Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 1011: So, You’re The New God?

During the brief moment of unconsciousness after his fight against Hamleth, echoes of hard-soled shoes rang in the back of Raven’s head. Each click was louder than the last, ringing in his head like a din, and when it was only in his ears, the color white pushed back the darkness of his unconsciousness. Dazed, he looked around, his left hand nonexistent beyond the arm.

Flexing the joint, he felt the phantom presence of his limb, but there was nothing there. The lack of a limb, yet the feeling of it moving it around, reminded him of when he’d lost his eye–though that memory was so distant, it made him question if there was any difference between his real eye and the replacement.

"So, you’re the new god?" A finger snapped right in front of him, derailing his train of thought. Before the hero was a wide desk of white marble with a deep red cloth laid on it. A pen holder, a stack of books, and a few other apparatuses that he didn’t recognize were apparent too. The peculiarity of the desk dragged his vision in a deliberate upward motion. Taking in every detail, his gaze fell on the man sitting at the other end.

Ruffled white hair curled over the pale young man, his eyes narrow and gray yet not desolate and dark. An easy smile rested on his lips as he reached for the collar of his pure white suit and loosened the tie.

"Raven ’Phordite, son of Nerva, Umbra, and Nightsilver, isn’t that right?" He asked, tapping a red and white pen against the table.

"Who are you?" Taking a step forward, Raven cautiously approached the man in the suit.

Seeming both younger and older than him in some ways, he couldn’t help but stare at him–confused about the stranger’s form and demeanor. Meanwhile, leaning back in his chair, the pale man pinched the end of the pen with one hand on each side. Rocking back and forth, he heaved before leaping forward and getting out of the chair.

"What do you see? Perception is reality when it comes to this place, so you tell me–" Pointing the pen at him, he leisurely walked around the table, smirking. "What do you see in front of you, Raven? Or rather, who do you see?"

"A man in a suit, but that doesn’t explain much."

As the man’s head tilted on one side, the hero blinked, and the moment his eyes opened again, Raven was looking not at a man, but rather at a buxom woman.

"What about now?" She said, her voice smooth as silk.

"Tsk...Now I just see a cunt testing my patience." Having been through such delusion countless times, the hero had no time for games and, with a commanding step forward, grabbed the woman by the collar. "Just answer me or let me go; I have better things to be doing than talking to an asshole."

Scoffing at his face, the man or the woman moved his hand off her collar. Taking a step back, she smiled, and her body quickly turned half female and the other half male. Holding their arms forward, they announced what Raven wanted to hear.

"I am the alpha and the omega, I am..." Their smile widened just a touch. "The Creator."

Squeezing his fingers into a fist, the hero grunted out loud.

"I just had a feeling; it was you–the god who left us with that fucked up woman calling herself everyone’s mother."

"A god? Me?" Shaking their head, the Creator moved around and sat back into their chair. Lifting their pen from the table, they pointed its end at Raven again. "I’m no god, and Nerva isn’t the problem. She’s just...let’s say a little eccentric on a cosmic scale."

Shrugging their shoulders, they looked around the white expanse and added.

"She asked if I could create the star where she would have her world; I complied–reluctant as I was, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Especially now that you’re after her."

Stepping closer to the Creator’s desk, Raven slammed his fists on top–although only one of his hands actually struck the table.

"You talk like she’s a small thorn sticking in our arms, but she’s the reason everyone I know and love has been struggling. She’s the reason that we’ve all struggled since the beginning of this damned world!"

"True, but without her you wouldn’t be here or alive for that matter, to struggle at all. Nobody you love would’ve ever been born either. So how about we drop the hyperbole and talk like adults?" Motioning for Raven to take a seat, the Creator’s body melded into one. An androgynous figure was now staring at Raven, neither man nor a woman, nor god, nor human. "I need to document your soul in case it ever reaches the cosmic consciousness, although that wouldn’t be as straightforward as before you became half god."

"Half god?" Taking a seat with a grumpy expression, Raven looked at his hand again. "Would that let me grow back a limb? Cause I don’t care about the title or followers, I just want these wars done once and for all."

"You don’t have to worry about that; Athenia will take care of it." Letting the pen roll across the table, the Creator leaned back in their chair and stared at Raven for a spell. Silence filled the air between them until they spoke again. "You must have questions; I will allow you to ask them. It has been a while since I’ve had company, so why not indulge your curiosity? You won’t remember anything we talk about here in the real world anyway."

"Then what’s the point in asking?"

"I’m not forcing you to ask anything; it’s up to you." Throwing their arm halfway up on the side, the Creator smiled a teasing smile.

For a moment, Raven wished to just be done with the entity, but as his mind calmed a bit, he couldn’t help but indulge the creator of all and everything. However, not before they spoke to him again.

"Time’s running out, so you better make this quick." Opening their arms wide, they added. "I have all the answers in a bag. What’s the meaning of life? When will you die? Why do mortals struggle every day? Or if you’re especially curious...everything, everywhere across time. What would it be?"

Taking a deep breath to soothe his nerves, Raven asked the questions that came to mind above all else.

"Who the fuck are you, and why, why did everything leading up to this point happen on Atlaris? If you can control everything and everyone, then why did you allow so much suffering? The Elder gods abusing their faith, and the same with the council gods. The damned wars, the demon lord, and this web woven by those crooks, training soldiers for their holy wars by pitting us against a threat of their own making. Just why? Why the hells did you ever allow such things to happen?"

As the hero let out his frustration with the whole system through the question, his shoulders dropped as far as they could. His eyes remained set on the Creator’s lips. A moment passed in silence; only then did they move to answer him.