I woke up in a plain.

A large, wide, lush plain.

The grass was greener on this side. The sky bluer. The air fresher.

My heartbeat sounded steadily, confirming that I was alive.

I looked around. There was nothing in sight except for neatly groomed grass as far as the eye could see.

The sun shone heavily. Its bright, white-yellow light colored the landscape. The light danced and amplified the vitality of the natural environment.

It illuminated the world, which glowed in its more than ordinary glory.

I looked around once more. I held my head and checked my body.

No injuries. Not just that, but there were no scars, no bruises, no sign of any interference.

My body itself glowed with the essence of healing.

What was going on?

Did I get kidnapped and abandoned somewhere?

Somewhere far away?

It wasn't raining anymore.

How much time has passed?

I held my head. How did this happen? Where could I be?

Why didn't they leave me?

That was surely a fatal hit. It was of much more impact that anything I've ever felt before. My body was crushed against the force of the car that must've been moving far beyond residential district speed limits. My body was sent flying, along with whatever else that was left in me.

Yet, here I was. Somehow, I was still alive.

Or was I?

I have luck to thank, don't I?

I have been very lucky recently.

Thank goodness.

I smirked to myself and looked down at the garden of green below me.

___

I sat in the field and basked in the sunlight.

It felt nice. Abnormally nice.

Then, the grass stopped swaying.

From the skies, something appeared.

It was a feminine figure with proportions much like an ancient statue.

I knew of it through observing its shadow upon the ground.

The wind blew the world back into motion.

The few clouds parted and the figure floated down, slowly. It was uninfluenced by the gentle breeze caressing the plains. It drifted closer and closer to me.

I kept my gaze controlled. I remained staring at the ground. I knew I should look up, yet my body didn't listen to my commands again. How strange.

I felt it move closer and closer to me.

Then, it was right in front of me.

It towered over me like a giant. That same shadow I observed covered me from the sun's pleasant rays. My skin was cooled in the darkness. What replaced the heat was not quite a chill, but a nice cool.

"Elias Animus," a voice called out. It was neither too loud, nor too soft. It was gentle, yet declaring enough. It wrapped its sound around my name.

I looked away.

"That's a beautiful name you have," the voice said.

Images of my mother flashed into my head. Why was I remembering her, I wonder? I quickly brushed it off.

I wanted to say something, yet my mouth didn't sound words, and my head was still dropped low.

How disrespectful I was! Grief was one annoying aftereffect.

Grief...

"Elias..." the voice called out once more. The name felt foreign, like the rest of my thoughts. Yet, strange as it sounded, it was also nice to hear... for some reason. A creeping suspicion bit at me, yet I ignored it. This wasn't the time and place.

Another image flashed in my head. It was of a girl I used to know calling out to me. I don't remember what she looked like. Elias, she said, with a smile on her shrouded face.

How long ago was that? Possibly only a year, yet why does it feel like so much longer?

And how could I forget?

Stop this, I told myself. This wasn't the time and place. Stop getting distracted.

Look up.

Look up...

Look up!

I tried willing my head to move but it didn't even spare an inch. It didn't budge, no matter how much I wanted it to.

What was going on with me?

Grief...

Talk to her, and you'll find answers.

Just a little persistence is what I needed...

As stunning as the ground was, you won't find what you needed there.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Just a little belief, and strength...

Take a deep breath. Then look up.

Life wasn't over yet.

What's wrong with me?

There's nothing wrong.

Why wasn't I moving?

Why wasn't I moving?

I've been so lucky. I've been so blessed...

... with things I don't deserve. With strength, life, with another day...

It doesn't matter how hard things have been,

because I can get through it.

After all,

it's the only choice I have.

I can,

with just a little

strength,

belief,

willpower,

conviction,

power...

... power?

Oh right.

Stop this.

I have none-

You are not too far gone.

I have no power-

"Elias!" the voice called out to me. It was fully loud and declaring.

My thoughts stopped.

I felt hands placed on my shoulders.

It gripped me. I knew I couldn't shake free from their grasp. They were small, yet powerful.

"Elias!" the voice called out again, less gentle and more strained.

It called my name, and my being clung to each successive word.

"You have fought well."

I finally looked up. In front of me was not a giant. Not a statue, or some other idle figure. It was a girl dressed in green. Her whole existence glowed with an otherwordly aura.

They way she treated to me was nothing like how I've been treated before, with the exception of one person.

A little more and I would've been in a very dangerous and foreign position.

I looked into her eyes. They were a vibrant green, matching her dress. A halo nested above her head. Large wings stretched behind her, lifting up above her head. They were large enough to cover her and nest her.

Ah...

It's too late.

No, it's not.

I took a deep breath.

"Hello. Thank you for the compliment. Do you know where we are?" I asked.

The girl didn't say anything to me. She simply looked back into my eyes, and smiled softly.

"Do you happen to know what happened to me?" I asked.

The girl's hands were still on my shoulders. I tried backing away, but she didn't let me.

"Were you the one who saved me? If so, thank you. I got caught up in something unfortunate, but that's life, you know?"

The girl remained still.

"Ah, where are my manners. I'm sorry for that little pause there. Lately, my body freezes up for no real reason. My mother had just passed away, you see. It's probably grief, so don't worry about it."

My hands gripped her arms. My body tried ripping her hands off my shoulders to no avail.

She was incredibly strong for her size.

"What's your name?" I asked yet another question. "W-W... What's going on?" My words slurred.

The girl moved closer. By reflex, I pulled away. My face trembled. My body shook.

The girl paused, then moved closer again.

She released her grip off my shoulders, and instead embraced me.

Her hands and arms trapped me.

"I... I..." I mumbled.

"I am the goddess of fortune, Providence," she said.

"A... A goddess..."

"Yes... a goddess..." she muttered. "I've been watching you. You've had it rough, haven't you?"

My hands grabbed at nothing behind her. They twitched at her words.

"W-W-W-What are you talking about? I'm completely fine, as you can see! A goddess? That's amazing," I managed to say.

"You are not," she whispered.

"If you are a goddess, then you healed me, right? I'm eternally grateful to you, so please, stop this. You don't need to do this."

"I don't need to. I want to," she replied.

"I appreciate the concern, but really. I'm fine." Words kept pouring out like water from a stubborn faucet.

Stop this, me.

"Really... this is completely unnecessary... I-i-i... If you keep this up, then..."

Stop this, you senseless idiot...

"I have to get home now. I have to call the service guy to fix my house. I have to follow up with the person who hit me. They probably need me for insurance or legal reasons. Even if they ran, I have to go back. I have a funeral to attend. More importantly, I have to go to school, and..."

An angel feather wiped a tear from my eyes.

Huh?

I was crying?

My mind was mush. With every word, I slipped more and more away from myself. I could see myself again. From the outside.

The goddess whispered to me softly these next few words that caused me to stop and re-enter myself, that rejoined and united the divide and rift within myself.

"Stop the act. You don't need to be so tough. You were strong enough. In your weakness, you were strong enough. Believe that."

Like a flood, I felt a resurgence of old emotions. They fit like puzzle pieces within me, unlocking something long forgotten. It was a homecoming. A warm, warm homecoming.

More tears followed. With clenched fists, I cried year-old tears into her arms.

___

I had died.

Providence broke the news to me.

"You have full permission to be sad, of course," she told me.

I already cried my eyes out, however. I listened to her and did not look away.

"On Earth, I have found nobody with quite a constitution as yours," she spoke. "You had it rough, yet you continued to live day by day looking after your mother and taking care of those around you. Your legacy is evident in the lives of the classmates you've supported. Senseless bullying, economic uncertainty, the collapse of your home, the loss of your mother, and now this: even if it wasn't genuine, you still decided to fight until the end."

"On Earth, you were unlucky. You were tormented and defeated. You struggled, like everyone else. That does not discredit your struggle, however. One's suffering cannot be compared to another's. Suffering is unique, like character."

"However, because your suffering is your own, you are able to own it. That in itself is a strength."

"Yet, it is not power. On Earth, you were powerless. You succumbed to a fate with a life succumbed to the forces influencing it. You did not choose how to be born or how to be molded. If I offered you the choice to have power beyond your wildest imaginations, would you accept it? If you had power to influence those around you, what would you do with it? If you had power to change your own life, what would you look like? I'm curious."

"For my own selfish reasons, I deem you a test subject. Yes. It is not pity or empathy. It is the selfish whim of a bored goddess. Because it is a selfish whim, it is completely my responsibility and my responsibility alone. This is not the burden of any other deity, but my burden alone. This is not a favor from the gods, but a favor from me. This, I accept, perhaps regretfully."

"How are you different from all the other unfortunate souls back on Earth? Maybe you aren't much different, let alone worse. A hellish year is much better than a hellish century. However, because this is a whim of mine, you don't need to worry about the reasoning. All I simply ask of you is this:"

"Do you seek power?"

"Would you like to change the fate of those around you?"

"Would you like to change your fate?

The goddess reached her hand out to me,

and granted me the power of the master,

before sending me out into a parallel world.

___

I woke up in another plain. The air smelled different. The sky a little brighter. The grass a darker green.

My body felt different. It felt imbued with some strange force.

I felt like I could conqeur the world. It was that delusional feeling.

There was a nice aroma. Laying down, I looked beside me.

I was laying on a flowerbed.

Immediately surrounding me was a cluster of something very familiar.

At the sight of it, I almost choked up.

I held back the tears and smiled.

Lavender.

I prayed a silent prayer of mourning and moving on.