Arc 1 - Ch 2: "Hello, Goddess"

CHAPTER 2 - "Hello, Goddess"

This web novel is a draft of the story. Please expect frequent changes and updates as I see fit. Enjoy! -Cloki

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-Everything went black. It remained black for a good minute and a half, as I pondered whether or not I had actually just died. -Suddenly, a faint sensation overcame me. It was an unfamiliar sensation, however, it gave me a very strong sense of peace and happiness..

Siegfried: "..eh..huh? Who's....there?. Ow. it hurts.. everything hurts.. god damnit."

???: "Hey! You there, get over here!"

-It was only then that I noticed that I was able to move around. I came to my feet, and opened my eyes. When I opened them, I saw the single most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. Her features were perfect. Skin as soft and as fair as a royal young maiden, long rose gold hair that flowed from her head like waves, hazel eyes as pure as topaz, and a beautiful pink outfit. She spoke to me in a most beautiful tone of voice. The words she said to me in that instant...

???: "..congratulations!"

-It was just then, that I returned to reality.

Sigfried: "oi-eh?"

???: "Congratulations, you died!"

-Death... she congratulated me on my death. Although I was somewhat aware of my situation, I had a difficult time accepting the fact that I had just died. It was all so sudden to me...~

Siegfried: "wait. I DIED? HOW?, AND WHO ARE YOU? wait.. could this be God?"

???: "What is it with humans and their "god"!? I heard you while you were at the elevators you know! [curse the gods], WHAT ABOUT "Curse the goddess!" that would have at least made me feel more relevant!! Anyway, back to your question.

???: "My name is Camriel, the goddess of light. I am the gatekeeper of the Nexus of Light! As I said before, congratulations on your death! Would you like to know how you died?"

-Whoever this "goddess" was, seemed to intrigue me. I had never seen her before, yet she felt familiar to me, almost as if I had seen her in a video game before... regardless, I listened to what she had to say~

Siegfried: "I think I have a pretty general idea of how I died, but if you feel so inclined to do so, please enlighten me."

Camriel: "Ehehee you're so funny. Enlightening I will do, as that is my goddess ability!"

Camriel: "YOU DIED.....from a car crash..."

Siegfried: "YES, I KNEW THIS. Time stopped right before the car hit me, which was really weird, was this your doing?"

Camriel: "Ah, you see, the stopping of time for you was the doing of my sister Uhrmriel, she's the angel of time! Anyway, you were hit by an out-of-control car. YOUR BODY WENT FLYING man, it was honestly pretty comical."

Siegfried: "There is nothing comical about that! Also, if people come here when they die, how come the man driving the car isn't here with me? Did he...survive?"

Camriel: "Yes, the driver of the car that hit your lifeless corpse survived, and is being treated at a hospital as we speak. As for your body, well... it's in shambles, pieces even! You were absolutely blown to bits! It was so gruesome that ev---"

Siegfried: "OKAY you can stop with the details, please! So anyway, why am I here?"

Camriel: "You see, your death was, unfortunately, an untimely death. However, I expected to see you here, Siegfried, which means it is time for me to have a discussion with you..."

Siegfried: "What is it? Do I get to go to heaven or something?"

Camriel: "No. But, I have an opportunity for you, Siegfried. How would you like...to be reincarnated?"

-I felt a cold rush of air blow past me, as if I had opened the front door in the midst of a winter storm. "Reincarnated"? I had only ever heard of that topic in video games and religions. I was unaware that it existed in real life. Regardless, it caught my attention~

Siegfried: "...what"

Camriel: "Yes, reincarnation, would you like to experience it? Your death was, unfortunately, an untimely one, nobody should have to experience death at the age of 18, so I'm offering you the chance to be reincarnated!"

Siegfried: "Well, I didn't quite get to do everything that I wanted to do in life, so reincarnation doesn't sound too bad, to be honest. How would it work? Would I just be re-born back on Earth as an infant?"

Camriel: "Earth? Ah, no no no, not Earth. Siegfried, how would you like to be reincarnated TO ANOTHER WORLD!?"

Siegfried: "...WHAT"

-Reincarnation by itself didn't sound so bad. But being reincarnated to ANOTHER WORLD? That's when it hit me... I realized in that moment, that I had to be dreaming. There was no other logical explanation as to what was going on~

Camriel: "You do enjoy RPG games and anime, right? Ever thought about being in one yourself? Perhaps with the task of saving a dystopian world from evil? *smirk*"

Siegfried: "Yes, I do. However, I'm assuming this is some freak dream that I'm having, and that my entire interview process hadn't even taken place, so, please bear with me, as I try to wake myself up now."

Siegfried: "WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!"

Camriel: "Siegfried, stop, it's no use. The interview was real, the car was real."

Siegfried: "How do you know my name??"

Camriel: "I know a lot of things..."

Siegfried: "Noooope, this has to be fake, WAKE UP WAKE U-"

Camriel: "This is no dream, Siegfried. You actually died."

-Despite all of my efforts to wake myself up, I was still here, in this weird instant between life and death. Call if a purgatory if you will. I had no choice but to accept it as real-life~

Siegfried: "If this isn't a dream, then why am I really here?"

Camriel: "Well, you see Siegfried, I'm offering to transport you to another world to rescue it from evil. You see, there's an evil dark wizard named Hasher, who's been trying to take over the world of Provincia for about 200 years now."

Siegfried: "Provincia? Is this like some kind of fantasy world or something? Who's Hasher?"

Camriel: "Yes, the world of Provincia was created about 3,000 years ago by me and my sisters. There are countless worlds in the universe, and my sisters and I wanted a chance to have our own, so we made Provincia!"

Camriel: "Unfortunately, some 200 years ago, Hasher decided that he wanted to take the world as his own, and assembled a large army of dark mages to help spread his agenda. Hasher is an incredibly powerful mage, possibly the most powerful person in Provincia at the moment, so the other militaries are kind of struggling a bit down there."

Siegfried: "WAIT, wait... so, what you're saying is, I was selected, personally, by you, to protect another world from evil? ....isekai?

Camriel: "Well, not by me. My sister Uhrmriel saw you as the best possible candidate for the job! You will be transported to the world of Provincia, tasked with defending it from the ever-spreading dark agenda, and defeating Hasher!"

Siegfried: "Well let me talk to Uhrmriel then! If she's the one who chose me to come here, why am I talking to you?"

Camriel: "Ouch! Even a goddess's feelings can be so brutally hurt by mortals such as yourself... but if you wish to speak to my sister, then I will bring her here! Hang on a second."

-Suddenly, the goddess began to float into the air. Her body began to glow, and then, in a burst of light, she disappeared. She remained gone for a few minutes, so I took the time to look around and check out where I was at~

-Around me were numerous rooms and hallways. It seemed as if I was in a floating mansion. To be sure, I found a window and looked out of it. To my surprise, I saw nothing but strange colors... there was no outside... this was an entirely different dimension~

Siegfried: "This place is weird... I'd better get back to where I came from before that goddess's sister gets here and realizes that I'm gone."

-I returned to the room in which I awoke, and a few seconds later, Uhrmriel appeared. She had long dark purple hair and wore barely any clothes. She was practically naked, yet the clothes she was wearing covered her adequately.~

Uhrmriel: "Ahhhhh, hello there, Siegfried! You wish to speak with me?"

Siegfried: "Are you Uhrmriel?"

Uhrmriel: "Indeed I am. I'm the angel of time! I'm glad to see you in good health, despite your condition back on Earth. Anyway, what do you want to talk about?"

Siegfried: "I want to know why I'm here... why did you choose me to save this world? I feel like I'm in some kind of video game!"

Uhrmriel: "Well, considering you died at a young age, I decided it would be appropriate, given your already-obtained knowledge of RPG elements, to be selected for reincarnation in Provincia. We really need your help, so if you could go down there and deal with Hasher, perhaps I could repay you somehow..."

-Uhrmriel then stood up and walked toward Siegfried. Siegfried backed up and stood his ground~

Siegfried: "Ugh! I will not fall for your tricks, or indulge in any of your desires! If you are so inclined to choose me to save the world, then I'll do it, just don't make it weird!"

Uhrmriel: "Yes, Siegfried. That's what I like to hear. I have to go now, I don't have much time to spare, despite me being the angel of time, even I'm busy!"

Siegfried: "Okay. Go ahead and bring Camriel back, please?"

Uhrmriel: "Sure thing! I'll be seeing you later, Siegfried!"

-Uhrmriel vanished in the same fashion that Camriel did. A few moments later, Camriel re-appeared~

Camriel: "So, how was Uhrmriel?"

Siegfried: "She's weird! She tried to convince me to save the world by offering "special treatment" in return, and then started walking towards me provocatively!"

Camriel: "Hah, that sounds like Uhrmie. Anyway, Siegfried, have you decided on whether or not you're willing to save the world?"

Siegfried: "I'll do it... but what's in it for me?"

Camriel: "Siegfried, I'll offer to help you save Provincia."

Camriel: "I will grant you a special ability that only you will have in this new world. The ability to borrow some of my power, given your life is ever in peril. If you are in serious danger of death, call upon me and my soul will enter your body and give you the strength needed to survive any disaster. However, it will require a lot of energy, so you will be restricted to only one infusion every few days. Please use it wisely."

Siegfried: "Interesting... but once every few days!? I really need to pick out the perfect times to use it then... How do I call upon you, Camriel?"

Camriel: "Simply say these words, and I will help you." -- [Numen auxilium mihi]."

Siegfried: "Thank you, I'm not entirely sure when I'd be needing this, but I'll let you know."

Siegfried: "You know what, this is starting to sound pretty cool. I think I'll help save the world. Just make sure to do whatever it is you said if I call upon you!"

Camriel: "Sure thing! But be careful Siegfried. In this world, death is not permanent for you. If you die, you will respawn at your previous save-zone, however, you will lose all progress that you have made since your save-point was last updated. Your save point will naturally update after any major event takes place. Also, you cannot respawn during your battle with Hasher. If you fail your battle with Hasher, you cannot respawn and try again, Hasher's power overrides your respawning ability."

Camriel: "Also note, that if you die while I am infused with you, you will lose the ability to fuse with me entirely, so please, don't be an idiot and use me wisely... You are only able to borrow some of my power, as borrowing my full power would probably end up killing both me and you. This power alone won't be enough to take on Hasher, though, so you'll need to get stronger and learn magic yourself, and assemble a party to help in your quest."

Siegfried: "This sounds like a very dangerous power, Camriel. But I have another question."

Camriel: "Yes, go on?"

Siegfried: "Camriel, why does Hasher want to take over the world? Why can't he just let everyone live in peace?"

Camriel: "Because he's power-hungry! He already has like an entire fourth of the world under his control, so why stop there?"

Camriel: "But on a more serious note, he is severely misguided. He believes that dark magic, despite how dangerous its properties are, is the true key to progress in the world. This, I cannot allow..."

Siegfried: "Dang, I guess that does make sense, okay then..."

Siegfried: "What am I supposed to do first when I get to this world, Camriel?"

Camriel: "When I send you to Provincia, you will be transported to the starter town of Formai, when you arrive there, please make your way to the adventurer's guild to receive further instructions."

Siegfried: "Understood. When will I be transported to Provincia?"

Camriel: "Now. cya later Siegfried! *SNAP*"

Siegfried: "WAIT WAIT WOOAAAAAAAAAA*

-and just like that, Siegfried was Isekai'd to another world.

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~~IN THE NEXUS OF LIGHT~~

Camriel: "I think I said all that I needed to say."

Aimeriel: "Cammie, don't you think you should have mentioned how 17 people before him were summoned to this world?"

Camriel: "Aimy-san, if I told him that, he would let his guard down, and I want him to try to save Provincia like his life truly depended on it. He will eventually figure out that there are others, we just have to let him find them on his own..."

Belmriel: "Let's just hope he understands what he's getting himself into..."

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