Chapter 2: Chapter 1 – Through Adversity to the Stars

Lo! On the eighth day of the eight month, far-famed Adon, greatest of the princes of the Vinleaf, did ascend the sacred mountain and offer unto shining Iah an unblemished black dyr and unto great-hearted Elyon a white dyr.

Divine Iah, seeing that the black dyr was not as mighty as the white dyr, was exceedingly wroth. Thus did Iah bid her daughter, likewise named Iah, hither to come and lay waste to the Vinleaf.

When the sun was sunken, Iah of the golden bow... (the rest of the lines are unreadable)

—Excerpt from a stone tablet found in Godeke

Asteria

If my life were a light novel, it would have one of those absurdly long titles like, “The Goddess asked me to save her world and I agreed to do it if she gave me tons of overpowered cheats.” Or maybe “I reincarnated into a game world but I’ll let the hero do his thing while I save the last boss.”

No, I think I’d call it “I agreed to be reincarnated into a game world if its goddess gave me every single OP cheat there is, but I’ll just let the hero complete all the missions while I save the last boss and get rid of the hidden boss behind the scenes.”

Right before I died on Earth in 2020 because of the worldwide pandemic, I had some very vivid dreams where a goddess appeared to me. She was floating in the air, and her hair, eyes, and skin glowed a soft, inviting gold color. Apart from that, she looked like an ordinary grade-schooler.

“Miss, I’m in a bit of a bind here. Please help me!” she said. Her voice was remarkably high-pitched and a bit grating, to be honest, like she was trying a little too hard to sound cute. I could smell the scent of incense coming from her.

I was confused by the appearance of a weird girl. “You are…?”

“You’ve played the video game ‘Tales of Vesterland,’ right?”

“Yes, but I only really played the first quarter of it. I used cheats to get to the ending. I’ve forgotten most of the plot, actually. What does that have to do with anything?” I said. My brain wasn’t exactly working too well since I was sick and drugged to the gills.

“I am the goddess of Verden. Hero, please help me save my world!”

I laughed.

“Damn, she’s not ready,” the goddess muttered as she looked at me consideringly.

Then everything went black and I knew nothing until I opened my eyes again. In this new dream, I was standing in a laboratory of some sort. White-coated workers, probably researchers of some sort, were engaged in various scientific pursuits. They were peering into the eyeholes of equipment and jotting down notes in notebooks or carefully mixing up glowing chemicals. I found that I could read the text although it was written in a language I didn’t know. “EL Project” was on the walls and much of the equipment was labeled “Kraej Research Center.”

It didn’t take me long to realize that I was invisible to them all since none of them paid any attention to my sudden appearance. Nor did they seem to hear me when I tried to talk to them. I was like a ghost who could walk through walls.

Looking outside one of the glass walls, I could see that I was in a city. There were cars, buses, and motorcycles in the streets, but they were of a style that was quite futuristic.

After some time, I realized that there was a sense of… a sound right on the edge of hearing or a person who could almost, but not quite, be seen from the corner of my eye. This strange feeling came from a particular direction. I walked through all the walls until I found its source.

In a small room with a bed and a shelf full of books, a little boy of about twelve or thirteen was sitting on the floor cross-legged, reading a textbook. What kind of twelve-year-old would read a book like “Differential Equations with Applications?” He must be a child genius.

He had black hair and glowing golden eyes that were similar to the goddess’. He was unhealthily pale and thin, but still cute in a fragile, childish way.

“Hey, kid!” I knew he wouldn’t hear me since he hadn’t reacted when I passed through the wall, but I was wrong. His head jerked up in surprise and he looked straight at me when I spoke.

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“You can hear me! Can you see me?” I was excited to find someone I could interact with in this place.

The child looked around for a few minutes, confusion written on his face, but it seemed he couldn’t see me because he just sighed and went back to his textbook.

“I know you can hear me. Please talk to me!” I pleaded in vain as I was totally ignored for the better part of an hour.

“It’s really boring here, you know.” I settled for ignoring that he was ignoring me and continued speaking to him as though we were conversing. “Where are your parents? I hope someone else can hear me.”

After some thought, I bent over and whispered in his ear, “If one assumes that removing a single grain of sand from a heap of sand does not turn it into a non-heap, what happens if one keeps on removing single grains of sand? Is a single remaining grain of sand still a heap?”

His little face twitched a little.

“When, if ever, does the heap turn into a non-heap?” I continued.

The child gnashed his little teeth and narrowed his eyes. It was adorable. I was even more convinced that he could hear me.

I straightened and said, “Did you like my little logic puzzle? I think…”

The world suddenly turned black without any warning then I woke up. This went on for months. In my dreams, I spent hours in the EL Lab. The dreams were so interesting that I began to look forward to them whenever I fell asleep.

Again and again, I went back to see the little boy in his bare room. He never responded when I talked to him. He ate regular, balanced meals, read textbooks, completed assignments, exercised, and trained martial arts with his teachers. In short, apart from being examined by doctors every day, he was just a normal little boy. I thought he might be sick like me since the doctors took daily stool, urine, and blood samples along with height and weight measurements.

At least, I thought he was sick until I saw the first of his weekly EL treatments. They gave him pills to take and injected him with a glowing substance. The doctors and child’s attitude made it clear that this was all routine to them. The last thing they did finally jolted my memory.

I recognized the big metal chamber with the dozens of large, round gems affixed to every surface. It was an anima treatment chamber from “Tales of Vesterland!” They were pumping him full of anima to make him stronger!

Seraphiel, as I now knew him to be, was obviously in agony. I couldn’t hear anything from the outside of the chamber, but I could see him screaming through the glass. Impulsively, I tried to pass through the walls of the chamber, but I was thrown back out by the waves of anima filling the inside of the chamber.

I tried to tell the scientists to stop torturing the poor boy, but it was useless since none of them could hear me. They continued to fiddle with the chamber’s controls, increasing the intensity of the treatment until Seraphiel passed out.

“It’s alright,” I said soothingly to the boy in my dream as he was carried back to his room. “Everything will be okay. I’ll take care of it.”

This time, when the blackness came, it was followed by a bright golden light. I was in an empty space and, as I half-expected, the goddess was there.

“Will you do it? Will you help me and save that little boy?”

“I’ll do it,” I said.

“Great!” she said. Her eyes literally sparkled. “I’m so happy! Verden needs your help badly!”

...And that’s the story of how I was persuaded to reincarnate into the world of a video game.