D0C3 - Beginnings (Part III)
Once we are of some distance from the door that I came through, she turns around, finally facing me. With wave of her hand, two meter sized dice fall from the sky. She sits on one of them and motions me to sit on the other. Once I do so, she waves her hands once again. Just like the first time, I spot something in the sky, falling rapidly. Consecutively 5 large wheels fall land in the space between us, stacking into a table of sorts.
After this magical display of godly powers I finally stop getting distracted. With a good look at her, one could truly tell she was a god, albeit a rather young one. She could not have been a day over 16. Nevertheless, despite her cute button face, she had a very full figure, all the right places were sticking out. I could almost hear her personal fan club worshipping her off in the distance, screaming “Step on me~”. At this thought, I chuckle to myself. Oh. That’s right. I almost forgot, she already has worshippers.
“Had enough? My name is Fortuna, though I prefer to be called Nana or Forty.” She smiles at me. Her smile hit me like a rock. Truly deserving of the title Goddess.
I begin to introduce myself, but she cuts me off before I can say anything.
“Yes yes, I know who you are, both the current ”you” and all of the past “yous”. I would not have requested your presence if I did not, now would I?” She says.
“Right then. Let’s get down to business, I don’t have much time, Edesia is making her newest batch of homemade ice cream.”
I raise an eyebrow at this. Who knew gods enjoyed ice-cream of all things.
Reading my thoughts, Fortuna exclaims angrily.
“HEY! Don’t you judge, even gods have vices. It just so happens that mine is ice-cream okay? Hmph!”
She puffs her cheeks and pouts at me.
Seeing this ridiculously cute scene I could not help but laugh. This Nana was just too cute.
I could tell she was once again reading my thoughts, because her face flushed.
“Fla-Flattery will not get you anywhere mortal! Hm-Hmph!” She exclaims.
“Ugh! So distracting. An-Anyways, where were we? Ah, right, to business. I am here to make you a deal. Of course, I would not offer this deal to just anyone. You are rather special, special in that this is your 31st consecutive reincarnation. Normally, once a soul reaches 36 consecutive reincarnations, their soul is pure enough to become a god. “
“Before you lays two options. The first is that you can continue living lives and reincarnating, although this option is not very ideal. Becoming a god with your own power is extremely hard, the last five lives are filled with strife as the universe itself literally goes against you in an attempt to corrupt your soul to prevent your ascension. Once corrupted, your have to go through the “education”, breaking you streak, stopping you from become a god. No matter which universe you go to, this is a cardinal rule, written into the very fabric of the universes itself. Although, with the Supreme God and Creator of All Universes power it can be broken.”
She takes a deep breath after her long speech.
‘A god huh... ‘
Faced with this knowledge, I am speechless. But my being speechless does not change anything. Facts will remain facts, becoming a god was just out of reach. While I am excited at this prospect, I feel some anxiety at the same time. I still do not know even know what being a god entails.
“Do not worry about all that, I mean, out of all the candidates at the 31st stage, less than 10 percent successfully become a god. It’s also the reason why we wait until candidates actually become gods before teaching them anything about being a god.” Nana pipes up.
“Of course, there is also the second option.” She continues. “The second option is rather simple, I temporarily take you under my power and send you to Edehalla, making it so that you reincarnate on Edehalla instead of Earth. Edehalla is what you would call the entertainment of the gods, because the mortals there are simply too amusing.”
“It is the largest planet capable of sustaining life in all the existing universes. The Overgod of that particular universe has made it so that any god from any universe can come and go which makes it so popular. The Supreme God and Creator of All Universes has also recognised it and blessed the planet with its power, as a result, souls that live on the planet have their reincarnation cycles cut by 5 years. What this means is that the original souls born on that planet only need to consecutively reincarnate 31 times, although the cardinal rule of the last five lives of strife will still apply.”
“However, souls that are NOT of the original world can exploit a loophole in Edehalla. By reincarnating for the first time in Edehalla with 31 reincarnations already under your belt, the 5 year cut still applies meaning after you die, you do not need to suffer the 5 lives of strife and can immediately become a god! As a result, there are many gods who bring their soul-friends/family and soul-lovers who have 31 consecutive reincarnations to Edehalla to immediately become a god without the risk of the 5 years of strife.”
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“Naturally, the Supreme God and Creator of All Universes picked up on this little loophole. He fixed the exploit rather quickly so now there is only two ways to become a god whilst in Edehalla. The first is to kill 5 other first time reincarnation exploiters because that represents 5 years of strife. Originally, this was the only condition, but the Supreme God and Creator of All Universes took pity on the first time reincarnators who had a pacifist nature and added the extra condition that “dying of old age” would also allow one to become a god. The Supreme God and Creator of All Universes also made it so that if you were killed or died from something other than old age, you would lose a single reincarnation turning from 31 to 30 and you would be sent back to your own original universe to reincarnate.”
Hearing her explanation of the reincarnation system caused a headache in my head. I summed everything up then decided to ask her to make sure I was clear on everything.
“So basically I have two choices. One is to live out the rest of my extremely painful 5 lives here on Earth to become a god. Or I could choose to go to Edehalla, kill 5 other people who have reincarnated 31 times and came to the world with the power of their sponsors or go to Edehalla and die of old age to become a god. If I choose the second option and fail, then I will be sent back to Earth to be reborn and the number of times I have reincarnated consecutively will drop to 30. Is that the gist of it?”
“Yep! You’ve got it in a nutshell! The second option sounds good doesn't it? Don’t you want to be god? Heehee!” She says.
Hearing that and her explanation, I glimpse the reason why she wants to offer me a chance to become a god, but I ask to be sure anyways.
“Why me? I mean, aren’t there even more candidates that would be more suitable for this?” I ask.
Forty takes a deep breath, as if pondering a complex and difficult problem. Eventually, it seems she has reached a conclusion. She opens her mouth.
“Must I spell it out for you? It’s because I want YOU! I want you to be be my side forever and ever and ever. And ever.” She says with puppy eyes.
“You do not know of the relationship between us because your soul is still mortal. But I do. When one becomes a god, they recover all the memories of their past 36 lives.”
“In my 7th life. You were my older sister and I was your little sister, we lived in extreme poverty but each and every day you would make sure I had enough to eat even if you went hungry yourself. In my 12th life, you were my big brother and once again I was your little sister, we lived in a tribe that suffered from monthly raids from bandits, yet you never failed to protect me when those human trash came. My 15th life, you were a soldier in some army and I was a slave in the opposing army. When your side was victorious, you did not kill me and instead set me free, we fell in love and got married. In my 16th life, we were star-crossed lovers. Do I need to continue? Hmmnn? Over half of my reincarnations were spent with you, but ever since I became a god I could not find you. Now that I finally have, YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE! Tee-hee!”
Indeed, there was some truth to her words. I felt extremely at ease in her presence, it felt not as if I were with a god but rather as if I were with a beloved, or perhaps a family member. It felt as it we had braved and overcome a million dangers together.
“This way, you can become god for sure and we can be together FOREVER! And ever! Ufufufufufu.” She exclaims.
Her voice was now husky and I was somewhat certain there was also a bit of lust when she said “ever”. In some ways it was rather creepy. The person in front of me somewhat resembled a pink-haired yandere. I could almost picture her panting. Yet despite all that, I only felt a warm feeling arise within my heart. It would appear that even if I did not recognise her, the subconsciousness of my soul had already identified who “she” was.
“Fine fine. Since you clearly love me so much, I’ll go to Edehalla for you. Just don’t expect to me to say anything when I get myself killed and sent back to Earth.” Despite my moody tone of my words, I could not help my smile as I saw her brighten up like a lightbulb.
“Awesomeee! Oh, I also forgot to mention that most of those who go to Edehalla have patron gods and thus their blessings. Lucky for you I’m actually the daughter of this universes Overgod, so my blessing is extremely strong.” She leaned over the table made of wheels and lightly kissed me on the forehead, immediately I could feel a surge of power run through me.
“I also called in a few favours so you’ll have two extra “gifts” in your new world! Don’t forgot to avoid showing off too much or they’ll hunt you down. I’ll be watching over you so don’t worry too much. Ufufufu. It’s too late to change your mind! Bai-bye!”
Poof! My vision went dark as everything faded away.