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It all started with a soup I can’t remember.
I’m not sure if that’s because the soup itself is not something you can remember or it was a part of what I lost.
What I do remember is that I drank half the cup of soup before someone noticed that I didn’t belong and grabbed it from me. There was a nice grandmotherly lady serving spirits in this line I couldn’t see the end of and she had a ton of guards? Which I get, there were constantly spirits trying to skip out. Which wasn’t the smartest to begin with since this was on a bridge.
Anyway, the guard who realized something tossed the cup over the side and dragged me deeper in. We passed a bunch of ancient structures that my mind categorized as “Eastern”. Not sure exactly what that means except that I seem to have lost the details and specific names for a bunch of stuff.
Then we arrived at a building better described as a rough block of stone? Concrete? Anyway, my mind said “Modern” and that seeing it here was very out of place. Didn’t get to look at it for longer as once the guard, a man in a robe-like thing with horns on his head, had his credentials confirmed and we were let into the lobby.
I’m not sure how long it took from that point? I get the feeling that this “afterlife” place played fast and loose with Time. Which made the bureaucracy extra slow when they don’t have to worry about deadlines or working hours.
Though even the red tape eventually gives way and results with me in a room with a red man who also had horns, black hair, and one of those beards that naturally splits in two. And something at the back of my head feels the need to specify that by red, I’m being literal. He has skin the color of a pomegranate. Which matched his purple business suit. Oh, and even sitting down, he was as tall as a two-story house, so probably ten times a regular person’s height.
Me and the guard stand there for a little as the big guy scowls at some paperwork.
He looks up, “Well little one, we’re in a right pickle. You can call me Great King Enma. We try to keep on top of trans-multiversal Isekais, but you managed to make it all the way to Lady Meng. Which is unfortunate as the barrier between multiverses block Karma.
“The usual procedure would be to read your memories and I’d use my own judgement. That obviously isn’t an option anymore, so instead I’ll give you three options. You can become a ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ and handle those kind of things. If you prefer, there is also the option to become a realm, develop a planet of life, and advance yourself as those living upon you cultivate towards immortality. And if none of that sounds good there’s always ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.”
I wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders, so it took me a while to think the options over before deciding on one. At which point I didn’t have a choice anymore as the two other options purged themselves from my memory. “Great King Enma, I have made up my mind, I’ll try my hand at creating a world.”
Off to the side, a man I hadn’t noticed who was similar to the guard except dressed in a white button-up and khakis wrote down my choice.
Great King Enma nods, “An honorable choice. Though a few warnings. Unlike the multiverse you originated from, travel between realms, while not easy, is quite common. That is not always good for small planes. Strip mining can be applied to more than just an ore vein. Now, good luck.” And he gestures with his fountain pen for me to be taken away.
Though as I’m about to leave the room, he leaves me with a quick parting shot. “Oh, and don’t try to science your way through things. The local laws of reality are more based on power and observation, so even assumed unbreakable laws will break if a strong enough person is around.” And the door shuts.
Well, isn’t that lovely. Anyway, from there I’m hauled through a few hallways and into a room with a stone whirlpool at the center. Or rather, there is a whirlpool and the ground is made of stone? I suspect no matter the material, there would be a whirlpool there.
Anyway, the guard nods to me and warns that even worlds aren’t safe, before pushing me into said whirlpool. Which brings us to the whole “born from an egg” thing.
So yeah, if as a world I’m not safe, how am I supposed to cultivate? I mean, safe assumption being that life has to do with it. Got my spirit veins that way, so I guess I’ll watch what’s left of the Primordials.
Though the offspring end up in a sad situation. The more my Earthly Qi mixed with the Primordial Qi, the more I was covered in regular Qi, which the descendants could survive. The problem is when they have children of their own.
Even if the last batch of offspring from the original Primordials hadn’t themselves been Primordial, it was less a matter of species and more a matter of power. Now though? The mighty bloodlines faltered and fell.
I watched as regular Qi slowly replaced the other two higher Qi types from the depths of the earth to the heights of the sky. Though some of both still whispered through me. In particular, the light of the stars would fall until it hit the land and release almost imperceptible amounts of Primordial Qi that lessened even further the farther it fell.
And of course, my spirit veins were a direct power line from my central mass of Earthly Qi. So yeah, the mountains ended up with a naturally higher quantity of “fresh” Qi.
A thing that the new animals and plants slowly came to crave. Though over what I’m pretty sure was more than a billion years? Kind of hard to tell without a proper day-night cycle. Those animals and plants were reduced to the point of being normal animals. Right until the first Sky formed.
My spirit veins had developed slowly and anything that wasn’t a regular being faded into the past, hidden away in caves and secret grottos. Except even without Primordial Qi, it’s not like regular Qi was suddenly not mystical.
And so it was that one day, a tiger came out the other end of the decline. Every trace of the Primordial had been washed from their being and suddenly, Qi rushed into them. With a roar that literally shook their mountaintop, this animal announced its advancement.
And it felt So good for me! My spirit veins grew wildly while up in the air, a change took place. If I was to put a pin in it, this was the end of the Primordial era. Anyway, by the time the tiger stopped roaring, the sky above was different.
Light and dark split as I expanded upward, forming a new layer of air that acted to block and filter out even more of the Primordial Qi except for the star fall. The eternal twilight this had caused finally broke and darkness covered the land.
Which felt like a problem? I’m pretty sure plants need light.
Then, before I worried too much, I heard a “Cah” come from the world tree. Out flew a Three-Legged Crow. And another, and some more. It was a small flock of 16 birds all racing up into this new sky. The sight was amazing!
Though one soon pulled ahead of the others. It held the basest of edges, just a drop more Primordial Qi than the others.
I wondered if I was about to see a fight or something, but the other crows gracefully accepted defeat. They didn’t seem to beat up about it? And why became clear.
The winning Three-Legged Crow kept flying until it seemed like it was trying to escape. Right up until it hit the dimensional boundary and instead of being stopped or slipping out into the void, it changed.
I now had a Sun.
Within that Sun, I could feel that crow. More to the point, I could feel the Sun at all. Unlike the stars, which allowed Primordial Qi in, the Sun was on this side of the barrier. And while the bird’s mind was suppressed because we certainly don’t have enough Primordial Qi for whatever just went down, the sun could draw in even more of the stuff.
Which was nice as the build-up had been a potential worry. It even flew across the sky and collected as much as it could. A convenient development for me as not only did it introduce the day-night cycle, but it also gave meaning to East and West.
In fact, as soon as I thought of it that way, more things changed! Biggest being that now a compass had a direction to point. Before now? While no one was exactly pulling out a compass, I could feel my magnetic field and it was more patches of random magnetic pulls. North had a meaning now!