Gods were the centre point of the universe.

This universe, to be accurate, out of the millions of billions of universes separated by an invisible, untouchable, almost impenetrable barrier.

Almost.

Centuries ago the Destruction Dragon Taksaka took a female form.

In Vishnu's visions of the many paths of future, this would make no difference.

Taksaka would still have a son named Kasak, and the best possible future would still be barely out of reach.

But none of the primeval gods expected that a soul would pass through the barrier, into their current universe.

Souls were fickle things. They didn't decide the consciousness, didn't decide the personality. And yet, they were catalysts, able to bring up figments of memory from the lives of bodies they had once resided in.

Lost souls would drift until they found their way into purgatory, were eaten, or discovered a suitable body.

Ian Rajof, a quarter, was barely a month pregnant when the soul found her and the two zygotes attached to her womb.

One would survive to maturity, while the other was already dead and would soon be flushed out by her body.

The soul entered her body and enveloped itself with the zygote. And in moments, what was previously just dead was now alive, its cells multiplying to keep up with its twin which had yet to develop or receive its own soul.

Five months later, she would announce the fact that she was expecting twins to her husband.

And the future that Vishnu had expected drastically veered off course.

"Triya! Are you alright?" Triya woke up with a painful throbbing headache and a man with four tiny horns on his head looking at her.

She blinked at him slowly, then raised her hands and looked at the odd red claws.

'I'm not human.' She thought, then turned her attention to the man. 'Who is this guy?'

"Who are you?" She asked.

The man twitched.

Then, he turned to an olive-haired man standing by the doorway.

"Vishnu. Why the hell did you drop my daughter?" He roared.

The man raised both his hands, laughing nervously. "I didn't do it on purpose, Tak."

"Like hell you didn't! You're a god! You're not supposed to just drop things! Especially not my daughter!" Tak snarled.

"…Father." Triya – was that her name? – spoke up.

Tak turned to her.

"My head hurts." She said and looked at him accusingly. "Please stop shouting."

Tak looked depressed for a moment.

The man, Vishnu laughed.

"You are, my father?" Triya asked. Tak nodded.

Then she pointed at Vishnu. "Who's that guy? My other dad?"

Someone laughed. A beautiful woman with light pink hair entered the room, followed by a boy with grayish-pink hair and four horns on his head clutching at her skirt.

"Ian! I would never cheat on you!" Tak said frantically, then glared at Vishnu. "Especially not with this guy who dropped our daughter."

"Triya. Do you remember me?" The woman, Ian, asked. The boy looked at Triya with dark red eyes. He had the same claw-like things that she did.

Triya shook her head.

"I'm your mother. This is your twin brother, Kasak."

Ah. That explained their similarities. Triya patted the top of her head to check if she had horns as well.

She touched something hard and nubby."

"I have horns?" She asked.

Ian looked worried.

"Oi, Vishnu." Tak started.

Ian looked between Triya and the two men, looking uncertain.

"Ignore them." Kasak said, tugging at the hem of her skirt. "We're halfs. Of course we have horns." Kasak explained, which told Triya absolutely nothing.

"Half?"

"Did you lose your common sense?" Kasak asked.

"Oi!" Tak snapped. Kasak flinched, and Ian frowned.

Okay, blatant favouritism. Triya blinked, then scowled.

"Don't treat him like that!" She yelled. Tak looked taken back.

Triya grabbed Kasak's hand. "What are halfs?" She asked.

"Halfs are- Um. Mom?" Kasak turned to Ian.

"Halfs are children of a human and a sura."

Another unfamiliar term Triya didn't know.

"What's a sura."

Ian's mouth fell open.

"Oi, next you're gonna say that you don't know what's a god?"

"Don't be silly. I know what's a god." Triya announced. Ian seemed to sigh in relief, until Triya said her next sentence.

"Gods are beings of faith that don't exist."

There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone in the room turned to Vishnu.

The man laughed awkwardly. Then Tak attempted to punch him.

Triya spent the next few days with Vishnu – who was apparently a god – by her side, reteaching her about the world.

"But how does it work? Does the god give a part of their power to whoever is born in that month? Why would someone born in a specific month have a stronger attribute as compared to others? Can't they just work harder?"

"You didn't ask so many questions in the past." Vishnu looked pained.

"You didn't drop me on the head in the past." Triya retorted.

"It's the same reason why gods exist."

"Telling me that that's just how the world works isn't gonna fly, you know?" Triya said flatly.

Trying to fit this new knowledge to the one of her past life in another world was hard. There were parts that Vishnu didn't want to explain to her – or couldn't.

"Okay, fine. Birthday attributes. Then sura magic and divine magic. I'm a half, so does that mean I can use both?"

"That's…" Vishnu trailed off, looking considering. "Normally, it would be impossible for halfs to use divine magic." He said slowly, "but Vritra halfs have a sura form and can use transcendentals. Human magic is derived from a god's transcendental, which is why birth attributes have an impact as it means that the human has a closer affinity to the god."

"Closer affinity? But if I'm close to you now, does that mean that I can use divine magic too?"

"No, not that sort of affinity. Still, would you like to try?" The smile Vishnu had made him look like a half-mad scientist.

"Aren't you the god of time and stuff? Can't you just look into the future and see one possible future where I try it out and tell me what happens?"

"…Did you know that I can't use Insight on you?" Vishnu asked suddenly.

Triya turned to him, confused. "So you can't read my mind? Big deal."

"No, I'm a primeval god. The only ones that I can't use Insight on are the other primeval gods. Not to mention that in none of possible futures that I've seen, have I seen your presence. Tak only has a son, not a daughter. I cannot see your future."

Triya gaped at him. "Wow. Way to give a girl existential issues."

Vishnu's smile wasn't friendly at all.

"Did you drop me on purpose then? To kill me off and make this current world fit your ideal future?" Triya asked idly, trying not to show how unsettled she was.

"Yes, I did." Vishnu said.

Triya clapped. "I admire your honesty." She said primly. "Honestly, I thought that as a god, you would've already known."

"Without Insight, and with my inability to look into your past and future, in regards to you, I am blind."

"Sheesh." Triya stared at her claws. "I didn't know what halfs and suras were. I didn't think that gods existed and questioned the existence of magic itself. Why don't you tell me what you can guess from all that?"

Vishnu looked at her. "It has been theorised," he started, "that there are other universes where gods do not exist, and thus no primeval gods to create and manipulate the universe. In such a universe, there are no gods and no suras. Only humans with technology and no magic."

"I wouldn't say only humans. We hadn't explored other planets yet, not to mention the other galaxies." Triya said, stretching. "You're totally right, by the way. In the universe I remember, gods didn't exist. Only belief. It was totally relaxing. We didn't have to worry about the world ending or sh-stuff, only about human rights issues and idiot leaders who should've been assassinated long ago."

Vishnu smiled wryly. "I had expected a world with only humans to be full of chaos."

Triya snapped her fingers. "You're not wrong. There were hundreds of wars. Until people started to wise up and armed themselves while preaching about world peace. Ahh, enough about my world! I'm gonna try divine magic. Gimme a spell."

"Hoti magic doesn't require the same attribute as a god. I suppose that you could attempt it. You can try hoti vishnu. It should rewind the time of an object or person to a point of time."

"Doesn't it feel awkward using your own name?" Triya asked. She pointed at a tree. "Hoti vishnu!"

Nothing.

She turned to Vishnu, looking accusing.

"You need to supply rigor to the spell. As a Vritra half, you should have more than enough."

"In the first place, what the hell is rigor?" Triya puffed out her cheeks.

Vishnu blinked. "Ah. Hm. Think of it as a magic source. It can be replenished through eating or sleeping."

"Hoti Vishnu." Triya said again, pointing at the same tree.

"Why isn't anything happening?" She asked.

"I don't feel you drawing on my transcendentals." Vishnu said thoughtfully. Then, he glanced at her. "Triya, do you believe in me?"

Triya stared at him, bewildered. "Huh?"

"Do you believe that I'm a god?"

"I mean, you call yourself a god, so I guess?"

Vishnu sighed. "In the first place, that sort of belief won't work if you want to cast divine magic."

"Excuse me for being an atheist." Triya huffed.

"That means nonbeliever, right?"

"A person who doesn't believe in the existence of a god or gods." She recited. "Fine, forget divine magic. How do I use transcendentals?"

"As Tak's daughter, you should be able to use the same transcendentals he can, if weaker."

"So my dad's the sura." Triya nodded firmly. Vishnu gave her an amused look.

"As a Vritra half, you have a sura form as well." He reminded.

"How do I turn into a sura then?"

"If I told you, Tak would get mad at me." Vishnu laughed.

Triya's mouth dropped open. "You- You goddamned tease!" She accused.

"You don't believe in gods and yet you invoke their name so casually." Vishnu mused.

"What? Goddamn? It's just a swear."

"Damnation." Vishnu muttered, and refused to say anymore no matter how much Triya poked at him with her very pointy claws.

Okay. Apparently, Vritra clan suras and halfs were supposed to have dulled emotions. Why did no one tell Triya that?

"That's odd, you used to be so mellow." Ian said, running her fingers through Triya's hair.

"Until Vishnu dropped me on the head." Triya said cheerfully, making her father twitch.

Kasak sat beside her on their mother's lap, as far away as he could from Tak.

From what Triya learnt, after finally getting hold of a mirror, she looked a lot like Ian, minus the horns and claws and everything she got from her father.

Which, given her father's utter devotion to her mother, explained an unfortunate lot.

Kasak really got the short end of the stick here.

"Hey dad?" Triya asked. The man glanced at her. Nope, he looked fully human, not a sura trait to be seen.

"What does your sura form look like? Vishnu wouldn't teach me how to turn into a sura."

For a moment, Tak looked confused. "You already know how to do that." He said, glancing at Kasak.

"I lost my memory, dad." Triya said flatly, reminding herself that Vishnu was an absolute troll.

Tak stood up from Ian's side and took off his earrings. Four short horns appeared on his head. Triya blinked. In just one second, he was a distance away, his face a blurry blob.

Then, he started to glow. And wow, her father was huge.

Tak lowered his gigantic head to face them.

Triya slid off Ian's lap and looked up at her father. She didn't even reach his chin.

"Dad! You look like a dragon!" Triya gasped with shining eyes, patting the huge sura on the side of his chin.

Tak rolled his eyes and spread his wings. At this point, Triya was starting to think that he was trying to impress her.

Which wasn't that hard to believe, sadly.

"Mom! Mom! Dad! Can we go flying?" Triya asked excitedly.

Kasak looked grumpy, as he usually did with anything to do with Tak. Ian, however, looked like she was considering it.

"If it's fine with your father, I don't see why not."

When Tak nodded, just the slightest bit, Triya hugged the dragon. Then, she realised a problem.

"I'm way too small." She whispered.

Tak turned to the side. Very slowly and carefully, he moved his tail.

Triya scrambled onto the appendage, and carefully made her way to her father's back. Then, she paused, panting, before running towards his neck.

She sat between two large scales and looked around. "Wow, dad, you're huge!"

'Hold tight.' Tak said and walked away.

"Eh? You're not going to fly?"

'…'

After a minute of walking, Triya could no longer see their home. Then, Tak flapped his wings. And Triya knew why he didn't take off back then. "The forest's gone." She said numbly, looking at the blackened area. "Dad's really amazing."

Tak didn't say anything, but Triya could feel a faint feeling of satisfaction. Which was weird, because didn't her mother say that Tak could only display anger?

She decided to consult Vishnu about it in their magic theory sessions.

But for now, she enjoyed the wind blasting in her face, sheltered between her father's scales.

"Empathy." Vishnu said sagely, even though Triya knew that he was pulling it out of his ass.

"So you think that I can feel emotions? I thought dad couldn't feel anything other than anger?"

"Only his anger was considerably amplified relative to his other numbed emotions. Tak can feel love and affection as well, for you and your mother."

"Not Kasak?" Triya asked, thinking about her twin.

"Tak has a rocky relationship with him." Vishnu said.

"No kidding, talk about extreme favouritism. I've been giving Kasak all my favourite snacks to make up for it."

"In the first place, a Vritra half like you being able to show so much emotion is an oddity in itself."

"Oh yeah, and thanks for telling me that I hadn't learnt how to turn into a sura yet, you absolute troll." Triya said flatly.

"It should be instinctive on your part." Vishnu said unrepentantly.

"No magic, no suras, no gods." Triya retorted.

"Even if you ask me, it's not as though I can explain it."

"Do I need to visualise it or something? Or do I just need the intent?"

"Usually, just the intent is enough."

"Fine then. Sura transformation, on!" Triya punched the air.

Nothing happened.

"That is the first time I've seen something as ridiculous as that." Vishnu said, the liar.

"If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all." Triya scolded. "Make me a dragon!"

"…"

"Just laugh." She told him flatly.

Vishnu smirked. "Perhaps it's a subconscious reaction. You don't believe that suras exist so you can't turn into one."

"I've seen dad turn into a fuc-fudging dragon. I know they exist."

"But do you believe that you can turn into one?"

"…Point. Okay, fine. Scratch that. Animagus. My animagus form is a dragon. I'm a goddamned wizard, and I have an animagus form. So make me a dragon!"

Nothing.

"What's an animagus?"

"It's an animal form that a wizard can take- from a popular fantasy book where magic exists."

"It's disconcerting hearing someone compare a sura to an animal."

"No magic, no sura, no gods." Triya repeated. Then, she stopped. "Hey Vishnu, you're like an ultra-powerful god, right?"

"Essentially."

"Do something amazing. Make me believe that you're actually a god."

"Asking something like that out of the blue…" Vishnu shook his head. He waved his hand, and suddenly the field they were sitting in was full of flowers. Triya brushed a claw against one. It felt real. Probably was real.

"In the end, belief really is important. But if I can't believe, then I'll just use logic to make up for it." Triya said. "I still can't wrap my head around the existence of gods, but I can compare this to magic. If magic exists, then an animagus form is possible. Right now, I have horns and claws, so I'm in a partial transformation. I just have to complete to transformation into a dragon." She closed her eyes.

"…You've been doing that for a while now."

"Shh! I need to concentrate!" Triya held up a claw.

"The sun is setting."

"Then reverse the sun, goddamnit!"

"Have you considered that you've accepted the existence of magic, but not that you can do it?"

"…Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

"You seemed so determined." Vishnu smiled, the utter troll.

Triya sighed. "So I need to be able to use magic to believe that I can use it. To believe that I can use it, I need to turn into a dragon. But to be able to turn into a dragon, I also need to use magic so that I can believe."

"When you put it like that…"

"Fine. You made dad's earrings, right?"

"Yes, but," Vishnu started. "Then you can make other magical artifacts, right?" Triya interrupted.

"To put it simply, I don't trust you to handle whatever artifacts I create without trying to disprove them or dismantle them."

Triya started, then stopped. "Can't we just try?"

Vishnu nodded thoughtfully. "What would be an artefact that could make you believe, or at least trick your mind into believing that you can use magic?"

"Something like that, an illusion that you're the one doing something when actually it's the thing you're gonna give me?"

"An illusion?" Vishnu repeated.

"Yeah. Human minds are like, super easy to trick. We fall for optical illusions, hallucinations, and believe that there are…" Triya trailed off. "We see things in the dark because we believe that they're there! Holy shi-sticks."

"Something came to mind?"

"Childhood! I forgot my entire childhood! I rode on a dragon, and I can't believe that I forgot, my entire-! Gah!"

Vishnu looked politely confused.

"Can you create something that can instantaneously change my clothes?"

"…Yes, I should be able to." Vishnu said slowly, looking at me oddly.

"Magical girl transformation." Triya explained, which, actually, didn't explain much at all.

She got a cool ring out of it, so yay.

Triya tapped on the engraving on the ring, and her clothes changed into a sparkly outfit which she had requested.

"Magical girl transformation! With this, I can turn into a dragon!"

An odd feeling came over Triya. She felt her limbs elongate, and extra appendages appear.

"I can truly say now that you surprise me." Vishnu said.

'I don't wanna hear that from you, you troll.' Triya said. She blinked. 'This, isn't human speech?'

"Most suras can't speak to humans. You and your brother are exceptions in that you can understand and speak both."

'This is so surreal. I'm a motherfuc- uh, yikes, don't go there, don't go there. I mean, I'm a totally awesome dragon.'

Vishnu looked like he couldn't decide between being amused or disturbed.

"I'm keeping the ring." Triya told Vishnu, successfully returning to a human form after way too many attempts.

The god apparently wasn't petty enough to argue with her.