Neophyte World Builder

SARA

Sara woke up to a gentle, warm sensation upon her face.

She blinked her eyes open as the feeling washed over her, shaking her head. The last thing she remembered was rushing for the convenience store in the hopes of getting an energy drink before she was late. Then the screeching noise, and the intense pain, and then…

Nothing.

She rolled to sit up, surprised to realize she was laying on a stone bench or slab. Her feet had simple sandals upon them, and her body was clothed in a silken-like robe. The day seemed warm, but there was no sun she could see… perhaps because she was surrounded by strange-looking trees flanking the stone path below.

She squinted. Was that mold or fuzz on the trees? She was no botanist or naturalist, but she was pretty sure she’d never seen this kind of tree before. The grass didn’t look right, either. It was all very slightly off in ways she couldn’t place, city girl that she was.

Taking a deep breath, Sara looked around the area to take stock of her situation… and froze.

The biggest damn bird she had ever seen was perched only about five meters away, just staring at her.

She estimated it was a little over a meter tall, and looked like some kind of giant crow or raven—she could never remember the difference. The wings and feet looked off, somehow, but the sheer size of the thing was taking most of her attention. That, and how it kept looking at her.

It was right then that she realized she’d given the measurements in metric. She was used to thinking in feet and inches, but she’d automatically converted to metric and understood it. That was… disorienting. The very fact that she had noticed it was weird.

“If I had known you would appear like this, I would have chosen my vaskan form,” the bird said in a dry, grumpy voice. “No doubt that would have been more comfortable to you. Or perhaps not. Your soul was damaged enough I wasn’t sure you were ever going to wake up properly. How are you feeling, young lady?”

The bird, oblivious to Sara’s panicked confusion, hopped forward.

“It is ‘young lady’ isn’t it? You’re very similar to a vaskan but I probably shouldn’t assume.”

Sara blinked again. This has to be a dream, she said to herself.

With a deep breath, she answered. “Y-yes, I am a lady, thank you.” Being called young lady was particularly nice, since she was starting to show her age…

Except she wasn’t showing her age, she realized. Looking down at herself once more, she noted her slightly more slender body, and the general fitness it had. She’d kept herself reasonably in shape, but she hadn’t looked like her current appearance since her early twenties.

Sara was still reeling from the strangeness, but she wasn’t stupid. She was questioning things far too much for it to be a dream, and she clearly remembered the truck heading right for her. That led her to two possible conclusions.

Option one was that she was in fact dreaming, possibly in a hospital bed. If that were the case, she had no reason not to just follow along and see where things went.

Option two was that she was dead, and this was an afterlife unlike any she’d been taught about.

There was no reason not to treat the situation like option two. If she was wrong and it was option one, the dream would integrate what she said and did into it.

“Am I dead?” she asked.

The giant bird casually walked up beside her… and continued walking, moving down the path a ways. It turned at the question, tilting its head. “For the time being. How long you remain dead is another matter entirely.”

Sara saw the bird starting to walk again and quickly hurried to keep up. “So are you… god? Or some kind of messenger to carry my soul?”

A clucking noise rose from the large avian, one that Sara recognized as being mildly annoyed. They sighed heavily before answering.

“After a fashion. I am Muerve, the god of death… but I do not have jurisdiction over your soul.” It lifted a wing, and Sara saw they had a thumb-like nub at the joint, which wiggled at her. “In a moment of extreme irony, I was simply told to watch over your soul while you recovered, and alert my superior when and if you did. Perhaps next time I will be the one to handle you.”

Next time? Sara thought to herself as she followed the bird.

The path curved through the trees to open up into a clearing, which held another long bench and a fountain. The lighting was subtly off, even now… well-lit yet too soft, and the direction it came from was still unclear. The shadows were stunted, as if a painter had brushed them in with minimal effort or forethought.

Seated on the bench were two figures. The one on Sara’s left was dark of skin, with sharply-pointed ears and a slight muzzle to her face. Dressed in a loose robe much like Sara wore, the woman was bestial in appearance, with obvious claws on her fingertips and animalistic toes she walked upon. A tail completed the almost-demonic figure, though the relaxed manner in which she held herself projected no threat.

The one on the right was a man, almost human in appearance. Dark fur showed on parts of his arms, and she could tell something was different about his eyes. His ears were pointed as well, though not as long as the woman’s. He was smiling as he quietly told some sort of story to the patiently-listening woman.

Muerve clacked their beak loudly. “Your guest is awake. And I will say one last time that I dislike this idea. But I suppose I cannot stop you.”

“You can’t,” the woman said, but smiled at the grumbling avian. “Thank you, Muerve.”

“Don’t criticize a plan you can’t even understand,” the man chuckled. “But your protest has been noted. If she refuses, I won’t try again.”

Muerve dipped their beak and turned, before giving a slight nod to Sara. “A pleasure meeting you.”

“Sara,” she replied. “Thank you.”

The man’s eyebrow lifted, then he rose to greet her with a light throat-clearing to call attention to himself.

“I see you remember your name. That’s good,” he said. “I tried to preserve as much of your memory as possible, but Earth’s reincarnation system automatically scrubs it, and it’s very efficient. I wasn’t sure I’d gotten to you in time.”

Sara looked at the woman watching her curiously, then back to the man. “So are you like… furry god and devil or something?”

The man snorted in laughter, while the woman looked more puzzled than anything. He shook his head.

“Ah, Duck would have had a good laugh at that one.” He smiled. “Call me Crown, and you could call me god in some ways. It’s more complicated than that. This is Sena, she’s an old friend… but she’s a mortal like you, just currently quite dead. I tugged your soul out of Earth’s reincarnation cycle and into my world’s afterlife to make you an offer. If you aren’t interested, I can return you to whatever awaits you on Earth. I’m not entirely sure what that is, but I know a memory wipe and reincarnation happens at some point. You may get an interim afterlife before that, I don’t know.”

Sara frowned toward him. “I… guess I see? For a god there’s an awful lot you don’t know. What’s the offer?”

Crown shrugged. “Sorry, I’m new to the position. My old boss is missing, and unlike her, I’m not going to hide the details from someone that I’m asking a favor of. I didn’t choose the position, but I try to get consent when it matters. I guess I’m a bit of a softie that way.”

Sena twitched an ear, but Sara was paying more attention to the so-called “god” speaking to her. “Consent for…?” she prompted.

“Right, sorry,” he sighed. “I used to have a partner to help me stay on task, I’m still getting used to her being gone. I should make a new one…”

Crown shook his head. “So the problem is I need a few things, and I’m throwing anything I can at the wall to see if it sticks. It’s stupid, but there’s a lot of literature on Earth, last time I checked, about people going to another world and being disruptive. I’d like to test that… among other things.”

The absurdity of that statement made Sara stop and stare. She crossed her arms with a deep sigh and glanced at Sena, who merely shrugged. No help there.

“You’re going to Another World me out of curiosity?”

Crown chuckled. “At least you understand the concept… but yes. And like I said, I need to investigate other things. Does importing a soul require extra effort? Can that soul then be sent elsewhere? Does a transported soul become easier to transport in successive attempts? Where does jurisdiction lie for a transported soul? Is it even possible to move one soul into another’s world, and how difficult is it? Can it be forced?”

He spread his hands wide. “I’ve answered some of this. I’m almost certain I can put you into my world without any problems, but I think I only extracted you cleanly from Earth because it’s so familiar to me, and I’m technically in charge of this cluster of universes. If this works it will be the first step toward saving Earth, Regalia, Ember, and all the other universes under my care right now.”

Those names meant nothing to Sara, but she was slowly coming to terms with what he was saying. “So this is just an experiment. Why me? And what’s in it for me?”

Sena started to rise, but Crown shook his head at her. “No, it’s a good question. I yanked her out of her home without asking, she has every right to ask that.”

He turned back to Sara. “I just looked for a young soul, sorry. Nothing more than that. I haven’t looked at your history or your life or assessed that you were good or bad. You were just the one that got picked, and if you need payment I uh… I’m not actually sure what more I can give you. You have to make the choice.”

He gestured to one side. “I can put you back into Earth’s cycle, you’ll remember none of this, and face whatever happens when humans on Earth die. Can’t help you with what that is.”

Crown pointed upward. “Or I can put you in my world, and you can have a choice of what to be, and I give you some kind of special edge. Or technically, my daughter will. You’ll spend your childhood as a native with no memories of your past life, and unlock them around adolescence. You’ll have all of your Earth memories in a world of magic that hasn’t hit the technological renaissance. I can’t guarantee you’ll ever go back to Earth, but my belief is that once you’re in this cycle, you’ll come to this afterlife at least.”

Sara frowned. “You… don’t care if I’m a good person?”

“Not really,” he answered with a shrug. “I’d prefer it, and if you’re a terrible person then you might not enjoy your afterlife here… you’d be Muerve’s problem then. The rooken you met.”

She ran her hands down her sides. It wasn’t much of a choice, since the alternative was forgetting who she was. She didn’t think she’d been a bad person, either. Maybe not a good person, but not a bad person. She was just a person.

“Are there humans or are they all furries?” she asked.

Crown chuckled. “No humans, but vaskan are kind of close. Sorry, I can’t offer you a dragon reincarnation, but you do get to choose your species. And your sex. I’m getting better at remembering to offer that.”

The strange god gestured in the air, showing tiny blue creatures, floating octopuses, the bird-creatures, and even strange insects. Numerous options, and one appeared largely human… like him.

“So. What will it be?”