Goddess idiot

* THUD *

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

---

"Oi, kid, wake up!" a melodious female voice was heard in the room, reaching Paul's ears. At that moment, he couldn't see or feel anything; everything was completely dark.

He couldn't move his arms or legs, he couldn't move anything, and he felt like he was floating. But there was one thing he could feel, and that was the slight headache that tormented him.

"Mmm, am I, am I alive?" Paul mumbled uncertainly in the middle of the void.

"Where am I?" Paul asked, confused by the place he was in. All sorts of thoughts came to mind, from when he fell into a coma to when this was some kind of hospital.

But all his musings were interrupted by the same voice he had heard before.

"You're dead."

Suddenly, as if the lights had been turned on, the entire dark, pitch-black room lit up, transforming into a pristine white room. Standing not far from Paul was an incredibly beautiful woman who seemed to be sitting in midair.

Platinum hair, beautiful purple eyes, all accentuated by delicate facial features and a seductive body, only more striking due to the white dress that reached her ankles and made no effort to hide the delicate curves of her body.

"Who, who are you?" asked Paul, uncertain, unable to tear his gaze away from the beautiful woman who had appeared before him.

"I am Selene, and I am the goddess charged with guiding you, great hero, to your great mission," the woman said theatrically with a smile on her face.

Hearing her answer, Paul could only remain silent, and after a few seconds, he only managed to respond.

"What?"

"Don't feel self-conscious, great hero. After all, despite leading a life full of sacrifices, I, the great goddess, have come to reward you," the woman continued.

Paul simply remained silent again until she responded a few seconds later.

"Sacrifices?"

"And that is why I, the great goddess Selene, have selected you, great hero Paul Morgan, to be the champion who will save the world from the devastation of the demon king," Selene said, making increasingly striking movements.

"Demon king?" Paul responded, this time with fear in his voice. Since he was young, he had been interested in literature, and when he reached adolescence, a friend had introduced him to the world of manga and anime. He knew that term perfectly, and the whole situation soon became clear in his mind.

"Wait, wait, stop now, please!" Paul shouted, wanting to stop the goddess, who, upon hearing his screams, changed her smiling expression to an irritated one.

"Yes, sir hero," she said subserviently, putting her smile back on.

"Are you going to send me to another world?" Paul said, completely bewildered by the surreal nature of the situation.

"I see you're already familiar with the matter, sir hero," the goddess said calmly.

"Then I'll be the hero who fights the demon king," Paul asked, trying to point at himself but couldn't.

"Yes, sir hero," the goddess replied.

"But why was I chosen?" Paul asked, wanting to know the exact reason that led him to this situation. According to the speech the goddess had given, he was supposed to have led a life full of sacrifices and that sort of thing, but the only sacrifice Paul remembers making was when he sold his old video game console to buy a new one. He didn't think that was enough to be a hero.

"Your humility is very admirable, hero, after all your heroic actions, like saving that man from the burning building, working all night to pay for your little sister's medical treatment..."

"Stop!" Paul shouted again, interrupting the goddess, who once again dropped her facade and displayed an irritated expression.

"Yes, sir, hero."

"It's just... I haven't saved anyone from a burning building, and I don't have a younger sister, just an older brother," Paul said nervously.

For a second, a small nervous tic appeared under the goddess's eye, and from Paul's perspective, she began to visibly sweat.

"What are you saying?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about. I've never done anything like that," Paul replied sincerely.

"But aren't you Paul Morgan?" the bewildered goddess asked.

"Yes, my name is Paul Morgan," Paul confirmed.

"Then how come you're not the hero?" the sincerely confused goddess asked, her nervous demeanor now clearly evident.

"No offense, miss goddess, but where I come from, people often share the same first and last names," Paul said, feeling a little bewildered by having to point out something so obvious.

"What! That's impossible! No one can have the same name," the annoyed goddess said with complete certainty as she summoned a beautifully finished, gold-rimmed mirror and looked at something in it. Almost instantly, her expression went from confident to utterly terrified.

Even Paul could swear that her smooth, pale skin somehow became even paler.

"By the mother of all goddesses," were the only words that came out of the woman's lips.

And after that, silence reigned again for several seconds that felt like hours to Paul.

"So... will you please give me back my body?" Paul asked, unsure of how he was supposed to continue.

"NOOOOO!" the goddess screamed, completely panicked, jumping up from where she had been sitting.

"This can't be possible. How could this have happened? And on my first day, if anyone finds out, they'll fire me. I'll be the laughingstock of all the gods. What will I tell my mother!" The previously calm goddess began to scream as she ran in circles around Paul in complete panic.

Until suddenly, she stopped in front of Paul and snapped her fingers.

"I know, I just have to erase you and bring the right Paul Morgan back, and no one will find out about this," Selene said as she slammed her fist into her open palm.

"Wait, what!" Paul asked, completely scared, as he watched the goddess raise her hand in his direction, a strange purple energy beginning to accumulate within it.

"I'm sorry, my friend, but I have to save my job. You have to disappear, no hard feelings," the goddess said with a smile.

"Wait, wait!" Paul cried desperately, trying to raise his hands or run away with all his might, but he was unable to do so.

"Hakai," the goddess said, causing the purple energy mace to leave his hand and travel straight towards Paul.

"Wait, please!" Paul pleaded one last time before the energy mace made contact, so that seconds later...

Nothing would happen.

"Are..." said the goddess, tilting her head, completely confused why Paul hadn't disappeared after her attack.

"What?" Paul also said, feeling a mixture of happiness because he wasn't erased and confusion because he wasn't.

"I guess I didn't concentrate enough energy. Let's try again," said the goddess calmly.

"Wait, don't do it!" Paul cried desperately.

But the goddess didn't hear.

"Hakai!" he exclaimed again, but just like the previous time, it had the same result: Paul was still there, completely unharmed.

"Hakai" and he tried again, and again nothing happened.

"Hakai"

"Hakai"

"Hakai"

"Hakai"

So it was nearly four hours in which the goddess did the same thing over and over again without stopping, but it all ended the same, with Paul completely unharmed.

Paul, for his part, after the first hour of the goddess's attempt, had lost his fear of what was supposedly an attempt to erase him and simply watched as the goddess grew increasingly desperate.

"A wise man once said that stupidity was trying to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result," Paul thought to himself, staring at the pathetic goddess in utter boredom.

"Why doesn't she erase you?" The goddess finally fell to her knees, falling into her hands, tears falling from her eyes.

It was at that moment that the same mirror from before reappeared beside him again, showing him something.

"What do you mean, souls can't be erased in this space?!" the goddess screamed, completely hysterical as she shook the mirror in complete despair.

"Now that I'm doing this, my work is lost," she continued sobbing as she buried her face in her knees like a little girl.

The once glorious and elegant image she had displayed was completely gone, as was any respect Paul had for her.

"Hey, ma'am, ma'am," Paul called, trying to get the goddess's attention.

"What do you want?" the woman asked, anger clear in her voice as tears continued to fall down her face.

"You can send me back to my body now. This was an interesting experience, but I'm already bored," Paul said simply, completely unconcerned.

"Shut up, trash. I don't give a shit about your desires. Don't you see that it's because of you that I'm in this predicament!" the goddess screamed, completely annoyed.

"What a mouth you have, goddess! I don't give a shit either way. Give me back my body, I had plans," Paul said, using the same rude tone the goddess had used.

"Insolent," the goddess said, radiating a purple energy similar to the one she had used before, but which immediately dispersed, and the goddess simply fell back to her knees.

"It's not fair why is this happening to me?" the goddess continued whining.

"Hey, can you bring me back now?" Paul shouted, completely exasperated by the woman's childish behavior.

"Even if I wanted to, I can't do it," the goddess said quietly, crying.

If Paul's expression could be seen, it would be a blank face as he stared at the goddess.

"How?"

"To bring a soul here, its earthly body must first die, which is why I caused your death to bring you here," the goddess said simply, wiping the snot that was running down her nose with the corner of her hand.

After that statement, everything fell silent, interrupted only by the goddess's moans.

"How?" Paul asked again.

"Didn't you hear me? I killed you to bring you here. Even if I wanted to, I can't bring you back. Your body was left in a state of mush after that truck ran over you," the goddess replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Then the place fell into absolute silence as the goddess's words were processed in Paul's mind.

"WHAT YOU!" Paul shouted as loudly as he could, scaring the goddess, who jumped to her feet and took several steps back.

"Please don't yell at me!" the goddess said, frightened, as she crouched down and covered her ears.

"YOU DON'T WANT ME TO YELL AT YOU, YOU DAMN IDIOT, YOU KILLED ME!" Paul responded, completely out of his mind.

"It was all your fault, why did you have to call yourself the hero?" The goddess responded, pointing at Paul's soul.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Paul continued shouting, completely out of his mind.

"Good luck trying, human. The gods are immortal, unlike you," the goddess said, emitting an aura of arrogance.

"DAMN WRETCH, GIVE ME MY DAMN LIFE BACK!"

"I already told you that's impossible, or are you deaf?" the goddess said condescendingly.

"DAMN IT, WHY DID I GET THE CLICHE OF THE USELESS GODDESS? PLEASE, SOMEONE, WHOEVER YOU ARE, COME AND FREE ME FROM THIS USELESS WOMAN!"

Those words seemed to alarm the goddess, who quickly got up from the ground and ran toward the glowing sphere that was Paul's soul.

"Shut up, shut up, or do you want me to lose my job?"

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR JOB, SOMEONE PLEASE COME HERE I BEG YOU!" Paul responded, completely hysterical.

"Shut up!" said the goddess, starting to get visibly nervous.

"If he keeps this up, someone will surely hear him, and if someone hears him..."

Were the goddess's thoughts as she began to panic.

"First, I need to calm him down. What was that spell that calmed people? Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have listened to Eris and missed the day of instruction."

"DAMN YOU, DAMN YOUR FAMILY, DAMN YOUR PARENTS, DAMN YOUR CHILDREN, DAMN YOUR ACQUAINTANCES, DAMN YOUR COW, DAMN YOUR DOGS, DAMN YOU...!" Paul continued ranting until

"Ha! I remembered the spell," said the goddess, extending her hand again toward Paul's soul as a layer of energy began to gather in her palm, only instead of being purple like the previous one, it was a navy blue color. "Relief."

At the goddess's command, the blue energy in her hand disappeared, but that same energy began to cover Paul's soul, who had suddenly stopped screaming.

"What, what did you do to me?" Paul asked, feeling all the anger and rage he'd been feeling until a moment ago disperse, leaving his mind completely blank and at peace.

"Calm your mind so we can have a civilized conversation," the goddess said, her expression returning to normal.

"Civilized conversation? Madam, you just told me that you killed me by mistake just because I have the same name as another guy, and that now I can't go back to my life. The only reason I'm not screaming is because I'm under the influence of your magical voodoo," Paul said in a calm and serene tone, but the venom in his words was clearly evident.

"I understand your anger and I apologize, but anyone can make mistakes. I mean, who would have thought there were two humans with the same name?"

At the goddess's words, there was no response, and the room remained completely silent for 15 seconds until Paul finally broke it.

"I want to go back to my life," she said directly.

"I'm afraid that's impossible, as I already told you, but what if instead I offered you something better?" the goddess replied with a confident smile.

"Better than going back to my comfortable and peaceful life with a family who loved me and a promising future," Paul said tiredly.

"Yes, much better than that," the goddess replied with complete confidence.

"How?"

"Because you can do magic," the goddess said with a smile, as a kind of miniature sun appeared from her fingertips.

Once again, the room fell into a deep silence that wasn't broken until 15 seconds later.

"I want to go home," Paul exclaimed again, his tone making it seem like he was going to cry.

"Wait, wait, let me finish my offer."

The goddess then snapped her fingers, and a much larger mirror appeared in the living room. An image of the planet appeared.

"I assume you're familiar with the multiverse theory and how multiple worlds exist, the same or different from yours."

Suddenly, the image began to zoom out, showing hundreds of identical or completely different planets on the same plane.

At that moment, it zoomed in again on one of the planets, only instead of Paul's original planet, it was a completely different one. The continents had different shapes, but for some reason, it felt strangely familiar to Paul.

"The point is that currently, the population of one of those worlds is decreasing at an alarming rate. Many of the souls that inhabit it refuse to reincarnate and prefer to be erased. The speed at which new souls are created is barely enough to sustain everything." "Balanced"

"And what does that have to do with me?" Paul said, exasperated by the goddess's senseless exposition.

"That's what I was getting at when you rudely interrupted," the goddess said angrily, snapping her fingers again. Suddenly, the screen showed the image of the blackened silhouettes of 12 people. "As a way to restore balance to that world, it was approved that 12 humans with heroic traits from 12 different lands be transported to that planet with the goal of making it safer and so that souls would once again accept reincarnation there."

The image in the mirror then changed to that of a soul just like Paul's, who then had a speech bubble with a thumbs-up in it.

"And how did they plan to do that?" Paul asked, more out of curiosity than anything else. After all, he was an avid reader of these kinds of stories, and he was curious now that, against his will, he found himself caught up in one.

"With this!" He snapped his fingers again, a huge And a thick, old-looking, heavy, and worn book appeared on the spot.

"Contemplate the skill book," said the goddess as she modeled in front of the enormous book. "This book contains every single magical, physical, or supernatural skill possible from that world recorded within it. Once the chosen heroes were here, they would be allowed to choose any skills they wanted from it before being sent to that world in exact copies of their original bodies."

"And can't you just make a copy of my body and send me back?" said Paul, asking the obvious question.

"Impossible," refused the goddess, making an X with her arms. "Hephaestus is the one who makes the bodies, and no one can find out about my little one."

"Your little mistake!" said Paul, annoyed.

"Relief." Once again, the blue aura covered the soul, calming it.

"Anyway, what's your point with all this?" said Paul, tired of just being in the same room as the goddess.

"Well, because I can't return you to your world, nor can I erase your soul, nor can I get you out of it." Here, without the other gods noticing, I offer you reincarnation in that world in a new body so you can rebuild your life as you wish."

"I refuse. Give me back my life," Paul responded immediately.

"If you refuse, you must stay with me for the rest of eternity to prevent me from discovering my mistake," said the goddess.

And once again, the room fell completely silent.

"And tell me more about that world," Paul replied.

"I suppose you should know about it. After all, it's like a certain game in your world. As I recall, its name was Lokarius," the goddess said distractedly.

"You know, I changed my mind. I'm staying with you." She responded much faster than before.

"Hey, what about that sudden change of attitude?" asked the goddess, now completely puzzled by the change.

"You're joking, aren't you? Don't you know what kind of game Lokarius is?" Paul said in a sarcastic tone.

And it wasn't something to be fooled about. to game because the Lokarius Game was known worldwide, so at that time without exaggeration there was not a human on earth who did not know it or had not even heard of it.

Lokarius was a ridiculously popular game, and despite being called a singular game, it would be more accurate to call it a series of games encapsulated in a single one, as the game featured over 20 main characters to choose from, all in different settings, places, and eras, each with its own main story and side stories.

There was a story for every gender, demographic, or age. You just had to search among the more than 20 available characters and you'd find the combination you were looking for: action, adventure, comedy, gore, tragedy, romance, for adults, for children, for teens, men, women, seniors, animal lovers, nature lovers, hunting lovers.

For whatever, there was a main story within the game, which is why it went down in history as the definitive video game.

But beyond that, all the routes and stories share three things in common: their high level of difficulty, having multiple different endings depending on the choices you made during the game, and the fact that no one had ever managed to complete it 100%.

And that was why Paul was reluctant to go, because if he arrived at the wrong time and place, he would die a horrible death at the hands of an evil wizard, warlord, or monster.

"Well, I'm afraid there's no other option. It was a lie when I said you'd stay with me," said the goddess.

"But why does it have to be to the world of Lokarius? And why does a world exactly like that game exist?"

"Because if I sent you to any other world, the gods would notice what I did, but if I sent you to that one, then no one would notice since it's expected that souls are being sent there," the goddess said with complete confidence.

"As for the world, the game didn't inspire the world, but that world inspired the game."

"Explain," Paul said, confused by the woman's last sentence.

"In the multiverse, it's not uncommon for people to be able to connect to other worlds through their dreams and see or remember key events or things from them. These people are called oracles. Apparently, the creator of that game, Lokarius, is a particularly powerful oracle, considering he managed to perfectly capture that world and several events."

"So you're saying that everything in the game happened in that world," Paul said in a bewildered tone.

"More or less," the goddess said.

"I'm staying here," Paul responded immediately.

"Rejected," the goddess said, forming an X with her arms again. "As long as you're here, I won't be able to summon the soul of the right hero since only one soul is allowed at a time."

"What do I care about that? All I want is to live, not to be sent to a place that could turn into hell at any moment!" Paul shouted angrily.

"What if I give you whatever you ask in compensation to increase your chances of survival?" said the goddess.

"I want to go home."

"Rejected."

"I want to stay here."

"Rejected."

"*Sigh* Fine, I agree to go, but you'll have to do everything I ask of you," said Paul, completely serious.

"Goddess's word," the goddess replied, raising her right hand and placing her left hand over her heart.

"Whatever."

"So, what is it you want to ask for?" The goddess asked, causing a notebook and pencil to appear floating in the air.

"First of all, I want to be reborn with all my memories."

"It seems logical to me," the goddess said, as the pencil quickly made a note.

"I want to be born in a safe and secure place."

"Consider it done."

"I want several of the skills from the book," Paul said, referring to the enormous book still in the room.

"Oh, no, that's not possible. I can't allow you to take the skills meant for heroes," the goddess said, becoming serious.

"Don't worry, if you can read my mind, you'll know the skills I want, and I'm sure none of them will be considered by the heroes," Paul said confidently.

The goddess doubtfully followed his word and walked, placing her hand over the soul, receiving a mental image of what he was thinking.

"Okay, the skills are yours," the goddess said.

"And I want a system."

"Absolutely not," she said. The goddess, now in a tone that didn't lend itself to discussion

"Okay, then I think that's enough," Paul said, trying to remember if he thought he was missing something.

"Do you have everything you wanted?" asked the goddess.

"I wanted my old life, but yes, I'm ready," said Paul in a tired tone.

"Well, since you're ready, I'll send you to your new life," said the goddess with a smile, finally free of this problem she had gotten herself into.

Closing her hands, a golden glow began to appear from them as a magic circle began to form beneath Paul, who looked at it in amazement. The cricket grew increasingly intense until, in a sudden explosion, it covered the entire room, momentarily blinding the goddess.

"Damn, that hurts," said the goddess, rubbing her eyes. She noticed that Paul's soul was no longer there. "Fantastic, now I can relax. I just have to wait for him to die and his soul will cease to exist, and my problem will solve itself, hahaha."