"..."
"I do hope this blank 'no response' look I am seeing now is not your default for difficult situations, young miss. If you have a thought, no matter how informal or troublesome from the perspective of your former life, I promise ― no deity will punish you here, for anything said or done."
"But. What am I still doing here? Is this the only place I can be?"
"Aha, quick to the point. This is the crux of the matter; simply said, that young goddess is fickle, and she's left you behind because in her words, 'the soul did not show up right away'. Even if she had waited just two more minutes, you could not have been left to this situation ... we think. But no ... she had a date with her bro- Ahem. She had something she had to do, somewhere she had to go, and ― and you showed up in this space after she'd already vanished, after one or two minutes, by the logs-"
"Then ... MAKE HER COME BACK!"
"Eh ... she is already being dealt with, and cannot come back here right now. Sorry; she is not in the right state to be helping you transfer to a new world. So, you get me ― as overworked as I already am ― to at the least provide you with a couple options. No; three options. Maybe."
"I still do not understand. What is this transfer? I really can't go home again?"
"... oh dear, I shall have to start from the beginning, won't I. Ah Ben old chap, remember your predecessor, he started talking to himself and then needed the Long Vacation ― don't do that, don't go that way. Okay then Ben, I won't uh ... damn! Stop it, Brianne, it's gone soft; just give me a minute or two more to deal with ... this other thing. Er, sorry young miss; this is a trying situation for all of us. Just, stay here for a bit, I will be back-"
With a slight blip of null noise, she felt like she'd just been left alone ... again.
"H, hello? Anyone? B, Ben?"
Her voice faintly echoed across this space, giving the only answer to her query, in the form of her own words.
"So ... Ben ... anyone. Um. Who is this Brianne anyway. Or why do I think you want to be with her and not be here to help me-"
The silence should be nice for her, at least being at home she always did like it when the loud day turned to the calm night. When she knew Mommy and Daddy were here with her, and saw them and her sisters go to bed for the night-
"Does, does anyone out there know what it feels like, to be alone-"
She shivered, somehow, despite a warmth she felt but now shivering, as small teardrops formed in her eyes again. Somehow, even if she had a place to be, she was again, left alone.
"Mommeeeeeeeee-"
Perhaps a week later, doing nothing but the same mind numbing routines, wearing nothing but a single oversized tee shirt that was easy to pull on or off, at last something came to her ― the form of an older gentleman, kind of reminding her of grandpa, or one of grandpa's old friends from the war. But unlike those who were either disfigured or had a crazy look, this man seemed a gentle soul, and maybe someone who might hug like grandpa did. She missed grandpa-
Behind the older man, two other persons stood here.
One was a youngish looking girl, just a slight bit older than her older sister Bethany who was just begging to have those braces taken off so she would not be called 'metal mouth' at school. She had a mad look to her face, like she did not want to be here. This did not make the situation feel any better, seeing this girl-
The other person seemed to be an adult who reminded her of Uncle Herb, with what Daddy called a 'beer gut' and a 'nic stick' in his mouth. She always wondered why drinking a liquid made a person have such a big stomach; Mommy was starting to get a big stomach now, so did this mean she had a beer gut too? Or something growing in her stomach? But Daddy never said what any of it meant when she asked, or why what he called a 'nic stick' looked just like an old dirty cigarette, like her classmate Tina's mommy smoked.
The elderly man introduced himself, finally. "Finally I can show myself to you, since now the trial is over. Hello; I am Benjamin, or Ben, the one who will ensure this will not happen, again. Not to you, not to anyone else either."
"You remind me of my grandpa."
The deity smiled, and nodded. "Yes, I understand, young miss. I do have this resemblance for many souls; it just happens."
"Um, who are these other people?"
"This young goddess ― she is Nissy, she is the one who left you behind-"
The girl froze; in the last week, she had also come to think of how the young goddess was wrong to leave her, but worse, maybe she did not want to be left once more in the company of such a being. The thought of a goddess abandoning her ― not once, but a second time ― she could not bear the thought of this.
"I DO NOT WANT HER HERE!"
"Slow down, and be calm, young miss; I understand, but we of the deities have put the punishment upon her to stay as long as you need her-"
"I DON'T NEED SOMEONE TO ABANDON ME AGAIN!"
But the young goddess smirked, a look the girl remembered Bethany having done too, just this way. "See? She doesn't need me here, and I don't wanna be here ― so why can't I just go back to bed with Darken?"
"Nissy, this is your punishment. Stay, no matter what."
"-don't wanna-"
And, she seemed to pout just like Bethany did too-
"Well too bad." Turning to the other one, Ben introduced him too. "This then is Camembert, you can call him Cam. Let's just say, he had something to do with how the 'system' was developed ... incorrectly. At least he took the action of accepting his punishment with dignity-"
"Given my 'druthers, I would rather be back at my desk and terminal though. Still a glitch in the Cultivation System beyond level nine I wanna fix; cultivators cannot get to ten-"
"Cam. We talked about this; you share responsibility for this affair, you know. And right now, this girl is more important than debugging that system."
"Eh ... yeah, yeah, I know. I'd still rather tinker in the CS though. Get on with it old man."
Ben turned away from his fellow deities, to face the girl.
"So, young miss-"
"I do have a name you know ― um, well, I know I did, at some point ― but why do I not remember?"
"Such may be the result of how you were brought here, or left here. We are so, so sorry for any inconvenience; but if you would like, do try to pick a name for yourself. Also, you may be given a chance to pick a new destination, but you will lose what few memories you retain. It does happen, some transfers go to another destination knowing nothing of their former lives, only that they once knew something they no longer do."
Nissy broke in on this conversation. "Get on with it, so I can get back to Darken, or bring him here-"
"Not happening, Nissy; he is forbidden. Young miss, what I was saying before this, is that you will still end up in the mortal realm, the world for which you were summoned by this goddess Nissy (on her temporary restriction). She lost the ability to help you out directly; however we do have a 'pay to win' system activated for you, once you get there. Other than this, if you have a question ― any question at all ― Nissy will be forced by her punishment effect to give an answer. Doesn't matter if she was asleep; she must answer to your queries as soon as possible, or she will continue to hurt until she does. Excepting the times she is pulled into conference with us other deities and so cannot hear you, of course. This is all we can do, as otherwise your existence is outside our direct interference ― even if we could see you and talk to you, we can do little more than this."
"A pay to win thing? Hey wait, I have heard of those. Why does this sound like gaming?"
"Because ... it might be. The type and amount of things you can obtain are only limited by what we give you as a parting gift, as well as what you can earn going forward. Now if we give you a gift of a few million points of the system's expected currency, per day of activity you are not likely to gain more than ten or twelve points on your own effort."
"M, millions of points? That's more than a hundred!"
He chuckled, and responded to this too. "Heh, heh, yeah, it is, more by a few times too. The reason it would be so high is ... we do feel so sorry for what this young goddess has done to you, abandoning you. None of any of the millions of other deities will ever do this, please rest assured. And only in your case is this the first time we had to bring her up on the charges she received ... but her neglect of you is part of the reason you do get so much. Even so, this cost comes out of what deity points she would earn, in time."
"Serves her right," she said, daring to look at this Nissy, the same way Bethany glared at her and said those words. She stuck her tongue out and held it there for a few seconds.
"Why you little bi-"
"Nissy!" the older guy shouted her down. "Show some respect." After a few seconds more, he turned back to the waiting girl, who still glared at the young goddess. "As I'm saying, you have so many points to use in your life; but even this system could disappear after a long time. A first time you let your points fall into a negative value, you have until the next day to bring it positive again, or this Pay To Win system disappears by the next morning. Your daily points used depends on your desired level of comfort. For living so cheaply, four to five points; for living in moderate but thrifty means, six to eight points; for living normal, eight to ten points; for extra comfort, beyond ten points. But-"
"I still don't know what that means, Ben."
"-our gift could last you for many tens of millennia, if not misused, or if you lived a life of such a race. If you have played any computer games on your world, you may be familiar with a tutorial system, with various hints to you. Follow them or not; but they are there as a hint to your survival. You don't get the benefit of a proper quest system, except in a similar system purchasable in your pay to win system."
"But I don't want to play a game! I want to go home! I want Mommy, and Daddy! Even Bethany! I want my best friend Jenny!"
"Dearest young miss. We covered this; you cannot. But, you won't be left alone; one thing you could obtain would be an ability to create or summon a friend ... to make something or someone which will follow you."
"... fine then. But do I get to come back here? You said, you gived this place to me!"
"Um ... normally no, but such would be up to Nissy-"
"I'm not gonna help this whiny brat! She just disrespected me!"
"Hey you just left me here!"
"-if Nissy is capable ... or willing ... and the situation warrants it. No for daily means; but if you are in a final life or death situation, perhaps she could, or should, help you out. Oh, Nissy, do remember, do not let her die at all within the first year of her existence, at least. By that time you should have drawn close to her, and want to help her of your own accord."
"I said I don't wanna-"
"Call it fair punishment and tough love then, Nissy. Because you and Camembert are both going to be dwelling here-"
"-me and that fat bastard monkey man ― this creep?"
"... I don't really want to be here with this little slut goddess either-"
"Silence!" Ben roared over all of them.
Now, the grandfatherly god Ben looked clearly peeved, and capable of expressing it in such a way as to cause immediate silence in both his charges. But, all that remained would be to get placed in this world she had been left here for, somewhere.
"... then ... I can't come back, and explore all of the floors here?"
All three deific faces turned, as one, to stand agape at her words.
"... f, f, floors? Plural, floors? Or did you mean to say, rooms in this place?"
"No I mean floors. Yeah um, I found three, they all have some rooms in them, and maybe I saw another secret door further in the forest like place-"
After a whole lot of questioning she didn't understand, they had got the whole story of her time exploring and touching and looking at things. And somehow, by the end of this, they had understood she was different, than what they thought she would have been. She might even be 'special'.
"Could it be," started this Cam guy, "this space is connected to a meta-dungeon lobby? Or just another flaw like Instantiated Realm Case #1980983456?"
The grandfather turned aside and said, "Brianne, call out to Investigative Unit 92, and tell them to come take a ― yeah I know they're always busy, just tell them ― ah forget it, I'll just look into it myself. Don't wait up for me this time, though ― no it's your turn to owe me."
Then again, Ben turned to look at the young girl.
"So, um, young miss. It seems, you have a knack for finding things we didn't, or couldn't, see. We still can't see these things you say are here either. Maybe in the world you go to, too ― you might find things of help to you, that we just don't know. Do what you will; in the meantime Nissy here should make sure you stay alive, and also tell you the answers to any questions you have. Plus this guy Camembert ― he might help out too."
"... I ... I don't get anything more for having found those things?"
"Well I ... ahem. I have put a secret gift into the 'Pay to Win' system, which will more than make up for your exploratory efforts. I can do no more than this, though ― some of the other deities think I gift out too many overpowered treats as it is, really I'm trying to watch my expenditures-"
"What I'm curious about," Cam continued, while this girl just watched them trying to puzzle out what she'd seen. "Is how she could see any of that; even the space you made visible should have only been temporary. Yet it feels like a permanent thing now to me-"
"You guys are confusing me, I don't know any of those things," she squirmed, as if she wanted to be let out of the back seat of Daddy's car. "Or, well, maybe it was like what the other guy said to me, the first time."
"Other guy? What other guy?" Nissy took a turn to challenge her. "I summoned you, girl, and you never showed up in time! So yeah duh I left! But there was nobody else here!"
"Well let's see, there was a guy in a long white robe, and he stood with a gentle smile and a super long beard of white hairs which went down to his ankles and curled on the ground, and then he sometimes sneezed a bit and flowers grew on the ground. But he held me just a second, touched me on the nose so I stopped crying, and then said I had some really great things to come ahead in my new life, if I could be patient and live-"
The others, again agape ― they seemed to have an idea what or who she talked about.
"H, him, he was back-"
"Yeah but not to us-"
"He's gone or supposed to be-"
"No but she just said-"
"Not possible-"
"HEEEEYYYY!" she screeched out loud, cutting through all their chatter.
"What." Nissy posed defiantly, angered at her. "What you have to say, that's so damn important to interrupt-"
"Y, you're all talking about me, or what happened to me ― instead of to me. I, feel so small, the way you are talking-"
"You are. Insignificant. OW!" Nissy squealed, as grandpa god sent a zap to her.
"But ... if Nissy summoned me ... but this other guy saw me first ... how did this happen?"
"Yes that's what we all want to know, dear young miss," Ben answered her. "Especially if it was him, the ... the First One."
"He said too, if anyone asks, nobody would see him again for a very long time, that he was still sad from what others did as he wanted you all to start doing the right things-"
"I don't care," Nissy muttered, just like Bethany might have done too.
"You'd better care, Nissy ― if he came back, you'd be gone in a heartbeat."
"Ahem. May I suggest, we let the young child go on to her new life, and discuss this more later?"
She found herself now on the 'world' where she should have been summoned. Barefoot, wearing only the smooth tee shirt she'd been wearing from Nissy's space. But otherwise looking around at her surroundings.
The tee shirt didn't fit like it did before, and her lower part was exposed to feel the unstoppable breeze-
Rock. Nothing but rock for ground, as far as the eye could see. No grass, no trees, no buildings, no animals or living things either.
To be fair, she had been told this by Ben, and could accept this ― set down on a rocky world ― not a fate worse than death or going into nothingness, it seemed. But life on this world, she would have difficulty each and every day of the rest of her life. If it were not for this Pay To Win system, maybe she would not survive a long time.
"Well, it looks like I am just a little pebble among so many big rocks though ― or maybe the whole world is all just one big rock yet."
She laughed, an involuntary reaction although she realized her humor was not so funny, but serious.
"But Jenny was always the one who liked playing with rocks and stones, though. The time we married in the one web game and then she decorated the house with stone furniture, I wanted so much for it to be my favorite plush chairs and bed and carpets, but Jenny won the fight and then put the stone stuff in anyway. Wait a minute. Who was Jenny? Oh my best friend; from ... where?"
In the preceding hours before arriving here, Ben had told her the basics of what she would experience. Yes, she had played a few games (or, she thought she had, games seemed a familiar part of her past life); and so some of what she might see, could be considered gamelike. Fun games, but some of them required a player to be "thirteen or older" to play, but it was so easy to just click the accept button to sign up to the game anyway, even if she were less than half that age. And then after that she and her friends could go to the in game cathedral or chapel and do the marriage thing with each other, and get a house and furnish it, by making things with other things dropped from hitting monsters or buying with coins and items got from the monsters or trading in the game. But no, none of the games she'd played (as far as she knew) had put her, or her character, in such danger from the beginning, or been so realistic as to show her in the game world-
Nissy's voice responded to the girl's earlier statements and thoughts, only half spoken to herself.
"Yes, this world is not so much a game as it is Nissy's poor attempt to 'graduate' to become a full licensed goddess. She cannot graduate until she completes this-"
"Cam!" Nissy squeaked. "D, don't tell the girl that!"
"Well it's true. She should know her chances of living here, for the rest of her life."
The girl could not see either Nissy's or Cam's face now, but heard them talking. Cam seemed to be kind of 'on her side' if she had to guess, she might get better treatment from him than the other girl.
"So then, young girl, it's like this: I'm right to say it's not a game; you will experience so many things like in real life that cannot be managed within a game (in this universe at least). If it were a game, then we would have to find methods to still enforce your experience of elimination, health, hunger, thirst, and-"
"-and lust!" added Nissy.
"-no, well yes, maybe later, but not at first-"
She didn't know if she could believe Cam, this sounded like too many words.
To be honest, that last part ― what Nissy added on her own ― she did not understand. What was lust? From things said in the family time or from around school, she had a thought of lust being a desire or want for something. But to want what? Was it one of those things the adults whispered secretively when she was near but then shutting up as she paid more attention to what they were saying?
Maybe it had something to do with those jokes Uncle Herb used to say, laughing about his 'third leg' ― but she could never see a third leg; Daddy did not explain it either but glared at her uncle. Where could his third leg it be growing on her uncle's body? Not the left leg, not the right leg, not from the front of his waist or out the behind-
Instead. Daddy would just tell her uncle to get a girlfriend or something, to quit bothering his daughter. Even if Daddy would say this, Uncle Herb would just laugh and say Daddy would be providing him a girlfriend-
This all seemed really strange; and Ben did not explain this third leg thing either, but left the whole deal to the other two in embarrassed silence.
But the explanation on this world, Nissy seemed to have created it in a very raw state, summoned and placed a few mixed sentient beings in random ways, maybe only halfheartedly made some groups of people into settlements with some way to grow things and survive, then more or less let the world run itself into the ground. Too much of the world surface was purely untamed wilderness, rocky ground, unfit for civilization.
"You did not even leave it in a state for proper agriculture, beyond the few square meters you allowed them!" Cam told Nissy in an accusing voice.
"That's what the humans were to do, to make it fit and make a few settlements," Nissy shot back.
She spoke her thought to the two deities. "People can't even make a garden? How do they eat?"
"They are slowly starving, I am sad to say," Cam answered. "But it wouldn't have to be this way, if Nissy had only worked harder in the world creation moments."
Sort of like the odd thought she had now; a time of just a few months ago of a family vacation ― just before she turned six years old ― the family had to go away for a time and Uncle Herb was not allowed to come along with them. She found herself talking out loud to tell the memory of it, to nobody but more to remember the time-
"-and Mommy wanted to see the mountains and so we went in the car until we saw the land rising and the mountains were still some ways away but still in sight but then Mommy started to feel sick so we had to stop so she could run behind a bush while Daddy mumbled something about 'morning sickness' but then Daddy decided, let's go to the southwest instead of west so I asked what is southwest and he explained the compass system so north south west east and points in between, and he knew of a place to the southwest that I guess is somewhere between south and west then, not a high place but a dry place, and so-"
"Oh. My. Fu(|&*&^. Hell. Girl do you never shut up!" Nissy poked her head in the world, right in front of her face, after she had been talking for only a moment.
"Uah! You're mean! Just like my sister Bethany is!"
"Shut up then! Gaaaawd I can see why she would not have liked you; you, incorrigible prepubescent lolita extrovert-"
