The White Light
Everything was bathed in a white harsh glow. I rubbed my eyes as I suddenly woke up in a sea of white. There was no contrast between the floors and the ceiling that I could see and I also realised that despite being surrounded by white light, there were no shadows formed from my body.
It gave me the illusion that I was floating in the air despite I could feel the floor on which I was standing. "Where the hell am I?"
I gingerly stepped forward, trying to feel the ground as I could not judge the distance on the floor without any shadows to contrast. I swept my hands around me like a blind person, trying to balance myself and counter my sense of vertigo.
"Hello...!" A sudden voice echoed out. The suddenness gave me a shock and I jumped on the spot before I spun around, trying to identify the source.
"Do... Not... Be... Afraid..." The feminine voice said again, this time in a gentler tone. The voice appeared to like coming from everywhere at the same time, which further confused me even more in the already very confusing situation.
"Who are you?" I demanded and at the same time, I rapid fired off questions at the top of my head. "Where am I? What is this place? Why am I here?"
"I... Am... Known... As... Aster... The... Goddess... Of... Love... And... Wisdom..." The voice replied to me. This time I did not bother to look around and instead just blankly stared up towards the white sky ceiling. "This... Is... The... Zone... Between... Worlds..."
"Goddess of Love and Wisdom?" I repeated her words dumbly. "What the fuck?"
"Your... Mortal... Shell... Has... Perish..." The soft gentle voice of Aster said. "I... Brought... Your... Soul... Here..."
"Wait? What? My mortal shell?" I blinked in confusion and my hands went over my body as I checked myself. "What the FUCK?"
"On... June... Twenty... Seven... Two... Zero... Two... Zero..." The gentle voice continued. "Your... Mortal... Shell's... Heart... Had... Failed..."
Her words jolted me like a bolt of lightning. Suddenly, memories of me seated before my computer playing video games flashed across my eye. I remembered suddenly coughing and coughing non stop and an itchy feeling rising from the depths of my chest. The itch grew stronger and stronger while my coughing led to vomiting and the last time I remember was my head hitting my keyboard before darkness.
"I died?" I mumbled softly in shock and confusion. "Is this... something like heaven or hell?"
"No..." The voice replied to me. "Your... Soul... Is... In... Between... Worlds... This... Is... The... Nether... Where... Nothing... Exists..."
"What's going on here?" I frowned as I stared suspiciously at an empty white ceiling. "You said you brought me here and I don't recall any religion nor gods called Aster!"
"I... Am... Not... A... God... From... Your... World..." The voice answered me in that soft gentle tone that was starting to annoy me. In my mind, I wished that I could press or hold ESC to skip her dialogue. "I... Come... From... Another... World... Called... Thear..."
"And... What... Is... It... That... Got... To... Do... With... Me...?" I deadpanned back in the same manner of her tone, wishing that she could hurry the fuck up and explain everything.
"Thear... Is... On... The... Brink... Of... Collapse..." She said. "My... Powers... Has... Waned... And... I... Was... Banished... From... That... World..."
"I... Have... Searched... For... Aeons... For... A... Suitable... Soul..." She continued. By this time, I gave up looking up and even just laid down on the floor to stare up the ceiling. "Your... Soul... Is... Strong... I... Need... Your... Help... To... Restore... Balance... To... Thear..."
"Alright, T. L. D. R... You want my help to save this world called Thear?" I simplified the whole thing down to one sentence. And damn she isn't called the Goddess of Love for nothing after I tried to be sarcastic. "And in exchange...?"
"You... Will... Become... Immortal..." She simply said. "And... A... Chance... To... Ascent... To... True... Godhood..."
"I will become a god?" I asked in surprise. "I am gonna get isekai-ed into a world with a cheat like that? Fuck me! Sign me up right now!"
"Is... Kai...?" The goddess sounded confused by the Jap word I said.
"Oh, nothing," I quickly brushed it off. "So what do I have to do to save the world called Thear? And what powers does an Immortal have?"
"Form... Your... own... Faith... Gather... Believers... And... Worshipers..." She answered me. "Faith... Will... Be... Very... Important... For... You... As... An... Immortal... To... Grow..."
"So... I need to create my own religion, have people worship me to gain faith?" I summarized her words up. "The more faith I get, the more powers I get?"
"Yes..." She replied gently. "You... Will... Have... The... Powers... Of... A... Lesser... Immortal..."
"You... Will... Not... Age..." Aster continued. "You... Will... Never... Die... Of... Hunger... Or... Thirst... Nor... Require... To... Breath..."
"Wounds... Will... Naturally... Heal..." She added. "If... Your... Limbs... Were... Cut... Off... They... Will... Grow... Back... Over... Time..."
"Your... Physical... Abilities... Would... Be... Five... Times... Or... More... Compared... to... Mortals..." The more she explained, the more excited I got. "But... If... You... Get... Decapitated... Or... Your... Head... Gets... Destroyed... You... Will... Ceased... To... Exist... Even... With... Your... Immortality...
"Wait what? That's not true immortality!" I exclaimed out loud. "This is like some Highlander shit!"
"Yes... I... Think... So...?" Her soft voice replied. "Beware... The... Other... Immortals... And... Gods..."
"What?" I frowned. "There's the competition? There can only be one?"
"Yes... The... Others... Will... Grow... Their... Strength... And... Faith..." She added. "They... Too... Wish... To... Win... The... Immortal... Games..."
"What is the Immortal Games?" My frown deepened as I felt there were more things that she did not tell me. "You got to tell me everything that's important!"
"The... Immortal... Games... Are... Created... By... the... Gods... To... Select... A... New... God... To... Join... Their... Ranks..." Aster said in her soft voice. "It... Is... To... Judge... Who... Is... Worthy... To... Stand... Among... The... Divine..."
"But aren't you part of them?" I inquired curiously. "Why do you need me to win?"
"Thear... Was... My...World... That... I... Created..." She explained. "But... I... Was... Ousted... Out... By... The.. Others..."
"If... My... World... Gets... Destroyed... Or... Taken... Over... By... The... Other... Gods..." This time her tone was different. I got a suspicion that she was crying. "My... Powers... Will... Be... Gone... And... I... Will... Cease... To... Exist..."
"Fuck me..." I whispered. "So after all this talk, the main reason I was chosen was to help you save your world and regain your powers?"
There was a moment of silence, but that was enough to confirm my thoughts. I let out a deep sigh and said, "Alright, I will try to help you, since I do not know anything still nor what are the chances..."
"That... Is... Enough..." She replied in a grateful voice. "My... Powers... Are... Currently... Limited... In... Thear... But... Any... Church... Of... Aster... You... Can... Use... Them... To... Pray... To... Me... And... I... Will... Answer..."
"Find your church to call you," I replied. "Done."
"I... Can... Only... Give... You... A... Small... Boon..." She added. "I... Hope... It... Helps... You... On... Your... Journey... To... Godhood..."
A golden spark suddenly appeared above me and it slowly floated down. I reached out with my hand to grasp it and when I did so, the spark grew so bright that I had to close my eyes from the glare. I felt sudden vertigo and the next thing I knew, I felt like I was riding a roller coaster ride from hell.
As quickly as it happened, the feeling stopped. I crack my eyes open and found myself sprawled on a green carpet of grass and flowers. The grass underneath me poked and tickled my naked body and I stood up, scratching my lower body. Large weather worn boulders surrounded me and seemed to be arranged in some sort of arcane formation, making me wonder if this was some kind of teleportation circle.
After a moment of looking around and unable to decipher anything from the stones, I expanded my search outside of the forest of boulders. And found myself on the top of a small hill surrounded by forests and plains. I sucked in a deep breath of fresh air and stretched my naked body, feeling the power inside my muscles which I had not felt for many years.
Ever since I got sick with two cancers, the chemotherapy had worn my body down. I was no longer fit and having to downgrade my military service which was required by my nation. I gain fat from depression and all the meds and I guess that took a heavy toll on my heart, which led to a heart attack that claimed my life and brought me here to this new world called Thear.
I looked down at my naked body, feeling a bit shy and cursing the goddess for not providing me with at least some clothes. I still retain a big belly and my facial hair was long and untidy. Yet, I found myself able to leap off the ground and half rammed myself on the top of a boulder that was three times my height which was at 1.7m.
The discovery of my body fitness and strength was exhilarating, I leapt and ran all around the forest of boulders in high spirits, only stopping after I grew bored. Now, I stood on the tallest boulder and stared out at my surroundings. There were no cities with high rise buildings or concrete highways around and I smacked my head for not asking the Goddess about the level of technology and other information of Thear.
I wondered if I would get caught as some kind of pervert or flasher for not wearing clothes out in the open. I let out a sigh as I looked at the leaves of the trees and bushes around me and wondered should I go full Tarzan or continue in my birthday suit. In the end, I decided to go on in my birthday suit as I didn't know how to make underwear out of leaves.
I picked a random direction and jogged off, hoping that I can find some form of civilization along the way. Little did I know, I found more than I could bargain for. First, I clumsily barged into a nest of giant spiders. It creeped me out to see those eerily human fingers like spider legs crawling towards you and I unintentionally punched the living daylights and spider silks out of its ass.
That fired up the whole colony of giant spiders and I think I squealed like a little girl as I ran away. At least on the bright side, I have gotten some spider silk! Made myself some modest underwear with that sticky web and I got to say... I got a big cocoon down there! Hehe!
My next careless adventure brought me to a waterfall that seemed to be populated by some kind of bear. It's not the nice cuddly bears we see on TV, but those angry giant ones that would love to eat you while beating your head with your severed limbs types.
Nevertheless, to say, I didn't feel bears that had silverback gorilla markings on them to be as gross as giant spiders. In fact, I think I have beaten them up pretty good, with only a few scratches on my body that healed rapidly. The defeated bears could only bow their heads down upon my mightiness and offered me their cave which I gratefully accepted.
I made a fire which took some effort, I am overly rusty with all those camping survival shit. The bears offered me fish but retreated away from the fire and they laid down looking pitiful at one corner with their body blue and black from my punches and kicks that made me feel sorry.
I cooked the fish they gave me and offered it back to the bears. Surprisingly, the bears accepted my fish cautiously and besides my lousy camping skills, I am quite proud of my BBQ skills trained from all those countless Korean BBQ meals when I was still on Earth.
To my further surprise, a sudden ping sounded in my head and a fucking virtual UI screen appeared before my very eyes.
< Congratulations for getting 4 points of Faith! >