Peter was confused. "I don't know. Maybe? Adrestia I feel like you need to inform me about what exactly is going on. I feel like I'm missing something majorly important."

Adrestia sighed. "Well of course you are missing major things. You only have the memories necessary to make sure you can speak to me intelligently and make decisions. The rest is the instinct left in your soul that makes you, you.

Adrestia waved her free hand, the one without the scales, off to her side and an astral projection of bubbles was displayed for Peter. Within the bubbles were stars. Thousands and thousands of stars. Peter realized that each looked like their own universe. She waved her hand again and images of strong men and beautiful women showed up next to that projection.

"Peter, have you heard of the multiverse theory?"

"Yes. My memories are very strange." Peter closed his eyes tightly as he picked through what knowledge he had, "I can't pick out specifics like where I was born, or who my family and friends were. But I do remember information based memories like human anatomy, math, geography, and my language when I was a human. I remember how gravity works, and I remember how the universe was theorized to have many different sides to it."

Adrestia smiled and said, "Good. Because the multiverse theory was more or less correct, except they are not necessarily parallel universes. Universes can be similar, and there are many thousands of them, but none work the same way as the next. The laws of the different universes can be very different. Typically the periodic table of elements doesn't change by more than a few details, but some universes are so different that they have 60 or 70 more elements than earth."

This knowledge was blowing Peter's mind. He said, "I have to admit, just hearing you makes me feel so excited. I want to visit these universes!"

Adrestia shifted her weight, then continued. "Now, before you get carried away, do you remember the legends of greek mythology and the Gods involved in those legends?"

Peter thought for a second, "Yes, I do."

"Good, because a lot of that mythology was also true. There is much that the greeks missed, however, but they were very in tune with the Gods."

Peter was in awe, "Incredible..." -Peter looked Adrestia up and down- "So judging by your looks, you're the greek God of justice that the United States justice system's symbol is based on!"

Adrestia revealed a proud smirk, "Yes. I am the one their 'Lady Justice', or Justitia is meant to resemble. It seems that in the few times I have appeared to mortal souls, I have left a significant impression."

Adrestia pointed at the astral projection of the beautiful women and strong men, "These are all the High Gods," She pointed at a particular woman in the display, "I am here." She then pointed to the right and left of herself in that image, "These two are my brothers. They are the Gods you met earlier. Their names are Phobos and Deimos. Phobos is the God of Fear and Deimos is the God of Terror. It is why you nearly passed out when you looked upon them. I am sorry for them being here. That was not supposed to happen."

"Well that explains a lot, but it doesn't explain why I can look at you with no side effects," Peter stated.

"That's simple. Your soul is aligned with Justice. You should actually feel very comfortable around me. Very few souls are aligned with anything that Gods represent. You're special Peter." Adrestia bent down to lay a massive palm on Peter's face. She caressed him slightly. Peter immediately felt calm and content. All was right at this moment for him.

"See?" She smiled, which revealed a beautiful set of white teeth.

Peter trembled slightly at her beauty, but his inquisitive nature took over and he asked, "But if that is the case, then why did I become such a bad person in my last life?"

Adrestia laughed slightly, "You're a very smart soul Peter. I like that about you."

She stood back up straight and held up her scales for him to see, "The nature of justice is that it contains a balance. For it to remain justice, that balance must be maintained. If the balance is lost, then so is my influence as the God of Justice."

Adrestia lowered the scales to reveal what was on them. On one side was filled with blood to the point that it dripped down the side slightly. On the other side was a small olive branch.

"I do not represent peace, and I do not represent war. I am the middle ground. I am the mediator. I am that which no man or God can escape."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Peter shivered slightly, "So that's why I turned out to be a bad person. That balance must be very difficult to maintain."

"Correct." she huffed out simply.

Peter paced slightly, looking around at the expanse of white space all around him.

"So now that I understand more of the universe and who you are." -he shook his head and narrowed his eyes to show his emerging frustration- "Where does that leave me?"

Adrestia followed his movements with her head. It was slightly eerie that Peter couldn't see her eyes, yet felt she could see all of him and his innermost thoughts at once.

"Peter, Justice is important in the everyday lives of mortals. In order to keep Justice strong, I need influence. My power is based on the influence I can exert, but the Gods have their influence limited by not being able to directly impact mortal realms." -She thought for a moment, then shook her head with a sorrowful look on her face- "The times where we could directly impact the mortal realms were always years of great loss and destruction. That rule had to be put in place."

Adrestia looked directly at Peter and said, "Since that time we can only act through our strongest believers and our personally chosen champions. The Avatars."

"Wait wait wait. You were asking me to become your Avatar.. do you not have one already? How does Justice have such powerful influence without one??"

"I do have Avatars. Many actually. The Gods are allowed to have one in each universe, but each Avatar we have takes a small portion of our divine strength. We must pick and choose the most important realms to send our limited number of Avatars to in order to gain the most influence. If we gain enough influence, then the ideal we represent will be powerful in all of the realms. Not just the ones we have Avatars in."

Peter thought for a moment, "So who was your Avatar on Earth?"

"Hahahahaha! Peter.. Earth was a small and pitiful planet, in a small and pitiful universe. No offense, but the only God who even bothered to send an Avatar there immediately recalled his Avatar and sent him elsewhere." She thought for a moment, "Well.. immediately to us. About 30 or so years to you. The effects of that event still echo strongly in that world to this day."

"Oh, I see. So if I were to accept being your Avatar where would I be headed?"

She answered, "I cannot tell you that until you accept." She paused, "I can tell you though that it will be a very influential universe. A planet many times the size of earth, in a universe that contains many secrets. The number of souls there is astronomical."

"So the number of souls in a universe decides how much influence a universe has?"

"Not necessarily. Determining influence is a lot like determining the outcome of a war. Numbers say a lot, but they are not everything. All you need to know is that you will be a powerful Avatar."

A surprised look appeared on Peter's face, "Influence decides how powerful I will be?"

"It's not the sole factor in how strong you'll be. The universe you're going to is incredible. It's built on a 'stat' system that you're actually familiar with from Earth. So the majority of your strength will have to come from your own hard work and dedication."

Peter's eyes opened wide, and he said with surprise, "How does that wo--"

GOOOONNNNNGGGGGGGGGG

Just as Peter finished that question, a loud sound rang out in that bright white realm he was in. Adrestia looked at him with a bit of panic.

"We're out of time Peter, you have to decide in the next minute whether or not you'll accept my offer. If you don't then you will be forcibly taken back to the natural cycle of reincarnation, and the memories of all we have talked about will be forgotten."

Peter thought for a few seconds then said, "Where I end up will be random won't it? I'll have no control over the circumstances I grow up with.. will I? I became a horrible person due to those circumstances.."

"You are not blameless for what you became Peter. You still must take responsibility in the form of the test. The pain you felt when you battled the reaper was more than most can take. Only 1 in a Trillion evil souls will still choose to try and stop the reaper once they feel the pain that the reaper inflicts."

Peter understood a little better now.

"But yes. If you reenter the cycle of reincarnation you will have no control." she paused, then continued, "I will have no way to help you if you decline my offer."

Peter made up his mind immediately at that statement, "Then yes! I will be your Avatar. I will never willingly give my life over to fate. Especially since I understand how cruel fate can be."

Adrestia smiled wider than she had before, "Excellent! Your choice is wise. Wiser than you know."

Peter seemed confused, "What do you mean?"

Adresita patted his shoulder, which nearly knocked Peter off his feet due to her size.

"No more questions Peter. Let's just say that if the Gods knew how advantaged you will be they would have never let me have a chance to ask you to be my Avatar. You may feel disadvantaged at first due to a huge issue with your soul, but my power over the balance of the universe will provide you a better path."

Slowly Adrestia began to fade.

"What? Huge issue with my soul?! Don't you think you should have told me about that beforehand?! NO. I have more questions! Please don't leave yet!"

As she was fading away from her feet upwards, she giggled softly and said, "Farewell Peter. Fear not, for I will guide you again. Well.. I will once you reach your first influence milestone that is."

Peter was about to protest and ask more questions, but she was gone. He felt very alone until he heard a 'Gong' sound ring out a second time.

- Avatar sequence initiated -

- Special circumstances noted -

- Character customization will include Manager B67 -

- Beginning transfer to character customization zone in: - 

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