1. The Invisible Cage

Ardex looked at the journey ahead and saw absolutely no obstacles in his path. In truth, he barely saw anything at all. Plants hadn’t evolved yet, the only living beings were simple bacteria, and the most exciting thing was a babbling brook made by Gulvi.

When the tiger-shaped god stepped over the running water, however, a gust of wind blew him backwards. A stab in his belly, a ringing in his ears. He woke up some time later, stuck upside-down in the dirt.

“Oh I’ll fix this,” brother Darus said in a playful voice, “just watch me. Right?”

“This was my first attempt,” groaned Ardex. “You’ve already had countless attempts.”

“Yes. Which is exhausting. So I’m going to bed.”

“Lazy wolf,” mumbled Ardex.

Darus didn’t respond. They’d had the argument for a million years now and neither brother seemed eager to change their ways.

A million years. And all that time, Ardex hadn’t liked it here even a single day, because there was nothing here. They’d invented DNA, they’d created enzymes, they’d managed to get some sort of tiny living creatures wriggling at the bottom of the ocean.

And then they were stuck.

Those bacteria provided just enough life force to keep the demigods alive, dear reader. There is, however, a crucial difference, between living and surviving. Between being lazy and conserving your energy.

Ardex gave himself a running start. Fires erupted under his soles as he ran, faster and faster, to leap over the invisible boundary again.

As he jumped, suspended in the air, he believed he’d made it. Jus for a heartbeat or two. Then something snapped in his face, his body contorted, and a magical blast made him curl up like a ball and roll backwards.

Back to their cage. Back to the only patch of Somnia they were allowed to roam freely. But who are what was stopping them?

“You think it’s Father again?” Bella asked.

The Goddess of Wisdom, a large beautiful racoon, tentatively stretched out her paws. Trying to touch or press whatever invisible wall lived along the river. Once she found it, her hand jerked back, as if she’d accidentally held it over a fire.

Ardex grunted. “Must be Father. Doesn’t even trust us when we’re on our own planet at the other edge of the galaxy.”

He looked to the left. Darus’ Impossible Wall, which he’d made in a panic so long ago, obscured that part of the world. Even if they were able to climb it, something would stop them at its peak.

He looked to the right. Endless beaches quickly vanished into a uniform sea.

He looked forward. Even though nothing should be able to stop them, even though the wind wasn’t even blowing and the sun lit the empty space condescendingly well, they just could not move past it.

Ardex bellowed in rage, burning several carpets of bacteria. A trio of red flames erupted from his mouth.

“Calm yourself! You’re killing—”

“I am calm!”

He stomped the earth again to create ten flames of different colors and sizes. They all lashed out in different directions, trying to grab the invisible wall. Or, as he hoped, overwhelm it.

A few sparks. Some warping of the air. And, perhaps he’d imagined this, the river on the other side splashing against the sand with a little more volume.

When him and Bella tried to cross, though, the result was the same as ever. Upside-down in the dirt; dazed and sleepy.

Bella kept sleeping. Ardex felt like doing the same, but chastised himself. He would not sleep until Father’s cage was broken. He would not tire and he would not ever stop breaking—

His eyelids drooped and he fell halfway into the river.

The cold water shook him awake once more.

“Why!?” he cried to the innocent blue sky. “Why must gods sleep? Why do gods tire? This is foolish! Let us come home, Father!”

As a youth, Ardex had often seen his Father sit on his throne in a trance, eyes half-closed, studying and listening to other parts of the galaxy. He was certain Father could hear them and see them if he wished.

Increasingly, it seemed, he didn’t wish to do so.

Ardex stomped, and roared, and bit, and jabbed, and nothing made so much as a dent. It only tired himself, until he wasn’t even able to lift his paw or breathe a tiny fire.

He heard his siblings approach from behind. They’d walked the entire length of the invisible wall, looking for any gap or weakness. Yes, their cage was rather large, spanning half a continent. But did a prisoner really care about the size of their prison? Did a bird love being in a cage if it was made of gold?

Birds. He missed them. Oh how long it would take before they’d have birds again on this world. Hopefully not another million years.

“Please tell me the good news,” Ardex asked over his shoulder.

“Erm, well, you see,” started Eeris, a tall giraffe and Goddess of Flora. “Good news you say? My, what a question, let me think—”

The pink fox Feria, Goddess of Fauna, stepped forward and spoke without emotion. “It’s hopeless. I’m leaving for my own throne, and so is Eeris—”

“Aaarrgh!”

Ardex dug deep into the earth and found a final spark inside him, a final explosion of energy as if he pulled it right from Somnia’s lava core. He took a deep breath and blew out a sustained fire that seemed to last for hours.

It hammered the invisible wall. It sent purple hurricanes of plasma into the air, covering the bacteria with magical stardust.

Until, at last, his throat ran dry and his sister Feria had to catch him as he fell. Most of his other siblings were long gone, staying at their own thrones, calling Ardex foolish for still trying.

Just before falling asleep, however, he noticed the tiniest change. A part of the river had seemingly moved by a paw’s breadth. Some wall segments didn’t distort his vision anymore, but let him see straight through.

It closed itself, like a scabbing wound, but he was sure of what he’d seen.

He fell asleep, more tired than he thought gods were allowed to be.

When he woke up, he didn’t know where he was.