Bunny and the Moon

The atmosphere in the room grew so thick with silent tension, that if a pin had dropped, everyone would've heard it. I fucked up, The Goddess thought miserably. It wasn't a small fuck-up either. She had been too protective of her children. She can't change that fact now.

"Well now… That should be exciting," the Underworld God smirked cruelly. Moon wanted to wipe that grin off his face with her fist. She understood that his motivations have always been to populate the Underworld with the souls of humans, blanketed in misery.

She wished she had understood the severity of this summon, before arriving here today. The thoughts running wild in her head at the moment, was making her almost desperate because she knew where this conversation was leading.

"I believe everyone here has now understood the severity of the subject. What ideas did this group come prepared with today?" the Creator spoke. He had been watching the group inquisitively, half expecting them to break out into massive arguments and brawl, like the good 'ol days. Much to his disappointment, they did not.

The Underwood God leaned back on his chair and stretched with a bored expression on his face. "We can have another Reset."

The tension in the room has hit it's peak point for Moon. She challenged this with absolute conviction, "We are NOT having another Reset. We are having this conversation because we want to preserve and save the creatures in the Mortal Realm. What type of Gods would we be, if every single time we encounter challenges, we just give up and start over? We are not that weak."

The God of Underworld scoffed at her, but had nothing to say in response to his flippant suggestion. All the deities in the council room knew that another Reset was not an option. The Reset took place over 65 million years ago, during pre-historic time of dinosaurs. Back then, the Creator had just began the process of molding deities to learn and own different realms. The alpha gods now, were young and primitive back then in their understanding of the cycle of life. The creatures the gods created were a reflection of their immaturity. Giant beasts competitions for the right to exist in the universe. The gods were having an alpha contest, each time creating an animal that would be bigger, uglier, or fiercer than the other.

One of Moon's favorite creatures was the late brontosaurus, that were so beautiful and graceful. She resented the other deities who invent carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex or raptures who hunted her peaceful children, as a means to bully her. But ultimately, none of it mattered when the Gods were asked by the Creator one day, "What is the point?"

None of the deities had a meaningful answer for him. And so, it was decided that if there wasn't a point, then he would "reset" and start over with a blank canvas. He summoned meteors that crashed onto Earth, wiping out most of the life forms that had been created at that time. The carnage that remained from that event left behind a deep impression that Moon was never able to shake. How quickly and how cruelly the decision of one deity's opinion can end the era of the great beasts.

The deities nervously peddled ideas on what to do after the Reset. Each deity unsure of what the right answer would be. But whatever the answer was, The Goddess had always fought for the idea of compassion. Create children that as a God, you would feel compassion for and love. If not, there was truly no point to it.

The God of War broke the tension in the room by clearing his throat. He spoke up, his voice suddenly feeling too loud in the silent room. "I propose a Great War, one with a longer timeline of a century or longer. Not only can it begin the process of thinning the human population almost instantaneously, but the emotional ramifications left behind will discourage them from wanting to bond, procreate, or even start new families for generations to come. It will also hinder their creative renaissance for centuries further, delaying medical advancements. We can even manifest several waves of pandemics to—"

"We get the point," Moon interrupted him, trying hard to keep the sound of disgust from showing in her voice. How anyone can speak so candidly about eliminating lives was beyond her understanding.

The God of Humanities shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The renaissance of advancements that the humans were experiencing was largely credited to him, as it was his domain. He did not want to imagine how devastating a century-long brutal war would be. It will set back humanity for ages and the ideas that can be manifested to improve livelihood for all creatures would essentially never happen. There would not be any higher realization of thought processes after implementing an event that would be so brutal.

He glanced at Moon. This conversation must be tearing her insides apart. She's doing a good job of masking it, but this is a hard conversation for him to sit through. And this was directly her realm.

The Goddess calmed herself enough to respond calmly, "My Lord, pardon me for interrupting. But I thought we came to an understanding on the subject of war, quite a while ago? While bringing a Great War can indeed fulfill the ask of population control, it would devastate not just humanity but all other creatures for ages to come. Think of the carnage it will leave behind. Do you believe that other species will not suffer?"

She took a breath and continued, "As the God of War, you do not love war for the sake of seeing living beings kill one another pointlessly. War has the capability of bringing out the worst in humans, but it also can bring out the best. You have worked tirelessly with the Lord of Humanities for ages to instill the idea of greater glory into humans. The need to protect and defend the ethics of sentient beings are things that are recorded in history and remembered. But creating a war just for culling the population… There would be no one left to record the greater message that you have worked so tirelessly for, to instill in our children.. A war that long will replace humanity with depression and misery for ages to come. There will be no glory. No desire to raise themselves beyond what they can be."

She then brought in a topic that would dig deep below each of their skin. "Each of your domains would be severely affected, essentially taking your efforts back by centuries and shrinking your domain indefinitely. It will take a long time not only for the humans to rebuild, but you yourselves to figure out how to lay the next paths forward. The humans' belief in us as Gods will be faced with so much uncertainty… It would be a miracle if we are even worshiped after that."

A wave of gasps spread across the room, almost like a panic. There is nothing more fearful to gods than no longer being worshiped. Without worship, a god will lose their divine powers because the deity would be left without a kingdom or domain. It would be blasphemous indeed.

The God of War looked indignant but for all of his brutish personality, he was mature enough to know when to back down. "I would've worked with you on the logistics of it…"

"I know that you would, My Lord," she responded gently, deciding to take a more diplomatic approach now. "I have no doubt that you would've eventually come to the same conclusion I had. We were just now emotionally responding to the seriousness of the situation. It is an immensely difficult subject to process."

"But of course," he responded with a prideful tilt of his chin.

"Well, now that her Lady Goddess has successfully shot down everyone's ideas, I suggest we just bring back a solution that succeeded at slowing human evolution before," the Underworld God said with a sinister smile forming on his lips. "We can go back to hanging up a few more suns in the heavens. I'm sure Sky must have a few of those gems up his sleeves."

Moon recoiled in her chair, as if she had been slapped. Her mouth opened slightly, as if to curse the Underworld God, but no words came out. The pain on her face was clear to the assembled gods, and the Underworld God smirked inwardly, knowing that he had struck a nerve.

The period when the nine suns hung high in the sky was a reminder of the scandal that had rocked the Realm of Gods when Moon, disguised as Chang'er, had married the mortal Houyi. The outrage over how a senior god had married a mortal and nearly lost control of the situation had been immense, and it had made all of the deities look bad.

The Goddess had acted without the approval of the Senior Council, removing the suns from the sky on her own. The other gods were not pleased to be sidelined, and the incident had a drastic impact on the Mortal Realm. The outcry from the gods was so great that the Creator had to step in and enforce strict rules governing how gods could interact with mortals.

For one, Gods were no longer allowed to descend into the Mortal Realms as a deity. They must be reborn onto the planet, with no memories or power of being a God. No divine artifacts, weapons, magical abilities could be taken with the deity during their journey into the Mortal Realm. They must live as an Earthling and die as one before they can return to the Realm of the Gods.

The rules were put in place to prevent celestial beings from disrupting the balance of nature on the planet and to ensure that immortal power was not used recklessly or unchecked. The rules are now strictly enforced, and many gods have avoided entering the Mortal Realm because they fear suffering and what might happen to them while they are powerless. Before, the Mortal Realm was their playground, but to this day, many still resent The Goddess for the harsh rules that were enforced as law.

Moon steeled her nerves and bit out, "That is out of the question!"