Author's note

Hello, readers! This is my attempt at creating a novel from a little something that I found. I do hope you like it! 

That being said, I'm off! Enjoy the prologue, 4,167 words long!

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The Caretaker

“A protagonist. Most people want to be a protagonist, but very rarely do you hear about somebody saying that they are one.

Mostly because there’s the question of what a protagonist is.

Are they just somebody who’s different?

If that was the case, then the human race -who prides themselves on being different from everyone else- would be completely composed of protagonists.

I don’t believe that’s the case, though.

A protagonist isn’t a person stronger than the rest of their kind. A protagonist isn’t special in any way. A protagonist is simply somebody who -willingly or not- got their actions recorded.

Fictional characters have no say in the matter, but there are history books and such that document events from the point of view of the protagonist.”

…

Hmm… protagonism today, huh?

I made a mental note, thinking about his words for a second.

Luckily, this happens often enough for me to get some of his philosophies. They’re quite interesting to think about if nothing else.

And by this, I mean he sleeps through first period and ends up saying his morning philosophy when I come to get him for second.

“That being said, come on. You slept through first period again… You’re lucky nobody sits in that desk other than you, or you might have somebody way less patient than me forcing you out of your seat.” I spoke, hoping that I could wake him up a bit more.

“Or maybe I could have a beautiful girl with a calm personality doing it. Two sides to every coin.”

I swear to God, he pisses me off. Why did I get stuck with him?

I sighed, keeping my mouth shut. I tried to be nice, but I really had trouble with this guy.

Second period ended, and Third came by. I headed to class, leaving him to his own devices in finding his way to his.

“So, what was the philosophy about today?”

This girl was Charlotte, my only friend I had in this class.

And she was obsessed with his philosophies. I don’t know if it was just his philosophies, either, or him.

Either way, I must admit that it annoyed me slightly.

“Protagonism.” With a careful voice, I repeated the words that were used before.

“Hmm… So it’s not about the protagonist in general, but in fact how he’s remembered? I guess that makes sense, everything considered… But I do wonder how he manages to come up with these things? I mean, they’re obviously not normal thought processes, unless he himself wants to be a protagonist? In that case, would he write a story about himself? A diary, perhaps?”

[A book of quotes, number 36: Even if you doubt everything else, never doubt a woman’s intuition. They’re scarily accurate, and it’s something no number of masks can stop.]

I sat in my seat, pretending to pay attention to her as she spoke about him.

It bothered me. It hurt me. It angered me. But I let none of that show because seeing her smile like this was the greatest wish I could have. Instead, I smiled at her and nodded every once and awhile as I listened.

I couldn’t do anything to make her think about me. It’s just how her mind worked.

I was just the caretaker of him. I was just the one who had information about him.

I wasn’t sure if I even had the qualifications of a human in her eyes. I was just a box of information. But I guess I’m fine with that.

I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling as the teacher began to talk, Charlotte returning to her own seat. I guess it’s just another day.

Only in fourth period were all three of us together. Charlotte sat in the seat behind him, a loose smile on her face as she stared at his back. There’s no way he’d catch her, since he’s always sleeping here, anyway.

How can such a bothersome human have any good qualities? What does Charlotte like about him? Even a snail could tell that she’s smitten.

As much as I’d love to know, it’d probably be rude to pry, right? I guess it’s up to me to find out without asking… watching and listening, as I always do, from my seat next to her.

There’s no chance of me getting caught either since she’s always staring at him only.

It’s just another chilly February day. The world around me seems to be pink, love in the air about the swiftly approaching Valentine’s Day, but I’m just as gray as always.

Nobody’s ever taken the time to fall in love with me, and I don’t blame them. I’m just a caretaker for the real interesting one, after all.

It’s rude to expect feelings from other people.

It’s much better to just accept being alone.

As I walk home, I silently debate over whether or not I should get chocolate for Charlotte. In the end, it wouldn’t really matter, would it? I wouldn’t have the courage to give it to her, either way.

“Why do people cheat on other people?” Today’s morning philosophy was a question, before a minute of silence.

I dragged him to his second period, just like yesterday.

February 14th. Valentine’s Day.

No chocolate in my pockets. I wasn’t going to give any out, and I wasn’t going to receive any.

Just like before.

The past repeats each time.

Fourth period came quickly since I didn’t have anything to say to Charlotte during second.

“I’m going to do it… I can do it… I can do it…” With Charlotte muttering these things next to me, I had a general idea of what she was going to do.

“If you get too overheated, you might melt the chocolate, you know?” I whispered to her, resting my chin on my hand as I looked at him.

What a lucky bastard.

Atropos’s Shears

I’d gotten some chocolate, for once in my life.

I was happy, of course, but I was wondering why Charlotte gave it to me. We’d almost never spoken, and from what I remember, I was always asleep or half asleep when she was near me.

Running my hands over the foil covering the chocolate, I realized that the bottom felt odd. It felt like a piece of paper was placed there.

Perhaps a note?

I’m not sure how to feel about this… Going by the situation here, this would be a love note, right?

Not trying to be rude or anything, but I barely know her. I’m not sure I have the qualifications to accept it.

Wait, hold up, is it a love note? It could be obligatory chocolate, and the note could be a thank-you note.

But that wouldn’t make sense… Would it? I think the love letter would make less sense.

How can you fall in love with somebody who you’ve rarely ever spoken to? Love is something that occurs through interaction. The more you interact, the more likely it is for the other party to fall in love.

It works the other way, as well, sadly, but that’s unimportant at the moment.

For now, I guess I’ll just hurry home and eat the chocolate. It’d be rude otherwise. I’ll figure out what the note says, then, as well.

Following my thoughts, I hurried up my pace. It was still a normal-speed walk, though. I’m not one to rush.

Once I’d gotten home, I went to go set my school things down.

“I’m home!” I called out, expecting a reply.

Footsteps upstairs… and down here too? Only my mother should be home right about now… did my father come home early?

I set down my backpack, leaving my shoes and jacket on.

“Mom? I’m home!” I called again, feeling a sense of apprehension.

There are definitely two pairs of footsteps… but I don’t recognize them. Something’s happened.

The one upstairs… stopped moving. He’s near the bathroom. He’ll take a few seconds, even if he ran, to get to a spot where he could see me. The one down here... is coming closer to that corner. I’m running out of time if these two are meaning to harm me.

I’ll think of any reasons they might have later. For now, I need to move. Weapons… I have two pencils in my pocket. That’s all on my person.

Good thing I had some special things around the house.

I took a few steps to my right, watching the corner that the person was about to turn. I bent down, reaching behind me for a dumbbell bar. The weights were next to it, so it was just a metal pole with a grip and some weight.

I held it with a shaking hand.

I was scared. I had reason to be.

But I had a grin on my face. This is the type of situation that only happens in manga or movies. The kid heroically beats down robbers with nothing but tactics.

Of course, this is the type of story I want to live.

My footsteps were silent as I paced down the hallways of my house. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t know the position of.

“He’s not here.”

“...I’ll keep looking for him, then.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Definitely a man. Not only a man, but he seemed to have some method of communication with the one above. Which means that I’ll have some troubles… If I take him out, then the second one will come down, or he may even call for backup.

The man began moving towards me again.

“If you don’t come out and be captured quietly, your mother may just get shot. I honestly suggest that you come out.”

And here it was, threatening a hostage.

The question was, weren’t they going to kill her before I came along? What’s the point of coming out if it wouldn’t make a difference?

“You have ten seconds.”

My mind began to race.

“Ten.”

They were actually going to shoot her...

“Nine.”

Could I delay it by coming out?

“Eight.”

Something… Something I can do to stop them…

“Seven.”

Beating down the one down here would just let the one above kill her.

“Six.”

Unless she wasn’t upstairs? Could she be on this floor?

“Five.”

No, that wouldn’t make sense. There’s no reason for somebody on the top floor, then.

“Four.”

I can’t keep hesitating.

“Three.”

“Alright, I’m here! Stop the damn countdown!”

I don’t have much time. I need to escape. I gripped the chocolate, which was still in my hand.

I guess I might as well eat it now.

The man turned the corner. His gun was raised.

I began pulling at the foil.

The pin fell, and the bullet flew towards me.

Time seemed to slow down. Of course, so did I. Adrenaline coursed through my veins.

I studied my killer. I memorized his face. His smile. His eyes. His uniform.

The bullet shattered the chocolate, tearing through the note and my hand in the same second.

The pain didn’t have time to register. I tried to look at the note. The bullet, already leaving a trail of my blood in the air, pierced my chest.

I heard two more shots.

The bullet burst my heart.

The next pierced my lung.

The last pierced my shoulder.

Blood flew from my mouth. I had less than ten seconds before I died fully.

An image came to mind.

[My personal book of philosophies, number 8: The afterlife is a belief. Each religion has their own, so what if it’s actually based on your own perception? Each religion would have their own happy ending. Not only that but then Reincarnation would be a thing. It would simply be a matter of believing that it’ll happen.]

That being said, at least let me be reincarnated by a pretty goddess instead of a god…

Taking things into your own hands

Charlotte was basically skipping all the way home.

She’d finally taken things into her own hands and confessed.

I wonder how he’ll feel when he reads that note.

Charlotte blushed as this thought ran through her mind. Her heart beating faster and her body growing warmer, she raced home.

She threw her stuff on the ground, before flopping down on the couch and flapping her legs.

It was noisy, but there wasn’t anybody else home to scold her for it, so she continued for a full minute, embarrassed, thinking about how she would talk to him tomorrow.

After she calmed down, she grabbed the remote and turned on the Tv.

Let’s see what’s on the news…

She scrolled through the channels until she came across it.

The remote dropped out of her hand. It hit the corner of the coffee table, the back of the remote coming off and the batteries flying away.

She’d been watching the news for about ten, fifteen minutes.

“There was a recent murder of a mother and son on Yunio Lane. Both of them were shot three times…”

Pictures of the house were shown, with mugshots of the victims up in the top right.

Site 1, a bathtub full of ice, bloodstains dripping down the sides and onto the floor.

Site 2, a smear of blood where a smaller body was dragged away, a small chocolate next to it, broken into pieces. A note is inside the package, illegible by the blood and hole in it.

Site 3, bullet cases scattered about the area between the dining room and the kitchen…

The second victim… the note, still inside the packaging…

Charlotte felt tears drip down her cheeks.

He was gone…

Wait… no, I refuse to accept this kind of result!

She stormed into the kitchen. There was a knife holder, with a few knives in it. She reached over and took a knife into her hands.

[A book of quotes, number 4: The only fear I believe to be completely rational is the fear of a girl in love. They can completely change their character, especially when something happens to their loved one.]

Charlotte thought about all of his philosophies. Each and every one resounded in her mind. Circling like vultures.

A devil’s grin made its way to her face as her mind was made up.

Later that day, the news covered another death, apparently a suicide without even a note. The girl who died was still smiling, even after death.

The Rings

The darkness around me was suffocating. It wrung around me like it was trying to squeeze out every last drop of my existence.

It wasn’t the type of darkness that you can see with your eyes closed, but it’s very similar.

“You’ve died.”

You think?

“Hey, don’t take that tone with a goddess.”

It was indeed a goddess in front of me. She was beautiful, honestly much better than any human could hope to match.

If I was a normal boy, my mind would have immediately lewded her, but I was no normal boy.

I went down a slightly more romantic route with my thoughts.

My eyes wandered over her body, from her face to her shoulders, to her chest, to her stomach. Then, a glint of light shining towards my eyes in this pure dark space caught my attention.

A wedding ring? I suppose my thoughts have strayed, then. I apologize.

“How quaint… I accept your apology.” She bowed towards my general direction, a bit to the left of me, though.

You can’t see me, can you?

“I can feel your general presence… But no, I can’t really see you.”

But you can read my thoughts, so you’re definitely some sort of deity. That being said, am I supposed to be reincarnated here?

“Ah, that’s right! I almost forgot… And to think, I was told to show you respect, and I’m forgetting the main point…”

So, reincarnated where?

“You’ll be reincarnated in the world I watch over. I made it, actually. Named everything myself, too.”

I held some admiration to her for that. I knew exactly how hard it was to come up with names for things.

“By the way, I come from the same world you came from, but probably a few years in the past. Some of the names may be a bit cliche, but I do think I brought up a few good ideas here!”

She seemed to be trying to convince me to like it. Or perhaps she was going for something else?

Either way, she said that in way too cute of a way… Ah damn, she’s reading my thoughts, isn’t she?

“I am, so please stop replaying it in your mind!”

She seemed embarrassed, even though she was married.

How unfaithful…

“I’m not unfaithful! Anyone would be embarrassed if they could read your mind! Man, I really just want to talk to him again, it’s been so long. I’m glad you came along, too…”

I was just kidding about the unfaithful bit! Please don’t go into detail about your husband, it breaks my virgin heart.

That being said, let’s calm down and let me into a new world, okay? This darkness is hurting me.

“Ahh, well, about that…” She looked away shyly and pressed her fingers together a few times.

What did you do?

“Actually, I didn’t fully complete your body… But if you stay in this darkness any longer, you may die completely! Ah, the complications of procrastination…”

How incomplete is it?

Each of the bodies is a bit tainted, which’ll end up with some detriments to you later on, and one of them isn’t fully formed. After I remove the taint and fix up that last body, I need to merge them into one, which’ll take the longest time…”

How long?

“About a century? Maybe longer? I can finish the body in a few minutes, but removing the taint will take a few years, then merging them together… It’s like making a twenty thousand piece puzzle by sanding each piece down one by one. It’ll take a very long time.”

Then, finish the body! I’ll hold out as long as I can!

“Yessir!”

With that, she disappeared.

I got a bit caught up in the mood and ended up ordering a goddess. Oh, my… I guess I should apologize, but it doesn’t seem as if she can hear me…

At the very least, I guess my philosophy was correct?

Reincarnation is simply a matter of wanting to… perhaps? I don’t have another case… Although I don’t see anyone else joining me here… Although hold up, even a goddess couldn’t see me.

Why would I be able to see any others? And who says they’d be close to me? This darkness seems like it’s squeezing me in, but it’s probably some limitless space.

I wonder what hell looks like if this… wait, hold up, where is this? I mean, I’m constantly being tormented, so this could be considered hell, but it’s dark like Limbo, and there’s the goddess like Heaven, so where is this?

Perhaps it’s just Entropy, tearing at anything, taking energy and replacing it with nothing but the chill of Death…

That sounded deep. I like it.

“Alright, I finished! Oh, what an interesting thought line…” The goddess seemed confused.

Alright, so I can be reincarnated now?

“Technically, yes! You don’t have much time left, so be quick now, but choose a race to be reincarnated into!”

13 tablets appeared, spinning around her. Each of them had a race on them. Human, Elf, Dwarf, Beastkin, Dragon, Merfolk, Spirit, Elemental, Fairy, Angel, Seraphim, Demon, Devil.

Quite the selection…

The tablets began glowing different colors. In the endless darkness, thirteen colors made an appearance.

I gazed at them in awe, forgetting about the fact that I had a time limit.

Let’s go with the one I’m comfortable with, Human.

The Cobalt color that it shined charmed me.

“I think you may be misunderstanding something, but we don’t have enough time to change that. I’ll send you on your way immediately.”

I think you should be on your way to meet your husband after you deal with me. He’s probably crying since he hasn’t seen you in so long.

She smiled lightly at me.

“I’ll do just that. Since you’ve been so considerate, I’ll give you a little bit of a present. ‘You can be anything’”

Those words hit me like a hurricane, resounding in my mind even as I was sent flying downwards, off to start my new life.

At that moment, thirteen children were born. They were all connected by a single red thread, twirling its way around the world.

“It’s a healthy boy, ma’am. What shall you name him?”

“How about… Dust?”

“Eru? Is that good enough, my beautiful wife?!”

“Hmph. Sei should be fine.”

“A boy this cute could only be named Shiro!”

“Yuu. Our next king.”

“Ryuu, after my forefather.”

“Umm... Kon should be fine...”

“What beautiful eyes! His name should be… Gen.”

“Fei, our baby boy.”

“What are you talking about? This is my daughter. Her name… Angelica.”

“The highest tier of seraphim… Sera.”

“Brown eyes, just like your mother... Hmm… Let’s name you Namet.”

“I’ll name him after the first devil king, Kijo.”

These thirteen children, each one with the same thread in their soul, would certainly have an adventure throughout their lives.

“Your philosophy wasn’t correct, my child… A reincarnator isn’t decided by whether they believe in it. It’s decided by the special shape of their fate line.”

The goddess twirled the wedding ring on her finger, the shape reminding her of her own red thread.

The Rings (Cont.)

Charlotte woke up in darkness. A darkness that seemed to constrict upon her.

The darkness of death.

Her mind was filled with only one man. One that she should have joined in death. One who she died for.

He’s not here…

“Of course not. You think, just because you died, you’ll get to meet him again?” A voice rang out, resounding in her mind.

This was a god.

Let me meet him. Let me speak to him. Reincarnate me, god.

But the thoughts of a girl in love showed no respect to a man other than him.

“Don’t be so conceited. Who says that you get reincarnated in the same world? Who says that you get reincarnated on the same side? What if you’re a monster?”

A feeling of pain shot through her. She looked down and saw a monster’s body.

She saw her new body.

A monster… No, I can’t be a monster! I need to talk to him again!

“I certainly don’t get to decide. If I could, perhaps you wouldn’t have to suffer through this same pain I had to suffer through so long ago…”

Wait, no! Don’t do this to me!

“I have no choice.”

“I’m sorry.”

He-!

She was cut off as her body shot down upon the world. The god pricked his finger with a needle that appeared from the nothingness and sent the drop of blood down after her.

Then he sent another one.

He grit his teeth and summoned a knife to his hand. He slit his wrist and watched the blood pour down after the lovestruck girl.

“Become powerful, girlie, and you might just be able to live long enough to see him again. I can’t guarantee that it’s on good terms, though.” The god muttered, watching the stream of red slowly stop up.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” A goddess appeared.

“…Oh, you’re awake…” The god’s voice was soft, his eyes blinking rapidly.

There was a silence, neither of the deities speaking.

Then, the tears began to fall.

“I… I’ve missed you…” The god broke down, rushing to hug the goddess, who was quickly losing her control as well.

Their rings glittered in the darkness.

The God of Monsters, wed to The Goddess of Life.