It was dark. No, it was much more than that, if Darkness was the absence of Light, then it was as if Light never existed wherever he was in the first place. He didn’t know how he could possibly know that after being there for only a few minutes a most, but it was just something he could feel. Something his very soul just knew. Like how animals had certain instincts ingrained in them from birth. Or how spiders knew how to spin their web without being taught. Everything that made him who he was just screamed Darkness, but to the man who wanted nothing but to finally rest and close his eyes, it was perfect. Something that should have terrorfied him felt comforting. Light was overrated anyway. Wherever he was, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t feel, he couldn’t hear. It was like he couldn’t do anything but be. “Actually, that’s a wrong way to describe it, it’s like I can’t bring myself to even try. I’m neither cold or hot, hungry nor full, sleepy nor awake. Hell, I don’t even know if my eyes are actually open right now, yet even while pondering these things, the mere thought of trying to move sounds like blasphemy.” The man, no matter how much he tried, couldn’t bring himself to budge a single finger. It was like when a person woke up from their alarm but had a mental battle with themselves whether they should get up or not, but 1000x worse.

Everything was just...perfect, and the man was scared that trying to move would ruin what was happening, whatever that actually was, he didn’t know. That it would take away this perfect moment. The unending sleep, the peace he’s been craving for was finally granted to him by his granddaughter, satisfying his curiosity wasn’t worth the risk of losing what he’s finally been given. The thought whether he was in Heaven or Hell crossed the man’s mind once or twice, but unimportant queries were hard to keep a hold of wherever he was right now. Anything that crossed his mind was there for only a second before whatever it was slipped right through his fingers and he forgot all about it. He felt like he repeatedly approached a train of thought 100s of times before forgetting, like every time before. Yet in all honesty, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

The Time he spent in there, in that Void, he didn’t know. He never cared to count or ponder about Time. “What use is the passage of time to a dead man?” he thought. Not long after arriving to the Void, he just stopped thinking altogether. Unbeknownst to the man, years started passing by, yet he never noticed a single second. Soon, 10’s of years passed, then 100’s, and finally 1,000s. In all that time, he didn’t dare speak, dare move, dare think, because if there was anything that could wake him up from his peaceful sleep, he didn’t want to risk it. If it were up to him, he would have stayed there forever, until the end of Time, if Time was even a thing where he was. But it wasn’t up to him.

Without warning the Void that surrounded him for thousands of years, suddenly vanished, encompassing him in a blinding Light. If you could speak to him and ever complain about waking up to bright Light, he would scream something like, “You think this is bad?! Imagine sleeping for THOUSANDS of years and waking up to the SUN you insufferable twat!?” Till this very day, it is a sore subject for him, he never got over it. His response to his dear waker was not as warm.

“AHHHHHHH!!!! YOU FUCKING ASS! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!?!” he fell to his knees, hands covering his eyes. You would think technically being thousands of years old would have mellowed him out huh? Yea, you would think so. “WHOEVER THE FUCK JUST TURNED ON THOSE LIGHTS AFTER I JUST WENT TO SLEEP WILL FOREVER HAVE MY FURY!!! I WILL FOREVER HUNT YOU DOWN AND REMOVE YOUR FUCKING SPINE FROM YOUR DAMN BACK, SO I CAN MAKE YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN COCK!!! HOHOHO~, DON’T THINK YOU’RE SAFE JUST BECAUSE YOU MAY HAVE A VAGINA EITHER! I WILL RIP OUT YOUR FUCKING OVARIES AND FEED THEM TO YOU!!! NO ONE IS SAFE!!!!!”

After shouting a few more choice words about his waker, how much he hated his nonexistent life, the world, and various torture methods the man finally gets enough sense to try to figure out where he was and what happened. Rubbing his eyes to relieve some of the pain, he moved his hands down slowly to acclimate his eyes to the Light. Blinking a few times, what he saw was completely underwhelming. He seemed to be in an all white room with black furniture everywhere. It was a living room fitted with a flat screen tv connected to the wall. There was long black couch with a leg rest in the middle. Paintings littered the wall with old war depictions. Army’s fighting for their lives, generals leading men, and entire kingdoms burning to the ground.

In the middle of the couch was an old man with a bulky figure. His arms were the size of the man’s head and his chest was exposed. There was a solid 8 pack that looked stronger than steel but were covered in scars. In fact his whole body was, from his body, to his arms, to the large scar going to his right eye. Though the man couldn’t really see that much of it considering the old guy on the couch had an eye patch covering said optical. He had an long white beard braided into a single ponytail that reached to the center of his chest and had a really large smile on his face while drinking something from an old timey tavern mug. “I honestly expected weirder, like a giant dragon or something. Not an old man chilling in a living room.” the man sighed. “Life is just a disappointment sometimes. Not that I’m alive though, so I guess I don’t have the right to complain.”

“You have quite the mouth on you Xavior. A lot of fire and passion!” the old man spoke after another chug from his mug with a loud laugh. “I like you boy, this may not be such a terrible thing after all.” The smile he wore never once left his face. The surprise and shock on the now known named Xavior's was apparent. He didn’t know who this man was, where he himself was, or what he was doing here. The old man waited patiently without a word while continuing to chug from the seemingly endless beverage, apparently waiting for Xavior to respond.

“I’m sorry but uhm...are you God?” Xavior asked timidly. If this old man WAS God, then one thing he did not want to do was offend him in any type of way. In all honesty, Xavior was 90% sure that the person sitting before him WAS God. He never expected God to be ripped, but hell, he’s all powerful! It makes complete sense when you think about it. The man however just laughed louder.

“No no no...well yes, but not the one you’re talking about. Me and him don’t get along, the kid has a large stick up his ass. ‘Only God’ my divine bottom, the youngin has no respect. Though I have to give the guy his dues, although younger, he’s just as powerful. Hell, if we came into existence around the same time then he would surely be stronger than me.” he laughs with a deep bellow. “But the cookie didn’t crumble that way now did it? Little Jo-Jo will just have to wait a few more millennia. No, you would know me by Odin, King of Aesir gods and Asgard!” with that declaration, thunder roared and the room shook.”

Xavior became overwhelmed and fell on his ass. The simple amount of information that could be preened from that offhanded comment alone was enough to stagger him. “Alright, I get it Murphy! You’re an asshole!” His chest tightened and suddenly the pure presence of the man before him terrified Xavior to an ridiculous degree. “Does that mean there are not only multiple gods but pantheons as well?! How would that even work??? Basically each pantheon has their own take on not only the creation of humanity but the Earth and sometimes even the galaxy! Besides that, how does power scaling gods even happen? If Odin is as, if not more, powerful then the capital-G God, how did he become so powerful if he’s apparently younger? And what does ‘Came into existence’ even mean? How does the birth of GODS even happen!? And last but certainly not least, JO-JO?!?!?!?!?”

“I uhm-”

“Well of course there are multiple gods. Most religions humanity comes up with has them. If we were to make it a numbers game and only a single pantheon existed, the likelihood of a multi-god one being the winner is highly likely. About the creation myths, those are mostly hogwash, ways for a pantheon to get more believers. Though, some gods have tampered with their faithful to make them more distinguishable.” Odin gulped down some more of whatever was in his mug before continuing. “Power scaling is a little bit more tricky yet relatively simple. You see, not many pantheon’s can hang with the Norse, we’re just that awesome, and that number gets smaller if we’re talking about individual gods.

“....awesome?”

“Gods grow stronger the older they get, how many followers they have, and how well known they are. Remember this, words have meaning boy, and meaning has power. We don’t necessarily need to get prayed to or worshipped to receive power, though those methods does give us more than usual, our names just need to be said or something dedicated to us needs to be done. I’ve lived a lot longer than the youngin but he’s just as powerful because of how large and popular his religion actually is.”

“W-well how are you even still around the same level? Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world and is still going strong. No offense but how isn’t he stronger than you yet?” Xavior stuttered out.

“Remember? Having something dedicated to me gives me power. Every game with Norse Mythology as a premise, every book or poem, and especially every Wednesday, I am a little more stronger than the day before. Though I have to share a little with the Greeks and Romans, I get most of it.”

“Right...Wednesday was named after you.” he said while getting off his ass. “That doesn’t explain the whole coming into existence thing. I mean, if most of the creation myths are nothing but belony, then doesn’t that mean humans came first? And why does something as powerful as the Gods get power from humans anyway?”

“Well Gods are brought into the world by the belief and faith of humans themselves. I told you, meaning has power boy, and faith even more so. The faith of humans not only brought about our creation, but also decided our powers, abilities, and even how we act in certain instances. Your race are our parents I guess you can say, we came into existence simply because you believed we existed. Humans are scary creatures when you think about it.” the god’s smile widened more. “But don’t get cocky little human, I’m still a god. Now sit, or are you going to stand there with you mouth open all day?”

Xavior didn’t know what to say. All of this made no sense to him. He sat down with a blank face and suddenly realized he was holding a similar mug to the god’s that had some kind of suspicious liquid in it. Eyeing wearily, he took but a sip, and immediately regretted his action. The taste was delicious, like the finest honey sickle made into a broth. The mere flavor of the substance encumbered his entire body. It’s like the drink didn’t encapture only one of his senses, but all of them. For a second the room changed into a wide open prairie with flowers all around him. The fragrance of the honeysuckle surrounded him in a swirl of beauty. His body felt sensitive to the blowing winds and he could even hear the wildlife all around the meadow. But the taste wasn’t the problem. The moment his tongue made contact with the substance, he became the dizziest he’s ever been in his life. It took a moment for him to realize that just sitting there, he was swaying back and forth, and no matter how much he tried he couldn’t stop himself. Worst of all, he couldn’t focus, the entirety of his mind wanting nothing more but to have another taste. To experience the sensations once more. It was like with only a sip he had nearly become addicted. The man couldn’t think or process the world around him and it took all his willpower from taking another sip. At his actions, the god seemed to laugh even more. “That was made by Aegir himself, don’t take it lightly puny mortal!” The voice and presence of the god woke him up with a startle. Like a wind blowing him back, the mere words of Odin demanded every ounce of his attention and an invisible aura sped towards him. Just as sudden as it appeared, the feeling vanished, from being absolutely trashed to only tipsy. He tried his best to focus himself and after a while of Xavior trying to steady his swaying body, he finally spoke once more.

“Why...why am I here sir? I mean, I surely died, wouldn’t the jurisdiction of my soul go to ‘Joe-Joe’ if anyone? Why am here of all places? Why did you wake me?” These set of questions have been on his mind since he got here. As an old man with nothing to do, reading was a big part of his daily life. He didn’t, however, want to keep bothering his sweet granddaughter about getting him new books everytime he needed something, so he got around to reading online novels and being chosen by a god to save a fantasy world was fairly common. He knew this trope, he just never thought it would actually happen.

“Well you see, the gods got bored...again, and while that explanation may seem a little to bare boned, with the gods attention span it actually explains a lot more than it should. They decided on holding a sort of tournament where a god gets a champion to revive and take action in their name. Some will want to take over the world, some will want to become the strongest, and some will just want to be left in peace. In all honesty, it’s up to you guys, we can’t interfere to much. The stronger you get though, the more strength we will receive. The champions were assigned randomly of people who died on a specific day. Now let me make something perfect clear to you lad. You weren’t chosen because you were special or anything, you were just lucky. Or unlucky, however you decide to look at it. You aren’t the chosen one. You're not the hero or demon king. You are the random schmuck who won the prize.” Odin responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Oh…” he would be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed. “Well you said something about this being not as bad as you thought, why did you assume that it would be?” In all honesty, knowing that him being revived was just chance didn’t do much to help his confidence, not that he needed it much. He never needed anyone to determine his self worth but hearing that he wasn’t special from a god of all things still affected him, even if it was just a little bit.

“You don’t carry much of my personality traits.” he flexed his muscle while taking another drink. “Look at me, I am the embodiment War, Death, Sovereignty, AND GENERAL MANLINESS! I mean, looking at your past, we were kinda alike in your early years but you threw it all away.” the god said offhandedly. With a eye twitch, Xavior defended himself.

“I had a child!” but the response was swift.

“I have plenty of children! Doesn’t make me any less spectacular now does it? If you really wanted it, you would have fought to continue your conquest with all of your might! Like a MAN!” Odin shouted. Xavior couldn’t help but give the god a deadpan. Back when he was teenager, he was a leader of a small gang. He had just expanded his territory but stopped branching out once he found out his girl was pregnant. War was just too risky, and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something happened to his woman or his soon to be son. So once Neo was born, he chose a successor and got out of the game with all the money he saved to build them a happy and normal life. It was one of the things Xavior was bittersweet on. No, he didn’t regret raising his child in a nice and safe environment, but sometimes that life called back to him and he wondered ‘what if’.

“Should a god really be telling me that I should have continued my path as a criminal? Isn’t that...weird?”

“I am the Divine Patron of Rulers and Outlaws, not to mention a God of War. Everything about you being the leader of a criminal organization and expanding your influence through conquest screams my name.” Odin then promptly pouted like a child and crossed his arms. “But then you had a kid and became lame.”

“….is this really a god I’m speaking too?” “Yes!” Odin confirmed, most likely reading his mind again. That would really get annoying. “Anyway boy, it is time for you to begin. Are you ready?”

“Right...I’m getting revived.” Odin finally stood up and walked to him. With a sigh, Xavior got up to look him in the eye. “God of War and Rulers huh...I guess that means I can only go down one path.” the god smiled at this and shrugged.

“You have many paths to go down my boy, don’t blame your actions on me. Do what you want. Take what you want. Be what you want. Whether your own morals hold you back from that is entirely up to you, however don’t use me as an excuse. It’s all a game after all, whether you rule the world or work at a fastfood chain, there’s only one rule. Have Fun.” and with a nod, the white room he was in disappeared with a flash.

‘I’m so going to get him back for all of the fucking lights one day!’