#afteshi

Okay, so there are many things I love about this pathetic excuse of a person. First, let's talk a bit about his origin.

He was originally a god of Death, and there are many gods of that sort, few of them nice. He is from a northern country, his legend rooted in the ancient Iiima perception of Death as a guiding creature between worlds, one that has never seen the light of day, which contributed to his pale complexion and colorless hair.

The original benevolence attributed to the ancient god, however, did not stick to the newer legends, his image reimagined into that of a cold and cruel warrior, or sometimes judge, or sometimes thief.

Although belief does not affect a god's personality, it does affect their perception of themself and their memories, and so although Uncle God is not cruel by nature, he thought himself so and, on the occasions when he interacted with humans, acted accordingly, stricking fear into their hearts, until...

So, there's Talima and Afteshi, two genius scientist ladies who, being recently exiled for treason against their empire and on their honeymoon and having the best time of their lives, decided to commit a crime against gods and nature by creating an artificial soul (souls are the power source to everything, so they monopoly gods hold over souls is very important to them).

To do that and not get divine retribution-ed into charcoal, they needed for the god responsible for keeping account of souls to disappear. Yes, that is the God of Death.

The poor deity had nothing on a combination of magic, science, and the element of surprise, and so, quickly and without issue, he got imprisoned in the basement of Talima and Afteshi's castle. He was furious, of course. He wanted revenge and to wreak havoc upon the impudent mortals and all that good jazz.

However, there was a problem. The problem's name is Heshiktow, the child whose soul the scientists artificially created, a homunculus, and also the sweetest creature to ever grace the Aerth with their presence.

They visited the god imprisoned in their basement, whom they came to call Uncle, every day, chatting about their adventures and discoveries and bringing him food. They were quite a lonely child, growing up in a castle in the middle of a forest that was considered haunted, and so their moms, their books, their chimera companions and the funny uncle that lives in the basement were their only friends.

At one point, when Heshi was about 12, their moms went missing as the result of an experiment gone wrong, and so from this age to the age of 16 they were completely alone. They could take care of themself at that point, the castle running on maintenance magic and the Heart Garden always bearing plenty of fruit, but their emotional state was far from good, and their so-called uncle was the only person who they could talk to.

Uncle God and Heshi bonded much closer during this time, and when the events of the story set in motion and Uncle God is released under far-from-perfect circumstances, the first thing he does is exhaust his powers in order to save his nephew, rendering him mortal. That is actually the start of his journey of existential horror, fight with hubris, and discovering the joys and dreads of being somewhat human.

And he looks like this: