Heya guys, second chapter today since it was just a short one and I had inspiration flowing through my Soul Flame (teehee), had a request saying longer chapters so I think I'll work on doing this after this one! Hope you guys enjoy this, not too much action or any forms of fighting I'm afraid but I hope you like the characters I've very briefly touched on right now!

Thanks, and again all feedback is welcome!~

Sam.

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Submerged deep within the Divine Consciousness of all life lies something akin to a building plan of the Universe. A scaled down model, copied to even the tiniest atom. Mortals could not perceive it, newly formed Gods were the same as they had not yet found their Purpose – whether misguided or correct, only when a God had a Purpose could they truly exist.

For Zed, his was the Purpose of Pride. He had his Pride of being powerful, of being a Higher Being and with this pride came his own sense of responsibility. He saw himself as a caretaker to the mortals whom he had been entrusted to – gently guiding them to a life of intelligence, spreading his Divine Consciousness across the planet and visiting mortals at the hour of their death in order to comfort them; of course, some had misinterpreted it as an omen to be afraid of, calling him the Reaper, nevertheless he was content.

Until the Council of Gods forcibly put a stop to any form of interference, try as he might he could not face against the majority rule of those equal to him. They believed that the understanding of the Universe, from their Divine Consciousness, gave them a right to rule and act as True Gods. Only he and Ariel, an Angelic figure with thick long red hair due to being of the Valkyrie race, whom he had treated as a little sister since her Ascension, had argued against them. Sadly, as powerful as they both were, they could not defy the Council and so for many years spent their life idling away.

That’s not to say those years were misspent, though. Just as he was now, in those years he had spent meditating for much of them, feeling his Soul Flame surging through this minute version of the Universe, feeling it absorb the atoms that compose it only to reform them an instant later as it passes by.

Zed was sure that he was only one of few who comprehended some of its purposes; firstly, in regards to Creation, he was able to understand the components of a planet down to the finest detail, the position of every star, the forces that act within the Universe. He knew he was only just past reaching one tenth in the complete absorption of the Universe, but he felt as if the Universe within his Divine Consciousness became more real every time his Soul Flame moved through and analysed the atoms.

Secondly, it gave him a far more intimate way of learning about the matters of Life and Death which he understood were the realms of a True God’s powers. Physically looking at a planet and expanding his Divine Consciousness over it to watch, as he had done for so many years on Earth when he acted as the so-called ‘Reaper’, only granted so much insight. What he began to feel was that the answers actually lay inside this carbon-copy of the Universe. He had tried many times to completely cover it in his Divine Consciousness in order to watch and understand all of it at once however his Soul Flame was not yet powerful enough to envelop it so he could only cover about one tenth.

Similar to his absorption of the Universe with the Soul Flame, he felt that the correlation showed the more he understood of this unfathomably large, which was not truly infinite yet growing, Universe, the more he would be able to investigate the laws of Life and Death, which were truly closest to his… heart.

He smirked at the irony as he continued to float through his Divine Consciousness in hopes of something giving him a flash of inspiration. Seeing there were none, he once again resumed his reminiscing, as his mind thought of how his adopted little sister would be faring now that she was on her own.

(A.N. Scene change! Everyone get the new set ready and... action!)

Located at the centre of the Universe, lies a galaxy inhabited solely by Gods. The Capital Planet of the Gods, Heaven, is the only planet where one could really say they lived a luxurious lifestyle. In fact, if they didn’t, then no other planet should be able to say otherwise for it was the home of Gods who live the most decadent lives. Every God lived like a fantastical noble: throwing parties, summoning the most delicious food and wines and nobody would go wanting for anything. Such was the life of those who had ascended above mortals; such was the life that the Council of Gods had permitted them to lead in anticipation of ruling over the mortals.

A grand palace spans many hundreds of miles, so enormous one could even see it in space, and every inch decorated by the Universe’s finest artists, from both Gods of Art and some inspired mortals whom even the Gods must admit had moments of brilliance. It exuded a brilliance that both promised lavishness and tranquility, as the flowers in the many acres of garden spread about and swayed gently in the breeze. Contrary to its exterior appearance, however, the domain of the leaders of the Universe, the Council of Gods, was quite shaken in its conflict. With Zed out of the way, a force who stood at the pinnacle of power out of the seven Higher Beings, although not so far as to subdue them, they sought to move on Ariel.

“You dare speak to me after the slanderous accusations you made against my brother?” a proud voice echoed through the halls, power infused in every syllable it spoke, causing the servants to shake and tremble.

“Come, now, Ariel. We both know what he was planning, don’t we? He would have brought mortals into the Central Galaxy and tainted it. The fool of a mortal-lover.” drawled an arrogant voice. “Anyway, what does it matter? He’s been sent to The Cube, now, and nobody has ever escaped, even if it is unprecedented to send a Higher Being there.”

The voices came from the Conference Room, just beyond the Judgement Room in the palace. Sitting around a circular table, four Higher Beings occupied the seats.

An infuriated voice once again resounded through the palace, coming from the war-like red-haired young woman, clad in silver armour, concealing her slender figure. “He was framed by Zeus! Isn’t it obvious? Besides, what’s so wrong about bringing mortals here, anyway? We were all mortals once, too, you know, or have the legends that those mortals tell corrupted your brain so much that even you believe it now?”

“Well, we know he wasn’t ever mortal at least, that damn freak of nature…” muttered one of the two men confronting her, the leader of the famous Drakon species and 3rd seat holder, Daius, his blue-scaled dragon head twisting towards an indistinct mass of repulsive green flesh overflowing from the 5th chair. “Help me out here Zash? This pigeon will never shut up. Every time we try to have a small meeting it turns out like this.”

Finally, as if growing bored of the entertainment, a humanoid wolf creature, known as the Werewolf Kain, the second seat, growls, “Enough. Let us proceed with dealing with Council affairs as we planned. We have fallen behind schedule enough as it is… firstly on the agenda; a supernova is occurring in the Jeya Galaxy, should we stabilise the star or let nature progress…”

Ariel sat down once more, placing her hand on her face, her thoughts wandering off as she thought of her brother who had looked after her for so many years. ‘Will I see you again?’ was something at the forefront of her mind however she knew that somehow they would be reunited. As far as she was concerned, even Gods are part of that cruel chain called ‘destiny’ and she slowly extended her Divine Consciousness through the galaxy, just as her brother had instructed her to do all those years ago.