The first thing she noticed is the thick mist covering her feet. The mist spreads as far as the eye can see. Other than that, she sees absolutely nothing. It's like the sky and surroundings are empty and grey like thunder clouds.
"Hello,"
She looked around frantically. The voice sounds friendly but she doesn't know where she heard it from nor what gender to identify as.
"Do not fret. I am speaking from inside your head. I won't hurt you." the voice says assuringly.
She then touch her chest to breathe and calm herself. After she is done, she stopped what she is doing.
Where am I?
"You are in the line between Non-fiction and Fiction."
Huh?
"It means that whenever a mortal from the real work makes a serialized story then it comes to life! But that only works with stories that the gods actually like or wish to change." the voice replied with a slightly unnerving tone before changing its tune.
"Congratulations, you are here because you have been chosen to be this year's Heavenly Actor." the voice says excitedly.
Heavenly Actor?
"Correct. Every few decades, someone on earth is chosen to be the Heavenly Actor. Now I'm sure that you know what it means, correct?"
The Heavenly Actor. Of course she knows. Who doesn't? It is a title for a person chosen by a random god who would transmigrate the person into the soul of a person in a fictional setting of their choice and complete a mission set up by the deity who sent them there. By the time it is successfully complete, the person is usually brought back with time barely passing and rewarded, usually monetary compensation but they can choose their reward as long as it is in the realm of possibility. However, if they fail then they would be punished depending on the deity.
No one knows when a person is chosen and the frequency of when this happens as it is not exactly publicly announced but it is believed that some people are willing to stay in the fictional world they live in hence abandoning their current lives.
The first account was seventy years ago, there was an elderly woman who became a Heavenly Actor after being chosen by a cruel deity who transmigrate her soul into a kaiju and like anything expected from a kaiju, she destroyed cities and murdered so many people only to die of loneliness many years later. By the time she came back to her own body, she felt immense guilt and held a grudge by revealing the concept of the Heavenly Actor to the world and even made a movie about it before she died after living a ridiculously long life. No one believed her at first but then it happened again twice and the two were generously compensated. One of them had became rich and the other had become successful in his dream. What's even more crazy is that all three past heavenly Actors have developed powers that they had in their fictional lives.
By the time the world realizes this, they tried to find out how to achieve this kind of power and the world went crazy over it. World powers start competing, economies start crashing and cults have emerged and fallen, while widely accepted religions began to suffer and there are many pretenders who pretend they are also Heavenly Actors. It is only by sheer luck that she has not experienced any set backs from any of this.
"You are correct. This year is now my turn and I am not like that deity who turned that poor old woman into a kaiju." the voice said. "I am trying to see if there is anything you desire but you don't seem to have any debts or financial issues, you also have no family, friends nor a social life but it seems that you desire fun, adventure and a life without obstacles." Then it was silent. "I see you also have some trauma. It seems you still haven't gotten over that."
She was unresponsive.
"I can grant your wish. In addition to anything you desire, you will have abilities that mortals cannot grasp."
Despite only being a voice, it is not hard to imagine how this being is feeling.
"I am legally obligated to explain the terms to you as we are gonna making a contract. To start, the fact that I am able to communicate with you as I search for this year's Heavenly Actor is because you have desires in the first place. Next is us. We, deities all come together and choose a deity at random to change a story for our own amusement every couple years. It is mostly out of curiosity but we are no different from mortals who are fans of a fictional work as there is a lot of infighting and they desire to see changes in it to fit their image. We then choose a mortal at random but it is limited to a mortal who actually knows the story. Finally, it is the story I will bring you in. This is the most important part. There is a manga series that just ended recently and you know what I'm talking about."
She understood. The Story of Aron.
"Yes, I see. Good! You have finished it." the disembodied voice said with relief. "I felt the mother of Aron is quite pitiful. She serves as the main character's mother and an important part of Aron's story, but I hate her character. She serves as an angelic-like being but she's just naive, stupid and her character could honestly be better. To say I hate the character is an understatement. I had wanted to change the story and now that I'm chosen, I can!" the voice rants.
Change the story?
"Not to the point of changing the plot but only Violet Anthos's character and personality. Your personality is the complete opposite of hers. You are pragmatic, practical and admittedly a bit pessimistic, but you have an air that shows you are the kind of person I wish in a character like this."
Wouldn't changing the protagonist mother's character create a butterfly effect and change the plot anyway?
"I had thought about that so I will explain your mission to you." the voice says. "By the way..."
Then the voice grew silent.
She is beginning to worry.
"Are you a virgin?"
No.
"Excellent then this won't be much of a problem to explain then."
Then there was a flash of light and there is a contract in front of her.
You will take the place of Violet Anthos, the mother of Aron. Your mission is to be this character and you can change anything to your liking as long as Aron is still the titular hero. As you will be his mother, you are expected to conceive and give birth to Aron.
What?
She then facepalmed. Of course, she has to. That means she has to conceive a child with Aron's father. He is one of the two main antagonists of the story. To summarize, the two main villains are two characters with different skillsets that make them dangerous in their own way. One of them is a powerhouse of a villain who wants to destroy the world that rejected him, and the other is also a powerhouse but a schemer who rejected the world and wish to create a new one in its place. Aron's father is the schemer; Rufus Valerian, a heartless son of a bitch who manipulated Violet after he was drawn to her power but after she went missing, he never looked for her.
Violet died a few years later while she was locked away by a terrible human being who was obsessed with her. Months later, Aron was born but he was initially believed to be someone else's kid. He was abused and suffered greatly under his captors until he ran away which is when he met his mentor.
As for Rufus's feelings for Violet, he confirmed it was just a momentary feeling of lust and he has no genuine or even any lingering feelings for her. The author says that much.
"Judging by your expression, you definitely are not looking forward to this. Most people would usually jump at the chance to sleep with this man. He is quite a dashing fellow."
He's also a narcissistic rapist with delusions of grandeur who plans to destroy the world. It may seem fine for fans to admire his looks in the manga, but no sane person would truly be attracted to him in real life.
"But you have a chance to change things."
That made her froze.
"Don't forget you can do whatever you please as long as Aron is born and still the main character."
To tell the truth, the manga did not show much of this man's past except that he is King Leon's best friend and that he is disappointed with the backwards logic outside of other countries and his nation's governments' inability to fix its corruption. This is gonna be hard to work with.
She nodded in response.
"Alright. You will transmigrate to your childhood. You will start at birth, but you technically will forget most of it later so your life technically starts at age three. Your birthday will be on the canonical date on May 7th. You will have more than enough time to plan, and I am being generous but there is a catch."
The voice then grew quiet. "By the time you transmigrate, you will not remember your real life but you might be able to recollect it especially at times when it's necessary and you will retain some knowledge."
What? She said menacingly. She is not looking forward to getting her memories wiped.
"Think of it this way. You have been on an airplane and experienced flying. But there are people who've never actually experienced it before, and their only recollection of what flying is like will be from the knowledge from what other people describe it or in other forms of media. Have you ever watched that movie about an airplane infested with snakes? You think it. You remember watching it and clips of it but not the whole thing. That is what I mean by recollecting. You know the experience, but it won't feel like a memory."
She was unresponsive. I won't remember my life, but I will recollect the experience?
"Yup! I should also note that you will still retain full memories of you reading the manga and any other knowledge perceiving that. It will be necessary in your mission after all. By the time you complete your missions, you will retain full memories and your abilities and wake up with time barely even passing. However, I will not be able to communicate with you after the transmigration, but I will appear when I have to."
Like what?
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you that." the voice replied with a cheery tone. "As for your compensation.... let's see." The voice was silent as if contemplating before speaking again. "You have no interest in a relationship, nor you have much interest but only wish for a peaceful life with no struggles. I will grant you this wish when you complete your mission. By the way, I think you'll be very surprised when you are reborn. Now—" the voice shouts.
"Are you ready?!"
She thought for a moment before saying, "I am ready."