Young Gods (or Frank Saves the Day)
an excerpt

Frank knew he was not a very good god. That is probably why he was given this little planet on the outskirts of the universe, despite scoring really high marks for his final exams. It wasn’t that he was a particularly bad god, or evil in any way. He tried very hard to be a good god, but something always happened – and it was very often not his fault, even if it frequently appeared to be. And, of course, there is the little matter of his parents.
It was often suggested by some of the cliquey young gods (and their parents) at the academy that he should be downgraded to a demigod, and steer clear away from any planet with any form of life on it, or maybe even take a desk job at head office. He felt that the fates were against him. And they were a tough crowd to please, regardless of who your parents are.
Some of the other young gods, who attended Young Gods Academy with him, were assigned large, beautiful planets, far higher up in the hierarchy, purely because their parents were well-established gods with multiple planets – despite the fact that their final marks were not good enough to get them into advanced godding courses or Creator College. His parents were considered to be a little weird, mostly because of their little experiments – but their general outlook on the system and daily god life did not help either.
When he was still a toddler, his parents requested a transfer to a remote solar system, where they could be left alone. They each had a set of planets, in a solar system on the outer rim of one of the quieter galaxies, towards the outer rim of the universe. Both his parents were qualified creators, and his mother had completed her masters in creating too. That was probably what got them into trouble most often, because his parents had a penchant for creating experimental creatures, some against the general law governing godding and creating. That, and the fact that they did not play well with others.
Before attending the academy, he often went into his parents’ office and helped out with the lighter tasks. Of course, they weren’t allowed to teach him any creating, but he was able to make a sun rise shortly after he learned how to walk and helped out with the smaller prayers not too long after. And then there were the creatures his parents created, which he often had to feed and take care of when they lost interest in the experiment.
When he was growing up, the hierarchy of the universe was explained to him, from his parents’ perspective. By the time he got to the Young Gods Academy, he knew that all life-forms started on the small, hostile planets on the outskirts of the universe (where the young and inexperienced gods started out their careers, or the incompetent gods were sent as punishment), and, as they learned and grew, they reincarnated into supposedly better life-forms on better planets.
Young gods, when they first leave the Academy, will be placed on planets depending on their final year examination results, but heritage and upbringing does play a fair role in the process too.
His parents, however, did not believe that the system was all that fair. They believed that all souls should be a given a chance to see Nirvana (the circle of really nice planets), rather than having to work their way up the ladder. They even suggested that souls should start out in Nirvana, and then move their way through the other levels, so they have some motivation for getting back there. Most souls do not even know what they are striving for, unless one of the celestials tells them – which happens more often than one would think, but souls are stubborn and often don’t listen.
They also wondered how fair it was making souls live by a set of rules conjured up by a bunch of old gods who hadn’t seen souls in what might as well be eternity. Worse still, those rules are not communicated to the souls – and if they are, the souls don’t believe them anyway, because it seems so unreal - so they just have to wing it as they go along, meaning that many of them never evolve past the second level without a push and a shove.
His parents suspected this might just simply be a job creation act, because old gods seemed to live so much longer these days, which gives them the ability to create more off-spring than their parents did. That means a lot of young gods needing jobs outside of HQ.
Not all young gods get assigned planets upon graduation. Some enter apprenticeships on the larger planets, to help out the older gods (and they generally end up inheriting the planet once the old god enters retirement, so this is generally considered to be a nice deal for a lazy young god). Others may take a desk job in the various regional offices, and there were a host of services to provide to the greater godding community, like food, entertainment and, of course, old gods needed taking care of. A young god can make a good living without having to get their hands dirty.