The Beginning

Gone was God's cave from earlier. Now, I was standing face-to-face with an older-looking, naked girl. Was she my age, or was she older, I didn't know. What I did know was that she was beautiful.

Her hair was the color of the night sky, perhaps a bit lighter, like the sky just after sunset, when only a few stars are still visible, maybe even only Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn- with no stars at all. It was a pretty color overall, yet on this girl, it looked somewhat unnatural. Like her hair had been dyed to look this way. Though it was pretty the way it was nonetheless, I couldn't help but wonder what her original hair color had been. Blonde? Brown? Black? White? Red?

Red was unlikely, I deducted, because there probably isn't a human being alive with red hair, and eyes that color. Her eyes were less enchanting than her hair, I had to admit, though they were certainly more intriguing. The blue-haired girl had eyes the same shade of red as the poppies from God's cave, the ones growing between the rocks surrounding their pond. Like a sunset- in contrast to her hair- but even redder, yet not quite as red as a ruby. There was one other key thing about, however: They lacked any kind of light, any kind of happiness. Her eyes were blank, tired, and defeated-looking, and the greying, cracking skin around them was not helping her look any more lively.

She was beautiful, yet broken. Like an old, broken vase that you tried putting back together, but couldn't manage to fit the pieces right. It was as if a child had tried kintsugi for the first time.

I reached out toward her. I didn't know why I did so, but there was something inside of me that was telling me I should, that I had to. Maybe it was her delicate, corpse-like skin, or maybe it was her hair as blue as the night. All I knew was that I wanted to touch her; to let her know that I was here with her too. Just as I did, however, she did the same, and both of our hands collided with the glass between us. I smiled at her, and she smiled back, albeit her smile looked much sadder than mine, almost painful, like if she smiled too wide, the skin around her mouth would break and shatter.

"I see you've met Tiamat."

I almost jumped when I heard the low, raspy voice of a woman. What might have been a yelp, turned into a sharp inhale as I spun around, only to see the face of yet another girl, though this time, she looked more like a mature woman. Her blonde hair was tied back into a side bun, with two long strands sticking out of it, and resting on her shoulder. Her golden eyes- the exact same as God's- bore into mine. They were the same color, but much sterner-looking, narrower, and more the kind you'd expect to see on a mother as opposed to an older sibling. She was tall, maybe even around 180 centimeters tall, and she wore a golden shirt with a simple, black skirt.

"Tiamat?" I finally asked, turning back to look at the girl in the glass- which I could now see was a mirror, though my movements were not exactly copied in it. It was more of a looking glass, I supposed. The taller blonde woman nodded stiffly, expressionless.

"I've been calling her Tiamat- after the Mesopotamian goddess," she told me matter-of-factually, "she isn't really supposed to be here, she just sort of comes and goes whenever she wants. By the way," she extended her hand, and stretched out her slim, pale fingers, "my name is Kirana, I'm God's assistant."

I took her hand and shook it, unsure of what else I should do. How exactly were you supposed to react when greeted by immortal beings? Maybe I was supposed to bow- maybe I should have- but this being, Kirana, seemed to prefer a handshake. Seconds later, she released my hand, and turned to look at the girl in the mirror- Tiamat, was apparently her name. It was then that I remembered God's parting words to me: "my assistant will explain everything," they had said.

"What's going on?" I asked Kirana timidly, "Um... God said that you would explain it to me, since they didn't have time to do it themselves..."

"Oh," she sighed heavily, turning back to face me, "I knew this would happen. I'm sorry about them. For an immortal being, they have a very short attention span."

I slowly nodded my head, again not sure how to react.

"Once in a while, God takes interest in certain humans living on Earth," she continued, "and you were one of them. You died... well... abruptly... and it upset them. They ended up interfering in the reincarnation system to get your soul out, which is why you were in the Void to begin with. Luckily, your soul got out undamaged, since you were only in there for a couple of seconds..."

A couple of seconds? I breathed in and out, thinking of my home, of the only place I had ever known. It had felt like years, maybe even a decade... but it was only a couple of seconds?

"The Void?" I asked, trying to block out the thoughts of the dark place I was born into- or so I thought.

"It's the empty part of the universe- where black holes lead to, and where God themselves was born. Anyway, they managed to get you out, but not before your memories were completely wiped. They could have just reversed it, but... well..."

"Well what?"

"God thought it would be best if you didn't carry them around with you," Kirana turned her head back to Tiamat, who looked as if she were holding back tears, "they didn't want you to end up like her. To put things simply, Tiamat is your past life. That's the life you just lived... and the life you died in, not even twenty minutes ago. Your name was Kokirai Sora, you were sixteen years old, and a first year in high school... and you still are."

My eyes darted to Tiamat's red ones, which stared back at me... full of regret. Her cracked skin... her blue hair... her strange eyes... That was me not too long ago. I grabbed hold of a strand of my hair, twirling it between my fingers, and once again, Tiamat did the same. My hair, just like hers, was dyed blue, and I could only assume that looking at her was indeed like looking into a mirror. The only difference between us seemed to be our clothing- I wore the same white, collar shirt and long, red skirt, and she wore nothing- and our skin. My arm and hers were entirely different, and I knew that my skin wasn't cracking on my face, because when I ran my hand along it, it was smooth.

"So, I'm still Sora." I remarked, letting my arms rest by my sides once again.

"Yes, you are," she nodded, "you are still all of those things. You're still Kokirai Sora, you're still sixteen, and you're still a first year in high school."

I looked at her, once again feeling confused. Kirana did not appear to be a mind reader like God was, nor did they seem to be able to tell that I was still confused, because they went on:

"There is no life after death. Once your time is up, your soul is recycled, and you're reborn as someone else, without any memories of your past life. However, I think God has started to get bored of that. They wanted to see what would happen if they attempted to revive someone, in a way. The original plan was for the first human to be reborn with memories of their past life, but when you died... God chose you."

I looked away from Tiamat, whose skin had begun peeling from her face, and set my gaze back on Kirana.

"So they went through all that trouble to revive me... just because they were interested in me?"

"That's correct." She nodded, "God may be praised as some almighty being, but they're quite emotional, really. They didn't like the way your last life played out, and they wanted to give you a second chance. So, in order to do that, they've created an entire alternate universe where you were never born."

My eyes widened at that. It took me a moment before I remembered that this is God, and if they created the entire universe, it surely wouldn't be out of the question to create another one. But to do that in a matter of seconds...?

"Isn't that a bit excessive?" I asked.

"Of course it is. I tried to tell them so, but they wouldn't listen to me... So, we have a plan for you. You'll go back to high school under the cover story of the new girl. Apparently, it's a cliche story trope- the new girl in high school plotline- but God was insistent. We won't be controlling anything that goes on in this world; in your new life. It will be just like a bisual nobel, I suppose."

"A visual novel? Why a visual novel?"

"Because life is a bi- a visual novel," she said simply, "your choices have an effect on how reality plays out, is that wrong?"

"I guess not, no..." I said, looking back down at my black sneakers, in which my soggy feet scrunched uncomfortably, "But I still don't understand, Kirana... why?"

Kirana cocked her head to the side questioningly, her facial expression never changing.

"Are you really going to turn down a gift from God? A second chance at life?"

I thought for a moment. If I refused, what would they do to me? Would I be sent back to the Void, or would I simply be reincarnated? But Kirana was right, no matter which way I looked at it. It was stupid to turn something like this down, and choose death over life. I couldn't choose the first option knowing that there was another way. And so…

"Thank you, I accept."