While Johannes slept, he felt four powerful auras around him in his mindscape. Then, out of nowhere, there was an explosion of presence in the outside world and within his mind. In his mindscape, Johannes was blown away by the auras. For some reason, mist had formed within his mindscape, which he thought was super weird because first, there was literally nothing in his midscape but him. If being bright was something, then that was what was in his mindscape aside from the anthropomorphization of his thoughts.
While the mist subsided, Johannes saw a Lion, a Serpent, an Eagle, and another Phoenix (which Johannes only recognized because first, it was a bird, and second, it was engulfed in flames). At first, Johannes was surprised and anxious about what could happen next. However, he quickly recovered his wits and was able to think clearly again.
"So, uh-, what do you want?" Johannes finally broke the ice as the 4 creatures simply stared at him after the mist had completely subsided.
The Lion growled at Johannes, then it slowly moved closer to Johannes as if it was going to pounce on him anytime. He bared his fangs to Johannes, and then roared with all its might right in the boy's face. Due to the force of the presence of the Lion, coupled with the suprisingly powerful roar, Johannes was suddenly flung several meters away and he wouldn't have been stopped if the serpent didn't catch him.
"I guess you're happy now?" The serpent asked the Lion.
"Don't be too uptight, you thought it was funny too! He cartwheeled in the air dude. It was funny! HAHAHA." The Lion said while chortling.
No one laughed with the Lion. Johannes was just annoyed; the other Creatures were just pokerfaced.
"So uh, can you explain now what's happening?" Johannes asked. "And, uh, can you please put me down now?" Johannes asked the serpent who was still holding him up after saving him from flying away.
"Sorry about that." the Serpent answered, apologetically. "About what's happening- to put it simply, we're here to visit you."
"To interrogate you, to be exact." the Phoenix chimed in.
"Well, I haven't done anything yet. I'm still a 1-year-old child, right?" Johannes asked in a confused tone. "I'm not sure about what's happening. Have I offended you? Who are you?" Johannes asked them a barrage of questions. He wanted to ask more but he tried to focus on the important parts. A lot has been happening so far. He didn't even know what was happening anymore. He knew that he was supposed to be asleep, but the present events seemed so real that he could not conclude whether or not this was a dream.
The Phoenix answered, annoyed at Johannes' questioning, taking it as an offense; "We don't have any obligations to answer your questions. If I wanted to, I could incinerate you now. In fact, you should show more reverence to us you outsi---"
"Answer our questions and we will answer yours. Is that a good deal for you?" The Serpent interrupted the Phoenix.
"That will be good." Johannes said. After that, he observed the creatures intently. The Lion had dark, brown eyes, and wore a very majestic mane- the most majestic mane he ever saw. It however possessed a playful demeanor. The Lion lost interest in him after the serpent stopped him from toying with the human.
The Phoenix was of course, fiery. Its feathers were literal flames, all burning with different hues- blue, red, green, violet, orange, dark blue, and blue green. Its flames were roaring yet at the same time calming. It had fiery eyes, the color of which changed from time to time. The colors changed like the colors of its feathers.
The serpent was huge. It looked like an Eastern Dragon, its eyes were like the color of clear water. It had whiskers and a cold, icy aura around it. Its look was calming, and out of the 4 creatures, it seemed mysterious but honest at the same time. So far, it was the only creature that helped him out.
The Eagle just stood at the back, as if he were monitoring everything that had been happening. Its eyes were green, glaring at Johannes as if he were a rat that was nothing; unimportant to him. It was as if he was demeaning him by just looking at him.
"So, what are you doing here?" The serpent asked Johannes.
"Here? Am I not at our home? I mean, I was just sleeping earlier. I don't really know what's happening." Johannes answered truthfully.
"Don't play dumb. We know you're here to mess up our world." The Phoenix chimed in.
"What?"
"I was asking what you are doing here, in our world. What do you want?" The serpent carified his question.
""I don't know. I was just transported here. Ah, ask Terminus. He was the one who sent me here." Johannes answered without a hitch. He thought that if he were able to answer their questions as fast as possible, he would get his answers soon.
"Ah. I see." The Serpent answered; its tone was that of someone in deep thought.
"That guy! Again!?" The Phoenix answered exasperatedly. Out of frustration, the Phoenix roared, and it spewed fire.
"Wait, what the, what's happening?" The Lion was awakened from his daze. He had been absentmindedly staring into space. After a few moments, he started sleeping and stopped caring about what was happening.
"So can I get my answers now?" Johannes asked.
"Ah, of course. What do you wanna know?" The serpent answered.
"Who are you? What are you exactly?" Johannes asked.
"Well, we are called different names in this world. However, we are mainly called gods, if you may. But we're more like overseers. We're overseeing this world; we make sure that everything is balanced."
"Oh." At this moment. Johannes was already fed up. "So, gods just randomly appear in someone else's dream and threaten to incinerate them? Nice."
"Well you can't really blame us." The Serpent replied apologetically. "For the past centuries, people like you have been coming to mess with the balance of this world. As you can see, that Phoenix is still throwing tantrums. Terminus, the guy that sent you here, always gives us headaches. So I hope you don't take this too bad. We just want to make sure that you won't become a problem in the future." The Serpent said. His last sentence still sounded calm, but for some reason, Johannes felt that it was filled with threat and pressure.
"Our turn!" The Serpent said. "What are you planning to do in our world? Surely, there must be something you're planning to do as early as now." After asking this question. The Phoenix stopped spewing fire and went to were the Serpent was. The Lion also opened its eyes and looked at him intently. The Eagle was still unflinching.
Johannes was stunned. He didn't know what to say. To be honest, he really didn't have anything planned at the moment. He thought very carefully and decided that he was going to be completely honest with these deities.
"I want to live in this world to the fullest." Johannes answered.
The Overseers seemed to have their guards up when he answered this way. They looked angry; even the Serpent who had been maintaining a calm expression all this time flashed a face filled with anger. The Eagle however, still didn't move but started to exude more pressure with its aura. It was as if someone answered this way before and became a problem for them.
"By that I mean, I don't want to end this life filled with regrets. It seems like you guys know that I was reborn into this world. In my past life, I left a lot of people that I truly cared about. I left that world with a lot of things I wish I'd done. I left a lot of people without expressing to them how much they were dear to me. I wasn't even able to say goodbye to my family, especially my mom." Johannes paused when he said this. It had been a year since he was reborn. It was only now that he remembered his family and his girlfriend in his past life. He couldn't believe how he forgot about the people he cared about. His heart was crushed. Tears suddenly fell from his eyes as he started to remember what happened to him before, and how much pain he felt when he realized he would never see them again; the pain doubling when he realized that he wasn't even able to let them know how much he loved them. He now remembered what he really wanted to do in this world.
"I will make sure that I live this life without regrets. I will make sure that the people I care about know that I care about them. I will not be a disappointment to my parents, to the people that care about me. I will make them proud. That is what I'm going to do in this world; to become someone my parents from my past life, and my parents in this life, could be proud of." Johannes answered smiling despite the tears running down from his eyes.
The Deities had different expressions but the same reactions. The Lion started looking up and tried to cover his eyes. "Ah, what a bad day for a rain." he said. The Phoenix had tears rushing down like waterfalls. Cartoonishly, its tears were lava. The serpent had few tears as well. However, the unflinching Eagle was still stoic, but it was whimpering; tears running down from its beaks.
"What an honorable young lad." the Phoenix said first. "In order to do that, even though you were given innate talents by that guy, I will give you my blessing." The Phoenix then spread its beautiful wings and suddenly, the flames from its feathers flew towards Johannes, but instead of burning him, it felt like the warmth of someone's hug.
"Me too." The Lion was still looking up. It extended its paw to Johannes and he felt as if the ground was shaking.
"I guess, I should do it as well." The Serpent then blew a chilly breath to Johannes, feeling a sort of dew covering him.
The Eagle didn't say anything, but just started to fly. It circled around Johannes until the boy realized that he was in the middle of a whirlwind.
After all of that, the Four Overseers looked at Johannes as if they were looking at a child who had just graduated college- Filled with pride and joy.
"Uh, thank you so much!" Johannes tried to say it happily but he knew he sounded awkward. It thought it weird that these deities were so quick to conclude that he wouldn't be a problem in the future. He felt like these guys might be easily taken advantage of, so he decided in his heart to be honest with these deities all the time, making sure to teach them to be more vigilant next time.
"Is that it? Are you guys gonna ask anything else? If not, I'll ask my questions," Johannes said.
"No, just ask us questions, we will answer them as much as we can." The Serpent answered.
"So uh, what's the point of this blessing? Terminus already gave me a high talent, a gift to understand anything I want to understand, and basically, i guess unlimited power? What's this for?" Johannes asked unashamedly.
"Well, your power is not of this world." The Lion answered. "You won't be able to fully use your potential. Since this world's magic is based on the 4 classical elements, without our blessings, you won't be able to use it. People of your kind can't use this power." The Lion explained.
"You ungrateful rat!"The Phoenix suddenly shouted. "I gave you a blessing because of your story and you're like this to us?! I will take it back! Oh I will take it back you little sh-"
"Thank you so much for this kind blessing, oh great Overseers of this world. I am unworthy of your blessings but here I am, blessed by you, the merciful ones. Oh if there were anything I could do to show my gratitude, I would show it no matter what, especially to the greatest Overseer, Lord Phoenix." Johannes interrupted the Phoenix and showered it with praises, bowing his head.
"Oh, you! Don't worry about it my boy. Just enjoy your life and be happy this time!" The Phoenix was suddenly bashful and redder than usual.
The other Overseers rolled their eyes at the Phoenix. Even the Eagle showed a rare emotion just to emphasize how ashamed he was about being with this Phoenix.
"So, any other questions?" The Serpent asked.
"Wait, you said people like me... So there are other reincarnators?" Johannes asked after realizing what had been said.
"Yes, there are a few. But you're the only one who we blessed." The Serpent answered directly. It continued, "People like you bring either progress or destruction to this world. However, lately, Terminus has been sending more and more people like you. He hid your kind's presence. When we found out what he was doing, It was too late, and a number of your kind now roam this world. You're the youngest of them so far and we hope that you're the last one he will send. Knowing Terminus, he could've done it just because he had nothing to do. But because of that simpleton, the balance of this world will soon be tipped." The Serpent explained.
"I'm just a 1-year-old child, what the fuck can I do??" Johannes suddenly snapped at the Serpent.
"Well, even though there are a few adult ones, they are still young like you, learning how the world works. However, as we are the Overseers, we can read a person's thought as long as that thought was directed to this world." The Serpent explained more. "However, if that thought or idea is not of this world, let's say, your past life, we wont be able to read it."
"Ah, I see. So what do you want me to do?" Johannes asked the Overseers.
"Don't use your power for evil; if possible, use it to help people." The three answered.
"You didn't have to tell me that. I never planned on using it for anything evil." Johannes casually answered.
"Alright. We'll leave you for now. If you want to talk to us, just invoke our names, or think about wanting to talk to us, and we'll come." The serpent said while smiling.
"Good bye little rat, use your powers well. Always use Fire, it'll clean everything up for you." The Phoenix said before suddenly being eaten by flames and disappearing.
"Bah! You always leave a mess you shitty bird." The Lion whined. "Call the Earth, it will always answer you." The Lion told Johannes before leaping high and then vanishing.
"See you, boy." The Serpent bid farewell and suddenly summoned a huge tidal wave within Johannes' mindscape. He was afraid for a second that the wave would crash onto him until it suddenly vanished.
Johannes didn't notice that the Eagle was no longer within his mindscape.
"Looks like my life from here on out will be very interesting."Johannes said while smiling. Then, his expression slowly changed. "Ah, how I miss them." He said to himself looking at nothing; eyes filled with sadness and longing. Once the Overseers had gone, he was left to his own mind, thinking of the people he left behind. "I hope they're okay there. Ma, Pa, I'm living well in this world. I will try to live well in here. My love, I love you so much."