Chapter 205: Developing Worlds (1834 words)
Blinking opens my eyes after I had closed them for good… or well, thought I closed them for good, I could feel annoyance rising in me.
I had already made peace with myself and accepted my doings and their consequences, but now here I was in a space made up of whirling white colors that give me a headache from simply trying to comprehend what it is that I am seeing.
"Finally found you, child. Its time for you to start your duty." A harmonious voice rings through the space I found myself in.
"Why can't you just leave me rest in peace?" The voice and words it spoke caused my annoyance to bubble and I blurt out my thoughts without thinking.
"It isn't your time to rest yet, your time has only just begun my child." Luckily the owner of the voice didn't seem to take any offense to my words and replied with the same tone as before.
"You said its time for me to start my duty, what is my duty?" With my annoyance having subsided after my accidental comment curiosity raised its head and urged me to ask about this supposed duty of mine.
"Your fledgling stage is over; you have fully developed your consciousness and it is time to take up your duty and take a silent world under your care in order to develop it like our kind is supposed to do." Still with the same tone the disembodied voice patiently explains my duty to me.
'So, I am some kind of fledgling world-will and now its time for me to official take a world under my care and help it develop… not the strangest plot development I know of and one of the better ones in my opinions, if it is done right of course.' I think to myself as I translate the words of the voice into something easier to understand for myself.
"Is there anything I need to know specifically?" Just to be safe I throw out this question to prevent possible trouble that could have easily been prevented if I had just asked.
"There is no need to worry, I will send an inheritance of knowledge collected throughout my existence with you that you can consult when confronted with something unknown… and as a small advice from a senior, take your time, enjoy it and be patient. There is nothing out there that can threaten you, only your world can sustain damage but we ourselves will continue to exist until we no longer wish so." With those words my consciousness started to fade, and everything went black.
When I once again awoke for the second time after my supposed demise, I noticed something about myself.
I was different now.
Letting my awareness flood through my entire being I felt like a jellyfish who had been stranded on the shore only to be bumped back into the ocean.
Thoughts, memories, dreams and imagination as whole streamed freely as they greedily grow and branch out taking full advantage of the fact that there are no longer any walls keeping them coffined.
With but a fleeting intention my entire being shot forward at an unimaginable speed, traveling soundlessly through the ethereal dimension I instinctively recognize as my home.
'Hmmm, this feels just incredible.' Enjoying my current state of existence for a while I ultimately decide to consult the glowing orb made from a small, compressed part of a similar existence such as myself.
Browsing through the basics first I learned about my kind, our home the astral plane and the duty I am supposed to take up.
After finishing going through the basics, I adjust my traveling trajectory and make my way into the silent domain which referred to a part of the universe where no life existed in order to find a solar system not yet occupied by my kind.
On my way I moved on to inspect the deeper more specific knowledge stored in the inheritance of my nurturer.
Yes, my kind doesn't reproduce, new ones just spawn into existence and develop through multiple different lives on a world under the care of our kind and once the time has come the existence in whose worlds the newcomer had developed will assist it by giving it their inheritance and send it off to fulfill its duty.
There are few of us but us being literally immortal until we no longer wish to be made up for that.
Other than my kind there are two other kinds of beings born form the universe itself.
The living stars are one of them, they are exactly what their name suggest them to be.
Gigantic celestial bodies lighting up the universe, they make my kinds work much easier and we work in a symbiotic relationship as with the help of sentient life a living star can develop and grow in intelligence and power.
Lastly there are the eldritch horrors, which are creatures born in the darkness outside of the universe and mostly exist somewhere between the physical realm and the dreamscape.
Because of their nature as creature of darkness and dreams they are plagued with hunger and desire the dreams and desires of sentient beings what often brings them into the worlds my kind oversees.
As a whole they aren't exactly harmful as they are just another part of life in my kinds view even thought many of them tend to like destroying the worlds they visit.
Traveling through, the astral plane is different from traveling through space.
The concept of time is more of a suggestion than a rule, the same goes for distance so it didn't come as a surprise to me that I arrived at my destination the moment I was finished with inspecting the inheritance.
Expanding my senses out of the astral plane into all the other dimensions to gain a complete picture of my surroundings I was met with the beautiful sight of a bright golden orange sun that had seven planets of differing sizes orbiting around it.
Focusing on another dimension I behold the beauty of a golden whisp of thoughts and consciousness in the core of the giant celestial object that illuminates this part of the universe.
'Found you.' I think as I behold the living star's soul that seems so tiny and fragile while being easily twice the size of earth.
With a bit of concentration, I collect my being into a grey fog and shape it into a vaguely humanoid form with eight arms and a purple blackhole for a face.
The whisp of a soul inside the living star notices my presence as I purposely dragged my existence into a dimension perceptible to my soon to be comrade.
I could feel the curious ripples of energy passing over my new form as the living star inspects his visitor.
Reaching out with one of my four left arms I send out my own ripple, but instead of using it to size up the star I use it to send over my greetings and friendly intensions.
Living stars different from my kin do not have a strategy regarding their kin's education as most of them are born too far apart to interact with each other, so it will rest upon me to teach this one about most things regarding the workings of this universe even though I also just learned about it.
My greeting seems to have been received nicely if the excited flickering of the star's soul is anything to go by.
Cupping two other hand together I start creating an information package for the stars soul to digest while I'll start working on one of the planets in the system.
While doing so I catch a shacky imitation of my previous method of communication that originates from the star.
Receiving the message, I could feel the pure emotions transmitted through it which made me giggle a bit.
'Aren't you adorable and smart? Already able to speak to me after witnessing it only once.' The message the star sent me could be compared to a baby repeating some words surprisingly accurate which was quite funny and adorable in my opinion.
Finishing putting together the info package I send it over to the whisp before turning away and sizing up the fourth closest planet in the solar system.
It is a planet half frozen and half molten as it didn't spin fast enough to create a day night cycle, so one side was constantly faced towards the sun while the other remained dark the entire time.
Pulling myself next to it I inspect it a bit closer and take not of its subterranean structure which revealed plenty of minerals for future civilization to flourish on.
Using all my eight arms I grab the half molten- half frozen planet and send a pulse of power through it, marking it as mine.
As my power seeps into every single atom making up the planet I move my fingers, effortlessly melding the surface into new shapes.
Like clay I knead the planets surface, breaking the frozen side and mixing it with the molten rocks on the other as I create a more uniform surficial structure.
Bringing the black emptiness surrounded by a purple event horizon that is my face closer to the planet, I let out a breath which latches onto the ball of dirt and covers it whole.
With an atmosphere in place and the planet's surface rearranged into multiple continents swimming onto of the underground magma currents I once again breath out.
The fog sinks into the atmosphere and continues downwards until it made contact with the ground where it splashed off and starts to spread out, flooding the lower regions of the surface and filling up most of the cracks.
Slowly retracting most of arms until only a single pair still touched the planet I give it a nice little spin before retreating a bit future away to take in the sight of my first world.
'Hmm, it looks nice. A good first try if can say so myself.' Dancing around my first creation as I inspect my handiwork, I could not help but feel pride swell up inside me.
Sure, it is far from perfect. It will take a while of no interference for it to be revealed if my alterations were right or enough for live to be able to blossom on it, but at least it looked plenty pretty with the clouds, ocean and mountains that I had made.
Humming a happy tune to myself I glance over to the living star and watch how the little whisp of a soul was entranced by the package I sent it.
'Still got plenty of time, maybe I should work on the other planets too. Wouldn't hurt to try out some other things while this one undergoes its trial time.' A short moment of deliberation later I move to another planet in the system and start to terraform it too.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone