Nothingness—that's the concept that nonbelievers of a higher power assume happens after death—to some, it's scary, but to others, it's a peaceful end.
It sounded better than an afterlife to most people, and maybe it was, but there was one thing that all of humanity had to accept. And that was; death is inevitable.
It comes for us all sooner or later.
It was an unpredictable force of nature that all of mortalkind had to experience.
Just like Jill Remington, the 5'6, 19-year-old anime geek with no friends, no social life, and a lack of motivation to chase her dreams, who always fails in life.
But now, she was given another chance.
Now, she could start over and become someone better—someone who's willing to chase their goals at all costs without backing down.
+
"Am I... dead?" Surrounded by nothingness, she couldn't see or feel anything. "Is this... death? Will I be seeing pitch black for eternity? Oh God... no... this can't be it..."
Her voice echoed into the void like she was talking into a hollow cave, yet there was no wall for the sound to bounce off of, but then, out of nowhere, a light appeared in front of her.
It wasn't blinding, but rather soft and warm, like sunlight breaking through the clouds on a rainy day.
Jill instinctively shielded her eyes with her hands, though she quickly realized she didn't even have hands here.
She was a floating spirit.
"Do not be afraid."
The voice was calm, androgynous—both man and woman, and both young and old.
It came from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Jill's nonexistent mouth opened.
"A voice?" She widened her eyes. "Oh no. Oh no. This is it. This is literally every isekai ever. I'm about to get reincarnated, aren't I? I'm gonna be shoved into some medieval knock-off world with swords and dragons and—oh God—do I have to fight a demon king?!"
The light dimmed for a moment, as if it were amused.
"You exaggerate, child. Not all paths are so... clichéd."
"...So, um... who exactly are you?" Jill asked with a cautious voice. "God? Buddha? The Grim Reaper? Please don't say Cthulhu."
The light shifted again, and though it never took a physical shape, Jill felt it smile.
"I am what mortals call many things. God. The Overseer. The One Beyond. To you, I am simply... the one who holds the pen to your next chapter."
Jill blinked—or at least thought she did.
"So... you're basically the author of my life?"
"If that makes it easier for you to comprehend."
She floated in silence, completely baffled by what she was hearing.
Needless to say, this was insane. She'd just been fired, humiliated, shot, and now she was talking to some omnipotent editor of existence.
"...If you're God, or whatever you are... then this is your fault, isn't it?"
The light paused, just slightly.
"My fault?"
"Yes, your fault!" Jill shouted, raising her voice. "You're supposed to be the 'pen to my story,' right? You're supposed to be in control of my fate, right? Well, congratulations! You wrote me as a loser! Nineteen years old, no friends, no future, working at a greasy fast-food joint, and I get killed trying to protect a laundromat cashier. What kind of pathetic character arc is that?!"
The void went quiet.
Jill almost regretted saying it—but no, the frustration had been boiling too long to take back now.
"Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to wake up every morning knowing I'm already behind everyone else? To go to work just to get yelled at, then come home to nothing? You call yourself the Overseer, the Author—then why did you make me so... so pitiful? Why curse me to this fate?"
The light was quiet and unresponsive before finally answering her question.
"Pitiful... is that what you believe yourself to be?"
Jill clenched her fists.
"Don't play therapist with me. You know damn well how I lived! You could've made me smart, talented, rich, something. But no, you made me Jill Remington: the anime geek who can't even show up to work on time! The loser who sucks at getting a boyfriend, and gets bullied all her life!"
"You misunderstand." The voice said gently. "I did not make you anything. I gave you a canvas. What you drew upon it was yours to decide."
"Oh, please." Jill laughed. "That's such a cop-out. 'Free will,' right? Classic God excuse! But guess what, I never even had the tools to succeed! How's that fair?"
"You carry anger and pain. They are heavy burdens, child."
"Yeah, well, no kidding!" Jill muttered. She heard her voice crack, and suddenly the anger felt small compared to the weight of her chest, or what should've been her chest. "I just... wanted to be someone. Not a joke, or some loser like everyone thought I was."
The warmth of the light suddenly expanded, wrapping around her like a blanket.
"And that is why you have been given another chance."
"...Another chance?"
"Yes. A page has turned, and and a story will be reborn. This time, Jill Remington... you will start over and become someone better. Only those with a powerful soul can be reborn, as they naturally won't be erased from existence during the transfer into another world."
Jill's spirit jolted, like she'd just been dunked in ice water.
"W-Wait, hold on! Another world? Like... really? You're actually gonna pull the whole reincarnation thing on me? I was joking earlier about the demon king!"
The light was wordlessly amused again.
"This is no joke. You are about to cross into another world, Jill Remington. A world unlike your own awaits—a world where you may build, destroy, triumph, or fall. Fate will treat you magnificently!"
"D-Do I get a choice in this? Because honestly, this sounds terrifying. And unfair. And... okay, maybe a little cool, but mostly terrifying!"
"No life worth living is without fear."
Before she could argue, the void around her began to tremble as the warmth of the light spread further, pulling her forward like a current.
Jill flailed helplessly.
"H-Hey! Don't just drag me into some fantasy land without warning! What if I end up as, I don't know, a goblin or a slime or something?!"
"Your form will match your soul. Fear not."
"THAT DOESN'T HELP!!"
Her protests were swallowed by the void as the light engulfed her completely.
"Be brave, Jill Remmington."
Her body, or the new one being shaped for her, burned with a tingling feeling, like thousands of pins and needles were rushing through her veins.
It swallowed her, suffocating and comforting all at once, until suddenly, there was pain.
Raw, blinding pain, followed by a crushing pressure squeezing her entire body.
She couldn't breathe, nor even move or think.
Her world was nothing but muffled shouts, frantic voices, and the pounding of her tiny heart.
"Do you feel her?!" Said a panicked man.
"Yes!!" Screamed a woman.
"She's coming! Gods above—push, my lady, push!" Cried another, clearly a midwife.
Then Jill felt it—the world itself forcing her forward, squeezing her through an impossible tunnel.
She wanted to scream, but only garbled cries escaped.
Her consciousness blinked in and out until there was finally light.
Not the divine light this time, but a different one as air rushed into her lungs in a desperate gasp.
"WAAAAH!!"
Jill released a high-pitched wail.
"Oh... oh, thank Ezbrand... she's alive." The midwife's sigh filled the small room.
Jill was wrapped in rough cloth that smelled like hay and smoke before being passed into shaking arms.
Through blurry newborn eyes, she saw the outline of a young woman, sweaty and pale but smiling through tears.
"My baby..." The woman said, clutching Jill to her chest.
Her voice was weak, but full of relief and love.
"My little girl..."
Jill froze inside her tiny, helpless body.
[Wait. Hold on. This is real?]
The midwife smiled, wiping her brow with her apron.
"Congratulations, Lady Elen. A healthy daughter!"
"I'm... no lady." The woman laughed breathlessly. "Just Elen. A commoner." She kissed Jill's forehead as tears dripped onto the newborn's cheeks. "But even if we have nothing... she'll have everything we can give."
A shadow loomed overhead.
It was a broad-shouldered man with dirt-stained hands and exhausted eyes.
He crouched beside the bed.
His face was rough from hardship, but his smile was warm.
"She's beautiful." He said, patting Jill's head with a calloused finger. "She's got your eyes, Elen."
The woman chuckled.
"Then let's hope she has your pride and stubbornness, Roderick."
Jill, meanwhile, was screaming inside her newborn mind.
[Wait. WAIT. This isn't a joke? This isn't a VR simulation? I've actually been... reincarnated? I'm a freaking baby. Oh God, I'm literally being cradled right now. And I can't move my arms properly. Or talk. What the hellll?!]
The parents, oblivious to her existential meltdown, only smiled wider at the sound of her cries.
[I was expecting something like a video game system?! M-Maybe there is one and I'm just overthinking things right now. And wait, my parents are commoners? Just what the hell kinda reincarnation is this?]