Chương 48: Into the Liminal Land

Between the new Gaia notification and the news about the cannibal dwarves, my survival instincts were starting to kick in. I'd prepped for years because of my worries. Also, it didn't help that I'd been dreaming about the Wild People and some owl-like creature every night. I had to wonder, Is the owl creature also real? I hoped it was only a nightmare. My other worries had come true, so I might as well be prepared. There were actual threats out there, even if the owl-thing wasn't.

Because of this, I needed to make sure if something happened, I'd have an escape route. Since I apparently had access to a divine realm, I figured it was probably worth investigating. I had been meaning to check it out already, but stuff kept happening, such as my marriage. However, after the latest announcement, I decided there was no time like the present. I approached the shadow behind the recliner. Up close, it seemed... deeper than it should be.

Like it had actual depth instead of just being an absence of light. The threads of wisdom hummed softly, POSSIBILITY.

"What are you doing?" Mort whispered, as if speaking too loud might disturb something.

"Testing a theory," I said.

"I'm going to step through the shadow."

"That's not reassuring," Tala said.

"It's not supposed to be." I looked at the shadow more carefully.

"My divine domain's entry points are 'liminal locations.' Shadows are liminal. So…"

"So you're going to step into a shadow," Pierre said flatly.

"Exactly," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. However, I was actually a little worried. While I did have to admit that I enjoyed the new friends I'd made since reincarnating, I was still struggling with everything that had happened. I'd never been a big fan of change or doing things differently. Because of this, even the positive changes that had taken place had worn down my nerves a lot.

As for the threats, the presence of mana tides, the supernatural communities, and so many other things that had emerged over the course of the last two weeks, I was feeling more than a bit stressed. I felt like I'd been thrown head first into an ice cold pool. Still, I also wasn't someone who backed down easily. If I did end up having to fight someone or something, I wasn't about to go down without a fight. Still, that also didn't prevent me from preparing first. However, with all that in mind, I was still nervous.

Sighing, I took a breath and reached out toward the shadow. My paw touched it and instead of hitting the wall, it kept going. The shadow felt... different. It was neither cold nor hot. Somehow, it was both solid and not-solid at the same time. Okay. This is happening.

"Here goes nothing," I said, and stepped forward into the darkness. The transition was instant and disorienting. One moment I was in my cabin, surrounded by friends and familiar furniture. The next, I was... somewhere else. The space was small, maybe the size of a walk-in closet. The walls, if you could call them that, seemed to exist in a state of flux. Sometimes they looked solid, sometimes they shimmered like heat haze.

The whole place had a dreamlike quality, like reality hadn't quite decided what it wanted to be yet. And there was no air. I realized that immediately. I'd taken a breath before stepping through, but my lungs weren't demanding another one. I didn't need to breathe here. That's... unsettling, I thought. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Tala?" I called out. My voice sounded muffled, like I was speaking underwater.

"Mort?" There was no response. I was completely alone. Okay, don't panic. This is fine. Everything is fine. Probably. I was about to try stepping back through when I noticed various objects in my divine realm. They were scattered around the space like someone had been using it for storage. Some of the items I could understand, such as half-eaten apples or shiny rocks. However, the vast majority of the items were junk. Actually, calling them junk was being charitable.

Trash would have been a more accurate description. In fact, after a moment, I immediately figured out what had happened. Mort. I'd almost forgotten he was storing… stuff in here. He must have raided my trash bin and selected anything that struck his momentary fancy. There was even a stick that Pierre had used a couple of days ago to play golf with animal scat. Shelly had been horrified. Well, I guess she got over that really quickly, I thought. Then again, who am I to judge?

I stared at the poop stick and seriously reconsidered every life choice that had led me to giving Mort divine powers. But really, what the fuck is wrong with Mort? I wondered. For a moment, I imagined doing a divine intervention on Mort where everyone would talk to him about his 'hoarder' issues. There was no way in hell I was going to allow him to junk up the Liminal Land. Speaking of which, I examined the space more carefully. It wasn't just small, it was... incomplete.

The floor, if it could even be called a floor, seemed to exist in concept more than reality. I was standing on something, but I couldn't quite define what. And there was no time here. I could feel it, or rather, feel the absence of it. I'd been here for... how long? Seconds? Minutes? There was no way to tell. The space existed outside normal temporal flow. A realm level 0, I thought. Basically a storage closet in the middle of nowhere. Fantastic. But it also had potential. I could sense it.

This space wanted to be something. It was waiting for me to decide what. I tried to imagine changes, such as walls that were actually solid. A floor that felt like something real. Maybe some lighting that wasn't this weird non-light that came from everywhere and nowhere. Nothing happened. I tried again, concentrating harder. I pictured my cabin, comfortable and familiar. Surely I could just copy that design? Still nothing. Why isn't this working? I wondered.

I sat down, or what passed for sitting in a place with questionable spatial properties. The problem was obvious now that I thought about it. Either, somewhere deep inside me, I really didn't know what I wanted this place to be, or I needed divine energy to make the changes I wanted. Then again, I could just be speaking out of my ass, I thought wryly. My whole life, both lives actually, I'd been reactive rather than proactive. I'd prepared for disasters other people predicted.

I'd survived situations other people created. I'd even become a trickster god because of someone else's choice. This divine domain was mine, truly mine. I could make it anything I wanted. And I had absolutely no idea what that should be. The space seemed to pulse gently, as if encouraging me. Or maybe mocking me. It was hard to tell.

"Okay," I said to the empty not-quite-room.

"So I need to figure out what I actually want. Great. That's not overwhelming at all." I stood up, looking around with new eyes. This wasn't just an empty room waiting for my grand vision. It was already alive, already functional. It just needed... guidance. Direction. A design that made sense. But what design made sense for a trickster god who didn't know what he wanted? I have no idea, I admitted to myself. I have absolutely no idea what this should look like.

I paced around the small space, careful not to bump into Mort's collection of questionable treasures. Focus, I told myself. You're a god now. You have divine powers. Surely you can manage one little divine realm. I stopped near the center of the space and closed my eyes. Well, metaphorically closed them. I wasn't entirely sure if I was actually seeing with my eyes here or if it was some kind of divine perception. What do I want? Really want? After a few seconds, it came to me.

I wanted something that was mine, a whole new world where I could do things my way. A new world. That felt right. I didn't want a copy of my cabin. Nope, I wanted to create a world of my own. I reached deep inside myself, feeling for that well of divine energy I'd used to bless Mort and Bambi. It was there, warm and chaotic, thrumming with potential.

"Alright," I said to the empty space.

"Let's try this. I want... a new world. A whole new world." I pushed. Divine energy flooded out of me like I'd pulled a plug. The energy poured into the space around me. I could feel the Liminal Land respond with something that almost felt like pure joy. Then I felt tired. Not physically exhausted, but completely drained in a way I'd never experienced before, not even when I resurrected Bambi. However, maybe because I was in my own realm, I didn't faint. With so much energy spent, I was certain I had succeeded.

I was eager to see the results of my efforts. I opened my eyes, eager to see my new creation. Then I immediately realized I'd made a terrible mistake. The notification was just icing on top of the cake.