Suddenly the scenery around me became blurry. The movement of my colonists also stopped, and the user interface that was in my view disappeared.

An error?

“It seems you are in trouble, my child.”

I looked back in the direction the deep voice came from. A human-shaped figure with a completely transparent orange body was coming towards me. I feel a bit uncomfortable because he lacks facial features, such as eyes, nose, or mouth.

“Who are you? How come you can interact with me?” I asked the figure.

“Well, as usual, my kids will forget about me.” The figure shrugged. “I can be said to be a god on this land. Not a god with a capital G, who created the universe. I only take care of the people who are here, and delegate my duties to you, my creation…. Ah, just call me H.”

I see. This is part of the Hvisland lore. “So, what is your purpose in coming to me, H?”

“Huh? You’re a bit weird. Usually my kids react more than you show now.”

“Really? Maybe I’m a little special.”

“Maybe … Back on topic. Before I answer your question, I want to tell you a little something.” H sits with his legs crossed. “You know the humans here are pretty dumb sometimes, right?”

“So you created us to guide them?” I decided to do this roleplaying as a child of H because I believe this is how the game should be played.

“Well, at first I took care of them myself. But, after their numbers started to grow….. It’s not that I can’t take care of that many people anyway. I just got lazy and chose to create you guys. However, my abilities are limited, I can’t able to make all of you remember me. I have to come one by one to you to introduce myself, and I’m too lazy to do that. So, in the end I just let it go.”

“So, why can these humans be dumb and have to be guided like that?” I asked again.

“Ooh, that’s a question for another day, my children.” H chuckled, then stood up. “The thing is, you’ve seen their traits that you can’t control, right? Well, I hope you don’t give up on them. Some of that traits are just nasty.”

“Don’t worry, H. I guarantee you, I’ll still take care of them.” I answered in a firm tone. There’s no way I’ll stop halfway. You could say this game is my second life.

H clapped his hands once. “Well, now is the time for me to tell you the main purpose of meeting you.”

“Okay.”

“I didn’t come here just to introduce myself and give some advice, you know.” H looked at my colonists. “Well, that’s a shame, isn’t it? They had an incident like this early on in their relationship. They haven’t built a real house yet.”

H was silent, and it went on for quite a while. I’m starting to get a little annoyed.

“Like I said, I’m the god of this place. I’m also in control of everything that happens here, not just guiding humans through you.” H turned his face to me again, just as I was about to ask again. “Blow up mountains, make earthquakes, bring storms…. You name it.”

“Ah, you can do something about this fire? Like heavy rain to put it out?”

The orange figure nodded. “But there are consequences.”

“What’s that?” I felt more and more uncomfortable.

“I can’t tell you. And I won’t tell you why I won’t tell you.” H chuckled again.

Ugh. I hate this god even more.

“I just wanted to say. I can assure you that this area is the safest for your colonists. Indeed, there are more plants and food sources out there. However, a lot of food means a lot of animals. A lot of animals means a lot of beasts as their predators.” H walked over to me. “Humans like your colonists could also become their prey. Yes, they might survive. However, with their current numbers and abilities, the chances of them getting injured are very high. And it could be severe. And remember, there is one more possibility that is far more horrible than injuries. Death.”

I looked at my colonists, who were in a running stance to save their belongings.

“Well, maybe far away there is a safe place too, but they still have to walk where it’s not safe first.” H continued his speech.

“You’re up to something, right?” I snorted, looking at H again. “The consequences you said were definitely something bad, right?”

The ‘god’ laughed and spread his arms. “Hey, nothing is free in this world! You have to pay for something if you want to get something!”

“Well, you are very wise as a god, H.” I said sarcastically.

“Thank you for the compliment.” H backed away with his arms still outstretched. “Now, I’m waiting for your decision. Don’t rush. I’ll wait for you until you’re ready to answer, however long it takes.”

Shit.

***

After H disappeared, everything moved and looked normal again. My colonists started packing their stuff.

Gray clouds rapidly covered the sky. And then drops of water began to fall, like when the first three members of my colony gathered.

“What? It was still very sunny just now.” Seb, who was stuffing some jerky into a leather pouch, looked up at the sky, which was already starting to let out roars of thunder.

Kat stretched out her hands to feel the raindrops pouring in.

And finally, heavy rain fell on my colony.

“All of you, gather to the shelter. This rain will extinguish the fire.” I gave orders en masse, which didn’t need to be whispered into their ears one by one.

“Let’s take shelter first!” Shouting against the sound of the loud rain, Leva ran into that simple building. “We’ll see if this rain can put out the fire or not first!”

“I’m not sure that can happen! The fire is too big!” Pif replied while trailing Leva.

“Go ahead, Pif. If you want to evacuate yourself in this heavy rain!”

“I agree! Let’s just wait first!” Seb joined in.

Finally, they all gathered into the shelter. After collecting the things they had, of course.

The rain was getting heavier. I could feel the coldness of the water droplets that went through my body. I could see the fire was still burning in the distance and showed no sign of going out.

I hope this rain really eliminates this disaster, as H said. And also, I beg you, H.. Don’t let the consequences be too heavy for my colony.