Legends: The Emerald World

Like any cat, Ase hated water more than anything else. Each time she got wet, a painful shiver would spread through her whole body, leaving her shivering and terrified. Knowing that Mary was about to force her to take a bath Ase resisted with all of her might.

Her claws held tightly to the ground, scraping large scars as Mary dragged her by the legs. Each time her claws reached the small gap between the floor panels they would get stuck for a second, quickly slashing their way through thanks to how sharp they were. For the first time in her life, Ase cursed how good her claws were.

"I've heard…" Mary growled, struggling to drag Ase around even when using all of her strength. Inside her mind, she was counting how much the Blue Manor owner was going to charge her for the damaged floor. "That cat beast people hate water because it gets them wet and cold…" She growled, "I can't do much about the getting wet part, but I at least promise you, the water is hot."

"Water is water!" Ase cried, the fear of water and getting wet was long engrained into the cat beast people's genes. Ase had no hope of surpassing that phobia anytime soon.

***

Shin had just finished taking his shower and was resting beneath the running water, staring at the showroom ceiling. He thought about how much had happened. His wives betrayed and backstabbed him, robbed him of his core and the world collapsed right after.

'Is everyone there dead…that whole world…just gone…' He sighed, 'Is there nothing that I can do?'

{Notice: Mortal, bow to greatness and realize your insignificance.} A sharp growl roared inside Shin's head, and it was soon followed by a soothing, deep voice. [Forget what she said.]

Shin was used to weird voices crowing inside his head, but this sounded a bit strange. Everything suddenly changed before his eyes. The clear white ceiling disappeared and was now replaced by a titanic black sphere looming in the star-filled night sky.

He felt a small thud beneath him, and he was sitting on a flat black ground of pure marble. The ground rumbled and a voice came from the massive black sphere in the sky, deep and gritty, it clearly belonged to a man, one with a bear-like voice.

[Call me AO, World-Hopper Shin. I rule over the gods and the billions of worlds filling the empty void of this multi-verse.]

Shin looked up with a passive face. "I'm not a stranger to killing gods, do you know that? I've heard you're some kind of over-god, an entity above the gods."

[Those you killed weren't gods, merely mortals with power equal to some gods, boasting a status that they never owned.] The voice replied, [The world crumbled, and you had no power to save it. The tree held the multiple realms of your world, and you had no power to help it. You wanted to sacrifice your power to save her but failed, and like all mortals, you died.]

The deep voice giggled, [What kind of god fails so much? What kind of god dies? Gods are supposed to be omnipotent, yet you who killed tens of them was in the end just as weak as any other mortal, unable to save the world and died, betrayed.]

Shin's face twisted, "Are you mocking me?"

[No, I am merely stating the facts. Or do you think any I said is wrong?]

"I'm not going to argue with you. In this world, you're the strongest. Right?" Shin stood, "I don't even have my full power to challenge your rule."

[Your old power? Is that what you need?] The voice asked, and a sudden light ball appeared floating before Shin's face. [How about this? Take it, but only temporarily.]

Before Shin could cry, the sphere of light pierced his chest and he could feel his power rushing through his veins. "Wait…it can't be…my core? Why do you have it?"

[I don't have it, I made it. Like all of those.] The sky started raining thousands and thousands of cores just as powerful as Shin's peak, some even stronger.

[Now you have your full power, and thousands more of it. Can you reach me?]

Shin sat back down. "Just what are you? Making all of those cores out of nowhere, where do you pull all of that power?"

[I am the Over God, the gods worship me, albeit I am in no need of their reverence.] The voice giggled, [Your previous world, I knew her well. She was a troubled child and a decent lass.]

"Didn't answer my question."

[I pull power out of nothing, I am what the gods pull power from. But let's leave it at that, I called you here because of that lass. She had made a bet, a big one, on you.] The voice seemed to soften a bit. [I suggested that she let me fix things, but she refused and said I should let you fix her as you wanted.]

"I'm here being mocked and you say my dead world wants me to fix her? If I can't even speak up for myself here, how am I going to do that?" Shin stood and looked around for an exit.

[Your previous world was indeed destroyed, but I prevented her from disintegrating. She's cracked, like a glass mug. From those cracks, horrid abomination had seeped into her.]

"And what could I do? Can't even go back. Or do you want me to somehow get there and clean her from those abominations? You're dreaming, I'd be lucky if I made it to the next city in one piece." Shin giggled.

[I am indeed a dreamer and a great one at that. But…I can send you back to her. Kill the abomination and search for her core, once you kindle it back to life, she shall be yours.]

"So you want me to fix my old world so I can have it for my own? I doubt it's worth the trouble, I'll just live my life happily here." Shin shook his head but the voice giggled.

[Sorry, but I only care about what my sweet little girl wants. Your opinion doesn't matter to me. I wouldn't have transferred your soul to this world if it wasn't for her, so get to work.] Shin suddenly felt his core disappearing, [And of course, it's a rule that I never grant power freely. Everyone must earn their strength.]

"Wait! Give that back!" Shin screamed and the voice immediately replied with a flat [No.]

The scene before Shin's face immediately changed and he found himself falling flat in the snow. Immediately after, a naked Ase appeared above him, her butt falling straight on his face, drilling his head into the snow. A naked Mary followed right after, falling on Ase.

"What is this?!" Mary cried, staring around with a scared face, her body immediately getting jolted with the frigid cold.

{Notice: Find the world spider's dead egg and feed it to Char.}