<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0114</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0115.txt">Next (Page 115)</A><BR><P><P>And in that single act, Daptin felt something more good than anything he had ever imagined. And he knew that things would never be the same, knowing that feeling.<P><P>He Created, and Thirteen people stood at the threshold of a new Land. They stood at the gate, the first opening, and they saw. And none of them believed what they saw. For it was a thing that all of them had harbored deep in their spirits, something glimpsed briefly only a few times in a lifetime, something you could maybe see a tiny glimmer of in one of those perfect days of youth. But here--here it just bluntly hit them all straight in the face. It was everywhere. It was unbelievable. It was Creation.<P><P>And they saw Daptin in the distance, on a hilltop, arms raised. This was his doing--it all pointed to him. This was wonderful. This was impossible. This was Daptin's Land.<P><P>Many of them wanted to speak, but they knew they couldn't. Daptin would speak the first words here. That was the way it had to be.<P><P>And eventually, after what might have been a minute or a century, Daptin turned to the group and smiled.<P><P>"This is my Land," he said. "And you were all here to witness its Creation. Welcome."<P><P>They all smiled.<P><P>Daptin approached each one of them in turn, clasping hands with them and smiling. When he got to Fake, she spoke.<P><P>"I hope this doesn't make you think you're God or anything," she said, smiling.<P><P>"I'm still the same old Daptin you knew," he said, then his expression turned more serious. "At least, part of me is."<P><P>"This is the first time I've ever felt truly real," Bith said as Daptin clasped his massive hands. "Thank you."<P><P>Daptin smiled and moved on to Coabler.<P><P>"I've been to one of these before," the sawman said with a knowing glance. "Yours was better."<P><P>Daptin let out a short laugh.<P><P>"Thanks."<P><P>The Creator greeted all thirteen individuals, except for Jerald, who was still unconscious. Daptin was happy the little creep had missed his Wonderful act of Creation--it served him right!<P><P>And Daptin liked the fact that he could still feel such petty feelings. He didn't want to lose his humanity, and he knew he wouldn't, but his current state of consciousness seemed to dwarf the human in him. Indeed, he could feel and sense, see and hear, smell and taste every nook and cranny of the world he had just Created. And a wonderful place it was. He was even then finalizing the arrangements of everything--and he found it invigorating that he had such a canvas to work on. And it felt so natural--it was effortless--and he wasn't designing things either, he was just sort of directing the way they flowed.<P><P>He made the area directly around them into a green, hilly paradise, with waterfalls, flowers, streams, lawns, fruit, and all the rest. And in the center of it all, he made a structure, a lovely house, including rooms that would always belong to each of the thirteen--even one for Jerald. <P><P>And then Daptin became aware of the two trapped in little plastic toy bodies, and he brought them forth and gave them life again and gave them rooms.<P><P>"Whoah!" Demolish All said as Tickle the Monster and Tavmatey Numblem came into being. <P><P>"So I made it through after all!" Tavmatey said. Then she looked around. "I guess."<P><P>Tickle bounded around like a monkey, and was drinking in the first sips of the sensory overload around him. His primitive mind was just beginning to grasp the situation.<P><P>Daptin approached Tavmatey.<P><P>"Tavmatey Numblem, I presume?" he said.<P><P>"Yes," she said shyly, smiling a sly smile and looking up at Daptin with awfully bright eyes. Her voice was hoarse, but adorable.<P><P>"Tell me about Sleap Drassy," Daptin said. He already knew, but he wanted to hear it from her.<P><P>"What did you want to know about her?" Tavmatey said in a childish, flirting, impatient manner, her hands clasped behind her back.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0115.txt">Next (Page 115)</A>