Dear reader, I write this book to ease your mind and as a journal for the adventures to come! Fear not that I will do all I can to endeavor that your child is quite safe, strong and educated! The current starting pages will be short as I can use but a smidgen of mana till far later and will use much of what mana I can to remain hidden. Yes, I am known as the holy beast familiar but I don't even know when I got that title as the Astral Plane between that we souls return to is rather distorted from the passing of time and I wasn't called such till the last two or three times I had been someone's familiar.

The ink on the page smudges a bit.

Please forgive me my haste on the first pages but I really must conserve some mana for myself.

signed, Serpent of return, Aka, Holy Beast Ouroboros. 

P.S. your child is encouraged to pick a name for me when they accept me as a familiar if they want to keep me around.

Hidden by magic, a page within a page.

If you can read this, I hope I have done you well and leave great memories, these are records of how I came to be here with you and, while much of these hidden pages are of little consequence, I hope they bring joy to your face as they were quite the journey and you have proven powerful enough to decipher it. I will speak in the third person from here on out, outside of the journal itself as this is ancient past and my memories may even be obstructed by the passage of time. As well as that I eventually came to view myself as a part of this world when I finally accepted the blessings instead of relying on my prior name that I couldn't even speak.

Sam was an old man, sitting at his chair, trying to find something on the visual device that wasn't about a terrible disaster or war as there was a knock at the door. In a panic he rushed to open the door, arthritis nearly bringing him to his knees as he gripped the door handle and opened it to a small girl in a club selling cookies. He bid her good day as he was having a bit of trouble right now as his heart rate spiked to such a degree that he needed his medicine and went for the pills. Struggling to grasp them and panicking all the more, he collapsed into the floor as his heart gave out when the medicine scattered from dropping the bottle.

"Had quite the rough time at it didn't you?"

Sam couldn't believe what he just heard, he picked himself up to hear that voice and came to his feet without a notion of pain and far too spontanious for what he thought he should. He was an old man and that kind of comfort and haste hadn't even been seen in his youth as he was no small man.

"Take your time, it is quite disorienting for someone to experience things as fast as the soul can for their 'first' time."

He said, the big man himself, God, it wasn't quite a form as it were but more like an ideal and an explosion in time, space and the mind as it began to take form into an entity of light as if it was a towering human kneeling down to look at Sam at eye level, as the whole place shifted to let him be at eye level and distant enough to not feel oppressing all at once.

"So, I've died?" Sam went to ask yet, just leaning on the words his thought seemed to leap to words without his consent as it appeared that no lie or falsehood could be held in his presence. "Again? What? why did I say that? Why am I even talking these thoughts so loosely?" He was feeling another panic attack coming on as he decided that it wasn't a good idea to try his luck with a heart attack after having a heart attack. He decided shutting up and listening was better than continuing.

"Well, you are quick to come to terms with yourself. The answer to your question is hard to explain, as your being is not what it was before and your memory is saved for you on the other side." He says as he leans back and the waving form distorts in a way that gives him a more serious presence though quite distant even more than before. "To my surprise, when given the options, you have elected to return to the world of the living." Pausing for a moment as he returned to looking at everything in his entire life's history through multiple life times. "Regardless of how rough it is. Perhaps you might try something new this time."

As he paused, Sam couldn't help but feel a little lost at the moment. He'd asked to be sent back again and again, probably knowing he'd die each time and he'd said that the memories were on the other side, so he wouldn't even remember this conversation. "If it is something new, How would I even know?" The mental question flowed from his mind as it seemed that it wasn't words spoken here but notions, even his quiet thoughts to himself were probably open and he really should accept it, but it just felt unnatural.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

There was a slight laugh, like an old friend enjoying your presence. He wasn't sure if it was because he was friends or being friendly, or if he was reading his mind in the brief moment of the laugh. The quick inhaled snicker at the thought suggested a bit of both. "You don't have to worry, many people of other universes have been asking about doing this and while it isn't nearly as glamorous as they desire. You can go somewhere and learn magic, live lives which are only possible in a world I didn't set the rules as strict. I did make many universes after all and have unlimited time to have done such things. My creations are my pride." He says to Sam, rather prideful as if he was showing him a new book or art piece... which, for someone who is responsible for multiple universes, it probably was. "How about this, I shall find a version of myself and reality that fits your desire if you wish, and you may set three parameters for your desire. You might call these wishes if you like and I will see about having it be, Though there are always limits to how much a mortal can be given."

There were obvious flaws here. Sam wasn't sure how to respond to the offer of wishes, were it a Djinn and friend? or was this a cursed hand that gives out blights for having used it to satisfy a desire? There was no reply, no response and it seemed time had stopped to allow Sam a chance to respond. He knew that he'd been offered the afterlife before. He seemed obsessed with learning more and being more, knowing that he couldn't keep the knowledge was an odd thought and what kind of paradise could he be looking forward to if he turned it down? It didn't take long before he finally decided to accept the wishes.

"Well, the three I can think of I'd hope to keep fairly simple. One, I died from arthritis and complications of that giving me a pretty terrible system shock, So I'd like to avoid having that in the new life. Two, I would like to have a slightly longer life, possibly able to extend it via magic though I wouldn't want to have one that relies on killing someone as I feel that I'd like to keep on your good side."

He at least got a chuckle so he felt like he was at least good for that one.

"Finally, I've seen and read a few too many Isekai in this life and I would rather avoid being a main character, I have been quite happy to not be the center of attention for most of my life so... that is my three wishes."

"Those are quite fine, so much so that I have found an alternate version of myself to aid you already."

The divine being said as he gestured behind him. Another pillar of light and form standing there with no noted difference at the time.

"Before you go, a blessing to carry with you all your days"

The original says as he places his hand on Sam's shoulder, though not sure how he feels as nothing seems different at the time.

"Thank you" Sam said, turning back around to the new form as he seemed to be in a totally different location, instead of the stellar void before with only the entity of light, Sam found himself before a human like appearance that seemed divine in nature but more split in form like he was uncertain of what he wanted to be. Then it felt like it was a thought given to him instead of Sam himself thinking it. This is what the world knew him as, and before he didn't know what to expect so God had appeared as formless as his mind could comprehend. 

"Welcome to this reality, now normally, one of my form would wipe your memory before sending you on your way but a few things are different, one, how you will start is quite irregular, even for this realm and two, you don't naturally have the means or knowledge to use the start I've decided on, so you will have a second blessing here so that you will integrate better. With any memory that couldn't be made here getting lost, you will need a tutor after all."

He said as he also laid his hand on Sam's other shoulder, like it bared the burden of the blessings in some strange manner. When that was said and done he lead them out the door into what looked similar to the astral nothingness that was seen before in the previous world but with a flowing tide that seemed to call them down bellow the waves as they hovered through. Sam looked down and immediately realized he was looking at the astral sea's veil, the gap between worlds. It seemed that the second blessing was, at least in some ways, a tutor.

They drifted across the place at what felt like a breakneck speed and yet as comfortably as a slow jaunt as they found another soul here within moments that seemed to have a cord drifting through the veil yet it didn't go off to the other world but... his body, an astral projection. It was weird seeing things and getting a general idea and as soon as he thought about how weird it was to get it like that, it suddenly appeared like a scroll beside him, giving the general information like a bulletin board or note. It was weird still but felt more comfortable to see it and learn it than for it to be directly part of his mind.

He didn't know it at the time, but this was to be his master for quite some time as he was looking for ghosts or other entities floating atop of that sea of stars, mana and the afterlife, to be his familiar.

The page abruptly ends as Ouroboros fainted while trying to fit his story and first master on one page.