By the time the soul realized the absence of its goddess friend, it was already inside the void.
It felt some regret for not saying a proper goodbye, but there was nothing it could do about it now.
Shaking this feeling away, the soul moved deeper into the void. Contrary to its expectations it did not feel any kind of repulsion force towards itself. Quite the opposite.
It looked as if the void was willingly pulling the soul to its depths. As if forcing it to go somewhere it needed to be.
Unable to oppose this force, the soul allowed itself to be directed to where this mysterious plane wanted. As it did so, a sense of familiarity assaulted its very essence.
Unable to entertain this thought for long, the soul came to a halt in front of what seemed to be a dark crystalline sphere. Its color was pitch black, resembling an 8 ball from a pool game, but without the number printed on it, or the white circle.
Scratch that. It didn't look like an 8 ball at all.
Its size was so colossal that said comparison sounded more like a joke than a legit description.
The stranded soul looked up at the sphere in wonder.
Its experience allowed it to conclude that it was not a planet. Though its size was more than enough to be one, it lacked the 'nature' that a planet had.
After so many years and countless reincarnations, it was easy to reach that realization.
Although, if you were to ask the soul what this thing was, it wouldn't be able to answer.
In all of its years, this was the first time seeing such a thing.
Just when the soul started to think that perhaps nothing else would happen, the pulling force resumed its task, pulling it towards the giant planet-sized black sphere.
The void forced them together with such eagerness that for a moment the soul believed it was going to crash against its surface.
'...'
But, when it opened its imaginary eyes, it found itself floating inside a black space. Similar yet different from what the void looked like.
{Welcome Back My Child, It's Been Eons.}
Startled by the sudden voice, the soul moved around in an attempt to find its source.
{Bother Not My Child, For I Lack A Physical Body. We Are In The Core Now, So Feel Free To Speak.}
'?'
{Just Try It. In This Place My Rules Are Ultimate, The Laws Outside Don't Work In Here.}
"W-who A-ree you?"
Speaking without vocal cords proved to be a bit difficult for the soul.
{Use Your Inner Will To Speak Too, Not Just Your Mind.}
"*Sigh* I think I got it now, thanks. So, as I was asking earlier, who are you?"
{That, My Child, Is An Answer You Are Not Prepared To Hear.}
" Well, that sucks, I guess."
{...}
An uncomfortable silence reigned within the endlessly dark plane. Until the suspicious being broke it.
{S-so Is There Anything Else That You Want To Know?}
" Meh, I'm pretty sure that whatever I ask won't be answered by you so, just tell me why you allowed me in here. Not even god-kings can enter the periphery of the void, let alone a mortal soul like me."
{Sometimes I Forget How Easy Going You Are.}
If the genderless voice had a face, it would be deadpanning for sure.
{Sadly, I Can't Answer To That Either, My Child...}
"Ah! Knew it!"
The soul screamed triumphantly, interrupting the high being in the process. Gaining an imaginary frown from the latter.
{But, Fret Not, For You Will Know One Day.} The being finished his sentence with a hint of irritation.
"Oh~"
{For Now, You Will Be Reincarnated In A World Of My Preference. It Is Situated In A Plane Far Beyond What Any God Can Reach. Given Time And Effort, If You Ascend To Godhood, This Will Be Your Domain, So feel Free To Do Whatever You Want.}
A light of understanding rekindles within the soul. As an ancient existence, and one of the souls with more karma in the universe, it was relatively easy to gain enough power once it was reincarnated and to reach godhood.
At most, it would take a few decades or so, which is crazy to think assuming a mortal usually takes thousands and thousands of years just to reach the level of a low-grade god. A feat that only those with insane karma and talent could accomplish.
Ascending was easy, the problem was that once he ascended every god-king/queen-level being would know. Not to mention the primordial gods.
Even as a god, it is possible to have karma stolen from you, which is even worse than death since, depending on the amount stolen, the soul would lose part of its essence.
While in some extreme cases, they would be purified, losing their essence for good.
The idea of losing one's essence as an individual sent shivers down the soul's spine.
(A/N: I know that sentence made no sense but just bear with me.)
'Even with Kali's help, I doubt I would've ascended without a primordial noticing.'
Thinking back to the goddess proposal he was glad he had declined. She was too proud to see that not even she could hide him from the other greedy gods.
Since the soul didn't say anything for a prolonged period, the being from the void resumed its previous remark.
{Since This Will Be Your Last Reincarnation Before Ascending for Good, I Will Give You A Little Something That Will Prove To Be Very Useful In Your Endeavours. Just Keep In Mind That Hiding As You Have been Doing So Far Won't Be Necessary. You Should Focus On Getting Stronger And Fully Enjoying This Life.}
A warm sensation invaded the soul as the being finished speaking.
It could not recognize clearly if this was the result of the being's kind words towards it or if some sort of energy had entered its essence, merging with it in the process.
Regardless of what it was, the soul complied and rotated a bit forward, reversing this rotation after a few seconds.
After his attempt at bowing in respect, it simply said: "Thank You."
To which the being never responded.
Instead, a whirl of space broke wildly within the enclosed dimension, creating a crevice in front of the expectant soul as it got sucked right in.
Just as it was about to enter the rift, the voice spoke once again.
{Engrave this conversation within your soul's essence, the rest will come to you with time.}
As it processed what it was told, the soul finally entered the portal that would lead him to his next life. A life that promised to be more entertaining than any previous one he had lived so far.
....
Inside a tidy room, barely deprived of the morning sunlight, a young man lay tiredly on a king-sized bed. His messy red hair rested on a comfortable pillow while his exposed chest slowly moved up and down, indicating that the young man was breathing just fine.
A mischievous ray of light entered from between the curtains at the side of the young man's bed as it found its way toward his face.
Feeling some discomfort on his forehead, the young man opened his dreamy green eyes as the white ceiling of the room greeted him.
Just as he was about to stand from his bed and get ready for the day a headache that laughed at the definition of pain assaulted him.
"Aaaaagh!"
But, as much as it was painful, it was quick.
Nonetheless, those few seconds it lasted were more than enough to stir the young man awake. Feeling some phantom pain, he pressed his right hand against his head.
"What the fuck was that?! I didn't drink that much last night..."
Just as he was trying to recall the amount of alcohol he had consumed at yesterday's party, a translucent screen with black borders and golden letters appeared before him.
Then, memories that felt foreign yet familiar, distant yet recent, found their place within his consciousness.
After a few minutes, the confusion on the young man's face was replaced by a wry smile. He shook his head tiredly as a chuckle escaped his lips.
" Well, that was a first. Last time I got them back when I was 5."
Ruffling his hair, the young man took a big sigh before looking at the floating screen in front of him.
"Is this the 'little something' that guy was talking about?"
["Welcome to the Randomizer System of the Void."]
[Do you wish to initiate the merging?]
[Y/N]
"Eh~ A system? I read a shit-ton of system novels in my past life; this is interesting. The name sounds weird though."
Deciding to ignore his system's name, the red-haired pressed the yes option.
*Ping!*
[Initializing System/Host pairing...]
[1%...]
[18%...]
[36%...]
[78%...]
[99...]
[100%!]
[~~~~]
[!]
[System has merged to host's soul completely!]
[Use the command: 'Status' (by saying it out loud or mentally) for the status screen to be displayed.]
"Well, that was fast... and painless."