I had made some plans before going to sleep. I'd also set my skill to rank up for the first time. It would finish sometime before dawn the next day, but that was fine. I figured I could just use it again when I woke up each morning.

  As I drifted off, in that moment between wakefulness and slumber, there was a little drop. It felt almost like one of those dreams where you were falling but was so brief it didn't startle me awake.

  My next thought was, huh?

  I was sitting in a plain wooden chair, its surface worn smooth by the passage of time, the scent of aged timber lingering in the air. In front of me, a small, square table of the same wood rested on the uneven floor, partially hidden beneath the shadow of a flickering oil lamp. At the opposite edge of the table sat a peculiar creature—a 20-centimeter-tall lizard. Its skin gleamed, almost as if it had been polished to mimic finely lacquered wood. The creature was primarily a vibrant green, adorned with dark yellow scars crisscrossing its body, each mark meticulously outlined by thin, black threads that resembled stitchwork.

  Its legs were unusually large for its size, giving it a sturdy appearance, while its tiny arms seemed almost vestigial. The arms, frail and underdeveloped, suggested little use beyond the most basic of actions. Above its light brown, expressive eyes, pronounced bony ridges added a fierce demeanor to its small frame. Yet, it was its eyes that captivated—and unnerved—me. They radiated a strange luminescence, teasing at colors of purple or perhaps just the lingering smell of alcohol; it was difficult to discern.

  That odd thought about how something looked struck me as both absurd and oddly accurate. Its upper jaw resembled that of a typical predatory lizard, filled with dagger-like teeth, while its lower jaw was comically small, giving it an exaggerated overbite that seemed almost cartoonish. My mind began to spiral, questioning the very nature of my surroundings.

  “What is—”

  “I stole your dream.” The voice came from the little lizard, yet it hadn’t moved; it simply sat there, maintaining its peculiar posture. The tone was strange, almost as if multiple voices—each with a different pitch, tone, and gender—had come together to form a single sentence, directly diving into my head.

  ......."What?" I replied, thoroughly confused.

  “I stole your dream. Ate it, actually. Used the gap to bring you here for a little chat. Tasted like lemon Christmas.”

  “I don’t know what that means. What’s Christmas? And is this really happening?”

  The voice contained a note of amusement. “It did happen! It needs to have happened to keep you safe. Now you have my blessing. And before you ask, yes. I am a god.” Instead of the arrogance one might expect, he sounded rather blasé about it.

  I sat there in stunned silence for nearly a full minute, processing that revelation. The overwhelming sensation of the strange reality around me was palpable; this didn’t feel like a dream at all. There was a weight to the little lizard’s presence that belied its size, making it feel much larger and more significant. “Okay. This is either really happening or I’ve lost my mind.”

  “It is happened.”

  “That! You’re using past and present wrong! I checked my status before I fell asleep. The blessing section was there but it was empty!”

  “Nope. I just don’t use time the same way you mortals do. There was no blessing until this dream happened. Now it was there. It had to happen that way to keep Halcis from destroying you immediately.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “What?! Why would she want me dead?” The idea of a goddess wishing for my demise immediately rocketed to the top of my list of pressing troubles.

  “Haha! Because you break the balance!” The voice surged with excitement, forcing my left eye to twitch involuntarily. I could see the sound of trumpets echoed in my mind, and I could taste the sensation of silence, I could smell half past three. “The Advancement skill,” it continued, this time with less force, and I felt the wave of power release me, feeling much less likely to die.

  “She thought she’d locked it down forever. That no one could ever use it as you intended. All it took was a megalomaniacal princeling, some soul magic, and a very unethical use of the skill stone—paired with the secret research nobles have exploited for centuries—and BAM! You broke her rules. I’ve been giddy all day!”

  “That would make you Rekf, god of chaos, right? And I’m right? I can gain skills with Mimic and then increase their level to keep them?” Excitement began to bubble within me; I had confirmation of my suspicions.

  “Mostly. You’ll keep the skill levels you gain. The one you borrowed with Mimic will vanish, and you’ll have to regain that one, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you, right? Ha! And here’s some bonus info! You gain the skills with whatever perks the target had built in. For free! You still get to pick five more total for the skill once you max it out. Isn’t that great?”

  “You’re saying I get their perks plus mine? Wait, did you say princeling?”

  “Oh yeah. The noble you refer to as Lord Snootley is the current crown prince. Nobles like him have been stealing rare skills for a long time now. They figured this out shortly after that one prince acquired Advancement. Tragic, really; they almost had it figured out in time.”

  “So that guy was Crown Prince Ferdin? How does your blessing help?”

  “Yeah, although you should probably steer clear of him. He’ll detect the soul magic in you because it’s his. And the Blessing of Rekf ensures that the Bitch of Balance cannot see, hear, touch, taste, or smell you. She cannot perceive evidence of your passing, sense you magically, or hear others speak of you. It makes her completely unaware of you in the past, present, and future. Serves her right, too. She wants everything perfectly balanced. Even Proga, the god of Order, understands that chaos and order are two sides of a coin that both serve a purpose. Halcis is like the worst kind of micromanaging Karen.”

  “Karen? So, I won’t be smote for existing, then? But the prince can sense me if I get near him and will likely kill me anyway? That's just fabulous.”

  “Only until you get strong enough; then you can just pop him like a soap bubble.” With that, a tiny popping sound punctuated the air, as if illustrating its point.

  “Okay, okay. Stay away from the prince, remain hidden from a goddess who would like me dead if she could perceive me, and grow strong fast. Is that all you wanted to tell me?” I glanced around, noticing how the environment had subtly shifted throughout our conversation. I found myself sitting on a large, multicolored cube, while Rekf perched atop a boulder. The night sky, once adorned with stars, now shimmered with a golden hue, glittery flakes cascading like confetti yet never actually falling.

  “More or less. I wanted to meet the man who turned my playful jab at Halcis into reality. After 14,000 years, I had begun to lose hope.”

  “This is a lot to process. Thank you, I guess? I seem to owe you a huge debt.” I had always been adept at compartmentalizing my thoughts, but this was an overwhelming influx of information.

  “You’re welcome, kid. I’ll need to put you back in your dreams now. Too much godly exposure isn’t healthy for mortals, though you’ll probably be fine. You might bleed from your ears and eyes a bit, but no permanent damage should be done.” As Rekf moved for the first time, it rose like a statue levitating above the mushroom it had been sitting on and began to float away.

  “I may contact you in the future. It was truly nice meeting you.”

  “You too. But I must ask—why do you look like that? All the other gods resemble mortal races, more or less. And what was that about bleeding from my ears?”

  “You’ll be fine. As for the other thing... well, I’ll tell you, but I wouldn’t spread it around. No one would believe you anyway. This is a child’s toy I found floating through a dead universe at the edge of reality. I stuffed myself into it because if I were to be present in my true form, that universe would unravel almost instantly. Picture a drop of soap landing in a pool of grease. I’m the soap; reality is the grease. Even the other gods would evaporate if they ever saw me as I truly am. I come from outside reality itself, but it was rather dull there, so I came here to play around. Okay, bye!” With that, he floated upwards into the turpentine sky and vanished in a flash of brilliance.

  I sat there for a moment, my head pounding even in this non-dream state. One problem I hadn’t known I had just been solved; now, a multitude of others loomed ahead.