Chapter 1
That Blue Thing
It was only mid-shadow, when the orange god was only halfway through its cycle. Down the freezing mountains, next to the sea on the yellow beach was a teenage god, only a few thousand years old.
What a life it had been so far! Nothing! As soon as the gods appear, they learned to work, and rule. All would rule apart from this little god. There were simply too many of them to fit in the thrones. He was considered a mistake, an outcast. They set him near the waters so that he wouldn't get in their way. Millenniums spent hearing the ocean roar over and over, yelling at pirates, feeding the scorpions. How it had worked. There was absolutely no purpose for him in the existence.
Oryx was his name. What an odd name for a god. Who knew what it meant, but that's what happened during the creation.
That was another thing. Gods were not born like other beings, but rather simply brought into existence. The ultimate creator was the greatest mystery that would never be solved. Not even the smartest or the most resourceful of gods ever bothered to look into the matter.
The young god had stumbled upon a new interest, a rare thing to do, considering nothing exciting happened around the beach. Oryx began experimenting with potions just a few days ago when he found some strange substances that washed up during the high tide. He only tested his chemicals out on water, of course. Anything else would be too dangerous and cause his superiors to become furious. His latest experiment was the potion of growth, a potion that would increase your size per dose. He had been wondering about reverting back to the original size, but he never got to it.
"Hello!"
A somewhat high-pitched voice woke Oryx with a jolt. He looked over to see a small blue creature with three bright yellow eyes standing at his door.
"What the hell!?"
"Hey! I was born there, you know"
The last statement made little sense to Oryx.
"That's impossible. Only the two Archdemons live there!"
"Oh, them… They're my parents. Yep, yep! I'm a demon!"
"How'd you end up over here? There's no way out of hell!"
"I can come and go whenever I want. I've never tried it before, though, and I have no idea how to get back, anyway, but my parents aren't too nice to me. They call me names a lot. What's your name? I'm Malphas. I'm also thirsty. Hey! What's that over there?"
Malphas the tiny demon jumped on Oryx's brewing table, and grabbed his blue potion of growth.
"Hey! Don't touch that! Put it down! Stop! No!'
The demon drank the entire potion without any hesitation. It wasn't going to end well.
"Ah, that was refreshing. So what's your name?"
"Get out. Please. Step outside. Please!"
"Uh, okay.
Malphas went outside and stood there awhile before speaking.
"What am I doing here?"
Oryx instructed him to move away.
"Go back, farther. Farther. Farther. A little more. That's good."
He had moved well into the area with short grass and small trees. It was definitely enough space for growing.
It happened very slowly. Malphas looked down in shock as the space between his eyes and the grass tripled. He was now slightly taller than the trees. Oryx became terrified of the demon. He was much bigger than him, and if he decided to pull anything…
Malphas's growing didn't stop there. The second stage went into effect just a few seconds later. His "O" became deeper and deeper as he grew twice the size of Oryx's space.
"I'm so big! I could eat a tree! They probably don't taste good, nevermind."
Oryx was still standing in pure awe at the size of the once miniscule demon. He had no idea that Malphas would grow to be so large and intimidating. Those three eyes of his engulfed Oryx in pure horror.
Then the astonishing happened. Malphas returned to his original size. Did the potion's effects only last for a short time? No, the demon grew again, shrunk, and continued to obnoxiously repeat the cycle, changed it up every now and then.
"Hey! Hey! Whee! I think I can control it!"
"Thank god. Thank all of them, except Stheno. She's insane."
The god was so relieved that when he fainted, he woke up a few seconds later, fainted again because Malphas was on top of him in tiny form, and then woke up yet again, this time with Malphas standing a few feet away, still small.
"Ha, please don't touch my stuff again, and don't change form inside my space, please."
The whole situation suddenly turned into a joke, and both burst out laughing. Oryx was glad that Malphas could keep it in check, but Malphas, on the other hand, was showing off his newfound power.
"My name's Oryx, and I'm the useless god. Nice to meet you, Malphas."
"The useless god? That's a dumb title. Who made that up?"
"Who knows? That's how things went. I don't really know much about my creation. They didn't tell me about it."
Oryx sighed, then Malphas continued with his questions.
"So what's your prophecy?"
All gods had their own prophecy, what they would accomplish, and what their fate would be in the future. Oryx hadn't ever read his because Bes, for some reason, really, really, didn't want it to be read by others.
"I don't know. I never got the chance to read it. They kept it from me."
"That sucks. I wish demons had prophecies. I could go fight monsters and become the demon lord!"
That wouldn't end very well, Oryx thought.
Malphas and Oryx were both still curious about the extent of the growing powers, but soon found out that there was nothing else to them besides controlled growth. The god hoped to the creator that he wouldn't use his power jokingly. It wasn't too safe, after all.
What a friend Oryx had made. A tiny, large, giant friend that he could relate to.
"You should try to get your prophecy. They have no right to hold it."
Malphas was completely correct, but it seemed that he underestimated the force and power of the higher beings. If Bes didn't want something, something wouldn't happen. That was that.
The invisible voice, out of nowhere, spoke to Oryx, but Malphas didn't seem to hear.
"There is a way, little god. There is always a way."
The crown appeared first, and Oryx suddenly had to struggle to remember the few events that had just passed.