Darkness

All encompassing never ending darkness as far as the eye could see, or as far as one could see when they supposedly had no eyes; or a body for that matter. Darren had been ‘floating’ in this space for as long as he could remember. One second he’d been eating his microwave dinner in his little one bedroom apartment and then he’d blinked and ended up here. His body gone and replaced with a glowing ball of white energy. ‘Did I die? No, no that can’t be right. How would you have died Darren you were eating noodles and watching American Mom. Unless I had one of those aneurysms or something. I remember Chad’s grandpa died from one of those.’

While thinking to himself shapes started to slowly form around him, eight of them all in different sizes growing into giant bodies surrounding him in a half circle. One thing he was sure of was that five were male and three were female. The second thing he was sure of was that people shouldn’t be as tall as these eight were and tall was an understatement, massive would be a better description.

As they finished forming all eight stared down at him from their towering heights, half of them had body language that seemed uninterested while the others held themselves as if they were pleased. Suddenly the one on the farthest left spoke in a voice that reminded him of the warmth he’d feel whenever his mother hugged him as a child. 

“Hello, there little soul” She was dressed in a golden gown and draped in a white scarf around her shoulders. For some reason, he couldn’t focus on her face but imagined that she must be a very beautiful person if the voice matched the face. ‘well hey shit, she even sounds like motherly love incarnate.’ He stared at her for a moment before finally cluing in ‘Wait, little soul? That means I must have died, but how did it even happen?’ “I’m sure this is confusing for you and for that we are sorry.”

‘Confusing? I don’t have a body and I’m pretty sure this isn’t what my grandmother would call heaven. Honestly, this is nothing like what any religion thought would happen, though truthfully if this is what the afterlife was like then maybe all religions were wrong..’

Recollecting his thoughts he realized she’d still been talking and was already midway through explaining something most definitely important “-ied by choking on your meal and it happened at the exact time we were searching for a soul so we’ve come to offer you a proposition”

‘I died by choking. How did I die by choking? I followed the cardinal rule! 15 chews before you swallow, This is an outrage! I demand a redo!’

“This proposition comes with some benefits, You see we are the elder gods. We are not, however, the gods of this realm, but the ones in charge here have allowed us to take a wayward soul so as to turn it into a champion of our world. That champion would be you in a reborn body”

“A-ah reborn you say? What would that mean exactly?” Speaking as a spirit for the first time the gods almost didn’t hear him since his voice was so low but the first one to answer him was a different God this time. “Yes young man, you would be reborn quite literally. Taking the place of a baby destined to die within its first few hours of living, thus sparing the family from grieving.” with a soft-spoken voice that sounded as if it held the mysteries of the universe. This god looked akin to Gandalf had he been fifty years younger. He wore the exact same robe and hat combination only blue. His long beard stretching halfway down his body.

Like the first goddess Darren still couldn’t see his face, not that he’d really see anything with how much facial hair this one seemed to have. Not waiting for a response he spoke again “Of course, for helping us we would grant you some liberties. Such as allowing you to choose your race and gifting minor blessings”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Darren was quite shocked at this outcome. “You mean, instead of going to the afterlife here on earth I’d be getting a second chance at a new world?” It almost sounded too good to be true and to most people, it would be.

“Yes, yes. Our world is dangerous, however, Strife with conflict between races, demons invading time after time, hostilities between the common man and the magus”

“You’re telling me this world has different races, Demons, Magic and adventure just waiting to happen? I don’t have to study all hours of the night for an economics major and slave away at McRonalds to buy my dinners anymore? I could have fun and shoot fireballs out of my hands!?” With each mention of something new Darren’s disembodied voice grew louder, unable to contain his growing excitement at the prospect.

A few of the gods laughed at the little soul, excited for the new world, unaware of the dangers ahead. The first god to speak opened her mouth again, calming him down while talking “That would be correct little one, all you would have to do is accept our offer and we would send you off. We’ve already looked through your life and found you to be suitable for our cause in both mind and spirit.”

“Then yes I will, I’d love to be reborn. Now, you mentioned something about races and blessings?”

“There are a lot of races inhabiting the world but for our purposes, we need you to pick one of the three with the highest population. Which would leave you with the options of, Human, Demi-Human, and Fae.” The Gandalf god explained “A Human on our world is exactly like the ones here, the benefits are that you are born with an increased general experience gain until the age of eighteen. Demi-Humans are born with increased Strength, Agility and Vitality, while the Fae races are born with increased Intelligence, Wisdom and Magic Abilities.” He explained, happy to be of assistance.

“Wait I just realized something, will I be keeping my memories from this world?” The gods seemed surprised at the question not knowing how to answer until a new God answered for them all “You will keep your memories, as they aren’t attached to a mind but a soul, your soul won't be changing but the vessel that holds it will.” The god who responded this time was Green skinned with long raven hair, with antlers sprouting from the top of her head curling down and around forming something reminiscent of a crown. A dress made of large leaves flowed around her body, different colors and sizes creating an effect as if they were blowing in the wind. “If anything your soul's power will increase from being reborn which may raise your capabilities down the line”

Darren smiled inwardly at her comment ‘So if I keep my memories from this world then I’ll already start out with increased knowledge and intelligence and if I train from early on then I can increase my physical stats easily. Which means a Human’s racial trait would be more beneficial in the long run..’ Making a decision he ‘looked’ up at the gods and said. “Alright then, I think I’ve made my choice, I would like to be reborn as a Human again.”

The first god stretched her massive hand down to pick up his orb of a body, Drawing it in close towards the other eight gods “Very well then little soul” she spoke “A human you once were and a human you so shall be. We wish you luck in your adventure, but we also warn you that it will not necessarily be an easy one. We shall speak again but not for a long while” One by one the gods reached out to touch his soul, releasing some mana which began to circle him in a swirling vortex of different colors. Four of them sent their mana through him granting him blessings in the process for his future growth.

“Goodbye, little soul.” They spoke in unison, A bright light flashed and those were the last words Darren heard before darkness enveloped him once more.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Are you sure that he’ll be alright Lumina?” The Gandalf God said to the Goddess wreathed in gold.

“You know as well as I do that I don’t Norden, We may be able to bless him but once he is reborn his fate is left to him and him alone” She spoke softly in response as if she’d just sent her own child to his doom.

The green skinned Goddess spoke up next “Both of you don’t need to worry so much, The power of his soul may not have been strong now but as he grows so too will it. I feel that in time he will grow to become a powerful figure in the history of this world.” She chuckled slightly “You do remember the last soul we took from this world yes? That woman burned alive for her apparent crimes. Joan was it?” She grew to become one of the strongest fighters on the Eastern Continent hundreds of years ago.”

“You have a point Aelana but even so we will worry because that is all we can do.” Norden smiled yet held a grim face “Only the fates themselves know what will happen now, and you know as I do how the fates can be fickle bitches.”