Seeing her came in, Ms. Celest nodded to me quietly, did her trademark curtsy elegantly to the Goddess and greeted her sweetly,
"Greetings, Goddess Rhea, the illustrious sun who shines upon her world. This is I, Celeste Brainard Von Euclase, the soul scouter who's in charge of bringing you your new chosen soul.", she said to the Goddess while smiling.
The Goddess Rhea stopped on her tracks, and stared blankly at Celest. When that happened, the room got 10 degrees colder and the lighting in the room felt dimmer.
5 seconds, 10 seconds, the stare down continued.
After what felt like an eternity, the Goddess finally let out a frosty giggle. "Oh, look who we have here? The lovely gem of the Euclase family, pride of all female socialites, the ever blooming spring of the country, rotting away doing office work."
She walked forward elegantly towards Ms. Celest, and continued, "You look like you're doing well dear child, and especially stunning in your... interestingly designed coat."
Hearing that, Ms. Celest's smile widened. She looked up and said, "Well, now. I didn't know that soot covered coats counted as an interesting design in your world. Is this what one calls... culture barrier?"
She straightened her posture and sneered at the Goddess' dress.
"Is that also why... after millenias, you still wore that minimalist bathrobe?", she asked with a smile so mocking, the Goddess' face flushed red.
"Ha! Even in death, I believe one should still study more, dear child. Anybody with sufficent enough knowledge about fashion could tell that this dress I'm wearing is the hottest, most popular Godly fashion this season!", rebutted the Goddess in fury.
"Oh yeah... I forgot that you Gods are so detached from time, are you sure that you're talking about 'this' season instead of... you know, whatever golden God era you came out of your magical sea and that mumbo jumbo?"
"You, Insolent-",snarled the Goddess in response.
Wow... I thought as I watched them throw sarcasms relentlessly from my seat at the back of the room. At first, I was planning on standing politely until the Goddess had taken her seat. Unfortunately for me, they ended up quarrelling while standing, the attendants and I decided to sit while waiting for them to finish.
Despite being Godly attendants, instead of acting elegantly, they acted like heated football fans. From time to time they'll cheer and shout, "Yes! Go Milady! Tell her!", or "Milady! Show that uneducated child your Godly understanding! We shall stand tall in the face of evil!", and at times they'd sing songs about blessed water and prosperous land in an extremely fast pace it sounded kind of similar to a fan chant.
Seeing their heated Goddess cheering, I was tempted to cheer for Ms. Celest to even out the odds a little, but the moment I was about to start cheering, the Goddess supporters side eyed me coldly so...
I ended up sitting on my chair in silence.
After a few more dangerous exchanges, surprisingly, the Goddess seemed to have been cornered by Ms. Celest's malicious remarks about her toiletries. The Goddess fanclub grew heated and started to cheer violently. They started to bang on their chair and threw a bunch of weird sacred equipment around. Seeing this, I jumped and ducked, dodging all these stuff thrown my way in extreme panic.
I'm not sure if my soul's appearance would heal if I got hurt in the afterlife, so I silently squat away. I don't want to have a holy goblet stuck on my head for eternity, after all.
But the moment I started to crawl hopelessly away, the Goddess looked my way, and shouted to me, "You agree with me, right? Little boy?"
I blinked, and dumbly said, "…what?"
Seeing my reaction, Ms. Celest snorted, and sneered at the Goddess, "Did the granny just beg for a confirmation from a little 'boy'? Are you not ashamed of yourself?"
…here we go again. I thought. I looked at the Goddess warily, waiting for her witty comeback towards Ms. Celest's rude remarks.
She gritted her teeth, groaned a few times, and fiercely looked at Ms. Celest and me.
"Enough!", she snapped. "I have work to do!"
She huffed, and walked towards me.
She looked at me for a while, eyes still filled with fury from her battle of wits with Ms. Celest.
Being a corporate slave in my last life, I can say for certain that I'm pretty good at handling angry bosses and clients. But right now, I'm facing a Goddess. And thanks to Ms. Celest's series of insults, I got stared down by an angry Goddess.
In my last life, I've heard many poems and songs about angry Gods. They said that an angry God is like a hurricane, a raging storm, a howling wind, and so on. But lady Rhea's stare felt like a whole planet pushing down on my back.
Remembering how Ms. Celest faced the Goddess steadfastly and confidently just a few moments ago…
There is no way Ms. Celest is a normal human.
My knees buckled, my back ached, my eyes darted around-
My body shivered violently, my hands as cold as ice-
…. Is this how I'll die? ,is the first thought that passed through my mind. But wait… I'm already dead.
I pondered about this problem for a bit while shivering under the Goddess' gaze.
After realising that my human mind would never be able to solve this problem, the Goddess fixed her posture and started to giggle cheerfully.
She asked, "Fufufufufu, what a cute boy, you are~ trembling like a Chihuahua."
Stunned and embarrassed, I stupidly asked, "…There's a Chihuahua in your world?"
Hearing my dumb remark, she laughed heartily and started cupping my face.
"Tell me, boy. What is your name?"
Hearing the question, Ms. Celest scoffed. "Oh? Is the glorious Lady Rhea actually illiterate? Did you not read the document that was penned by yours truly till midnight?"
"Silence! I'm not asking you!", the Goddess barked. This time, her anger stabbed the room like a raging blizzard, swallowing the meeting room with its freezing temperature.
With just those two sentences, the Goddess has petrified everyone in the room. Well… except for Ms. Celest, who sneered mockingly at Her while playing with her hair.
After a while, spring finally came to the Goddess' mood. She turned to me, giggled yet again and smiled. "Sorry my child, could you please tell me your name?"
"…My name is Rez. Rezin Emmett.", I said meekly.
"Rez, I see… That is a good name. The name of a good honest hard worker.", she said cheerfully. She let go of my face and continued, "Rez, dear little boy. As you can see, my world is currently facing an impending crisis."
She started to walk back a few steps and looked at me in sorrow.
"I know that your role in the future is going to be hard and full of sadness. Fortunately, I found a strong willed person like you on earth. I've seen how you lived back on earth, I've seen your kindness, courage, and your peaceful beliefs. I believe that you can take on the role of a saviour in my world, but I have to make sure," she looked at me earnestly and said, "Rezin Emmett. Are you ready to be my chosen?"
The way the Goddess asked me this question left me a bit scared and unsure.
But I've already decided to face my life head on a long long time ago. If I stepped back now, my parents would surely be disappointed in me. So I took a deep breath and said resolutely,
"I'm ready."