I found myself in an endless field, a patch of dirt surrounded by wilting corn that spanned infinitely into the horizon. Ash fell from the sky like snow, clumping in piles at my feet. As I looked around, a voice called out to me.

"Casper Owen Boppy."

It was quiet at first, but as it repeated it grew louder and louder.

"Casper Owen Boppy."

I had to escape.

"Casper Owen Boppy."

The earth rumbled in response to its deafening grumbles. I pushed into the corn stalks and ran, only to find myself in the patch once more.

"Casper Owen Boppy."

A distant mountain rose, sprouting leafy arms that dug into the floor as it lumbered over to me like a horrible dragon. It heaved, and its breath rattled as though passing through a wind chime made of bone. The beast's shadow cast over me, and a golden crocodilian grin formed as its hollow eyes met mine. Here was a monster wilted, decayed, yet utterly insurmountable. For the first time in my life, I understood what it meant to be powerless.

"Casper Owen Boppy," it breathed, as though it were speaking its final words.

"What the fuck are you?" I spat, backing away in a hopeless attempt to run. Air escaped rhythmically from its abyssal maw, and I realized that it was laughing.

"I am your God."

"What?"

It laughed again, then prowled around the patch, crushing the corn without dropping its gaze. "I am a God diminished. I am a God defiled. I am a God fettered." It pulled its head close until it was mere inches away from me. "But in you, Nephew... I see freedom."

"Why me?" My voice was breaking. I could feel my heart race, and it seemed that it would stop beating at any moment. Nephew?

"You and I are cut from the same... Crop." It smiled before rising like a snake and blotting out the sun. "I am life born from death. I am death born from life. I have watched you grant life to the dead, and I have seen you grant death to the living. You have given and taken. You have planted the seeds, and I ask you to harvest your bounty, Reaper."

"You must be mistaken, sir. I haven't either of those things."

"Kaneko. Kerry. One rose at your command, the other fell by your hand."

"That was nothing."

"Precisely."

"Huh?"

"You end and begin as though it is nothing. You do as I once did."

"What do you want from me, freak?"

"Do you see the poison seeped into these fields? The blight wrought by your predecessor?"

"Yeah, I see it. Who's my predecessor? What am I?"

"I ask that you draw that poison from me, free me from the wilting and restore me to what I once was."

"Answer my fucking questions, who am I and who came before me?" I shouted. The beast's face snapped towards me, and in its empty eyes I saw the godly fury told of only in ancient myth. There came a rustling from the field, and a green arm snaked towards me. I dove out of the way, but it grabbed my leg and snatched me up, tossing and catching me so that only my head escaped its clenched fist. I felt the wind sprint through my hair and opened my eyes to find the beast glaring at me as the horizon raced by.

"You would do well to not shake your fists at powers far beyond you," it snapped. I saw the ground grow distant, then watched the sky and earth revolve as he whipped me through the air, his slender form like a whirling scar on the world. I saw the patch of dirt rapidly approach, and shut my eyes to brace for its impact.

Pain. Unbearable, searing pain. I thought I would die or wake up from this hell, but I was left breathing, left alive as soil entombed me. My lungs quaked as dirt clogged them. I felt roots coil my limbs, I could feel them crawl under my skin and up my bones. Darkness fell upon me as the looming beast's head eclipsed the sun.

"Today I have shown you the mercy denied to your predecessor. Gods are not to be trifled with, we are not to be bargained with. Be grateful that I let you learn that lesson," It snarled.

I tried to spit at it, and a feeble spattering of crimson crossed my vision, dampening my chin and dripping onto my neck.

"Bill Zachariah Boppy was a fool, a lord of only mice and miscreants. In him, I placed my trust, and in return I received naught but rot. From you, I demand restoration. Fix his mistakes, tend to my fields, and I make you a God."

Uncle Bill? This thing knew Uncle Bill?

"Steal the power granted from that infernal contract by those arbitrating devils. Give it to me, piece by piece, and I will purify these lands. In return, I will reveal the secrets of my power unto you. I will make you a God, so long as you make me whole once more. I have already delivered the method, all that is left is for you to accept the means." The cornstalks grew, the great husk's figure disappearing behind a dome enshrining the dirt patch like a cathedral. Vines twined together like rope, a patchwork hand of corn cobs blossomed from its tip and descended to me.

"Bear this burden, Reaper, and a bountiful harvest shall await you."

I wanted to say no. I wanted to spit into his hand and hold my ground, but the thought of the Stevewalker's twitching corpse beneath that brass hammer kept me from dying with dignity. It was that thought--that memory of a budding love broken before it could ever blossom and the hope that it could still bloom despite--that guided my hand into the air. Blood dribbled down my arm, but I found the god's grip and curled his fingers in mine.

"Then rise, Necornmancer, and claim this world in the name of the Husk," it boomed.

The hand pulled me from my soil-bound coffin and left me standing in front of a freshly covered grave. The grass here was grey, and a storm was brewing. The first drops of rain fell on my shoulders. I felt the weight of the corn hand shift in my grasp, and found a rotted yellow book in its place. The first page was written in a language I couldn't read, but I understood it nonetheless. My hand raised above the grave as I felt power surge through me, coming as an ache that stung like stretching bones and warm sun. Inside of me, I felt something fundamental shatter, only for the cracks to be filled with something new. Something different. Soul-Binding. I called out to death and demanded life, and a rumbling came from beneath the grave, bubbling to the surface to answer me. The dirt erupted into the air when a pale hand emerged, the Stevewalker's stonecarved name disappearing behind his corn-infested form. His glazed eyes met mine, and for a moment, I saw horror reflected back at me.

Then it was over, and my eyes opened to the ceiling of Uncle Bill's farmhouse. 

Rise, Necornmancer.

And I will make you a God.