The tires of the truck roared in the night. Niles had just walked across the crosswalk and was blinded by the truck's headlights. A sudden relief—he was alive.
"Quick, get in!" shouted the face of a beautiful blonde woman, sticking her head out from the driver's window.
Niles was skeptical. The adrenaline from almost being run over pumped through his heart—or perhaps it was from seeing the woman inside the truck. He looked at the poor condition of the truck. It seemed like the kind of vehicle used for kidnappings, or it might be a trap where people inside wait to steal... Niles wondered what valuables he had. His phone was so old that the younger generation wouldn't even know how to use it. If he lost it, it wouldn't be a big deal. But his shoes—those were pretty decent. If he lost them, how would he walk home comfortably?
"Stop taking so long, or we'll leave without you!" the blonde woman insisted.
Niles kept analyzing. The blonde woman had said "we," so it was probably either all men or all women. If they were men, they were probably planning to rob him, but then again, why say "we"? If it was more women, it could be an opportunity to escape the life of being single. It could also be a mixed group, and then he might make a friend. Theoretically, Niles thought there was a 66% chance of success and a 33% risk of a life-threatening experience. High risk, high reward.
"Well?!?" the blonde woman reminded him.
"I'll do it!" Niles boldly proclaimed, walking hastily towards the truck.
The side door opened. Niles got close, and a magic force pushed him into the truck, closing the door behind him. Two men, around his age, were sitting inside.
"Welcome to..." The blonde woman started the truck and began to speak.
"NO, PLEASE DON'T ROB ME! My phone is OLD, and I NEED my shoes!" Niles screamed in horror, certain he had walked into a trap like a sugar-hungry bumblebee in an ice-cream-carnivore-flower-parlor.
"No, wait, we're not..." The blonde woman tried to explain calmly.
"I'm too YOUNG to DIE!" Niles interrupted, waving his arms everywhere.
"I said...!" the blonde woman continued to argue.
"You'll never get me or my shoes alive; I'd rather see you in HELL!" Niles shouted, reaching for the door handle.
"I SAID...!!!" the blonde woman tried again.
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"Wait, are we going to die?" the two other people in the truck wondered, trying to get the blonde woman's attention.
Niles forcibly opened the door. He looked outside—it looked like they were in space. "Huh, weird Hell," Niles said.
"HELL?!?" The two other guys screamed in horror, trying to get answers from the blonde woman. "This is not what you told us!" they continued.
"WILL ALL OF YOU USELESS-LOOKING-WORTHLESS-PHONE-RETRO-COLLECTOR-DEADBEATS JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN FOR A SECOND?!?" the blonde woman erupted like a solar volcano.
She continued her frustrated rant. Niles made room next to the other two guys, who looked just as scared as he was.
"I can't believe she told us to shut up; that's rude!" said the guy with green hair. The other guy, with red hair, agreed, "And useless-looking? Well, look at her—she doesn't look very capable at all!" Niles joined in the whispering and brought out his phone. "And she called my phone retro? How dare she?" The other guys looked at the phone. "Well, we have to give her that one; it's a flip phone with buttons. It counts as retro." Before Niles could object, all three of them got slapped on the head by the blonde woman.
A short pause followed.
"As I was trying to say..." she said, pausing to take a deep breath. "Welcome to..." Niles raised his hand as if to signal that he had a question. The blonde woman nodded at him.
"Who's driving the truck?" Niles wondered, noticing that she had rotated her driver's seat towards them in the back.
"It's on auto-mode," she replied.
"How does a truck this old have auto-mode?" Niles continued.
"Magic," she replied.
"What kind of magic?" Niles asked quickly, curious.
The blonde woman smiled brightly. "My magic!"
Niles also smiled. "Ah, good, okay, then," and nodded back.
A few seconds of silence passed.
"AND WHY IS THIS TRUCK DRIVING THROUGH SPACE?!?" Niles shouted in panic, pointing at the windows. The two guys with red and green hair agreed, nodding intensely.
The blonde woman pointed to her bright smile.
"I'm a goddess! And lucky for you, you'll be transported to a new world. Be happy that you've met me, so you can fulfill your lives!"
The guy with green hair raised his hand. The blonde goddess smiled and nodded for him to ask his question.
"I've read some isekai stories, but usually, people die by the truck. Are we dead?"
"Good question! As you can see, I am a merciful goddess! You're alive and well!" she laughed loudly, then whispered, "And the life insurance payment for hitting people on Earth is so big that I can't afford it."
"Wait, what?!?" the guy with green hair exclaimed, and Niles added, "Is that why your truck is so old?"
"Do you think goddesses are made out of money?" the goddess replied sharply.
The truck stopped. "With today's gas prices, I can't take you any farther, but this should be close enough," the goddess continued, "and also, think about the environment," she added proudly. "Well, time to say goodbye and good luck," she said as the doors opened.
"Wait, I'm sure we have more questions," Niles told her.
"Well, you know, I'm not some rich goddess. Instead, I have this beautiful smile, which is priceless," the goddess smiled. Niles and the rest in the truck didn't look very impressed.
The goddess frowned. "Well, excuse me for not being some all-mighty-radiant-shining-billionaire-goddess," she paused, almost whispering in shame, "but I did spend almost everything I had to get you some skills. It's not much, but at least it's something."
"What was that?" the rest of the group wondered.
"YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL!" she shouted, opening the door. Niles and the rest of the group were sucked out violently and flew towards the world far below.