An onyx owl fluttered through the night sky, glancing through various windows in search of anything that could be classified as remotely interesting.
Every new scene the Owl looked at was equally uninteresting boring it to the point of tears, and all it wanted was something to watch that would be entertaining. Stopping at one window, it saw an arguing married couple. Boring. At the next stop, the owl saw an overweight man sitting at a computer yelling at some ten-year-old on voice chat while playing Fortnite. Again, boring.
The owl suddenly stopped at a window that caught its interest. At first glance, the young woman inside was nothing interesting. She was rather ordinary-looking, with short messy blond hair and dull hazel eyes, wearing fuzzy cat pajamas.
Though this scene was nothing interesting, gazing into her soul, it found itself intrigued by a golden mass of luck that had been saved up through several lifetimes. The girl's soul, while interesting, would need an alternate environment to thrive. Opening its third eye, the owl saw the girl's time in this life was running out, giving it a few ideas for how it could be properly entertained. Perching itself on a nearby tree, it decided to wait and intervene when the time was right.
Brushing her teeth, Molly began thinking through the list of things she would need to accomplish when she woke up in the morning. Though not an exceptionally long list, she still felt that it was never a bad thing to be prepared.
Finished with her teeth, she moved on to brushing through her tangled mop of hair before scurrying around her room and placing all the items she would need in the morning on her dresser. Clothes, check. Purse, check. Textbooks, check. Laptop, check.
Happy she had everything prepared, she wandered over to the bed and allowed herself to get nice and cozy within the fluffy blue comforter. Before allowing herself to get too comfortable, Molly made sure to place an alarm on her phone to wake her up at 6:30 am before plugging it up and setting it on her nightstand. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to fall into a peaceful sleep.
Enjoying a pleasant dream of eating her grandmother's apple pie, Molly was startled when the scenery around her completely vanished, only to be replaced by a space of pure whiteness.
Looking around, she saw no end in sight, and each direction seemed like an endless void she would get lost in if she attempted to try and traverse through it.
Unsure of what to do, she simply stood in place, her mind a jumble of confusion. She had much preferred the dream of eating homemade apple pie and wondered if this new dream was some way of her mind trying to tell her how bleak and empty her life was. The idea was depressing, so she didn't think deeply about the subject.
Just as she was about to start walking in a random direction, an owl with onyx feathers and glowing golden eyes appeared, its unsettling gaze seeming to bore right through her.
The owl only looked her way for a moment before flying off in the opposite direction that she had just been about to walk in.
"Hey, wait!" Molly called out as she ran after the owl.
Running for what felt like forever, she felt truly grateful that this was only a dream; otherwise, she would likely be sweating and panting due to lack of exercise. Even with the dream-like state, she felt herself getting tired as she chased after the owl that seemed to have no regard for her!
Losing sight of the owl, Molly still determined continued running in the direction the owl had flown in.
"My, how interesting," a strange crone-like voice echoed in the white space.
"Who's there!" Molly called out, her movements halting in place as she looked around trying to discern where the voice was coming from.
"I can't remember the last time a mortal soul wandered this way, how odd."
Gulping down her unease, Molly cried out, "I don't know who you are, but I took karate as a kid and I am not afraid to use it."
Struggling, she attempted to position her body into one of the stances she had learned as a child, but her whole body seemed to wobble from the strain, and even someone with no idea of what martial arts was supposed to look like would know that what she was doing was completely wrong.
"Hahaha! This is perhaps the most amusing thing I have witnessed in the last several eons," the crone-like voice cried out, laughing between words.
Running a hand over the back of her head, Molly was a bit disappointed that her attempt to appear threatening had failed so spectacularly.
"Well, I'm glad I could brighten your mood, but I think I should be waking up soon," Molly informed the voice kindly, planting a fake smile on her face before turning on her heels in an attempt to walk back into the direction that she had come from.
Just as she was beginning to step away, she smacked face-first into an invisible wall. "Ow!" She cried out, bringing a hand up to cup her throbbing nose.
"You may as well stay for a bit, before entering the pool of reincarnation."
Stiffening from the voice's words, Molly asked, "Pool of reincarnation?"
"Oh, yes, since your last life has expired, your soul needs to be cleansed before getting the chance to start over."
Molly was not a fan of how the voice had so matter-of-factly mentioned her life expiring and hoped her alarm would wake her up from this horrible dream soon.
"I'm afraid this is not a dream; you suffered a brain aneurysm while sleeping and are moving on to a new form of existence," the strange voice rudely explained, irritating Molly's delicate sensibilities.
Frowning, she had no way of knowing if what the voice was telling her was the truth but figured if this is a dream, she might as well just roll with it at this point.
"So..." She began, trying to think of how she should continue with this conversation since the strange voice seemed to want to continue conversing with her.
A witch-like cackle filled the white void, causing Molly to wince a bit from the unpleasant sound. "Well, that owl bringing you here has used up all the luck you had stored away in your soul," the voice informed nicely.
"Oh, what does that mean? Will I be reborn as some sort of bug or something?" Molly bit out a bit sarcastically still not buying the voice's claim that she has died.
"No, luck has nothing to do with what species you are born as, but you are likely to be cursed upon your rebirth."
Being born cursed didn't sound appealing to Molly, though she didn't think it would be something that would appeal to anyone. "So is there anything I can do to avoid this curse?"
"Nope! Well, you can't remove it completely, but with help from someone like me, the effects can at least be minimized," the crone voice stated, sounding like a scheming phone scammer.
Narrowing her eyes, Molly was a bit concerned that the voice may be attempting to trick her. "What's the catch?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just YOUR SOUL!" After making that proclamation, the voice broke out into laughter before correcting itself, "Just kidding, all I want from you is a small favor in the far-off future."
"What kind of favor?"
"I can't give you the details yet, but I will make it all worthwhile," the voice promised.
Molly didn't quite trust the voice, but it didn't hurt to hear what the voice was offering. "Worthwhile how?"
"Well, I can help place you in a new world where you can become strong."
"Ah-huh, what else?" Molly urged while gesturing with her hand dismissively.
"My, how greedy. Alright, aside from that, I will help you to retain all your memories and grant one wish as long as it is within my power," the crone-like voice offered.
Being offered a wish of anything she desired was something Molly could get behind. She began thinking through everything she could want: looks, strength, money, etc., before she finally settled on something she truly desired. "For my wish, I would like to have a never-ending supply of whatever food I desire!"
The voice, a being that has evolved past the bonds of mortality, still found itself a bit bewildered by the request. "Out of anything you could ask for, you want a never-ending supply of food....."
"Yep! Never having to cook or pay for food and always having it handy sounds like the best skill in the world!" Molly exclaimed, drooling a bit at the idea of a never-ending supply of both apples and apple pie.
"Well, since that has been settled, I will be sending you on your way now," the voice declared, still a bit shocked the strange mortal had used her one wish in such an odd fashion.
Molly, not meaning to agree after making her wish known, was not able to make her thoughts known before her vision went completely black.