The humans slept beneath the silver grass sky, their chests rising and falling in rhythm with the planet's newborn heartbeat. Li Tian watched them, his consciousness woven into the wind that brushed against their skin.
"They dream," he realized.
And in their dreams, he saw fragments of their fears, their desires—echoes of the lives they might have lived before he shaped them.
One man, Fan, twitched in his sleep, his lips forming silent words.
"Why… do I hear… the stars?"
Li Tian stilled.
That should not be possible.
He reached into Fan's mind—and recoiled.
A voice, cold and ancient, slithered through the man's thoughts.
"You are not alone, little god."
The moment the words registered, Fan's body erupted in black flames, his screams tearing through the night.
Li Tian acted instantly. He severed the connection, purging the corruption with a surge of divine will. Fan collapsed, alive but unconscious, his skin now marked with strange, writhing sigils.
The other humans stirred, murmuring in fear.
Li Tian whispered to the winds, "Sleep," and they obeyed, their minds gently pushed back into slumber.
But his own unease remained.
What was that?
Li Tian ascended beyond the sky, his consciousness expanding until the planet was but a speck beneath him. The void stretched endlessly, studded with distant stars—other worlds, other Daos.
And then he felt it.
A presence.
Vast. Hungry. Older than creation itself.
It did not speak. It did not need to. Its mere attention was a weight that threatened to crush Li Tian's fledgling divinity.
"You are young," the presence finally mused, its voice like grinding galaxies. "A newborn Dao, barely aware of your own existence."
Li Tian forced his will into coherence. "Who are you?"
A ripple of amusement. "I have had many names. The Devourer. The First Shadow. The End That Crawls."
The void trembled as the entity leaned closer, its formless gaze piercing Li Tian's essence.
"But you may call me… the Eater of Worlds."
A memory not his own flashed in Li Tian's mind—a thousand planets, crumbling to dust beneath this thing's hunger.
His world was next.
Li Tian retreated to his planet, his divine energy flaring in alarm. The humans still slept, unaware of the danger lurking beyond their sky.
He had to act.
First, he erected a barrier, weaving the fabric of reality itself into a shield that would hide his world from the Eater's gaze.
But it would not hold forever.
"I need guardians," he realized. "Beings strong enough to defend this world if I fall."
With a thought, he summoned the purest strands of his essence, shaping them into twelve radiant figures.
The first of them opened their eyes—a woman with hair like flowing starlight and a presence that bent light around her.
"I am…?" she murmured.
"The God of Time," Li Tian declared. "And you are the first of my Pantheon."
One by one, the others awoke, each embodying a fundamental force:
The God of War, whose gaze burned with battle-lust.
The God of Death, cloaked in silent shadow.
The God of Life, whose touch made the grass bloom.
They knelt before him, their loyalty absolute.
But Li Tian knew this was only the beginning.
The Eater of Worlds would return.
And when it did, his creations would be ready.