Change. It happens to everyone. It’s part of the laws of physics, from the equations that define entropy, to the chemical reactions going on in our bodies every day. We change, we grow up, we grow old, and we die. Our world changes around us and we change with it.

I had always thought the changes in my life were mapped out: Grow up, go to school, get a degree, get a job, meet a nice guy, and maybe have a family someday. Some of the changes I went through in middle school and high school threw some monkey wrenches into the neatly ordered plans for my life. Despite my parents wishes, I wasn’t interested in settling down with any guys, and that led to another change as I left the church never to return. I went from the brilliant daughter with a bright future to the daughter going through a phase that we don’t talk about in front of anyone.

However, I still went to college. The educational system cared little about my personal life as long as it didn’t interfere with my grades. It was there that the catalyst for some of the biggest changes in my life would cross my path.

I found what I thought was someone’s lost cellphone and I decided to take it to the campus' lost and found. I picked it up and noticed the oddly ornate design of it. A moment later some guy in an all white suit told me he was with something called the Paradox Control Office, and that I was in possession of an illegal artifact. A flash of light from his hand caused the world to fall away.

Since that day I’ve been tossed from world to world by some incomprehensible force. The only constant is my old tablet which somehow never needs to charge, and always finds its way back to me before I get world-tossed again.

The funky cellphone that started this mess was taken from me in the first world I hit. Couple of guys named Wednesday and Low-Key said they’d help me with this mess. I woke up later with nothing but my tablet and a wretched hangover in a hotel room I hadn’t paid for with someone banging on the door. The world travelling effect hit, and me and part of the hotel room ended up in the middle of a North Valdemar winter.

That would likely have ended things right there. The bedsheet I had being hardly enough to protect more than my modesty and having been too far from the bed when I travelled to have a chance of getting the blanket. Thankfully, a Herald, who was gifted in foresight, gave me a cloak and got me to a waystation before I froze to death.

Since then I’ve been thrown through so many worlds I've lost track of them all. Met a few people I could trust, and spent a lot of time trying to survive the trouble I encountered.

I encountered gods.

I don't trust gods. Not in the sense of not believing in them: I've met too many since I've started being tossed from world to world, and I've learned through painful experience not to trust them. Not that this stops me from making the mistake of getting too close sometimes.

A large part of the problem I have with gods is that I am not native to these worlds. Gods have certain connections to their followers and that usually provides the natives of a world with some ability to tolerate their divine auras. I don't have this, so most powerful deity-class beings are able to reduce me to a quivering wreck just by being in the room with me. There's nothing I've encountered that is as horrifying as the feeling of a god's presence crushing my will. Sadly, this hasn't kept them from trying to use me as a disposable pawn in their games. In fact, something about me always seems to be just whatever they're looking for in a plaything.

Gods play games with people. They war amongst themselves, and we mortals more often than not are the ones called on to do the dying. The world I've been stuck in for the last few years has taken things to new levels. Here the gods give out fragments of divine power to their chosen. Sounds great, except it means that you've got a few hundred god-powered people fighting over the world, and us vanilla mortals get screwed - in every sense of the word.

Unlike some other worlds I've been tossed to, I knew this one, or at least I knew of it. I'd run a game here for my roommate before my life went crazy. Unfortunately this meant I knew things about this world that those in power would have liked to have kept secret. In a world where people walk around with world altering power and have ways of knowing that their secrets have been compromised, knowing too much could have gotten me killed or worse.

Thankfully, I also knew who to look up, and what to tell them to get their help. Ultimately it meant deciding which deities I'd end up getting used by. The reasonably human friendly Incarna were a much safer bet than the demonic horrors of the Yozis. So I'd spent the time trying to save the world from the forces of evil. Which translates to trying not to think too hard about what I was doing, because I never wanted to save the world from the forces of evil. It would have been nice, sure, but it wasn't what I'd planned. To this day I still don't know how I survived half of what happened. I'm still not sure I survived the other half at all.

But all things come to an end, and in this world there was even a goddess making sure of that. I started feeling the stirrings that told me I was getting world-tossed again. Luna had told me that not even the Incarna could stop my travels as their power was tied to Creation and my travels went beyond that. I wasn't surprised. None of the gods I'd encountered would stop my travels, though few would openly admit they couldn't.

As the time approached I checked my things again before going to the place that Evelyn had prepared for my trip. When I get thrown between worlds, a small sphere of matter goes with me. The room we'd prepared had a clear space for me to stand, and all manner of arcane magitech to monitor the transit. The clear space meant that a minimum of extra matter would go with me, and hopefully the various monitoring devices wouldn't make the trip any more unpleasant than it usually was. I don't usually get to prepare for this, so the chance to do so was a nice change.

Feeling the shivers that come about a half hour before transit, I walked to the center of the room. Evelyn wasn't around, but I'm sure she was monitoring the room. With her Alchemical charms she could easily interact remotely with any machine not protected from such control. She had built in WiFi and could network her mind. Both very cool, and kind of unsettling all at once. But she had been a firm ally from the moment I contacted her and convinced her of my story.

"I'm going soon, best get the monitors ready" I said to the room. A low hum confirmed my suspicion that Evelyn had been listening in. I gripped the strap on my messenger bag and prepared to stand around doing nothing till the transit so that I wouldn't mess up whatever readings Evelyn was getting. It was then I heard the door open and felt Him.

Autochthon, god of craft, artifice, and invention. My mind reeled under the flood of ideas and concepts that His presence caused me. As He walked closer, I fell to my knees. I couldn't even turn to look at Him. Then suddenly the feeling stopped. I carefully stood up and turned to look at him. A brass humanoid, in the form of an old man with lines of magical metals running in circuitry-like patterns over his 'skin' and glowing crystals set in various ports. He walked with a limp, and coughed smoke every so often. It was strange to look directly at him like this. Up till now, I would find myself unable to look at any of the Incarna, or 'Greater Gods'.

"It Would Seem The Essence Limiter Works. Good. I Had Hoped To Meet You. Your Information Has Helped My Sisters And Myself Considerably. And Yet You Are Still Mortal," Autocthon said.

While I wasn't being crushed under the inspiration of His Divine Aura, his words were like small pieces of the aura tapping at my brain. I lowered my gaze.

"I am honored Great Maker." I told him.

"And A Great Honor And Experiment Shall Be Yours. You Are Outside The System Of Fate I Designed. Because Of This You Cannot Receive The Exaltations I Created For The Other Incarna. My Sister Luna Would Have Claimed You For Your Cunning Otherwise. However Your Skillful Use Of Tools Marks You As Mine. And I May Claim You Regardless Of Fate," he said pulling out a glowing jewel.

Oh crap. Given the two-thirds failure rate on Alchemical Exaltations, I had no desire to have one tried on me, particularly not an experimental model. I had to think fast.

"I am honored, but I am not worthy of such. And besides I will not be in this world much longer," I told the god quickly, trying to sound appropriately humble.

"Nonsense! I Have Chosen You, And You Are Mine. If You Still Travel After This, Then You Shall Carry My Design To Worlds Even I Cannot Go To," Autochthon said.

I had started to back away from the Machine God, but he turned off whatever was protecting me from his aura and I was stunned by the sudden rush of divine presence. I couldn't even think this close to Him, and I just stood there as He brought the jewel toward my forehead. The moment it made contact, a new sensation brushed aside the divine aura afflicting me. Pain. I could feel the jewel burrowing into my forehead, sending wires into my skin. I fell to the ground, clutching at the jewel, trying to pull it out.

You are Auspicious Harmonic Engineer
This Is Your Transformation And Ascension
You will carry my gift to new worlds
You will build, repair, create, and innovate
And the world around You shall change
And You shall be the architect of change
For You are Exalted.

I never wanted this, I'd tried so hard to keep these worlds from changing me so much that I can never go home. And with one action, taken while I was broken by His divine presence, Autochthon took that last piece of humanity from me.

I passed out and the world went away around me.

I'd like to thank Techogre both for his wonderful story and the encouragement to make my own story. And the wonderful friends I've met in the memverse group who've helped with editing, suggestions, and encouragement. (and delightful helpings of random insanity. :) )

Tosety, Discord's Advocate, KMCA, Genosaber, and Warpd: Thank you so much for all the help you've been!