In the endless silver city that peaked beyond clouds, God's looked down upon worlds like shining marbles.
Each marble, holding billions of lives of which humans, beasts and demons existed, with all unknowingly being recorded by the God's above.
Among these God's was me, Alan Vocke. I was a God, a God so weak my name was non-existent from any records.
I was referred to as 'Hey you' or 'You there', as I was a God without any power or domain. In a place where divinity and power were everything, I was less than a speckle of dust.
"Hey, you there, go and clean the Archive Chamber's" a Superior God commanded with a voice full of arrogance.
"Yes, God Thyris", I muttered back with complete agony and despair.
This was nothing different to what I experienced everyday as it was always like this.
Every command, every insult, every reminder that I didn't belong here.
In the divine hierarchy, power was inherited from deeds. The greater the deeds and achievements of your assigned mortal, the greater your strength as a god.
But I was cursed with a cycle of failures — mortals under my record always died early or achieved nothing. I was a God of nobodies. Maybe this is why I was looked down upon.
That same night I broke. I questioned myself, who I was, why I was here, what my role was.
It was then I stumbled past the Mirror of Descent – A forbidden gate that connected the Mortal world to the God's realm.
Every God knew of it, but who in their right mind would give up immortality for being placed in a world they once fought and struggled through the battles of a mortal life.
Once you went through, you lose everything, your immortality most importantly. However, memories of the God's past life would not fade.
I didn't care anymore; what was left for me here other than endless torment.
If being a God meant being a slave for eternity, I'd rather be mortal. Even if I was unknown.
I touched the Mirror's gigantic surface as ripples of what looked like droplets in a puddle spread across my hand. It felt warm, and I felt alive touching it.
I whispered the forbidden words:
"Erase my Name, erase my Divinity, Divine Mirror...", I Paused as someone shouted, "Stop, don't move any closer", as I said the final words, "Let me fall".
Those words by that someone echoed through my head, as what seemed to be endless falling. Pain had sunk into my body as I shouted through the falling.
As I fell, I questioned the integrity of the Mirror's Stories, saying, "Is this the end? Was it all a lie? Had the stories been true at all?" all through my head.
Realities blitzed past me as I felt my pure existence was being torn apart. I fell through life and death, light and darkness as thousands of marbles – worlds – rushed beside me.
It was then that I heard a deep, distorted voice echoing:
"Misalignment in direction: Year: 428, Celestial Era"
I replied, "What?" …
Everything went white and a high-pitched ringing was all I could hear.
Shortly after, the ring faded away and turned into cries. It was the cries of a baby. I didn't know they were mine, until I opened my eyes and saw tiny little baby hands and arms in the air.
The atmosphere was dense with dust, smoke and screams as I heard metal clashing in the distance.
Through blurry vision, I saw a woman clutching me in her arms with a look of fear on her face. Her clothes were torn; her face was covered in dust as she muttered words I didn't understand whilst crying.
Behind her was a man who shouted something with desperation – a soldier maybe who had his sword out and was also covered in soot.
They argued as the man said, "He will be the one of the few last of our kind. This generation must live on Julie".
The ground shook and kept on shaking as explosions went off left, right and center. The woman who was holding me flinched and placed me gently beside a burnt tree.
She smiled at me with tears rolling down her face and then she wrapped a bandage over the mark that said Void on my newborn skin as if she was trying to hide it.
Then she reluctantly whispered:
"Live". After this, she disappeared as I lay there completely confused.
The cries of war grew distant and were slowly swallowed by silence. I was still confused and wondering where I was.
The mark of Void was still glowing faintly in a midnight purple color just above my right forearm as the brightness slowly faded.
Thunder and rain came pouring down shortly after as I sat there now wailing for help. It was as if the God's themselves mocked me as I thought "Was it really worth it, have I lost immortality just to suffer further agony?".
I had escaped the Divine realm just to be reborn into a dying world.
Several hours passed and rain kept pouring down on me. Somewhere in the distance a soldier's horn echoed. It was a retreat call.
And now I, a former God was now trapped in a helpless body, which could do nothing but cry. So, this was indeed the truth of mortality.
After the retreat call, I heard footsteps. They came closer to my cries as I wondered if it could be that same woman I saw earlier.
To my surprise I saw an old man who had grey hair with a muddy face carrying what looked like a staff, and beside him a woman who was carrying a sword, with blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes.
"This world has magic too. But why swords and staffs?", I thought to myself, as back in the world I was God in was so futuristic, with guns, missiles, the whole lot really.
They both had a bandana over their foreheads that was colored in a camo like, green and grey, with a shape that resembled a rock.
The old man spoke to his companion and asked whilst leaning on his staff, "shall we take him in Seris?".
The woman paused, watching me intently.
Her hands tightened around the hilt of her sword as if she weighed the risk — taking a baby during a war was no small decision. She studied me, the tiny chest rising and falling with fragile breaths.
The old man picked me up carefully, one hand keeping my tiny head steady as he walked.
The blonde woman, Seris, stayed close, sword still drawn, eyes scanning the surroundings with the suspicion of a soldier who had seen too much.
"Seris, he's a child, he won't last a day out in this weather.", said the old man with a look of sympathy.
"We'll take him in Rowan, but as soon as we find its mother I'm done with him. We barely have enough rations to keep ourselves standing.", Seris said as she seemed annoyed.
"It?", "This cruel woman really called me an It huh?", I thought to myself.
What kind of heartless creature doesn't take a child in who can't protect themselves.
We then continued walking, venturing through the forest that was half burnt and half green. The path had black ash and blood stains all over it.
I looked to my left and saw a bloody handprint on a nearby tree. Perhaps this was due to the war.
As they walked on Seris came across a Red-looking frog.
"Look out!", she yelled at Rowan, as she drew her sword and leaped rapidly to slay the frog with one strike.
"Close one there, right Seris?", Rowan chuckled hysterically.
Seris rolled her eyes. "Red Frogs secrete poison when they feel threatened. Even a scratch from one could lead to paralysis."
She wiped the blade clean on the grass.
She stepped closer to me, almost glaring as she spoke, "We don't need another corpse lying around."
Corpse?
Geez, she really needs a hug or something.
As we continued walking along the forest path for several hours, sounds of chatting could be heard. Were we approaching a town, or perhaps even a village?
Rowan sighed a breath of relief and said, "Grayrock Village is just ahead."
We edged closer to the village and Seris replied, "Or what's left of it."
I tried to look past Rowan's feeble arms and what I saw was nothing short of terrifying.
The remains of the so called Grayrock Village were a sore-sight to the eyes.
Half-burnt houses, broken fences, and debris scattered everywhere. The air smelled of smoke and damp wood. People limped, coughed, and cried.
Seris looked down at me with anger once again. "And now our village is gone. Did we really need to bring more to feed when were already so low on resources?"
"We need everyone alive," Rowan muttered. "Including him."
Seris grunted. "Fine. But if anything, strange happens with that thing—"
"I'll deal with it," Rowan assured.
Strange?
Well… we'll cross that bridge when it comes.