Slowly waking up, I could instantly feel it was one of those days when my body felt heavier than anything and was just so tired.
Slowly opening my eyes and instantly being blinded by a bright-ass light, a gasp escaped me like a vampire that gets turned into ash. Shielding my eyes and letting them slowly get used to the light, I only now saw, felt, smelled, etc. that I wasn't in my room anymore.
The air smelled like the best air that ever filled your lungs; it was fresh, cold, and rejuvenating. The temperature was just perfect; it was warm enough to wear a shirt, with a slight breeze.
Looking down, I could see that I lay on grass that was short yet soft enough that it didn't poke my skin by lying down on it.
Before I lost myself in the moment I was soft steps were coming towards me.
"Hello, John, it's nice finally meeting you. I waited for you quite a while," a soft and melodic voice said.
Looking up at the Person, my jaw dropped, and the most beautiful woman I had ever seen was standing before me.
Long, brown, and slightly curly brown hair flowing behind her back. A figure that every man and woman would kill for. Soft-looking and full lips, tanned and the most perfect skin I have ever seen, brown, reddish eyes, and an athletic yet perfectly womanly body. She is about 176 cm, about my height, I guess. She looked at me with a kind, for what I guessed humorous expression.
Snapping myself out of my yapping, my mind finally caught up to what she just said. She waited a while to meet me. From where does she even know me? Except for work and the rare occasion I go out with my friends, I am on Discord with them. And I know what all of them look like, and nobody I know looks like my dream woman.
"Uhhh," my body deciding that I had to say something made the best decision, and that was letting out the most intelligent noise on earth.
Yet that only made her happier? The smile she had on her face got a little more, and it seemed like some kind of weight got lifted off her shoulders.
Maybe it was finally time to stand up and introduce myself. Trying to stand up, only to find that extremely difficult, like I was in a different body, that wasn't mine.
What the hell? My facial expression slyly turned into a frown. Why it felt so hard to stand, I tried again. Slowly, I moved, every move just to stand up, and it felt like the worst muscle ache ever. I could slowly feel how sweat was building on my face, and slowly, the mysterious woman escaped from my mind. My focus is slowly building more and more on moving my lead-like body.
I want to stand! I will stand! Letting out some huffs and grunts that escaped me.
Slowly and very slowly, my body responded to my demands, getting up and straightening up my back; it felt like I was deadlifting for my life. MY body began to shake, and the sweat that was on my face began to drip down my face.
A voice back in my head, that I only know too well, was saying, Why would I do that and not just give up? Like the gym, or cycling, or trying to eat healthier, or, or, or.
Yet another just wanted to prove a point, that at least I should do something like stand on my own, that I could do something if I really wanted to.
My legs were almost completely straightened out as well as my back, with so little left. I let out an involuntary yell, I used all the energy and will I had left in my body, before I would give up standing.
"Haa, haa, haa," breathing heavily, I only now saw that my surroundings had changed, and gone was the grass. I woke up on.
Right now, I was standing inside a hall filled with various things, from ancient-looking statues, urns, and paintings to rugs.
Looking around, I saw what appeared to be a sarcophagus. No, that can't be right? Where the hell was I?
The women also seemed to have disappeared. I was slowly getting frustrated with what was happening right now. Massaging my temples to calm my nerves, I… couldn't feel any sweat.
Touching my hair only confirmed that there wasn't any sweat. My heartbeat was getting faster, my breathing became a little shallower, and I could feel that I was nervous.
When I heard a sound in the room I was in, snapping my head around the room to look where it came from, I saw the woman.
She had a bright smile on her face, which showed her beautiful white teeth. Looking down at her form, she held a small purple bag that had a golden rope to either close or open it. It reminded me of the kind of bag you hold dice in for D&D.
She walked towards me, her walk hypnotic, and then, when I realized that, I was staring at her and realized that I was indeed staring, she was already standing before me, and actually quite close at that, with no hint that she was bothered about me.
Blinking a few times, I opened my mouth, I wanted to ask What exactly is happening right now, but I was beaten to it by her.
"I know, it's all a bit much right now, but bear with me; everything will be explained, just have a bit more patience," she softly said, and her hand moved to the right side of my face and landed on it softly.
Her hand felt soft, and my body was losing strength and wanted to turn to mush.
Catching myself and my thoughts, I had to stay strong and not be a little maidenless boy that never had something like that happen in his life, which, remembering my love life, was sadly so.
Holding in a sigh and trying not to turn to mush. I answered her, hoping that my voice was not quivering and staying strong, "Okay."
Short, simple, and better than everything else I would have said instead.
Pulling her hand slowly back so that every finger of hers was longer than truly necessary on my skin. She walked right beside me, and looking at her back, my eyes slowly wandered. Wait, be a man, not a simp.
And with that mantra, I forced myself just to watch her back as she walked towards the only part of the room that was free. It was in the middle of the wall, around three or four meters, and it had some kind of thing covered up with a purple and white decoration on the last 5 cm on the ruck.
She slowly walked towards it, and with one pull, she pulled it off. The thing was some kind of machine that, from what I saw, had two layers.
Deciding to walk towards it to get a better look at it, and running away if it made some kind of threatening move. I looked closer.
The thing? Machine? Apparatus, whatever it was, was really detailed. The first layer had what looked like several rivers that flowed in all the different areas. Some looked like some kind of ancient Greek aesthetic, some had red earth and broken statues of what I assumed were human statues, and then there were some with lots of trees. All of them looked different, some more, some less. It kind of drew me in to look at a part of it and look at the details of it longer than I really should.
The middle layer looked like Earth, only flat, with lots of water, lots of earth, trees, and some islands. Nothing much, but there was a feeling that kind of drew me to look at it, not longer than the first layer, but still.
"I know you have questions, and I hope all of them will be answered at the end of what I am now explaining will be answered."
Looking at her, I just nodded and gestured politely, that she could explain and I would listen until she finished.
A small huff escaped her, then she gestured at the machine that held the Layer and began her rant, her voice gaining a slightly more authoritarian tone and looking the most serious than I have seen her in the short amount of time I have seen her."The upper layer, of what you see, is called Tenkai; it is the place where all the gods reside and look over the souls of the people that die and, after a while, get reborn in the lower world, without their memories of their past life."
Trying to hold my face as neutral as possible while appearing to listen to hear about what she is saying, the only thing that I think is that she is crazy. Why is she telling me all of this?
Well, it doesn't matter. I just make sure to listen and find my way later out of this house or wherever I am right now.
So listening again, it continued, "While all the souls don't have the memories of their lives before, they most likely step in the same boots as their previous lives, even more so if they were exceptional."
Nodding slowly to show I listen to what she talks about, even though she looked most of the time not at me but at the two Layers. I only think about how much it must suck to live there. Imagine living as a farmer, then dying, and then again being a farmer.
And only the exceptional can be exceptional, my face slowly becoming more thoughtful. What if you become exceptional in your life? Is the next life you live also like that, or are you then from the beginning with the motivation born to be exceptional?
Thoughts for later: I have to listen more, but right now, I get more questions than answers from her.
She then gestured with to the lower layer "This is called Gekai, where a different kind of races reside in"
I instantly wanted to ask her if there are also elves. She looked at me and almost seemed to have read my mind as she answered me, "Before you ask, yes, elves, spirits, Amazonians, and a lot of different kinds of demi-human races like Boaz, Cow, Dwarfs, and so on, also pallums, which are like humans but only smaller. Kind of like hobbits, though they don't have the big and hairy feet." She let out a small laugh at her comparison, which I also found kind of funny, and it made me smile.
After a moment, she caught herself and tried her best to explain further, though her authoritarian tone was washed away and her normal soft and melodic tone was back.
"It, the basic fantasy world everybody knows. The inhabitants of the world have one goal, and that's stopping the dungeon from flooding the world with monsters and discovering the secrets of it, but with that comes the next hurdle. The dungeon itself has floors. How many floors? Nobody knows that?" She shrugs her shoulders at that.
Slowly letting out a hum, it really seemed to be a basic fantasy world, but still, why tell me all this?
Seemingly getting no break, the explanation continued, and she took small human-looking statues from the upper layer, Tekai, I think it was?
She slowly put them in the second layer. "The gods, seeing that the world is slowly being overrun by the monster, decided to help them by blessing them with a faln. It's just a simple stats sheet, honestly; just on your back, the way you fight increases your stats in that, and it also has levels that tremendously increase your power. "She waved dismissively at the whole Falna part.
It seems even she isn't that impressed by the creativity of the gods. Yet why come down at all? And not giving the falna when in their domain?
Not waiting long for an answer, she softly rambled on, "The true reason why the gods came down is that they were bored. An eternity spent in their domain, even killing themselves, was getting boring, not as if they could even die. So by going down, they could see new things and forget their boredom. It's also the reason why the Falna works: to get a Falna, a god needs to drop one drop of their divine blood onto your back."
I see, so all in all, a god drops blood on you, you get a status sheet, and it increases the more you fight. And you have levels that increase your overall power, the higher it is.
Her eyes slowly wandering to me, she locked onto my eyes, and I froze instantly. Seeing her eyes so closely, I could see something in her eyes that had me on edge.
Stepping to me, both of her Hands she gently laid them on both sides of my face. Her face was only half a meter away from me.
"The reason I am telling you this is that you are one of the few people who have the potential to discover the secrets of the dungeon, to become the strongest. I am a goddess, Jack, though I can't give you my name right now; you're not ready. What I can give you is the chance to live a new life, and if you do that, you get the power to help you with the goal," she said sensational, and with that, I am almost buckling.
The only reason why I didn't was because of what she said. She is a goddess? Living a New Life? What the hell?
"If… If you're really a goddess, I need proof, and how did I even get here? Am… Am I dead?" I weakly asked in my voice, almost breaking at the End.
Her expression slowly softening up, she said softly, " I will show you everything, then. Follow me, please."
Her hands leaving my face, I instantly wanted them back on me, missing the feeling of softness and warmth on them. She took one of my hands in hers and interlocked her fingers with mine.
I hope my hands aren't sweaty or that she can feel my pulse through them, which is right now in overdrive.
She walked to an Exit, to the left side, that I must have overlooked when looking around.
Walking together, we walked for a short amount of time until we reached the door. Her hand reaching for the door handle, she paused, turned around to look at me, and her grip on my hands became a little firmer, not uncomfortable, just a little firmer. My grip also became a little firmer out of reflex.
"Don't panic. When you're scared, remember that I am beside you."
I noticed that my breath was shallow, coughing, and breathing in and out a few times to calm myself down, and with a firm "Okay, I am ready," she slowly opened the door. And a pitch-black room that was only lit up by something I couldn't really make out from outside, we slowly stepped in, and inside the room, the door closed behind us.