I died.

Yes, this is the start, not the end.

It was long ago that i died in a accident, i expected some kind of cool afterlife, but all i got was a void, the only interesting thing about the void were a few bight colorful lights and a few strange things moving about.

I spent a looong time just floating there, incapable of doing anything substantial, i could only recall my memories and look at the scenery.

And i did just that for a long long long time.

But after the useless waiting for something to happen, i decided to start trying something, literally anything, and after another long stretch of time i achieved something, i finally started moving around, little by little i started moving in a direction, taking a colorful bright light as a reference i started moving towards it, but while trying to "walk" in a straight line i always ended in some random place close by, normally flipped upside down facing the opposing direction or would have a similar outcome of ending somewhere else in a random orientation, but through sheer patience, willpower and with enough time i started to understand the seemingly random pattern this space followed and i came close to one of these bright and colorful lights i saw in the distance.

Something i discovered as i got close to one of them is that they are more like semi transparent bubbles around the size of half my high that seemed to have miniature universes in them, and i tried not to touch them so that i don't pop the bubble or somehow enter one of them and end  up dead for good. But i still could see what was happening in them as if i had a magnifying lens.

But after a long time observing these mini worlds in the bubbles i got quite bored but was too afraid of interacting with the things moving about the void, so i started trying to manipulate the void itself to pass the time, and after an ungodly amount of time i was again successful in manipulating it with a reasonable degree of mastery, but after another long stretch of time of toying with the void and a few bubbles and learning how to do basic things like speech in this strange situation, something truly interesting happened.

I found something that looked like a building floating in the void, to be more specific, it looked like a tavern from earth, i was skeptical at first but i choose to slowly get closer to it, when i arrived at it's doors that were quite taller than me, i pushed them open and what greeted me was a spacious room full of strange creatures i would never dream of existing anywhere near earth, they all stopped what they were doing and "looked" in my direction, but their gazes only remained on me for a few moments until they continued whatever they were doing previously, i carefully walked to the bar while avoiding the entities in the tavern, specifically the scary ones.

I ended sitting in a stool between a floating black cube and a mass of tentacles, i was a little shy to ask but i gathered courage and "spoke" to the bartender who was something that looked like a nebula wearing a bartender uniform "Excuse me, i am new around here,  so what would you accept as currency here?"

The bartender "spoke" by making what sounded like wind chimes "We accept basically anything interesting or worth some value, but don't worry, the first 3 drinks are on the house"

I "said" to him "Thanks, but when i said i was new, i really mean it, i don't know a thing that is on the shelves behind you, could you give me some recommendations, ?"

The bartender stopped swiping the cup he was cleaning and turned to face the shelves as he "said" "hhhmmm, let's see..." but before he could pick one, the floating cube made what sound like a grave piano note, i felt like what it saying was something along the lines of "Padamagma", i did not know what it was but i couldn't refuse so i remained quiet and observed as the bartender said "Right!" and started preparing a drink in a mug and put in front of me at the counter.

I looked hesitantly at the mug and then to the bartender who "said" "It's a kind of sweet juice that is slightly alcoholic" as I long ago noticed that my current body was in a soul state, I was well aware of it's peculiarities and had to learn to do basic things with this new body, like talking or eating some particles that a few bubbles gave off out of curiosity, so I gestured to my hands for the bartender, his reaction was just to say " hm? Ah, you don't need to worry, the items of this facility are made so that every visitor has it's need taken into consideration, even soul based beings like you, you can drink it without worry" and then proceed to go back to cleaning a cup.

I was worried about what effects a alien drink would have on me, but I proceeded to take the mug and give a few sips of the drink, it tasted like magoe juice with a hint of something else I couldn't quite point out what it was, and as I observed that nothing strange happened after I drank a little, I started drinking in bigger gulps but taking a few pauses as it was not exactly a small mug and I was not sure I could even choke, but I was not willing to see if it was possible. After drinking a good portion of the drink I noticed two things, the first is that despite the bartender saying it was slightly alcoholic, I was somehow getting drunk and my body was changing colors, from it's usual cloudy half transparent gray to a tone of pink which earned a few thing that I felt were the equivalent to a chuckle or laugh from the beings at the tavern which in turn made me become a even stronger shade of pink.

I started making some mental exercises to calm myself down but they only helped a little, after I stopped the exercise I could feel a gaze coming from my immediate left, the sensation was coming from the floating cube, after I "looked" in its direction it "spoke" and I felt like it was saying something along the lines of "A real newcomer? What's you name?", it was more robotic with a few extra meanings in between the words, but putting it aside I was thinking of giving it my human name, but it became meaningless long ago, so I started to ponder each step I took until I reached this point, and after a few seconds in a daze I responded with a fitting name in mind

"Noit'e, you can call me Noit'e."

Despite the cube having no apparent features, I still could feel that it was nodding in approval for some reason, I guess Noit'e means something in her culture, but just after she "nodded in approval" she introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you, I am nyamayo nyarxuke, if you ever visit kxyth-09 just ask around about me and I will show you around"

I said "Nice to meet you and thanks, if i have the opportunity I will visit"

After we introduced ourselves I asked to the bartender refill my cup with that drink and with my drink in hands i got up from my seat and started looking around the tavern, it was spacious and with a variety of entities drinking and "talking" that you would expect from a normal tavern.

Lucky they had the usual bar recreational things and even more luckily I saw what seemed to be a human playing billiards with a tesseract, and from what I saw that the tesseract just had lost the match as it leaved the table, so I took the opportunity and went to the table and asked the human looking dude "Excuse me? Have you heard about Earth? Because I don't want to sound rude, but you look very human to me"

 For some reason he became smug and said in english "You must be a real real newcomer huh, everyone knows Earth, mostly because it is in almost every universe and it has a lot of lesser beings, were you perhaps lost and stuck in some dark corner of the omniverse?"

I responded rather ashamed "You could say that, I was in a similar situation, this billiard looking thing has the same rules as the one from earth?"

He said yes, and I said "Let's play?" From a smug he went to a wide grim and if I could sweat I would from nervousness , he seemed to find my reaction funny and decided to make a little bet "Let's make it interesting, if you win a better of three against me I will pay your next ten drinks, but if you lose, I want your sou-just kidding haha, you should seem your face, if you lose you pay my next 10 drinks when you get some currency. Are you willing to lose, or are you willing to lose spectacularly?"

I had a small "smile" on my "face" and I took the cue putting my drink on the table border.

...

After a few dozen moves and a mug of Padamagma I ended up narrowly winning, and after our game he invited me to his table, which I accepted.

But just after we seated down, the floating cube and the mass of tentacles that I sat alongside at the stools sat at the table with us, I was quite surprised, but before I could ask, the man said pointing to the two beings "You already met nyamayo, this lovely lady here is Kylocrio from kalop-ra" Kylocrio waved a tentacle to me and I waved my hand in return.

The man pressed a button in the table and suddenly a being similar to the bartender appeared by the table side, it was wearing something that looked like waitress clothes and had a small notepad in hands, I was startled, but I did not let it show

He said to the waitress "I will pay the next 10 drinks for the newcomer, and I would a bowl of katra and a glass of suxks" the cube added "I would like the same" and the mass of tentacles made a deep growl that I understand as "same", i was hesitant to ask anything but the man seemed to perceive it and said "and bring a mug of padacore to the newcomer"

The waitress was writing in the notepad at inhumane speeds and when she was finished she just vanished and returned a few minutes later with our stuff.

I was curious as to what they asked and what they brought to me, but as the name was similar to my first drink i believed it was a similar "light" drink, and before I could put the mug into my "mouth" the man asked "where are you from? You don't need to be shy about it, soul based beings like you aren't rare, however, pure ones like you are somewhat rare around here, so I guessed you wouldn't be a local"

I shyly said "remember when I asked about Earth? I was from a Earth, but you could say i got lost and ended here" 

The man simply said in understanding "Not that uncommon, do you want some?" He offered me the bowl of the supposed "katra" that looked like half transparent grapes, I picked one and put one in my "mouth" and different from it's appearance, it had a soft taste and was a little salty, but something I noticed is that it seems like the man was reading me like a open book as he again had that smug face as he put the bowl closer to me knowing I liked the "katra".

After eating two or three "katra" I started taking little sips from my new drink, this time it was somewhat stronger that the previous drink but as I was getting "drunk" I heard the man laugh and I looked at him and then at myself and noticed that instead of pink, I was turning a cloudy shade of purple, while the man was laughing the cube simply "said" "he likes to joke around, so don't take it to heart" I nodded and continued taking a few sips from the mug and curiously nyamayo was drinking the same cocktail as the man by creating a opening in it's "front" side and making blobs of the drink enter the opening, while Kylocrio simply created a mouth on its central mass and used it to drink the cocktail, but the man was drinking normally like me.

Letting my mind wander a bit, i noticed a tv like thing hanging from the ceiling close by, it was showing something like a news channel, but the "people" in it were nothing close to humans, and as the bartender mentioned earlier,  despite my "speech" being based on intent, meaning and emotions I could understand what was being said int the tv, but I say understand kind of off hand as the tv was showing news about a sector kpy-79 which I had no idea what it was about, and from the looks of it my gaze seemed attract the attention of the man who now stopped launching and the other two beings who now we're "looking"to the tv.

The man said "Oh, that sector has the best shoggoths in the entire multiverse, I highly recommend you visit it someday, you just need to avoid the areas that are having some conflicts and it will be a wonderful stay"

I recognized the name immediately and couldn't not ask "Shoggoths? Like from Lovecraft? The things that change shape and kill by suction?"

The man took a contemplating stance and responded after launghing a bit "haha, I don't know this Lovecraft, which is rare, and this description fits many beings haha, but I think we are talking about the same shoggoths here, unfortunately I don't have any on me to give to you"

The man still laughed a bit between sips of the cocktail and the cube "said" to the man "so childish, they obviously didn't mean that" the response from the man was only a laugh and to ask me my name "You are very funny, so what is you name kiddo?

I simply responded "Noit'e" and this time around both the man and Kylocrio seemed to "nod" in approval, I was somewhat surprised as I thought it only meant something to the cube, but now that I got this reaction from the other two I had to ask.

"... What? Does Noit'e mean something the culture of the three of you?" 

The man simply stared silence to for a few seconds before he said " It means... Something nice, if you don't know what it means, which seems to be the case, I would recommend you search about it on the central library"

I was curious as to what it was about, but at the moment I couldn't go to this central library he mentioned so I quietly went back to finishing my drink. 

And after finishing my drink, something that gave me a scare came out of nowhere.

Suddenly a unknown voice sounded in my "head" saying "Congratulation! You have been selected to receive a gift from ◼◼x◼-◼?-◼@*◼"

I immediately looked around but found nothing outside of the "normal", the voice continued as if oblivious to my reaction "The gift is simple, you will be able to reincarnate in a world of you choosing with many benefits! let's proceed to the configuration of your reincarnation!"

It showed me floating window that was similar to a hologram appeared in front of me  that had a few boxes and check buttons, it took me some time to concentrate and process my situation, i was in disbelief, it could be a plot from some random being, but i believed that whatever it had in store for me was better than forever floating in the void, so i choose to go with the flow and proceed with the reincarnation.

I didn't knew how long this opportunity would be available so trying to make a excuse I said to the "people" at the table "um, would you look at the time, it seems like I unfortunately have to go, it was a pleasure meeting you all, I hope to see you again in the future" after ignoring the "raised eyebrows" i received, I leaved the tavern while avoiding most of the "people" on the way.

When I was out of the tavern I started looking at the floating hologram, as I was on a timer that I did not know how long would last I quickly went to the first option that was a Checkable box that had written " do you want a system?" I checked it and another box appeared, it had written " do you want a preset one or a custom made one?" I choose preset and a box with a list of names appeared, it had basically everything you could think of, but fortunately it had a search bar, so I started to review my memories in search of something useful, i remembered one of my favorite novels, lord of mysteries, and searched for it in the list and picked one of cool looking ones from the search result.

The next option was which Univer I would go, it had a checkable box that had written " the universe is a mixture of more than one universe?" I again searched my memories and remembered two particular universes i checked the box and inputted the universes I desired in the boxes that appeared.

The third box was asking if I wanted the system to resolve the history of the universe I would go to or if I wanted to specify it, I chose to leave for the system.

The fourth box was "backstory" where I could create a starting backstory for my new life, I took some time to create it, but I ended with a decent starting point in this new life.

I put a few details In my backstory like my family, my work, that I was the owner of the sefirah castle and the like.

I hit the button that said "proceed", but the strange voice from earlier said in my head " warning! Some adjustments will be made as to make the given backstory and the chosen universe work together.

Warning! Discrepancy between host's soul and the chosen backstory detected! If host chooses to proceed, the host soul will be sealed as to fit the backstory given, however the seal will be undone as the host becomes stronger.

Warning! The stronger is the alterations of casualty as a result of the backstory, the stronger is the backlash from the universe, it is recommended that the user add a type of negative debuffto their backstory. Do you wish to proceed?" And a window asking for my confirmation and if I wanted to change anything appeared, I did some alterations to the backstory and i chose to proceed.

The voice sounded in my head again, saying "searching for universe that match the one chosen by the host" but after 2 seconds it said "universe found, adjustments made, commencing reincarnation" then everything went black and I somehow lost consciousness.