Pandora

"It looks like this is the end of the road for me... Nira Ashcroft... It's a pity we had to meet like this. Still, at least it's a draw and not a complete defeat. I wonder what will happen with me." These were his passing thoughts as Noah's consciousness slowly evaporated into the depths of oblivion that is commonly known as death.

His soul slowly separated from his dead body, and in the next moment, it took off into the sky as if it had a consciousness of his own. Noah was flabbergasted. He could see a transparent version of his own body slowly flying towards the sky. What's more, his consciousness returned. It looked as if death was only a temporary state for him.

"So this is what it feels like? What a lukewarm feeling... I expected it to be something different. Something that humans could never imagine. Yet, it looks like my soul is flying towards the heavens?"

Said Noah with a wry smile. He was disappointed by the cliché after-death experience but was also overjoyed knowing that this is probably not the end of the road for him after all. He started thinking about his life as an earthling. About his decisions, about his regrets, about his friends, about humanity as a whole, and was proud knowing that he lived his life to the fullest.

"Hahh, As I thought. I don't have any regrets." Mumbled Noah with an arrogantly confident smile, but in the next second, his smile froze when cracks started to appear on the sky as if the whole atmosphere was just an invisible glass surface. Divine light started seeping out from the cracks. Anyone who saw this sight would think that these cracks were the doors to heaven.

An irresistible force started sucking Noah towards the cracks. Resisting it was impossible, and Noah didn't care either. He knew that whatever happens to his current soul-like state is completely out of his control as he can only control his emotions and nothing other than that.

The opening sucked Noah's soul in, and his sight got shrouded in the white nothingness in the next second. But, no, it was not even white. It was simply nothing but a bright nothingness. This feeling was ethereal and unknown. Noah felt like he just discovered a new color that is called nothingness. This fact shocked him to the core.

Would you know how to answer if someone asked you to describe a never-before-seen, totally different color? What color is that? How do you explain? What is the difference between that color and the colors you know?

It's even harder than when you try to explain colors to a blind person. This time it's a new color. You can't associate it with any taste, object, or shape that you have seen before. The only word that comes to your mind is 'unexplainable.' That is how Noah felt at this moment. His mind short-circuited as he tried to process the new information.

Noah thought that this is something otherworldly, and something even more incredible happened when he thought about this word. The bright nothingness started to twist and stretch until it took on the form of a human female. Then, again, the body of this female shape glowed so brightly, this time in a yellowish color, that Noah could only see the body's outline.

Soon after that, the hair color of the body changed to silver. Then, her eyes slowly opened, and the same yellowish light started emanating from them. Then, the body turned towards Noah and opened her mouth, which looked like a line made up from the same yellowish light. Noah couldn't help but cover his eyes in fear that this bright light would end up blinding him.

The female shape started speaking.

"Indeed, Noah, it's otherworldly. My name is Pandora. I'm the goddess of transmigration and the creator of this so-called otherworldly space that you oh so marveled at. I'm sure you have a few questions now that you heard this so why not sit down and open your eyes for now? The light won't harm you." Said the goddess in a calming, nonchalant voice.

Once again, Noah was flabbergasted. Finally, the shape introduced herself as a goddess and had mind-reading abilities, and if that wasn't enough, Noah felt like her voice could manipulate his emotions. Facing such a situation, Noah had no other choice than to believe her words. He slowly opened his eyes while making sure that the blinding light was actually not blinding.

He looked at the woman with an inquisitive look on his face. Walked a circle around her and tried to touch her, but the goddess slapped away his hand. "How rude, this is what you do when you meet a stranger? I told you to sit down, didn't I?." Complained the goddess in an irritated tone.

Noah raised an eyebrow at this and asked:

"Sit down where?" He looked around, but there was nothing to see besides himself and the goddess. There was no floor, not even a chair. Both of them floated mid-air in this nothingness.

"Just do it." Replied the goddess.

Noah did as she told and bent his knees and tried to act as if he's sitting in thin air, but surprisingly he started feeling something solid and invisible under his butt as he sat down. He felt a chair-shaped object under himself, to be precise. This time Noah completely learned that the word 'impossible' doesn't exist in this place. He looked at the goddess and started asking questions one after another.

"Okay, so since you told me to ask whatever I want to know. Am I dead?"

"Yes, absolutely, but that is also not the correct answer. Your earthly body died, but your soul lives on. I'll explain it. Have you heard about transmigration? or isekai if that suits you better?" Noah nodded, and the goddess continued.

"That makes it easier. I'll summarize your current situation, so listen. The cycle of transmigration is where the dead souls go if they want to transmigrate to another world and live there. It's something like a second chance. Your soul also entered this cycle, but I picked you out before you could transmigrate. So this is how you ended up here." Explained the goddess with a smile on her face.

Noah's face lightened when he heard about the second chance, but not long after that, his expression turned stone cold when he heard that the goddess picked him out of the cycle.

"Why did you pick me out?"

"Ohh, don't misunderstand, you will transmigrate to another world just like the trillions before you, but there is something I have to do before that. The process of transmigration is not simple. Everyone gets skills or some kind of advantage based on their past life achievements. Even you, the destroyer of humanity, would get something.

I followed your life from the start, and based on your actions in your previous life, I decided that you don't deserve any gift. Therefore, I will take away everything from you. In your next life, you will start as the weakest. That's all." Explained the goddess to Noah with a beaming smile on her face. She looked like someone who waited for years just to say these sentences. Little did Noah know that it was truly like that!

"That's discrimination."

"Indeed. Do you have more questions?" The goddess answered Noah with her everpresent beaming smile.

"Whatever. I do have one more question. Nira Ashcroft, what happened to her?"

"Oh, that girl? She died soon after you. I already sent her to another world. By the way, you and she are going to live in the same world. However, you will look like an ant compared to her. If you are considered the destroyer of humanity then, she is obviously the hero. Any more questions? If not, then farewell."

"No more questions. See you in a while, Pandora." Replied Noah with a twitching eye. He was already dead, but the goddess' attitude made him almost throw a fist. In the next second, the nothingness cracked beneath his legs just like the sky not long ago, and the invisible chair disappeared along with the goddess. This is how Noah started his free fall towards the new world.

The nothingness that dropped Noah turned into a beautiful blue sky littered with clouds. Finally, he was there, falling completely vertically towards the ground. His speed quickly picked up, and Noah could feel the counterforce pushing against him stronger and stronger. He realized that this might be dangerous and hoped that the goddess would at least defend him somehow.

That hope quickly dissipated after he heard the familiar playful voice inside his mind calling out to him. "Pfft, that's quite the height, Noah. You will end up in pieces again if you land like this."

Noah's eyes twitched for the second time after hearing this, and he started shouting.

"You b*tch Pandora. You better hope I don't survive this!"