3 Suyi

Baffled by the sudden sound of a powerful voice, her body flinched a little and only managed to calm down when she counted one to five. Every time that she feels scared or anxious, counting down always eases her heart.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, your highness, God of Fate. Pardon us for our sudden appearance but, it is kind of an urgent matter for me. Only you had the power to answer my questions." After she settled down in the seat at the far left, she then told him their agenda of visiting him.

"Oh? On what basis did you get the idea that I could and I would help you?" The God of Fate stated whilst looking at her with scrutinizing eyes. Troubled by the obvious rejection from him, she looked around the place and bit the insides of her cheeks while she thought of ways that would make him help her.

"I- I guess I could work for you in return?" Her voice slightly wavered and soon found its confidence after a bit of self-encouragement. She then proceeded on explaining to him her deal, stating that if he helped her answer her questions, then she would work for him for a year, anything. Or he could choose to earn a favor from her, that one day, when he needed her help with anything, she would help her fulfill it, in the name of the favor she owes him.

The man lazily leaned on the chair behind him and intertwined his fingers on his lap, while his eyes gazed at her from her head to toe, as if she was a lab rat under his observation.

"You owe me a favor. What do you need?" with a simple statement from him, her heart then started to beat rapidly as if she was about to have a heart attack. She never thought that the man would choose the favor over the employment that he had more privilege and chances to boss her around.

"I want to know how I died. What happened to the 10 lifetimes I had? Who am I before and how did I become... me?" her voice that was loud and clear when she started speaking gradually weakened as if she was questioning herself and not him. Glancing at the prideful God, she could see how his eyes shone with interest and a bit of disappointment.

"I could help you with that except for the first one. You see little girl, there are things in life where you have to be ignorant to keep the peace and sanity you have left. There are things better left unknown." his eyes looked at her with clear warning and sympathy.

"Although I can help you know who you are within those lifetimes, it is forbidden to tell, especially, you are still a young soul. There are rules here, to know, you must have the power and authority to face the consequences of the things you seek for." Although she was disappointed, she somehow knew that this might happen. Strengthening her will, she looked at him with determination and gratitude.

"Now, tell me your name," he said while his hands slowly emitted beautiful rays of light.

"Suyi" the look of calmness from a while ago that he had slightly faltered as his eyes slowly dimmed. It was as if the name itself was something that he had known or heard before, but it quickly disappeared as if it never was there. Unfortunately, she did not notice the slight changes in his emotions.

"Here, I will leave you for now and I will attend to some of my visitors for a moment. Everything you see in there, must not be spoken to anyone unless you can bear the consequences, I cannot protect you from whatever will happen." after warning her, the man quickly disappeared as if he could not bear any second with her. But Suyi just shrugged it off, after all the book in front of her holding the answers that she seeks for.

…

It had been a week since she read the book, and here she is sitting at the edge of the bed that she had managed to rent on one of the Gods and Goddesses' business. Living in the afterlife is just like living on earth, the only difference is, here at the Afterlife, she can no longer die, unless she was a soul who had 10 lifetime's worth of unforgivable sins, her soul will be taken to the deepest part of hell to repent and vanish.

She also learned that in the Afterlife, various creatures lived here, some of them specifically mythical beasts who are not yet dead. They are just here because this is their home. While the dead ones are the humans who died and are now on their path to achieve godliness.

Suyi slowly glanced at the window on her left and watched as creatures passed by. The quick development of her life had shaken her existence and made it hard for her to accept. But she knew too well that if she didn't start acting up now, she would miss a lot of things.

Picking the small satchel that was given to her by the blonde creature who was an Inuphyle, named Carson, he said that the God of Fate instructed her to give this to her when she took her to leave. It seems that the satchel is the famous beginner's pack given by Gods to Wandering souls who are on their quest to leveling.

Opening the small satchel, she found five things in there; a bracelet, a few gold and silver coins, a smartphone, a map, and a bottle with pills inside. Ignoring the bracelet, Suyi took the smartphone and turned it on, testing if it does work, and to her surprise, it does.

After studying the smartphone, she took everything that she had with her and went to the nearest bulletin board. Paisley had told her that for her to level up, she had to take on missions and earn experience points and power.

Looking at the high tech bulletin board, Suyi quickly found a suitable mission to take. As a newbie soul, the easiest way to gain experience and power is through battling spirit monsters at the East Forest, the safest forest for inexperienced souls like her.

After grabbing a couple of armors and weapons from the shop, she then slowly walked her way to the forest with a strong will to gain enough authority as fast as she could.

…

Hah! Hyah Boogsh!

The sound of battling took over the silent forest, a silhouette of a disheveled woman who looked as if she was about to die was very eye-catching, above the tree is the fox-like cat she named Bob, resting on his paws, enjoying the scenery before him.

"Why don't you come down here and help me! Ahh! Shit Stay little cute three damned headed dog, stay there baby. AAAHHH!" with her hands in the air, Suyi ran around trying to lose the creature away.

Before this happened, a few minutes ago, Suyi was happily defeating low leveled beasts when suddenly Bob appeared and told her that he brought her low-level beasts to defeat. The gullible woman then talked big that she will be able to defeat the best in a mere 30 mins. Suyi thought that the beast she would be fighting was the same as the ones she had fought for the past few minutes.

But it seemed that she was doomed to fail the very first mission she took. Although souls can no longer die except being dissolved to nothingness, against a beast, they could be captured and trapped as a source for their power. It is either you kill the beast, or the beast will suck your soul away. Right now she is fighting a beast called Cerberus, it is a giant 3 headed dog, they are strong creatures but they are not rare individuals, unlike unicorns or phoenixes and faes.

While running away from the Cerberus, Suyi suddenly slipped and hit her head on the trunk of a tree making her already staggering vision more unstable. The beast quickly stood in front of her with its mouth open, ready to devour her.

Closing her eyes, Suyi grabbed the hilt of her sword and stabbed the creature before her before she fainted. Bob immediately vanished and appeared before the injured beast, his half silver and half black hair that was as silky as silver threads swayed along with the cold wind while his black robe adorned with red intricate designs fluttered like a blanket of death. The beast then stopped on its track as it saw the man's purple eyes glowing, although he wore a black mask, it did not hide the fact that the man is someone who could not be simply called handsome alone.

"Lord Ci-"

Slash

Before the beast could even finish his words, three heads rolled on the ground, and its majestic body falling with a loud thud.