Congratulations, God of Creation and Beauty! You have created your first race, the Sag'ebu, and they have been added to the Aether database! You can now take on their characteristics in your Avatar form! Stats will be adjusted accordingly. You have received the title -”Creator”- for creating a race! As this is your first race there is no Devotion Energy cost! For creating your first race, you have received an extra hundred point discount! Would you like to take your Avatar form? (Y/N)
The god stared at his wonderful creation. He smiled and nodded yes, before his very form began to shift. No longer was he the epitome of human beauty, but rather took on the form of a flawless Sag’ebu.
-Status-
Name:-Undecided- Race:God Age: Newborn
Domains: Creation, Beauty
Subdomains: -None-
Titles: -”Cognitive King” +3 to created species base Intellect-
-"Creator" Proof of Sag'ebu creation-
Traits : -”Fierce” +1 to both personal and created species base physical Strength-
-”Charismatic” +1 to both personal and created species base Charisma-
-”Creative” +2 to both personal and created species base wisdom-
-”Flawless” +10 to personal Charisma, +2 to created species base Charisma-
Stats:
Charisma: 26 Strength: 14 Agility: 9
Dexterity: 9 Intellect: 14 Wisdom: 13
Constitution: 8
Devotion Energy: 1,000
The young god took another look at his creation’s status and saw that -Undecided- had been replaced with -Sag’ebu-. It seemed the Aether itself named his creations, though he wasn’t entirely sure why it chose such an exotic name. The creation menu had closed while his Avatar form was being assumed, and the boy was left floating in space alone. The Sag’ebu he had seen before seemed to have disappeared, leaving him stranded. He frowned and tried to figure out what to do next.
“Status?” He asked, but it hadn’t changed. “Sag’ebu Status?” There was nothing new there either, though the sheet did appear. Then a realization hit him.
“World Status? No…? Realm Status?”
-Realm Status-
Name: -Unnamed- Type: Void Age: Newborn
Residents: God-1, Sag’ebu- 0, Flora & Fauna: Nonexistent
Size: Infinite, Potential: Nonexistent, Invested Energy: 0
Congratulations! You have accessed the World Status! You have -1000- Creation Energy to spend. Please select a Realm Type.
Suddenly the boy saw a list spring to life in front of him, listing hundreds of thousands of variations. From floating island to the void-like existence of Earth, he had a mind boggling selection. He noticed that there seemed to be a search bar at the top, almost like Google.
With a thought he input ‘Habitable by Sag’ebu and half the selection disappeared. Having understood the function he narrowed it down further, restricting rules such as physics to be earth-like, possessing magic, integrated with Aether (That seemed to be another really important piece as the selection was reduced by half again upon selecting it), water-based, and naturally beautiful. He was left with 3 choices, his strict standards cutting out many other possible options. When he added a final straw to the camel's back, possibility for growth, there was only 1 option remaining.
Custom Realm- Cost: 10,000(7,500 due Creation Domain) Devotion Energy. Cost dependent on requested capabilities. Can only be chosen for your first World.
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Suffice it to say his meagre 1,000 Energy was not enough. “Well. How do I get Devotion energy then?”
Devotion Energy can be obtained by descending to your current Core -Cradle- , from the actions of your creations and followers, and by completing Quests.
“Seriously, what are these screens. They can read my mind?” The boy seemed worried, but ‘clicked’ on the bold Quests as it seemed important.
Quests are tasks given by the Aether. They are often formed to further your own goals in an indirect manner. For example, if you are fighting a war you may receive a quest to kill 100 enemy soldiers. Quests will always be challenging but the greater the challenge the greater the reward.
Quests: You currently have none.
While that was good to know, it didn't help his current dilemma at all. The only option seemed to be to go to this Cradle place.
Would you like to descend to -Cradle-? You may take 10 followers with you. (Y/N)
The god sighed and selected (Y)es.
WARNING- YOU HAVE NO FOLLOWERS. DESCENDING ALONE IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU WISH TO DESCEND? (Y/N)
He gulped but selected Yes again. He wasn't going to waste the opportunity of a lifetime, he needed those points. Anyhow, worst case he dies a second time. When you know what lies beyond it’s far less terrifying a thought.
With a ‘plop’ the newborn God was gone and the void remained a silent abyss.
-
When he came to, light stung his eyes and words from an unknown dialect stung his ears. To his surprise, he found he could understand the foreign words.
“What is it? A new kind of monster?”
“No, you idiot, only Gods appear like that. I'm surprised his race isn't ugly, his domain should be something like reptiles. Must have some good traits.”
“Reptiles? Can you really get such a lame domain.”
“Probably. Newborns seem to be getting screwed these days. Last decade, that woman with Steel showed up. Reptiles is within the realm of possibility. ”
After blinking a few more times the boy took proper stock of his surroundings. He seemed to be in the middle of a street, with a few… people staring at him. The cold ground felt distinctly less comfortable after he laid his eyes on the walking and talking statue who was speaking to what seemed to be a short and stout human with a fiery red beard.
The god would have assumed dwarf if he didn't vaguely remember that talking about a short person's height tended to end with bruises and a bellyful of blood. Those two were the only ones on the street who stopped, the other 5 or 6 people from various races were going somewhere and didn't have time to deal with him. Now that he had descended he felt weak, vulnerable, missing the sense of invulnerability he had felt within his Realm.
“W...Is this Cradle?” He brushed a strand of his hair aside, his wide eyes glancing every which way. The two didn’t acknowledge him however, with the dwarf speaking up.
“He’s remarkably attractive for a Reptile, think he has some Trait or Title that enhances his beauty”?
“I don’t think a reptile god has descended before though, so it’s unlikely. The race must just have naturally good Charisma”
Shakily, the boy took to his feet, his barbed tail pushing him up. It felt natural, despite the fact that he had only been in this body for a matter of minutes. His wide eyes locked onto the statue-thing as it seemed to be the leader among the two.
“Is this the Cradle?” Now the two acknowledged him, the being of carved rock crouching in order to meet the boy’s eyes.
“Yes, young Divine it is. It’s awfully dangerous down here, where are your heroes?”
“Heroes?”
“You came without heroes!” A shocked expression graced the granite face. After a brief, uncomfortable silence the shock changed into joy. “That’s perfect.” Suddenly the rock being had its hand around the boy’s neck, granite scaping at reptilian scales. “The Godslayer title is supposed to be Legendary.”
As the beautiful Sag’ebu child was swept up, the dwarf stared at his rockky friend in shock. “Penia!” he shouted.
Surprisingly, her friend hadn’t shouted her name because he was mad at her, but rather because he was worried about her. Moments after she sweeped up the god, said god had used his tail to pierce through the crystal that made up her eye into a softer, weaker rock that made up her brain. His tail was too large to fit in its entirety, but his thorn pierced directly into the vital organ.
The encounter didn’t last even a minute before the rock woman died. Starting from the wound her very form seemed to dissolve into grey particles that were absorbed by the boy-god. Her body quickly fell apart and the god landed on the ground with a soft ‘Thud’, using his tail to stab the ground while he got his feet under him.. His enchanting form seemed brighter somehow, visibly more refined.
This caused the other figures in the street to stop, though the lack of any buildings within sight meant that these people were probably the only ones who could have heard or seen what he had just done.
The street was running along a disturbingly empty plain, with green grass the only thing visible. There were no animals, not that he could see, just the street(perhaps more appropriately titled a road) and the 7 remaining people who had their eyes locked on him. There was the Dwarf who had been friends with the Rock-Lady, 2 of what seemed to be human, 1 extremely short elf, 1 man who had cat ears, and another Rock-Dwarf pair.
Rather than deal with these people, the boy’s first action was to stab the Dwarf who had been friends with Penia, attempting to jab his tail into the man’s eye. Unfortunately it seemed he wasn’t Dexterous enough and the dwarf sidestepped the obvious blow and muttered something, before a battleaxe and black leather armor were suddenly equipped. The dwarf swung his battleaxe from below, with the axe slicing through the god’s arm and spinning him around.
Pain clouded his mind as the boy collapsed to the ground in agony. His arm was still attached, but the blow had broken and dislocated the arm, not to mention the bloody mess that the axe’s blade had left.
The boy tried and failed to get on his feet, his dwarven foe glaring at him. “Tell me your name God. I shall know the one who has slain my mate before I exact my vengeance.”
Blinking away the pain, the boy managed to pick himself up, his third eye open as he glared at the dwarf who dared to defile his holy form. “Venrick” he said, the word coming to mind unbidden as he waited for the dwarf to attack again.
Venrick was not dissapointed as the axe cut through the air, an overhead swing meant to crush the boy into paste. The dwarf had obviously thought that he had weakened Venrick enough that his blow would undoubtedly miss, no boy would be able to withstand that pain, and his guard was weakened as he accepted his victory.
Moving in, the boy allowed the wooden haft of the axe to slam into his wounded shoulder while he jabbed his thorn into the dwarf’s brain from below. The god collapsed after, the pain reaching a level he could not withstand, while the dwarf crumpled as well. The last thing the god saw was the dwarf turning into the same ash as his 'mate' had.