We appeared on the side of a hill forming the boundary of a valley. Surrounding us was scrub-brush, small boulders, and a field of broken rocks. In the valley were two groups of humans fighting. It was hard to see from this distance, but they were a mix of men wearing furs with wooden spears assaulting lightly armed guards. Despite the disparity in weaponry and skill, the bandits had numbers that swayed things in their favor. Even with my unskilled assessment, I could tell the bandits would soon break and run. A dozen of their number were face down and bleeding, their bodies clogging up the small barricade across the bridge and marked by arrows in the small river that blocked them from the village.

Turning my head, I glanced with one eye at Conflict, who was still wrapped around my body, her naked breasts pressing against my back and sharp teeth flashing a grin to me as she watched the fight.

“Do you mind?” I asked with a small amount of annoyance.

That brought me up short. I was annoyed to have a naked woman hugging me close. Sure, she was dirty and scary with her sharp teeth and odd mannerisms, but I was still male! I had even finally gained a body - an anatomically correct one even! But despite the new equipment, my instincts provided no interest in the sexually suggestive hold. I thought about it for a moment, and I could feel my body readying itself. Still, despite the physical change that had me shifting slightly in my spatially formed suit, it was purely a physical reaction. Mentally, things were very different from what I would consider a normal human response.

Pouting, my living backpack climbed off of me. When I turned around, I was surprised to see Conflict wearing fur armor matching the valley bandits. I raised an eyebrow at her new look but didn’t comment on her change of attire. Conflict flashed me a dimpled smile with smooth flat teeth leaning on a wooden spear (where did that come from?).

Silently assessing the Goddess, I pushed my spatial senses outward. Idly I noticed that I was a few hundred miles west of my dungeon and far from the entrance where the orcs were still storming into my trials. I could feel a few minor spatial distortions between me and my dungeon. By their feel, I guessed they were spatial bags, though one was stiffer around the edges. While I tilted my head and stared into the distance, Conflict’s pout turned into a deep frown, then anger. Usually, I would try to avoid drifting off in front of someone like that. This time, I let it happen intentionally. Conflict hadn’t said anything and was trying to push me off balance; I was simply sharing the experience. Despite my distracted appearance, I was still focused on Conflict and the essence swirling within her. While I was a new god, my status also said I was a dungeon. I was blatantly taking advantage of my ability to split my attention. While I was mapping out the space around me with my divine senses, I was still gaining memory updates from the fissions of myself that were processing my dungeon. It was but a moment of effort to spread these fissions of myself with my spatial sense, my mind splintering while still remaining whole.

For a second, mentally, I was a cloud of me’s all reaching outward—each examining the world around in the surface, sky, and underground. The main focus of all those spreading me’s was the highly annoyed Goddess standing in front of me.

“Well?” I asked abruptly the moment I felt the essence within Conflict start to move. My sudden focused attention paused Conflict’s essence and caused her to hesitate before she spoke.

“I don’t want you to agree to the Compact. I can’t agree to it, and if you do, then you can’t work with me,” Conflict said in a sudden rush, voice dropping to a near whisper. The confident scary woman of before suddenly was now replaced with a scared woman afraid to be alone.

“Why didn’t you agree to it? It seems like a good idea. Not having someone mess with my Domain and change me, possibly kill me, seems like a no-brainer to me.”

Shaking her head, Conflict paced away from me, her spear poking into the ground as she walked. Plopping down on a rock, she stared out into the valley as the surviving bandits fled.

“I couldn’t agree to it. It’s a good agreement, and you should definitely join the others. It’s the strategic decision,” Conflict said while resting her chin on her hand.

Scratching my head, I wandered around to my own seat on a boulder, trying to keep Conflict in my sight.

“I’ve got to admit. I’m getting a bit of a mixed message here,” I said. I continued to scan the space around me, making sure that a few different copies of myself focused on Conflict’s essence flows.

Snorting, Conflict smiled at me but then frowned again as she looked out at the cheering defenders in the valley.

“Everyone agreed to the Compact, so I’m stuck on the outside of it. I don’t have a choice. It’s one of the restrictions of my Domain,” she said.

I didn’t say anything in response to her complaint, simply humming under my breath as I considered her position.

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“So, you don’t want me to join the Compact, but you think it’s the smart play. Even if you can’t do it yourself, your Domain not letting you for some reason,” I said. I found myself oddly distant from my emotions. Mostly, I felt unbothered by the Goddess’ plight as I pondered the situation.

Kicking some dirt in front of herself, the lithe Goddess dressed as a bandit nodded silently.

“Is there a reason that you can’t think of it as the gods and you against the world? The side of the gods vs. the world?” I asked.

She turned to me with a smile, but the grin was a sad one, more pitying than happy.

“There is no conflict when the gods fight the world. The gods win, and the world changes. That’s just management, not a conflict. It doesn’t have to be even, but it does have to be a real conflict where I pick a side,” she said.

I nodded again at that, recognizing the strange, surreal logic of the position. It made sense if you looked at the idea sideways and didn’t try to reach into the details too closely. Seeing the smile falling into a frown, I tried to change the discussion. Though, me being me, I didn’t think through my topic change until after I had asked my question.

“So, Vetta is your mom? Who is your dad?” I asked, instantly snapping my mouth closed in regret the moment the question was asked. Given the apparent hostility on display when she spoke to the Goddess of Order and Light, her family was a sore point.

To my surprise, she just waved her hand in dismissal.

“I don’t have one. Just her.”

Blinking in confusion, I stared at Conflict until she looked up from her pity party and noticed my face.

Giggling, she leaned forward, letting her spear hold her weight as she laughed. Each time she managed to get ahold of her laughter, she would glance over to my befuddled confusion and snicker again. My confused question couldn’t have been that funny, but I thought that she was just enjoying having someone to talk with.

“We are Gods, Dale. Reproduction requires essence and symbolism. A new God or Goddess forms from the essence of their parents and the Domain they align with. Usually, a Domain is related to the parents. Still, sometimes there is an inversion, and you get a Domain in opposition to the parent.”

When she said inversion, I could feel a wave of anger and disgust billow out from her.

“My mom has Order, and Conflict is related to the inversion of her Domain: Disorder. There is no escape from a Primary Domain,” Conflict said before standing and pacing.

Stomping back and forth, Conflict’s face scrunched up in anger, though she shot me a conflicted look more than once as she moved. Finally, she stopped in front of me and took a deep breath, and I could guess that she was about to breach the point of our private talk.

“A Primary Domain is powerful. Mortals don’t have to worship a Primary god. We are so central to the reality of mortal life, simply living is a form of worship for our Domains. We can gain new Domains, but we can never escape our Primary Domain. You are Dale the God of Space, and you will never escape it,” she said, her words spoken in the tone of a judge condemning a prisoner.

I nodded at her words but remained silent as I considered the new information, just letting it bounce around in my mind without trying to make it fit. I knew that Conflict had more to say.

“Dale, please don’t sign the Compact. I’ve been alone for almost a thousand years. I don’t want to be ignored by my people any longer. I don’t think I could take it. With us together as a Pantheon, two Primary Gods, they wouldn’t be able to enslave or capture us. We would be in balance!” Conflict shouted, her grin once again showing pointed teeth.

Scratching at my chin, I considered. I knew that her offer was more than a partnership against the other gods. My divine instincts insisted that this was closer to marriage. I wasn’t formally a part of any Pantheon to the mortals. Joining with Conflict would force us together as partners—a duality, male and female. My senses said that we wouldn’t create a child together with the joining unless we pressed for it, but it would be possible. If we made a child, the Pantheon would be weaker. Without a child, the effect of a new Pantheon would resonate with the world. It would create inspirations for those aligned with our Domains. If those mortals began to worship us, it would be the foundation of our followers in the world.

I had zero interest in marrying this crazy Goddess. She didn’t have a name; she was simply Conflict. The very idea of hitching my wagon to her brand of crazy made my mostly human perspective scream. Still, I could empathize with her isolation and loneliness. Remembering how she had glommed onto me to teleport us, I decided that I had no interest in letting the reverse happen either. She wouldn’t be hitching her crazy wagon to my train either. A hint of an idea formed from that vague thought, and I leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees as I pondered it. The plan unfolded in my mind, a simple plot but my first one as a god, and I could feel an enjoyable tingle of pride and joy at the simple elegance of it. Proof that I had considered the recent change in the status quo while the other gods were still working through the paradigm shift.

Before Conflict could offer more arguments, I raised a finger, signaling I needed to think. At the same time, I continued to consider my plan. It was simple, elegant, helpful for everyone involved, but would it be a good idea? I simply lacked the information to be sure, and my Domain wasn’t giving me Denda cheat powers.

Focusing on Conflict, I asked, “How angry are you with the other gods? I mean, I would have to be blind to miss your hostility for your mother, and I’m not a fan of her either, but how much do you hate being alone?”

Conflict grimaced but then shrugged, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

“I hate my mom. She never gave me a chance because of my Domain. I wasn’t perfect, so she pushed me away. Everyone else tried, though. They couldn’t work with me, but they did small things. Like, not forcing me away while they talked about things that were important to me. It’s not the same as having a family, but most of them tried,” she said with a complicated look.

Nodding silently, I rose to my feet and reached out a hand for her own. With a confused look, she took my hand, and I dragged the world around me, returning us to the Hall of the Gods.

It was time to make a deal.