"So tell me how to be Spes." He leans forward. "Why would you want to learn to be me?" "I don't mean it like that, it's more of like, how is it like, being you or how does it feel to be you? I wouldn't want to be a Deity even if someone offered me limitless alcohol. If I were you I would try killing myself. I couldn't imagine being something so, formal and lifeless. You seem fine though. I actually thought you were a human at first so you passed my test." Danity is honestly an unexpectedly pleasant person to talk to even if he hates my kind. Most Deities would have murdered him the instant he muttered an insult but, I find it compassionate and very lively of a mortal to stand up to the master species. Danity snaps in my face. "Stop daydreaming." "I was thinking. Not daydreaming." "About?" "About the unexpected bravery a human can hold. You have looking Mors in the eyes and even invited him into your home." Danity shrugs it off. "Well, ever since the opening I haven't cared much. Also, who's Mors?" "Mors is death. I meant it like you are looking death in the eyes, but anyway your brother mentioned the opening. What is it?" "Oh well about an hour or so ago everyone's mind randomly felt whole, I guess. Our minds actually could feel something other than instinct." I laugh a little. "Your brother said you have been having problems since it happened but if it only happened an hour ago then what could you have done?" Danity is extremely quick to respond. "Nothing. Nothing important. Maybe I begged for a drink a lot in that hour. I don't know." he is apprehensive. I have no right to push so i do not "Okay well i might have some answers for your 'Opening'. I am the reason it exists. My birth created what you are experiencing and that is called emotion." "Emotion?" "Yes, emotions. Go ahead and ask some questions." Danity takes a moment to think. "What is this, emotion thing?" "Well emotions are a broad subject. There are many, many types of different emotions that can exist. One you may be feeling now is confusion." Danity seems more confused than before. "Come here." I motion for him to get closer and as he does I grab his head and fill his mind with the information that he needs to understand more of what i am talking about. After letting go, his face is one of realization. "Wow. This emotion stuff is kind of. Complicated." "I would assume so. That's how emotions are. They make organic life complicated and well, alive. So a question I have for you is how does it feel to be alive?" Danity looks at his hands in some sort of disbelief. I assume it's the amount of information I blasted into his head, but he seems to be conflicted also. I know it's best not to push for an answer I am in no reason deserving of. It is the personal life of a human and it is in more of my best interest to keep him trusting and not make him uncomfortable. "I'm okay. Just a lot to process." Danity looks at my face. "I know that's what you're thinking. 'What's wrong with him' nothing is wrong. Just overloaded." My question has been answered without even asking. I simply nod and let him continue to adjust. "So what can I do with these emotions?" "Anything. Go out and explore. You may have fun." Danity stands up and walks straight out his door before sprinting out into the street jumping around and yelling. I flash out and grab him before putting him in an alley. "What are you doing?" "I'm having fun." "I didn't mean cause a scene. Let others find out for themselves. You shouldn't spoil the surprise." "Don't spoil anything? This isn't a play, it's something I need to spread to my people. Why hide my new found wonders." Danity kind of pushes me off. "Let me live like the human I am." I want to talk back and I want to tell him no but, that's why humans hate us. We try to control them and I don't want to control them. I completely backed away from him. "Yes I. understand. Live how you want. Freedom is meant to be free." I turn back to the street and walk onto it gesturing Danity to follow me.
Now that we are on the street I look around and give Danity a nod before jumping on top of a building and watching him. "It doesn't feel as good when I need permission to do it." "Just do it." Danity glares at me and just stands there after. He doesn't move or make tempt to move. "Danity, why are you just standing there?" "No you're right. I have no business letting these people know. I don't think they could feel what I feel just because I start screaming about it." I jump back down right in front of him. "You humans are weird." "What? I just had a realization that's it. Do you not second guess yourself?" "Well i try not to but us Deities get everything right so I have no need to really second guess much." Dainty laughs in surprise. "Do you have no humanity?" "I am a Primordial Deity. I have no need for human reaction or even just what you all think of me." Danity has surprise written all over his face. "You are a strange thing. I guess that's why I like you more than those other Deities." Danity turns to walk away but stops before turning back again. "Welcome to the human race Spes. It's a hard pill to swallow but once you get it down it's pretty cool." And with that he walks off just leaving me there. I don't make any attempt to follow him. I watched him go back into his home and now I have no idea what else to do on this planet until I remembered the tavern. I start to head to the Tavern but i see a few Humans hurting a Grifit in front of a convince store. I don't pay much mind to it and I walk past continuing on my way to the tavern as it's not my problem to interfere with creatures affairs. I pushed open the doors to the tavern and saw Bound. At this point in time it was close to night and he was closing up shop. He didn't look at me but he yelled. "Sorry I'm closed. Come back tomorrow." "Bound it's Spes." Bound turns around and waves his hand in a motion of, come here. "Ahh Spes you're welcome to come in." I walk in fully and sit at the bar. "I talked with your brother. He seems to be doing better." "He should be coming by in around thirty minutes to an hour. Stay and wait for him?" I nod. Bound sits on the stool next to me. "You never asked about my fear or anything you know." "People are entitled to their own choices or problems. I do not interfere with other creatures' affairs." Bound shrugs and smiles slightly. "You're nothing like them. The ones I've seen. The ones my brother saw." "Which ones have you seen?" Bound inhales and then breathes out. "Okay. Once a few years ago The Creator came to our planet for surveillance or a check-up but no matter what it was he. He killed a lot of us for just trying to live. If we didn't answer to his liking he would kill us. I had a friend and he got his skull crushed in front of his wife. It's just brutal shit honestly." I don't understand what I'm hearing. Genitor? He must have had a reason. "That is sad." Bound winds up for another example. "I have also seen one. She was fair in looks. Very Yellow." Sors. "She walked around and looked at everyone and then she stopped to talk to me. She told me my fate was to die the next day if I opened the tavern. I didn't that day and I''m still living today. I have no clue what was meant to happen to me but. I'm glad I avoided it. My brother has seen more. two more i think so when he gets here he'll tell you his stories about the Primordial Deities. Everyone on this planet hates your kind. That's one of the things Grifits and humans agree on mostly. You're a good one though. I'm glad I've had two out of three encounters be good but Danitys were all bad." I nod in acknowledgement and we sit quietly for a bit before he talks again. "Give me a story of your life currently." "I have not been alive that long, I hope you know. I could make a story up if you would like." He thinks and then nods. "Whatever passes the time."
I start to prepare my made up story and whenever I have it, I start to tell him. "Once when the world was mad, a man was missing from a group of all. He was seen as a failure. A disgrace. His own people hated him because he was just scared. Scared of the world. He wanted to live by himself with no interruptions but his people promised to themselves that when he finally showed his face again, he would be punished. Twenty-five years had gone by and the solitude had gotten to the man. He finally decided to show his face for the first time. He had no idea of this punishment his own people had orchestrated just for him. Once seen they were immediately ordering him around. He went around and helped the best he could until the day came. The man thought the tasks were over. He would be mistaken when his last assignment was to be executed. His people tried to grab him but he ran as fast as he could. Not fast enough though. He was swiftly caught and tied up before he was taken to be killed. Before his death he had a few words left which were granted by one of his people. He used this time to fight his way out the grip of the ropes holding his hands together. He would eventually break free and start to sprint away again. This time he was successful and he jumped off a nearby clif into a river. His people stopped at the edge and looked over, they thought he was dead so they walked back to their camp, but he emerged alive and well miles away near a river bank. He traveled to his old home and decided that his solitude was just fine enough for him. There, that is my story." Bound starts to clap and he has a smile drawn across his face. "Very good story. I'm surprised you made that up." "thank you Bound. I appreciate the feedback." Me and Bound talk for a while longer and the doors open. Danity casually walks over and sits on the stool next to me. "The fuck are you two looking at?" "How flattering Danity you've always been a little fire in the sky." Danity waves Bound off. "Danity, I wanted to know your experiences with the other Deities you have seen." Danity sighs and grabs a drink from the bar. "Alright. I have met three Deities in my life not including you. The first one I ever met was The Creator. I remember seeing him land down on top of some building and that was his first victim. Just some dude who i never met and i never will meet. I have no idea what he did wrong but I guess it was so bad he deserved death without even seeing the person who would take their life. After that he stepped out of the rubble to announce 'I am here to take those to Mors who see life as unfit or to be built by a tyrannical rulership. You ignorant and uneducated beasts do not have the mind to comprehend what us superior beings know is right.' and it just went on from there. He justified our deaths by saying we were spreading lies but. We're just a single planet with no connections to others. It's not like we can even tell the million-billion other planets that exist." "infinite" Danity turns to look at me. "What? The hell is an infinite?" Danity looks at Bound as if he would know the answer. Bound gives him a look of confusion and raises his shoulders and drops them. "It's a number. A number that never ends and never will end. That's as simple as I can put it." Bound and Danity both give a nod to each other and look at me. "Good enough I guess." "Yeah, that makes sense." "Good. Let us contain then." Danity shifts back to looking forward. He rolls his shoulders and stretches before sipping his drink and settling in, he would continue speaking soon after. "Anyway. After he told us that he came around the dead zone first. And a Grifit came up to him. Actually the Grifits are extremely anti-Deity. They hate humans so much because we look like them. So anyway this Grifit who looks barely twenty comes up to him and spits on The Creator. I have never seen someone or even something get ripped apart so fast. All I can visualize is the single half second scream that cut off before a loud meaty slap hit the ground, which was followed by another, and another, and another until that poor Grifit was just chunks. The Creator then picked up one chunk and threw it so fast and hard it went straight through another Grifits face. The Creator started going on a tangent about the fragility of basic organisms like us. He murdered more and more till the dead zone was painted red. We don't call it the dead zone just because the fauna is mostly dead in those areas. Both massacres happened in that zone. That's why the ground is stained red. It's blood. The blood of all the victims."
The revelation is sick. My own kind. The supposed "Leader" of our kind is a genocidal maniac. "You said both massacres. So what was the other?" "That's the last. I'm saving the worst for last." Two Deities came to the same planet to kill these people. Yet I'm forced to work and fix my mistakes. Fix your own while I do my best to mend what I did. Why does my kind have to be so cruel to all? Or at least many of my kind. "Let me finish up my first story." I nod, giving him my ready. "After all of the humans and Grifits he murdered were scattered across the ground and all over buildings The Creator commanded we cleaned it up and he left. My window was covered in blood. Chunks of flesh and skin were smeared across the front of my house. One thing I learned that day is that Grifits bleed like us and their muscle and flesh look almost identical to ours except a little more pink. I just wish I was told this rather than having to see this for myself." Danity stands up and stretches before sitting back down. "And that my friend is story one." "I feel bad but I don't pity. I pity the pitiful Deities who think this is what superiority is. They are not leaders but tyrants who can never be taken from their thrones. "All the people he killed spoke against his rule." I was stumped. They all spoke out against him. I remember Genitor had taught us that our creations have no rule and they should be punished if they try to gain any upper hand against a Deity. The sympathy clears from my face as there was a reason but not one the less superior understands or agrees with. I will keep my peace. For it will just ruin my friendship with Danity "Okay I am ready for the second story now." Danity looks up and clicks his tongue to the roof of his mouth before looking forward again. "His name was. The God? I think?" "We call him Deus. He is a god maker but you all do not know what that is yet so do not worry about it." Danity accepts this answer and starts to continue on. "Well Deus didn't kill anyone but he did something horrible. He's still surprisingly the least violent and evil of the other two I've seen. What he did take away however, was our instinct to fight against wrong. Not literally, but our ability to react and fight back. The fear so many had after this, not wanting to disturb or disobey a Deity. It worked, It worked too well. The thing he did was grab a random woman and he cut her open in front of a bunch of people. Men, women, and children saw this poor lady get gutted. She fell to the ground screaming. I was actually outside when this happened and so I could hear the volume without a barrier. It was horrific. I didn't know people could scream so loud. Her insides were out on the ground just soaking in the dirt. Their blood became dirty and then Deus pressed his shoe to her neck keeping her from screaming. I remember his words. 'Fear is something you all have. Use it like a tool. Do not rise and do not fight when it is unwinnable. Let your fear beat you to death before I do it myself.' and then the lady started regenerating. Deus took his foot off her neck and she seemed terrified. Shell shocked and unable to make much noise. Her stomach was closed but her shirt was still ripped. Her name was Rensi. She was a sweet girl, me and her were actually talking romantically at the time but after that happened to her she became a shut in. she'd only talk to me and i would go see her sometimes but she's scared of the world. Deus wasn't there too long after. I think he just wanted to make an example of her and turn everyone into sheep who fear and listen to the shepherds. He succeeded. I'd say about ninety-five percent of the town fears Deus and the others. Obviously I don't and my brother doesn't either. When he eventually left, kids were crying and people were throwing up from the horror. I took Rensi home and washed her up. She made me stay at her home for a week without leaving. She eventually let me go but I visit her every day now and yes she spoke against the primordial deities so she was used as an example of what would happen if you speak out against them." Again another story where they did what was stated to be against rule. I can feel the sadness in both Bound and Danity. I understand Danity probably loved this woman and she felt the same but, she did break a rule after all. She did not deserve torture on that level in my opinion. I don't know if the punishment is fully deserved or not "I am sorry Danity." I do feel sorry for the innocent, not the ones who went against rule.
After a long moment of silence he began to speak again. "Alright. Final story." Danity's hands shake slightly. "Bound, I need another drink for this one." Bound has a worried expression. He has obviously heard this story before so his willingness to grab Danity a drink already sets a mood for this story. Bound pours him something and Danity sips it before turning to me. "I don't know its name. I know barely anything about it. I only remember its eyes. They were moss green. Darker probably. Let me tell you how it started first. One day I ran out of the bar drunk around six o'clock. I needed to use the bathroom and instead of using the restroom in the tavern I ran home." Danity blinks a few times, inhales, exhales. "I was only 17 when this happened. First Deity I ever saw actually. I think at least, but it. I don't even know its gender. Maybe because it acted so much like a rabid animal and my mind was blurry. They had such a distinct characteristic on their body but I can't remember." "Danity. What did it do?" Danity's breathing slows as he calms down. "Well on my way home in the middle of the street I saw it. It had a man in their arms. Fingers lodged into his throat as it ate that man's arm. Before I could yell in fear a lady beat me to it. The creature disappeared and I heard gagging and I looked to my right and there she was. Getting eaten alive right in front of me. Her legs were somewhere but they weren't near her. I couldn't watch so I walked back far enough to just run. I ran through the town and I heard choked screams and pleading. A body got thrown near me and exploded on impact with the wall. The noise made me fall to the ground or at least I thought until I felt something sharp in my leg. I looked down and a bone that wasn't mine was stuck in my calf. I wanted to yell in pain but I couldn't because it was looking at me and I heard a raspy voice speak. 'You won't taste good.' and then it walked away. I was left to live as it continued to destroy every part of Ginji. A lot felt its useless punishment. I just sat there. I was scared but not when we made eye contact. At that moment I developed my greatest fear. To die without seeing the person who killed me. I remember hearing it killed children too. Slower than the adults for some sick twisted reason. When it left no one knew what it was. I had to be carried to the clinic and I was the only survivor of the attack who actually saw it up close. I just assumed it was a Deity and that's all. I have no idea what that thing was but it was the most horrific thing I had ever seen." Danity rolls up his pant leg up enough to show the scar he got. "I wish I remembered more." "Were the adults innocent?" "Well this was before Deities were really known to do much so none of us had reason to hate them. Deus came down and that's when the hate started. Hey, isn't hate and fear emotion? Why would I feel hate and fear before you existed?" "You all have emotions buried deep in your minds. If you felt enough of said emotion then you could feel it. My existence just made it way more accessible." Danity nods. "Thank you. I like how easy it is now." The adults were innocent. The children were innocent. If this was a deity it would probably have been Malum. I feel disgusted. I hope it wasn't my own kind. I feel sympathy for the people who suffered in this story. It should never be deserved. Never. "I am deeply sorry for that. I hope one day I find who did that and maybe I can bring some sort of justice." "Thank you. That would be somewhat comforting." Bound looks past us both. "Hey sir, we're closed." I hear footsteps behind me and then someone slaps the back of my head. [Ow, that kind of hurt! Oh wait, I can think again. Guess I'll get back to narrating. Spes gets up and turns around.] "Hey why did you do that?" Is that the presence of a deity? Is this guy a Deity? [He grabs Spes shirt and pulls him to where they're looking face to face. Hope they kiss.] "Genitor sent you to me first. I waited and you did not come. I am not waiting any longer." [He lets go of Spes] "Which one are you?" "Atomus." Okay Atomus I assumed that. I hope he's not too mad. "Yes okay I'll follow." [Danity and Bound watch as Atomus leaves with Spes. Bound and Dainty look at each other. I'd be confused too if I was an alcoholic and a greasy bartender] "What the hell just happened?" [Danity shrugs] "I don't even know" [Spes and Atomus both launch off the planet together.]
-Chapter End