The Rise to Godhood

Areela and Kailow were sitting at the town square in the Pustinja Outpost, overlooking the desert outside. The sandstorm had subsided, and life had gone back to normal with the clearing skies. The clear skies made the outpost livelier, with more people going out and about with their daily lives.

As Areela looked at the desert, she felt like she was holidaying on the Parchus planet in the Zetani system. While Zetani was the only liveable planet in this star system, several planets existed where powerful Zetans could travel for a holiday, and Parchus was similar to Disyerto-2.

Areela closed her eyes and imagined what life could have been if Zelinko had taken her as his wife and Xialiab hadn’t messed everything up. She could have lived in peace on her beautiful home planet while raising her beautiful child with her good-looking husband. Instead, she was on a desert planet, her now one-year-old toddler was a mutant freak, and the local government hadn’t allowed her to meet Zelinko, her most beloved.

A tall man accompanied by a few government officials approached Areela and spoke, “Good day. I am Arish Kisherom, and I am the governor of Disyerto-2.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Arish. I had hoped to see you at the dinner with Podixa.” Areela replied.

“There was a problem that needed my attention. As a matter of fact, we have had many problems recently. As unexpected as it is, your arrival could save our people from destruction.” Arish revealed.

“What problems do you have?” Kailow asked.

“Severe malnutrition and dangers from the harsh elements in the desert. But the worst problem is apathy.” Arish replied.

“Apathy?” Kailow asked.

“Depression. Imagine living on a condemned desert planet without hope for the future. It does things to people’s minds. My wife and I have tried to inspire hope, but it is fading.” Arish said and sighed.

‘Hope. The invisible force that could make or break a person,’ Areela thought and said, “There is hope. There is a bright future ahead of us. We found that distances were shorter when we travelled from Zetani via Dihawara Densi. A light-year is only 10 kilometres in the Divine Dimension. So if we have supplies and fast vehicles, the whole Milky Way Galaxy is within our reach.”

“Yet, there are billions of stars and planets in the galaxy. How would we find the good ones?” Arish asked.

Areela couldn’t answer this question, but she knew Thorax could. If she could start his connection with the True Maker, she could find out where the other suitable planets were.

Areela grabbed one of the charged sapphires from her pocket, and she placed it on Thorax’s temple. At first, the child was restless, but it wasn’t long until his eyes shone with the same blue colour as the charged sapphire.

“Grraah…… Yes, you have summoned me. How can I help you…?” Thorax said.

“I need to know where the other Zeto Crystals are. Can you please tell me?” Areela replied.

“The closest Zeto Crystal is at Zetani, to where you are never to return during your lifetimes. The second closest crystal is at Zetani Nova, 450 lightyears to the southwest, based on a 2-dimensional map of the Milky Way Galaxy. Zetani Nova is a beautiful planet that is very similar to Zetani. I, the True Maker, created Zetani Nova to ascertain Zetan survival after the Zetani Maximus star goes supernova. However, the Zetans have never reached the planet in the 999 iterations of the universe that has existed so far. If you manage to settle in Zetani Nova, your next goal is to save humanity on Earth. Earth is 10000 lightyears to the southwest of Zetani Nova, and humanity is due for extinction in four years due to a supermassive ice age. Thus, time is of the essence. Other important planets are Elvonia, inhabited by the Elves; Goldonia, inhabited by the dwarves; and Grashdung, inhabited by the orcs. Whatever you do, stay clear of Xenora, which is 50 lightyears to the east of Zetani Nova. The planet and its native sentient species are hostile to Zetans.” Thorax replied.

Hearing the toddler’s lengthy explanation awed Arish. There was no scientific explanation of how the mutant baby knew all these things. Thus, the only possible reason was that the True Maker had awoken from her slumber. Arish bowed in front of Thorax, turned on a 3D hologram star map of the galaxy, and spoke. “Oh, exalted one, praise be Thee. Can you please show us where these fantastic worlds are?”

Thorax nodded, marked the locations on the map, and spoke, “Best of luck, Arish, son of Kisher. May you lead your people to safety, and may the light from the Zetan civilisation spread across the galaxy.”

The True Maker left Thorax’s body, and the baby was again back to grunting and drooling with beast-like mannerisms.

***

A few weeks later, Areela and Kailow explored the surrounding Disyerto-2 environment. Once the sandstorms had ended, Areela realised that the planet wasn’t as horrible as she first thought. They could have had another outcome if the master caste had funded the expedition for free settlers instead of convicts. Alas, she understood why the local population was angry with the master caste. However, the age-old rivalry was a shame since she missed the father of her child, who was currently locked up.

Areela looked up and stared in awe at the purple salt crystal formations inside an abandoned cave when Podixa called her via a teleprompt device. At first, using a communication device felt strange for Areela as she had grown accustomed to telepathy.

Areela stared at the hologram while Podixa spoke, “Why are you staring in silence, Areela? Is your telecommunication device broken?”

Areela shook her head and replied. “I feel so silly. I thought we were having a telepathic discussion.” “Ha-ha. Is that why you look like you are having a stroke?” Podixa teased.

“Uhm, I guess,” Areela replied.

“In any case, please hurry back home,” Podixa urged.

“Why? Is there another sandstorm approaching?” Areela asked and looked towards the desert outside the cave.

“No, my husband is making an announcement today. He is setting up an expedition to find the planets that Thorax told us about.”

‘Why hasn’t my friend told me anything about this until now? Why keep me in the dark?’ Areela thought, but she replied, “We’ll be heading back straight away. We’ll be back in the Pustinja Outpost as soon as possible.”

Having said this, Areela and Kailow got on a hovercraft and hurried back to the meeting.