36 Chapter XXXVI: Auspicious Reincarnation
Okay, okay, put down the pitch forks and torches. I know it is not the chapter you wanted but it is an important chapter due to you - the readers - not losing your shit when a new character pops up in the next chapter.
Now, I know how most readers in this app react to a new reincarnator joining the fic but I am here to assuage some of the concerns you may have.
Firstly, she isn't going to replace the MC. Simply consider her a secondary character who has interest in the plot moving in the same direction as canon while also being a big fan of Sunny.
Second, the stroy will still be mostly in the MC's POV so don't put me on a cross. I am not going senile yet for that to happen.
Thirdly, admittedly, she is the personification of my inadequacy as a writer. She is there to move the plot forward so that there is a concievable explanation to some of the later actions done in the fic despite the changes present.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say. Enjoy the chapter!
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When she opened her eyes, she found a cloudless, blue sky greeting her. In an attempt to rise up from her position, her hands went through tufts of soft, green grass. She was in a field, a grassy field that stretched as far as the eye could see with only a single tree standing suspiciously alone on a slightly elevated hill.
'This can't be right,' she thought in her confusion. The last thing she remembered was sitting on her class's space shuttle, watching the latest episode of her favorite show Shadow Slave while coming back from their field trip to Mars. She remembered there being a red warning light, then shouting before it all went black.
'Did I die?' she thought while taking a second more introspective look at her surroundings. 'Is this the afterlife? Am I going to be judged for my sins? Is Sunny ever going to become a saint? Why am I not freaking out more about the fact that I died?'
Questions upon questions rose in her mind, but no answer came for her. Yet, something compelled her to go to the tree on the hill. It did help that it was the only thing there except for endless stretches of grasslands.
Thus, guided by her hunch - is it a hunch? Let's call it that - she walked through the grassy meadow and reached the top of the hill where the tree was.
Under the shade of the tree was an ornate, old fashioned table, similar to the ones she saw in the museums, and two similarly designed chairs. On one of the chairs sat a woman in a mysterious gown that seemed to change its color and design depending on the angle one looked at it from. Also, she was wearing arm-lenghted white gloves and a veil that seemed to conceal her entire face. The only part of her that was uncovered was the long, lustrous pink hair that flowed down her shoulders and was but a few inches from reaching the ground.
She was stumped at what to do; the scene before her was so picturesque and perfect that she could bring herself to bismirch it by intruding.
"My, my," a soft, musical voice that made the insides of her ear tingle in pleasure came from the woman. She had to keep herself from doing something shameful right in front of her. Noticing her predicament, the mysterious woman put down the tea cup in her hands and cleared her voice gently.
"Sorry about that, force of habit," she apologized, though she noticed that her voice no longer made her feel the same sensation as before. A feeling of shame and disappointment came over her simultaneously.
"Well, don't just stand there looking pretty, come sit down and have some tea," the pink-haired woman motioned to the empty seat on the other side of the small circular table.
"Th-thure," she bit her tongue as she tried to reply. 'Come on, get yourself together!'
With slow, measured steps, the girl moved towards the empty chair and managed to sit down. When she sat down, she finally saw the contents of the table that she hadn't been able to focus on due to the woman's appearance.
Right in front of her was a tea cup that had a similar design to the one previously in the woman's hand. A steaming orange fluid was held within it; its aroma alone was enough to enthrall her.
"Go on," nudged the mysterious woman, "take a sip. It is tea made from the leaves of Yggdrasil, a favorite of mine."
Holding the cup in her hands, she took a tentative sip from it as it it was a treasure that she didn't want to squander all at once.
Once the tea entered her mouth, it was as if her tastebuds were experiencing rapture. The taste wasn't something she had ever experienced before, and she couldn't even start to describe it into words.
"Quite good, isn't it," said the woman with a hint of pride as she took a sip from her own cup before gracefully putting it down on the table.
"I know you had a lot of questions upon waking up here," she said with her voice taking a professional tone that made the girl put down her own tea cup and sit ramrod straight in her seat, "I will adher to answer all the questions that I am able to."
With the after-taste of the tea still in her mouth, the girl gulped before asking in an uncertain tone of voice, "Am....I.....d-dead?"
"Yes."
The single word seemed to crash into her like a freight train, though she still remained strangely calm about the whole situation.
"H-How did I die?"
After hearing the question, the woman seemed to look into empty space before turning towards her, "Well, you died when a rogue asteroid hit the vessel you were previously on. You and many others were the casualties of this unfortunate incident."
'Asteroid? I died from an asteroid? Why the hell am I so calm about all this?'
"Then, why am I-"
"Why are you so calm about dying? Well, it is thanks to the effect of this place we like to call the Field of Solace. It has a calming effect on the mortal souls of all those who enter it. You see, I find it much easier from experience to talk with people when they are not yelling and crying all over the place."
"M-Mortal souls?" The girl was a bit taken aback by the choice of words.
"Right, I forgot to introduce myself. How silly of me," she muttered to herself before looking at the one in front of her while sitting in a regal posture.
"I am Astrea, the Goddess of Love and Beauty."
"G-Goddeth!" she uttered in shock, biting her tongue again.
"Yes, I am a Goddess."
"Am I going to be judged for my sins?" she asked in panic that quickly was pushed down and left her calm again thanks to the effect of the Field of Solace.
The woman tilted her head and placed a gloved finger where she assumed was her chin and answered, "Hmmmm, not really."
"Then, why am I here?"
Goddess Astrea clapped her hands, "I am glad you asked." She sounded like a child on christmas morning. "You see, the lives of us gods and goddesses is not as exciting as many of your world's old myths seemed to allude to. We mainly stay in our divine domains and watch the universe expand and use our authorities every now and then."
She wasn't sure whether this was something she was supposed to hear.
"Well, a few millenia ago, some of the gods started taking random mortal souls and reincarnating them in different worlds for entertainment."
'E-Entertainment!!!!' her surge of panic was quickly mellowed out, and only calmness remained.
"So, this is my first question for you: Do you wish to be reincarnated?" Astrea asked.
"I can choose?" Due to the sudden question, her answer lacked the decorum one would use to talk with a divine being.
"Of course you can choose!" she said in astonishment. "Who do take me for? The Goddess of Non-consensual Reincarnation? I hate that bitch!
Anyways, yes, you do have a choice in the matter. If you refuse, I will just return your soul to wherever it was supposed to go before I took it and choose another one."
The dead girl was flabbergasted at the sudden aggressive shift in her nature. Then, she began to think. If one looked at it carefully, this was an oppotunity of a lifetime for her. She hadn't lived the best of lives. No, looking back at it, she was a really shitty human especially in her school days where she stood at the top of the social hierarchy. Moreover, she was already dead so what does she have to lose. She just needed to make sure she gets her facts straight.
"Just to make sure," she said in a modest tone in an attempt to not make the Goddess offended, "I can choose any world I want? ANY world?"
"That is the premise, yes," she answered patiently.
"Do I get some help before reincarnating," she had learned the concept of golden-fingers given to reincarnators by their sponsors from one of the more... literature-inclined of her entourage.
"As much as I am able," was the Goddess' reply. It was good enough for her. Just one question remained:
"How exactly do you get entertainment from reincarnating me?"
"Oh, that. Well, as divine beings we are generally restricted from interacting with the different worlds and can't even look into them at our leisure bar a certain instance when we have a proxy there. That's where you come in.
Our influence is still heavily restricted but we can at least look into the world through you."
"So.... like one of those old reality shows?"
"Kinda."
With the last reply, silence reigned over the tea table. It continued unbroken until the prospective reincarnator opened her mouth.
"I agree to reincarnate."
"Splendid," said the Goddess of Beauty with a graceful clap and a piece of parchment suddenly appeared in front of her along with a magnifying glass and a pen. "Please read the contract carefully before signing it."
The girl took the parchment and read it, and used the magnifying glass to read the smaller text on the bottom and the sides. In her opinion, the contract's terms were pretty straightforward and contained no tricks so she proceeded to signing it.
Upon having her signature, the contract dissipated into golden motes of light.
Astrea then began looking into the empty air in front of her and tapping at it.
"Which world do you want to go to?"
"Shadow Slave."
Astrea's gloved fingers suddenly stopped. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that."
"I said I wanted to reincarnate into the Shadow Slave world."
"I am afraid that world is a five starred and is a heavily restricted to be reincarnated into unless there being an instance that is already diverted from its normal axis."
"Is there such instance?" she didn't get the technical jargon but the gist of it was clear to her.
"I.... don't -," the Goddess of Love and Beauty looked as if she was browsing through a list of some kind before becoming stock still and begin saying something in a language unintelligible to the girl.
"What is it? Did you find one?"
"I.... yes, there is an instance that is sufficienctly off-axis to be diverted into. You must be very lucky," the Goddess didn't sound much too pleased about the fact but that flew right over the girl's head who was too elated about being reincarnated.
Clearing her throat to grab the girl's attention, the Goddess asked, "So, with the world chosen, what do you wish to be given to you?"
"Oh, oh, can I get one of those systems that makes their user stronger quickly?" she asked excitedly. If she was going to reincarnate she was going to do so with full advantage.
"Unfortunately, no," Astrea's reply soon doused her flames of joy, "that is one of the restrictions around five starred and above worlds. The power the reincarnator gets must be from the world lest they be thrown out by the will of that world.
Thus, I would suggest focusing on powers that are available in that world."
The girl soon began thinking about what she had heard, any golden-finger she wanted to have needed to be from that world. It was like one of those costume parties she used to make; you either wear the required costume or you're not invited.
"Then, what about having a divine aspect?"
"Sure, that is possible," the divine being agreed before tapping at a few things in the empty air before her. "What divine lineage do you want?"
"Uhhhh," she began to think. 'What lineage could she have to have me closer to Sunny than anyone else.' After a while, an answer came to her.
"The Shadow God."
Astrea hummed gently before a golden window accented with multitude of exquisite flowers suddenly appeared before the soon-to-be reincarnator. "Choose one of these divine aspects," explained the Goddess.
The girl looked through the list in the window before her. There were many aspects of the divine rank linked to the Shadow God.
Then, she came upon one choice that immediately grabbed her attention: the Shadow Priestess. It had a good ring to it and its description guaranteed that she would be connected to Sunny more than anyone. Prompty tapping at said aspect made the contents of the window change.
"With the aspect done, please choose three attributes to go with it."
"Why three?"
"That's the maximum number I can give due to the amount of negative karma you have," the Goddess' answer wasn't judging but it still made the girl cringe in embarrassment.
Browsing through the list she was given, she found three ones that she took a liking to: Blessed, Umbral Charm, and Lucky.
With her attributes chosen, the window's contents changed again.
"Now choose a flaw you desire from the list in front of you," said the Goddess while busily tapping away at the air in front of her.
"Can't I have no flaw, please?" the girl pleaded causing Astrea to stop what she was doing and give her a pointed 'Really?' look through the veil covering her face.
Getting the message, she proceeded to browse through the list given to her. The flaws listed were all over the place, with some being self-debilitating to some being minor annoyances. She chose the least severe one out of all the ones listed: Tone-Deaf. She would choose not being able to sing for shit than being a blind paraplegic.
"Fantastic," said the Goddess as soon as she chose her flaw, "with that done, you are finally ready for your reincarnation. Do you have any questions?"
"Uh, yes. Can you please do me two favors?"
Astrea tapped at her chin behind the veil a few times before replying, "Depends on what the favors are but I don't see why not."
"For the first one, can you reincarnate me after having gone through my first nightmare?"
"Hmm, I don't see why not. But are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I don't want to go through whatever nightmare I am given for getting a Divine aspect."
"As you wish," agreed the pink-haired Goddess, "and the second favor?"
"Yeah, uhm.... can you give me like knowledge of fighting and what not? Like using swords and the like. I don't want to be unable to defend myself."
Then, the Goddess snapped of her fingers, and the girl's mind got assaulted by a deluge of information about how to use various types of weapons and martial arts. She as not going to be a weapon master with it, but it provided her with enough understanding so as not to be a total noob.
"Done," said Astrea easily before asking, "are you ready to be reincarnated?"
"Yeah," the girl replied, still nursing her head, "I think so."
"Great! Good luck down there! Don't die too soon!"
"Wait! Wha-" before she could finish, her entire vision went black.
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"-t about the background!" she yelled out but she immediately noticed that she was no longer in in the grassy meadow having tea with a Goddess but rather now she was in a fortified room with no windows visible.
Her breathing was ragged and her back was drenched in blood.
"Hey, you're finally awake," she nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice coming next to her.
Looking to the side, she saw a beautiful woman who looked to be in her twenties sitting on a white plastic chair with a book held in her hand.
"Who-" she tried to move but nearly fell if she were not caught in time by the woman.
"Whoa, easy there. Easy," the woman advised gently while straightening her on the bed she was obviously previously on due to the apart wet patch on it.
"You've been out cold a couple of days now," she said before letting her go and return to her seat. "Why don't you relax a second? Get your bearings."
Taking the mystery woman's advice, she took in a deep breath and counted to ten before exhaling back again.
After a period of her taking in deep breaths to stabilize herself, the woman spoke again, "Let's see if you're all in there, figuratively speaking." The woman chuckled, "How about your name? Can you tell me your name?"
'My name?' she thought, what was her name? It was as if a fog had been covered her memories and has started being lifted slowly upon her waking up.
"Nyx!" she said with too much enthusiasm for the answer of such a mundane question. "My name is Nyx!"
"Nice, that's what written on your file too," the woman said while nodding her head. "Nice to meet you Nyx, I am Awakened Maya. Do you know where you are right now?"
"Uhhh.... a fortified room of some kind?" she decided to play the role of the ignorant newbie since she didn't want to attract too much undue attention.
"Close, you are in the basement of the police station of section 23. You just survived your first nightmare. Welcome to the waking world."
"Yes... thank you."
"Now, I know you have alot of questions but I believe you would appreciate to have a hot shower first - I know I would."
Having realized that she was still covered in sweat, Nyx quickly nooded her head and proceeded to follow Awakened Maya to the shower room.
Inside the solitary shower, hot water rained down over Nyx's body as she reveled in her situation. She had just reincarnated into one of her favorite shows and was going to meet all her favorite characters: Sunny, Kai, and even Mordret!
It was like dream come true but first she needed to get the memories in her head straight.
The body she was in - or rather her body - had years of memory stored in it. The more she looked at those memories, the more it seemed like the body just ran on some autopilot mode until she woke up.
Her background was nothing serious, she was the sole daughter of a middle class family. Her parents died in a nightmare seed breakout years ago leaving her enough inheritance to live comfortable until she reached her late twenties. Right now, she was but sixteen years old, four years younger than her previous life but by far much more beautiful than ever.
She looked at the figure in the shower mirror with awe. What was reflected back was the image of a beautiful, well-endowed, girl with almond colored skin, big golden-brown eyes, full succulent lips, and mousy caramel-colored hair. There were some strange markings akin to tattoos on her arms and back but she didn't mind them because they gave her an exquisite and exotic look.
(Image)
With an appearance like this, she could have become a top beauty idol in her old world even with the advancement in beauty surgery.
After a while of admiring her reflection, Nyx progressed on to more important matters: her Status.
She remembered that in the show it was stated that those who survived their first nightmare could summon their runes by simply thinking about it and that's what she did.
She felt a euphoric feeling as the shimmering runes came to existence before her eyes.
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Name: Nyx
True Name: -
Rank: Sleeper
Class: Beast
Soul Cores: [1/7] [0/1000]
Attributes: [Blessed], [Umbral Charm], [Lucky]
[Blessed] attribute description: Your soul has been blessed by a divine being. The speed of your soul shard absorption is tripled.
[Umbral Charm] attribute description: You are loved by shadows. (Note: Provides darkvision and eases the difficulty of commanding stronger shadows than oneself.)
[Lucky] attribute description: Your luck is unnaturally good.
Aspect: [Shadow Priestess]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Description: [You are the last of the Shadow Priestesses, a secret religious sect devout to the Shadow God. You are in search of the last remnants of your God: his divine shadow.]
Dormant Aspect Ability: [Shadow Marionette]
Ability Description: You can charm the shadows of creatures you have slain to fight for you. Those shadows become stagnant, and their strength will never grow normally. Shadow Marionettes can be hidden in your shadow. The number of marionettes you can control is relative to the number of your soul cores.
Innate Ability: [Veil of Shadows]
Innate ability description: Your physical abilities and essence regeneration increase when completely engulfed in shadows.
Flaw: [Tone-Deaf]
Description: [You are incapable of distinguishing between correct tone pitches when singing.]
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Her status was perfect. She only needed to survive long enough to meet Sunny and enjoy her new life to the fullest.
Nothing can go wrong. After all, she had luck on her side.
