The Portalian Offer

A soft, floral scent filled the room as the colossal, serpentine entity appeared, surrounded by a haze of pink clouds and lilac sparkles. The Allbirther had arrived, with an awkward smile on her face.

“My darlings!” Yisini beamed, surveying her surroundings and counting everyone up. “I am so, so sorry for the delay. Unfortunately Kinisis has been making things difficult, what with her plans to build a damn Life Oasis right on top of our universe…”

The fifteen individuals in the room didn’t say anything. Most of them were in awe, not really sure what they were looking at, aside from “at a god”. Yisini smiled at each of them, then counted them all again. As she did so though, the smile on her face faded.

“There are… less of you than I would have liked…” the Allbirther muttered. “Should have tried to… oh well… It’s all done now…” Yisini snapped her fingers, returning to her former chirpy mood. Fifteen chairs appeared in a semicircle around her, each one differently sized and tailored to the fifteen unique individuals. “Please, sit down, we have much to discuss!”

The fifteen mortals all did as they were asked, silently sitting down. There was still plenty of awe to be had, but the temperament of several of the beings had simmered slightly.

“Why are we here?” was grunted by several of the more gruff creatures. “What do you want with us?”

Yisini tapped her fingers together. “Simply put, I want to make a genuine paradise for everyone. Kinisis is fucking around with her dumb paradise for Life Goddesses, but the way I see it, why can’t I do the same for you all? After all, you poor mortals have suffered greatly because of our mistakes, and I believe you all need to be compensated. The question is, how do we do this?”

The Allbirther paused for a moment, waiting for any sort of reaction. But she was dismayed to see that she’d been met with mostly confusion and disbelief.

“Seems a little too good to be true.”

“Especially if it’s anything like them Rethans.”

“The last time a god offered us paradise, we ended up at war.”

“We ended up enslaved.”

Yisini took a deep breath. She knew what was bothering them. “What my siblings have done has not been… of your best interests. I won’t deny it, in my own insanity, I haven’t acted in your best interests either, and I’m the damn Allbirther. That’s why I brought you all here, because I want to work this out properly. I originally… considered something akin to what Kenon did, without the mind control. But instead, after some… heated conversations with Kinisis, I have come up with a new plan, based on an already-existing system.”

Again, Yisini snapped her fingers. In her free hand, sixteen large files appeared, all but one of which she handed to the mortal leaders. Each file was bound in pink with colour-coded tabs with a bold title stamped on the front.

“The Portalian offer?” one being queried.

“Like, the planet Portalia?” another asked.

Yisini nodded. “Exactly like Portalia. Everyone having their own little districts, but with resources being created simultaneously from multiple sources, sent to a main hub and then distributed equally.”

“Does this also include the whole Dessaron Battle Area concept too?” one of the larger beings asked.

“If that is what you all agree too!” Yisini smiled. “I won’t be going ahead on anything until we’ve had a consensus and I can’t even get started unless I have a full agreement from you all. So, I want you all to take some time to read through those files, have a chat among yourselves, and let me know when you all want to talk. I’ll check in on you all in 24 hours. Understood?”

The mortal leaders all glanced at each other, then nodded, some of them more reluctantly than others.

“Alright!” Yisini beamed, snapping her fingers one more time. “If you have any questions, stick them inside this pretty jar. Feel free to be anonymous if you want. And I’ll come by and get you some answers tomorrow.”

Before any of the beings could say anything, the Allbirther disappeared, taking the pink haze and purple glitter with her.