I died as jobless, 24-year-old single man, without accomplishing much.
Had to add the 'money' part, since I was always jealous of those rich guys going around in those fancy cars with beautiful women by their side, living the dream. I wasn't rich, but I had some decent savings - until my girlfriend stole them. Who then filed a harassment case against me. The funny part? The closest we ever got was a kiss.
Love wasn't something I got from my partner... hell, not even from my own mother.
.
.
.
The name my mother gave me was Aqua. Yeah, like the bottled water brand.
Of course now I'm not gonna rant about how I didn't like my name and whatnot. But if you give someone a name...at least call them by it.
"Aagh!"
I slowly opened my eyes to find out I was in a white room. I blinked, tried to breathe, failed, and blinked again. The white just didn't end.
I would've called it a cloud if not for the hard floor beneath me. No matter how far I looked, the 'ceiling', the 'floor', everything was just endless white. Maybe with just few sparkling black dots on the 'sky' but that was it.
'There's no way heaven and hell actually exist right?'
As I was sure I would not be welcomed here. The deeds I did were well enough for me to get a VIP seat in hell.
'Isn't there supposed to be some gate or staircase here'
Naturally assuming this was heaven I stood right up and started thinking. I mean, this wouldn't be hell right cause like with all the white and stuff-
"Wow, That's racist"
Suddenly I heard a melodious voice interrupting my thoughts.
"Ah no I didn't meant it that way-"
I froze, struggling to take in the woman before me. Yes, struggling - because even with my eyes wide open, I couldn't process her beauty. Her face was the epitome of perfection. Even if every woman on earth mixed together to form some kind of superbeauty she would still easily stand on top.
She was dressed in regal, dark attire layered with a thick fur-trimmed cloak that draped over her shoulders, fastened by an ornate clasp. A delicate silver circlet rested on her head, complementing the high collar and detailed patterns of her gown.
She was a tall, commanding figure with pale skin, sharp features, and piercing eyes that carried an air of authority. Her silver-white hair was elegantly tied back, highlighting her poised, powerful presence.
She looked like a Supreme Goddess. Her footsteps didn't echo. Which was somehow scarier than if they had shaken the whole room.
Plus the most important thing, which couldn't even be hidden by her clothes.
She had a huge...personality. And no cloak in existence could hide it.
'Look, I know this is divine court or whatever, but my brain is a monkey with one banana and it just found two coconuts.
"Ahem. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here."
She said while stopping a few meters away from me and adjusting her clothes, which I quickly realized why.
"WAIT...YOU CAN READ MY MIND?!?!"
"No, but It was pretty easy to tell as your whole attention was somewhere else"
'Holy fuck, I thought I was gonna die. Somehow being allowed to go to heaven and then being kicked out because I was having dirty thoughts about the goddess. Yeah, that would've got me into some different kind of hell. But she still caught me staring nonetheless. Aaaahhh-'
The 'goddess' didn't say anything and just stood there patiently, for me to adjust to her presence.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I calmed myself down, as I couldn't handle another court session!
Now that I took a moment and see her again I was once again mesmerized and instantly knew this isn't something like a dream or something. For a heartbeat, the world stilled. Every instinct screamed that what I saw was beyond imagining, yet the certainty burned in me: this was real, not a trick, not an illusion. I simply knew.
"Anyway let me introduce myself first. I am Melina. The current head of the Multi-Universal Judiciary System."
"...The what now?"
"It's a cosmic level court that manages problems across realities. And I, a holder of such position, have taken her time to personally send you off."
"Huh? send me off? to where? No wait, before that, did you said MULTI-UNIVERSAL LEVEL COURT?!"
"Yup, one of the highest forms of judicial institutions made by the emperor."
"The emperor?"
"Oh yeah, you humans also call him as a 'God' "
Silence bestowed, as I realized the level of what I'm dealing with. Already tired of dealing with courts and judges and now this. A few minutes earlier I didn't even know if there's an after life and now I gotta deal with the one who created everything, the God?
'But I've always been an atheist! Shit I'm screwed!'
"Wait, what happened to others. The others who were helping me? Are they safe? Is the girl safe?"
Her answer was immediate, but the weight behind it crushed me.
"Sorry, I can't. You're already considered an anomaly. Knowing more might disrupt the 'Balance'."
The word didn't just hung in the air. It filed itself away in my skull, like it had been stamped by some invisible clerk.
"Plus you don't need to care about such things as you will be reincarnated to a new world, well more specifically, a different universe with new set of rules and powers."
"Is this opportunity presented to others too? To that girl?"
"As I told you, I can't tell you anything."
My fists tightened on their own, frustration boiling inside. 'I'd gotten others killed... and yet here I am, rewarded with another life.'
'What am I getting all worked up about, this shouldn't be a foreign feeling for me...'
A wistful smile crept across my face as I looked up to the goddess.
"I see...then, what did you mean by an anomaly? There also must be an objective right? Something you want me to do? Kill the demon king, save the world or some crap?"
"Well I can't tell you a lot about you being an 'anomaly' but just know this, you shouldn't have died when you did. That's all. And yes, you do have an objective, but before that, if I just send you off like this you'll die just in a few days. So here. I'll give you 3 skills for free."
'Cool, new universes, new rules and new skills. Except knowing my luck, I'd reincarnate as a worm and get eaten by a bird in tutorial world.'
Right after that, she waved her hand, a half-transparent blue screen pops up infront of me displaying a roulette with weird names on it.
"Now gamble, which among these skills here will be the ones that'll change your destiny."