My tears dripped upon her legs; shame was no longer something I had. “Did I, fail?”

“It depends,” Zanthia, the goddess of life, tapped me on the shoulder. “Come.”

I sat up, and she began walking out of her study. She opened the door, and allowed me to leave first. Outside was a fancy, yet somehow normal castle. She strolled over to a little balcony and we looked out into a city. There was a beautiful view, one that took your breath away but still calmed you. “Eric, you somehow manage to impress the gods despite our near boundless knowledge. You gave me quite a scare,” she said. A chalice of wine appeared and she offered it to me, but hesitated. It suddenly transformed into a glass mug of mead instead, “This is more to your tastes, is it not?”

“T-thank you. Um,” I gazed sadly down into it, “please answer my question. Did I fail? Did Apollyon kill everyone?”

She smiled, “You passed.”

A big sigh of relief finally came to me. “I see.”

“Eric Archibald,” she said my full name, “I am the goddess of life, and as such, I am biased towards the preservation of life. I hope you find it within yourself to help others where you see fit, however, that is not your main concern as the Guardian of Worlds. Your responsibility is ensuring no one world takes unfair advantage of another world.” She had a sip of her own wine. “If a single world is to have a crippling civil war, you are of no obligation to see to it. However, I hope that you do. Go on now,” she allowed me to leave, “orientation is not yet over.”

I looked to where she gestured and saw an old man. From his appearance, one could say there was nothing striking or out of the ordinary, yet he had the same magnificent presence of the gods. What’s more, he held the staff of Scien in his hand. He seemed blind, but somehow, I still knew he could see me clearly. I walked toward the old god. “Ah, Guardian, so young.”

“And, you’re–”

“So old?” he joked. “Indeed, I am. I am also the god of space. I’m responsible for the ground you walk on, the air you breathe, and time itself. Well, there isn’t much knowledge for me to impart onto you due to my particular role in the grand scheme of creation. Ensure the worlds don’t fall out of balance, as per usual. And, try to have fun, eh? It’s not all about work.” He tapped me on the shoulder and disappeared before my eyes.

“Uh…” I stood there, kind of confused.

I heard a chuckle, “He really is a god of few words.”

“I know that mischievous voice!” I claimed without even looking at the person. “Honestly, I questioned myself so much. How dare you give such a job to an immature boy?! I’m pretty mad at you!” I fumed and folded my arms.

“Alright, drama queen. Let’s go for a ride, eh?” Emily held my hand and we teleported to a bar.

It was definitely the afterlife, because I saw Phoenix and Celosia hanging out at the barkeep’s counter. I fought hard to keep my tears inside. What sort of face was I supposed to make? Should I be happy to see an old friend again? Or should I apologise to that friend? How could he possibly be glad to see me after looking at his daughter right in front of him?

He was in the middle of chugging a beer it seemed, so he had all the patrons’ attention and no one really noticed me or Emily. She nudged me with her elbow to go ahead and approach the former spirit lord. But I stood there like a fool, paralysed by fear, by shame I thought I no longer had. How do I begin to apologise?

Just as I asked that question, he slammed the mug down and noticed me. His beaming grin died and he became solemn. He got up, walked drunkenly through the scores of people, and when he got to me, he planted his fist right into my cheek. That pain brought the dam down. “Phoenix, I’m, sor–”

Another punch busted my lip, then another sank into my stomach. An onslaught would’ve taken place if someone didn’t hold him back. Phoenix’s face was soaked in tears, more than mine ever was. The person held him back until he calmed down, that person being Volt. Before I could even process my feelings towards Phoenix and Celosia, the shock from Volt jarred me. He, died? My face scoured the rest of the crowded room.

August’s parents, Melissa, and Tara were there. Even Shyla, his first girlfriend.

My parents too, Mom and Dad, Flynn and Mary, were there. Mom held Tacari from trying to run towards me. Dawn held onto our son, Deotis; he was so tiny. Anjali rocked Aviana to sleep. She really could sleep anywhere, just like her father. Steyza and Sek’hana both smiled lovingly at me, despite what being with me put them through. Donna and Hydra looked at me with pride; it shattered my heart just thinking they were so proud of me. Aaralyn and Bianca from Ulanos drank together as always, at least some things didn’t change.

My fists clenched on the ground, but despite that strength, I felt like the weakest, most pitiful person ever. “I’m sorry, everyone! I’m sorry! If only I tried harder…” The tears jumped out from my eyes without any hints of fear, “I’m so sorry!” Before I could finish grovelling, I felt thin arms wrap around me. Tacari broke free from our mom after all.

“Don’t be sad, Eric! Did Biter bite your best toy? I get sad when he does that too!” Tacari folded his arms and pouted.

I looked at a kid with eyes full of water, and absolutely had to pull myself together in front of him, “Yeah,” I ruffled his hair and wiped my tears on my sleeve, “something like that. What should I do, Tacari?”

“Eat bacon!” he demanded, without any hints of doubt. “Or play in the park with your friends! Ah, but if your friends can’t play th–”

“Then you make new friends!” Dawn shouted. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah!” Tacari answered and they high-fived.

“Hmm, I think you’re right, Tacari!” I pinched his cheeks. “I’ll try to make new friends. But I’ll never ever ever forget my old friends!”

Once I finally smiled again, Mary did exactly what she was trying to stop Tacari from doing and found her way to me and hugged the sponge out of me. “I love you, Eric!”

“I love you too, Mom. Always will.”

I spoke with everyone, and tried to have my closure. Phoenix didn’t come around yet, but Celosia was mad at him for hitting me so he eventually melted in her hands like puddy.

“Sorry, Dad. We don’t usually have these conversations, and it sucks that it took until we met here for me to say this, but I love you, man.”

“Love you too, boy. I’m proud too. Emily told me about the whole Madam Jelly hivemind business. You went through a lot,” he drank a bit of his pint. “Thanks for seeking justice for me like that, buddy. You know,” he laughed, “I think I’m going to miss our arguments the most.”

I laughed mentally. “Huh?! Who’s gonna miss arguin’ with your dumbass?”

“What’d you say, you little fuck?!” he made a fist.

“Wanna go, you old shit?!” I stood up and took a stance.

He brushed his glass aside and did the same, “Yeah, let’s settle this shit already!”

We both struck each other, but they were incredibly weak strikes. “What was that?” I teased. “Since when do you hit like a ten-year-old girl?”

“Shut up! I’ve been drinking, okay? What about you?!” he flipped it back on me.

“I just fought the greatest battle of my life! Gimme a break!” I rolled my eyes.

“Fine, fine! Next time,” he touch his fist on my chin, “we’ll settle the score for real!”

“Yeah, look forward to gettin’ your ass beat, old man,” I chuckled.

Just as I was about to leave, he caught my attention again, “Hey, dipshit! None of us wanna see you here anytime soon, okay?”

I, didn’t know how to reply. “I’ll try my best,” I said to them all. “I love you guys. Never forget that.”

Just then, Emily teleported me out into an old cottage in the woods. There were books, scrolls, and all sorts of inscriptions lying about. It looked like the house of a scholar. “Well, that was pretty tear-jerking, huh?”

“Shut up. So, where’s this place?”

“My temple, the place my uncle brought me to. My uncle caused the second-coming of Eblis in my old realm, you know? I had to deal with that madness,” she said proudly.

“Did you really deal with Eblis? You fought with him?” I asked. It was almost impossible to believe. The power that I felt coming from the portal alone was insane.

“Hmm, well, fight is not exactly the word I’d use. In my old realm, light magic had a much bigger advantage over shadow magic. So, I beat him relatively easy, but he ended up killing me in the end,” she shrugged.

“I see. Wow, okay. Hey, I’m pretty sure I should have a lot of questions for you, but,” I scratched my head.

“It’s okay,” she tapped my back. “As the Guardian of Worlds, you will have many more opportunities to speak with the gods. But I have a question for you. I am now the goddess of balance. A suitable promotion for the old Guardian of Worlds, don’t you think? Anyway, as the goddess of balance, I have the power to change your soul’s mana pathway to arcane. It’s much more balanced that way. What do you say?”

It was a tempting offer indeed, but I refused. “I’ll pass.”

“Oh? Okay, suit yourself, Voidchild,” she teased. “Speaking of which, I told Zanthia to resurrect Fatima for you. She’s indispensable to you, and many others. She was an amazing Apostle but she never had many friends. Be good to her, okay?” she winked.

“Alright, gotcha.”

“Oh, before I pass you off to the fourth god, there’s something you should know,” she said, and her tone denoted a rather serious matter. “Remember I had Donna killed for not giving up on soul magic?”

“Uh, yeah. What’s up with that?” I asked.

“Well, soul magic is off-limits for a reason. You didn’t even use all of it, yet it killed you, the most powerful being of this realm.”

I, was admittedly shocked. “Soul magic is what killed me? Not Eblis?”

“Yes,” she sat me down and took a seat herself. Her lean onto the table showed me how serious she was, “soul magic was never supposed to exist. They created it purely for last resorts, for times like when Apollyon or Eblis would appear, for calamities like them. Eric, you killed Apollyon and sealed Eblis within the first day, then you went unconscious, but you were so driven to finish things that your body just continued on pure instinct. You basically sacrificed yourself for the greater good. That’s why we as gods were impressed with you. Anyway,” she sighed, “onto the serious stuff.”

I raised a brow and leaned in. There’s stuff more serious than that?

“If someone abuses soul magic and die,” Emily peered me right in the eyes, “it basically tells Zanthia that they heavily regret their gift of life, and that they want to undo it. Eric, the fate that’s worse than death is non-existence. If I’d let Donna continue on her path to immortality, not only would she not have found it, but she would have killed herself in the process. If that happened, Zanthia would undo her existence. All knowledge of her would disappear from existence. No one would know her, her deeds would be undone, her daughter would vanish, all the magic and knowledge you learnt from her would be unlearnt. You get the point; her life would be undone.”

Emily paused for a brief moment, as if pondering whether or not sharing the information was the right thing to do.

“There are ramifications in that. Basically, if she continued like that, you would have never met me, you would have never become the Guardian of Worlds. You would have never been able to save the realm from Apollyon the Destroyer. Donna would’ve literally ended all life in this realm.”

“Hydra’s–”

“Ass,” she finished for me, “I know right? So, about Adrasteia Winter…”

“I understand,” I sighed. Just thinking about it was crazy. If Zanthia undid Adrasteia’s existence, it meant Apollyon would’ve been able to kill millions more people, and trillions more beings if we included animals and such. Despite how heavy of a situation that was, I wasn’t allowed to tell people what destroying their soul actually meant.

“Alright now, off you go,” she shooed me away with the flick of her wrist and my scene suddenly changed.

A horse was suddenly in front of me, a really big horse. My magic didn’t work in whatever place we were in, so Zan, the god of death, had to help me up, even though he was shorter than me. He then hopped back up on his own. We rode by some fishermen on a beach. They waved at him as he passed by, and he, at them. “Voidchild, eh? It’s a good name.”

“Oh, um, thank you,” I said. Admittedly, I felt the most awkward around him. I mean, who wouldn’t? The god of death? The literal god of death? Sure, death wasn’t as bad as my existence being undone, but something about him was still spooky.

“I see it will take some time before you become comfortable with me. Well,” he rubbed along his horse’s neck, “no matter. I suppose I should tell you what the god of death expects from the Guardian of Worlds.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“I expect nothing,” he said indifferently.

“Huh?” I squinted my eyes.

With a chuckle he stopped his horse near a pier, “Well, even amongst the gods, my existence is a little special. It wasn’t always like this. The first god was omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He Himself saw the dangers of all that power, and decided to split his main roles as God into three. Those three are life, space, and balance. You’ve just met those deities. In the grand scheme of things, my role, the role of death, came a long time after. I am not responsible for the death of lower beings such as yourself, so don’t worry.”

He brought a couple meat buns out of thin air and gave one to me. “Instead, the death I am responsible for is the death of other gods, corrupt gods. So, when I say I’m the god of death, it doesn’t mean yours. Although, it is something I’m capable of,” he paused, “handling. So, as you can see, what you choose to do or not do with the worlds is none of my business. But, my sister, Zanthia prefers you to be compassionate towards life. You do not need to be, but I will appreciate if you are. Any questions?”

“Uh, yeah,” I rubbed my neck. “What if Emily becomes corrupt? What does it mean to be corrupt anyway?”

He looked me right in the eyes, and I knew fully well that it wasn’t any of my damn business, but I considered Emily a friend and mentor, so I was a bit worried. The god of death chortled, “Inquisitive, that’s good. A ‘corrupt’ god does not equal an evil god. So, let’s say Zanthia decides to create beings, for example, humans, and all those humans are born with a foot sticking out of their ass.”

I tried to hold my laugh in but it came out anyway. “Yeah, what about it?”

“It doesn’t make her corrupt. She can do all the ‘bad’ and ‘evil’ things she wishes with her realm. It’s her realm, and the three deities with creation roles can do whatever they wish, create whatever they wish, change, remove, alter, anything. What makes a god corrupt,” he looked me in the eyes seriously, “is when they do evil things in another realm. You see, every realm has a generation of deities ruling over it, three deities. Let’s say, a deity from a previous realm comes to this one and causes trouble, then it’s my job to eliminate that deity because other deities are unable to kill each other.”

He smiled, “Voidchild, do you know why I’ve answered that question even though I have no obligation to do so?”

“Uh, I actually have no idea,” I admitted with a shrug.

“Well, you see, in about five generations of deities, I wish to pass the mantle of god of death onto someone else. I find you suitable.”

I cackled, and it only got louder and louder as time went by. “I swear, I have no idea why people with so much power trust me with it. I’m a goofball. Do I really look responsible enough?”

“Did you know, no god expected you to beat Apollyon the Destroyer?” he laughed. “You underestimate yourself, Voidchild. Well, when that time comes, I guess we’ll know.

“How long is that exactly?”

“Hmm, about 24,000 years in your time.” He suddenly leaned backward and raised his hand upward, and in it, an arrow was caught. “Well, a friend of mine wants to have a drink together, so I should go. Good work. We shall meet again, Voidchild.”