The 5 Wishes

"I will ask about other things later on, but now, would anyone care to tell me how and when can I receive my reward ?"

Everybody rolled their eyes.

"About that", said Vishnu

"You will leave tomorrow. But we need to discuss what world you want to be reincarnated in and your wishes from any 5 of us."

"Ok, but before that, what are world tiers? I believe Shiva mentioned something about getting reincarnated in a world of my choice irrespective of their tier."

"Right," Brahma answered

"Worlds are ranked by tiers based on the strength level cap the inhabitants of the world can reach. For example, the world you used to live in, Earth as you called it, the strength capacity of an average human is E. But the strength capacity of beasts in your world can reach up to D. So your world tier becomes D as there are more beasts than humans on Earth. Strength capacity is the maximum strength a species can achieve in case you didn't know."

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Rudra

"I don't think there are so many beasts stronger than humans on Earth. I mean there are not many animals bigger than humans, right?"

"You don't understand, boy. Bigger doesn't always mean stronger. Strength capacity is considered with respect to their bodies. If you consider bugs like beetles and ants, there is no question about who the strongest are." Brahma answered.

"If you take bugs into consideration, then yeah, it's true," Rudra said.

"What about the wishes? I can ask anyone present here and there are really no limits right?" he asked

"Yes" replied Parvati and everyone else nodded.

'Hmm, I need to think about this thoroughly. There are no limits to what I can ask and there are so many interesting powers that exist, Brahma's creation, Shiva's destruction, Vishnu's preservation and protection, Thoth's knowledge, Athena's Wisdom, Aprhodite's charm, Odin's runes, Ares' mastery over weapons and combat, Shakti's energy manipulation, Yhwh's drip, Parvati's parental skills, the list is endless. I think I should ask for powers. I could always learn the skills myself.'

'Destruction, Creation, Preservation and protection, Energy manipulation, and I will ask Thoth to create a system to help me learn and master the different powers and skills, that will be perfect.'

As he was taking a while to think about his wishes, everyone started chatting amongst themselves.

"Guys, I have decided."

Everyone looked at Rudra.

"What are your wishes boy?" asked Shiva.

"Give me your destruction, Shiva" Rudra said raising his hand in the air in an asking motion.

"What?"Shiva asked, visibly confused.

"Let me phrase that correctly, I, want the power of destruction," Rudra said and raised his eyebrows and started twitching them while looking at Shiva.

"OK, you'll get it. Now ask your second one." agreed Shiva.

He looked at Shiva in disbelief. The power of destruction.

"Just like that?"

"I am giving it to you but it depends on you how well you can wield it. If you want to reach my level, it will take you many millennia. So you'll have to work hard boy" Shiva said with the corners of his mouth raised.

"Thank you!" Rudra said as he leaned forward to bow down but was stopped mid-action.

"The 5 gods you choose will bless you together boy, so don't bow to me now. Choose your second wish."

Rudra nodded his head and turned towards Brahma. He asked politely,

"I wish to get the power of creation from you, sir"

"I see what path you are trying to take boy and I must warn you, it is a difficult one. Destruction, Creation, and Preservation are three of the most powerful primordial cosmic energies that we control. Cosmic energies and forces are already difficult to wield and what you are choosing is something even more terrific. It is extremely difficult to control them together in harmony. So difficult in fact that there are only two people in all of existence to ever wield them together."

Rudra's eyes opened wide in shock. He knew controlling different cosmic energies was going to be difficult, but he had thought that there would be at least a bunch of gods who could do it. But he didn't think there were only two. He became curious and asked,

"Who are they?"

"Our parents."

"Parents? You three are brothers?" Rudra asked looking at Brahma Vishnu and Shiva.

"Not just us, but the First Gods or beings from each of the pantheons that exist," Vishnu replied.

"First Gods?", asked Rudra.

"Yes, me, Shiva, Brahma, Yhwh, Uranus, Gaia, Ra, and others. We started our own pantheons years later with our kids and other deities," said Vishnu.

"So you are telling me, You all are family?" Rudra asked, surprised at the revelation.

"Yes" Vishnu nodded

"So back on my planet, why do so many religions exist?"

"Earth has always been a special planet boy, it is our birth planet. That is why we always choose it to incarnate on if we ever get bored and want to experience mortal life again. But we never created any religion, it is a human creation. We don't bother with that stuff as we gain nothing from it. But we are going on a different tangent again. I will grant you your wish and add a little something to help you learn to control your powers. Onto your next wish now" Brahma said.

"Thank you very much," Rudra said and moved on to ask his next wish. He turned towards Vishnu and was about to ask his wish, but was interrupted by him

"I know what you wish for boy. My power of preservation and manipulation, granted. But I should warn you again that controlling these primordial energies is going to be extremely difficult. So good luck." Vishnu said while nodding his head.

Rudra thanked him and moved towards his mother.

"Mother," he said as he bowed his head a little bit, respectively.

"Ask your wish, Rudra," Parvati said, lovingly ruffling his hair.

Rudra looked at his mother, the goddess Parvati. She was known by various names. Kali, Gauri, Durga, Shakti, and many more. While being a goddess of love and motherhood, she was also a goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction, change, strength, and energy. She was one of the 'Tridevi' along with Saraswati and Lakshmi, the feminine equivalent of the 'Trimurti' who were Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The three couples namely Brahma and Saraswati, Vishnu and Lakshmi, and Shiva and Parvati represented the different primordial cosmic energies in the multiverse and were considered almost equal in strength.

He wanted to wish for energy manipulation from his mother as that would help him control different elements and energies that existed in the universe. And the world he wished to reincarnate in, had a form of energy that helped people get stronger, so it would help him master that too.

"I wish for your energy manipulation, Mum," Rudra asked.

"Good choice, honey. It's going to help you a lot in your adventure and in the long run." Parvati said as if she knew exactly where he wanted to go.

"Thank you, Mum," Rudra said as he hugged her.

He released the hug after a while and moved towards Thoth to ask for his last wish.

"You want to wish something from me?" Thoth asked, confused as there were so many Gods more powerful than him.

"Yup"

"Ask away then."

"Can you make a system for me?"Rudra asked.

Thoth raised his eyebrows and then grinned widely. Although it looked very weird on an ibis face, he refrained from pointing it out.

"A system huh, sure why not, I always wanted to make one but never had the opportunity to do so. Tell me what features you want." Thoth asked.

"Ok, I want it to be like an AI assistant or something, generating quests designed properly according to the world I am in and giving appropriate rewards. Knowledge of Combat, Energy Manipulation, and other useful things, etc. Those are the basics that I want, you are free to add whatever your science God brain comes up with." Rudra answered.

"Ok, I will take my leave now, I have to work on it quickly. I will see you tomorrow boy," Thoth said and left in a hurry.

"Well now that all your wishes have been granted you should go rest. You have had an overwhelming day. We'll continue the talk tomorrow after you wake up. It is vacation time for us too so we all will be available tomorrow too." said Shiva.

"But what about the reincarnation and the world where ill be going?" asked Rudra.

"You'll be leaving tomorrow and the world will be created then and there itself. So you don't have to worry about that. Just go and rest. Your mother will take you to your temporary residence" said Shiva and left the room.

"But but -"

"Let's go, honey. I'll show you to your room."

Rudra didn't have the opportunity to say anything as he was dragged by Parvati towards the exit. He gave up resisting and let her drag him.

"It was nice meeting you, everyone. I hope we meet again soon. Bye," he said as he waved at everyone in the room as he exited the room.