Fairly normal, if I had to describe my life up to this point in two words, those words would be how I describe it. There's been bumps in the road such as my parents divorce, lower living conditions than average, and the uncertainty on what needs to be done next in order to achieve a foggy and far off desired future, but nothing I would call unconquerable with the right coping methods. I would also consider myself pretty successful when it comes to things I've wanted or needed to do, a wellspring of talent if you would, given that I've never failed a singular class and my club has a decent number of people.
"Hey Charlotte!" A tall but skinny young man, with a below average musculature waves to me from across the field.
"Hey Joseph. Haven't seen you in a minute." I respond to my reason for the previous introspection.
Joseph, a friend I've had since elementary school, has almost always been better than me in every way but one, and I only beat him out in a work life balance. Being completely honest, his life is anything but normal compared to mine. He has parental issues to say the least, he's gay, has almost been killed on multiple occasions, and performs in sports as well as a sports anime main character.
"Yeah, sorry about that my job, marching band and college credit classes stacked up to the point where I had less than 30 minutes of free time the entire week."
The normal excuse, but it's true.
"Hah it's alright, at least you know what you're doing with your life. Meanwhile I'm fumbling in the dark to get a minimum wage job. Haha." I end the depressing statement with a chuckle and scratch the back of my neck.
"So, your the one who invited me to this session, so where's everyone else." He drives the conversation back to the main point relatively quickly, after about 5 seconds of awkward silence.
"Ah, we're inside the library today, I thought I'd meet you out here and show you to it."
"Thanks but I already know where the library is." He, very courteously, calls me dumb.
"How would you know that's where we were doing it."
"If you texted me." He points out the obvious solution I didn't think of.
"You've got me there" I begin walking towards the library, after giving him a shrug.
The two of us make our way to a long rectangular table at the back of the library, properly seculeeded for the genral noise level of a TTRPG group. At the table sat three other people, a tall more muscular young man, wearing a red flannel, jeans and cowboy boots, a short thinner young woman wearing a bat blanket leaning over a t-shirt and jeans, and a tall wider young man wearing a black hoodie and sweat pants.
"Your late." Says the wider one while eating a slice of pizza from the box on the table.
"I know Michael also I brought Joseph today."
"That's a whole miracle, Joseph having free time?" The woman wearing a bat blanket pipes up.
"Yeah, it's been hard to do stuff recently Sky." Joseph awkwardly laughs while scratching the back of his neck.
"So which campaign are we doing today?" The muscular one asked.
"Hmm, we'll be doing the dragonslayer campaign today Konnor."
The group nods and Joseph takes his seat, but before I can begin describing the current scene, the sound of helicopter whirring becomes audible.
"Oh, the news helicopters have come to report on terrorists guys." Michael joked as he heard the rotor sounds.
A singular giggle from sky is heard, as the rotors get louder. I go to proceed again, but before I can get my thoughts back together the rotor sounds get so loud I can't hear myself over it.
"You've gotta be kidding me." My voice gets drowned out by the sound as the helicopter crashes directly into our table and everything goes dark.
Hmm I'm still conscious? Am I dead? This doesn't seem like a very entertaining afterlife.
"I would agree" a feminine voice sounds out from every direction.
Hmm? Who was that?
"Who I am is irrelevant. I simply want to talk to you." The voice sounds smug as she(?) says this.
Okay…? Wait are you reading my mind?
"Am I? Kufufufufu."
You are aren't you?
No response
I'll just assume you are. What exactly do you want then?
"You see, I have some unfinished business, and my soul alone is too weak to reinhabit my body."
So what are you getting at?
"I can give you a second chance at life, if only you agree to my conditions."
And what might those be?
"To properly return you to life, the strength of your soul and mine should suffice, and since I'm scratching your back, you have to scratch mine. I reincarnate you into my old body with all my powers, but you have to exterminate a select few people."
What is this?! An isekai?! This is totally that one trope!
"Hmm?"
So you can read my mind!
I could feel a disappointed stare on me, despite the fact I can't see where it's coming from.
Sorry, back on track. Isn't that a bit skewed in my favor?
"Ahem… well not exactly, the people I'm asking you to kill are powerful, both socially and physically. They are also deep in human territory and I'm… how do I put this? Well, the body we'll be inhabiting together isn't exactly human."
And what do you mean it's not exactly human?! And you never said you'd be coming with me!
"I did, when I said it'd require both of our souls to reinhabit a body, and for the species of our body, you'll find out when you get it. So do you accept."
Huff… well it's either this or remain floating in whatever this after life is right?
"Correct."
May I at least know who I'm after?
"I'll tell you after you've made the deal."
I feel like this is a huge mistake, I accept.
"Kufufu. Very well."
This deal with the devil changed my entire existence forever.