A god and a deity sat across from another in cushy chairs, with nothing but a black void surrounding them.

"Donovan..." the deity muttered under his breath, holding a dossier in front of him. "IQ sits at 197. Started off his career by solving the Yang–Mills existence and mass gap problem by accident in class..." He frowned, "...earning a sizable amount more after his teacher attempted to pass it off as his own work. Dabbled in Law at the same time as his first PHD as a result."

He continued, "Ten PHD's under his belt by age 25. Dabbled in social sciences and psychology after a rather bad falling out with his family as well, though none extended to past a bachelors. Death..." The deity across from him gave them a pointed look. "...irrelevant."

"It's the best candidate so far, in my opinion. Have you decided?" Spoke an indifferent voice that sat across from him. He wore a simple toga that extended to his knees. It heavily contrasted Rau, dressed in intricate robes. The wizened old mage had clung to them even in death; a creature comfort.

Said wizened old mage put his hand to his chin, pondering few others worth using in the millions of other candidates he'd observed thus far, before nodding, bearing into him with a determined gaze. "I have."

Rau'jence then stood up before extending his hand to him. "With this, I believe our debt is paid."

They stood up in turn and took their hand smiling, "Indeed. I hope you're satisfied with the result, Rau. After what happened, this was an unexpected request..."

The aged scholar just responded with a smile, "He'll fare much better than I. Are the preparations ready?"

"Yes. With that, I suppose all there is left to say is... good luck, Rau." He disappeared in a flash of light, leaving them alone in the empty void. Gods aren't much for goodbyes, he supposed.

Though, even that was perhaps one of the more dignified farewells he's recieved.

He sighed into that void. "So do I, Hermes, so do I."

He sat back down, and on a whim, pulled a wine glass from thin air, filled with red liquid, taking a sip. He then promptly spat it out with an expression of self recrimination. "Did I just forgot I hate wine? Now the mood's ruined..." He looked towards the middle distance with a steely gaze, still lounging in his chair. "Oh, well, I suppose it's about time for it to start anyway."

And so the heavens shook.

-

This version is being deprecated, and development is being moved to Royal Road. I'm making a lot of changes to the story, so I decided to just do a soft reset in the form of this. You can find it under the same name there, though I'll eventually be changing it.