'Where am I?' I thought as I opened my eyes.
A blank space stretched in all directions. It gave a sense of nothingness that was difficult to comprehend. A second later, a white plane of sorts appeared beneath my feet. Grateful for the sense solidarity, I looked around, but could find nothing except myself dressed in a white robe of sorts.
"I sincerely apologize," said a deep, masculine voice that seemed to ring before fading away.
"What?" I exclaimed, surprised by the sudden statement.
"I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the actions of my children," the voice responded.
At the same time, the space in front of me bent and a white haired old man in dressed in a kimono appeared in front of me.
'This isn't like one of those stories where a god made a mistake and will transport me to another world, right?' I thought to myself, remembering my sudden interest in light novels. 'Maybe this is a dream brought on by what I have been reading recently.'
"Humans really make stories like that? What kind of opinion do people have a deity?" the old man asked.
'He can read my thought, can't he?' I thought to myself.
"Yes, I can," the old man answered with a smile. "This situation is somewhat similar to what you were thinking of, but I did not make some sort of mistake."
"Okay," I responded, surprised by this turn of event. I decided to accept things as they were for now. If it was a dream, then I would just wake up later. "So, may I be so kind as to ask what happened? Though, I am going to go out on a limb and say that you are a god, given that you are reading my thoughts and all."
"You are correct, I am a god," the old man answered, continuing with his gentle smile. "My name is Yolmin. It is also the name of the world that I govern."
"Nice to meet you Mr. Yolmin. I am Orin," I answered, bowing to be respectful. It isn't everyday that you meet a god after all.
"Just Yolmin will do," he responded with a hearty chuckle. "Now on to other matters. The truth of the matter is, my world is currently in the middle of a rather nasty war. Just about every kingdom was fighting against the others."
"Sounds rather bad," I commented. I hope that he didn't want me to do something about it.
"Don't worry, it will actually end rather peacefully in about another week or so," Yolmin said, responding to my thoughts again. "But what happened is that a number kingdoms launched what would equal a nuclear assault in your world."
"Wow," I said, stunned by this revelation. "Then how can it end peacefully?"
"Well," Yolmin dragged out, avoiding my gaze. "My world hasn't developed the same as yours. Rather than developing technology, they learned magic and dealt with monsters and whatnot."
"I expected as much."
"So, this attack I speak of, took the form of a number of rituals being carried out almost simultaneously. However, I had already created an automated safety mechanism to prevent the the world from being destroyed by ridiculous magical strikes," the god prattled.
"Okay, and what does this have to do with me?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
"The safety mechanism hurled the accumulated magical power through space and time in an attempt to disperse it."
"Cutting to the chase, it killed me, didn't it?" I asked, cutting him off.
"Yes, I am very sorry about this," Yolmin said, bowing his head.
"Then isn't this actually your fault after all?" I cried, remembering his earlier statement.
"No," he denied, while I looked at him with an unwavering gaze. "Well just a little. But I dragged your soul to this plane as soon as you died so that you wouldn't disappear."
"Fine, what's done is done," I sighed. "Now what?"
"Well, I can either give you a new body on my world or let you continue to the after life."
"Kay, on to your world," I said instantly.
"Snap decision?"
"I don't want to die yet," I answered flatly.
"Got it," Yolmin said, apparently happy with my decision. "Anything that I can do to help you?"
"Just a basic understanding of things, maybe some help with language skills, oh, and can I use magic?" I said slowly, pondering some things that would be helpful. I didn't need anything much. I had actually been a loner for most of high school.
"Got it," Yolmin muttered, grabbing a notepad and pen from mid-air. "Knowledge, language comprehension. You don't have to worry about the magic though."
"Huh? Why not?"
"When that mass of magic struck you, your soul actually absorbed most of it while your body was destroyed," he explained. "Also, this plane is further strengthening your soul. But that reminds me, I will need to construct a body that can withstand that power. Thank you for reminding me. It wouldn't do for you to explode as soon as you arrived."
"Okay," I said, noting that this god had just said some rather concerning things. "Oh, I remember that those novels always had an item box. Can you make one of those?"
"That actually already exists. It is just another application of space-time magic."
"Understood. In that case, would you mind placing me somewhere far away from other humans?"
"Sure, but why?" the god inquired, confusion evident on his face.
"I don't really like to socialize, and I would prefer to start away from things."
"Okay, that should be everything then," Yolmin said, noting the last request on his notepad. "I wish to apologize again and I hope that you have a fulfilling life."
As he said those words, my vision began to darken and the old god and white plane disappeared rapidly from my view.