Origins

The claw was aimed straight at Kaz, attacking in the same direction as always, aiming for the nexus gland. Kaz felt everything slow down as he realized he wouldn't be able to evade. Bracing for the impact he closed his eyes. He could feel his spear practically screaming to stop the attack. He thought about his goals being too big to achieve, and that he felt like he wasn't as special as he wanted to be. He just hoped the system would save him. A thud was heard, but Kaz felt no pain. Slowly he opened his eyes and realized the sound was the husk king falling over, and standing next to him was the god from before.

"Well, you may not have defeated him but you did survive the night. The only reason I interfered was for two reasons. First you are too important. Second, this one seems to be proof that my plan was working."

The god lifted his hand to make the body of the husk king float up.

"If you hadn't ventured out seeking to fight, in the dark, restricting your aura and senses, you may never have encountered him, you could have easily held up in your little home and survived through the night, because of that I made the decision to help you."

Kaz still was somewhat dazed at the matter at hand, this man had just saved his life, he had no guarantee he could have reincarnated again, and his mind was trying to still process this. Kaz finally responded.

"What plan exactly?"

The god turned towards Kaz. "Well, remember when I said I  didn't exactly abandon this planet? I was forced to leave it, and had to go into hiding, I severed my direct connection to fostering life to the planet to give signs of it dying off, but I kept it alive by continuing to poured mana into the world itself, Keeping the flow of mana to the Mana Ghouls."

Kaz heard some words which he hadn't yet, causing the system to fill him in.

[Mana is another name used for Nexus Energy throughout the universe, there are various names. Mana Ghoul is also another name for Husk.]

Noting this information Kaz responded.

"So are these things alive?" Kaz questioned the god while getting off the ground back to his feet.

"Anything that is capable of willful movement is alive, they may have less intelligence, but they are alive. Many others have called them Zombies and such, but the idea of undead isn't fitting to them, since they didn't physically die, they just lost their rationality."

The God turned beckoning Kaz to follow him. They walked for a short while until they stopped beside a structure.

"Peer inside of them with your mana, you will see some of them sleeping. They have functions similar to us, but they lost their mental capabilities, leading them to live for one thing, mana. They don't care about anything as long as they can get mana. Over the years, the small number of survivors that found my continued connection realized without it they would die, and they started to fight for it. Each passing generation I watched them change, from the once loving species they were, I wasn't able to help them, or I would be found out. It's dangerous for me to even be here now but I have gone unnoticed thanks to your appearance for now."

Kaz listened as he confirmed the sleeping husks, making him feel slightly guilty for killing so many, knowing that they were more alive than he thought they were. The god picked up on it and smiled.

"Don't worry, they would have killed you if you didn't react, and I know they also helped you grow stronger, I'm not upset. This entire process was for me to grow a seed, and I believe this one is it."

He pointed at the unconscious husk king.

"I have a request for you, I want him to survive and revive my children, I need you to watch over him." God requested Kaz with a serious expression.

"I know your current goal is probably something big, but I don't doubt this one can help you achieve it."

Kaz had a mixed feeling with this proposition. "But I won't be able to stop him from attacking me, let alone others. And won't his appearance scare others?"

"That's why you need to get to a higher stage in soul core development than him. If you can, I can connect its existence to yours. Doing so would allow it to take after you. Beings dependent upon other beings tend to take after them. When they are taking after an inanimate object things become like this, having it connected to you will cause it to manifest a more human like appearance, as well as regain rationality. But it will need to be trained as if it were a baby, since it will be ignorant of many things."

Kaz felt a bit of compassion for the husk king, it was like him in some ways, abandoned by his parents, without purpose and living with his circumstance, Kaz could be the one to give it purpose, but he felt that this would be a tall order for him still.

As if he sensed his thoughts, the god answered to assure him.

"The connection will only last until he develops a soul of his own, and the connection only lets him circulate his mana with yours, you would be like the heart that is purifying the toxins from the blood before sending them to the extremities, and he would be a limb that would decay without the circulation. And after seeing how you can directly absorb the energy without needing to purify it, I believe your body is capable of doing it automatically, it shouldn't cause any harm to him. If you can make this promise to me, I will help you in any way I can."

Kaz thought about it. He felt like he owed the god his life already, he had been taking in the energy meant for his people, killing his people, and was even saved by the god. Did he really have the right to say no at this point? Sure he didn't choose to come here, but he still did what he did.

[I suggest you offer to help, two strong allies in the search for power is not a bad start.]

Kaz finally made a decision.

"Ok, I will do it."

The god, seemingly caught in his emotion, almost cried for joy. "Thank you. I think this is long overdue, but my name is Xohasis. I am the god of this world as you know. I will explain the reasoning for my leave from this planet before continuing and why I believe you are here. I believe you were sent here by the one we call 'Author'."

Kaz felt a strange aura enter his mind as he his senses fell into a scene of figures in a council like room.

"A long time ago, there was a creation event of this universe, there were several deities created, 13 in total. These 13 were the origins. At first lover the Author and strived to propagate his creation. He never spoke to them directly, but instilled meaning into them nevertheless."

The image changed to various figures creating planets and cultures and order.

"As time progressed we created a council with one as the leader, we called the immortal god. We decided that the one in that position needed to be able to help maintain order in the universe, and if we couldn't decide as a council 1 mind would be better. The being was given authority beyond the others and the other 12 ranked based on power as well. The rankings would change every 100,000 thousand years based on a competition."

The image changed to those beings engaging in battle.

"The first immortal god was overthrown one day by the 1st of the council, and when he was replaced, he made the original one an enemy. He was targeted hoping to kill him off before the next ranking to keep him a non threat. That god was weakened as his planet was attacked and nearly destroyed, and he had to go into hiding."

The next image was of warfare throughout this planet with figures holding puppet strings above it.

"That god was me, and my brother overthrew me. I had gone into hiding in order to protect what little was left of my planet, in hopes of one day things being turned around. I was originally planning to be the one to create the being to fight back, but then you appeared. I believe that you were sent by the Author to change the rules institutionalized by my brother. He has an ambition to overcome the Author and recreate the universe which is fueled by his greed. His greed makes him distrust others and keep them from growing stronger. I believe since you have been created in a similar manner to how we have, you are a 14th origin."

The images cleared from Kaz's  mind and he came back to the present.

The god looked back at the husk king. "This one here was originally going to be trained for that purpose once he developed a soul, but I want him to follow you instead, I can see your potential and I know you can achieve it. I just want him to be a part of it."

The god came closer to Kaz.

"Now, are you ready to go to the next stage?"