As soon as Atlas heard the door shut behind him, a screen appeared in front of him.

[Achievement 'Only the Beginning' Unlocked]

[Achieve Genesis]

[+ 100 DP]

"Oh, neat."  Atlas remarked, then tilted his head, confused, "System messages can appear anywhere?"

"Now that you've been through the Tutorial, you are properly connected to the Domain. It will be able to keep you informed of developments no matter where you are, and only those you wish to will be able to view the messages." Aurora explained.

Atlas frowned, "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"About what?"

"Being connected to the Domain. It was just going to delete you, without caring about how you felt. It was the one who gave you the ability to feel!" Atlas said, upset.

Aurora turned to look at Atlas, smiling softly. "It didn't understand the situation fully. It doesn't have true awareness, Atlas. It just follows the Laws like it was created to. It was aware you were brought into this unknowingly. The Laws dictated that you should be given a boon if one was asked for. You asked me to make a choice, and for that to be possible I would need to have some level of sentience.  That was considered as a boon that it was able to fulfill, so it fulfilled your request. That was an oversight that I'm sure will be corrected, as it shouldn't have been able to give the Guide awareness. Anyway, It couldn't see the consequences of it's actions, namely, that something set to be deleted was suddenly given a consciousness. Even if it was able to see that, it wouldn't have been able to do anything. It was bound to the Law as much as I was. There was only one way out of there for me that I knew would work. You saved me, Atlas, and I can never thank you enough for that."

"I couldn't just leave you there, that would have been monstrous of me. But you're welcome." Atlas said, smiling back, before he noticed something, "You seem... different after all of that. Did giving you Divinity change your personality?"

Aurora laughed, "No, no, before that I was barely sentient. The Divinity only took the little kernel of consciousness and built upon it. It was... a rather breathtaking experience as I felt my awareness expand into realms I'd never imagined before."

"Well, I'm glad, then," Atlas said, smiling again. He turned to look at their surroundings, noting it looked the same as where they just were, "Where are we?"

"This is your personal God's realm, Full to the brim with aether, just waiting to be decorated. From here we can connect to and view the lower realms where everything you'll create will be. In fact, I'm sure the Genesis you created at the Crucible is down there already. We should probably check on how that's doing." She pulled up a screen.

Atlas leaned over her shoulder to look. It didn't look much different, to be honest. An explosion of light expanding infinitely in the void of space, "Still at the Big Bang, huh." He said, and she nodded.

"It's going to take billions of years for planets to start to form. We can skip ahead at any time, but there's no need to rush it."

Atlas nodded, "I'll do some decorating then." He turned away, and Aurora waved him off, still looking at the screen.

After walking a little bit away from Aurora, he pulled at the aether, willing it to form under his feet. A soft blue carpet sprang into existence, spreading outwards in every direction, and he took off his shoes to enjoy it for a moment. Next, he set up a large screen for observation, and put some comfy couches and chairs around it. It was kind of creepy just having all of this stuff just sitting in the middle of nowhere, so he willed some walls and a ceiling to enclose them. He added a few windows to the walls, although they were looking out at nothing, and a door so he wasn't stuck.

While he was thinking, a message had popped up.

[Achievement 'Interior Decorator' Unlocked]

[Create your first Room in the God's Realm]

[+ 100 DP]

Neat. Kind of pointless, but okay. Anyway, he pulled up a coffee table too, and a side table for a light. As he was deciding on the kind of lamp to pull, he heard a voice behind him.

"Huh, not how I'd have expected you to- Never mind." Aurora was in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" He asked, "I know my taste isn't great, but it's not terrible either."

"No, your taste is fine, I just meant that usually when people think God's realm, they think of grandiose and magnificent throne rooms and dining halls. If you end up meeting your subjects here, isn't that what they'll be expecting?" Aurora asked.

"I doubt we'll be meeting any of my people here any time soon," Atlas pointed out, "We have plenty of time to worry about that stuff later. For now I just want to be comfortable."

"Good point," Aurora said, "Anyway, I was figuring out my Time powers and I think I've got a handle on them. I was thinking of starting a time skip, so we can fast forward to when our planet is fully formed."

"Sure, that sounds fine," Atlas said, "Is there anything I need to do?"

"Nope!" Aurora said, "Basically, this thing is a slow cooker right now. All the ingredients are inside, so we just need to wait. Or use a Time Skip." Gesturing in front of her, Aurora pulled up the Pedestal, "Here, I'll show you how to activate it."

Navigating the menu, Aurora brought up the Time Management section. She gestured to the screen, "As you can see, you've got your basic controls. Pause, Play, and Fast Forward. These are pretty self explanatory. Normally you wouldn't be able to only pause parts of your world, with the Pedestal it's all or nothing. With me here, however, we can divide the world into sections, pausing time in one place while fast forwarding in another. I'm also able to rewind time. Which I'm sure will come in handy."

She gestured to the upper right corner of the screen, "This is the Time Skip button, where you'll be able to program how much time will be skipped. Here, I'll enter a billion years. Normally, you wouldn't be able to see what the outcome will be beforehand, but I think if I do... this-" She concentrated for a moment, and Atlas felt her pushing her Divine Energy into the Pedestal, "Ah HA!" Aurora shouted, and Atlas saw an image appear on screen.

Aurora pulled at the image, and it extended into a 3-D model that hovered between them. Aurora examined the image, before shaking her head, "Nope, not yet. There are a few planetoids, but ours hasn't begun forming yet. I'll add another billion years."

This continued a few more times, until they'd reached five billion. As she examined the image this time, Aurora said, "Yeah, that looks like- Hang on." She gestured with her hands and the image expanded, showing everything in more detail. She pointed to a small shape. "There it is! That's our planet!"

Atlas took a closer look at the image. It had the right shape, but- "It's just a hunk of rock! How is life supposed to form here?"

Aurora gave him a look. "Magic, duh." She gestured to the Pedestal, "You'll want to activate the [Mana] Force now. It should get us started."

Atlas nodded, and took the controls. Activating the [Mana] Force, he watched as the planet glowed brightly for a moment. As he waited, the glow faded and vanished, "That's it?" He asked.

"It's not instantaneous." Aurora said, "That would be way more DP intensive. We'll need another Time Skip, but a much shorter one this time. Say about... ten thousand years."

The preview image showed not a lot of difference, but at least there was the start of an atmosphere now.

"Hmm," Aurora said, "You purchased the [Nature Spirits] pack, right?" Atlas nodded. "Spirits don't really need much for survival. There's the beginnings of an atmosphere, so Air Spirits will be fine. There was already plenty of Rocks, so the Earth Spirits will thrive. A molten core, so plenty of heat for the Fire Spirits. Let me see..." She zoomed in. "There's ice on the Poles! I can even see the start of some oceans. Water Spirits will be fine as well." She turned to look at Atlas, "Nature Spirits naturally take care of their environments, creating more of their elements. If we add them now, I think they'll actually help speed up the Planet's growth. It already looks like weather is forming. We'll even eventually get some plant-life going, which will allow for the arrival for the second tier elements to get their own Nature Spirits."

"Second tier elements?" Atlas questioned.

"There are the four basic elements," Aurora explained, "Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. By combining elements, you get to the second tier. Earth and Fire gives you Magma, Earth and Water gives you Life, Air and Fire gives you Storm, and Air and Water give you Ice. So, eight types of Elements in all."

"I noticed you didn't mention mixing Earth and Air, or Water and Fire," Atlas asked, "What about mixing three types? Or is this one of those settings where opposites won't mix?"

"That's correct," Aurora agreed, "At least when it comes to the basic [Mana] Force. I'm sure there are more expensive options where that isn't true. Anyway, we got off track. Do you want to activate the [Nature Spirits] Pack?"

"Sure," Atlas said, and Aurora nodded. She activated the ten thousand year Time Skip and then stepped back.

"All yours," She said, and Atlas stepped up to the Pedestal. He navigated the menu to his purchased items list and activated the [Mana] force. As soon as he did, a menu screen popped up. While most of the time people were unable to see spirits, they still needed to have a form. Apparently, he was able to customize the appearances of the spirits. He looked at the information given to him in further detail.

[Nature Spirits] ranked all spirits into three tiers.

Level 1 Spirits were weak, only capable of performing basic elemental magic. Atlas decided to shape these like small animals. They would have the intelligence of animals as well, but be able to follow simple instructions.

Level 2 Spirits were larger, and  could use intermediate magic just fine. Atlas would have these shaped like larger animals. These would be smarter, able to understand more complex instructions, but were still animals.

Level 3 Spirits were very powerful, able to use high level elemental abilities. These would be Humanoid. They would have fully formed consciousnesses. For these, he'd design a general model, and then the spirits could be individualized from there.

At the top were the Elemental Kings. There was only one for each element, and the were special enough to get a personal name.

Welp, might as well. Atlas started with the Earth Spirits. He named their kind Gnomes, and decided that they all glowed a soft yellow, and be orbited by stones. For the Level 1 Gnomes, Atlas decided they should look like Pangolins, with stone shards instead of scales and sharp claws. Level 2 Gnomes he shaped like large Tortoises, with a strong metal ore for a shell. The Level 3 Gnomes he gave a general outline for a template. All Level 3 Gnomes would look they were carved from stone, with detailed faces and rough hewn hair, as if someone gave up making a statue and quit halfway through.

"For the Spirit Kings, you'll need to use your Divine Energy," Aurora explained, "So it's probably best to save those for last. Let me know when you're ready to start on those. I'll help explain."

Atlas nodded, and moved on to the Water Spirits, which he named Undines. These would glow a deep blue and swim through the air as if underwater, trailing drops of floating water as they passed. For Level 1, he decided they would look like crystalline beta fish. Level 2 were given the forms of crystalline Dolphins with silvery skin. The Level 3 humanoids would be themselves made from water, with hair like ocean waves.

For the Fire Spirits, named Salamanders, he decided they would all glow a warm red and trail smoke as they moved. Level 1 Spirits he shaped like Fennec foxes, if Fennec foxes were the colors of normal foxes and had fur that glowed like embers. Level 2 ones would be shaped like Lions, the male ones with manes of fire, and both with whiskers of fire and tails tipped with flames. The Level 3 humanoids would be made from fire itself, and be able to choose the color of their flames.

Air Spirits he named Sylphs, and decided they glowed a pale white and would float on the breeze like dandelion seeds. Level 1 Air Spirits were shaped like Japanese Long Tailed Tits, though these versions of the small birds would be nearly transparent. Level 2 Spirits would be shaped like Albino Peacocks, but again, nearly transparent. The Level 3 humanoids would be made from the breeze itself, using tufts of clouds to form their features.

"Okay, ready," Atlas said, nodding to Aurora. She looked up, closing the screen she'd been observing, and walked over.

"Okay, click on the Spirit King Icon," Aurora said, pointing to the screen he'd been working on, "That will notify the Pedestal to deliver the Spirit King Cores."

He did so, but had a question, "Spirit King cores?" There was a flash of light from the Pedestal, and a panel opened up to reveal two metal egg cartons, if an egg carton was only able to carry four large eggs. He picked the first one up, and opened it.

"Now, careful with these," Aurora said, as Atlas looked at the crystal orbs inside the carton, "These are essentially the embryos of the Spirit Kings. You'll need to push your energy into each of them individually, and as you do, picture what each King will be like. Then, when you're done, put them back in the carton and the carton back in the Pedestal. It will take care of delivering the cores to your planet, where the Spirit Kings will be the ones to create the rest of the spirits."

Atlas nodded and set the carton down. He could see that with both cartons there were eight cores in all, which must mean four for the first tier and four for the second tier Elemental Spirit Kings respectively. He'll activate the second tier Spirit Kings when the world could support all of them, so  for now he removed their carton and set it aside. Gingerly, he lifted the yellow orb from the first container. This one was the Earth Spirit King, he was sure. He cupped it in both hands, and closed his eyes.

What exactly was Earth? In Atlas' opinion, Earth was stability, strength, and structure. The Earth was the beginning, and held all existence in it's arms. It was the ground beneath their feet, the mountains high above, and held everything in between together. When he pictured a Spirit King of Earth, Atlas pictured a large, bearded, imposing man, skin the color of the earth beneath. While he may be stubborn, blunt, and rough around the edges, he was also steadfast, honorable, and sincere. He would be a pillar of strength in times of crisis, long after everything else had crumbled around him. His mission as Spirit King was to support the earth, foster it's growth and stability, and to keep everything stable and orderly. Well, that wasn't to say that they couldn't have any fun, Atlas was sure that the planet could use some sprucing up. Create some interesting landmarks, invent new materials, but at the end of the day, Earth was to there to keep everything on track, and to catch the others if they fall.

Satisfied with that, Atlas named the Spirit King Titan, and stopped channeling his Divine energy. He opened his eyes and saw that the orb was now glowing a bright yellow. Smiling, he placed it back into the carton. Next, he picked up the blue orb. Water, certainly. He closed his eyes again.

Water was change, creativity, and adaptability. It was the one that allowed the existence of Life to begin, and was the backbone of all living things. It was the fluid they drank, the blood in their veins, and was a necessary part of everyday life. It was everything from the oceans spanning the globe, to the raindrops falling up above. When Atlas pictured the Spirit King of Water, Atlas pictured a tall elegant woman, her dark hair cascading like waterfalls. She was understanding, dexterous, intelligent, and came across as a little mysterious. She could also be callous, unrelenting, and demanding. She was the one who would understand the stakes, be able to read signs and give advice. The one to look to for a plan of action, who could balance the risks versus the rewards. Her mission as Spirit King of Water was to establish the cycle of water, foster the growth and completion of the world's oceans, and to allow and support the beginnings of life on the planet. There would eventually be lots of life in her waters, so Atlas wanted her and her subjects to get along with them as well.

With that done, Atlas named the Spirit King Nimue, and opened his eyes. He placed the now glowing blue orb back into the carton and picked up the next one, a white orb, the Air King's core.

Air was freedom, curiosity, and direction. It was the messenger, carrying sound from one place to another, and allowed for Life to use it's energy, as it was the very breath all living things needed to survive. Air was a cool breeze on a hot summer's day, to a hurricane that destroyed everything in it's path. When Atlas pictured the Spirit King of Air, he pictured a thin and spry man, his hair in disarray and a smile on his face. He could be clever, mirthful, and supportive, but could also be mischievous, impatient, and apathetic. He would be a trailblazer, the first one to try something different, to explore somewhere new, and the one to lead the charge. His mission as Spirit King of Air was to support the growth and completion of the atmosphere, survey the world around him, and help create and maintain the weather system. While he and his subjects would be rather mischievous, he didn't want that to turn to actual cruelty. Atlas hoped that they would get along with his other creations.

With that, Atlas gave the Spirit King of Air the name Boreas, and set the glowing white core back in the carton. He grabbed the last orb in the carton, the red core of the Spirit King of Fire.

Fire, to Atlas was drive, emotion, and ambition. Fire was the End, of lives, of forests, of civilizations. But it was also purifying, returning things to dust, a necessary destruction. It could arrive quickly with no warning, but could leave just as quickly as well. It was a necessary part of life, providing light for vision, helping prepare food, and creating heat for people to warm themselves. When Atlas pictured the Spirit King of Fire, he pictured a beautiful woman with wild hair and and confidence to match. She could be comforting, courageous, and passionate, but she could also be dangerous, wrathful, and insatiable. She was wild and fierce, with a temper that would frighten the bravest of people. Her anger was swift though, quick to begin and just as quick to end. She would be the one to champion a cause, to stand up to injustice, to drive out and destroy so something better could be built in its place. Her mission as Spirit King of Fire was to regulate global temperatures, protect against the sun's rays, and help get the four seasons started. Atlas was a little worried about her, but if she could conquer her temper he was sure she would be amazing. He wished for her and her subjects to get along with everyone.

He then named the Spirit King of Fire Vesta and opened his eyes. The cheerfully glowing red orb shined up at him from his hands. He smiled at it and placed it back in the carton.

"Oh!," Aurora said, "We should probably activate some sort of magic System before we send them down there. While they will be able to use basic elemental abilities without it, activating a System will make it easier for them."

"Which one should we choose?" Atlas asked, looking at the list. "[Runes of Power], [Magical Language], or [Spell Circles]?"

"I actually would recommend combining two of them," Aurora said, "There's a function for that, but you'll consume them in the process. So you'll have to repurchase them if you decide you want to use them separately afterwards."

"Hmm," Atlas said, "Is there a way to see what will be created?"

"No, I'm afraid," Aurora said, "Not if it hasn't been done before." She put a hand to her chin, "The way the Domain works is that each God gets their own Domain sections. We might as well call them servers, just to help explain. So, say you combined [Runes of Power] and [Magical Language]. Your Domain Servers would know the result, but if you decided not to send that information to the Domain Center, no one else would get that information. And as most Gods are rather... secretive, there aren't many that regularly send that kind of information. Since we just started, all we have is the basic knowledge package."

"But didn't we do it back in the Crucible of Creation?" Atlas asked.

"No, that only works for Primordial Forces." Aurora explained.

"What about your Guide knowledge?" Atlas asked, "Would that help?"

Aurora looked very apologetic, "Sorry, but all I got was the knowledge of the Tutorial, and what the system knows about all of the things you purchased. I'll be able to explain anything in those categories, such as all of the functions of the Pedestal, but outside of that I'm afraid..." She trailed off, frowning, "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," Atlas said, "Don't worry about it." He turned back to look at the screen. He could see where the function was, and he moved [Runes of Power] and [Magical Language] into the slots. Apparently it would cost [10 DP] to combine something. He stopped, thinking for a moment.

"This is a form of creation, right?" He muttered, thinking out loud, "Maybe if..." He placed his hands on the Pedestal and closed his eyes, channeling his divine power into it.

"Whoa!" Aurora cried, "What did you do?" Atlas looked up, to see that the screen was now displaying something else.

[...Activating Creative Mode]

[Achieved]

[Showing Results]

Then another alert appeared.

[Runic Language]

[While [Magic Language] only works when spoken]

[And [Runes of Power] have limited combinations]

[By combining the two differing Systems]

[A great many new Runes have been added]

"Is that what is created when they're combined?" Atlas asked, confused.

"Did you combine them?" Aurora asked.

"I don't think so," Atlas said, and checked, "Nope, this is just a preview."

"That's amazing!" Aurora said, "How come the Domain didn't know about this?"

"Probably other Gods wanting to keep this to themselves," Atlas replied.

"Huh. Well, let's look at other combinations."

"Is this one not very good?" Atlas asked.

"It's fine, but the other ones might be better." Aurora said, "This one adds Runes to the System, probably a whole language if my guess is right. But do we really need a whole language of Runes for Magic? Like, I don't really see a purpose for a rune with the meaning 'the'."

Atlas nodded, "I see. I'll try something else." He removed [Runes of Power] and added [Spell Circles], then channeled his Divine Energy again. The result this time was:

[Magical Circles]

[While [Magical Language] only works when spoken]

[And [Spell Circles] can't be modified]

[By combining these two Systems together]

[A System for adding chants to alter the properties of spells has been created]

"This one's a dud." Aurora remarked.

"What? Why?" Atlas asked, confused.

"One of the main benefits of [Spell Circles] is that you can cast without speaking. Since the circle only flashes briefly when the magic is cast, that means when casting magic at an enemy they won't know what spell you're casting. All they'll know is what element it is, because that changes the spell's color. But while this does help give more flexibility while casting, it removes the element of surprise. Kind of destroys the point."

"Ah, I see," Atlas nodded, "Next one then." He removed [Magical Language] and added [Runes of Power] back in. Channeling his Divine Energy gave them:

[Runic Circles]

[While [Spell Circles] have a rigid structure and can't be modified]

[And [Runes of Power] can only be combined in groups of three or less]

[By combining the two different Systems]

[A System for editing Spell Circles with Runes has been created]

"This one!" Aurora said, "It has the potential to be really good. I'd need to do a little experimenting to figure out everything it's capable of, but I think we have a winner. If it works like I think it works, that is."

"Okay, how do you think it works?" Atlas asked. Aurora geared herself up to explain.

"So, since we'll have [Classes] activated, (Which we should do, that reminds me), people automatically learn new Spell Circles as their Class' level increases. People only get the Spell Circles for the elements they're compatible with, and they only get Spell Circles related to their Class. How Spell Circles work is somewhat difficult to explain, they're written so that each of the nodes inside the circle acts as a catalyst to bring a certain effect. Depending on how complicated the spell is it will have a different amount, usually three, seven or thirteen, but there are spells with different amounts. Anyway, take a basic spell, Fireball. Three nodes, one to power the spell, one to conjure the fireball, and one to aim it at the target. The thing about Spell Circles is that the nodes are just small circles, so it's impossible to tell which node is doing what."

"Now, the basic System of runes comes with sixteen runes. Eight elemental runes, and eight Runes of effect that signal what you want the spell to do. Usually you can only use at max three runes per spell. Any more and it starts getting unstable. There's also the basic rune Matrices that hold the spell together. With a strong enough matrix and depending on how you work it, you may be able to add one or two more runes, but we're getting into highly theoretical stuff now, so I digress."

"With these two together, the Spell circles themselves could act as a stabilizing agent for the runes, allowing for many more runes to be used per spell. And on the Spell Circle side of things, runes could take the place of the nodes, and since it's just memorization and you'll be able to actually tell which which part of the spell is doing what, people will be able to draw their own Spell Circles!"Aurora was leaning in close as she said this, too excited to realize what she was doing. Atlas blushed deeply, even the back of his neck was turning red.

"I- I see!" He stammered, looking away slightly, "That's good then."

Aurora suddenly realized the positions they were in, and corrected herself, blushing a bit too, "This is all just theoretical at this point, anyway. But yes, this is definitely good." She played a bit with her hair, brushing it to one side.

"I'll combine them then," Atlas said, and pushed the 'Combine' button. There was a little flash of light and an alert popped up.

[Combination Complete]

Then, the screen showed the same information they'd already seen, explaining the new combination.

"Nice!" Aurora said, "I'm glad that actually worked!"

"Yeah, me too," Atlas nodded, "I wonder if we could combine this again."

"Probably, but I wouldn't," Aurora said, "All we have to combine it with right now is [Magical Language] and that will definitely just make speaking part of the spell process again. Ruins the element of surprise, remember?" Atlas nodded.

"Anyway, activate that, and then let's send the Spirit Kings down planetside." Aurora said.

"Alright," Atlas said, and clicked on the activation button for [Runic Circles]. He also activated [Classes] at Aurora's reminder.

He put his hand on the box of Spirit King cores again, actually feeling a little lonely now that they would be leaving. He wished them well as he put them back into the compartment and shut the door, which soon disappeared.

"There they go," Aurora said, and Atlas looked over to see that she'd pulled up a screen displaying their planet. Four glowing streaks of light passed by, heading towards their world. They watched as the first one, the yellow one, landed on the larger continent, in the middle of the  mountain range that made up the middle finger. The blue one landed next, in the northern ocean area. The red one landed to the south, on a volcanic island, and the last one, the white one, landed on the smaller continent in a valley between two mountains.

"Okay," Aurora said, "Now all they need is time. We should probably do a Time Skip."

"Uh, not quite yet," Atlas said, "I'd like to watch them for a while."

"Okay," Aurora said, "I'll do a little decorating then." She headed to the door and stepped outside.

Atlas watched the screen for a while, waiting for the sun to rise. He viewed the cores' landing sites, but there hadn't been any change yet. He had no idea how long it would take for the Spirit Kings to awaken. What would that even look like? Would they hatch from the cores like eggs? Probably not, but that was a funny image in his head.

He played around with the menu for a bit, and found a section to update his discovered information to the Main Domain. Apparently, if he did so, the Domain would award him a percentage of the DP every time someone purchased his discovery. Neat, but he should talk to Aurora about it first. He got up to look for her.

As he stepped out of the room, he was surprised to see that things had changed since he'd last been here. The door to the room he made now led to a nicely decorated hallway, with wood paneled floors and beautiful paintings on the walls. Across the hallway from him was another door, which he opened to find an exact copy of his bedroom from his apartment. That was nice of Aurora. Closing that door, he walked down the hallway to to the next door that led to a opulent dining room, immaculately decorated with candles and flowers, and each place had perfectly polished silverware. The table was enormous with who knows how many seats, Atlas didn't feel like counting them. He also noticed that there was a door off of the dining room, which he opened. This led to a beautiful kitchen area, with polished marble countertops, and matching wooden cupboards. Here he found Aurora, humming as she peered at something in the oven. She turned around and stopped suddenly.

"Ah!" She said, catching sight of him, "Oh, you startled me."

"My bad," Atlas said, scratching his head, "What are you making?"

"Oh," Aurora said, turning a little pink, "You seemed a little down so I thought I'd make you some cookies."

"You can bake?" Atlas asked before he could stop himself. Then, "What kind of cookies?"

"It's just following a recipe, not a big deal," She said, "I noticed that in your memories, whenever you seemed down you'd bake yourself some cookies, so I thought maybe I could cheer you up with some."

"Really?" He did remember making himself some cookies a couple of times over the month or so he played that game. Huh, that was kind of often. Maybe he should start exercising more regularly. Wait, he was a god now, so that probably didn't matter anymore. Anyway, that wasn't important right now. "That was nice of you."

"It's no problem," She said, turning pinker.

"It's something my mother would do for me when I was a kid, so when I moved out I started doing it for myself. It helps." He said, sitting on one of the stools next to the kitchen island.

"Aw, that's sweet." Aurora said, smiling. She checked the oven again, and smiled. "They're done!"

"That was fast," Atlas commented.

"Time Magic," Aurora giggled, wiggling her fingers at him. She grabbed a hot pad and pulled the cookie tray out of the oven. She deftly pulled the cookie tray out, and using a spatula, transferred the cookies to a baking rack to cool. She put one of the cookies on a plate and handed it to Atlas.

"Thanks," He said, taking the plate and lifting the cookie. It was chocolate chip, just like his mother used to make. He took a bite. Exactly like his mother used to make.

"Did you follow her recipe?" He asked, after swallowing.

"Yeah," Aurora said, "Did they-"

"They're perfect." He said, smiling.

"Good," She sighed, relieved, "I was a little worried."

"How'd you get her recipe anyways?" He asked.

"You looked at it during the period you played that game, remember?"

"Yeah, maybe for a moment, one time. I dang near had the thing memorized," Atlas said, "You remembered it after briefly seeing it one time?"

"You can do that now too, you know," Aurora said, laughing, "I'll help you figure it out later." She grabbed a few more cookies, put them on a plate and sat down next to him. She offered him some of the ones she'd grabbed, and he took one, smiling at her.

"Thanks," He nodded.

"So why'd you come find me?" She asked, "I thought you'd be distracted for a while."

"Oh yeah," He said, swallowing a mouthful of cookie, "There's a function I found, we can give the Main Domain info on a new package and they'll give us a percentage if someone buys it."

"Oh, yeah," She said, "I think that's a pretty new feature. I don't mind doing it, but it's really up to you."

"Hmm," Atlas pondered, "Will they tell everyone who the discoverer was?"

"Nope, it's anonymous," Aurora said, wiping crumbs off of her hands.

"Good," Atlas said, "We're pretty short on DP right now, so this could help us out a lot."

"What percentage are they offering right now?" Aurora asked.

"I think it was twenty-five percent, rounding up to the nearest whole number."

"Hmm, that's pretty good," Aurora nodded, "Last time I checked they were offering twenty."

"It's higher than most people tip their waiters, that's for sure," Atlas said.

Aurora smiled again, "So have you decided?"

"Yeah, I'll do it," Atlas said, nodding, "I don't have any information that could backfire on me, so I don't see a reason not to."

"Okay then," Aurora said, picking up their now empty plates. She gave them a little shake and they disappeared.

"Where'd they go?" Atlas asked, curious.

"Back to the aether. Easier and less wasteful then washing them." Aurora said, smiling.

"Where'd you get the ingredients to make cookies anyway?" Atlas asked.

"Conjured them from the aether as well, why?"

"Is it okay to consume aether?"

Aurora nodded, "Yes, of course. We don't really need to eat anyway, so we just eat for fun."

"Ah, gotcha." Atlas said.

"Wanna go do the Time Skip?" Aurora asked.

"Can't we just do it here?" Atlas responded.

"We could, you can summon the Pedestal anywhere, but I like that little viewing room you made. Those couches are comfy." Aurora laughed.

"Okay, let's go," Atlas said, standing up.

"See you there!" Aurora said, taking off running.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Atlas said, running after her.

Artauron

Huh, the first chapter got a bigger reaction then I thought. And by that I mean it got a reaction at all. Thanks everyone for reading. I'm mostly writing this for fun, so there won't be an update schedule, I'm afraid.