"... Transmigration." The words sounded unreal and mystical. Each syllable rolling quietly off my tongue with an expression of possibilities that made my heart race even faster.
For a moment i stared emptily into mid air, gulping it down forcefully with my throat. I forced myself to chuckle dryly, still gripping unto the tea cup.
"You're kidding, right?"
Moriah looked at me curiously with round eyes. She tilted her head at an angle.
"What, you don't believe in Transmigration as much as you seem to do in reincarnation? Or even Regression?" She said innocently, teasingly actually.
My face heated up again in shame slightly but i frowned.
"No, i..." Unable to find the proper words, i sighed again, reflecting upon my thoughts.
Everything. All of this couldn't be real, right? This was some kind of crazy joke used as punishment to get back at me for all my sins and regrets before dying. It was already unrealistic enough that i could be here after death, but since I didn't have any knowledge or standards to go by i figured maybe this was how all death was.
Up until now, i believed after death, everything just went blank.
Regaining measures of my composure again, i said calmly
"You don't expect me to believe this, do you?"
Morah replied back calmly, almost leisurely like chatting with a friend over a fleeting discussion.
"What's not to believe? The fact you died, and a beautiful Goddess is interested in your soul? Granted, you must feel flattered, but we've already been over this Aiden." She held a slender silver cutlery and delicately sliced into one of the cakes.
"Yes. I mean— no. The whole Transmigration thing. Not to sound presumptuous, your Godliness, but isn't this something that only happens in fiction and cartoons?"
Yes, maybe I did believe in reincarnation a bit, and i was certain i wasn't the only one. Don't get me wrong, i wasn't exactly one of the most religious or a zealous fanatic, but the concept of reincarnation was much realistic to believe and comprehend.
There have been a couple of instances where a number of people and cultures have allegedly claimed to be reincarnated, or believe in their ancestors returning as a descendant. Although scientifically, it remains unsure if that's true or not.
And even though it's much rarer, regression too. I guess.
Transmigration, however... Weirdly, that one i had the least faith in.
As if she could read my exact thoughts, Moriah laughed again clearly pleasurably entertained by my reactions.
"You're interesting, Aiden Walters. You believe in things like coming back to life as someone else and, turning back time, but not Transmigration."
"Okay, see. If you say it that way, i just sound crazy." I replied, mildly offended.
"Right at this moment," Moriah began, slowly brushing back strands of starlight hair behind her left ear. Her cutlery made a quiet clank as she placed it down, staring deeply into my eyes like gazing at my soul.
"Do you think what you believe matters now that you're dead, Aiden Walters?" She questioned
I felt pressured underneath that gaze. The smallest action she took, from brushing her hair to leaning forward, made me doubt my very self from where i sat.
But i managed to speak, prying my lips open more intentionally than i ever have before in a response.
"...I do. What i believe matter. More so now that I'm dead." I smiled emptily.
"It's all i have left."
It sounded pathetic, and I didn't even fully know what I meant myself. But i also thought that was a truth that came from somewhere deeply honest that it didn't have to make sense to me.
"Hmmm..." Moriah regarded me in the silence. Something dark and murky flickered in her glowing golden eyes and vanished like an imagination.
"I see—!!"
RUMBLE———!!!
Moriah tried to speak but suddenly the whole ethereal space trembled like an earthquake from all over. The wide coffee table shook, causing the plates, pots and cups to clatter and the feast to spill. I reflexively grabbed hold of my chair tightly and tensed with alarm, perceiving the tremors through my very body.
"What's going on?" I said urgently at Moriah as the trembling ceased and the delicate sounds of the harp playing resumed in the background.
Moriah's beautiful expression turned even sterner as she stared up into empty space. Her elegant brows wrinkled and she looked at me.
"We won't get anywhere like this," she audibly lamented in an urgent, yet gelid tone.
I remembered Moriah had repeatedly said there wasn't enough time, did it have something to do with the space trembling just now? I thought, finally having the feeling of urgency catch up to me as well.
I couldn't explain what the trembling was or what it meant, but something that shook and groaned that way couldn't be good. It also didn't help that Moriah refused to explain about it and instead chose to cut right to the chase again.
"I need your answer, Aiden Walters. Will you take my offer?" She said, urging my decision.
I suddenly felt the pressure more clearly, the spilled pastries and tea on the table roughly reflected the small chaos of my mind at the moment.
I pursed my lips and met Moriah's line of sight.
"You said you had come to 'bargain'." I said quietly.
Moriah looked slightly taken aback at my calm words and her brows raised as she stared at me even more intently.
"What?" The Goddess of Fate and Luck almost hissed.
"You called it a bargain. So I'm guessing this isn't just a one sided offer, but some kind of deal you're trying to strike with me." I said directly without looking away from her.
I leaned backwards against my seat.
"What's in it for me?" My voice striking a startling note of calm and certainty that shocked even me in a situation like this.
I couldn't believe i was actually trying to strike a deal with a God! A literal Goddess! Yet despite the pressure making my back sticky with cold sweat, i leisurely sat like i had all the time in the world.
For a significant amount of time, Moriah didn't move. Everything stilled around her, and time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl — frozen, in fact. Even the sound of the pleasant harp playing had paused.
The Goddess of Fate and Luck's expression was vague and unreadable. And just when i was starting to believe I had acted too arrogantly and beckoned her ire, Moriah's lips slowly stretched into a cold chilling smile.
All the hairs on my body stood up on ends. It was a smile unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Something indescribable enough for me to stop breathing for fear that was even more arrogant of me.
"...od." A quiet mutter from Moriah i couldn't quite catch.
"..."
And since i was terrified out of my wits to even dare to ask, i just sat still, leaning back against my chair not because i refused to move — but because i couldn't.
Moriah's shoulders trembled as she laughed, her voice low. The quaking of her shoulders rose with intensity as the depth of her muffled laugher deepened.
It wasn't the, bright, cheerful and laugh-out-loud laughter, or even a sneer, mocking one. It was the kind that came from the throat, behind sealed lips, as muffled and disguised as the true thoughts or purpose behind them. The ominous kind.
"Good! Very good, Aiden Walters! Very good!" She laughed, calling my name like it was the chorus to a popular verse. It made me gulp.
Finally she calmed down, her laughter slowing, and looked at me. Her gold eyes shown at me, not with the familiar ethereal allure, but with something darker and deeper investment.
"You really are quick to catch on." She chortled one last time.
When I saw she wasn't about to blow my soul up into bits of pixy dust, i too painfully forced a pale smile, hoping i didn't seem as pale and feverish as i actually felt.
Moriah regained her usual calm and exalted grace, sitting back elegantly with her back erect. Her expression was composed and dignified, like the sacred sculpture of a deity. Except, she was, in fact, a God.
"Yes. You're right. I have come to bargain. A deal, if you must." She said.
Feeling some of the earlier pressure finally lift off my shoulders, i quickly readjusted my sitting posture and nodded. Moriah's new calm was soothing and equally made me want to relax and be as sublime as she was, but I didn't dare forget how this Goddess could just as easily switch up at any given moment.
This time around, even more deliberately than before, i regarded my thoughts and doubly reflected on my words before daring to speak or present myself more out of turn.
That didn't mean that I'd shrink myself further and act all timid. Moriah said so herself— she wanted a deal. Deals were to be struck on mutual ground and equal mindset and circumstances.
And the fact she was the one who brought me here, meant she needed me. Not the other way round. Even though i still didn't know why.
But fact still remained; she was a goddess, while i was just a mortal. She could probably get rid of me with just a thought.
It wasn't at all a stretch to say that my life and existence was literally hanging on her whim right now. With my soul being in suspended animation, or what not.
I sat still, my mind racing, closely watching as Moriah slowly and deliberately made herself another cup of tea. Her movements flowed fluidly with an elegance and poise.
She places the pot down and raises the new and freshly made tea in the cup. The silence was soft and deceptive, like an earthquake and a maniacal laughter hadn't just wrought through a few seconds ago.
Moriah swirled her tea, watching the steam rise without an expression before taking a sip and returning it back to the table. Then she looked at me.
"I'll tell you what the deal is." She said simply, voice quiet and soft like silk.
I nodded, trying not to appear too stiff, hopefully. I intently hung on to Moriah's every next words that followed. I could hear the heavy strumming of my heartbeat in-between the space just before she continued.
"There's a world unraveling under my watch. A world where heroes from your Earth were sent to bring peace… and instead brought ruin." she said.
A pause, then softly added:
"I want you to kill them."
"You want me to what?" I choked, almost jerking to my feet again. But this time i managed to remain seated and stared across the table at Moriah with round, wide eyes.
Moriah continued to gaze at me aloofly, like my shock, confusion and disbelief were unworthy of regard. She continued without even a proper explanation.
"Eliminate them. Correct my mistake. I need someone unbound by prophecy... unshackled by destiny—" before she could continue spouting incompressible sentences, i widely waved my hands and cut her off.
"W-wait! Wait, wait, wait. Please, hold on a second. You totally lost me at some point." I begged, stuttering. If my mind was a mess before, now it was complete chaos.
Moriah paused as i requested, this time raising a questionable brow at me. I tried to ignore the look and continued.
"A-a world? Eliminate? You want me to kill someone?" Out of all she said, those were the parts that struck me the most.
What the hell was she talking about?
"Yes. That's the subject of the deal, Moriah said. Paused, then smiled softly: " i can understand why and where you'd be confused."
I glared at her, eyes round, like she was stupid.
"Confused?" I scoffed: "Try shocked and aghast."
Moriah sighed like my reaction was expected.
"It may seem so to you, but i wasn't done. You'll understand better once you see it yourself." She replied.
Saying so, Moriah raises her hand briefly and the entire space around us shimmered and contorted, forming a distinct image like a reflection. The mystical, golden hallroom with fleeting silk curtains twisted and vanished at once, replaced by the cinematic visage of something else.
A world on fire.
The pillars and walls of the hall disappeared and Moriah and i along with the tea table were sitted under a shattered blood red sky with raining balls of fire— hundreds of them— descending upon the land and in the vast horizon.
Devilish figures and grotesque creatures cried through the sundered heavens, their roars and wails sweeping across the devastation and dying lands.
The world was consumed by the rupturing sounds of explosion and destruction. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and blinding flashes of light bright enough to illuminate countries ensued each time an asteroid crashed against the land in the distance.
Figures in armour and wielding weapons clashed against eachother, tearing through one another like a bloodbath from hell.
Flames rolled from the sky, and daconic-like creatures reigned above it as sovereigns.
I could feel the heat of the flames tear at my skin like a thousand needles, the organ rupturing sounds exploding through my ears. And my vision getting destroyed by the bright flashes of destruction.
The air inhaled through my lungs were scalding. Each breath akin to inhaling heaps of heated grains of sands. Despite all of the sensory overload i experienced all at once, i heard the wails and cries of people.
Men, women, and children of all ages crying as they were butchered, devoured by beasts, or smote down to ashes by the heavens.
And amidst it all, two indistinct figures stood above the world in the skies, where not even the raining fire dared to reach. Their identities were uncertain, but the cold, aloof indifference in their gaze disregarded all.
"Now, do you see." Moriah's gelid words shook me out my traumatic immersion. The scene of devastation and a world on fire vanished upon her words, reverting back to the familiar appearance of the gold hall.
But i was too in shock to notice.
At some point i had fallen out of my seat, grasping tightly at my left chest and gasping for breath, having forgotten how to breathe. No, i hadn't forgotten — merely breathing was torture akin to getting shot more than a thousand time again in the lungs by the bald assassin.
Cold sweat streamed down my face and tears flowed from my eyes that they hurt.
The sound of Moriah's therapeutic voice anchored me back to reality, alleviating the shock of my trauma and pain until it vanished completely.
"This is what awaits the fate of the world in the future if nothing changes. The Otherworlders sent to be its Heroes are the reasons for its ruin."