Prologue: Birth of a New Soul; Meeting the Fisherman

Island of Dreams

Year: 1479 (After Chaos)

Any future is attainable as long as one reaches out.

It was Noa’s time to leave the Island of Dreams, and so with a deep breath he opened a door that would mark the beginning of his fate. At least that was how he imagined things would be. Instead he was confronted with a black void. Wondering if this was supposed to happen, Noa scratched his neck and laughed, “Looks like I got the wrong place, tee hee.”

There was no response except for a breeze that swept Noa in. He heard the door close behind him and when he turned around the door vanished.

“I was kidding about the things I said before.” Noa waved his hand shamelessly, “I mean why would I ever call God a piece of shit that deserved to die. And if I ever did say such a thing it must be because that said entity lacks common decency.”

It seemed like something was shifting in the void as if circling him. It felt like its eyes were devouring him, but he admitted to himself inwardly that he could be imagining it.

A cough escaped Noa’s lips, “Did I not say my greetings yet? Haha.” Noa prostrated himself on the ground, “This humble one known as Noa greets the Fisherman of the Abyss.”

A deep voice rumbled throughout the void, “My presence still brings discomfort to you it seems, but that matters little as your time here has reached its end, no?”

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Noa clicked his tongue while standing up, “Yes. Yes. You can stop pestering me now. I’ve come to a decision. I’d like to go to a magical academy of sorts.” Noa paused for a second with a slight blush now that he said it outloud before continuing, “Nothing particular beyond that, but you know the jist: adventure, fantasy, magical artifacts, dungeons, monsters...and cute girls….”

The voice cut Noa off, “So be it. I’ll see to it that everything is in order. For the time being, I’ll send you back to your soul dimension. You will find an envelope with a ticket that will give you access to the ferry. It shouldn’t take more than a day. However, your memories of your time here will seem like vague dreams. As for the various treasures you looted from this place, they will remain in your pocket dimension. Use them or don’t as you see fit.”

Before Noa could say anything in response, he was whisked out a door and found himself on a grassy hill. This was his soul dimension that the Fisherman mentioned earlier. It was a world that was isolated from the rest of the universe and it was unique to Noa–although every soul had their own similar pocket dimension.

Noa even had the choice to just take up residence in his own soul. It could be considered the ultimate NEET life. Afterall, he could control this world as he pleased.

As if to demonstrate, Noa waved his hand and the breeze picked up. His purple ponytail and black robes fluttered about. It felt nice, but life here wasn’t appealing. He could leave and venture out into the universe on his own, but it was frankly cumbersome in many ways.

Noa threw himself onto the grass and gave a heavy sigh. He eyed the envelope he received. Did I make the right choice? Noa shook his head. There was no point in regretting it. In truth, he didn’t really care how his life started. There were plenty of things that would have kept him from being bored. For now, he still had a good twenty hours or so until the ferry was ready. Feeling the sensation of boredom rise, he jumped up.

“I could use that,” Noa muttered aloud. He flicked his finger and a virtual display appeared. This was an online network that could be used by souls to communicate with one another across an interconnected system. There were all kinds of things that he could do with it. For example, he could participate in an auction or virtual marketplace, he could access public domain information, he could even participate in all kinds of simulations and games. One could indeed live a complete shut-in life and not want for more. But Noa shook his head in an attempt to thwart any distracting thoughts. Well I might as well use this time to train.

In the middle of the grassy hill, on a mostly flat surface, a giant tea kettle seemed to hum as Noa “trained”. There was nothing special about the design of the kettle except its enormous size. Even a thousand kettles would not match its size.