"Hey, wake up!"

An unfamiliar voice echoed in the man's head.

"Heeey! Wake up already!"

The voice echoed yet again. Could this be a hallucination before his actual death? Or was this the voice of some god? Those were some of the theories that the man formed while still dormant.

“Looks like he'll be sleeping for a while…” the voice sighed.

And sleep he did. In fact, he had quite the nap, not waking up until eight hours later.

As his vision unblurred, a vast void of darkness could be seen across all sides. The only thing that stood out in the darkness was something, or rather someone, covered in a white glow.

"Where am I and who are you?” the man asked, as he cautiously walked towards the entity, who seemed distracted looking at a floating magical blue colored text box, eerily similar to the ones found in JRPGs.

"Aah! You scared me!" the mysterious entity screamed, as it turned to look at the confused man. “So, you are finally awake! You've been sleeping for an eternity!” it added, letting a sigh of relief.

Before the man's eyes there stood a woman with long blonde hair and dark purple eyes, wearing a rather formal black and white outfit. Notably, an ID card with a name clearly written “Astra” could be seen hanging from her neck.

“Welcome to the afterlife, or at least part of it,” she explained. “I am Astra, a god responsible of guiding souls like you through the options you have in the afterlife,” she added, while reading the text written in the blue dialogue boxes. “But before that, let me check some things…”.

"You are Hideaki Makoto, a 27-year-old male, currently single, born and lived in Japan, worked as a salaryman, went to work at 7 a.m. and came back at 5 p.m. when you didn't do overtime, lived alone in a small house with Hachi, a dog you adopted since he was a little puppy…" she said, while scrolling through the text.

Twenty minutes later, she was still listing a plethora of random information about him.

"Doesn't enjoy grilled fish but loved eating sushi, disliked green tea and preferred coffee, hated math but was rather pretty good at it, and was more of a dog person but also loved cats. Are these correct?" Astra said, finally ending her monologue.

“What on earth is happening?” Makoto thought to himself. "A god? The afterlife?” he asked, confused. “And if I really like sushi? What kind of check is that?!”

Astra laughed as she looked like she was having fun with the situation. "Your reaction is pretty common! Now that we confirmed your data, please hold your horses, and let me explain everything!".

"After someone dies, they can choose between two types of afterlives. The Classic system and the Isekai system," Astra explained.

"Classic and Isekai?" Makoto questioned.

"In the Classic System, you can go to a place beyond life, where you can live with other souls in peace,” she answered, showing a picture of said place.

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“So, it's like heaven?” Makoto asked.

“Exactly,” Astra responded. "And as the name says, in the Isekai System you will go to another world, like the ones you see in the mangas and animes - a fantasy dimension filled with magic and monsters, complete with a leveling system, and many more things of that nature." She explained, showing another picture.

“That sounds amazing!” he enthusiastically responded.

“Interested?” Astra asked, letting an audible chuckle.

Makoto, making a broad smile, answered, “Of course!”

“Alrighty then!” she replied. “Oh! And I almost forgot to tell you!” she exclaimed, “You have the right to bring something along with you. It can be anything!”

“Anything, you say?” he questioned. “Can it really be anything?”

“Yes, as long as that thing is real and if it's not anything absurd,” she answered, showing a list of items available. “As you can see, you can select one magical weapon, a piece of gear, a magical accessory, a special skill, a special talent, among many other things. You can even bring gear from your world!”

“Well,” Makoto said hesitantly. “My dog Hachi was my most precious thing I had. He loved going on little adventures with me, but after a certain age he just couldn't go as easily,” he continued, with a distant look on his face. “Until one day…”

“I think I see where this is going,” Astra quietly thought. “I'm going to have some fun with this!”

“Well, what I want to say is: If I can bring in anything, even things from my world, is it possible to revive him – Is it possible to bring Hachi back?”

“It is possible!” Astra said, while typing something in what seemed to be a chat box. “And now we wait!” she added, sending the newly written message.

“Wait? For what?” Makoto questioned, “There's no way that that is something easy or fast to do.”

No more than a few seconds later, a bright purple light lit on the floor, as something started materializing out of it.

“Oh! He's already here!” she said.

The light slowly started fading away as someone stepped out of it, revealing its identity.

“A call for help from you is unusual, Astra!” the mysterious person said.

Out of the fading light, a rather tall man with a canine head wearing a black and purple suit appeared. Similarly to Astra's, an ID card with a name written “Anubis” could be seen hanging from his neck.

"Hey Anubis, how're you doing?” Astra said, as she gave him a high five. “You were fast!”

"Well, I always try to answer to requests as fast as possible," Anubis replied, as he walked towards Makoto. "Nice to meet you. I am Anubis, a god with a similar job to Astra." he said, as he shook hands with Makoto. “Now, from what I have read you want to… Bring your dog, a Labrador Retriever, to another world?”

“Exactly,” Makoto confirmed. “I want to see him explore the world again.”

“That's a bold request if I have ever seen one! I love it!” Anubis said as he laughed. “But I need to confirm something. Is Hachi really the thing you want to bring to another world? These anime-like worlds are pretty dangerous, y'know?”

“If the world is dangerous then I will protect him at all costs,” Makoto proclaimed. “But I want to see him again and go on adventures together again!”

"I see," Anubis said. “Then I think I can make your wish come true!”

Hearing that, Makoto immediately jumped out of joy. After all these months he could finally meet his beloved dog again – this would be a second chance he never expected to have.

“Well then. Are you ready, Makoto?” Astra asked.

“More ready than ever.” Makoto replied. “Sorry mom! Sorry dad! Looks like I am going to see our old friend again before reuniting with you guys…” he thought, remembering of his dear family.

“When you wake up, you should be in the Kingdom of Checli, together with Hachi,” Anubis said. “You will also have some skills to help you explore the new world. The rest is up to you to discover.”

“Goodbye! Have fun!” Astra said, waving her hands.

Anubis nodded to Astra, then proceeded to snap their fingers simultaneously, summoning a bright purple light below Makoto, quickly surrounding him, and starting the teleportation process.

Makoto slowly closed his eyes as his teleportation started. “Thank you!” he said to the gods, as he faded away, disappearing entirely after a few seconds.

And with that, a new chapter in Makoto's life began. After having an unfortunate death, he met two mysterious gods, who offered him and his Hachi a second chance at living out adventures in a whole new fantasy world.