As humanity prepared for its next great shock, completely unaware of what was coming, an unexpected visitor had already arrived on Earth. The visitor had seemingly appeared without any particular reason, although Gaia suspected there was more to his presence than he was willing to admit. She sat across from him in a trendy coffee shop in the middle of Italy, watching the silver-haired man with increasingly narrowed eyes. His appearance was strikingly similar to that of an elf, although Gaia could not identify exactly what kind of elf he resembled.
"Right, what do you want?" Gaia asked, her tone already carrying a warning. "And I thought we weren't allowed to visit each other without permission." She had not appreciated being surprised like this, especially when the visitor had somehow appeared on her planet without giving her any warning. The fact that he had chosen to meet her in a crowded human establishment only made the situation more irritating.
"No, you are correct," the silver-haired man replied with a relaxed smile. "Normally, we are not allowed that privilege, but I applied for permission from the Universe." He leaned back in his chair as though the explanation should settle the matter immediately. "You see, the trial my race undertook was rather long, and the trial system gave me some interesting information about how you were handling the situation with the gods."
Gaia's eyes narrowed further.
"So you were spying on my development," she said flatly. The fact that another civilization had managed to observe what was happening on Earth without her knowledge was considerably more concerning than the man's smug expression. Information about another civilization's development was priceless, especially for planetary consciousness, which could potentially copy successful methods and incorporate them into its own societies. If someone had discovered a method that could solve a problem affecting their entire civilization, Gaia could understand why they would want to investigate it.
"I would prefer to call it research," the man replied.
"I would prefer to call it spying."
The man laughed awkwardly.
"You are probably right, but the Universe permitted it, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity." He folded his hands together on the table and finally explained the reason for his visit. "The trial system informed me about your method of dealing with the gods, and I wanted to see whether it actually worked."
"And if it does?"
"I would like to introduce the method to the other planets."
Gaia stared at him for several seconds.
"I'll deal with that trial system later," she finally said. "But what exactly is in this for you?" Her suspicion had not diminished in the slightest. Someone did not travel between planets simply because they were curious, especially when the information being discussed could influence the development of entire civilizations.
The silver-haired man sighed.
"I suppose I should come clean." His relaxed expression finally became somewhat more serious. "I have decided to take a more active role in the development of my civilization." He paused briefly before continuing. "Otherwise, they would never get around to certain things because my people are extremely long-lived and therefore have absolutely no sense of urgency."
Gaia could understand that problem.
"So you became their god?"
"Essentially."
The answer came far too casually for Gaia's liking.
"My race is united under a single kingdom," the man explained. "Because of that, they all believe in the same god, and I have taken that position." He gestured toward himself with an almost embarrassed expression. "The problem is that this created an enormous amount of cultural energy."
"That sounds like a good thing."
"It would be, if the energy were usable."
The man's expression became grim.
"Unfortunately, it is currently poisonous."
That finally caught Gaia's full attention.
"I have an enormous reservoir of cultural energy accumulating around my existence," he continued. "It grows every time my people worship me, pray to me, tell stories about me, or otherwise reinforce the image of their god. But I have no reliable method of purifying it." He leaned forward slightly. "That is why I want your method to work. If it does, I can use the same approach with my people before the accumulated energy becomes a serious problem."
Gaia slowly leaned back in her chair.
"So you came here because you want to copy my solution."
"Yes."
"At least you're honest."
"I try to be."
Gaia sighed.
"And because you invoked the Universe's permission, I apparently have no choice but to tolerate your presence." She gave him an irritated look. "Even if I still dislike the fact that you were spying on my humans." She paused before adding, "But since we're apparently going to be speaking to each other, a name would be useful."
"My name is Gaia."
The man raised an eyebrow.
"Gaia? As in the Greek goddess of the Earth?"
"Exactly."
"That is an interesting name for someone who does not appear to actively govern this planet."
Gaia's eye twitched.
"My planet is considerably more complicated than yours."
"I noticed."
The man extended his hand.
"My name is Evindal Trissandoral."
Gaia looked at his hand for a moment before shaking it.
"That is an unusually long name."
"It is the original name of the god my people worshipped."
Gaia immediately understood.
"I see."
"I took his likeness when I stepped into the open," Evindal explained. "My people already had an established image of their god, so changing it would have created unnecessary confusion." He smiled proudly. "I simply became the god they already believed in."
Gaia stared at him.
"You really enjoy being worshipped, don't you?"
"It has its advantages."
Before Gaia could respond, Evindal suddenly looked toward the window.
"Curious. You are named after a god, yet you do not seem to take an active role in the workings of this planet," Evindal said, studying Gaia with renewed interest. "Then again, this planet is incredibly fractured. Oh, and you should watch that country called the United States. It reeks of evil."
"Right. You can stop divining now that you are here," Gaia replied, her expression darkening as she realized exactly what he had been doing. She had already noticed his attention wandering across Earth, and the fact that he was examining humanity without permission was beginning to irritate her.
"I know, but they deserve what is coming to them," Evindal said casually. "Greed has gotten hold of them, so let them survive it themselves. If they cannot, then there will simply be more space for humans with brains."
"Stop divining, or I will really attack you, and then it will hurt," Gaia warned, her voice becoming dangerously cold.
The entire city of Rome began to shake as Gaia's anger escaped her control. The coffee shop around them nearly collapsed as support beams snapped under the pressure, while shingles slid from the roof like an avalanche. Evindal's expression immediately turned pale as he realized that Gaia was no longer merely annoyed.
"Calm down! You will scare the humans," Evindal said quickly. "I won't do it again."
Gaia stared at him.
Evindal had not been frightened because of the power itself.
He could produce an enormous amount of power as well, and he was confident that he could survive most ordinary confrontations. What frightened him was the expression on Gaia's face. She had genuinely intended to attack him, and there had been absolutely no hesitation in her eyes.
That realization changed everything.
Fighting a planet's consciousness on the planet itself was one of the dumbest ways to die imaginable.
Even if Evindal were powerful enough to destroy mountains or reshape landscapes, none of that mattered if the planet itself could attack him. Unless someone possessed enough power to completely overwhelm a planet's consciousness, fighting such an entity on its own world was practically suicidal.
Evindal understood that now.
Even as the consciousness of his own planet, he could not imagine himself winning such a battle.
"You are lucky the Universe stopped me from killing you," Gaia said coldly.
Evindal swallowed.
"Understood."
"Do not let playing god get to your head."
Gaia's voice became even colder.
"If you become arrogant enough, you will eventually get your species killed." She gestured toward the damaged coffee shop. "There is enough literature here that you must have scanned some of it. Surely you have read the stories about what happens to gods who become arrogant."
Evindal remained silent.
Gaia disappeared.
She left him sitting alone in the damaged coffee shop, surrounded by terrified humans and broken furniture.
Evindal stared at the empty chair across from him.
"Right," he muttered. "I am going to need to read those stories."
He had already copied enormous amounts of human history and literature during his visit. Now, however, he suspected that he had underestimated how much of it was actually relevant to his situation.
"Piece of work, that one."
She sighed.
"If we ever end up on opposite sides during a trial, I am burying him three feet underground."
Her expression became increasingly annoyed.
"Pretentious piece of work."
Meanwhile, Gaia had already returned to the Vatican.
"I am also going to raise an objection regarding divine descent with the trial system once this is over," she muttered as she appeared inside the Pope's private chambers. "I doubt Evindal has thought of that yet."
A dangerous smile appeared on her face.
"But after what happened today, he certainly will."
Gaia folded her arms.
"And there is no way I am letting him get away with it."
She had no doubt that the trial system would be perfectly happy to keep that little rule hidden from him purely for its own amusement.