1. Descent

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The skies shuddered as something seemed to burst through them, the rainy night sky created a thick fog that no one could see through but it didn't matter anyway since all the residents of the city had already retreated to their homes.

His descent was not from that of the mortal realm, he made a mistake and he was cast out just like Lucifer. He had no idea where he was headed but if he needed to survive he would need something.

Dark grey wolves hunted in packs and street lights flickered as wind blew the rain across all sides, the world right now was not in its best state, the population was dimming due to a widespread famine and the ones that did survive could barely call what they were doing. Surviving.

Dogs fed on the corpses of humans and crows looked at them from the wires they perched on. The word that would fit the most was "Sparse" the human world wasn't anything like he thought it would be.

The less fortunate humans jumbled up together in survival camps. Tents, oil barrels and gruel for dinner. The large noise he made as he fell onto the ground was covered up by thunder which seemed to perfectly strike on the same tune.

Puke covered the roads and fog the skies, the air was contaminated and most people used gas masks to navigate the treacherous streets of corpses and ejecta.

The current year was 1921 and from this date going forward people had heard rumors of a deity that granted wishes, for a price.

He had descended about four years prior(1917) onto this mortal realm and he started a business of sorts, in the heavenly realm he was given full control over the outcomes of humans and it seemed he had not lost his power while here. When a human sacrifices something to gain what they want they are granted a gift, a wish of sorts but when they failed... they were given despair and eternal suffering.

The rules were quite simple, once you ask for a wish. You would be given two choices, both scenarios could be what-ifs, moments, simulations, or actual real-world events that you would have to live with for as long as you live.

Once you ask a question, a contract is formed. The contract stipulates that you will be given a wish for whatever you want as long as it does not affect the god or change the world and the laws that govern it.  Easy enough right?

"Deus, Ikarus." He went by many names but the choosing god was what the humans officially nicknamed him, it would seem they didn't feel the need to put the fact that he also granted wishes as a part of his nickname.

"What happens if we don't want to do the choices?" A man asked.

"Your body and mind would be sentenced to eternal damnation, the suffering would either be based on how you lived... As for your soul, your soul would be mine."

The years passed by and people visited the choosing god almost daily, some of them never gaining their wishes and some of them wishing they couldn't remember what they did to get their wish.

"Hey, are you the choosing god?" A man asked as he looked at the deity in front of him.

Ikarus was far from human, his large frameless form was husky and chains were all over it. He was made from the deformed bodies of humans up to his arms, legs and face. You could say he was just a floating corpse. This formless nature of the god was nightmare fuel for many and the aura he gave off was one that would haunt those nightmares, setting an ambiance for a dream so terrorizing you would instantly wake up and pray.

There was no god Ikarus didn't know of, some gods worshipped here were his co-workers in the heavenly realms but the one he saw most people kneeling down to. He had never heard of.

Ikarus couldn't read minds and he didn't need to, the actions of humans were so predictable that he knew exactly what they wanted and how to make them fail.

"Hey, are you Ikarus?" He asked again while panting out loudly.

"Robert Williams, are you here for a wish?" Ikarus asked as he looked down at the mortal that stood before him.

"Yeah, one of those wishing thingys." Robert chuckled and finally stabilized his breathing. "So how do we start?"

"It would seem you are not mindful of my appearance, why is that Robert." Ikarus looked Robert straight in the eyes. The god's ears, eyes and overall sensitivity to his surroundings were a thousand times better than that of any human and using that he could flawlessly predict the actions of his customers.

"Nah, deformed guys get a bad rep." Robert tapped his stomach twice. "And call me-"

"Rob, it's what my friends call me." Ikarus finished Rob's sentence.

"So it is true, the blessed ones weren't lying after all."

"Blessed ones?" Ikarus was puzzled.

"The ones who received their wishes, it's a new terminology."

"I see."

It was sunny when Robert stepped into the cave looking for the god but inside the cave, he could hear the pitter-patter of raindrops slamming over the rocks and the roar of thunder as a blue light beamed.

"What do you want to wish for mortal."

"No chance, give me my choices before I tell you my wish. The blessed ones said you'd use my wish to make my choices harder."

That was a false accusation, immediately a human walks into his cave just by glancing at them alone he already knows what their choices would be.

"Gimme them choices!" Rob jumped in excitement.

"Choose one of the two real life events, in front of the whole city would you rather rape your mother or your daughter."

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