In a modestly decorated room lined with bookshelves full of old comics, an old man in a plain white coat sat quietly, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he held a glowing red crystal orb in his hands.
Yes this orb was Mercurius or what's left of him He hadn't even seen how he died.
The One Above All had used some bullshit creator power and blinked him out of existence.
"So… what now, Mercurius?" the old man asked gently, like a kind grandfather offering tea.
"Should I send you on another errand? Or just end it here?"
The crystal orb trembled.
"SEND ME? YOU THINK YOU CAN? YOU THINK I'M AFRAID???"
shouted the crystal ball trembling slightly
The One Above All chuckled softly.
"Ohoho… Well, if you're not afraid…"
He raised a single finger — and cracks began to spider across the orb's surface.
"DO IT! DO IT! I'M NOT AFRAID!"
the orb screamed, shaking violently.
"If you say so."
Another crack appeared.
"IF YOU KEEP TOUCHING THIS ORB I'M CALLING THE CELESTIAL COPS!!"
"AND I GOT CONNECTIONS!"
The crack spread slightly.
"WAIT—WAIT—STOP! I'M REASONABLE! I CAN BE REASONABLE!"
The One Above All just smiled like a disappointed grandpa and gently set the orb back on the shelf.
"PUT ME BACK OUT THERE! I'M NOT DONE! I GOT DREAMS! GODS TO STAB! FANBOYS TO HUMILIATE!"
Mercurius shouted, shaking in his crystalline prison.
From the next room, a calm voice called out:
"Everything alright in there?"
The Presence — wearing his usual long grey coat, holding a steaming mug of cosmic tea — leaned in from the doorway.
The orb vibrated violently.
"I WILL ESCAPE. I SWEAR. I'LL FIND A WAY OUT AND STAB THE MULTIVERSE IN THE DICK."
The One Above All gave him a patient look.
"Language."
"…Sorry."
Mercurius muttered, pouting slightly.
OAA sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Same as always," he muttered to the Presence. "He's threatening divine legal action again."
"TELL HIM I GOT RIGHTS!"
Mercurius shrieked.
"No, you don't."
"YES, I DO! I READ THE CREATOR'S CONTRACT! SECTION 9 — 'FREE WILL CLAUSE!'"
"Subsection 9A: 'Except Mercurius,'" OAA replied without hesitation.
The Presence took a long sip from his mug.
"Want me to microwave him for five seconds? Just enough to make him dizzy?"
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE—"
Pop.
The microwave dinged.
"HHHNNGGGHH"
Mercurius howled, flickering inside the orb like a dying screensaver.
The One Above All retrieved the orb from the microwave, holding it with a towel like a freshly nuked leftover. Inside, Mercurius flickered weakly.
Then came the sniffling.
"…What did I ever do to deserve this?"
Mercurius whined, voice wobbling with grief.
"I mean really. Really. After all I've done? After all I've accomplished?"
The orb rattled slightly as his voice rose, halfway between crying and a tantrum.
"I made a few cults. Unofficially. Okay? They weren't even real religions. More like lifestyle brands."
Silence from the Presence and the One Above All.
"I faked a few prophecies. Not maliciously. I was bored, the world needed direction, and technically the plagues were already happening."
Still silence.
"…That world i accidentally leveled? That was self-defense. You can't expect a guy not to panic-cast an extinction spell."
"And I apologized for the Horsemen thing. Multiple times!.
He sniffled dramatically.
He looked up, as much as an orb could look anywhere.
"…You killed me for that?"A pause."You microwaved me for that?"
The Presence, quietly took a photo with a divine Polaroid labeled "Evidence."
The One Above All finally sighed.
"Mercurius…"
"No, no—go ahead, say it. 'Actions have consequences.' 'Power without wisdom.' All that preachy god-tier stuff. I'm just a guy who obliterated a few worlds and committed light multiversal fraud and now suddenly I'm the villain."
The orb pulsed red.
"You know what? Fine. I'll do the whole thing. Reflection, growth, redemption arc. Maybe I'll bond with a small animal, discover the meaning of love, forgive myself. Whatever."
The One Above All sighed and placed the orb on a shelf — the designated time-out corner.
A VERY VERY LONG TIME LATER
The One Above All watched it from across the room, arms folded. The Presence stands nearby, sipping from a mug labeled "World's #2 Dad" (the '#1' mug was shattered in a previous outburst).
Mercurius speaks.
Softly.
"…I've been thinking."
Silence.
"Maybe you're right."
A long pause.
"Maybe I'm the problem."
"All those worlds I ruined? All the cults, the rebellions, the forbidden romances, the brief but passionate marriages…"
He trails off with a sigh.
"Maybe I was out of control."
He lets the words hang for a while.
"But I can change."
OAA raises an eyebrow.
"I deserve a fresh start. Not for me — for them. For the people. For the NPCs. I mean citizens. Mortals. Whatever we're calling them now."
"Let me redeem myself. Toss me into a peaceful timeline. Something simple. a farm. Or a school. Or a slice-of-life cafe sim. I'll be good."
Silence.
Then…
The orb pulses faintly.
"…Also there's a clause in the Creator's Contract that says eternal containment can be interpreted as a punitive loop, which might be a violation of article thirteen if we bring ethics into it."
The Presence sighs.
"There it is."
OAA exhales slowly and finally speaks.
"You want out."
"No! I want to grow. Experience peace. Reflect. See what i did wrong."
A pause.
"And if I do end up making some mistakes along the way, I'll apologize. Immediately."
The orb sat silent on the shelf for a moment too long. Then it trembled, barely — a pulse of quiet desperation under glass.
Mercurius's voice came, cracked and raw:
"…You never loved me."
The Presence, still calm, interjected with all the energy of a cosmic dad babysitting a problem child:
"Don't fall for it."
The One Above All blinked, not even pretending to understand where this was going.
The Presence glanced up, mid-sip of his tea. He raised a brow, then sighed.
"All your little comic book heroes," Mercurius whispered, "they get redemption arcs. Second chances. Giant cinematic universes.
"Every time you needed a wild card, a scapegoat, a joke — I was there. Loyal little Mercurius. You needed someone to throw into chaos? There I went. And when I build something for myself—suddenly I'm a threat."
Silence.
A raw sob slipped out, and then another. He tried to hide it in sarcasm, but it was useless now.
"You talk about balance. But your golden boys? They leave trails of ash and get six-figure merch deals. I sneeze wrong and get microwaved."
The One Above All sighed.
"…I never said anything.
A VERY VERY VERY VERY LONG TIME LATER
The Presence stands by the window, looking out over creation. The stars hum quietly. Planets orbit like clockwork. It is peaceful.
Behind him, the One Above All sits in a simple armchair, orb in hand, silent. The microwave still beeps softly in the background.
"You're not seriously considering it… are you?" the Presence asked without turning.
"You've given him what — fourteen chances? Thirty? He's not going to change. You know that."
The orb crackled violently.
"FUCK YOU, OLD MAN!" Mercurius screeched from inside, his voice distorted and glassy.
"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, BITCH! I NEVER DIED — HE KEEPS KILLING ME!!"
BEEP
"HHHNNGGGHH"
"They all worship me," he murmured. "Obey me. Some curse me. But they don't ask. They don't even wonder if I care."
His fingers tightened around the orb.
"He's my boy."
The Presence snorted faintly. "He's manipulating you."
"Of course he is," the old man replied with a faint smile. "But sometimes… I think he means it."
A long silence settled over the room like dust.
Then the Presence sighed. "…You're going to let him out, aren't you."
The One Above All closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, as if lifting something impossibly heavy.
"Yes."
"You're soft."
"I'm old."
He looked down at the orb and added "Strip it all. Everything he built. Everything he earned. Let him start again — from nothing."
The Presence raised an eyebrow. "Cruel."
The One Above All shrugged. "Kind."
They both turned toward the orb.
Inside, Mercurius slowly cracked one glowing eye open.
"…Did someone say perks?".