1. The Misplaced Matter

Bella dove into the water and was disappointed. They had plants now, though they looked more like misshapen puddings for now. The demigods called them Solidlings. For they also had puddings that were not stuck in the ground: animals—or Movelings.

And those Movelings worried hier. They could move, but they didn’t. They could procreate, but they didn’t.

The ocean floor was covered with layers of Movelings, all perfectly still … or dead. She couldn’t see the difference, only feel it. With each fraction of Lifeforce that disappeared, she felt weaker, sicker, more exhausted. As if the gods needed more Lifeforce each day to survive.

She often traveled under water with her whole family, because life only existed down there. So often that she sometimes felt more like a fish than a raccoon.

And today her worst fear became reality: her body started to shred again, tiny flakes from her paws drifting up like dust.

Gulvi met her with the same fear in his dolphin eyes. “It all happens too fast. Our Movelings do nothing, absolutely nothing!”

“My brother dear, please keep the calm.” Gulvi blew a large bubble to keep Bella under water with him for longer. She floated along, as if caught inside a white balloon. “Are you giving them enough oxygen?”

“Yes!” Gulvi demonstrated by shooting air bubbles at the Movelings like bullets. “Some still live off of sunlight. But if I place them on land, they die even more quickly!”

I’m not even sure if we can already say they’re alive, Bella thought, as more of her body was chipped away. But Lifeforce disappears too rapidly.

“Investigate, is now our task.”

Gulvi’s fins bent. “We’ve been doing that for a long time.”

“Then we investigate better.” Out of the corner of her eye, Bella saw a Moveling finally move. The shapeless blubber shot past her and left a trail in the water, after which it suddenly stopped again. “You see! They can do it!”

To you, dear reader, these Movelings wouldn’t even be visible. They’re too small, just a few cells, while your body has billions of cells.

But to the gods? All that lived was larger to them, and more colorful, and shone as if it was infused with magic. To their eyes, the world was a colorful paradise, even as it was mostly empty. To them, that blubber looked like a cute bunny to care for. As they say: whatever you care about, grows.

A shadow fell over Bella. A giraffe’s neck circled her belly like a rope and pulled her from the water.

“I’m shredding again! Oh Bella, why does this always happen to me? The world is against me! Why do I—”

Eeris saw that Bella had the same fate. Gulvi’s back fin didn’t have the same shape it used to. “Please tell me you have a solution?”

Bella shook her head. At this pace, they might not even make the end of the week. She tried to stay calm. To think rationally and tell everyone it would be okay.

That, however, is tough when you stare death in the face—even for the Goddess of Wisdom. Her breathing quickened and her paws tapped an irregular rhythm. All land was empty, merely covered in bacteria tapestries, or rocks and sand. Even from here, they could see the Throne of Tomorrow with ease. The world was horribly silent and odorless, as if they lived inside a hastily invented dream by someone else. And if that person woke up … they would be gone.

“We have to … we have to keep track of each detail, yes. I will write down all we know. You too. And then … then … the solution will surely reveal itself.”

A labrador wolf jumped from the water, over Bella’s head. Darus shook his fur, drenching the gods around him, and Bella was pretty sure he did so on purpose. “Of course, only Bella can see danger and think we’ll solve it by writing a book.”

“And you propose?”

“I’ve been telling the Movelings my best jokes for months. I see great progress.”

Bella frowned. “You realize they lack ears?”

Darus kicked a stone ahead of him like a playing ball. “Ah. Then it wasn’t the fault of my jokes that they still died. My humor has been saved!”

He nudged Bella’s thick fur. “Sis, it’ll be alright. Zyme, remember? Let nature do its thing, it will find a way.”

“Yes, it will find a way without us. And clearly I do want survival.”

Bella stormed off. Eeris and Darus had to run to keep up. Gulvi used one of his many tiny rivers to reach the Throne.

Once there they entered the throne room. A saber-toothed tiger spit fire towards stone baskets, against the cold and nightfall. He was also shedding part of his tail. He probably thought he could fight it by using his firemagic on everything all the time. Maybe that does work, Bella thought. Another reason to use my power: knowledge and wisdom.

“Darus, pull some stones from the floor and shape them into pages.”

He rolled his eyes but listened. “Back in a bit. But as a reward, I want you to listen to my jokes for an entire night! With full attention! And applause!”

Ardex growled. “We are dying, Darus! Be serious, please.”

Bella nodded. Sometimes she hated the fact that her little sisters and brothers were only kids—at the time scale of gods—who just wanted to play. Play! As they were dying on a barren planet!

Eeris had a habit of pushing Darus from a room before he could argue with his brother. She used it again this time.

A loud bang echoed through the hall.

As if heavy stones fell onto their ceiling and walls. As if someone tried to break in. Our lazy Movelings can’t even walk on land, let alone knock, Bella thought. It must be a joke by Darus. Or the weather. Or my other siblings.

“Darus?” she asked tentatively. “Feria? Cosmo? Who is there?”

The sky had turned black. Ardex’ fires were their only light source. Eeris instinctually wrapped her long neck around everyone and pulled them together. Backs against each other, the gods stood at the center of their own throne room.

“We are gods,” Ardex growled. “No weak creatures. No cowards. We go to the noise! Intruders are unwelcome! Let’s spread out.”

The noise seemed to come from the right. Ardex took his responsibility—as the eldest godson—and walked that way. Bella went back to the entrance. Eeris explored the back entrance and Gulvi swam right.

Ardex wanted to spit more fireballs, to see more and intimidate the intruder. But he was pretty sure this was a Darus joke, and burning his brother seemed a bad idea. So he held back. He only gave tamed fires to braziers when he encountered them. Otherwise, the corridors were dark and silent, desolate and suspicious.

He took another turn. Light tapping. Could be rain. Or footsteps of a small creature. Not Darus, he walks like a bumbling rhino. He smiled at the thought.

The next turn erased his smile. His snout bumped into a trio of stones, crumbled and askew, leaning sideways like friends supporting each other. The walls had collapsed and the path was blocked. Out of frustration, or maybe fear, he blew air from his nostrils, filling the entire corridor with scorching firestars.

All was empty. After this, the hallway ended. Wait—was that a tail?

He climbed the stones, but they were immovable. The gaps were too small to fit through. The shadow of what might have been a small chubby tail turned into a shapeless shadow.

“Who is there?” he yelled. “Show yourself! Your god demands it!”

No response. At his next stap, his paw found no flat floor, but something round. He slipped and fell backwards, then elegantly landed on all fours. A ball rolled away from him, brown and weathered.

Could it be true? No, this can’t be …

He turned the ball around. The leather held an imprint of four tiny teeth.

Sound behind his back startled him. Bella stood next to him with a torch in her hands; she was one of the few gods who had free paws to carry something like that.

“Did you take this with you?” Ardex asked.

Bella’s mouth opened wide. “No. Oh when Father banished us, sudden and no one prepared. We heard he was angry, yes, over that mission. We joked and waited for Father’s famed glare …”

She took the ball in her hands and let a feeling of homesickness bring tears. “And then our dad sent us away without any of this.”

Ardex picked dirt from his tusks. “Then how, in Father’s name, does the playing ball from the Heavenly Palace end up here?”