It gazes eternally as Tiffany finally figures out what exactly it is-

  Her reaction is amusing to it. It is Ydri, God of The World, The First God, and it is everything.

  Literally-

  Ydri is the world itself. Its presence is felt throughout the internal workings of itself. Ydri sees everything and Ydri knows everything…

  Kinda. It knows like- 70% of everything. Maybe 65%... Okay, Ydri might see everything, but it’s not like it was paying attention. The occasional memory erasures don’t help either.

  Ydri’s gaze may be eternal, but at the moment, it’s focusing its attention on a single human woman. An outsider, a loose variable, an Interloper in its creation. A gap in the world is created. A layer of hazy darkness exists where Ydri’s perception ends, surrounding the human woman.

  Ydri found that it had to know this creature. It succeeded in integrating her into its system and found something interesting. She had the soul of a demon. Her being entwined in its chaos and her body unaffected by its malignancies.

  A curiosity at most. Other mortals have achieved demonic essence in the past, some were even born with it, but that isn’t what vexes Ydri. The question is how Tiffany even had a soul to begin with?

  Souls were created by Ydri as a connection between the mortals and the source. The Interloper had her own soul before her arrival. Where did it come from?

  Ydri grimaces, “I hope it’s not time travel.”

  Ydri leans back on its throne. Well, it isn’t its throne, Ydri doesn’t have a throne. The throne it sits on, with an avatar made from clay, belongs to a different god entirely. Ydri’s temporary body sits in a gilded hall so massive that clouds form underneath the ceiling of the throne room. Mythril pillars lined with jewels and other precious metal extend outward for miles. The walls hide behind the mist in all directions.

  “Who am I kidding- it’s always time travel!”

  Ydri sighs before suddenly straightening. It’s body looks out into the fog with an expectant expression. Ydri glances down the steps that lead to the throne with a grin on its child-like face. “Took you long enough, God of The Night.”

  The ground splits as metal plates shift with a mechanical hiss. Spouts of steam are released as a figure rises from the opening trap-door. A being made from flesh and metal and clinking cogs, vaguely resembling the shape of a humanoid. Steam hisses from each side of his head as his jaw unhinges.

  His voice cracks with a radio-like quality, “My lord? I was not expecting your visit. Forgive me.”

  “It’s fine, I’m not actually upset. How’ve you been, Vulcestus?”

  The plates on his face shift with scraping metal to form a smile. “Fantastic, my lord! My legions grow with each passing day, and I have created great mechanisms to annihilate my enemies! The Devil of Design stands no chance! I’ve built this palace to end our millennia long bout.”

  Ydri looks around at the gargantuan pillars of mythril, “Yeah? Nice house you got here.”

  The ticking of the mechanical being goes silent and the turning cogs halt. The God of The Night stares at Ydri like a statue. The hinges squeak and steam billows from his back as Vulcestus leans forward.

  “H- House? You call this grand structure… A MERE HOUSE?!”

  Sirens are set off throughout the megastructure. Bolts pop from plates on the ground and the hissing and screeching explodes through the complex. The pillars unhinge and fall, only to be caught by giant mechanisms and swung through the fog. The deafening hum of city sized fans turning on and rapidly sucking out all the mist from the throne room.

  The clouds are vented outside with deadly pressure, revealing the rest of the megastructure. Surrounding the throne are massive factories filled with millions of automatons hard at work. The false sky of metal is illuminated by stars of red warning lights. In front is a large glass wall that shows the floating mountains that dwarf the size of a small continent.

  Vulcestus breathes deeply with his mechanical body, taking in the sweet smell of welded metal. He then glares at The First God with annoyance, “I will not let my accomplishments be reduced with your words, my lord. Respect is paramount if we don’t want to fall further than we already have, even if you’re the strongest among us. You could damage my concept if you’re not careful.”

  Ydri tilts its head, “It’s a really big house.”

  Vulcestus groans as he pinches the bridge of his nose. Some of the only flesh he has left.

  “Anyway, I’m not here to talk about your house. I wanted to talk about something else.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Vulcestus blinks with a plastic camera shutter. “Could it be? Are we to finally take our crusade to hell?” Ydri is already frowning at Vulcestus’s misunderstanding, but he continues without picking up on Ydri’s body language. “Yes! You will surely need my expertise as The First Blacksmith to arm the coming holy army. We shall capture The First Devil and strip him of his divine essence, once and for all!”

  “No, that’s not why I’m here either.”

  Vulcestus pauses once more, his innards shift, “Why are you here then, my lord?”

  Ydri grins and creates a grey system window and sends it towards Vulcestus. The system window doesn’t display text, but an image of a woman with a missing hand walking next to an elf woman with silver hair.

  “These mortals have caught your interest?”

  “You can say that again!”

  “These mortals have-”

  “No, I didn’t mean-” Ydri groans as it leans back on its borrowed throne. “Yes, they’ve caught my interest. Specifically the one in the red armour, but I have my eye on both of them.”

  Vulcestus sighs and it comes out as a crackling hiss. “What’s so interesting about them? Not many are able to entertain you of all gods.”

  Ydri looks on at the grey screen with a wistful expression. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I think that one of them may reach apotheosis. Well, it’s still too early to tell.”

  “A potential goddess then?” He cranes a sharp finger to his face. “What does this have to do with me, my lord?”

  “These two are on the continent that your tower is on. So, if you could, I would like to swap towers with you!”

  Vulcestus furrows his brows. The towers that Ydri referred to are links to the mortal realm. Each god and in turn devil has a tower connecting them. Towers are sacred places of teaching mortals of their respective classes. Ydri wants them to trade places?

  “No.”

  Ydri blinks at the sudden refusal. “Wha- Why not?!”

  “We cannot simply ‘swap our towers’ on your whims. There are rules to these things, rules you yourself created. Towers do not switch places with each other at will. Swaps happen as completely random events to promote fairness.”

  Ydri gasps, “I… Completely forgot about that. I’ll just change the rules then!”

  Vulcestus frowns, “You’ll invoke the wrath of The First Devil if you do that.”

  Ydri pouts at The First Blacksmith. The dark supreme one would get pissed if Ydri changed the rules again. He would probably send his acolytes to the continent of Soteria and raze its kingdoms and empires to the ground. He probably already has his eyes on the cultist that Tiffany is with, given Tiffany’s connection to Ydri.

  Ydri sighs, “Fine, we won’t switch towers. That would have been a nice shortcut, but I guess she’ll just have to do it the hard way.”

  Vulcestus smiles at that, “I’m glad that you still take your responsibilities seriously. Your duties to this world are greatly needed if we wish to avoid further collapse.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Ydri lounges in Vulcestus’s throne, its gaze directed towards the high up ceiling of the palace.

  The God of The Night frowns at his lord's casual disrespect, but decides to ignore it for now. “Are there any other reasons you have come here, or will you take your leave?”

  Ydri drops its head limply to meet Vulcestus’s eyes. An unhinged smile slowly breaking across its face. “Why don’t we play a game?”

  “... A game?”

  “Yeah, a game. What I want you to do is put all your effort into trying to kill this woman.” He points at the grey screen. “Her name is Eva Le’tain and she is closely tied to Tiffany Day. She is the daughter of the emperor of the Zeta Empire and only has about a decade of lifespan left.”

  Vulcestus turns the system window. “Ah- A cultist. Very well, I shall orchestrate the death of this pagan.”

  Ydri’s face begins to unnaturally twist with malice, “If you succeed I’ll reward you with a shard of my divine essence.”

  The shutter of Vulcestus’s eyes flick open, “Surely you jest my lord!-”

  “But if you fail-” The world itself darkens as reality twists into Ydri’s gaze. The massive megastructure recedes into nothing. The God of The Night feels the primal fear of death for the first time in tens of thousands of years.

  The mood snaps and reality returns as Ydri playfully smiles, “You gotta put up some curtains or something- Like, wow!”

  Ydri stuck its hands up at the large glass wall in front of it with a judging glare. Vulcestus exhales a sigh of relief as the God of The World jumps from Vulcestus’s throne.

  Ydri then turns its head in a random direction and stares with a sudden concerned look. The God of The Night notices this, “Is everything alright my lord?”

  Ydri sighs and shakes its head, “Yeah, I just need some maintenance done is all. Cya around Vulcestus!”

  Before Vulcestus can bid farewell, Ydri had already dissipated his avatar. Its focus turned on something else completely unrelated.

  The Source-

  Ydri finds its gaze within an infinite pool of mana. It doesn’t bother creating an avatar in this place because it simply doesn’t need one, and if it did it would be instantly destroyed by the unrelenting force of mana all around it.

  It's not here for the source however, but for what has just happened inside of it.

  A giant fish-

  A goldfish the size of a small county swims helplessly in the tides of endless mana. Its magical iridescent flesh regrows and fast as it burns away. The fish screams at an interval that can annihilate an entire mountain range.

  Ydri stares at the suffering creature with pity. How did it even get in here?