Chapter 2: To the Rescue

Not again, sighs Neko. It is that same dream again, starting off with that macarena song playing in the background as cats of all breeds and sizes line up before her to pay her the homage she deserves, to her PURRfection. She sighs and decides to roll with it, and soon finds herself dancing with the kittens as they worship her, as befitting their lowly position. The cats then bring her before a throne, though the image is always fuzzy.

Positioned beside it is a large, beautiful Russian Blue acting as her page. It stands up on its hind legs and bows deeply, which she acknowledges with a dip of her head. As she sits down on the throne, the Russian Blue turns to face the sea of admiring cats numbering hundreds, if not thousands of legions. "All shall bow down before the might of the Nekomancer!" decreed the Russian Blue.

An amused grin curls her lips as Neko watches the cats stand up row-by-row to pay their respects to her, creating a wave of bowing cats that seems to go in forever, receding into the blurry distance. She waits patiently until they have finished, then rises magnificently from her throne and raises her hands.

"Let the feast," she announces, "BEGIN!"

*

"Neko?" calls Somn.

Neko rolls her eyes in reply. Just as the cats are doing the Dance of the Opened Tuna Can... she thinks before sparing Somn an annoyed glance. One look at her friend’s face immediately changes that annoyance to worry, though she keeps up her irritated expression.

“Let me guess, you forgot something again, didn’t you?” Neko asks, raising an eyebrow. “You do know this is the only time I can rest from all the insanity you cause every day?”

“Not right now," Somn says, her face twisted into a state of panic. “I need two Bricks, stat. Bring them near the Origin."

Neko sighs, then remembers something. “But I only have one Brick left,” she says. "And I worked hard for that Brick!"

“It’s an emergency,” pleads Somn. “Just yell at someone and hurry!”

“Alright, alright...” Neko says, closing her eyes.

For a few moments, she feels disoriented as the world around her seems to spin out of control. Not trusting her balance or sight till the sensation stops, she waits until she is sure everything has finally stabilised. She then opens her eyes to find herself inside her room. She doesn’t know how Somn is able to wake people from their dreams-- and her friend will likely never tell her how-- but she guesses that it's a part of her “dream powers” or something.

Neko shrugs and jumps out of bed, looking around for her Blue Brick. A quick scan of her room reveals it resting inside her backpack under the table, with her guitar on top of the whole lot. She sweeps out the Brick from under the table, then flings open her bedroom door.

One more to go, she thinks, running out of the student-deities' allotted residential block. On the way down, she meets an god with messy hair held up by a headband and goggles-- the deity still in the same batch as her, but he was born early in the creation season.

“Hey Fred!” Neko calls.

Fred smiles brightly and says, "You're up early--the sun's still shining. I guess you've heard about the orientation later today?"

“Oh yeah, I forgot about it,” she says. “I'll deal with that later. Do you have another one of these lying around? Somn needs them,” she adds hopefully, waving around the Brick to make her point.

“Hmmm.. Lemme check my pack. Always gotta be prepared, ya know?” he says as he rummages his bag. “Why does Somn need it anyway?”

“She didn’t say. And this is my last one too, curse that idiot. If I disappear because of this so help me Random I will find a way to haunt her,” Neko grumbles. She looks back at Fred and asks, “Do you have one in there?”

Fred laughs knowingly. “Here we go!” He reveals a shiny blue brick. “Just accumulated this one a few weeks ago. Lots of hard work. Here.” He hands the brick to her and says, “Now let’s go see what our wonderful friend has gotten herself into this time.”

With that, they head off to the Origin, mindful of the few pits along the way. They’ve been warned by their seniors that monsters would often dig pits to the point that it was an in-campus running gag.

“I swear," begins Neko, "whoever falls into one of these things would be the--” Her sentence was cut off when she hears her friend’s voice coming from one of the pits. “Did you hear that?” she asks Fred.

“Is it someone we know? Someone who’s name starts with S and always seems to get into trouble?” Fred says, grinning.

“The same ‘Somnone’ that asked me to get these bricks to her, it would seem,” Neko says, chuckling at her pun. “I can’t believe she actually fell down one of these things!” she laughs.

“Guys!" shouts Somn, having not heard their conversation clearly. "Thank TGR-- hurry and toss those Bricks down here!"

Neko and Fred look down to find their friend stuck inside a ridiculously large and deep pit. With her are two gods that they suspect are newborns.

“I didn’t know you had a date, Somn?” teases Fred with a laugh, before he notices the symptoms of the Fade on one of the newborn gods. He immediately becomes serious. “Neko, you really should give her the Bricks now.”

“Here you go,” Neko says, deliberately aiming for her friend's head as she throws the Bricks into the pit. “You owe me one.”

Despite being affected by the Fade, Luke somehow manages to catch the Bricks before they hit Somn. She quickly snatches one out of his hands before he could accidentally absorb it, for as soon as the Bricks touch his hands, they start glowing. The Brick in Luke's hand dissipates into swirling mass of energy that circulates around his body for a brief moment before being absorbed by his skin, the energy giving him a faint glow and turning his limbs back into opaque body parts. Somn slips the other Brick into Krill's hands and the same process happens to him. Both Somn and Luke in sigh in relief.

"Thanks," says Luke gratefully.

“I’m gonna go find a rope,” Neko says, getting up. She pauses and looks at Fred. “Or do you happen to have one in your pack?”

“Are you kidding me? That’s basic equipment!” Fred says in mock disbelief. He grabs his pack and produces a rope. “You guys really should be more prepared.”

“Yeah, for camping, or anywhere outdoorsy,” Neko laughs, giving Fred a playful shove. “And as you can tell, I didn’t bring my pack with me.”

The god blushes, but takes care to make sure Neko doesn't notice. “Never hurts to be prepared,” he replies, handing her the rope. “You’ll never know when a Godville Administrator will appear and trap you into a hole.”

“Well, these three didn’t need the monster’s help for that,” says Neko jokingly, tying the rope around a nearby tree. She tosses the other end into the pit. "Please don't tell me you guys are dense enough that I need to tell you what to do next."

Somn helps tie a still unconscious Krill to the rope, then gives it a quick tug. “Okay. Pull him up!” she yells.

Neko wraps the rope around her and digs her feet into the ground. Fred follows her lead and together they slowly pull the young godling upward. It takes a few long minutes but they eventually get him near the edge. With a final tug, the young god flies over, crashing onto Neko and waking up.

“Oww…” moans Krill, rubbing his head.

“Umm… Hi?” Neko says awkwardly, not really sure about what she should say.

“Oh. Ah. H-hello there…” the god replies, his dark cheeks deepening colour at their close proximity. Their faces were only inches apart and for a moment, Neko forgets about everything else. Then Krill realises he is on top of a complete stranger, and the gravity of the situation reminds Neko that she is still pinned down to the floor.

“Can you please get off me?” she complains.

“Oh.. Sorry.” The young god blushes profusely, scrambling off her.

He’s... cute, I guess, she thinks reluctantly. She watches him get up and offer her a hand, which she gladly takes.

“I’m Krill,” he says.

“Nekomancer,” Neko replies.

“Nekomancer?” he asks, slightly confused.

“It's my name. You can just call me Neko though.”

Fred watches the exchange with narrowed eyes, then clears his throat a little too loudly. “Ehem! A little hand here?” he asks, directing a not-so-subtle glare at Krill.

“Yes, please!” calls Somn from the pit. “You guys still have two more people to pull up.”

“You can go up first,” offers Luke politely.

“Are you mad?” asks Somn, taking a step back in horror. “The moment I get up there, Neko’s gonna kill me for interrupting her dream!”

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Somn... Luke thinks to himself as they all start moving. I kinda wish I could get another hug... In a desperate attempt to hide his blushing, Luke looks to his side and sees the boy that appeared with him now walking alongside him. Who is this? he wonders briefly. Then he notices the brunette goddess waiting for his reply. Right, Somn asked our names! I'll learn his name then. What was my name again? Luke, that was it, Luke the Almighty. The two boys reply in turn, first Luke with his and then the other boy. “Krill. Krill the Caliginus,” says the boy.

Krill... Why does that name seem so familiar? Luke unconsciously slows down to ponder on this, leaving him behind the other two.

"Luke! That was your name, right?" Somn shouts. "Hurry up! We have to go! The elders are waiting!" Luke jumps in surprise as his concentration is broken, but he manages to get the gist of what Somn said and runs after them.

"So, who are these elders?" Luke asks. "Are they the ones in charge of... this place?"

"No... well, some are, some aren't," says Somn hesitantly, a little unsure herself. "The elders are just the older gods. The ones that we're meeting are our teachers, though there are powerful elders that command all of..." Here Somn pauses dramatically but continues walking.

"All of what?" asks Luke, lengthening his stride to walk beside the girl. "You can't just leave us hanging like tha-- Oooh..."

"... this," finishes Somn with a wink, sweeping her hand in a grand gesture over their enormous view, the setting sun providing a magnificent backdrop to the city. Grand buildings, some impossibly built, others large and imposing, all built in ridiculously close vicinity and separated by brick roads that shine with a suspiciously golden gleam, creating a network of pathways that stretch well beyond their current line of sight into the distant horizon."Welcome, boys," says Somn, "to Godville-- home of the gods."

“It’s gigantic!" Luke shouts, trying not to run ahead of the others and explore. A few steps in front of him, Krill’s slack-jawed look of awe echoes his friend’s sentiments.

Somn allows herself a quick smile at the two gods’ reaction, then breaks into a run. "Get cracking, both of you. We don't have much time."

"What exactly are we in such a hurry for?" Krill asks, as if anticipating Luke’s puzzlement. "I don't see any need to rush."

"Tight schedule," Somn huffs. "That glow of yours is gonna settle soon. If you wanna see this again, run like you've got Heromnivores on your backs."

"What do you mean?" Luke asks, matching his gait with her. "Are we in danger at all?"

"If I don't get you to the elders soon, you'll die from lack of power," says Somn. "Gods need the power of prayer to survive. I'll explain the rest later-- right now, Godville is the only safe place for newborn gods," she says. A quick look at the newborns reveals their faces changing from inquisitive glances to fearful gazes. "Move. Now."

Don't need to tell me twice, thinks Luke darkly. "You said it." He suddenly grabs Krill and Somn takes off running as fast as he can. Faster and faster, his pace increases until he feels as if he is flying.

"LUKE!" yells Somn. "STOP!!"

Krill, on the other hand, was enjoying the thrill. "Relax, Somn, he's got this!" he yells over the wind. "Enjoy the ride!"

Luke grins in agreement, pumping his legs as quickly as he can. This is great! Is this the power a god can have? This... This is amazing! he laughs. In his haste, he doesn't notice the hole in front of him. His foot finds nothing but empty air far too late. Why does it feel likE I'M FALLING???

CRASH!

    

Luke wakes up at the bottom of a pit, followed a little later by Somn. Krill, however, remains unconscious from the fall. Upon seeing their condition, the trainee goddess pounds the ground in anger. "We were so close!" she hisses. "Those monsters... They always have to try and set traps for the young gods!"

She turns and looks at Luke, and sees something that makes her start visibly panicking. "Oh no, no nononono... We should've had more time than this! Okay, umm... Just... stay calm Luke, don't do anything..." She starts digging around in her knapsack, only for her complexion to turn ashen. "I forgot to bring the scrying mirror!"

Is she crying? wonders Luke. Why is she crying? Oh no, did I make her cry?! Stupid! You know that men don't make women cry! Stupid! Stupid! Stu--! Wait, why do I feel... lighter? he wonders. He looks down at himself in time to see the last of the gentle glow rising off his skin seep back into his limbs. Then, slowly...

OHMYRANDOM! Luke watches, horrified as his hands and feet start fading away. "Somn... What's happening? I'm getting scared..." he whispers.

"Luke, you... you used too much of your mana and this... this is the result. The Fade. It's the first thing they warned me about... When gods run out of power, they literally fade out of existence," explains Somn, slowly, as if she doesn't want to believe it herself. "Normally, if you don't use anymore godpower, you'll can wait till it replenishes. But right now, you don't have a source. You need to be sustained by a worshipper, or you'll eventually just go... poof." She turns to look at Krill. "He's alright for now, but he'll be next."

Luke finds himself agreeing with her instinctively, but he currently has bigger problems to worry about. I'm going to disappear? he thinks desperately. I... I don't want to... "Somn, are you sure there's no way out of here? If we can get help, we can make it out," he suggests.

Somn lets a short, sour laughter escape her lips. "I wish. All I can do right now is a little dream travelling, not enough to get anyone moving, unless..." Somn suddenly tilts her head up at the sky.

Luke instinctively follows the suit to see the sky now a brilliant orange. "It's getting dark," he says, not understanding.

"Exactly," says Somn with a newfound hope. "A friend of mine will be waking up soon-- if I work fast enough, she might be able to get you guys spare mana in time. I need to focus my power for this, so don't distract me. Try waking up Krill."

Luke watches Somn position herself in a corner of the hole, then close her eyes. Moments later, she starts humming a soft lullaby, but the sound is laced with power. He crawls over to Krill, hoping that his newfound companion knows what she is doing.

Introduction

Chewing her lip to hold back a scowl, the goddess-in-training clutches her knapsack while browsing the shelves, pausing to push up her glasses that had slipped down from the sweat coating her nose while looking for that stupid spell scroll. The air in the library is hot and stuffy, and she decides to take a break to straighten her back. She draws in a deep breath to clear her mind, then finally realises that in reality, she had stopped reading the intricate labels a few shelves back and instead had been entertaining the idea of kicking down an entire shelf, stomping it to bits, then lighting it all on fire. Madness! she exclaims mentally, shaking her head in disbelief. All that hard work and dedication-- gone, just like that! What's wrong with me today?

The young deity looks around from her position by the spell scrolls shelf, wondering if anyone else was affected by the increasing tension in the air. From here, she can see the tall, large windows of the library thrown wide open, trying to coax in even the smallest of breezes from the thick, unmoving air as a respite against the heat. Around her, deities were hunching over their books and papers like a coiled spring, their jaws and fists tight with irritation and concentration.

Suddenly, a mature voice behind her asks, "What are you looking for, Somn?"

Somn whirls around. "Do you mind?!" she snaps, her tone harsher than intended. "I'm-- oh Random!"

Standing in front of her is what the mortals would describe as a middle-aged man with graying hair, wearing an odd combination of a leather cop jacket thrown over a Hawaiian shirt. Recognizing the speaker, Somn's expression pales in horror. Her words come out in a rush. "Professor, I am so sorry, I swear I'm not myself today, I didn't mean--"

The professor simply brushes it all off with a kindly smile. "Don't worry, I know it's not you. It's the energy building up; it's disturbing you unconsciously and tends to create tension and friction up till the moment of birth. Not many people are immune to it, like Fred and your friend... Neko, I believe it was?"

"It is," says Somn. She takes a moment to process this new piece of information. "Is that why Fred's allowed to continuously volunteer?" she asks. "To collect the newborns?"

"Yes, but he does need a break. I assume you're his replacement?" he asks, eyeing the girl's knapsack.

"Yessir," says Somn. "I just... I need to get out of here. Even if it's only for a little while."

"You're only a week old, and you're already complaining?" asks the god good-naturedly. "Wait till you're my age!"

Somn finds herself relaxing and smiles along. "Thank you, professor."

The god in the Hawaiian shirt looks at her with a mildly curious expression. "What for?" he asks.

"For making me feel better."

"Ah, you're welcome, but I think the 'thank you' was a little too early," he says, smiling.

At Somn's quizzical look, the professor plucks a spell scroll off the shelf and hands it to her. "This was what you were looking for, I believe?"

Somn gasps in delight. "Finally! Thank you, sir!" she says, stuffing it into her knapsack.

"No problem. Now, off you go. Don't forget to grab your goggles and scrying mirror.”

“I’ll grab’em on the way out,” promises Somn. “See you later, sir!”

The professor watches Somn with an amused smile as she somehow manages to trip over two people, knock over a table, send papers flying and collide painfully with the doorframe on her dash to the exit. After Somn exits the library with another crash, yelp and apologies, the senior god chuckles, then goes back to preparing for an orientation later tonight.

*

Fred wasn’t kidding when he said waiting for the birth of a deity is draggy job, Somn sighs. The trainee deity shifts her weight to her other foot before refolding her arms and resuming the impatient tapping of her fingers. She stares at the vast, grassy field in front of her with an expectant look, frequently flicking her head to look up at the sky and wondering when a god will fall out of it. Or two, she reminds herself, recalling how she came into existence along with her friend.

It has been almost a month since the start of the birthing. While she was only birthed during last week, she can feel -and dislike- how the environment itself seems to be tensing up, as if Mother Nature is about to erupt into a blazing fury. She wants it to end-- everyone seems to be much more irritable and high-strung during the wait. In fact, that is the very reason why she was standing here; she just had to get away from the others for a while until the whole thing literally blows over.

She throws one last glance at the sky, searching the darkening heavens desperately for some sign of life. Nothing. Not even a twinkle. Probably not today then, she thinks. With another sigh, she turns around, fully prepared to leave when a shock-wave rips through her being, stunning her. She is left no time to recover as another shockwave follows seconds later, and then another, until it feels as if the air has became a giant, beating heart.

The young deity whips her head back up to see the sky lighting up with brilliant flashes of gold and silver, the colours rippling across in time to the beat of the shock-waves, emanating from a single point above the grassy meadow. “Yes!” she shouts, pumping her fists. Grabbing her spell scroll, she runs full-tilt towards the field, the vegetation now completely and utterly flattened, if not decimated, by the howling winds.

The air itself, she quickly discovers, seems determined to hold her back, to keep her away from the eye of the storm, but she is stubborn and fights back. She raises her arms to protect her face as she plows determinedly through what quickly becomes a raging, pulsing tornado. Buffeted by the wind, her hair and clothes whip about her face with alarming strength, stinging her skin and eyes. Curses slip through her lips as she berates herself for forgetting her goggles; now she can’t even open her eyes to see clearly. An almost visible wall of wind slams right into her, knocking the breath out of her body and nearly throwing her off her feet despite the spell. Almost there, she tells herself, taking another step. Just a bit more…

Her next step finds no resistance, and she nearly falls over as her compensation for the gale’s strength becomes an overcompensation. The goddess-in-training stumbles and steadies her footing. She then blinks and rubs her eyes before looking around, trying to adjust to the blinding gold and silver flashes above her.

Here, in the eye of the storm, it is almost eerily silent, a stark contrast to the roaring wind only a step behind her. She takes in a deep breath to compose herself, but realises she doesn't have the time for that-- she can feel the hair on the nape of her neck standing on end, the air now humming with powerful magic. Despite the mana not meant for her, she still feels rejuvenated just from standing here. She looks up at the sky, where she can see that the gold and silver flashes are now happening so fast, they intertwine and seem to blend into each other, raw power focused onto an almost impossibly small point.

That's going to be violent, begins her thought, but it goes unfinished as the sky explodes, gold and silver lightning somehow pouring down from the heavens in a race to reach the ground first. She throws her hands in front of her face to protect her eyes from the glare, but even through her fingers she can see the two lightning bolts somehow turning into a liquid of sorts, suspended in the air while it sloshes about and fills up a vaguely human-like shape. The light then begins to dim as the gold and silver morph into different colours-- the gold becoming emerald green; the silver, blue and white. Soon, there is no trace of the original gold and silver. The colours then begin to settle, defining the shapes' finer features in a slow, deliberate process until it finally becomes a gentle aura wrapped around two gods standing in front of the trainee goddess, the first one a tall young man with a mop of black curls wearing a white jacket and blue decals, the other an elvish-looking youth with dark, purplish skin and icy-white hair.

"'Bout time!" she laughs. She tackles them both at once and pulls them into a warm, loving embrace for a few moments before putting them back at arm's length. "You two have a wonderful sense of timing," she says with a wide grin. "Any later, and orientation would've started without you!"

She then snaps to attention. "Right, let’s see, umm... Well, call me Somn, but if you ever need my full name, it's Somnias Vagus. And in case you're wondering, I'm your senior by about... a week, I think? So I'll be in the same batch as you two! What are your names? Do you guys remember anything from before you came here? No, wait a minute," She picks herself off the ground, turns around and starts heading back in the direction from which she came. "You two can introduce yourselves on the way back," she calls cheerfully. "But for now, we gotta get moving!"