Utter void surrounded me, and yet I felt something pulse within me. I couldn't see myself but I still felt my own existence. I could not piece together what was going on. I struggled mentally until eventually, the world brightened as if I opened my eyes.

I saw myself, but my hands were different, I could see right through them. I looked around me, I was no longer in the void, the sky seemed to be filled with celestial twinkling and I was standing on what appeared to be a blemishless marble. Despite the alien environment, I felt oddly calm and unphased, as if I was in a dream.

“Gild Domov,” a voice sang my name from above. I looked up to see an indistinct sphere of pulsating white light.

Despite the brightness of the being, I could still look at it directly “Are you, god?” I asked.

“Not quite. I am a servant to them,” it replied.

"Then I must be dead, and this must be some sort of afterlife," I thought to myself.

“That is correct Gild Domov,” the being responded to my inner voice.

“Can you explain to me why I’m here?”

The being descended to my level, and it shrunk to a smaller volume, around the size of a football. “After you died peacefully on Earth, you were on your way to be reincarnated, but your traits have caught the eye of some minor gods, so you will be taken for auction.”

“Traits? Auction? Aren’t I supposed to be dead, why are you selling my soul?” I understood that the being said was troubling, yet I could not muster any concern or confusion.

The sphere began slowly spinning around me. “You were headed to a world of a similar rank regardless. When you reincarnate automatically, your previous deeds are taken into account, so you would have probably reincarnated as a human again, albeit a completely random human, from baron to slave. Through an auction, you retain a modicum agency, and you may bargain for your position.”

My mind was riddled with questions, but I supposed they were all meaningless anyway. If I assumed this being’s statements to be true, then having an extra choice on what I became was most certainly better than random probability. If a god were to pick me, wouldn’t that mean I had their support? A deity’s help would surely be beneficial. But what would a god want from me, I questioned.

“A newly born soul has no traits, but as it reincarnates it gains and loses some. As Earth is a fairly simple world of low rank, you do not have a lot of traits, but the few you do interest the gods.”

As I was about to ask a question the being interjected, “There is no point in telling you, we are wasting time.”

Before I could object, the environment around me changed instantly. I was standing in the centre of a small colosseum like building, also built of perfect marble, around me there were odd beings of different sizes, colours and expressions. I assumed these were the "gods" the sphere mentioned.

I saw one god composed entirely of flowing water in a humanoid shape and a similar one made of seeping green ooze. Another deity was much more similar to the human form, it looked like a giant man with grey skin, but with white eyes and cracks along its body. He was leaning backwards with his head resting on his fist. I noticed another large creature from the corner of my perception, a gigantic bright red lizard with enormous wings, a dragon I supposed. There were countless “gods” here, were they all here to auction?

“We will now begin an auction for this soul,” the glowing sphere announced.

Immediately, the majority of the gods had disappeared, leaving only around 50 gods remaining. If I had emotions in this form, I would have felt something akin to rejection.

A sword with a flowing blade of red liquid wiggled itself. “100 Blood Quintessence,” the being called out in a voice resembling a drowning man.

From the other end of the colosseum, a being with the resemblance of a naked elf with roots running along its body like veins, raised its 6 fingered hand. "150 Wood Quintessence,“ it called out.

Next to the elf, a large fish spotted like a jaguar, with human arms and legs slammed its trident into the ground and gurgled some indistinct words.

The auction continued slowly and steadily, each god, goddess or deity adding a bit more quintessence of their dominion.

“3050 Mud quintessence… Going once...” The glowing sphere spoke.

A bright and shining figure was clenching its fists and it slammed against the flawless stone in anger. It looked upon me and started gnashing its glass-like teeth, emitting an irritating scratching sound.

“90% of my gem quintessence,” the being announced in a hoarse voice.

“4869 gem quintessence, going once… going twice… going three times… Sold! The Goblin Gem God Yantago has purchased the soul of Gild Domov for 4869 Gem Quintessence!”

Before I could react to the news of my purchase, the world around me instantly changed once more. I was now floating inside a massive cavern from the ethereal open skies. However, the cavern was illuminated by colourful crystals which were dotted across the walls and ceiling like stars of the night sky.

In front of me, my “purchaser” was sat upon a throne that was seemingly carved out of a massive diamond. The god's form resembled something human. It had a muscly body and an oddly shaped head with long pointy ears and a very large nose. Its skin was yellowish and crystalline, like pure amber. As it opened its eyes it revealed 2 perfectly white pearls. Its mouth widened into a grin, revealing see-through and glass-like teeth. Its groin was covered by a loincloth made of shimmering gold. At the auction, its body was glowing brightly and fiercely, yet now it was as if there was only a single candle illuminating its insides.

“Yantago, The Goblin Gem God, I presume?” I asked rhetorically.