“So…introductions?” Yueya, the beautiful elf, said, twirling one lock of hair around her finger. “How do we want to do this? Go in a circle, say your name, domain, what your world is? An interesting fact about yourself?” It was at that point that I understood she was being a little derisive, not serious. The inverted pyramid made a strange beeping sound that I almost attributed to being a laugh.

  “That would be…amenable. Gathering data should not be done for free. Trading information is wiser.” It intoned.

  “Or, and hear me out on this,” Reilly interjected. “We could turn it into a game.”

  “A game?” The stag asked, cocking his head to the side. The dragon yawned, lifting one clawed foot to pick at its teeth.

  “Boring,” it muttered.

  “Yes, a game! We try to guess each other’s domains. Everyone here’s been suppressing their auras anyways, so why not?” Reilly drawled. I nodded along, sitting back in my chair a little. That would certainly make things more interesting than just introductions. “That said, there should be stakes to this game. If you guess wrong, you have to share something about yourself. Some piece of interesting or important information, maybe. Or even just share some booze! If you guess right, then the other one has to share something about them. Nice and low stakes to get things started.”

  “I agree,” I said with a nod. Turning this into a guessing game would make things far less tense – the continued construction of our universes was a group project, after all, not a competition.

  There was a round of muttered agreements from around the table, a few seeming uninterested but, guessing by how they stayed at the table, willing to play along for now. The question was, then, what kind of information to reveal, and who would go first? I didn’t really see the point of hiding too much information, as we were all still baby deities and collaboration would make our efforts bear more fruit. Mr. Boxes had purposefully designed the encounter this way so we got to know each other a little bit first, and then our universes would be compared. Which meant I should probably share something personal rather than some hidden nugget of information I had learned, to build camaraderie…

  I blinked as I looked around the room, assessing everyone’s auras. I could see them fluctuate and change, their purposes clear as day to my eyes…Ah, crap. This wasn’t really going to be a game at all if I got involved, was it?

  “Who will go first, then?” the butterfly asked. “And what about our plus-ones?”

  “Why don’t we try to guess them, as well? Or should they do their own thing?” The stag asked, the centaur behind it shifting its feet nervously and fiddling with the furs on its shoulders. I, for one, glanced over my shoulder at the Mad Scientist, who cocked an eyebrow at me, seemed to realize what I was asking, and shrugged.

  “I don’t have a problem with it. For one, I am curious to see if they all will be able to figure me out as easily as you did. Is this some quirk of your existence? Or a benefit to being an origin deity? I suspect there is more to your eyes than mere sight.” she mused, scratching her chin. The feathers of her wings ruffled a little as she looked about the room, squinting her eyes, curiosity surging forth in her emotions. The apathy was nearly gone, now, replaced entirely by curiosity and excitement.

  “Let’s add them to the fun. Guess who and what our plus ones are, and, for bonus points, see if we can figure out why we brought the ones we did.” I said, turning back to the group. At my words everyone seemed to nod, a few focusing in on each other – only Reilly and the dragon focused on me, Reilly peering curiously at the Mad Scientist, while the dragon licked its lips. She merely raised an eyebrow at the beast, decidedly nonplussed.

  “Getting eaten is a boring way to die.” She whispered, and I snorted a little. She was probably being serious, which made it both sad and funnier.

  “I suppose, the next question is, who will go first?” the ball of light asked. “And, if there is, a time limit?”

  “We get one minute. The person being questioned can try to hide their domain any way possible. Try not to cheat and analyze people beforehand. Any volunteers?” Reilly said. I blinked at him. Try not to analyze the others beforehand? Oops. “Why not you, since you saw through my disguise so easily?” I glanced about at the others for a moment before, with a little jolt of surprise, I realized Reilly was talking to me. He had leaned forward, juggling his dice in his hands and looking at me with a smirk and half-lidded eyes. I held up my hands.

  “Uh, I should probably go last,” I said slowly.

  “Why is that?” The inverted pyramid asked.

  “It won’t be much of a game if I go first, and I’d hate to ruin everyone’s fun.” I said sheepishly. The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the Mad Scientist doing her damndest to hold back a laugh.

  “Are you saying,” the skeleton spoke up for the first time since arriving, steepling its bony fingers before its face. “That you have already analyzed each of our domains?”

  I nodded, flushing. “Well, yes. I have. Though I haven’t analyzed all of your plus ones yet,” that was mostly because, to my shame, I hadn’t really cared to fully analyze them, so absorbed with the origin deities themselves as I was.

  “Bullshit.” Reilly said, eyebrows furrowed. “I call bullshit.”

  “I, too, doubt the accuracy of your statement.” The inverted pyramid said. I sat back.

  “So you want me to prove myself?” I asked, to a round of nods. Well, they asked for it. I pointed at Reilly, who blinked and pointed at himself innocently. “Ok. We’ll start with you, Reilly. Introduce yourself and your plus one, if you would.”

  “I am Reilly, Origin Deity of the Seven Heavens. This is Pyrah.” He said, gesturing behind himself at the gleaming, silver-armored, multi-winged angel that was his plus one. She formally bowed her head, and I smiled serenely at her.

  “Yours was tricky, I have to admit, but Luck. You are the origin deity of Luck.” I told Reilly. His presence seemed to fluctuate wildly, shifting between fortune and misfortune at a moment’s notice, which was what had originally thrown me off. But the longer I had looked at him, the clearer it became. “Pyrah, on the other hand, is likely some sort of God-Queen? A ruler. That’s the kind of vibe I get from her.”

  “His domain is not luck. It cannot be.” The butterfly objected. “It is not chaotic enough.” I did not respond, holding Reilly’s gaze as he gaped at me. The man heaved a sigh and took a long draught from his – my flask, leaning back in his chair.

  “…what the hells. And here I was thinking my luck was good today. You’re right on both counts.” Reilly drawled. “Damn. It is as you said, my domain is Luck. And, since I lost, here’s a little factoid. I do not actively run my universe, instead letting Pyrah here maintain most of it. I just make sure things don’t fall apart, leaving the rest up to chance.” That explains the beggar look. I mused, nodding to myself. Sounded more hands-off than even me, though. I did tend to take a fairly active role in aiding my Realms, even if I wasn’t officially the ‘leader.’ Well, I said fairly active, but I know for a fact that many gods and powerful beings saw me as whimsical.

  “Nyxteria is next.” The great space-bird said, fluffing up its feathers and cocking its head at me. Its four wings spread out a bit as its beak clacked, nebulas swirling beneath it. “Nyxteria’s name is Nyxteria. Nyxteria Krotan, creator of the Starry Ocean universe.” Starry ocean…I glanced up at its flag. It did look like a sea of stars, if I squinted and looked at it funny.

  “Space and time. Sorry, that one was pretty obvious; it’s written all over you.” I said, shaking my head. Its whole theme screamed space and time. “Your sun-deity is curious though. I don’t see any divinity within it; is it perhaps truly a sentient star? Is it immortal? No, that’s not important. Are you using it as a conduit for time to flow through?” Nyxteria’s time, to my eyes, appeared as a tangle of strings that flowed from the bird to the living sun, before flowing off into nothingness. Likely back to its universe. There was more to it than that, but my vision seemed to be limited in that regard.

  “Indeed it is, and indeed Nyxteria is. Sua here was Nyxteria’s first sun, made immortal by It. Sua acts as a time-nexus, though Nyxteria will explain no more than that. Instead, Nyxteria will admit that Nyxteria’s favorite thing to do is collect interesting things, and add it to Nyxteria’s Timeless Collection. Nyxteria wishes to collect some things from you all as well, if you allow. A memory to be stored in timeless crystal.” It crowed, bobbing its head and picking up another bit of food with its beak.

  “Perhaps,” I allowed, nodding to the bird and sensing no hostility to the suggestion, no matter how ominous it may sound. The Mad Scientist shuddered.

  “Timeless crystal is very unique. It can literally seal away moments in time.” She said in a mental message. “Only the owner of the crystal would ever be able to see it.” Well. That was…something. Potentially terrifying, actually.

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  “That one was easy, as you said. I do not believe Nyxteria even bothered to hide its domain.” The Stag said sagely.

  “No point.” Nyxteria agreed.

  “Myself next, then.” The stag said. “I am Rising Wind, Crashing Waves, originator of the Cosmic Planes universe.” Cosmic Planes? I looked at its flag. A five pointed star. No idea what that could look like. With a small shake of my head I refocused on the great stag, double-checking my understanding of its domain. It seemed timeless and deep, like a pond… “Have I thrown you off? Should’st I-“

  “Wisdom.” I interrupted, firm in my assessment. “You are the God of Wisdom. And your plus one…” here I trailed off a bit again, narrowing my eyes. The centaur refused to meet my eyes, looking away and plucking at the furs draped across his chest. His horse tail flicked nervously, dappled coat shining in the light. “Is he a god of the hunt? Truly? Please don’t tell me he hunts you, the great stag.” I asked.

  Rising Wind, Crashing Waves chuckled and bobbed his head, the gems in his antlers reflecting multicolored beams of light. “And here I was, about to say something arrogant. Thy perceptiveness is humbling, truly. To answer you question, young Arche is indeed a god of the hunt, although his arrogance was in need of temperance. Our games are quite entertaining. He seeks my wisdom and my hide in equal measures.” What a power move, to bring the god that’s hunting you to a meeting. I thought, raising my eyebrow. Slowly my gaze slid to the next being – the Dragon.

  It bared its fangs at me. “Tell me, oh little god? What am I? What is my domain?” I frowned at it and shook my head, reaching up to rub my forehead just below my horns. “What? Is your tongue tied in the presence of one as mighty as I?”

  “No. Merely that any answer I give would be incorrect.” I said, biting back the heat that threatened to rise in my tone. Wow, this one really rubbed me the wrong way, didn’t it?

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Rising Wind, Crashing Waves asked.

  “Simply that the…sorry, I didn’t get your name,” I paused.

  “I am the Primeval Dragon.” The Dragon huffed, craning her neck up so she could look down upon us all.

  “Right. The Primeval Dragon is the only one among us Origin Deities who could not be considered a god.” I continued. I suppose ‘Origin Deity’ is an incorrect statement, now, though I had no doubt that the Primeval Dragon was the creator of her universe. “She is power. She is savagery. She is destruction and creation. She is -” I cut myself off, a realization striking me like a thunderbolt as I stared at her. My eyes grew wide. My fists clenched. And she laughed at me. She is Shadow.

  That was part of why I had reacted to her so. She is the creator of her own universe, but she is also its Shadow. I glanced up at the incarnation of Mr. Boxes, though he did not visibly react, the little nerve ending not even pulsing at my realization or gaze.

  “Not a god?” The king-god said, folding his arms across his broad chest. “What kind of fool would not wish to be a god?”

  “Do you know how much power I would have to surrender, to become something as mere as a god?” The Dragon countered with a sneer, smoke pouring from its scales. The king-god gaped at her, and I shook my head.

  “Let us not, fall for, cheap provocations. She is, not wrong, however. We all gave, up something to, become a god.” The ball of light said. The Dragon glanced at it, huffed again, and lowered her head to rest upon her front foreclaws as she gazed about disinterested. The king-god settled back into his own chair, glaring at the Dragon. “Would you, mind, continuing? I believe, I am, next. You may call me, the Progenitor, and I tend to my Garden.” I tore my gaze away from the Dragon to stare at the Progenitor, forcing myself to refocus.

  “You gave me a bit of pause, I admit. But you are a Creation god.” I told it, then looked at the faceless, feather-covered, six-legged beast it called its plus one. This one was throwing me for a loop, if I was being perfectly honest. It was suspiciously blank, in its aura and design. “I do have to ask, did you truly create that being solely to come to this meeting?” It was some kind of divine beast, but it had no real purpose to it besides to absorb and analyze some of our energies. Quite curious.

  “Yes, I, did.” The Progenitor replied, flashing once. “And yes, I, am. Your perceptiveness, is something, to be admired. As for, myself, I was a god. Even before, I became an, Origin Deity. That divinity, has since, become my sub-domain.” It makes more sense for a god to become an origin deity than a low-to-mid rank angel like myself. I thought, nodding along.

  “Next would be –“

  “There is no need to play this game with me. I am sure you all have already guessed who I am and what I stand for, as I have never once attempted to hide my status. I am Emperor, and I am a God-King. This is my faithful Jester. He is mad at me and not speaking with me for the moment. Our kingdom is Heaven Above, Earth Below.” The golden-skinned Emperor interrupted, nodding his golden head. I smiled at him and chuckled a little. The honesty was, in a way, kind of refreshing. Especially since everything about him screamed “king.” Behind him his jester rolled his eyes, meeting my gaze once before quickly looking away.

  “Right. Thank you, Emperor. Should we do a quick little speed round for the rest of you?” I asked, drumming my fingers on the table impatiently. A few grumbles rose up from them, and my smile widened as I pointed to the butterfly. “Chaos. That is your domain. As for your companion, it is a growth and fertility deity. A counter to your presence, I assume? Something to help balance you out.”

  “That is correct.” The butterfly said. “My name is Sylphina. This one’s name is Scarlet. It was my third creation as an Origin Deity, though I was not a butterfly at the time. Perhaps my form was a happy accident. My universe is a Chaos Universe.” Sylphina’s antennas twitched, lightning arcing between them as it spoke, while the flower rustled its petals. Next, I pointed my finger at the inverted pyramid, and immediately frowned. There was a green sheen about its aura now, as it tried to mix something else into its domain to throw me off. But at this point I was far too confident in my perceptive abilities.

  “It’s too late to try and cover up your domain, my friend. You are Order. The sphere behind you seems like some sort of data collector? I believe it has something to do with memories, but it doesn’t have the aura of a true divinity either, even if it is divine in nature.” I mused, rubbing my chin. The sphere behind the pyramid felt more like a holy machine than an actual divinity. Did that make it similar to Fu Hao and Stilicho then?

  “…your assessment is correct. I am designated MR-10. My companion is Memory Unit A-8. It is responsible for the management and data collection of timestream A-8, as it is part of the multiple timelines we manage. My universe is a Clockwork universe.” MR-10 stated. Honestly, the fact that everyone’s universe ended up sounding so different was beginning to excite me. Will Mr. Boxes let us see each other’s universes? My finger drifted to the next; the black-robed skeleton.

  “…the cycle.” I said after a brief moment of hesitation. The skeleton tilted its head to the side curiously.

  “Which cycle?” It asked.

  “The Cycle.” I told it firmly. “And your companion seems to be aligned with rebirth. Her power is to be commended, though.” I estimated her to be on-par with Keilan in terms of raw power. She fell short of Alexander, though.

  “My name is Shin,” the skeleton, Shin, said with a nod. “And had you said anything other than The Cycle, you would have been incorrect. Tamaki is my faithful companion, and the face of my Wheel Realm. I prefer to act from the shadows, while my subordinates handle the more overt things. It makes moving…easier.” It explained. Finally, my finger drifted to the beautiful elf, who smirked at me.

  “I am Yueya Oshun, Origin Deity of the One World.” She told me, then gestured to the hooded elf behind her. “And my companion is Astraea.” The hooded elf bowed her head, though I saw her hands tremble a little. It was no mere nervousness I saw within her, though, but genuine fear. I frowned.

  “I want to say you are Beauty, Yueya,” I started. “But that would be incorrect. Beauty is a large part of you, but I would daresay you are a goddess of Art. Anything that can be called an art; even war.” Yueya’s grin grew wide, and even that was dazzling. I nearly had to shield my eyes as she laughed and nodded her head.

  “I am, yes. I am beginning to believe my Beauty is of the same nature as your eyes; some unique feature of myself that separates me from a standard god, and from the other Origin Deities. Will we all have our own little quirk? I do not know. Now, about my companion?” she asked. I fixated Astraea with a look, the young goddess looking up to meet my eyes. Of all the plus ones, she was the one to hold my gaze. And in it was a silent request.

  “A goddess of stars, clearly. Though I do not think I’ll say why you brought her, Yueya, as I am not entirely certain beyond her power as a god.” I said with a small smile. Then, quieter, I continued in a voice only she could hear. “All you had to do was ask.” Astraea held my eyes for a moment longer, her pupils shining like stars in the darkness of her hood, before she bowed her head again in thanks.

  “…well, I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect my game to backfire so badly.” Reilly drawled, taking another long swig of his whiskey. “Guess it’s your turn to introduce yourself, then.”

  “Oh yes.” I agreed, leaning back. “My name is Statera Luotian, Origin Deity of the Four Realms. And I do believe it’s time for you all to guess my domain.” I’d spent a lot of time learning to restrain and hide my aura so I could mingle with the mortals of my realms. It was time to learn just how well I really could hide myself.

  I was under no illusion that I would be able to hide my nature for long; however, it would be a perfect test of skill. Of course, I planned to tell them what it was at the end of this, assuming no one got it right.

  “Truth,” the stag, Rising Wind, Crashing Waves, said. I shook my head.

  “Change,” said Reilly. Again, I shook my head. Had we forgotten about the loss condition? That they had to share something else about themselves? Ah, guess it didn’t really matter.

  “…chaos and order,” Sylphina, the butterfly guessed. I shook my head again. Silence reigned for a long moment, all the deities staring at me – save for the Primeval Dragon, who didn’t seem to care – while the seconds ticked by. I timed it, and only when forty-five seconds had passed, did Yueya snort and shake her head.

  “I’ve been looking too hard. Your domain has been staring me in the face, and I haven’t been able to see it. Is it Balance?” she asked, and I clapped my hands together, nodding happily and meeting the beautiful elf’s eyes.

  “Indeed it is! Good eye. I was hoping I’d make it to the end of the minute, to be honest.” I complained.

  “Unfortunately, I did cheat. I have been analyzing your domain since I got here. And especially after you claimed to have already seen through our own domains.” She admitted with a sigh. “So it doesn’t feel very satisfying.”

  “That is alright. Can anyone tell me what my plus one is, and why I brought her along?” I asked, turning back to the group assembled. Most shook their heads, though many peered at the Mad Scientist curiously.

  This time, it was Shin, the skeleton, who leaned forward to answer. “I cannot say what she is beyond mortal. But I do believe I have an answer as to why you brought her. It is because it would be beneficial for her.” He claimed. I was struck by him for a second and the accuracy of his statement, then laughed and nodded.

  “Indeed! While I am curious as to how you figured that out, I won’t pry. Moreso than any of my other children, she would benefit the most; and I find her potential very intriguing. As for why my interest in her was enough to bring her here, well…I’ll keep that my little secret.” I admitted, glancing back at the Mad Scientist. She had her eyes narrowed as she looked up at me, but I, for the most part, ignored that. Mr. Boxes had sent her to my Four Realms for a reason, I assumed. Hopefully this would help me figure out why.

  But, more importantly, now it was time to mingle, and I stood up. Introductions were over. Conversations could now be had. And I was well and truly over everyone’s suspicion of each other.