Athena The Godess

IN A WHITE SPACE

Where am I? I remember I was sleeping under the tree. So, how the hell did I end up here? Wait a minute, don’t tell me I died in my sleep. You’ve got to be shitting me! I’ve fought with orcs, Cinnamon, Anti, and even the Demon Lord and I die in my sleep?

I am startled by a girly giggly voice.

“You don’t need to act so worriedly. You’re not dead. Not yet at least.”

I look up only to see a little girl floating in the air eating from a packet of Lays. What the...! A little girl eating Lays.

Where did she come from? I couldn’t sense her at all. “Oh, you see me as a little girl?” Is she reading my mind?

“Yes and no. Anyways, I’m not a little girl. My name is Athena. And I know you, Allen. Or should I say, Mark!”

I am shocked. Mark was my previous life’s name. How did she know that?

“Who are you?” I ask with both my eyebrows raised.

She sighs, annoyed. “Didn’t you listen? I’m Athena. Geez, I thought you were smart.”

When she says Athena, does she mean the Goddess Athena?

“Are you Athena? The Goddess of this world?”

“Yes and no. Yes, I’m Athena, and no I’m not the Goddess of this world.”

What’s with her answers?

“What do you mean you are not the Goddess of this world?”

She sighs again. “I really hate questions. Hmm, how about this. I’ll answer three of your questions. So, choose them wisely. After all, I called you here for a reason and if you keep asking questions that are endless, then we won’t get to the point now, will we?”

Hmm, I guess that’s fair.

“Are you the one who sent me to this world?”

She smiles. “Yes. I’m the one who sent you here.”

“Why?” I stare intently at her waiting for her answer. I always wondered why I was sent to this world and now, I am finally going to get an answer. My heart is pounding loudly waiting in anticipation.

“That’s because… I was bored.”

“Eh?”

“I was bored okay, and when I saw your soul wandering around the Universe Tree, not joining the other souls for reincarnation, I decided to steal you and instead of reincarnating in your world. I reincarnated you into this world with your memories intact.”

Universe tree? Damn, there is just so much information for me to process all at once.

“Why?”

“Is that your final question?”

Damn it! She is good. She wanted me to finish my questions on a subject that can be answered any way she wishes. I guess I’ll ask this final question then.

“Is this world in the same universe as Earth or is it in another dimension?”

“Oh, good question. This world, Lingard, is a world in another dimension.”

I see. I knew that fact but I just had to make sure of it.

“I see you have another question you wish to ask. Why don’t you ask it?”

“But I’ve finished the number of questions I can ask you though.”

“Who knows? Maybe I might be generous and answer it for you.”

Well, I guess it won’t hurt asking this question.

“Am I the only person who has been reincarnated into this world?”

“You are asking that question in a wrong way.” Wrong way? What does she mean by that?

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Let me rephrase. Am I the only person who has been sent to this world?”

Thinking back, Ray mentioned something about the hero of this generation being summoned. So, there is a possibility that you can be sent to this world not only through reincarnation but summoning.

“No. you’re not. There’s been a few people who have come to this world from your world. An example is the two heroes who fought the Demon Lord. They were summoned into this world. There is also the hero from ten thousand years ago who was also summoned. Of course, there are others but if I tell you about them, then it would ruin the surprise now, wouldn’t it? I still want to see more of your adventures in this world.”

“I notice that you haven’t spoken anything about reincarnation.”

“Well, you are the only one who has come to this world via that process. Now if you’re done with the questions, let’s talk about why I have brought you here.”

I almost forgot about that. I wonder why she brought me here.

“Now, I was watching your life and I must say, there isn’t a dull moment with you around. I mean that fight with the Silent Demon was mind-blowing. Of course, that didn’t hold a candle against your fight with the Demon Lord. I mean, I was literally at the edge of my seat watching that fight.”

She sounds like she was watching a movie or something. I thought I was gonna die multiple times in those fights.

“Anyway, I called you here to reward you.”

“Why?”

“Because of you, I’m no longer bored. I’ve been guarding this world for a long time and I’ve become rather bored. So, consider this reward as a form of sponsorship.”

“And what will you want in return?”

There is nothing in the world as a free lunch.

“Quite a cautious human, aren’t you? There will be a favour that I’ll ask of you to do in the near future. You just have to do it.”

“A favour? Why do I feel like I’m selling my soul to the devil?”

“Oh come on, you’re over-exaggerating. Since you don’t seem to trust me then, hmm... Let’s do this. The favour that I’ll ask of you won’t be something that you wouldn’t be able handle with your abilities. How’s that?”

Well, it isn’t a bad idea.

“What is the gift you’re talking about?”

“Well, it’s up to you really. What do you wish for?”

“I can wish for anything I want?”

“Yes, anything. Do you want absolute power or do you want riches beyond your wildest dreams? Name it.”

Suspicious. Why would she offer someone things like absolute power? Is she perhaps testing me? Well, it doesn’t matter. There is only one thing I ever wanted ever since I came to this world.

“I want all of Earth’s knowledge.”

“What?”

I thought he would choose absolute power or something, but knowledge of his previous world? Well, it’s not like I really had the ability to give him absolute power, but I could’ve at least given him riches. This human… I knew it. He’s different. I feel like he will come in handy in the future, and maybe he might be able to save this world from ‘Mother’. Well, I shouldn’t get my hopes up too much.

“Very well, human. The knowledge you seek will be installed into your mind. The moment you wake up, you should be able to find it in your mindscape.”

Of course, she knows about my mindscape. Damn, so this is a Goddess. Anyways, the reason I want my world’s knowledge is simple. It’s because the knowledge I possess now is limited only to science and a few in other fields too. In order to survive in this world and protect the people I love, they should also have the knowledge to protect themselves.

And besides, I always wanted to be a master of knowledge both in this world and in my past world.

“Well, that’s all I guess, human!”

“Allen.”

“What?”

“My name, it’s Allen.”

“Yes! Of course, it is. I guess I’ll see you next time, Allen. Be sure to entertain me on your journey.”

Huh, such a leisurely life. I wonder if I’ll ever obtain such a life.

“Oh, by the way, Allen. Due to you defeating the Demon Lord and all. A lot of trouble will be coming your way. So, prepare well. Byeeeee!”

She’s right. The Demon Lord mentioned the Holyland or something. They’ll probably notice the disappearance of the Demon Lord since they were probably preparing to fight him all this time. And so will the Demon Lord’s subordinates. This means this forest will be their primary objective in investigating the disappearance of the Demon Lord. I need to protect it, and in order to do that, I need subordinates of my own. People I can trust.

There are the people from the village but they are still weak. It’ll probably take a few years for them to be fullfledged warriors. I need to begin it now. My ultimate project.

I then disappear from the weird space.

Birds chirp all around. I guess I’m back, huh. But what’s this? I’m sure I didn’t bring a pillow with me when I decided to sleep here.

I open my eyes.

“You’ve finally woken up, Allen.”

“Gram!” I say excitedly. “I should be saying that to you.”

My gram had my head rest on her thighs. If it wasn’t for her voice, I probably would have mistaken her. It seems she has become younger after I healed her. Well, my abilities aren’t ordinary so I guess it makes sense. I also increased her vitality when I healed her, so I guess that had something to do with it.

“I’m sorry, Gram.”

“For what?”

“For taking this long to heal you! Even though I had the means to heal you, I delayed it. And I’m sorry for that.”

“I know. Even though I was in a coma, thanks to the potions you’ve been giving me all this time, I was able to somewhat tell what you were doing. And after you healed me to the bare minimum with your magic, I was able to tell that you wanted to do something. And me being here would

probably have ruined your plans, am I right?”

“Yes. But I was still being selfish.”

“Being selfish sometimes is what a person has to do. So, don’t beat yourself up, kiddo. I didn’t raise you to be a chump.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I say, chuckling.

“You’ve grown, you know. To think you were this little child who was able to fit in my arms and would sneak out of

your cradle just to read my books.”

“You knew?”

“Of course, I did. From the moment I found you, I could tell just from your eyes that you were a peculiar child. I guess curious would be the right term.”

We then spend the whole day chatting under the tree. It is good having to talk like this with someone. All this time, I’ve been putting up a wall on my emotions but now that I’m talking with her, I’m genuinely happy.

IN THE MORNING

My gram wakes up early in the morning and heads to the village. Since a lot of problems have come flooding in, I couldn’t accompany her. Right now, it is time to prepare. “Ray, Ariel.”

“Yes!”

“Prepare. It is time, to begin Project Genesis.”

“Roger that!”