Chapter 1

Blaise was just an ordinary girl. Just a girl who was tired and was falling asleep. She had just recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and was being taken out of school. Schizophrenia affects about one to two percent of the world population. As far as science goes, there is no cure. The voices in her head come back even when she's on medication. Like tonight.

“We choose you.” A voice whispered to her, then she closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

In her dream there were tornadoes all around. She had to find shelter fast. She needed a basement. All around her was a field.  There was nothing but grass. So she ran. It wasn't fast enough. She got caught by the tornado and she closed her eyes and held her breath. It threw her up above the clouds and she was in another land. There were orbs all above a desert in one area. In another area there were children under trees. In a grassy plain there was a castle and what looked like a village and fields. She was on top of a mountain looking down over the world that spread before her.

“We choose you.” Blaise turned and saw a creature that was blue with an odd face and human like clothing. “Are you an alien?” She asked. 

“No. I am a guardian. What many refer to as angels and those who work for the Gods. If you look over there those orbs above the land of the desert are all a large pantheon of dessert deities. Every God lives according to their own manner within their own laws and their own belief system. Every God has their own way to rule the universe and when a spirit enters the universe that suits that one God's perspective on life, the deity adopts that soul as it's own. Then when the spirit loses it's living shell, it's spiritual presence goes to live in the kingdom of the deity that rules over it.”

Blaise turned to the orbs that floated above the desert. Those things were Gods? She thought. That's odd.

“I know. It seems so odd right now. Doesn't it? Well I'm sure you'll adjust. Everyone adjusts in time.”

“How long will I be here exactly?” She asked curiously.

“You've always been here, but you've also never been here. As a Goddess yourself, you can come and go as you please. It's all about getting into that state of mind that allows you to go between worlds that gets your powers bursting with action.”

“What do you mean a Goddess myself?”

“Well you were chosen. That's why I'm here. When a spirit is born it is given trial after trial of moral testing to see if that spirit will fit in the world of the Gods or if it goes back into reincarnation. The point to life isn't to be good but to evolve enough to understand all the living and nonliving things in the universe. If  a soul can reach that goal it becomes a deity. A God. Which is where you come in. You met that goal not too long ago. Now the rest of your living and nonliving life will be spent ruling over your own part of the universe according to your liking. If you should do enough work, you'd make a great kingdom in the world of the Gods.”

“A kingdom? How?” 

“Well it will all come in time. Now your first chore here is to go pick your demon. Every deity needs an army of demons. They're what Gods call an army and what those who aren't Gods call evil. Come along now please.” He motioned for her to take a step in his direction. In a flash she was transported to what looked like the inside of a castle. A bell rang and all the halls flooded with beasts of every kind. Some she had recognized from the bible and others she'd seen in mythology classes in English. 

“What are these?”

“These are demons, entities that fight off darkness spiritually by targeting it and well it's very complex. They use their energy to find evil and destroy it. It can happen in any number of ways. Now we must move into this classroom over here.” He walked off into a room nearby as Blaise followed. 

“Professor. This is our newest Goddess. She is here to pick up her first demon,” the angel smiled quaintly.

“Ah. I knew we were getting another one. It's been almost a hundred years since the last one. The stars did start to sing a few days ago and I sent Lucifer to see them. He's the pride of the classroom I have to tell you. I'll go fetch the best demons we have.” The professor hopped away with a bob and returned with twelve odd looking beings no taller than she was.

“Now Blaise, please pick the spirit that speaks to you the most. The energy that hits you the loudest is the demon that works the best with you.”

She looked at them one by one. Then she heard voices. They were praying. 'Domin du e frete,' 'Goddess please be thrilled by me,' 'Flootoooodoook,” and then she finally found a voice she could focus on. It was deep set and it warmed her. When it spoke music played in her  head. This must be him. But who is it? She started staring at each being intently until she reached one demon who looked like a classic demon straight out of the tales told to her back when she was a little girl. He said, “hmmm. I wonder who she'll pick.” She stared at him as he stared off into space and the music that followed him was like an orchestra. Then she saw it. There was a tiny orb around him that whistled and out of it came one tune. It had violins, and pianos, a flute, everything that she could wish to hear was floating around this demon. “I like him.” Blaise said aloud staring intently at the orb that surrounded him.

“Ah! Yes! Lucifer. I should have known. He is after all the brightest. He got his first orb at the age of 12 you know. A bright young demon. So let us begin.”

The angel and the professor dismissed the other demons and walked into an adjacent room. There was a large open space on the floor and a pulpit near large windows. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bookcases filled with books, and what looked like jars of dirt and spices. The professor went to the pulpit and opened a book. “Now Lucifer, please make the opening circle and binding spell to join yourself to your new Goddess.” Lucifer plucked jars of white looking things and some herb looking things and some things that looked like bark. He used a white powder which she suspected was sand, to make a circle with a number of symbols around it. There were five smaller circles outside the larger circle and what looked like a foreign language written there too. 

He finished putting things together and the professor nodded for him to continue. So Lucifer stepped inside of the circle, lowered himself to the ground in a sort of kneel, then he stretched his hoof back to touch the sand that formed the spell, and poof. There was a cloud of energy and Lucifer grew. He went from looking like a ten year old to looking like he was thirty. He was thin and toned, tall, and his horns were larger. 

“Well it's done,” said the professor. “I am very happy I had a chance to meet the new Goddess.”

“Isn't she just so adorable. I can't wait until she loses her human appearance and turns into a full fledged deity. Can you imagine?”  The angel laughed.

“I wonder how large her orb will be. Ha ha ha ha.” The professor laughed as he exited the room.

The angel followed, Blaise followed the angel, and the demon followed Blaise.

As they walked the angel took them to a field of grass. They all sat down on logs. It was a bit difficult to sit on something so hard so Blaise sat on the ground. At her doing this, the angel and the demon also chose the ground. 

“So you're a new Goddess? Goddess Blaise?”

“I think so.” She responded.

“Yes. She is,” said the angel. “She is new and she needs to know all about the World of the Gods so she can settle in right away.

Now, Blaise, as I've mentioned before, certain spirits meet the goals required to become a deity and now it's time you knew what those goals were. They're called morals. But the thing is that these morals aren't found in any books, any written document, on any leaf, or paper, or anything we touch, see, or hear. These morals are an instinct that guides us and the more we listen to this instinct the happier our lives are and the closer we become to being Gods. That really is all you need to become a Goddess. Because you're human, we blessed you at the gathering of Gods with schizophrenia so your spirit could hear our world and yours as one while you live in a physical body.”

“It's a lot to take in but it's also making a lot of sense. I always trust myself when I make a decision. It just makes sense,” she laid down on the grass.

“I am your demon now, Blaise. Demons are creatures that protect the Gods. We are called an army. No demon belongs to evil. We simply are always around it because it's our job to seek it out. When you first choose your demon to be bound to for all eternity, you are essentially choosing a being that serves all of the Gods, not just yourself. We follow the code of morality to choose what to do in every situation. We don't really need to answer to you, so much as we need to guard you from energies that have turned bad. Just as you transformed to be good, other spirits turn out to be evil. But we have ways to deal with evil. Demons are a pack of their own with their own world and guidelines to adhere to.”

“So what do I do with you?” She sat up looking at him square in the eyes begging for help.

“You don't do anything with me. I do everything for you. I protect your human body from harm while you're a human. Then when you die, I guard your kingdom with a number of demons who serve me through demon pacts of our own. I'm just a spirit that fights other spirits. With me, you will know comfort at your side for all eternity. My job is to love you, watch after you, feed you, cloth you, almost like a father.”

“So what now? What are we doing laying in the grass-” Blaise fell to the ground and lay fast asleep.

As she slept all of her energy was pulled down a tunnel and she awoke in her own room in her own house with her own parents. She was back in her body.

Meanwhile, back in the world of the Gods, Blaise's spiritual body was hard at work creating a kingdom. All around her there were walls, floors, ceilings, growing. Tapestries hung on the walls, tables and chairs formed all around her as she lay asleep. These things moved and morphed as hallways formed. Finally she lay asleep in a bed that was made just for her in a room that grew from her laying spirit. She had a mirror, technology she didn't understand was all around her. Her body was slowly covered by the angel that watched over her. Her demon went to the world where her spiritual essence was residing. Her energy was on earth, she was laying down weary from fatigue. Her long black hair sprawled out all around her in curls, and her tender olive skin was glowing warmth from under the blankets that covered her.

Then she heard the song she had heard in her dream. There was a silhouette of the demon that was in her dream on the walls along with the spiritual orb that followed him everywhere. There was a glowing red star inside of him and his eyes shone like warm lighting. “Hello, Lucifer.” She whispered. Then Lucifer disappeared under her bed.