The Ever Expanse

The first thing she noticed was that everything was a muted grey. She couldn't really tell which way was up and which was down. It was disorienting, and worse she couldn't remember much. She had no clue how she ended up here. No recollection of recent events, only distant memories of her past. She remained in this limbo state for what felt like an eternity, trying to recall what had happened.

Slowly, the memories resurfaced. They were vague but she could fill in the gaps. Moments spent negotiating with a witch and a vampire for their help, a monster, a portal, and returning to the arms of a friend. She smiled to herself, remembering her friend who had saved her more times than she could repay. The memories were fuzzy yet again until a greater clarity emerged. She remembered a battle, fighting to help two friends get into a chamber containing a device that could send them home. A flash of steel, pain, and then nothing.

She had been killed, and now she was alone in what could only be the afterlife. At least that's what she assumed. Then a wind picked up and the muted grayness had been blown away like smoke to reveal she was standing at a cliff above a coastline with heavy fog covering the ocean and soft white sand beneath her bare feet.

Something beyond her view had her gaze transfixed. Whatever it was, she couldn't look away. "Hello? I know you're out there, just show yourself so we can speak." She called out into the distance, expecting no response. Maybe this was where she was meant to remain? A place where she could stay and gaze into the distance forever. She couldn't say for certain.

A voice rang out, it didn't come from far or near, it just was there, reverberating through her and throughout this void. "My apologies, I didn't intend to linger. Not as I have at least." Suddenly something came into focus, a shape not a figure per se, just a shape, something her mind could focus on. "I am Pi, it is lovely to meet you though I wish it were not for such tragic circumstances."

((Sorry it's so short))

Vremya stared at the shape that came into focus. It felt wrong... unnatural even. It seemed to her like it was something that couldn't quite settle on an exact form, subtly shifting finer details although her muddied mental state may have had a hand in that.

"This is some sort of afterlife then? I had been raised under different teachings." She thought back to her time working under the Church of the Sands. She had been taught that the afterlife was an endless expanse of a desert featuring golden white sands and a sun that was neither too hot or too cold. She was told she'd wander that desert forever alongside her sisters and brothers of the church. Perhaps she was somewhere else, taken away from her own afterlife and into another.

((No worries dude))

The shapeless creature hummed, the sound was quiet but in the boundless and silent void, it could be described as defining, "I am afraid that would be closest to the truth as your teaching detail. I have read them myself, quiet an interesting system of beliefs." He hummed again, maybe we should take this somewhere you'd find more appealing." Suddenly she was blinded, her eyes burned from the unknown light but as her eyes adjusted she would see the boundless sea of sand around her.

Vremya shielded her eyes with her hand against the blinding light. Once they adjusted she saw the same rolling sand dunes and sun as had been depicted in the church she had made her home so many years ago.

The place looked authentic enough but she knew there was only one option in order to verify that it was the real thing. She reached down and picked up a handful of sand. After a few seconds of concentration, the sand in her palm turned to a charcoal black color with a slight sheen to it. The weight had increased as well with the sand having turned to iron, telling her that this was the real deal.

Only sands that originated from this place could change form to reflect the bearer's position amongst the church, with the black sands representing those who choose to take up arms and represent the church in battle.

Vremya decided that she should cut to the chase, no need to keep playing along. She let the sand fall from her hand to the desert, turning back to the white gold color as the rest of the desert sands were. "Okay, who are you? Why did you bring me here?"

He watched her lift the chunk of iron from the sands, "An impressive place isn't it? I find it quite impressive myself." Instead of a shapeless mass, an entity made from sandstone with two strange arm-like appendages stood before her. "But there are so many just like it." He listened to her speak, "In life you showed great determination, courage, and above all else... you were kind. Some can't boast such characteristics, and because of your sacrifice your friends lived and escaped."

She listened to the words of this odd being, only now realizing that it might very well be a god even beyond the one she had devoted herself to, the one that walked the same ground as she had in her life.

"And yet you denied me a proper death rite. While this place holds the same power, it is not yet the same. The shades of my brothers and sisters of the church are absent. So what do you want with me Pi?" She asked directly, forgoing any attempt to be polite at this point. She felt the sands beneath her feet slowly turning to iron dust as she spoke, an unfortunate consequence of emotional outbursts.

He hummed again and turned facing away from her, "Have I though? You were denied the full life you so very much deserved. And no, this is not your afterlife, it is what some call the Ever Expanse, my domain beyond yours. I have simply manifested a world very similar to your afterlife. But creating entirely new life in a place with none is very difficult and possibly dangerous. This world is a blank canvas almost entirely void of creation, ungoverned by what you would call gods." He turned back to her, "I seek to change that, I wish to share this canvas."

Vremya stared at the sandstone figure, her grey eyes narrowed slightly. With a huff she sat down on the dune and took an hourglass from a fold in her dress. It had the same black sands that she could convert other sand into from this place. It seemed to be frozen in place with barely a pinch of the iron sands left in the top half. "My time is frozen. Halted at the final moment. The sands aren't perfect but they can often predict the moment of the bearer's death." She set the hourglass back where it had been before and folded her hands in her lap. "So you want to make me a god in this Ever Expanse of yours? How many others are there?"

Pi let her think his arms held together, "An interesting item, I wonder what it would say about me." He nodded as she spoke, "I do and I think it would be appropriate to name you a god of time. There are only a handful for now but one day I hope there will a great many, creating and expanding."

Vremya sat in silence for a while. A god of time? Would she even be able to handle such responsibility? It meant an entire world would rely on her to maintain the natural flow of time. But perhaps it was for the best. During her life there had been many moments where time had felt wrong, like its passage was not quite linear. So maybe she could fully wield this power if she accepted. "Fine, I accept so long as you will allow me to leave and simply enter the afterlife of my church if I so choose."

He remained silent, listening to her demands, "I can accept that, whenever you wish you may be sent to join your people. Come closer, so I might do what I need to." He raised his arms as if to give a hug.

Vremya stepped forward into Pi's embrace. She made no move to return it but she instead felt strangely warm. She didn't see it but she could feel the sands in her hourglass start to fill on both ends, as if the time she had was both empty and full. Perhaps this is what it meant to be a god of time...