Hellhounds of Providence

In the still vacuum of space, Sailest leisurely orbited its star as another day, another week, another month, another year came and went. Comets skipped along Sailest's rings like pebbles across water as the gas giant continued ever onward in its little solar system. And from its core, Pianeta's god watched and toiled away as they tended to their world.

"…" Zulm pondered their humanity's reincarnation cycle and worked at making small adjustments to better align with the religion they spread to their humans. Despite humanity living for thousands of years on Pianeta, Zulm always found new things to do and ways to improve previous systems. There were always weeds that needed pulling and flowers that looked better when moved around.

"It truly is such a waste," bemoaned a sword whose blade was the color of the cosmos. Muz shimmered her father's violet light off their surface to continue, "Those who hold my gift…wasting away in a peaceful world."

"It was what they wanted," Zulm idly replied without looking up from their work. Their eye studied something for a moment before moving on, and saying, "At least for her children's time, my Arlexia shall know peace. Perpetual strife leads only to ruin."

"And what a beautiful peace it is!" crackled a small fire from a fireplace. Alm happily sizzled, "That my teachings have once more wholly found themselves in Arlexia is a sight of wonder and a gift to be accepted."

"Yet she still shows disdain for our help," bubbled a cloud of black water. Sen gurgled, "She benefited from all we have done yet holds the audacity to call us petty. My pettiness has not even been fully utilized."

"Because humans are fragile creatures," Zulm idly lectured as they finished their adjustments to the reincarnation cycle. "Even when helped, they often look only to the short term and do not consider that a few years of suffering can lead to a lifetime of bliss. It is one of their quirks as such a short-lived species." Zulm looked upon their children and, noticing one missing, asked, "Does Nuz not grow tired?"

Muz swooshed, "Brother is still fixated upon his vivarium and mingles far too much with it."

"…" Zulm turned their eye away from Pianeta and to the other side of Sailest. Completely out of view from Pianeta's sky, hidden on the far side of the gas giant, was a second habitable planet whose surface was sprawled with lights and the markings of modern life. While Zulm enjoyed the medieval fantasy aesthetic, Nuz was more a fan of post-modern, early-science fiction stories. "So long as they remain within the confines of the Accords, all is well."

"If only that were true," came a masculine voice that pierced through the void and reached the ears of all the gods.

"What!?" Muz pointed their blade at the voice and demanded, "Who dares trespass?"

"…" Standing before Zulm and their children was a lone human woman…or, at least what looked like one. At just under two meters tall, the light-skinned woman wore a short, sleeveless grey dress that hugged their form and showed off their limbs which were made of black metal. Small lights dotted the obviously mechanical limbs that hummed and pulsed with power. Instead of normal human feet, large metallic talons extended out of the ankles and pierced into reality itself which allowed the woman to 'stand' on space. Shoulder-length purple hair fluttered in non-existent wind while the woman's red eyes glowed with synthetic life as they stared at Zulm. A robotic messenger wearing the visage of a long-dead woman so that time would not be allowed to forget her.

Zulm mumbled to themselves in disbelief, "…You?"

"As per your petition, the offending god who violated the Accords has been dealt with," the Last Second spoke with his masculine voice that clashed with the deceptively delicate form of the female robot he spoke through. And, on cue, Zulm saw one of the stars in the night sky snuff out.

"…Must the night grow darker?" Zulm quietly asked.

"They were also found to be harboring ownerless humanities with space-faring and colonization technology for some unknown end, a solar purge was inevitable," the Last Second nonchalantly brushed aside the destruction of a solar system, the death of a god, and the extinction of a humanity.

"I see…" Zulm's tone was heavily measured as they did their best to not rile the robot or the owner who was looking through its eyes.

A measure that Muz did not take as they shined, "Though you may be God Slayer, disrespect and insolence can only be tolerated so-!?!" But their voice failed as a sudden force constricted around Muz's body. "GAH!?!" Shunting out of reality, appearing out of nothing, and forcing themselves into existence, came six purple-haired robots wearing the same dead woman's face and were adorned with tactical gear who surrounded Muz. They pierced strange-looking cylindrical devices into reality which caused space to fluctuate around Muz as the Last Second's reality anchors robbed the god of her strength.

"Agreed, young god, now be silent." The Last Second glanced at the struggling Muz with an indifferent stare. From the dead void of space slowly emerged a massive monument of atrocities long past as the Last Second's flagship ruptured through space like a spear sailing through the ether to enter Zulm's solar system. Even after eons had come and gone, the spaceship was still in a state of disrepair as the materials it was made of were exceptionally hard to fine; plus a few gods were deliberately going out of their way to hide said resources.

"I ask for mercy upon my children, Last Second!" Zulm hurriedly pleaded as Muz's blade started to crack. "They were birthed after the War in Heaven, in our current universe, and they know not how to rightly act around you." Zulm quickly sent a knowing glare over to Alm and Sen to keep their mouths shut, and the two gods remained silent while their father worked to resolve the crisis they found themselves in. "I will make sure to properly teach them of the error they caused!"

"That won't be necessary." The Last Second turned their messenger's attention fully onto Muz and declared, "For this god shall be punished for their violation of the Accords."

"Violation!?" Zulm's eye went back and forth between the Last Second and Muz in bewilderment. "What violation has my child committed!?"

"Illegally stealing away a human soul," the Last Second flatly answered.

"For… The soul of Ayaka Fukuda was obtained through proper procedure as they were part of an abandoned humanity!" Zulm reasoned. "If a humanity is abandoned by their gods, other gods may adopt a few of the souls of the abandoned humanity!"

"I am not talking about that soul." But the Last Second shot down Zulm's defense as they revealed, "I'm talking about the second soul, the one the god Muz personally stole, that was brought to the planet designated as Pianeta."

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"!?!" Zulm's eye shot over to Muz and their voice boomed out, "You what!?!"

"Th-…That…soul…" Muz struggled to speak while reality weighed down on their form and threatened to tear her apart. "Was…also…from…Earth!"

Realization dawned on Zulm and they quickly worked to save their daughter's existence, "That soul is also from the same abandoned humanity! There is no violation!" Though they had no idea Muz had taken a soul from Earth, that was something that could be discussed later once the Last Second was dealt with. "So long as the amount of adopted souls does not exceed a quarter of the abandoned humanity's scale, it is adoption and not theft!"

"…" The Last Second silently stared at Zulm as the mechanically enhanced mind on the other end shifted through a universe's worth of data, verifying the claim. Then, eventually, the Last Second waved the messenger's hand and deactivated the reality anchors as they finished reviewing the data. The long eons left the system the Last Second used a withered form of its former glory during the height of the War in Heaven which allowed cracks for information to slip through; though some would argue these cracks were deliberately left leaking.

"…" Now free, Muz reformed and healed their body while keeping quiet. She had heard stories of the Last Second from her father, but to experience first-hand how effortlessly they could suddenly appear, bring her to heel, and threaten her existence was a humbling lesson. She wearily watched as the six robots that surrounded her remained unmoving; their synthetic stares analyzing her existence into nothing more than printable data for their master.

After a long pause, the Last Second asked, "And what is 'Earth'? I have no records of a humanity inhabiting a planet by that name." While tension still hung in the air, it was no longer existence ending and the bow of the spaceship turned away from aiming at Zulm.

Zulm visibly relaxed, and explained, "Earth is just one name commonly used for the planet, in its current era. It was also known as Tellus, Maa, Gaia, and a myriad of other names depending on which culture you look at."

"Culture?" The Last Second appeared to have an epiphany and sorted through to a particular data entry. After briefly skimming the entry, the Last Second annoyedly muttered, "Ah... That experiment world." The humanity created by the first human's god, and most of the offshoots by other gods, were all monocultural in their nature. After the Apocalypse Accords and the birth of a fresh universe, sometimes a group of gods from different pantheons would get together and experiment on trying to create a world with vastly different human cultures. Even Pianeta, while it has different races of humans, is still considered monocultural by other gods since all humans worship Zulm and their children; one pantheon, one culture. "I haven't checked up on that world since I figured it would kill itself, but you say it's still going?"

"Though abandoned, the world's humanity still continues."

"No formal declaration of abandonment was ever given," the Last Second gave an annoyed sigh as they amended the entry for Earth and the robot brushed some hair off its face. "Did they give up and leave it to its fate?"

"No, they killed each other," Zulm clarified. It was one of the main reasons Zulm went to Earth looking for a soul since it was filled with all kinds of humans and was ripe for the harvest. "YHWH slithers in his Heaven licking his wounds, Frigg lays weeping as the last of her kind, Anubis stays silent from within a flood of corpses, and Amaterasu still clings to the broken souls of her fallen siblings. As for the others, I do not know but presume are either dead or in hiding. For all intents and purposes, the humanity of Earth has been abandoned by their gods."

"So a completely predictable outcome," the Last Second nodded to themselves. "I'll be sure to route an inspection of the planet so that my records can be thoroughly updated and will initiate a solar purge if found wanting."

"…Must you?" While Zulm held no attachment to the gods that created Earth or even the humanity that inhabited it, Zulm enjoyed knowing that the universe was filled with life even if they couldn't directly see it. It was a sentimentality they had over something that happened long ago. "While the Accords are there for a reason, must you enforce them so ruthlessly against your fellow human?"

"Fellow?" The Last Second sounded amused by Zulm's choice of wording, and corrected, "Had it not been for the Accords, I would have wiped every last humanity off the face of the universe by now."

"Even though none living have any ties to what happened during the War in Heaven?" Zulm somberly asked.

To which the Last Second retorted, "The fact you gods created multiple humanities is what directly led to the War in Heaven. To prevent another war, I will erase them whenever I can."

"That is hypocritical."

"That's patriotism." The Last Second stared at Zulm through the lenses of their messenger, unwavering. "The only humanity I hold dear is my own, and though I am its last that does not mean I will bend the knee to some upstarts if asked." The robot gestured with its hand toward Pianeta. "Keep your humanity, and your children, under control."

"…Noted," Zulm quietly stated as they could feel the crisis about to be over.

"Then, I will see you again during my next inspection." And with that, all the Last Second's robots shunted through reality and disappeared.

"…" Zulm's body trembled as the tension finally lifted when they watched the Last Second's spaceship disappear into itself and vanish from sight as it left to continue its journey. Their humanity would not die this day.

"…Father?" Muz sheepishly hovered closer to Zulm's eye to catch their gaze.

Without looking at her, Zulm answered, "We will discuss your actions later. For now, return to answering the prayers of our humanity...and rest."

"Yes, Father," the three present gods answered in unison before their forms vanished into space. Now that they were alone, Zulm collected their thoughts over what had transpired. To keep their humanity alive and well would continue to require following and skirting the lines of the Accords to keep the Last Second at bay… Was it worth it? Zulm's existence, and that of their children, were in constant threat due to keeping a humanity. Why should Zulm care about them when their mere existence was a threat? Why should they subject themselves to such danger over lesser beings? Why-

***

"-do you love them?" Zulm asked while hovering in the sky of the massive terrestrial world whose size rivaled even the largest of gas giants. It was cumbersome to be so close to a planet since Zulm had to constantly make sure their massive form didn't fall into and collide with the planet or the myriad of spaceships that cautiously flew around the god. The one Zulm was speaking to looked up from their place on the ground, in fields of brilliant golden crops, and smiled up at the eldritch god.

"Why wouldn't I love them? They are my children, after all," the first human's god laughed as they continued to waltz through the field while running their hands through the crops. Wind blew over the field in waves as if it were a sea of gold, and the first human's god chided, "Though, I guess you wouldn't know since you refuse to make your own humanity."

"Because I do not see the point in their existence." Zulm's eye watched a spaceship fly past their vision and zip off into the cosmos. "They are such fragile creatures whose lives end in the blink of an eye. Not to mention why you split them into different genders when a hermaphrodite would be more efficient for procreation."

"It's not about efficiency, it's about substance!" The first human's god gestured to a city in the distance whose buildings pierced the horizon. "Instead of simply relying on oneself for everything as we gods do, they must join together to leave their mark on the universe. Their lives are short, yet filled with meaning. Their genders separate them, yet make them join together to create an even greater life." The androgynous god plucked a strand of the strange crop and pointed it at Zulm. "You can't do that with plants."

"Crossbreeding plants is a timeless tradition that-"

"Again, you miss the point, my friend," the first human's god bemoaned and tossed the crop aside. "This is why I keep telling you: you'll never understand until you try raising your own humanity. At the very least, even if you think of them as plants or pets, it won't be as bad as some of the horror stories I've heard some gods put their humans through." They gave a disparaged sigh, let out a bitter chuckle, and mused, "Is it so hard to understand my intentions?"

"…" Zulm remained silent in contemplation as they had no answer to the first human's god's question. Another spaceship zipped by, its engines leaving a trail of glittering dust as it left its home to eagerly explore the universe.

After a few minutes of silence, the first human's god laughed, "Well, I suppose I am a tad weird. But enough of this." They waved their hand dismissively in the air. "While I do enjoy our talks, I have annoying things to take care of."

"Another lost bet against Itzamna?" Zulm quipped.

"How I wish it were so simple," the first human's god complained. "No. Something came up in the Genesis system that involved my humanity's flagship: the HSF Cain. The second humans are apparently kicking up some kind of fuss and their god asked me to help intervene and mediate, so I should head over and see what's happening." They gave Zulm a warm smile as they delicately poked a portal through reality. "We'll pick up this topic when I come back! I'll see you later, Zulm." An unintentional lie as that farewell would be the last time Zulm ever saw the first human's god, though their death cry would be heard across the stars.

***

"…" Zulm opened their eye as the memory faded from their mind. A bitter somberness permeated the storming clouds of Sailest; the cloak Zulm shrouded themselves in, the blanket to keep the monsters away. They shifted their gaze to Pianeta, to their humanity that inhabited it. Zulm watched Olivia toiling away while bickering with her vassals, and Lucina who was entertaining her two daughters in the garden of Wortrest. They gazed at Arlexia which was going through an age of peace and prosperity, and Zulm heard the countless prayers of thanks offered to them and their children. Zulm took a moment to stop and admire what they had created, to stop and smell the roses…and the somberness faded. While Muz's antics had stirred trouble, they were able to handle it. They survived, and their garden was still there. Everything was under control. So Zulm returned to work adjusting systems, managing souls, and removing weeds. A gardener's work was never done, especially for one who loved their garden and all the beautiful flowers that bloomed within. As for what Muz did, her aberration of providence, that would be a story for another time.