“Greetings mortal. I am the great god of pleasure, Bjorn. I regret to inform you that you have died… fear not, for I have seen fit to allow you to reincarnate. I will even be so kind as to give you my divine blessing…. Hey what gives, why the hell does a puppet have a gender lock on it?”
Evan looked at the so-called god. “The administrator slash angel slash god from that white space remembered your tendency. Unless he lied to me I was involved in a summoning.”
“Uh huh ja, whatever…. Why am I completely locked out of your soul? I can’t even alter your body pattern to make you girly. Damn it, that prudish bitch tricked me!”
“Right, well I guess I will just see myself out then.”
“Huh? Whatever, brah.” The so-called god didn’t even acknowledge Evan’s presence after he went off script.
Evan stepped through another door to find himself in what he saw as a hallway in an office building. The room had that same false sensation that the old man in the white space had. Evan walked down the hall until he came to an open door. When he stepped through he saw a woman in a pantsuit. On her desk was a figurine of her, though the figurine depicted her in armor. She smiled as Evan entered the office.
“Go ahead and take a seat. Once Bjorn finishes inspecting your soul I can send you to the surface of the planet we will be settling you on. I will have to ask you to allow me to examine your soul for contraband, knowledge that we won’t allow to develop in this world as well as certain things that we don’t feel the people are ready to know. We could wait until the lock that Void put on your soul expires, but that would leave you open to Bjorn’s meddling.”
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“Okay, go ahead then, I would like to be informed of anything you make me forget though.”
The woman nodded to indicate that she had heard Evan as she examined him. “Well you seem to be clean for the most part. I would like to remove your memories of guns but that would leave too many gaps in your memories. I would appreciate it if you didn’t try to develop any. I did remove your knowledge of the basic recipe for gunpowder. You could still recreate it from memory but it would be harder. Usually we would select a suitable place for you to appear but we don’t have much leeway in slowing your soul down. The most we can do is guarantee you won’t die the moment you materialize, and that you won’t kill someone by doing so.”
“Thanks, I was familiar with the stories this whole process inspired. I would say this is well organized…. Even if you consider Bjorn.”
“Yes, we try to revise the process when those authors come up with good ideas. On that same note however. We would appreciate it if you made an effort to prevent people from trying to summon heroes. It distracts us from our proper roles and just causes more problems for the people. We haven’t had a true summoning in over one thousand years and I would like to keep it that way.”
“Sure. Say, what role do the gods have in this world?”
“Ah, good question. In short we provide blessings to people which allows us to affect the world more directly than we would be able to otherwise. By the way, I am Emilia, Goddess of abundance and industry. This statute shows how I am most often depicted on Iralda, our name for the planet where we will be sending you. My blessing allows people to use a special power often called Craftsmen's Grace. It allows the user to grant someone extra luck when making things for twenty-four hours. I can use this to guide the craftsmen’s hands, encouraging or discouraging the development of technologies.”
“Ahh, It seems Bjorn has given up. Do you have any more questions or requests before I send you on your way?”
“No. Well…. Is there any good way for me to get in contact with you?”
“If you pray at one of my temples I may respond if I have the time available. One moment…. Okay, I’ve flagged your soul. If you pray to me I should notice. If that is all then just walk through that door and you will be on your way.”