3 Good Night? (3)

Hey all, bored High God Andy up in hell... I mean heaven calling in to report!

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So after introducing three completely alien species together, although abominations come in all shapes and sizes, I took a seat on my throne and settled in to watch the fun that was about to begin. But it took me a day of watching the chaos before I realized I didn't have popcorn. Which is probably why I thought watching it was so dull. Either that, or because after a day of confusion, the three species came to a compromise for absolutely no reason. Or maybe there was a reason and I just wasn't getting it. I mean, if you're a fifteen foot long monster that it's flesh, and you saw a human, you would it right?

But for some reason the abominations that I made didn't do that. Instead, there was a day of confusion, before some wild gestures and some hoots resulted in them calming down. Could it be because the worm's have human faces, causing them to look at the actual humans as different versions of themselves?

That's definitely possible... But it wasn't what I was looking for! What happened to the bloodshed? I made them carnivores for a reason! I suppose this is what I get for introducing less than a day old species to each other. Except for the humans, they're a few days old.

How do I incite more panic... How do I incite more panic indeed... I mean, I could smite a couple of the people who seem like they're in charge... And while that might hinder progress for technology, I still want to see the extinction of the human species... So there we have it. Smite, smite and smite. Three leaders for the different species all killed. Before I pay any more attention however, I make sure to remember to summon popcorn for the new round of chaos.

As I settle in with a bowl of popcorn in my hands however, I notice a blinking dot to my far left. Is something going on in my universe? As I briefly turn my attention away from the surprised cries of the three species to the dot. I slowly realize that the white dot is growing larger. Very quickly. And it doesn't take long for a hand to reach through.

An invasion? Couldn't they display some more magic? I still have no idea how to use magic. As I watch, the hand slowly grips both edges of the dot which I'll now call a portal. Because that's more convenient. As the hand struggled to pull the rest of the body out, I had the strong urge to help it in. After all, it's not everyday you get invaded. Well, it was only my third or fourth day, but it's supposedly rare you know?

Willing myself over, I decided to give the hand a pull, and with a shattering sound, cracks appeared around the portal, bleeding into my universe and I found myself holding something that looked human. Although it was much smaller than me. And by smaller, I meant much much smaller, they were only around half my height. And consider again my own size, my face is almost a quarter the size of a planet. This guy was almost a midget.

"What's this?" I grinned, my other hand snaking around to grab his throat. I let go of my other hand to give him a playful slap. When his throat disappeared in a bloody mess.

"Aww come on. That shouldn't even be possible!" I stared down at the remaining bloody mess left behind. I thought I was a newly reborn High God? I guess other gods didn't design their creations? That could've led to a gap in power in the beginning right? Or maybe because I focused too much on the physical aspect... Which caused me to heavily favor physical strength and not magic? I mean, you can't blame me, magic isn't even a thing where I'm from...

I mean, he was carrying a stick, I just thought it was a club, but on second glance, there's a gem embedded to the top. So I suppose it's some sort of staff for magic? I guess some High Gods favor one aspect over another?

That means that physical High Gods have the advantage at the beginning then?

I still want to know how to invade other universes however. I mean, the one who invaded died pathetically, and I still don't really understand magic.

I sigh, I should've been gentler. That way I would've have at least something to get me started. I guess this is what happens when you encourage physical growth in your own universe. Lack of knowledge is going to make me a knuckle head...

Glancing at the portal. It's still here, and it doesn't seem like it's going to go away anytime soon. Sticking my head through, I see a strange universe. The center of this universe is simply a massive tree. The tree has five massive branches with a galaxy at the very end. The individual leaves are actually different solar systems. What the heck? This place is so unscientific. But still, this massive tree has to be my loot right?

Tearing the portal apart to accommodate my own size, I step into the universe. Willing myself closer I realize that I reach about half the height of this tree. Not too bad, reaching down to the base of the tree I strain my arms as I tear the tree out.

With a universe shattering boom, I unroot the tree and stumble backwards. On the way I crush a few solar systems, but no biggie. The main body of the tree is still file. Dragging the tree back to my own universe I realize that the tree is emitting some sort of energy. Although interesting, I'll investigate further when I'm in my own universe.

As I reenter my territory, my universe grinds to a halt. As if unsure of what to do with this new massive tree. Suddenly, the boundary of my universe explodes outwards, generating even more space. In the center of it all is my throne.

My throne is still the same, elegantly made in silver, but blood red veins have appeared on my throne. And it pulses to a beat eerily similar to my own heart. With each beat, I realize my body growing even larger than its already gargantuan size. I marvel at my new body. This change must have been caused by this tree... I guess the inhabitants are now my own? Where do I even plant this tree... I shrug, it doesn't really matter, so I'll plant it right next to my throne.

Reaching out to grab a leaf, I closely investigate. I know I said each leaf was a solar system, but I wonder how the dead High God shaped them into leaf shapes? That doesn't follow any scientific sense that I know of. Looking back at the tree, I notice small green veins pulsing up and down the tree. I wonder if this is the origin of magic? I'm not sure how useful magic is however. After all, I'm already capable of willing things to do my bidding. I wonder what this foreign energy does then? Or I could be wrong and this tree isn't the origin of magic but some other type of system? But what kind of non wizard carries around a staff? That screams magic...

It doesn't matter, I'll wait for another High God to invade. Although invasions are rare, it doesn't mean it won't happen. Although, I was able to physically make the gate larger to accommodate my own size...

Standing up from my throne, I take a short glance at the Human's planet, they've reached peace again quite quickly, it seems that they empathize with the other races. I shrug, I have places to invade.

Wandering to a random side of my universe, I gently touch the boundary of my universe. It creates some sort of ripple effect through space. I wonder why I didn't test this at first? Well, no matter, drawing back my fist I hold my breath.

The moment of truth. I punch out as hard as I can and the boundary shatters, Immediately, I notice another universe. This one in the format of just one large land mass. The High God of this universe looks up at me in shock.

"What the fu-" They say before I jump in, slap their arm. Turning it into a bloody mess, grab their remaining hand and accidentally break the hand and pull them back into my universe while dislocating their arm. I glance back at the one large land mass. Should I bring that back as well? I mean, if my universe assimilates other citizens, it grows larger and I grow in strength right? I mean, that's why I got bigger right? I'll assume so. And for that reason, I'll take their High God for now. Glancing down, all I have is a bloody figure. The arm I smashed to smithereens has already begun regenerating, and the arm I dislocated has already been set in place while the broken hand is fine. Curious, they heal so quickly. Experimentally patting them on the leg, their thigh explodes into a cloud of blood. But they aren't very durable. Quite delicate. I put my hand to my chin as I stare at them regenerating curiously.

"How does it feel?" I ask. The only response I'm getting is a glare, and they've started regenerating their leg and their arm is done. Giving them a pat on both shoulders, both arms explode again into a cloud of blood. I wonder how many times they can do this?

"Doesn't that hurt?" I ask. But again, only a glare. Well they don't seem like cooperating, and I've no idea how to keep them contained... For now, a prison or some sort of restriction should work... I will the tree that I just planted to shift away from my throne and wrap its roots around the experimental subject. With that done, I shift my attention back to the gaping hole in my universe. Poking my head through, I will several more phantom hands into existence and drag the land into my own universe. Again, my universe grinds to a halt after taking foreign citizens. Then my universe expands suddenly and I feel myself growing yet again. There are a few disturbing cracking noises ringing from my body. I can feel something emerging from my back yet again. And there's also a pounding head ache as the sound of shredding skin is hear. The pain's too much. The world... Is getting darker.

I wake up, sitting on my throne. The head ache's still there. As I rub my hand against my forehead I realize that there's actually a bone sticking out. No, there's actually two bones sticking out. They feel... Very smooth, weird, and I can. For some reason I can sense my surroundings with these two bones. Are they like antenna from insects? I'm not sure... Glancing down I also notice a tail.

A tail? A tail... A tail! Grabbing it, I pull it closer for inspection. It's coated in black plates, something similar to an exoskeleton? But it ends in a sharp point. I'm not sure why that happened. All I've done is take the land and citizens of two different universes. Does that warrant this kind of change? I look for my subdued experimental subject, but the only thing left underneath the tree is a dried up corpse. I suppose I should have expected this? Although the subject was a High God with high regeneration... Pulling the corpse away from the tree, I can still hear a faint heartbeat. Oh. They aren't dead. I push them back under the tree and pat myself off.

It seems like invading other universes and stealing their stuff is a good way to improve oneself. I've just woken up, so I think this calls for a fifteen minute break. I sit back down on my throne and ponder my next course of action. I can continue watching the humans. I can continue punching holes through my boundary to improve. But I'm not sure how effective this is. So far, I've easily overpowered the High Gods I've encountered, but none of them seem geared towards physical fights like I am. One was geared for something similar to magic probably, another towards regeneration... Looking down, I see the vast amount of land I took from the most recent universe. The inhabitants of this land are just globs of... I'm not sure really, the look like jelly, but they move around. And they also seem to be cannibals. Looking towards the tree. The inhabitants are just free floating... Specters? They don't seem physical as they float into and above the ground, but they are interacting with each other. There's no observable food source for them. Do they feed off the tree they live on? The energy that the tree emits? It's possible. I want to introduce them to my humans... And I will. Punching out lightly, two new wormholes are made. From the one giant mass of land to the tree universe to the home planet of humans. This way everything is connected. I expect a massive war to hopefully break out.

"Welcome, my newborn High Gods. It seems like ten of you have fallen! As such, the group has been reduced to a sufficient size that I think is safe to introduce you to each other!" says a disembodied voice. It sounds like the dead man from before. Before I can say anything however, I experience what I had felt when I was transported to my universe.

Suddenly I am standing in a circle. In the circle there are only three other beings. One is shaped like a centipede with a human face. Looks like one of my abominations. Another looks like a human, but they have wings covered in pure white feathers. Slightly different from my own wings made only of muscle and bone... Their body keeps shifting from male, to female and back. Another is just a ball of light.

"These are your fellow newborn High Gods! Do try to get along, or you'll get taken down by older high gods you know?" says the same disembodied voice that sounds like the dead man who I had a chat with earlier. These are the other High Gods? I pay more attention to the other three and notice them doing the same. I only took down 2 other newborn High Gods it seems. And there are three others still alive. A total of ten was taken down. And if I assume that the rest of the 8 was taken down equally between them all, that means each one took down at least 2... Which means one of the High Gods here is much more powerful than the rest of us... Should I test one of them? No, I'm not sure how powerful they are. And this dream is starting to become more interesting.

Glancing at the one with the wings, I give them a smile.

"Hey" I say, and wave. They give me a weak smile and nod. I tap a finger against my cheek. Turning my head to the centipede High God, I give them a smile as well.

"My name's Andy. What're your names?" I say, keeping my smile fixed onto my face. I wouldn't want to scare anyone right?

"Call me Turin. I like architecture" said the ball of light. I notice that the ball of light grows brighter and dimmer at a fixed rate.

"You can all call me Kai" said the male/female with wings.

"It would delight me if you would all please call me Crus" said the centipede faced human.

"Oh very nice" I say, my smile still fixed to my face. "How many did you get Turin?" I ask in an amiable manner.

"Oh I only got two" Turin responds.

"Oh, way better than me!" I say while laughing, "I didn't even get one!" For now, I'll lie until I determine if saying the truth is helpful.

I glance towards Kai and Crus with a smile. "How many did you guys get?"

"I didn't get any, like Andy" says Kai as they shift into female form. I wonder if there's correlation between the genders and their emotional state?

Crus frowns.

"That doesn't make any sense, I only took down three" says Crus. He took down three? For now, we have unconfirmed numbers. Crus with three, Kai with Zero, Turin with two, and myself with zero(2). All in all five. So I assume Kai took down three. Or Turin took more down and Crus is boasting. It doesn't matter yet.

Looking away from the three of them, I look up with a smile.

"It seems like you've all introduced yourselves! Now, I'll explain more about your situation. You all have begun your universes, with their prospective living creatures. You've all taken different steps to shape your universe. Even if it has only been a few days. We have Turin, who destroyed three solar systems before he realized that his body emitted a massive amount of heat, turning all the original livable planets into a living hell followed quickly by death".

Turin coughs.

"We have Kai who decided they didn't like the view of their universe and burned it all down before restarting from the Big Bang".

Kai coughed.

"We have Andy who decided to make two new sapient creatures"

I coughed. The other three looked at me curiously.

"And finally we have Crus who ate half of his universe before realizing they weren't food".

Crus coughed. This... The other three are even more terrible beings than I am. At least I realized I was causing deaths. The other's almost destroyed their universes. I suppose that disconnect between themselves and their strength also means they overpowered their invaders easily? I wonder what they had all initially created for them to be so strong? After all, their strength is tied to their universe...

"Now that I've given out more information then you guys are comfortable with, let's move on to the main point". Ah, finally.

"You may or may not know this, but Gods have been at war since time immemorial. Factions have been created and destroyed countless numbers of times. Yet the fighting marches on. No one really knows why we still fight. All you need to know is that war is a common occurrence. Moving on, think of me as the General of an army. You High Gods are the Commanders. And below you are the Sworn Gods. You can think of them as Colonels. Below them are the Petty Gods. Think of them as Squad Leaders. And finally there are Demi Gods. Think of them as cannon fodder. Although the strength of Demi Gods can range from Sworn Gods to just a bit more powerful than Mortals. They don't really matter, because they have a fixed lifespan. Any questions so far?"

"Yes" says Crus, "If I may be so impudent as to ask. Why must we fight this war?"

"If you don't fight, someone will come pick a fight anyways". That's pretty reasonable, I didn't do anything and got invaded after a couple of days.

"Then if I may ask again. Why have you gathered four newborn High Gods together. Surely we are too weak to do anything as of yet?" Crus continued his questioning.

The voice laughed and said, "That is true. But among First Gods, there are rumors of another faction rising in this Godly War."

I interrupted, "Wait, wait. What are the factions?"

The disembodied voice sighs.

"I've no idea". So why the fuck is another faction coming up even important?

"The reasoning this rise is important is because the countless factions have been in a stalemate of creating alliances and backstabbing allies. With the addition of this new faction, the balance could be tipped." Huh?

"Who's in charge of the factions?" asks Turin.

"Well there's actually only two rulers. The King of Devils and the King of Gods. It's just that the Gods keep backstabbing each other, and the Devils keep providing support to Gods. Apparently the two kings are also friends. So the situation is messy. Because Gods and Devils work together and fight each other, the term faction was created to group like minded individuals together. But in general, there are only two ruling species of dimensions. Gods and Devils. The so called third faction is actually the rise of another ruling species. The situation was already messy with two, and now a third party wants to join? No one wants that, so all the factions have been raising their forces. My own policy has always been for the strong to survive, so I let you take each other down until four was reached". I hate this description. He interchanged the term faction so many times I'm pretty sure half of what he said is bullshit. So I'll sum it up.

Basically there are two ruling species. Gods and Devils. Some Gods and Devils are friends, and fight together, while others are enemies. Now a third ruling species is coming up and they feel threatened, thus the mass recruitment drive. Wow, my dream is really kicking up the pace here.

"I want you four to form up into a team with four other High Devils subordinated to my friend. First Devil Buddy. I'm going to push your universes to the edge of my dimension which will be beside Buddy's Dimension. Like so, you'll be the first line of defense of universes in the first line of defense of dimensions in the oncoming tide of the rising species. Understand?"

"Um" I say, "do we get to say no?"

"You may not refuse, because I'm already pushing your universes". I frown. That's cheating.

"I think that's enough for now. Shoo shoo, go back home" I'm gripped by an invisible force and in the next moment I'm back on my throne. Seven gates immediately appear at the boundaries of my universe.

Crus pokes his head through and waves with his many legs "It is my utmost pleasure to make your acquaintance Andy, it will be a pleasure fighting with you". Crus hold out one of his hands like he's asking for a high five. I mean, Crus supposedly took down three High Gods, so he should be strong enough to take a high five right?

Willing myself to Crus until I'm floating before him, I lightly pat his outstretched hand and watch it rip out of its socket and onto the land below. I'm silent. Crus is silent. I laugh. Crus screams in pain.

"Oh dude, I totally did not mean to do that I say" I want to give him a pat on the back but I feel like that'll kill him. Willing his mangled hand back to him I say again, "Sorry, I'm still getting used to my strength". I laugh again, a smile etched onto my face.

Crus looks at me carefully, his body tenses up for a moment before relaxing. "Yes, that would make sense, I apologize for interrupting you". Crus looks at the massive tree, the land below, and my four starry galaxies for a moment. Before pausing and saying, "Do you want to see my universe?"