Chapter Summaries

God revealed that Norton’s existence had created new spacetime and that the Garden of Eden and its history were products of Norton’s thoughts, while each cycle offered him a choice between enduring the void, reincarnating, or dying in his original world. Norton realized the truth about Shenyin and entered primordial slumber, after which his divine corpse fell into a newly forming world as life began to evolve.

• God appeared before Norton in the void, explained that Norton had been drawn into a cycle of rebirth, and showed him countless versions of his life ending in vampirism.
• Norton attacked God but was restrained, and God explained that Norton could not destroy or escape him because Norton’s existence sustained God’s endless expansion.
• God offered Norton the choices of remaining in the void, entering another cycle, or returning to his original world to die, while Norton considered the loneliness and limits of each option.
• Norton asked why God had been born, and God revealed that Norton’s thoughts had shaped the Garden of Eden, its gods, its living beings, and its history.
• Norton asked about Shenyin and learned that life had been under his control; he laughed, shed golden tears, and fell into primordial slumber.
• Norton’s divine corpse was pinned to a cross, fell into the sea of a newly forming world, and its blood spread as life evolved and humanoid tool users appeared.

Norton, a young cleric, tried to escape Father Abraham’s predatory call by pretending to have stomach trouble, but when the priest grabbed him, Norton fought back. The rest of the chapter was an author’s note explaining the novel’s ending and apologizing for delays.

• Karl asked Norton what Father Abraham and Jacob were doing inside the confessional hut.
• Father Abraham summoned Norton after Jacob left, and Norton tried to avoid going in by claiming his stomach hurt.
• Father Abraham threatened Norton and reached for him despite his pleas and attempts to disgust the priest.
• Norton punched Father Abraham in the eye and cursed him.
• The author explained three possible versions of the ending and described why Norton served as an alarm clock for the parasite God.
• The author apologized for the slow updates, discussed the novel’s ending and writing, and said they had not yet settled on their next book.