I felt my soul slip from my body, sinking somewhere else. That sinking feeling was probably a bad sign, but I didn't have long to think on it, as the darkness swallowed me whole.

I don't know how long I spent, barely distinct from the void enveloping me, but eventually, something changed in my surroundings. I found myself before a wisp of azure light. Though the glow was dim, my clarity slowly returned in its presence.

Alas, with clarity comes panic, because everything is wrong! I'm confined! Movement is fruitless - I feel like I'm trying to do acrobatics underwater in a straightjacket!

As I strain to do anything, breathing becomes difficult, and the light dims faster, until it begins to wink out, and the darkness seeks to pull me back into its hollow maw.

I begin to sink once again, unable to move, incapable of fighting the pull. Smothered by nothingness, my mind begins to fray once more, until the void is split by a flash of pink, and I find myself falling upwards. An eye I didn't know I had snaps open, and I draw a desperate gasp of frigid air, scanning my surroundings in a panic.

A girl floats above me, staring down in what is clearly disappointment. Pink of hair and dress, her presence is hazy, but distinctively the same as that saving bolt of light. Having captured my attention, she speaks, frustration dripping from her voice.

"Are you done suffocating yourself?"

"What?"

"Oh my me, he's stupid." She mutters under her breath, though she's still pretty loud in this silent space. After a moment of awkwardness, she speaks again.

"I'm jumping to brass tacks - You can call me Strawberry. I'm a God, and this vessel won't last wrong, so no interruptions. I reincarnated you, since you desperately wanted to be a hero, and this world I help steward happens to need some. You, however, spent the first few minutes of your new life not breathing." Resting her face in her hand, she sighs, "Generally speaking, air is important to living beings. You might not need oxygen anymore, but mana is a different story."

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I had so many questions, dying to spring loose, but before I could ask any of them, she raised a palm to silence me.

Hazy lights dance across her hand, as she continues speaking, "So, I had to make a hasty manifestation here to jump-start you - like a battery. That said, after your stellar first moments, I don't feel safe leaving you without guidance, so..."

The lights weave together, forming a grid, then a box, which affixes itself in my field of vision.

Divine Ordainment:

Breath of Life

As a form of inanimate life, you subsist upon mana, which is both your sustenance and air. To go without is to both starve and drown. To avoid this fate, you must regularly transpire mana into yourself. To complete this Quest, transpire 200 Mana, and fill your mana core to its limit.

Mana: 26/200

Reward: Pending

"This is a System prompt. You'll see more of these as you live, since they're the easiest way for us gods to communicate with -"

Reading the quest, I blurt out my first thoughts.

"I'm inanimate? How am I supposed to be a hero, then?"

In response to my interruption, she smiles, before leaning down and flicking me - ow! Why did that hurt so much?!

Her voice came gentle, a stark contrast to her earlier annoyance, "That doesn't matter yet, so don't worry about it. Focus on breathing first, and all else will come with time."

"That explains nothing!" Blinking tears from my eye, I find she's already gone, having left me with nothing but quests and questions.