Two Gods

Beyond life, death and the universe itself; there exists a reality quite different to our own: inhabited by beings of extraordinary power. Existing outside of time, the residents of this nameless plane keep watch over the multi-verse: working together to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as it can, operating under a mutually accepted law of total cooperation. But things weren’t always this peaceful in the realm of the gods: hear now, the story of the first two souls to ascend to this new form of being.

When the first soul arrived in this place, there was nothing here; save for it. Some gods maintain that before this soul, this realm didn’t even exist. Others say that it was always here – waiting for a master.  But, regardless of how this state of existence came into being, this one soul was the first in all of the multi-verse to experience it.

At first the soul was filled with confusion and fear:
“What have I done? Where am I? What is this place?” it screamed. Eventually, it realized the truth:
“I’ve done it…”  It said.
“I’ve transcended reality.”

The spirit was very excited. First, it tried to eliminate all suffering: giving everybody in the universe everything that they could possibly desire. But whenever it made a change to one reality, that reality would fracture into two: an existence where its changes had occurred, and an existence where its changes had not occurred. The spirit was puzzled.
“How can I make my changes last across all facets of reality?” It pondered.
Soon, it had an answer.

The soul merged all the alternate realities together, transforming the multi-verse into a singular, linear universe. At first it was very happy: it had created an entire universe without pain, where nothing bad could ever go wrong. But as it watched the universe die and be reborn again and again: never changing, all its inhabitants always acting exactly the same… the soul began to feel a little sick.
It had completely eliminated all free will. Something seemed very wrong about that, and the more the soul watched, the more wrong it felt to deny the universe its chance to choose. Eventually, the spirit returned the universe to its natural state. Not long after that, the second soul appeared.

The first soul was quite shocked.

“I didn’t think anybody else could come here.” It exclaimed, a little indignantly: in all the countless years it’d been here, watching the universe be born and die only to be born again, it had developed quite the chip on its shoulder!

“Where is here, exactly?” Returned the newcomer.

“I don’t know, I never thought to give it a name.” The first soul replied with a shrug.

“That’s not what I meant. Who are you?” Said the second soul; furrowing its spiritual eyebrows.

“I… am god.” The first spirit proudly exclaims.

“What?” Laughs the second,

“I am god.” Repeats the first, looking a bit insulted. How dare this interloper besmirch its holy name!

“That’s what I thought you said. You made all of this?” The second soul replies, gesturing at the multi verse.

”Well… no… all of that was here when I got here.” The first soul admits,
“I made this place, though, I think…”
It trails off.

“How did you get here?”

“I figured out how to escape the multi-verse.” The second soul states.

“Impossible: that’s how I got here!” Cries the first in response,

“I guess I’m a god too, then, huh?” The second soul replies with an otherworldly smirk,

“No…” The first soul falters.
“I don’t know, maybe.” It concedes.

“So, what’s the meaning of all this?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know a lot, do you? How about all these people? Why are you letting them suffer?”

The second soul is starting to really irk the first.

“You can’t really do much about that.” The first soul explains, trying to be calm.
“I tried that earlier…You can give people good possibilities… that’s all.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s more than one universe. It’s a symptom of choice.”

“So? We’ll just make the universe predetermined.”

“Then you completely eliminate free will, and that just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Why not?”

The first soul sighs.
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t!”

“That’s not good enough for me.” Says the second soul, changing the multi-verse into a liner universe.

“Don’t do that!” Yells the first soul, finally losing its cool.

It returns the universe to normal.

“What’s your problem?” Shouts the second soul, angrily.

“My problem is… go away! Let me run the universe on my own.”

The first soul wills the second soul out of existence.

The second soul re-appears.

“Hey!”

The second soul responds in kind.

The first soul re-appears.

“Don’t do that!”

They continue this for a long while – the universe goes through its life cycle three times while they are bickering.

“Fine!” screams the first soul, willing the multi-verse out of existence.

“Oh, real mature.” Spits the second soul, bringing it back.

They glare at each other for an eternity.

Eventually, the second soul speaks:

“Look… I think if this is going to work, then we really need to work together. There’s no sense in us fighting. We have the exact same amount of power.”

There’s a long silence.

“Agreed.” Says the first soul, finally.

There’s an even longer silence
.
“So, what now?” It continues.

“There’s bound to be more of us coming through here at some point.” The second soul chimes in.

“I think that’s true.” The first soul agrees.

“We need to make sure that everyone here keeps to some kind of order. All gods are created equal.”

“So, we are gods then, are we?”

“I think it’s the word that comes closest to fitting the bill.”

“Gods it is then. So, we wait for the others?”

“Yes... Then I think we should figure out what it is we’re supposed to be doing here.”

“Just like in the multi-verse, hey?”

“Just like in the multi-verse. I get the impression there’s something else out there… bigger than us.”

“Just like in the multi-verse…”

“Just like in the multi-verse.”

And with that, two gods learnt to exist as one.