“Oh, he is here again”
“Who?”
“You know, the one Lenora was watching over”
“Wait, didn't he die like 2 cycles ago? Also, I don’t know about you but that person is not a guy”
“I mean the soul signature matches. Seems the abyss got to him, err her. Uh, seeing as how she ended up here it seems her soul still has some energy left. Lenora will want to see her”
I could hear their voices. One sounded masculine while the other feminine. I don’t know what they were talking about though. Lenora? That name sounds familiar for some reason.
For some reason I cannot see anything or feel my body. I died, right? Is this what heaven is like?
Suddenly I could see again although what I saw wasn’t that much different. It was just a white empty room, or at least I think it was. I couldn’t make out any shadows so I had no idea if there even were any walls at all.
Poof
Turning around at the sound I could see a small table and two chairs. Right before my eyes two cups appeared before filling up with an odd green and steaming liquid.
“Take a seat my dear, it's time we catch up”
Hearing the voice come from right behind me I immediately turned around again. I didn’t have any weapons on me so I readied my tail in case I needed to impale someone. Whether that could even do anything to someone who may be able to manifest chairs and tables out of thin air I have no idea.
“Do you not remember me dear? They must have really done a number on you, huh.”
Looking at the source of the voice I could see what looked like a mature lady. Her hair was a pure shade of white and was tied up in a braid that ran down her shoulder. Her face and body could only be described as motherly, and I couldn’t help but feel like I just wanted to hug her and cry in her arms.
“████, are you alright?”
Agh fuck.. That hurt. Whatever she just said just gave me a headache.
“████, you look like you are in pain”
“Stop.. Saying.. That.”
It hurts, whatever she is saying hurts me.
“████?”
“Yeah. That. Fucking stop”
“Thats… thats your name is it not?”
“Look miss, I don’t know who you are or what you are saying, all I know is that whatever you are repeating is hurting my brain”
“Oh no! I’m so sorry my dear, please know that I had no intention to hurt you. Here, let's just sit down and talk over some tea, is that alright?”
“Yeah… sure. Just give me a minute”
Slowly waiting for the headache to subside I sat in the chair she motioned me towards. She didn’t seem too distrustful, and seeing as how she seemed to know me from before I was willing to hear her out.
After I took a seat in the chair she sat in the one in front of me. Picking up the cup with the tea in it she took a slow sip and motioned me to do the same. It was warm and had a beautiful flavor to it.
“So… you knew me before… Well, this?”
I motioned my hand down to my body. I don’t remember what I originally looked like, but I know that it was nothing like my current body.
“Yes dear. May I ask, what do you remember?”
I told her about everything that has happened. Finally regaining control of myself, looking at my own body, the revolt I started, and how it ended.
“Do you not remember anything from before the abyss?”
“Just some small little snippets. I know I was a human before and that I was some kinda hero, but aside from that not much”
“You were a whole lot more than that you know, hehe”
Her giggle sounded nice and warm. I felt like I was telling my mother about my day at school.
“Well, I guess I am going to have to reintroduce myself then. I am one of the goddesses of this world. I go by many names but you may call me Lenora. Nice to meet you again.”
With that she stuck her hand out over the table. I stuck my hand out too and we shook hands. Seemingly satisfied she retracted her hand and had a warm smile on her face.
But wait, a goddess? I had met a goddess before?
“Umm.. so I really am dead, huh. Does that mean we do the whole decision thing about heaven or hell?”
“Huh? Oh no dear, we don’t exactly do that here. Your soul will either return to the life stream to be recycled, or you will be reincarnated with your memories intact. Fufufu”
“Why are you giggling?”
“It's just kind of funny. You asked me the exact same thing the first time you were here.”
“Ok so the first time, that means we have met before right? How do you know me?”
“It is a very long story my dear. Just to sum it up, us gods brought your soul to this world, I gave you some abilities and then reincarnated you”
Hold on. That is a lot to unpack. So this world is not my original one? And I was reincarnated before? And what about these abilities she was talking about?
“Great, so I have to remember two different lives then?”
“Umm, yeah. I guess so. And please, please forgive me.”
“For what?”
“You don’t remember, but I never told you about the abyss when I reincarnated you. You could have readied or prepared yourself or anything and maybe you would not be like how you are now. I promised I was going to give you a good second life and I failed. So… please forgive me”
Seeing a goddess bow her head and apologize to me felt wrong.
“Umm, please don’t bow your head, Goddess. I don’t remember anything from back then anyways and I am already dead so let's just call it water under the bridge, alright?”
Looking up at me I could see relief wash over her tear stricken face. I don’t know what I went through back then but seeing her genuinely sorry I couldn't help but feel bad.
“I wonder if you would have said the same thing if you remembered it all…”
“Um, since you are a goddess is there anything you can do to help me regain my memories?”
“I’m afraid not. Since you are an abyssal now there is little I can do. It is honestly a wonder as to how your soul ended up here instead of in the abyss.”
“So are you telling me that you cannot affect abyssals?”
“We cannot even look at anything within the abyss the same way we can with the real world. The only things us gods can even do to abyssals is to bless them and that requires an abyssal’s consent. Any soul consumed by the abyss rarely every returns to our world which is why we have needed souls to be pulled here to prevent this reality from collapsing”
I’m sorry, collapsing? Her comments so far have been pretty much nothing but new questions. And if the abyss is so strong that even the gods are unable to do anything, what does that mean for the world.
“You said that you are pulling souls right?”
“Yes, if there are roaming souls here, we may occasionally pull them into our reality and either reincarnate them like what I did with you or add them to the lifestream to be recycled. Very rarely the people of this world will summon them in as is, but that is not something that we can do. If the world does not have enough souls to support it then it would collapse in on itself and cease to exist.”
“What would happen to the abyss then?”
“Well, I believe that it could have the power to enter another reality and begin pulling in souls from those worlds if ours was to collapse.”
So the abyss is just a giant soul vacuum then, huh. Wait, those two voices from earlier mentioned something about a cycle. Does Lenora know anything about that?
“Um, Goddess Lenora, do you know anything about cycles?”
In an instant her face got pale, like I mentioned something she did not want to talk about.
Thanks for the chaps!
Well that is something.
Keep asking question you need answers, even if they are hurtfull and you will regret asking them, now you will know the truth and take action on this.