I was a normal girl. I went to school, hung out with friends and loved to play videogames. Strategy sims were my favorite. I also liked to dabble in the occasional life simulator and dating simulator. So when I woke up one day and was told by a being made of light that my skills, my strategy gaming skills were needed, well, who wouldn’t be excited?

            “My world is in dire need of your help. I have ordered you from your world, and received consent from your world’s order, but the decision is still yours. Will you help me save my world?”

            “Yeah. Of course.”

            “Truly? You haven’t heard what this request entails yet?”

            “Yeah, yeah. Listen, I’ve been around the block. If we’re having this conversation, it probably means my life has had a convenient end such that I’m available for this job, right? Huh? Huh?”

            The being of light was silent.

            “So don’t worry about it,” I continued with a bright smile, “Tell me on the way there. You said you need me to strategy your world out of its doom right? It sounds like a challenge. I want to hear about it as we go!”

            “You- You have my undying gratitude An-”

            “Strezza. Call me Strezza. That’s my strategy name. My real name is kind of lame.”

            “Very well, Strezza,” the being of light, the God of this new world, opened a portal before me, “Let me show you my world.”

***

            And that was how I came to find myself in a room of nothing but black with a console- a control panel- a keyboard; whatever you wanted to call it, with hundreds of buttons on it. Truthfully, it wasn’t what I was expecting when I was told I was going to be reincarnated, but I could definitely see how it was necessary.

            So, where to begin? Well, let’s begin with the basics, what was I reincarnated into?

***

            “You will be reincarnated into a Causality Module.”

            “A causality module? So not a pretty girl or cute guy? But a module? What even is that?”

            God flicked his wrist in the darkness and the console and interface manifested out of that darkness.

            “A Causality Module controls Cause and Effect within my world to the extent that the Law of Free Will allows it. Essentially, this module allows you to influence the events of my world within tolerances.”

            “Ahh, okay. I see. I think I get the idea. I can see where the strategy comes into play.”

            God proceeded to bring up screens, confirming the idea I was forming in my mind. The screens showed as much data as one could imagine. Maps, demographics, weather patterns, personal information, quantities of cats on the street, grains of sand at the beach; anything that could be used in aiding the creation of a causal chain.

            “With this interface, relevant information for the past and present that you could need, and any information about the current possible, uncorrupted futures will be at your fingertips for you to react to.”

            “Cool,” I said, resting my hands on the console, “But this looks pretty complicated. There’s a lot of buttons. I’m good, but with these many functions it’ll take me some time to memorize them.”

            “Worry not, Strezza! Though you may see yourself in your original body, and see the module as separate from yourself, you are indeed one in the same! Merely think about the function you need, seek it out, and you will find it. Eventually, you may not even need the buttons. Oh! You’ve already gotten the hang of it.”

            As God explained it, I tried it out. I thought about a button that would show me the history of the world, and I found it with a quick glance.

            “Nice. Tell me the history of this module please, God.”

            “History?”

            “Yeah. I want to know if this console is buggy. Beyond the blind spots you mentioned.”

            “Ahh! In that case rest assured, this console is as new as you are. It was adapted into this form from the standard Causality System I had running in the background on autopilot. As that system itself comes from beyond me, I’m sure it’s stable, though I was told combining it with you would create new possibilities. But even with those new possibilities, I was assured it was stable! There are parts of you that won’t be able to touch parts of the module just as the module won’t corrupt you, so your identity as Strezza will be preserved and the module’s background processes will also be protected. It was an arduous, tear-filled process making sure I understood all the details but please trust me, it will serve our purposes.”

            God gave me a brilliant thumbs-up, and though I couldn’t see his face, I had the feeling God was trying to put on a smile in spite of his weary soul.

            “Ahh,” there was something that caught my attention; “There’s someone beyond God?”

            “Of course, it is simply the cosmic law of hierarchy. There is a God of Gods naturally. I’m sure the concept of Gods above Gods isn’t foreign to you, a denizen of a God-rich world.”

            “In that sense, yeah… That’s just… Kind of surprising you know… Hey, am I a God now too?”

            “Compared to the children of my world, yes. But in the truest sense of the word, perhaps not. Though I could see this experience aiding you along that journey should you choose to take it.”

            “Whoa, heavy. Well, one thing at a time! First let’s save your world.”

            “Yes, lets! Though, Strezza, I would like for you to hold this in your heart. Strezza, in spite of the way you see yourself, you and this module are akin to newborns, and like a newborn, you will grow. There will still be rules to that growth, but your life is full of potential for you to seize.”

***

And that’s the gist of what exactly I am. I’m the thing that allows for the relationship of cause and effect to exist, and I am also the one that can dictate when cause and effect happens. But that doesn’t tell you much about what I’m actually doing, does it? Well that’s a whole other crazy story.

Trip_LLL

Will have the next chapter up soon!