In the beginning there was one God, who lived alone in Eden. Then, in a flash, he created his children. First he created the deities, dividing them into different categories based on the future human concepts of race and religion; they quickly became beings of power that came close to God.

 

Next God created the angels, who served the deities in their day-to-day lives. Most of the angels were created to be weaker than the deities, except for one. The angel who ruled over the other angels, Lucifer, was equal in strength with the strongest of deities.

 

After God was content with the angels, he moved on to the creation of planets and the stars. Picking one planet in particular, God created the last of his children. The ones he loved the most, humans.

 

God focused and poured all his time and energy into his new children, many of the deities didn't understand why. "These beings have no power or strength!" many of the detractors shouted. But God didn't respond to them.

 

Unhappy with this treatment and God's new focus , Lucifer used his charms to bring some of the deities and angels to his side.

 

"How can God just ignore us? And not only that… He favors those weak beings over us!" These were the words of Lucifer, the words of a deity who started a war.

 

The great rebellion had begun.

 

God's first and second children were beings of immense power, one deity vs deity battle could last 4,000 years. In terms of power, a battalion of angels are on the scale of a nuclear bomb; needless to say the great rebellion was a never ending war. Some deities fought because of their love for battle, others to gain new positions of power in the aftermath. And some decided not to partake in the war.

 

So where was God in all of this? He gave his orders to the deities and angels that took his side and rested in Yggdrasil, the tree of knowledge. He just didn't care, he was focused on his third children. The potential they had.

 

Lucifer and his followers became more and more angered at God., They couldn't believe that he was still ignoring them, even during this war!

 

"It's those humans…"

 

Lucifer and all the deities and angels under his leadership came to earth. They killed millions of humans, a genocide.

 

God created the humans to be mortals, even if they had thousands and thousands of years of technological advancements. Humans could never hope to defeat an angel, let alone a deity.

 

"How is that father? Are you paying attention now?" shouted Lucifer to the heavens.

 

An agonizing scream was heard all throughout the universes, a cry so profound, so powerful… filled with so much sorrow. That sorrow soon became anger.

 

"LUCIFERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

 

Once the scream was done, the longest silence was felt. It felt like time had stopped, everyone on the battlefield was waiting in anticipation. Lucifer will never admit it but there was a hint of fear in his eyes.

 

God left Yggdrasil and appeared before the deities that picked no side. Japanese deities, Celtic deities and Egyptian deities to name a few. As God appeared, a blazing deity with a falcon head walked up to him with his arms crossed.

 

"Go."

 

The blazing deity nodded and turned to his Egyptian brethren, "We never wanted to enter this war but father himself has come to us… Has asked us!" The deities started to stand up and prepare.

 

"I, Ra, the Egyptian deity of the sun! Will defeat Lucifer!" Ra raised his fist and disappeared, the other deities followed suit after a battle cry. God stood there and called for one of his angels.

 

"Yes father?" The angel was stoic, he had a face of strength. His hair was bright red, and his eyes shone with flames. God clapped both of his hands, and flames appeared. He showed the red haired angel his left palm, a ball of flame was in that hand.

 

"Michael, you are now the leader of the angels. I bestow on to you the blazing sword."

 

God then used his right hand and grabbed the ball of flame on his left, forming a hilt. He pulled in one motion, and the blazing sword was created. Michael was amazed, the young angel's stoic expression was gone. Catching himself, Michael's stoic face returned.

 

"Some one such as me is unworthy of this father…" he hesitated, then his resolve took over, "But I will accept this" Grabbing the sword, Michael headed into battle.

 

Ra and the deities arrived on earth and tipped the scale of the great rebellion. Eons of battles, destruction unparalleled, the likes that we have never seen. God watched it all.

 

One deity who was still left standing, Lei Gong, recounted the final moment of this war.

 

Lei Gong saw Lucifer fighting Ra and Michael, the flames these two used against Lucifer roared! At one point Michael threw the blazing sword to Ra, who in turn was wielding it against Lucifer. It took eons, it took the destruction of mankind and its planet earth. But the war had ended.

 

Lucifer was defeated.

 

God looked at the destruction, a range of emotions came over him. But he needed to hold it back, he had work to do.

 

First, he banished Lucifer away to the core of the earth. Death was too easy a punishment for him. Then he rebuilt the planet and created new humans. After all of that, God looked at the deities and angels that took part in the war, he closed his eyes and whispered.

 

"Close the Gate."

 

As the words left his lips God disappeared, and Eden started to disappear too. The deities and angels were shocked, their home was gone! Ra tried to warp to Eden and realized he couldn't.

 

"Why, Father? Why are we being punished? You are the one that asked us to fight!" Ra shouted expecting a response. But he and everyone else did not get one.

 

No one had expected this outcome, the deities who fought for God were confused, angry and then suddenly one by one, they started to notice their connections with certain other deities were gone.

 

God had locked Eden, and taken it away from the deities and angels that fought. Yet for some reason, the others who stayed back in Eden did not get kicked out.

 

The great rebellion had changed everything. God had locked the Gate and took the deities home, family and loved ones away in an instant.

 

It wasn't fair. A bigger rift of resentment and hatred was created, one that simply couldn't be fixed with an "I'm sorry."

 

Thousands of years passed, and the deities created Elysium as their new home. Many still yearned to return to Eden but lost faith that they ever could.

 

God himself hadn't spoken since the gate had closed. But finally, an unknown angel appeared out of nowhere. She had pink hair and carried a scroll. She cleared her throat and gave a big smile.

 

"Hiyaaaa, I'm Damaris." the pink haired angel said enthusiastically, making a peace sign and winking at the deities." Papa has a message for all of you! I'll do my best impersonation of him just for you guys." She gave a mock salute, laughing at the same time.

 

"To my children,

 

I'm sorry for closing the gates of Eden., I have had time to reflect.. Watching my children fight and the destruction that was laid out, I just couldn't bear it. Punishment needed to be given, I do not regret my decision, and will continue to have Eden closed off from you all. But do not fret. For a select few of you will be given the chance to retur–—"

 

"Chance? What does he mean?" one deity interrupted.

 

Damaris started daggers at him, looking very annoyed. " I was just getting to that dude," she said as she rolled her eyes. "No wonder Papa kicked you guys out."

 

"But do not fret. For a select few of you will be given the chance to return. All of my children will need to work together if any of you wish to enter Eden. You will play a game, my game. I call it The Tryfing, eight deities will select eight humans to represent them in The Tryfing, and those eight humans will be powered by their deities. You can say that those humans will be your retainers, Fighting in battle representing their deities' ideals. A battle royale, where the deity with the last retainer standing is given the right to return. My hope with this game is that no other war between deities, angels and humans… will ever happen again."

 

Once Damaris finished mocking her Papa's voice, she looked up from the scroll. Mouths were dropped, faces shocked. You can see the call for battle in some of the deities, the anger in others. No one knew what to say.

 

Damaris grinned at her brothers and sisters, tossed the scroll behind her and put both her hands on her hips. The sass was strong in this one.

 

"So… Who wants to play God's game?"