Prologue #3

Karmic Ties

“Okay. Long story short, karma is the ‘energy’ of causality.” Goddess Telinary starts after a few minutes of thinking. For some reason she reminded me of my university professors, some of whom had a hard time dulling down a subject so us students could understand the subject matter in question.

“Every action has an effect on the world around it. To other people, to the place in question, ectera ectera. In physics, this is explained as ‘Every action has an equal and opposite reaction’, and really the same could be said of Karma. Understand?”

“Yes, I think I do.” I replied, and would have nodded my head if I had one. She made it very simple, which I’m grateful for.

“Good. Now, your existence on Earth has caused a buildup of positive karma where there shouldn’t have been any. The other soul would have been a bad influence in the orphanage, dropped out of high school, never gone to college, and generally would have been the scum of the world.

“Part of this, as you’ve no doubt surmised, is pre-ordained. Or at least the circumstances are. Which is how a world maintains a balance of karma and energy. There has to be good for there to be bad and vice versa.

“The other soul could have potentially broken out of that downward spiral with his own will, as free will is very much a thing. But that would have been a natural progression and thus not have had the same impact on his karma as what ended up happening to the two of you. With me thus far?”

Goddess Telinary had to stop a few times before telling me about all of this, but I did understand what she was getting at. Although just understanding that didn’t mean I was happy with it. After all, who likes being told that not only was their birth a mistake, but also that said birth was set into circumstances where a person would naturally fall into being evil?

Yeah, not me.

“I get it.” If I could have said it, I would have spat out the words between gritted teeth. I was really rather angry and didn’t bother to hide it.

“You don’t have to be so angry about it. It’s just the way that all worlds’ work. No two people can be born equally, after all.” Telinary points out that fact, but it didn’t really change my emotions. Emotions are rarely rational.

“Ahem,” The old man, God Modias, finally interrupts. “Perhaps the discussion should move on? The subject is obviously angering the lad.”

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“Hm, quite right.” Telinary accepts the subjection, after shooting Modias a rather withering glance. It seems the old god is still going to end up chastised over this whole matter.

“Moving on then,” Telinary says after turning back to me. “Because the karma built up on Earth was more than it was supposed to, we now have to decide on how to use it before it spreads even further. Already the truck driver that killed you has become persona non-grata to an extreme extent. This is just the most overt effect of the built up karmic energy.”

“Okay,” I say after trying to calm myself down. Getting angry at this point would be pointless and not objective at all for my current circumstances. “How do we use that energy then?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked!” For the first time Goddess Telinary seems rather happy with me, and even claps her hands. Just that little action makes her seem far less strict and more of the young woman she appears to be.

In all honesty, it was a bit mesmerizing.

“Long story short, we need you to absorb all of that karmic energy then turn it into tangible benefits. These benefits will then carry over to your new life, where they will persist until you once again enter the cycle of reincarnation.” Telinary starts to explain, obviously rather excited about the process.

“Uh, why does that excite you so much?”

Okay, so I really couldn’t stop myself from asking. I was rather curious, after all. Even though it definitely smelled of Trope Territory again.

“Because our part of the cosmos hasn’t had a normal soul being tied to the System for some thirty billion years or so! Over twice as long as the universe that Earth is part of has been around. Even this mess-up doesn’t discount the fact that we could get promoted if this goes well!”

Oooh, it seems Goddess Telinary’s true thoughts are leaking out there. Even Modias cannot hide the long-suffering sigh he lets out. It really made Telinary seem like a corporate power-climber. Heh. That image actually makes me chuckle a bit.

At least as a floating ball of something I don’t show any signs that I’m laughing to myself so long as I don’t make a sound. So, yay for me. No doubt it would have been rather embarrassing otherwise.

“Ahem. Anyway. You’ll learn more about the System and what it means later. For now though, we should get started.” Goddess Telinary coughs into one of her fists before trying to move the discussion on. “Modias, if you would.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The old man replies before stepping away from the two of us.

At the same time a tinge of color suddenly invades the otherwise purely white space. It starts as a faint, almost baby blue colored line underneath Modias’ feet before it starts spreading out like a wiggling earthworm. As it gets longer the color also deepens and brightens, soon becoming a bright sky blue that eventually darkens until it looks almost black except it continues to give off a blue light.

If I had still been a living human, the sight of such an odd light would have probably blinded me. It really defied explanation. Or perhaps it just escaped the range at regular human eyes could even see it.

But even I could take a guess at what those blue lines were drawing. And sure enough I finally got to see a true blue magic circle being drawn out by a God himself. Even as a trope, it was quite cool to see.

“This circle is the conduit that’ll forge the connection you will have with the System. Quite exquisite, isn’t it?” Telinary had moved toward me while I was watching the light show, but I would have been nodding my head like a woodpecker if I could have.

“Living worlds naturally balance themselves when it comes to karma and energy. It’s quite rare for the balance to be tipped to one side or the other, but when it does it often requires extraordinary circumstances. Like being reincarnated in the world wrong.

“It takes such a surplus of energy in order to forge this sort of connection with the System. You could understand it as in us Gods being middle-management, while the System itself is the big boss. It controls all of the innumerable Cosmoses’ while we deal with individual universes or even just part of a single cosmos.”

I could easily tell that Telinary was excited as she started explaining what was going on even though she probably didn’t mean to. Not that I was going to complain, as any extra information at this point is welcome.

I suddenly had the feeling that I’d need all the information I could get.

~< O >~