"This. . ." Claire Hill furrowed her brows and looked at the area before her with crimson irises.
An endless space of pure white stretched to infinity. Extending beyond her vision, and failing to disappear into the horizon, it simply had no end. Surreal was the world. It appeared more like an illusion than anything that should exist in reality.
She stared below at a swirling mass of clouds that served as the ground of the place. She had absolutely no idea how her feet could be planted within and yet still remain standing. She swerved her head around, her black hair bellowing and falling to her hips as she wondered exactly where she was.
At that moment, the clouds swerved and gathered at her front to reveal the white, stone-like, ground below. Then, they compressed before her as a figure took shape.
A tuxedo of white shined below short, combed, hair of gold. A gleaming smile showed a full set of perfect teeth. A pale face, as pale as hers, came to view and she had to arc her head up to stare at the male.
"I am God," He proclaimed as his azure eyes stared into her crimson.
"I see," She simply replied with not a change to her expression.
". . ."
". . ."
"Are you not surprised?" He tilted his head.
"No."
Claire shook her own. Meeting a God? This was, honestly, a tried and tested plot. She supposed there was no need to fix what wasn't broken, however.
"Don't you wonder why I am not an old man? Your world is fond of that theory, is it not?" He took a step back and doubtfully looked her over.
"A bit, I suppose. Though, I wouldn't mind if you decided not to speak."
Why was she to wonder if God was old or not? More importantly, she wished he would simply get to the reason she found herself in this strange and surreal atmosphere, though she already had her suspicions.
She didn't die, that was a fact. She had simply appeared here after a blinding light crossed her path on the way back home from school. Her book bag had been dropped in rushed shock but, other than that, she was still in her highschool uniform: A black shirt and a skirt of the same color (which was a bit on the longer end), finished off with a red necktie.
She stood, unfazed by the encounter, yet this god-person didn't seem too keen on telling her why she was here.
"You see!" He spun around, placed his hands behind him, and began to pace around as his shoes clinked against the marble-like ground.
"I am a being that is unaging, unending, omniscient, omnipresent, and all-powerful. Now, tell me, why would I choose to project myself as an old man of all things?" He spun right back.
"Why am I here?" Claire simply disregarded him and asked back. "If you have nothing better to do than spout rubbish, could you send me on my way?"
He coughed.
"Well I have noticed, you don't seem to 'fit in'," The 'handsome' god stated a bit awkwardly and tried to shrug her comments off.
Claire narrowed her eyes slightly. "I fit in perfectly."
"Oh? Why did you get the nickname 'Ice Queen' attached to you then?" He asked back.
She shrugged.
"I like drinking juice with lots of ice," She replied seriously and, looking, there didn't seem to be a shred of a lie nor shame upon her face.
Clearly, she had quite the thick skin. The man before her was speechless.
"Really? Tell me, how many friends do you have?" He crossed his arms at his chest.
". . ."
"How many people are willing to talk to you?" He looked down at her figure.
". . ."
"How many are not scared off due to your aura alone?"
". . ."
"Tell me, my Ice Queen, why have you failed to fit in?"
". . .you're speaking needlessly."
"And you're quite loose in the head."
"I'd prefer if you didn't term me that."
"What a feisty lass, but I suppose that has its own cuteness and charm to it."
She narrowed her crimson eyes. "You know, you don't sound nor seem like a 'God'?"
"Indeed, I am not Go—." The so-called god nodded before halting to a stop as realization dawned on him.
However, Claire refused to give him a chance as she stared him down. "Who are you? Are you one of his servants?"
"Servant!?" He seemed enraged at that claim, then calmed himself down. "How can I, an archangel, be called as a mere servant?"
"Oh, an archangel?" Claire nodded, calmly. "Would you be Gabriel then?"
"You dare claim me as that second in command, Gabriel!?" He seemed to almost explode with rage.
"Listen well, Ice Queen!" He proclaimed as his head raised with some bit of pride.
"..."
"I am the first seat of the archangels, God's right hand, Michael!" He puffed out his chest with pride.
"..."
Claire could no longer stand this man. Why should she care what seat he held? Was she so tired of standing that she needed to steal his prized buttocks warmers?
"Why am I here?" She asked as her crimson eyes drilled into his azure. "I would very much like it if you were to proceed to the point."
"You. . ."
It was now Micheal's turn to be speechless at this girl's disregard of his heavenly figure. Furthermore, those eyes of hers. . .he fixed his tie.
"Fine," He said as he tucked at the corner of his clothing and Claire finally noticed the pair of white gloves that covered his hands.
"Though I am more suited for the fighting and commanding role, God has tasked me to send you to a more suitable world for your type of aura," He proclaimed.
"I don't want to. Could you please send me back to earth?"
". . ."
Was this girl sane?
Clearly, Micheal was seeing for himself why she had earned the nickname she did. It wasn't just due to her aura, but clearly more so her personality. Was she naive? Or did she simply wish to not engage in anything that would disturb the motions of her life?
Looking at those icy, ruby eyes of hers, he thought this girl was quite strange indeed. But strange, might just be perfect.
Meeting a God? This was, honestly, a tried and tested plot. She supposed there was no need to fix what wasn't broken
Oh... How much I disagree with this one... Not just because it's overused, the laziest way to be done with it and robbing the story of other creative AND possibly meaningful ways for the story and plot. Letting it vague and adding mystery to the story is a possibility too...
Anyways, what triggers me the most is how bad the ’meeting God trope’ became due to the overuse. It became something resembling a comedy trope just to add some laughs at the ’unexpected’ personality of said God, but guess what happens when the thing is so overused that the unexpected element disappear? It loses its purpose, that's what happens...
Worse even, when your possibly the strongest being in your story or at least close to that behaves like that, the whole credibility of the story falls apart. You can't expect anything with a serious vibe after that... Anything outside of a comedy story, right?
And I don't understand why so many people still use it... If I'm an imbecile and I'm missing something, please, someone explain it to this ignorant me because it drives me crazy every time I see it...
I should first clarify that what Claire thinks doesn’t reflect what I think. It’s just her thoughts alone, not mine. And, as someone who has read quite a bit of isekai novels, that’s simply her honest opinion of where she found herself.
Moving on, I can’t really say you’re wrong because, frankly, I do agree with you as well. The trope is overused. Though I don’t think it’s bad, but it is overused nonetheless.
However, the few things I do disagree with is being the strongest being and thus being not allowed to behave like that. In my opinion, strongest or not, every character should be allowed to have their own personality. You can dislike the personality. But there is no rule that says by merely being god you lose your character.
Aside from that, nope you’re not missing anything. I used the trope simply because it’s an isekai trope.
@LotsChrono
every character should be allowed to have their own personality.
Nothing wrong with that, but what you did there makes no sense.
When you look at a 20-year-old man you expect him to behave with some degree of maturity. Of course, the level of said maturity can wary from person to person but there's no way to see a 20-year-old behaving like a 2 years old.
When you present us a character centuries or even millennials old, it's jarring to make it behave like a brat... Much more so when the said character is a God...
That's what you did here and again in chapter 11-12 when you presented us a scene where Claire speaks with the other ’divinities’... Making them bickering like children was simply ridiculously out of character, and for what? Some cheap comedy relief?
@FDSIO Claire never spoke with the other divine beings. It was just 3 divine beings speaking with one another.
And, I honestly believe it’s sound that gods can behave like that. Since human history, we’ve believed in Gods, good and bad, with personalities abounded. Norse mythology. Greek mythology. It’s not rare to find gods who behave like mortals. In fact, that’s been a staple of most of those mythologies. Gods bickering amongst themselves, behaving so human-like even when they sit above us all. Having relationship and interpersonal issues. And some have acted like children listening to their penis more than their brain. I mean, look at Zeus, the man f*cks everything under the son, same with Loki. Is it so wrong, then, for different gods to have different personalities? Immature or not? Don’t tell me you’ve never seen an immature adult? Or a person in a status of power that you wonder how they ever got there?
I believe divinity doesn’t necessarily make you inhuman. It certainly makes you uncaring for those below you, as you’ll find that that’s what the 3 gods are like when it comes to this ‘game’ they’ve set up, and has people in a place of power tend to be, but it doesn’t reap you of all your individuality.
@LotsChrono Well, yeah... You are not wrong, but even Zeus, Loki and the others behaves with some degree of dignity in most cases... Zeus is still the one who rules above his pantheon and is doing so how you'd expect from a God. Especially in from of mortals. Same with Loki in his villainous ways...
I must confess that my opinion is quite a bit influenced by logic and such... It simply do not make sense for me if they behave like that. Well, whatever...
I mean, when you see a God-like character, you expect it to behave God-like, right? If it does not, then there must be a reason behind it. Is the reason good enough to create a character that is contradicting its identity or not?
At least, that's how I put the problem when I create a character...
@FDSIO Hmm, I agree with you there. When I see a god-like character, I do indeed expect them to behave god-like. Same when I see a CEO of a company or a President of a country, I expect them to behave with as much dignity as their roles entail. Of course, whether they do their jobs well or not, not all behave as you would expect them to. Real-world examples would be someone like Elon Musk and the current U.S president. No matter how good the two may or may not do their jobs, most people agree that they don’t behave with what’s common with their status.
And I think that’s probably how the “unexpected godly encounter” trope began. Someone thought, “Why don’t we make a god that’s ungodly?” And the trope started. It’s probably not a wrong thought. And neither of us must be wrong or right. Most likely, the overuse of the trope, which tropes tend to be, is what irks some while others atoll find it realistic.
Then the problem might just be the use of the trope, not the logic of the trope itself.
@LotsChrono That's one of my points from the very beginning. If the unexpected element disappears due to the overuse, the whole premise loses its purpose...
And if there's no purpose in using it anymore I fail to comprehend why people use it so frequently...
Heck, truck-kun became a freaking meme at this point. It was all hilarious to die smashed by a truck at the beginning but right now there's nothing left to it... The whole purpose shifted from the ’comedy value’ of said scene to the ’comedy value’ of its meme itself...
@FDSIO Oh I’m not using the trope as an unexpected element. I’m using it because it’s overused. Which, to your point, many stories have done that as well. There’s nothing inherently unique about my story, save for the writing and prose itself. And that’s what’s ‘Ice Queen in Another World’ is. It’s my love letter to isekai. Not unique, but well written enough to be enjoyed like a snack for those who like the genre.
@LotsChrono Oh, I do freaking love the isekai genre too. That's why I'm writing one myself and strive to make it as unique as possible while staying as far as I could from the most used tropes... I think that we just have polar opposite opinions on the subject.
@FDSIO Oh oh, I had no idea you were a writer too. Seeing as you had such strong opinions, I should have honestly knew pft. I’ll have to check out your story. Also, if you want to see my “real” unique work, check out ‘R. A. T. H’ on my profile. It’s technically fantasy, for sure, but it’s also a sci-fi created through fantasy.
@LotsChrono Well, that one was already on my ’check out in the future’ list anyway... But seeing how my list is ever-growing, no telling when that would have happened. Seeing that it's yours as well maybe I'm gonna try it sooner.
I hope it's as unique as you claim it to be.
@FDSIO Hahahaha. I don’t know if it’ll knock your socks off or not, but it’s definitely unique in its own way. Yours is also now in my check-out list.
@LotsChrono Lol, be merciful with mine though... It's my first one ever after all
I made so many mistakes, especially in the first half that I decided to put it on hiatus and rewrite it
But since I butchered yours, I'd like to sew what you think about mine too... Just be gentle
@FDSIO Pft, I’m not spiteful. Plus, I usually don’t critic other writers unless they specifically ask me to. On the plus side, just looking at a bit of your first chapter and it’s clear your writing is better than mine when I published my first story. . .you don’t wanna see it.
Idk I kinda think it makes sense they’d be whacky as hell or muted to the extreme (usually if they’re the only god/dess), given their overwhelming power and immortality. Stuff like that gets into people’s head, and gods are usually portrayed as humanish rather than Eldritch masses in stories like these so I just think of them as people with way too much time on their hands and atop much power to make their dreams reality. (mortal realm).
@FDSIO considering how no one met god, how should we know they act? Are they high and mighty being? Something eldritch, that we cant even begin to understand? Or something human like with couple of quirks? Coz they may want to have something fun in their immortal lives. Who knows? Anyway, i personaly enjoyed Claire reaction on "God appears".
@FDSIO God threw a hissy fit and killed a city for being gay. He also didn't like his humans trying to build up to him so he created languages out of spite. And this isn't even god, it's a second in command.