Gods

The god of thunder sat in his throne high above the plains of the world, watching it far below. He watched as the clouds formed and moved, and he systematically sent bolts of lightning through to the surface, reaching deep into the core to supply power. His electricity was the fuel upon which the world he observed ran, though the people below had no idea. He had heard whisperings that they believed it ran on internal power which came from the rotation of the planet or some such nonsense.

He had no idea where they got those kinds of ideas.

He found an odd sense of pleasure in watching his work play out on the small planet. He hardly needed to be there. He had set his works in motion, to be able to control themselves, to sense where power was needed and to send them out. At times, this meant that innocents were placed in the path of his bolts, and they may even be killed. But as far as he was concerned, it was of little worry. There were so many people and animals, and they were hit so infrequently, it hardly inconvenienced their history. They would be fine.

"How is the planet going?" came a voice from behind the god. He recognized the voice immediately. It was the goddess of the seas. She was not a fan of her creations being struck by his lightning. He had tried to explain to her on many occasions that his work was vital, and that casualties were unavoidable. She would hear little of it. Yet, somehow, for some reason, she had still married him.

"It is continuing on as usual," he replied. "The core is fully powered. Everything is still in motion, and is set to be in motion for a few thousand of their years."

"And how many of my fish have you killed?"

The thunder god rolled his eyes. "You should know perfectly well. You keep a good enough count of your creatures. Which means you should also know that far more are created on a daily basis than my lightning kills on a yearly one."

"You keep saying that, but you are still ending the lives of my fish before they are intended."

"There is plenty of space for death on this planet. One day, if we are to let things continue on at your pace, there may be too many of the living creatures on this planet. And then you will regret not having let my thunder kill more of them."

"I find that unlikely. Many things would have to go wrong for that to happen."

"Well, those will certainly not be my fault. My systems are well designed. I am doing my job more efficiently than many of the others are."

"I hear that the people below think your lightning is random, unnecessary, and dangerous."

"The people below are ignorant."

The sea goddess and giggled and laid a hand on her husband's shoulder. "So defensive," she said. "Must you always take things so personally?"

"Says the one who accuses me directly of being the downfall of her creations."