The Goddess and Reincarnation

It was pitch black. The darkness spread out endlessly before me. I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or closed. My mind struggled to form any coherent thoughts as if it were trapped at the bottom of a murky swamp. It was impossible to sense the passage of time as I floated there in the leaden abyss. It could have been minutes, it could have been years.

Suddenly, I became acutely aware I was lying down. The gears in my mind started to turn again. The surface I was lying on felt very strange, like a cross between gelatin and stone. It felt perfectly shaped to my body but also solid. As I thought about this strange surface a voice I didn’t recognise called out to me.

“Wake up Kenta! Though I know you’re not asleep hehe.” The mysterious voice cheerfully called out to me in a high soprano.

I opened my eyes and sat up looking towards the source of the voice. There stood what I would describe as a woman whose fashion sense was centuries out of date. She was wearing a dress that closely resembled a greek toga. Long blond hair and blue eyes with a radiant smile, almost as if she were glowing.

I stood up rubbing my eyes as I did and took a better look at her. On closer inspection she really was glowing or maybe not glowing per se but there weren’t any light sources in this room. Anywhere I looked was this thick darkness that seemed to stretch on forever, but this woman was perfectly visible. As I stared at her in confusion she just smiled and waited patiently staring back.

“Uh… hello?” I greeted her with some hesitation.

“Hello!” She greeted me back instantly, still beaming in a literal and figurative sense.

We stood there staring at each other for what felt like minutes. Who was she and where am I? I thought she would explain what’s going on but she seems content to just stand there smiling at me. Maybe I should ask her what’s going on.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” I asked in a terse voice. Ugh, that was much more confrontational than I meant it to be.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” She apologized energetically. “It’s just that I think it’s better to give people who’ve just died time to come to terms with it!”

The woman dropped a bombshell on me.

“What?! I died?!” I shouted at her in disbelief.

Her smile suddenly became very stiff and sweat started to form her on forehead. She then bowed very deeply.

“I’m sorry.” She said in a deadpan voice.

I thought back to the last thing I remembered. I was walking home from college. There was a crowd. I was in the middle of the crowd. They separated. I looked up and the last thing I remember was someone falling from a window washing platform onto me. I guess that would kill someone…

As I thought that the woman was still bowing the whole time.

“Why are you still bowing?” I asked exasperatedly.

“Sorry!” She stood up abruptly staring back at me with a nervous look on her face.

This isn’t getting us anywhere. I put my hand on my forehead and sighed.

“Look, can you just start by telling me who you are?” I asked calmly..

“Ok…” She closed her eyes and put a hand on her chest taking a deep breath to steady herself.

“My name is Lyra. I’m the goddess who oversees the world you’ll be reincarnating into.”

It took a few moments for the gravity of what she said to set in. Reincarnation huh? Is my life, or afterlife, really turning into a cliche? I’ve read a couple isekai novels myself but they were mostly for college assignments from my nutter of a college professor who liked comparing different isekai worlds to different ages in history. And now I’m reincarnating into a new world myself? What a joke.

Lyra just stood there cautiously waiting, probably worried how I was taking this news.

“So this world you oversee, does it have monsters, magic, an adventurers guild, medieval era, the whole shebang?” I asked a little condescending

Lyra looked down a little sadly. Maybe I hurt her feelings? Not that I meant to but if the world is that cliche I can’t exactly not call it out.

“Yes… The world is exactly as you described. You’ll be reincarnating into a swords and sorcery style medieval setting with monsters and adventurers who slay them.” She explained solemnly.

“Jeez, you could at least sound a little more excited than that.” Maybe she gets that a lot?

“I’m sorry…” Lyra looked down sadly.

Ugh, now I feel bad. I walk over to Lyra and put a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me confused.

“Lyra, I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love to be reincarnated into this kind of world. You shouldn’t feel bad just because I’m not necessarily one of them.” I gave her my best smile.

“Really?” Tears started to form in her eyes.

“Yeah! So why don’t you tell me more about this world of yours?”

Lyra wiped her tears and gave me a radiant smile. I guess that worked! I took a step back as Lyra got ready to explain.

“So!” Lyra started cheerfully while striking a proud pose. “You are going to be reincarnating into the world I oversee named Maerun! Maerun is the name of the world, but also the name of the main continent most of the world’s inhabitants live on!”

The name sounded kind of familiar and derivative but I wasn’t going to comment on that.

“You will be reincarnating into a city on the outskirts of the largest country in the world, named Gaiette.” Lyra continued.

“Wait… is that the city’s name or country’s name?” I asked for clarification.

“Oh! Sorry, that’s the city’s name. The country is named Zalzeed!” Lyra made clear. “Anyway, you’ll be reincarnated to the outskirts Gaiette with a special power of your choosing to help you out! You’ll also be given a bit of money to help get you started as well as the language in your head will be replaced with the language of the world!”

Wait that last one sounded kind of ominous…

“You’ll be replacing the language in my head? Not like, have my language translated into theirs or vice versa?” I asked nervously.

“Nope! Your old language will be completely removed in favor of Maerun’s main language! Meanings can be lost in translation you know! Have you ever tried using google translate? It’s ok in a pinch but not the best!” Lyra confidently explained.

“I see… It’ll be weird talking in a new language like that but I guess that makes sense.” I said half to myself.

“Actually, you’re already speaking in Maerun’s language. It’s the language I speak after all!” Lyra said with a shining smile.

Then how did she say google translate since that’s a term from my world? Maybe it’s better not to think about it. On to the other point I guess.

“So, I get to choose a special power to bring into this new world?” I asked, starting to get excited.

“Yes! Any power you name I will do my best to give you!” Lyra said happily.

Well, that’s awesome at least. I don’t have the greatest imagination so I’ll just choose a simple one.

“I’d like super strength to be my special power please!” I stated confidently.

“Nope!”

…

“What?”

“I said nope!” Lyra said, though her smile got stiffened.

Why is the first basic ability I could think of being rejected…

“Why not? That seems like a super basic power to have.” I pressed Lyra.

“It’s because, if you suddenly gained super strength, you wouldn’t be able to control that strength right away. You’d be a danger to yourself and others. Strength is something you can build over time though, and much more easily in Maerun than you can in your world.” Lyra explained seriously.

“Well, I guess that makes sense…” If she explained it like that I really couldn’t argue.

“Then, I guess I’ll go with super speed!” I assert my second choice.

“Nope!” Lyra again rejected my proposal.

“Why?!”

“You wouldn’t be able to control that speed, it’s not like your mind would be able to process the speeds you’d be moving at.” Lyra explained again.

This was starting to annoy me.

“Give me a legendary sword. The most powerful in the world!”

“Nope!”

“...”

“Do you even know how to wield a sword?”

What the hell. I don’t feel like these are hard ones to accomplish, why is Lyra being so difficult and realistic? Lyra started looking worried. Well might as well just throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks. One of these has got to be ok.

“Talking to animals. Laser eyes. Mind reading. Control the elements. Expert sword skills. Teleportation. Passing through solid objects. Shape shifting. Invisibility. Time Travel.” I just threw them all at Lyra rapid fire.

Lyra’s smile got even more rigid. Then she took a deep breath and started.

“Just because animals understand you doesn’t mean they’ll listen. You’d go blind. Mind reading is too much strain on your brain. Magic already exists to control the elements. You can just train to become a master swordsman. You might teleport into a physical object and die. You might become solid while in a solid and die. You wouldn’t be able to change back after transforming. Pervert! Time travel shouldn’t be messed with.”

She started gasping for air after she finished all that.

“Seriously?!” I don’t even know where to go from here. So much for giving me any power I ask for.

“I’m sorry…” Lyra looked down dejectedly.

“Ok, how about invulnerability.” I threw out another. I can’t really see how this one could go wrong.

“Invulnerability?” Lyra looked up with a glimmer in her eye. “Do you mean like, to everything?”

“Well I definitely don’t want to have some kind of super weakness like kryptonite. Sure, to everything.”

A big smile overtook Lyra’s face. “I can do that one!” Lyra said proudly.

Finally we reached a power we’re both happy with. It wasn’t my first or second… or even thirteenth pick, but I’ll take it.

“So you’ll be reincarnating to just outside Gaiette city wearing commoner clothing and with some spending money to get you started! You’ll also be blessed with the power of invulnerability!” Lyra laid it all out for me.

“That sounds good to me!” I said, returning Lyra’s bright smile.

“Then I wish you luck on your journey.” Lyra snapped her fingers and wondrous lights started dancing and spinning around us. As the lights danced around us a weightless feeling overtook me and wind started to blow around us.

“May your new life treat you well!” I heard Lyra call out to me from a distance as my vision grew dark and I started my journey into this new world.