"Welcome." The voice reverberated through the endless span of the void. Its origin was indistinguishable.
I reached to scratch the side of my neck, a habitual nervous pattern built from years of compounded office-work stress. Only the familiar sight of my right limb was gone.
Actually, all of my body was gone.
I felt nothing. Having no body will do that to you.
"Testing, testing, 1, 2, and 3."
Upon the final count, the void around me unraveled. Color spilled in blobs, forming a plain office: brown floors, two beige cushions, crème-colored walls, and no ceiling.
I felt my body return to me. Bone reknit to tendons, mounted upon by flesh, as the various systems reignited, sending an unimaginable amount of feedback to my synapses.
The pleasant, slightly cool air, the smell of fresh leather, and the comforting presence of the beige cushion beneath me.
As my body finished its reassembly, I felt everything finally click.
"What the hell?"
Shooting up from the cushions, an instinctive urge to get out overtook me. I wasn't sure where my head had been before, but I wasn't foolish enough to wait for whatever put me here to come back. Best to take my chances on the outside rather than remain at the mercy of whatever awaited me.
Looking up, I froze.
He almost forgot there was no ceiling. But what his mind failed to register was the face peering at him from above.
Or at least the facsimile of a face.
It had eyes—several more pairs than normal—various hues scattered around, never still, loosely hanging upon a pure white canvas. A slit was carved at the bottom half. No nose, though, so the full qualifications weren't there.
I dropped to my knees.
How I hadn't recognized this before, I had no response. But it was here now—undeniably.
My eyes widened uncontrollably in their sockets.
Was this a god? Was this God?
Fervent resolve to adjoin this creature subsumed me. In the face of this being, what was my desire? What was my pitiful attempt to become a figure such as this back on Earth?
Insignificant. Worthless.
This was truth.
From its unmoving mouth, a holy noise emitted.
"This guy's head is totally wiped, isn't it?"
The being was correct. My mind was wiped clean of all past thoughts, replaced with—
His grace disappeared, a disgusting wooden cabin-style roof taking its place.
A tap on my shoulder shook me out of my fervor. I was greeted with a mirror embellished in some sort of runic scripture.
"You're not me. You're you."
A neatly trimmed, brown-eyed, brown-haired man reflected back.
I was me.
Of course I was me.
What type of statement was that?
I was me and wished to be no other.
Or at least I thought so until about thirty seconds ago.
A pair of stark white hands gripped the floating mirror before removing it.
A floating mirror. Honestly, the past few moments had been so full of impossibilities that I didn't find it too unbelievable.
My eyes traced the being as it put the mirror… within itself.
Seemingly ignoring the opposing cushion, the entity sat down, its entirely white humanoid self looping an arm around my shoulders.
Despite the thing's arm on my shoulder, I felt a distinct lack of sensation.
"How'd you like my entrance?"
Its voice no longer projected outward, but directly into my skull.
I had zero interest in entertaining this thing.
"I'm dead, aren't I?"
"You are."
"What about my followers?"
"Dead too."
"My temple?"
"Burned."
"My message."
"Censored and forgotten."
"Huh. I don't feel nearly as sad as I should."
In a way, it was a blessing. Even though his following grew, it had never really been established on firm ground. The unfortunate truth about cults is you can't just step away once you've started.
Especially if you were the founder.
The voice echoed again.
"So this is the part where you ask why you're here and what just happened."
My mouth unwittingly parted, sharp notes exiting my vocal cords.
"WHAT did you do to me! WHY did you take me here! WHO are you! I kis—"
I shot my hand up, forcefully closing my jaws as muffled sounds attempted to escape. I could feel the joy emanating from it. The sounds slowly receded as I transitioned the forceful hand into a resting fist upholding my face.
No one steals my mystique. It's unbefitting of someone of my status.
Even if I did want to ask.
Appearance is everything.
"I'm going to answer back to front. Yes, you do kiss ass. Stop acting like you don't remember yourself about ten minutes ago. My name is only comprehensible to my most dutiful worshippers; most of my followers call me The One Who Holds Up the Sky. Not like Atlas in your earthly lore. You can call me A though, Jonathan. I took you here because you qualify, and I showed you a taste of what's to come."
Jonathan.
A name I hadn't heard in some time.
Not that it mattered. A was clearly above me in terms of status, even if only temporarily.
Opening my mouth, I realized no words were exiting. Facing A, my eyes briefly flashed a questioning look before returning to their solemn stare.
"Yeah, talking time is up. My entrance took up a lot of time. It was necessary though—trust me. Basically, you're outside the normal reincarnation cycle due to the influence of the organization. I'm your chosen processor."
"What's going to happen is I'm going to send you to the world of Reincarnated as a Slime. You haven't watched a lot, but you know the premise. Even if you hadn't, it doesn't matter. By law you get three wishes. I already chose three for you—no need to thank me."
Light converged in front of me before forming a plain black cellphone.
It dropped into my lap with a thud.
"There's your first. A cellphone connected to Earth's internet and power. Your second and third are still semi your choice."
A list unraveled itself inside my mindscape.
"Two types of magic. Guaranteed affinity and built-in textbook. I'm going to unlock your mouth. I'm running low on time, so just the two types is all I need to hear."
I felt the mental barrier loosen.
I had already made my decision.
"Biomancy for—"
The seal was replaced.
Are you serious?
"And I'm choosing your second. Told you what I needed. Anyways, I'm spinning the wheel."
A wheel manifested in front of us, glowing in several neon colors. At some point A had appeared next to it. Gripping it, A spun.
The wheel erupted into a nauseating blur before slowing down on—
THAUMATURGICAL CARTOGRAPHY
A erupted into laughter. His form flickered phasing in and out as he "attempted" to stifle his hysterics.
"There's NO way. Out of all the things—not fire, not water, not time, not void—but something hellishly specific like that."
Well.
What can you do.
The laughter slowed down.
"Jonathan, I haven't laughed like that in so long. As your reward, I'm going to spin your first one too."
Save me.
Another blinding spin later—
RESONANT PATTERN MANIPULATION
"Hm. Not as funny as the first. Guess I got a bit carried away. I'll upgrade it a bit as compensation."
The words rearranged themselves.
RESONANCE
"A bit broader. You'll thank me later. Anyways, I can see the joy leaking from your face. I'm going to go ahead and send you on down."
"You won't start as a baby. You'll be about eight. Blew the budget and went over time, so you're going to have to suffer some downgrades. You don't get to be a monster either—budget issues and all that. I can make you a half-human, half-dark-elf so at least you won't die in a century."
"Well Jonathan—or actually, I totally forgot I have to rename you. Aeylesh will do."
"Have fun. Don't die. Do what you did before and we might be able to come in contact again."
The room vanished from beneath me as I silently fell.
I'd been completely robbed.
No doubt about it.
Scammed. Hoodwinked. Whatever you wish to call it.
Dreams of biomancy and astral magic to create all sorts of cosmic beings to inspire reverie were dead.
What can you do, though?
Closing my eyes as I embraced the darkness, it seemed once again I'd been called to rise through the mud against all odds.