Annie watched her father, a “god,” and a “dire-wolf” stand on the air and talk about rollercoasters. She stood at the back of the crowd next to the “orc” Eve. Around were various “races” of people, the least of which were humans. There were “elves,” “dwarves,” people with feathers, people with scales, people with long twisting tails, others with straight leathery tails, and even people with skin made of scalding lava or frozen frost.

And yet, Annie’s eyes were firmly locked on her father—the man spouting forgiveness for all, the hypocrite.

“And once again, welcome to World Walker Park!”

Annie shook her head at her father’s words. He, the god, and the dire-wolf stepped down the air as if an invisible set of stairs wound down in a spiral. The crowd parted for them, and the trio made way for the park’s gates. As the crowd shifted to follow, the god phased from reality, disappearing before Annie’s eyes.

She didn’t react to that. How could she? She saw the monster do far more while inhabiting her body.

She shivered at the thought. They had spoken, Annie and the evil god-thing, for a long while about her father, Luka, before jumping across the galaxy to this world. It had asked her questions about his mettle, about how a man such as him could function after all he did.

Annie remembered her answer: “Because he’s a heartless psychopath.”

Then Luka forgave the monster, thus removing its control over her body. Annie couldn’t believe her ears as her father cried for her. She couldn’t believe her eyes when he hugged her so, so tight.

Maybe, just maybe, she had given the monster the wrong answer. Maybe her father wasn’t as simple of a man as she thought.

Annie followed her father—who was riding the snow white dire-wolf—through the “park,” Eve one step behind. They trailed through a forest path, arriving at a wide clearing filled with mud and hay houses, huts erected from beautiful orange wood, and a few carnival attractions.

“This is what he built?” Annie muttered to herself, eyeing the dingy spinning swing ride and carousel. Poking above the tree line behind a bend, a Ferris wheel slowly rotated, hoisting empty bungalows high. A teacups style ride rounded out the clearing, along with a kiddy spiral slide.

“Sort of,” Eve answered, mistaking the rhetorical question for an actual one. “This is Emberwood Village. All the houses were here before he arrived, but the rides, stalls, and bathrooms were created by him.”

Annie gave the orc a side-eye. Eve’s green tattooed skin and tusked underbite reminded her just where she was—not on Earth. “Dad died and was reincarnated on a world with magic and decided to build an amusement park? A tacky one at that?”

Eve crossed her arms and frowned. “No—originally, he built the orphans of this village a carousel. As it turned out, people were willing to spend money to ride. He built all these rides before we fully committed to turning Emberwood into a park.”

“But something so tacky? This place looks like a cheap parking lot carnival.”

Eve shook her head and took a few steps ahead. “This is my home.”

Annie missed a step and gritted her teeth. Why am I being rude? Eve’s been taking care of me since I woke up...

“Sorry,” Annie quietly said. “I’m just… lost? Confused? I don’t think I’ve come to terms with what’s happening to me.”

Eve’s frown turned sympathetic. “World Walkers are like that for their first few days.” She chuckled softly. “I remember telling your dad that when he first arrived.”

Annie’s expression soured at the mention of her ‘dad.’ Luka hadn’t been her dad for nearly sixty-five years—well, linearly at least. Now she was twenty again… She groaned and said, “This is confusing.”

Now it was Eve’s turn to side-eye her. “Look, being a World Walker is special. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with you since your reincarnation was… unique. But suffice it to say, you’re here now. With your father. Who is very unstable. So, I’m going to be frank here and—”

“What do you mean unstable?” Annie asked.

Eve studied the girl. “Luka is either a somewhat strange, brilliant creator or he’s a crying husk of a man. He switches between the two at the drop of a mug.” She pointed at him through the following crowd. “That speech we just watched was something of a good omen, if I’m reading him right. He obviously wants to move on from his trauma, but—”

“His trauma?” Annie asked, her voice accusatory. “What about my trauma? Do you know how hard it was to grow up without a father? It took decades of therapy.”

“My brother and I are orphans. All the kids in Emberwood are.”

Annie gnawed on her lip. “Sorry.”

Eve ignored the apology and said, “Luka froze to death, homeless on Earth. Did you know that?”

“No—I don’t even know when he died. Was there a funeral?”

“Hell if I know.” Eve scoffed. “When that thing was in your head, did it scramble your brain? Aren’t you supposed to be an old woman? Surely, you’ve come to terms with your father’s absence.”

I thought I did, Annie thought. I went thirty years without thinking of him. And now that I see him again, I’m lashing out?

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She shook her head. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me; apologize to him.”

I don’t know if I can.

Luka led the crowd down a path into the forest. Vaguely, Annie and Eve could hear him talking to everyone about the trees he and God Neb had uprooted and rehomed elsewhere in the forest.

While I was unconscious, he was working? Annie thought, not daring to voice her thoughts aloud. Some things never change.

“You’re only half right about that,” a voice said, appearing beside Annie and Eve. She took the form of a human with fiery red hair and a brimming smirk. She walked barefoot and didn’t leave a trail in the loose gravel path.

“Goddess Tippy!” Eve yelped, her voice somehow constricting to be nothing more than a whisper—magic, Annie recognized.

“Be at peace,” the goddess said to the orc before turning to Annie. “Your father stayed up all night working because he didn’t know what else to do. We had forty-odd gods watching over you as well as a half-dozen mortal healers. If your father stayed in the room, he would have been in the way. If it makes you feel better, he asked God Neb about you every ten minutes. Annoyed the old man square.”

Did that make her feel better? Annie didn’t know—though she did know the question made her uneasy. Just a few days ago—well, before she died on Earth—the question wouldn’t have mattered. But now it did.

“A strange situation to be in,” Goddess Tippy said, reading her mind. “I do not envy you. This is the exact reason we gods scrutinize our picks for World Walker. Sometimes people just can’t move on.”

“You chose my father because his family all hated him?” Annie asked.

“In part.”

“That’s dark.”

“It is. But it’s also what makes your father so special.” Tippy’s smirk felt somber. “You see, when I first reincarnated Luka, I sealed his memories of Earth—of you. But some memories are too powerful, too special. He forced me to remove the seal and was only then allowed to become the man he really is.”

“And who would that be?” Annie asked.

“The man who forced a galaxy-eating monster from his estranged daughter’s body and mind then cried over her unconscious body and pleaded with us gods to ‘fix her.’” Tippy held out her palm and then squeezed it tight. “The man whose actions got me to wear my mortal skin again.”

“The man,” Eve added, “who fell in love with a dying village and gave it a second chance.”

“The days to come are going to be terrible for you, Annie,” the goddess said. “The only advice I can give is to blunt your tongue and open your mind. Your father is going to offer you something very important. I hope you can put aside your collective past and start anew.”

“Anew.” Annie said the word, it felt hollow… or maybe it should have and the fact it didn’t caught in her mind? The goddess gave one last smile before disappearing into thin air.

Eve slowly shook her head in disbelief. “If you told me a month ago I’d be talking to a god or two somewhat regularly I would’ve thought you crazy.”

“Are the gods appearing that rare?” Annie asked.

“Never in history have all the gods appeared at the same location before yesterday, after Luka… well, you remember.” She chuckled and narrowed her eyes. “Not to mention the smashburger incident, rollercoaster deal, and log flume planning.”

“Smash-what?”

“Oh, do you not know what a smashburger is?”

Annie couldn’t be more confused. “Of course I do—the rest of what you said doesn’t make sense.”

“I know.” The orc smirked. “Call that payback for your earlier snark.” Eve hooked her arm in Annie’s. “Come on, let’s go see this ‘other world’ your dad created last night.”

“He created what?”

The landscape around the park’s newest attraction was… alien. The forest had been flattened, the emberwood trees uprooted and moved nearer the village—a feat achievable with help from God Neb.

Stone spires reached for the sky, growing like stalagmites. Made of red dust and sand, they twisted like a mangled tree trunk. They dotted the stone ground as if nature in this “world” wasn’t plants and trees but stone and minerals. The spires covered the once-forest from the first step of the Constellation Kingdom—which was the goal, Eve explained.

“I wasn’t sold on the idea of ‘worlds’ or ‘lands’ until your dad explained it to me in the bathroom one day,” she said. “But I’m glad he did. Just look at this place!”

Annie eyed the orc strangely. “He did what now?”

The land was small. It had a single cluster of buildings modeled after Earth’s lunar habitats. They were generic white buildings made of connected cells and mounded foundations. Guests walked on the paved ground through a small complex, the habitats holding a gift shop and connecting cafeteria-style restaurant. Neon glass signs declaring the shop “Cosmic Curiosities” and the restaurant “Nova ‘n Dine” blinked in oscillating orange and green, lighting the dusty street.

And yet, the attraction at the far end of the street drew the eye. Placed purposefully to pull park guests down the path, a rollercoaster and loading station capped the area. Thick metal track dove and rose over the habitats, intertwining with the spire rocks and stone ground. Coaster trains blew by, their speed only matched by their rough sound.

A queue wrapped around the side of the land, entering the alien landscape. A rock arch extended over the entry, a large neon sign reading Cosmic Rebirth. A trio of odd glittering lights rotated around the arch, pulling attention and leading guests forward. A line of people entered, disappearing behind the rocks.

“They’re God Neb’s symbol,” Eve explained when she caught Annie staring at the lights. “The three stars of the Nebulous One.”

“What do they mean?” she asked.

“Exploration mainly. God Neb’s followers often look to him for guidance when lost. They say the stars will always lead you home if you ask them to.”

The area was small. It was the park’s newest land and had yet to be properly utilized. Where the rocks ended and the forest restarted, illusionary walls hid the green grass and orange leaves and continued the rocky landscape far into the horizon—the same effect as the infinite sea at the docks.

Guests, until they exited the Constellation Kingdom, were among the stars and cosmos. The blue sky was gone, replaced with a dark space and the many beauties it held. Stars, nebulas, meteors, comets, the illusions were personal creations of God Neb, the divine being that oversaw the twinkle and haze.

Eve abruptly stopped, dragging Annie with her. Guests filed past them, their stillness like an island in a river.

“What’s wrong?” Annie asked, looking around for threats. As much as she wanted to believe she was safe here, that thing was still out there.

“Luka’s waiting for you,” Eve coolly replied.

Annie froze. “How do you know he’s waiting for me?”

“Because he’s ignoring everything else and staring at his feet, occasionally glancing up at you.”

Annie looked down the street, finding her father. He was doing exactly as Eve described—standing by the entrance to the rollercoaster, ignoring all the guests that were trying to talk to him. He muttered apologies or thanks, whatever, to get them to leave him alone the quickest. Beside him, the white wolf, Leo, sat on his haunches, his tail tucked under his legs.

“Go,” Eve said, giving the Earthling a nudge forward.

Annie didn’t move. Instead, she pivoted on her heel and walked away.