An awkward silence filled the air, occasionally interrupted by the chirping of birds.

  “Look man, I’m not going to eat you or something. Ask your questions already.”

  Aurelius blinked, still unsure.

  He had not yet taken the seat that Quetzalcoatl had offered him, worried if he might offend the god.

  He had sort of regretted the decision, given the amount of stress he had felt with every word that came out of this possibly insane god.

  So… You want to give up immortality because you… feel bad…

  “Damnnit, we’ve already established I can hear your thoughts. You can stop being so bloody rude to me in your fucking thoughts, Aurelius.” The god replied, exasperated.

  “I-I can’t hel-help my thought- I’m so-sorry!” Aurelius replied hurriedly in terror.

  He raked his brain for a question, eager to divert the god’s attention from his blasphemous thoughts.

  “Er-W-Why me exactly?”

  “Have you looked at your soul?”

  “Yes, I’ve seen your divine mark, o, Hon-Honoured One.”

  “No need for honorifics. I’m not a spirit. Comparing me to one of them is actually… almost… insulting.”

  He glared at Aurelius with this remark, almost causing Aurelius to faint in fright. How was he SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT? All the gods of the spirit world were addressed with honorifics!

  “You human mages are too obsessed with your traditional soul-shapes.”

  “Those shapes just restrict the potential of mana.”

  “It did take quite some time, but it does seem that some of you have started to stack them. But that’s just a shortcut .”

  “All that magic involves is the influencing of the ambient mana. Through the movements of one' s soul, you can affect physical changes in the process called magic.”

  “Theoretically, you could cast a wind based spell as a mage with a water based soul shape.”

  “It just takes a whole lot more effort.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “And why even do that? The basic circle shape can already cast all these spells! It’s just a matter of temporarily molding the soul into the desired elemental shape.”

  “Unfortunately, you are one of the rare modern mages in Totelcan who has yet to move on from the circular shape.”

  “Kids would definitely not be ideal for my task, and literally EVERYONE older has taken up an elemental shape or messed up their souls with soul-carvings.”

  “Terribly few mages in this world fulfill the minimum age criteria and the basic shape requirement simultaneously.”

  “And the older ones are all essentially dropouts with no connections to mage circles!”

  “Liches might be a decent choice, but their souls are too damn unstable!”

  “That leaves students of magecraft like you to be the convenient choice.”

  Aurelius was stunned. He was chosen because he was a bad mage. Crap. He shouldn’t have been so stubborn and committed to a soul shape when he had the chance.

  “And the thing is, there were only like 5 in the whole PLANET. Absolutely fucked up.”

  “I was debating back and forth as to which one of you was the most promising.”

  “Then, you died.”

  “Given that it might just be a tad bit unethical to throw a kid into an infinite time-loop, so I decided that saving you from death could sort of even that out.”

  “Basically, fate. Ta-da.”

  “Infin- What.” Aurelius asked with disbelief.

  “Ah right. I have a little bit of a mystical connection with this planet. See, I can’t quite kill myself without removing this imprint. I’ll just reform!”

  “Another problem is that removing this imprint will wipe out the entire solar system.”

  “A little… evil? Plus when I do die, I need to systematically destroy the shape and consciousness of my rather large amount of souls.”

  “Very difficult to do alone.”

  “The angels are too unstable for this task. I’d need to unbind them and all that. It’s a huge hassle.”

  “So, I’m going to go to sleep for a couple centuries to a few millennia, and you’re going to find a way to kill me the right way.”

  Aurelius couldn't quite talk anymore. His jaws were stuck in their open position, unable to close.

  “Sho-Shouldn’t you help me through the process? W-Why sleep?” Aurelius managed.

  “Weren’t you paying attention? I am s.u.i.c.i.d.a.l. Do you want me to destroy the planet prematurely in some insane rampage?“

  “Also, it would be boring. I quite dislike teaching. A few bad memories. I’d rather take a little rest until you’re done. I’m already helping you with the whole time-loop and blueprint.”

  I… Has he really lived 100 million years? Where has he left his… maturity?

  “Damnnit, I’ll fucking kill you and pick the other kids if you keep making snide comments in your head.”

  “I- Er- Sorry… Sir? ” Aurelius replied meekly, trying to empty his mind of all thoughts.

  He had many, many thoughts but they were not quite along the lines of a death wish.

  Sulking, the seated god waved his hands.

  The surroundings changed once more.

  Aurelius lost the ability to move his limbs. The surroundings became dark as night as Aurelius came to a terrifying realisation.

  He recognised this feeling.

  He was in that FUCKING VOID!

  Quetzalcoatl’s voice became smooth and silky in his skull, as he bade farewell, with a little… Glee.

  “I started that time-loop the moment you drew your last breath.”

  “And the thing is, the dilation magic is included in that re-start.”

  “So… enjoy your 13 hours kiddo!”

  ko-fi!