Beginning I

Darkness.

Boundless darkness. 

Infinite darkness.

This was what greeted him when the man woke up. He couldn't feel anything, couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything. He only feels like he's floating in this dark space. Devoid of any other senses.

'Where am I? '

'What's happening'

'Am I dead? '

'If I remember correctly, i was stabbed and then my grandmother, grandfather , and uncle were rushing to me. '

'But they're all dead. A Long time ago. Then, does that mean I am dead as well? '

'Judging from this dark space, is this hell? Or Purgatory? If not, I would assume I am in a coma. Perhaps I would be able to hear the conversations of those who visit me. '

'Get it together, me. Your thoughts are all over the place.'

"The soul is awake. Please report to the supervisor. I will keep it company here."

"Right away, ma'am."

A womanly voice and an immature voice were heard simultaneously while he was thinking. 

'Someone's here! '

'Who was that? '

'Am I dead? '

'What happened to me'

"Please relax, mister ———. Don't worry too much. We will explain to you shortly about your whole situation."

The womanly voice was pleasant. He immediately felt soothed when he heard it. If he would describe it, it would be as if his idol crush whispered, "I love you," close to his ear. He immediately perked up as he understood that the womanly voice somehow was able to understand and answer him.

'You can hear me? How? I don't think I have any control over a mouth right now.' 

"I knew it. Souls really are the cutest. I just wish I could squish it. I mean, Yes, I can hear you, mister. This is a technique called soul telepathy. It simply allows me to read a person's inner thoughts directly from the soul."

Ignoring the worrying first part of the womanly voice's answer, the man pondered for a moment. 

'She said soul telepathy. That means I am, right now, probably a soul. If I am a soul now, that means I am most likely dead.'

'Haaaaah'The man sighed.

'I didn't survive that ordeal after all!'

Feeling the mood of the soul plummet, the being guarding the soul wanted to say something. Before it can say anything however, someone seemed to appear.

"I heard the soul awakened already, sera?"

"Yes, supervisor. The soul is active, and we have exchanged a simple greeting."

"Alright. Leave this to me. Continue to monitor the other souls."

"Affirmative maam"

The being guarding the soul immediately turned towards the door and walked out of the "room.".

"Hello, mister ———. My name is Sachiel. I am the supervisor responsible for explaining your situation. I know you must have a lot of questions, but let me brief you on your situation first before you ask."

"You are dead."

After hearing Sachiel's words, the man felt his mood plummet all the way down. The voice was pleasant. It had a sense of maturity in it. It was calming. It had even a hint of sweetness added to it. However, the content delivered by the voice was far from what the man wanted to hear. He wanted to say something, but before he could, Sachiel's voice once again resounded in his "ears.".

"But also, you are not dead."

The man was confused, not understanding the contradiction between Sachiel's words.

"Let me explain. You are dead in your world. However, once in a millennia, We pick suitable souls and send them to different worlds. Instead of going through reincarnation and "washing away" their current selves, They will be able to live another life in a completely different body. With memories intact"

After digesting Sachiel's words, the man knew his situation. 

'Similar to Isekai novels'

He thought of this. He didn't know what to feel. He wanted to go back to his family. Hewever, an emotion budded in his "heart." Excitement.

Sachiel could also feel the subtle changes in the soul's emotions. She sensed the soul's mood improved from being depressed to being hopeful. That's why she decided to spur it more. 

"That's right, mister. Though I don't know how your people came up with the idea of isekai, it is the perfect word to describe what we are doing. Congratulations! You have been chosen as a traveler soul that would be sent to another world."

The woman's voice was cheerful and uplifting. One could even hear imaginary fireworks as she congratulated the man for being picked. If the man were to describe it, It feels as if his idol crush wished him good luck before a game. Thinking that going to another world might not be a bad idea, the man feels hopeful. But he decided to grasp his situation first.

'Umm. Miss Sachiel, you said that I could ask questions, right? Is there a limit to this?'

'"Please call me Sachi, mister. This will make our conversation easier. To answer your question, there is no limit, mister."  The girl's voice was jolly.

"You can ask any question you want. You can also stay here and ask questions for however long you want since the time in this place doesn't move."

 "However, the answers I could give will depend on your questions, mister. There are some secrets that should be kept, after all."

After hearing the girl's explanation, the man was relieved. This means whoever the creator of this place is, they are generous to dead souls.

'Then, Miss Sachi, I would like to know what happened back on earth. What happened after I died?'

Sensing the man was still reluctant in abstaining the honorifics, sachiel decided to let it go. One of her jobs other than explaining the situation was to soothe the souls emotions after all. If the soul is more comfortable this way, so be it.

"According to your record, your time of death is 11:36 pm. You and your killer's body were found later in the morning at around 4:16 am when a car drove on the street where the incident took place. The police were then sent to investigate, and after checking the cameras in the area, they pieced together what happened. They also found out both yours and your killer's identities. Currently, you are being celebrated as a hero who served justice for the killer's other victims."

The woman, after some consideration, left out the man's family from the report. In the report, they were grieving. They don't want a hero at all. they just want their son back.

After digesting the words of the girl, the man became melancholic. He really didn't know what to feel about being celebrated as a hero.

'A hero doesn't suit me at all'. The man shook his imaginary head.

"Please have some confidence, mister. Anyone can be a hero." The vibrant voice of the girl was heard. 

'Heh. Thank you, miss Sachi.'

The man's mood was lifted. Thanks to the girl, with a lively voice.

'Then for my next question, Is the soul of that guy going to another world as well? '

The man was referring to his killer. There's an apparent disgust in the man's thoughts. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about his killer. However, this is also important for his peace of mind!

"Don't worry, mister!" The vibrant voice of the girl resounded once again. Hearing the woman's voice, The man was half-convinced about one of his theories.

This girl is an angel!

After all, there's nothing in the world that he knew of that could give this kind of good, refreshing, and uplifting energy.

'She must be an angel! No. I decided. She is an angel!'

"Although I can't tell you where your killer's soul would go, I can assure you that he is not going to be reborn in another world. The criteria for choosing world travelers are strict. One of them is making sure that the soul doesn't have a problematic past. A problematic past includes his activities of murdering innocent civilians for personal gains."

The man was relieved to hear that. There's some justice after all.

'That's a relief? Thank you, miss Sachi. Next, I am interested in the world to which I would go. Can you give me a quick run-down of the situation there?'

"Sure mister!." The "angel's" voice resounded again.

"The world you are going to is labelled as -R4N9O8 or as the locals call it. arcturus. It is categorized as a colossal planet as this world is roughly three times the size of earth. Now, a rough history of the planet. The planet followed the same evolution path as your planet earth. It started as a huge piece of rock orbiting it's sun, but an event made it able to support life. The development of its lifeforms are pretty much similar to your earth. It's intellectual races are much more diverse though. In that world, humans are only one of the many races that developed consciousness. However, there's one key component that greatly differentiates arcturus from earth. Etheric resonance or as what your world calls it, Magic"

Hearing the "angel's " explanation, the man couldn't help but widen his "eyes". "Magic". That word alone completely distinguished any his thoughts of reluctance.

'How lucky am I. As a kid, I always dreamt of having some sort of superpower. I have always dreamt of recreating those popular moves they do in shows and anime. Even into adulthood, i still have that little hope that extraordinaries exist. Even as I worked into that soul-crushing job, I still have hope that something extraordinary exists. To think this would all soon come true'

The man couldn't help but let a "tear" slide down his "face". Of course this is all imaginary but that alone is enough to explain his state of mind. Thus the man immediately faced the "angel" and asked, full of hope and anxiety,

'Will i be able to use it too?'

The "angel", clearly sensing the soul's enthusiasm, couldn't help but smile.

"Of course mister!. Along with your travel, you would be gifted a starter pack! This would actually be explained to you but since you already asked, a starter contains what a soul like you might need in order to acclimate to the new world. This includes a new body full of talent and potential, this includes the talent of manipulating etheric resonance. An affinity of your choice, and a guide that would teach you in the early days of your travel. Ah. This body is completely modifiable by the way. Except for race, you can pretty much alter anything about it. Anything. Mister."

The angel seemed to really emphasize the "anything" part of the explanation. The man couldn't help but "smile" wryly. Having an idea what the "angel" was referring to.

"Anyway, continuing my explanation, it's inhabitants inevitably learned to harness and cultivate etheric resonance. Let's just call it magic. As a result, they obtained power. Some even evolved completely to be a pure creatures of magic. Ofcourse it has it's downsides. Some beings drowned themselves in magic power and became corrupted. There are beings that only think of themselves and most disregard anything as long as it's not beneficial to them. These type of beings are one of the better cases of corruption since they only care about themselves. but the worse ones tend to form malice. These are being that don't regard life at all. They are considered as enemies by the world's inhabitants and a must to be purged. They can't stand seeing anyone alive and even find pleasure in sniffing it out. My point is mister, almost of the people youll meet there are dangerous and stronger than anyone you ever met. So please do exercise caution."

'Alright .I'll keep that in mind miss sachi.'

The man tried to digest the "angel's" explanation as much as possible.

'According to miss sachi, the world seems to be a dangerous one. On top of the expected monsters and fantasy race, there seems to be intelligent evil races too. It looks like i have to be careful about how I interact with the world. There are risk going to another world. That's for sure but that's just what you get alongside opportunities.' As the man started getting lost in his thoughts, he was snapped awaked by the "angel's" voice.

"Now mister, i have explained to you the rough state of the world. Shall we proceed with explaining your starter pack?"

'Ahh im sorry for spacing out there miss sachi. Yes please. I would like to hear it.'

"Then—" the angel's voice seemed pleased