Prologue #2

Soul from Another World

“I am terribly sorry.”

Those words were like that old trope I’d read before. In fact, this entire situation could have been taken right out of any number of those webnovels I used to read. It left my left eye twitching quite uncontrollably. Or it would have, if I had a body that had an eye.

The old man bowing his head in front of me also seemed to realize that. Or had read my mind, whichever didn’t matter. I didn’t even get to say a word before he’d already started explaining.

“The Cosmic Consciousness is just like that though. Earth is one of the prime material worlds, so it is deeply connected to such concepts like reincarnation and fantastical settings. Souls naturally and easily move in and out of such prime material worlds, after all.”

The old man, obviously one of the Gods, with a big ‘Capital G’, explains it to me. But really I have to go back a few minutes to really explain it all. After all, I did just die.

It wasn’t anything as fancy as appearing in a flash of white light though. Instead it was as simple as opening my eyes only to realize I was in a vast expanse of white space. There were no walls, no ceiling, or even a floor. I just sort of floated there surrounded by white light.

I also didn’t have any hands or feet, or a body at all. Like I said, it was a total trope in that way. Then this old man appeared and started apologizing.

“Yes, yes. All of the creative works from Earth are based on subconscious impressions of the Cosmic Consciousness. It keeps information between worlds at least somewhat consistent, as not all worlds are as magically barren as the Earth is.” God said then, explaining what he’d meant before.

“Then what are you apologizing for? I died, but people die all the time.” I couldn’t help but ask, confused on that point.

I was even more confused because I could clearly remember my life and my death, but I couldn’t seem to recall my name. It was like that little bit of information just upped and disappeared from my memory. Really, it made me wonder if it wasn’t the same problem that had plagued everyone else on Earth.

“Ah, well, you see…” God started stammering with his words.

“Out with it already.” Okay, so that came out more harsh than I had intended, but I was getting exasperated.

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“Well, okay.” The old man stops to take a deep breath.

“You weren’t supposed to reincarnate upon Earth at all! Your soul was slated to reincarnate on one of the Forgotten Worlds, and thus was molded for that place. Instead you somehow managed to end up on Earth, where your incompatible soul caused you problems. No one could remember you there, right?” The old man let it all out in one breath, rapidly speaking as if to get it off his chest in one go.

I could claim to have been surprised, but I’d stopped being surprised about the odd shit in my life a long time ago. Plus this was just another one of those trope things to begin with. If an irregular one, anyway.

“And somehow that was your fault?” I couldn’t help but point out the obvious, which caused the old man to flinch back a bit as if I’d hit the bullseye.

“Sigh~ Yes, it was. I’m responsible for the cycle of Reincarnation in this part of the cosmos, and ended up mixing up you two souls by accident. Even the System didn’t catch the accident until after it had happened, causing a whole bunch of errors…” The old man admits it, looking rather forlorn and glum all of a sudden.

Before I could say anything else though, there was a real flash of light that interrupted me. Thankfully the light was golden in color instead of white, so it was easily noticed in this white place. White on white really doesn’t work well, if you get what I mean.

“That’s enough, Modias,” a young, golden-haired goddess suddenly appeared and said, stopping the old man from saying anything else.

Unlike the old man, this woman appeared rather regal, as well as otherworldly beautiful. Tall, straight backed, with bright blue eyes, long gold hair, and a full gold dress that’s slitted up to her thighs on both sides. No shoes though. She was also the very definition of ‘Stacked’, with a Capital S.

“You can apologize all you want, Modias, but it doesn’t fix the issue. The other soul that was supposed to belong on Earth has been stuck in limbo for almost two decades now. While this one survived far longer on Earth than he really ought to have.”

After admonishing the old man, Modias, she turned to me and actually smiled. Although it reminded me of the sort of strict smile your disapproving Aunt would give you at a family reunion. To put it simply, it was uncomfortable.

“And where are my manners. I’m Goddess Telinay, overseer of this part of the cosmos. Effectively God Modias’ boss.” Telinay said then, introducing herself.

“Ah, a pleasure.”

“Quite. Now, Modias has already explained a bit more than he should have, but it is of no consequence. What comes next however very much does concern you however.” Goddess Telinay was all business and moved on to the point.

“Because of Modias’ mistake, two souls and two worlds have been negatively affected. The one sent to the Forgotten World didn’t survive more than four years, so has been left in limbo while we waited for you to die on Earth. That’s a non-issue, as souls are immutable anyway and don’t experience time like that.

“It was the negative effect of karma that is the real problem now. Because you were supposed to become a great character in the Forgotten World while the other soul was supposed to fall into criminality on Earth. He died too early to really affect the Forgotten World, but your persistent existence has shaken up the Earth in a few ways. Your sudden death and the karmic ties that relied upon your existence therein has become a major complication.”

That was quite a bit of information there, and if I’d had eyes I no doubt would have been blinking them in confusion. Hell, I really was confused. The talk about karma and whatnot just kind of went right over my head. After all, it wasn’t really a concept a regular guy like me was supposed to deal with.

“I would apologize for that, but I really have very little idea of what you are talking about.” I couldn’t help but say, which made Goddess Telinary’s shoulders drop.

Now she just looked rather tired and fed-up.

“Then I guess I’ll have to explain a bit before we move on to how to fix the problem.”

Uh oh, for some reason that didn’t sound good at all.

~< O >~