trees, only slowing down after I was just over them. Even then, by the time I actually stopped my ascent, I was looking down at a thumb sized Wodan and laughing. It felt so free to be unrestrainedly floating. I started falling, and hardly felt any wind lash as my body descended. This body was awesome!

            I came down to Wodan’s thunderous applause. “And you didn’t even use battle power or magic. So you just saw your strength. But the main gift of your body is the defense you now possess. An example? Let’s go to the river. You can run it.”

            So I did, I launched off with my feet, my every foot step heavy with my strength, allowing me to maneuver around obstacles with ease. I was also extremely fast, because all of my strength propelled me forward with every footfall.

            Seconds later, I was at the river again. I walked in to about shoulder height, and kicked out with my leg. I watched in glee as the water propelled out from my foot and launched 15 feet into the air. So strong. And my defense was more powerful than that? Who could harm me?

            Wodan smiled at my childish display of power, while internally, he was astonished. This far surpasses our predictions. His body is so powerful it is almost unbelievable. And he’s not even using battle power or magic!