It was my first time in the shop.

I had reached a point in my life where things were moving slowly -- I was starting to get bored of doing the same activities over and over again for eternity. I’d already gone back and forth between time and space enough that it wasn’t exciting anymore. I needed something new, so I decided to try my hand at a fresh hobby.

I’d considered trying one of these shops before, but I’d never had the courage to walk in. This particular activity was definitely outside my comfort zone, but everyone I knew who had tried it said that it was an incredible experience, and I knew several people who had ended up making it into a career.

When I entered the shop, it smelled like brimstone and life. An interesting combination, but something in my soul stirred when I smelled it -- I could understand why this was such a popular hobby.

“Welcome,” said the attendant. “How can I help you?”

Each of the walls was lined with drawers -- thousands of them, each with a tiny label affixed to the front.

“I’m just browsing,” I said.

“First time here,” the attendant said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” I said. “Do you have a recommendation for beginners?”

The attendant was obviously pleased that I asked. “Indeed,” they said. “This entire wall is devoted to beginners.”

I followed the attendant to the far wall, where each of the drawers was painted a bright color.

“The grey drawers are the bases,” they said. “I recommend one of our pre-created worlds for beginners.”

“What’s pre-created about them?”

“Oh, it varies. Almost all of the worlds in the beginner section have already gotten past the raining fire phase. Some of them have life beginning. And this,” they opened a drawer and took out a glowing orb. “Is what I like to call our grab-and-go option. Intelligent life has already sprung -- you don’t even need to give them fire.”

I peered at the orb. There was a world inside, a bluish blob that felt very alive.

“I think I’d like to look at some less packaged ones,” I said.

“Up for a challenge, eh?” the attendant asked. “Feel free to browse the drawers. The green ones have different life forms you can introduce.”

“What’s in here?” I asked, opening up a red drawer.

“I call them excitements,” the attendant said. “Plagues. Meteors. Volcanic eruptions. If things are boring and you want to spice it up a bit.”

I nodded and closed the drawer. It smelled like pain. The attendant was still speaking.

“I don’t recommend this for beginners, but you can co-host a world if you’d like. Makes some nice cultural differences -- most people who do it each take a continent, let their little intelligent lifeforms decide for themselves what to call their creators. I think you should keep it to two or three people, because if you get more than that the inhabitants will start to kill each other over whose creator is real.” They laughed loudly. “Which is ridiculous, of course, because all of their creators are real!”

“I think I’ll do my own for now,” I murmured. “Keep it simple.”

“Of course,” said the attendant. “Just remember -- no returns. Once you’ve started a world, it’s your responsibility. I see too many young ones come in here thinking they’re prepared to care for one, but it just gets abandoned. That’s always a disaster.”

I opened a gray drawer and picked up the world nestled inside it. This one smelled like curiosity.

“How far along is this one?” I asked. The attendant took the orb and peered at it.

“This one looks to be a standard beginner world,” they said. “I would say life is on the verge of arriving.” They handed the world back to me, and I held it in my hands, feeling the weight.

“I like this one,” I said. “I think I’ll take it.”

“Wonderful!” said the attendant. “This one is located in the fifth universe, I’ll show you on the map.”

They shot us through the time-space continuum, where we hovered above a rocky planet.

“That’s your sun,” they said, pointing to a star a few light-minutes away. “You’re the only one who’s taken a world in this system, so you won’t be disturbed here. There is someone orbiting that star --” they pointed. “--but they’re a beginner too, so I doubt your inhabitants will make contact for a long time.”

I laughed. “I forgot they use linear time,” I said. “That’ll be interesting.”

The attendant brought us back to the shop. “If you have any questions, we are always open,” they said. “Feel free to come back when you’re ready to kick evolution into gear. I recently acquired a very interesting form of life -- it creates energy from feelings of happiness.”

They handed me my world, which they had carefully wrapped in possibility.

“Don’t drop it,” they said. “They don’t like to be dropped.” The attendant then handed me two more packages.

“Since you’re a beginner, I threw in a few moons,” they said. “And a meteor. Just in case.”