The deity's gaze was on Johnny. Nothing but white light emanated from her shapeless face, but he could sense her staring through his ethereal body as if looking beyond his features directly at his soul. He attempted to speak, but it only yielded a silent articulation of his mouth.
"You needn't use your voice, Mr. Rivers. I can hear you quite clearly without it."
It didn't seem that the voice came from the deity in front of him, but instead echoed from everywhere in the expanse around Johnny. It gave the impression that the figure that sat on the throne wasn't the true manifestation of the goddess that spoke to him.
Who are you?
"I am the deity that watches all that falls under my power to do so. You may feel that I am not as I appear, which is correct. I took this form for your convenience."
I'm dead, right? I thought as much, but am I?
"Yes, you are quite dead."
Did the girl I saved survive?
"She is alive, for now."
For now? What does that mean?
"The very act of saving her may cost her dearly."
Why? I was sure I pushed her out of the way of that bus.
"The girl struck her head against the pavement immediately after. As it stands, her life is in peril. Even I cannot predict what her fate will be."
It's so uncertain that even a goddess can't tell what will happen, huh? Well, at least she is still alive. So long as she is, then I won't feel completely stupid for throwing my life away. So, where did I just come from? You know, the boulders, vines, and fuzzballs?
"You came from The Expanse. It is what you humans would refer to as a sort of graveyard. The creatures you encountered were denizens of the Expanse. Their kind are are its residents and caretakers."
And what will happen to me next? Do I go to heaven, or was I a naughty boy? Do I get sent to the bad, bad place? Johnny held a finger to his mouth with an innocent, coy look on his face. The goddess, of course, was unamused.
"That is a decision for you to make, Mr. Rivers."
Disappointed by the lack of reaction, Johnny resumed the previous flow of one-way conversation with the faceless goddess.
What choices do I have? I'm not the god here, so give me something to work with, and I can give you an answer.
"The first is to return to the Expanse whence you came, only it will be far more treacherous for you."
Not my first pick. I don't look forward to getting hit with rocks for eternity. What else is there?
"The second is to earn your right to enter through the Gates of Heaven before you."
Earn? What? Didn't I save a child? Wouldn't that make me a good person?
"One's deeds have no bearing on the will of the Expanse. All souls that have lost themselves within the Expanse were impure in their previous lives, making them unfit to enter through the Gates to Heaven."
How? I didn't do anything wrong in my life!
"I cannot answer that question, but the Expanse has never been mistaken. The whims of the Expanse are incomprehensible, but its judgments are sound."
The goddess paused a moment before continuing.
"I understand you wish to choose the second option."
He nodded slowly. The idea that he might not be a good person scared him somewhat, but he had nothing to regret, right? He may have argued with his parents some, and said some regrettable things, but he apologized for those mistakes. So what did he do that was so wrong?
The goddess continued her explanation.
"Understood. However, before I can allow you to pass through the Gates of Heaven, there are two tasks you must undertake."
Johnny waited with bated breath.
"First, you must abate the Chaos that runs rampant across ten of the worlds under my divine protection."
What is this, an RPG? Do I get a magic sword and a strong sense of justice to smite the evil forces of darkness? He inwardly cringed at that cliched plotline. There's no way that would happen.
"Second, you must purify your soul, as the Expanse demands."
And what does purifying of my soul mean? It isn't dirty!
"Do you accept the tasks laid before you?"
Hang on, I'm confused. First, how the hell am I supposed to save ten worlds. Isn't that your job, as a goddess? Also, what is this chaos?
She paused again as if to contemplate what to say. Is a goddess supposed to be this ditzy?
"Chaos is a destructive force that accelerates the deaths of worlds. When a world dies, it is sent to the Expanse, where the roots of the Great Tree Yggdrasil consume its essence over millennia. If that world was afflicted with Chaos, a portion of that world can escape through the Expanse's boundaries, and into another's, thus propagating the heinous entity. Your task is to remove the Chaos in ten of these worlds, to prevent it from accelerating their destruction."
Another pause.
"We deities cannot enter the realms we survey. Even if we could, it would only accelerate the growth of Chaos, as it thrives in the presence of heavenly mana."
So you're a goddess that can't save her worlds. Looks like all you've got going for you is your fake appearance, huh? How much are you getting paid again? Your services seem kind of useless to me.
He halted his assault on the goddess's character when he remembered the vines back in the Expanse. Ah, so that's what those vines were? The vines were the roots of... what was it called again?
"Yggdrasil." The response carried a hint of annoyance, most likely brought about by his sarcastic lack of faith.
Right right, so those were roots. So then, what were all the rocks I nearly got killed again by? Those weird rocks that had the roots of Yggdrasil growing out of them?
"The condensed matter from worlds that have ended."
WOAH! So you're saying I almost got hit in the groin with a part of a world?
"They are many worlds condensed into sustenance for the Great Tree Yggdrasil. It is what you humans would refer to as a Universe."
Shit man, that's way too heavy for me.
He sat down on the clouds underneath him. This was far too much information to process. He held his head in his hands, racking his brain on what he was just told. So if he didn't do the tasks, he would wind up back in the Expanse. Yeah, not doing that, not getting hit by another chunk of a universe again, that's way too dangerous. But at the same time, this Chaos entity sounded dangerous if it could end entire universes. Furthermore, saving ten worlds seemed way beyond his skillset. He's a shut-in gamer and speedrunner, after all!
"Do not be alarmed by what I have told you, for I do not send my apostles unprepared. You will find in your possession an item known throughout the Heavens as a Divine Shard. It is a blessed fragment of the trunk of Yggdrasil. Its power will serve to aid you in your tasks."
Johnny reached into his shorts' pocket and felt a smooth chunk of something inside. He pulled it out to reveal what looked like a shard of multicolored glass. It felt exceptionally light, and was smooth all over, despite the sharp edges on its corners. While interesting in appearance, it wasn't a tool or a weapon. How was this going to be helpful at all?
"Do you accept the tasks laid before you?"
Johnny lapsed into thought once more. As he saw it, he didn't have much of a choice. It was between going back to the Expanse and enduring the peltings of rocks on the daily, or doing what the goddess said. Granted, he was somewhat interested in the expanse, and the creatures there seemed amiable enough -he was more interested in the softness of their fur than anything else, however, it wasn't enough to persuade him. He hefted the shard in his hand and peered through the kaleidoscope of colors within. It gleamed in the light of the golden gates ahead of him. He took a final glance at the gates which was his goal and returned the goddess's gaze. Maybe he can redeem himself after all, through his effort, like he wanted to do in his previous life. Mom, Dad, don't worry, your son will make you proud this time, just wait.
I'll do it.
"Very well. I have received your answer."
The goddess stood up from her throne, her right hand outstretched toward Johnny. Her gaze did not leave the area about his chest once as she spoke. Johnny looked away self-consciously. She may be faceless and a goddess, but being stared at wasn't something he was used to. And she has a great body too... for being fake.
"With the divine power entrusted to me by the omnipotence of the World Tree Yggdrasil, I confer to you the appointment of Hero, with the title "Apostle of the Goddess". May you find success in your adventures, and may fortune favor you in your quest to remove the chaos that plagues the worlds consigned to you."
That signaled the conclusion of their conversation. Likewise, the clouds underneath Johnny parted, removing the last vestiges of solid ground that could support his ethereal weight. Within moments, he was plummeting downward. He was falling toward a massive vortex of liquid gold. As he neared the surface of the vortex, it swallowed nearly all the light around him, and a dark void opened at its eye. The lack of sensation upon impacting the surface surprised him but did not shake his determination in the slightest. He revolved twice about the center, carried by the rapid circulation of the liquid about him, and then plunged into the void below.