David opened his eyes. He was splayed on a flat, white surface, dry as a bone, with nothing to see but a white horizon.

  Groaning, he got up, checked himself for any injuries, but found nothing. He then observed his surroundings, and found... nothing. It was all white. If he squinted, he thought he could perceive a variance in the white's hue, forming a sort of horizon line, or maybe his brain was trying to make sense of the nothingness.

  He tried closing his eyes and retreating to his inner self, but there again, there was nothing. Or rather, there was nothing to retreat to; he had never left his inner self.

  Wherever this was, it wasn't a physical place. He tried coming out of his inner self, but he was again met with a void. He tried calling his mana, powering his imbuements, calling Leviathan's name, kicking and punching the ground, all without results.

  Bringing his heavy breathing back into control, he turned his head, trying to spot anything that would give him a hint. Failing to do that, he picked a direction that felt “right” and began walking.

  This place was... strange. His steps sounded muted and yet echoed, with no surface for the sound to bounce back to him. He was walking at his usual pace, but a sensation of immense speed suffused his senses. He could see only white, and yet he would sometimes reflexively swerve, as if stepping around something. When he'd taken notice of having done so, he tried to feel around the area he had avoided, but there was nothing.

  He kept going, his sense of time absent; he might have been walking for a year, and he couldn't tell.

  And then, something, on the horizon, a tiny dot, so clearly visible in the white expanse, that he was perfectly aligned with already.

  So he kept going.

  The dot grew in size as he kept moving toward it, becoming a small mountain, and then an island with a mountain, and then he reached the island's shore, and the sound of waves lapping at the sandy beach filled his ears, and a wet sensation covered his feet. He looked down and found clear water reaching his shins. He looked behind him and saw an ocean, with clouds reaching to the horizon. A gust of wind ruffled his hair, making him squint.

  The sounds of nature filled the emptiness that had been. He turned his head to look back at the island, eyes narrowing when he found a marbled path leading into the island's interior, snaking into the tropical forest, waiting for him where there had been nothing.

  To his left and right, nothing but a sandy beach. He shrugged and took the path forward.

  He eventually arrived at a set of stairs which climbed up onto a plateau. Near the top, he heard voices.

  A jovial man's voice rang. “He's almost here!”

  A stern woman's voice answered. “Are you sure you got everything ready?”

  “Yes, yes! I wouldn't spoil such an occasion! It's been so long!”

  “Shhh, he's taking the last few steps. Be ready!”

  David's next leg up brought his head over the threshold. A loud pop rang, and paper confetti rained down on him. He saw a tall, slender man with a perfect face, wearing light, colourful clothes that belonged in a seaside resort, holding a spent confetti cone. Next to him, a stout woman, sporting abdominal muscles on which you could crush stone and shoulders that could carry the world, wearing a two-piece toga. She was clapping with a smile that did not belong on her face.

  Behind them was a floating banner that hung in mid-air, reading “Happy Ascension Day!”. Buffet tables covered in dishes were lined up, and poles with varied decorations circled the area.

  The man threw the cone away, which disappeared as soon as it left his hands, and beamed a smile at David while swinging his arms out in a warm greeting. “Happy Ascension Day! Welcome to the sanctuary! I can't tell you just how happy we are to finally have someone new join our ranks!”

  The woman's smile left her face, replaced with a permanent scowl. “Koltos,” she called at the man, but he ignored her.

  “Now, I'm sure you have many questions, and rest assured, we will answer all of them!”

  “Koltos,” The woman said with a bit more force.

  “I'm very sorry to say that we are the only ones here at the moment, but the rest of the gang will be more than pleased to meet you when they co-”

  “KOLTOS!” The woman shouted, interrupting his speech.

  Koltos's eyebrow twitched. He turned his head toward the woman. “What is it, Almeniris?” He asked, his voice slightly strained.

  She pointed her chin at David, crossing her arms. “He's not ascended.”

  “What? That's impossible. How else would he be here? There's no ot-”

  She grabbed his face with one powerful hand and forcefully turned it toward David. “Stop jabbering and look.”

  Koltos's face scrunched up as he kept glaring at the woman, before rolling in their orbit and peering at David, a singular flash lighting them up from within. The man's eyes went wide.

  “You're not ascended! How did you get here?!”

  Almeniris groaned, with a tint of exasperation that told David it was a recurring event where Koltos was concerned.

  The lost courier rested his hands on his hips. “I'd like to know, myself. What's an ascension? Who are you people? Where am I? How do I get back?”

  Koltos held a hand out, silencing David's questions, as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Calming himself, he snapped a finger and all of the festive decorations vanished, including the buffet table, leaving in their place a simple table, a pitcher of water with three glasses on top, and a few comfortable-looking chairs surrounding it.

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  David looked back at Koltos, who gave him a polite smile. “Why don't we take a seat? Normally, I'd send you right back, but I'm incredibly curious as to how you got here.”

  Almeniris didn't wait for any answers and went to pour glasses of water before claiming a chair, making it creak as she dropped onto it and leaned back.

  David shrugged and accepted Koltos's invitation, which garnered him a slightly wider smile on the strange man's face.

  “So, where am I? You called this place the Sanctuary? What are you hiding from?” David asked as soon as he was seated.

  Koltos stopped his descent upon the chair partway, sharing a look with Almeniris. She quirked one of her eyebrows and smirked, while he shook his head and finished sitting down, mumbling. “Of course you'd like a brazen head...”

  Koltos crossed his legs, clasping his hands over his raised knee, and addressed David as you would a guest at a tea party. “You have many questions, rightfully so; if you'll allow me, I'll attempt to preemptively answer most of them.”

  David nodded. Koltos's eyebrow twitched, but he cleared his throat and continued. “You are in the upper realm, on a constructed island that we, the constructors, called the Sanctuary. It is not a refuge for us, but a refuge from us. This is where we, the ascended, have self-exiled, to keep past tragedies from repeating themselves.” The man offered, seemingly pleased with himself.

  David tilted his head, waiting for more information to come.

  When silence stretched, Almeniris groaned. “Koltos, you suck at explaining. You.” She said, pointing at David. “What's your name?”

  “David.”

  She dipped her head. “David. We're what you call the founding gods, or what's left of us. We decided to stop meddling with the true worlds because we kept bungling up and creating disasters, so we created this island, and we haven't left it since. Is that better?”

  David felt his head nod.

  Koltos stared daggers at the goddess. “You and your brutish bluntness! No tact at all! I was easing the poor man into it! Now see what you did, you broke his mind!”

  “At least we won't be here the whole day! Just get what you need out of him and send him back! He won't even remember any of this. Why waste time explaining everything?!” She barked back.

  Koltos shook his head with disappointment. “Tsk tsk, my dear, it's only proper etiquette to entertain a guest. It's not for their sake that you behave, it's for your own.” He smirked. “But I guess the finer points of society are not blunt enough for your barbaric brain.”

  A glass of water shattered on his face, followed by a second, then a pitcher, and then a table.

  All broke apart upon his visage, while the man remained perfectly motionless. Once the assault was over, he turned his unmarred face back to David.

  “See what I mean? When words fail her, she resorts to physical rebukes.” He shook his hair. “Not that it amounts to much. It's why she's so frustrated all the time, the only way to win is with wits and tongue, and she's only good with her tongueeeeeeee-”

  David watched the man fly through the air and away from the island, having been launched by the woman, who shielded her eyes and observed her projectile's trajectory for a few seconds.

  She turned to face David, hands on her hips. “Don't listen to him, he's just a pompous narcissist.” She waved a hand, and a new table and drinks appeared; these looked bubbly and frothing.

  “I find these kinds of discussions better with some alcohol to blunt world-shattering truths. Care for some?” She asked, sitting down and picked one of the clear mugs, offering it to David.

  The courier blinked, took the drink, and downed half of it in one chug, earning him an approving nod from Almeniris, who took another mug for herself and joined David.

  As he put down the divine-tasting beer back on the table, he looked at the goddess. “Is he going to be alright?”

  “Hmm? Oh, Koltos? Of course. One of the Sanctuary's edicts is that we can't actually hurt each other. At most, we can inconvenience, like I just did. He'll be back in a few seconds.”

  As she said those words, a door appeared, opening on Koltos, who walked through and returned to his chair. The door closed by itself and vanished as the god resumed his sitting position. “Now, where were we?” He asked, smiling at David.

  The courier eyed the god before finishing the second half of his drink. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, he then asked. “She said I wouldn't remember anything? Then why answer my questions?”

  Koltos's face went long. “Oh, another brute... very well. David, my friend, your mind won't remember, but your soul will. This is a boon for you, this encounter, and the imprints of our discussion will offer you guidance when necessary.”

  He eyed the beverages, snapping his finger and turning the liquid in one of the mugs back to clear water, picking it up and sipping from it.

  “And while we talk, we'll try to discern how in the upper realm you managed to reach this place, unascended as you are.”

  Almeniris leaned forward. “So you're saying that you met your imprint, gave it a name, it got excited and punted you up here on a jet of mana?”

  David nodded. “If by imprint you mean my mana beast, then yes.”

  Koltos had a hand over his chin, staring at the mortal. “Quite strange, as what you describe would require an inordinate amount of mana, and, to be honest, I'm not sensing any mana emanating from you.”

  Almeniris looked at the god. “So it's not just me? I thought it was strange.”

  David shrugged. “Leviathan did say I hadn't been using my mana before.”

  Koltos narrowed his eyes. “Your imprint said that? But now you are using it?”

  David nodded.

  The god tilted his head. “If it were the case, I would be seeing, or at least sensing, your mana aura. In fact...” The god's eyes widened as he turned to Almeniris. “The aura we sensed, the one that made us think a new ascended had arrived...”

  The goddess stared for a second before she understood what he meant. “...Do you think?”

  Koltos abruptly stood and shot up into the sky. David watched him, soon losing sight. He turned to Almeniris. “Where's he going?”

  She kept her stare on him. “To check something.”

  A short moment later, Koltos landed back in a small puff of dust, even quicker than he'd taken off, his wide eyes locked onto David.

  “What manner of creature are you?” The god asked.

  Almeniris scoffed. “Now look who's being disrespectful.”

  Koltos's gaze snapped to her as he spoke with foreboding. “You don't understand. It was this man's aura we felt. It encompasses the entire island at least thrice over. It's bigger than yours! We can't see it because we're inside of it!”

  Almeniris's smirk disappeared as she locked her eyes onto David. Koltos did the same.

  Was that... a hint of fear in their eyes?