My first order of business was to get out of whatever hole I found myself in. Figuring out what to do with my severely malformed body could come later.

  Opening a Dimensional Gate was as easy as I thought it would be, so I put an exit in the solar system that held my planet and the Mektra Guild Headquarters. Hopefully I can stop by and see what’s happening.

  The Gate I opened was hard to see, since it was black on black with the barren nothingness around me, but I knew where it was nonetheless.

  It was pretty small and I thought I had made it a lot bigger than that, but I figured that I likely grew several times larger than what I was previously. The same amount of Energy I used to spend was not going to cut it anymore.

  Not like I was worried about it though, with my infinite amount of the stuff.

  The Gate sucked up my horribly misshapen body like it was a straw, and I found myself pouring out of a White Hole Exit Gate like a busted sewage pipe.

  Now that I had several things within range of my senses, I could figure out just how large I was now. Which turned out to be about… a moon?

  I wasn’t as big as the moon I was looking at, the one that still had my ship and the mountain on it, even if it was in a bit of disarray. No one was on the moon or on the planet, my city once again empty and in quite the terrible state.

  “What even happened while I was gone?” I huffed and decided that I really didn’t like being a massive pile of meat and skin.

  In the past I was extremely adverse to modifying my own body, since I didn’t want to break anything or fuck it up. However that no longer mattered as I was already beyond fucked up and could likely only make it better.

  The first body modification plan was to just roughly cut out the shape of a human being and control that, but I was stopped when I couldn’t even tear off anything using Telekinesis. All I did was just stretch out in a really gross way when I tried.

  The second idea was to use my ability to bend rules and forcefully shrink space around me until I was in the rough shape of a man, but all of my mass would be condensed inside.

  It worked, thankfully, and I was much more reasonably sized. How tall I was or if my proportions were even correct, I didn’t know. What I did know was that I could not for the life of me remember what my face looked like.

  It sounded crazy, but I just could not get something that looked like me to shape up on my “face”.

  I was left with something you could generously say looked human, but the features were off by a mile. My eyes had this insectoid look as I had just shoved all of my eyes into the shape of two, so even if they had the correct coloration they still had this strange visual effect.

  My nose was much the same, but mostly constructed with skin rather than just noses. The mouth was the worst of it though.

  The lips were constructed from skin but the interior was lined with too many to count smaller mouths and sets of teeth.

  “...This is really gross.” I sighed, using a pair of false lungs to artificially inflate this new body as all of my real lungs were too numerous and too small to actually shape some proper lungs.

  My voice had this offsetting pitch and sounded like thousands of recordings of the same voice being played at the same time.

  I stared at myself in the mirror I had Jimmy form into, changing every little thing to try and make it better and more natural.

  It did not work.

  My head was bald, and the skin was not smooth. The forcefully shrunken skin wrapped around the internals of my new body strangely. Jimmy was still trying to form a skeleton to support my failing bone structure, so he was currently acting as my main structural support.

  I also had no genitals, which made me look more like a melted ken doll more than an actual person. Not like I was going to rebuild myself to such a degree though. There was no reason to.

  “-o- -our –al-y ugly.” Jerald's voice crackled into existence slowly before stabilizing.

  “What?”

  “I said, wow you’re really ugly.”

  “Thanks. How are you here?” I asked, happy to meet him again but I had too many questions to be distracted.

  “While I rebuilt your mind from basically nothing, I built it in such a way that it would support me more than whatever the green thing is. So I should be back for good now!” Jerald replied, sounding very proud of himself.

  “Well that’s good and all but how did you even do that?”

  “Going into detail would take way too long, and besides that I have a question myself. How did you regain all of your memories when nothing remained?” He asked, likely frowning from the sounds of it.

  “You didn’t do that?”

  “Of course not. That’s literally impossible. There was nothing left.” Jerald finished talking and I stayed quiet, deep in thought for a long moment.

  “...Maybe it was my soul?” I asked and got a systems equivalent of a blank stare.

  “...huh?” Jerald grunted condescendingly, like I had just asked something really dumb.

  “Well souls are incorporeal and completely indestructible. As they exist beyond this reality and our bodies only work as a vessel. So-”

  “Stop talking, that’s wrong on so many levels. First of all, souls are not indestructible. Gods have the power to interact with souls directly, so they aren’t entirely incorporeal either.” Jerald chided me and I just tilted my head.

  “There are no ‘Gods’, only people with power. There’s only one true God and it’s whatever or whoever made… this.” I vaguely gestured around to everything.

  “Look, I know I wasn’t able to teach you about divinity and what it is because the green thing locked me away, but Gods are a real thing. You might meet some if you’re lucky.” Jerald sighed and I shrugged.

  “Well how else do you explain getting my memories back? I doubt it came from greeny weeny.”

  “Must you name everything like that?” Jerald asked and I smiled.

  “Yup.”

  “You’re insane. And stupid.” Jerald added after a moment, giving up on trying to fix my views on the soul.

  In the silence that followed, I thought about checking my Status. To see what had changed.

  It was blue again, meaning the green bitch had been pushed back. Possibly switching places with Jerald in whatever that mindspace was. I was also a good chunk into Level 15. Something did bother me though…

  “I’m an organ now? Like the one Barney mentioned?” I asked skeptically, gesturing at the window with a thumb like Jerald was standing next to me instead of in my skull.

  “Indeed you are. You’ve been eating entropy for the past seven years, which is why you’re Level 15 now. I think.” Jerald hummed in thought when he finished, probably skimming the window again.

  “So that’s where I was? Inside a bunch of entropy?”

  “I believe so? I didn’t have time to waste on looking outside since, you know, I was rebuilding you.” Jerald spoke and I could tell he was fishing for praise and thanks.

  “Yeah yeah, thanks. I do appreciate it, but what am I supposed to do now?” I asked as I floated down to the building that was the Guild HQ.

  It was empty and falling apart. The interior was strewn about like everyone had left in a hurry.

  “I don’t know. Probably not whatever Quests you have.” Jerald snarked.

  Attempting to pull up the Quest tab proved fruitless, as nothing showed up. That was likely for the best. Questing wasn’t a priority anyway.

  “See anything that might give a clue to where my sister might have gone?” I asked as I forced my way into the building.

  “Not a thing. I don’t think you have to worry about that though, since I just reconnected you to The System~.” Jerald chuckled in a way as if to say ‘look at me! I’m superior and cool!’

  “So that means I’m reconnected to my Guild, right? That certainly saves me time.”

  I was in a bit of a rush, since I was seven years late to dinner with my mother and I had even whisked my sister Layla away too. She would be fine though.

  I hoped so anyway.

  …

  A good few hours later of just exploring the old HQ and what was left down below on the planet and a ship entered my range of senses.

  It had two humanoids on its flanks, probably guarding it but without any protection?

  ‘...Why are they absolutely smothered in Rules?’ I asked internally as I mentally scanned them.

  The figures were covered in so many bent Rules that it was hard to tell what kind of things they did. I got a strange vibe from them.

  Rather than wait for the ship to land, I Gated out into the space in front of it. Giving it plenty of room to see me and not run me over.

  I was no longer a naked disfigured ken doll, having turned Jimmy into the classic space suit style in the few hours it took them to reach me.

  The figures noticed me first, and I got my first real look at them.

  One was a man, well muscled with red skin and this long flowing white hair. He wore some kind of robe. His eyes had this strange intense glow in them. He was glaring at me with a snarl.

  How friendly.

  The other was a woman. I think. Neither of them were human so I was basing it off of the fact that they were smaller and thinner than the red guy. Same sort of robes but she had blue skin that reflected light like scales would.

  Her face was the farthest thing from human, since she had a snout and five eyes. Two on each side of her head and one in the middle. They had a less intense gaze and looked more curious as she stared at me.

  The two figures were much bigger than the ship and myself, since I used the door ways in the buildings to get a better idea of how small I should make myself.

  Inside the ship I could feel several bodies moving, a few were familiar but most were not. There was one human on board and I immediately knew who it was.

  Layla's condition though… was off.

  If my senses were to be trusted, and they usually were, she had lost an arm and replaced it with something else. Yikes.

  I didn’t stay in space any longer, opting to just Gate directly into the ship.

  “-at him?” One voice asked.

  “He’s gone!” A new voice interrupted the question.

  I was now inside the bridge, directly behind the crew currently trying to find me. The plan was simple. Sneak up behind my sister and give her a good scare.

  Layla sighed knowingly, turning around to look at me. It’s no fun when your siblings know you too well for sneak attacks.

  “Yeah, it’s him.” She answered the first question, glaring up at me.

  I was a bit too tall still, and figured that since I need to force myself into a smaller form I might as well go full regular human proportions.

  Giving Layla a good look over, I saw that she had indeed lost her arm. Replacing it was a high-tech prosthetic that shined and reflected light easily despite the numerous scratches and dents marring the metallic surface.

  “Yeah, it’s me.” I replied teasingly, my voice wrong despite its playfulness.

  The glare on Layla’s face shifted to one of disgust and discomfort as I shrunk my limbs and torso down further. To match closer to her height. Though I was still a few inches taller.

  “Don’t… do that.” She glared at me again, flaring her nose.

  “Sorry. Are you the captain?” I asked and she furrowed her brow.

  “No?”

  “Hm. Thought you were with the fake hand and all.” I joked and she immediately glared at me again.

  ‘Ah, right. I should probably stop messing with her.’ I scolded myself as I felt her displeasure and anger.

  “Greg?” Layla asked.

  “Yeah?” I answered sheepishly.

  “Remember what I told you if something went wrong?” She asked, a dangerous tilt to her voice.

  I remained silent, bracing myself to run.

  She noticed, and closed the distance a bit too fast for my liking. I had to use my ability to bend Rules to make time slow around me, just to get out of the way of an axe swinging past my head.

  The blade dug into the metal flooring easily and I chuckled nervously.

  “You’ll have to swing faster than that~.” I teased, but Layla didn’t react.

  She actually looked pretty… smug.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I hit what I was aiming for.” She responded and I tilted my head.

  Which promptly fell off my body and started rattling around in my helmet. I easily stitched it back onto my neck, and it was like she could see past my visor to my shocked face.

  “Surprised? I can cut anywhere I want. Doesn’t matter if it’s behind something else or how big it is.” She smirked at me while cradling her axe.

  The same one I had made her.

  “Bullshit OP axe.” I grumbled playfully, but happy that she wasn’t as angry anymore.

  It was weird how well she had taken to me just showing up again though.

  “You’re the one who made it. Glad to see that you’re back, but did you have to take seven years?” Layla asked almost coldly. Like she didn’t really care.

  “Well, you know, mindless blob and all that stuff. You seem… calm?” I offered and she nodded.

  “I wasn’t able to operate as a normal person after watching you melt, so Christinia got me help. Did you know that this universe has therapists that will just enter your mind and seal away any thoughts or feelings you have for just about anything?” Layla answered.

  “Huh… So you don’t care about your brother anymore. I’m hurt~.” I teased and she just shook her head with a scoff.

  “No, I definitely still care. I just won’t break down like I did. Never again.” Layla got a long off look in her eyes briefly before focusing back on me.

  “What’s with the two weirdos outside?” I asked, pushing past the subject.

  “Who? Oh, those are some of the Guilds patron Gods. They were sent to protect us in case we got attacked by an Outsider.” She answered with a nod like it made sense.

  “What? Gods?” I asked, dumbfounded.

  “...You’ve missed a lot haven’t you? How long have you been back?” Layla asked and I shrugged.

  “I woke up literally three hours ago. Fill me in.”

  And so she did.

  In the seven years I was stuck as a mindless fleshy slime thing, everything got worse. Much, much worse.

  Whatever had kicked off the whole entropy collapse of the multiverse, had turned it up to 11 and it sped up drastically. Entire universes were falling prey to the natural process, turning into nothingness as they were consumed.

  The Gods of various universes and domains had tried to battle it, but to little effect. So they left those universes too far gone to save and some ended up here. They brought their followers of course, setting up shop for more religious ventures.

  I didn't really care about it but apparently it was a really big deal to most of this universe. Divinity is supposed to be extremely rare, leaving one or two Gods per universe tops. The dire situation making what universes were left untouched by the entropy a finite and optimal settling spot for Gods.

  So places like this one now had an overabundance of these so called Gods hanging around and making efforts to stave off entropy. In whatever way they do it.

  The main reason this universe in particular hadn't been affected by entropy yet was actually my doing. The admins, once they found out they couldn't just erase me, dropped my misshapen and ugly slimy body into entropy. Which they apparently store. For some reason.

  That's where I ended up eating all of the excess entropy, my body's new purpose doing its thing and keeping the raging natural function of the universe in check. Which made little to no sense.

  "How do I eat entropy?" I asked the weird snake goddess thing and she thought for a moment.

  "I do not know." Was all I got in response.

  The other God just called me an abomination serving it's purpose, and seemed nervous that I was aware and sapient instead of a mindless thing.

  So I gave up on the whole asking questions thing. At least related to my new body and it's functions.

  "When do you want to go back to Earth?" I asked Layla as we continued our journey to wherever the guild had ended up.

  "Hm? Oh, we can go later. The Gods offer travel to other universes for service or devotion to them, so I wasn't too worried about it." She replied.

  "You sold out?" I mocked a gasp and she elbowed me in the stomach. Hard.

  "Well my ride up and left me alone in a strange universe surrounded by aliens. So yes, I serve a God." Layla breathed out of her nose and I rubbed my side.

  "...Must be the red guy." I teased and she laughed.

  "No, no. I serve Lady Urevia. The 'blue one' as you would call her." Layla shook her head with a smile.

  That wasn't a bad option. Better than the red asshole at least.

  The ride was long, and left me with plenty of time to think. I was looking outside of a window, watching the lights of distant stars pass by.

  Of all the plans I had that were now ruined. I had so many ideas on how to fuck with random people back home, but ended up leaving them alone for seven years with a System. Maybe there would be some stupidly powerful humans when I got back.

  I could send an instance back at any time, and I didn't really see a reason to prolong that any longer.

  Besides a gut feeling telling me not to. Of which I was beginning to really distrust since last time.

  "I think you're being controlled." Jerald spoke up for the first time in a while.

  "Huh?"

  "First it was the gut feeling that you needed to absolutely finish the Quest that led to you getting mind wiped, and now you have one telling you not to go home. Didn't you also have a weird aggression towards the system 9 years ago? Just seems odd is all." Jerald clarified.

  That... made a lot of sense. I did remember about the hyper aggression and anger that randomly popped up when dealing with the system or the mention of it. Though it stopped right around the time my negative emotions got muffled...

  "Son of a bitch." I sighed, thudding my helmet against the window in front of me.