I had been waiting in this grassy field for about an hour as a blue screen was sitting on the same page with the same message for quite awhile and not really giving any indication of when it was going to change

We are sorry for the inconvenience

Please wait as the Worldsoul communes with itself and considers options, Estimated Time To Completion : Unknown

While the fact that Valencia, the being that had apparently transported me to this world had teleported a bed to me right as i fell unconscious after my 4 day marathon of looking through my options to power, was extremely nice of her, as well as providing food and water. It also gave me the time and headspace needed to do the last thing I wanted to do at this particular moment... To think about the situation I was in, and what my actual reasonable courses of action are. Sure I could live out my childhood dreams of beating up the bad guys and saving the day from horrible, cupcake stealing evil, but that wasn't how reality actually worked, Not every criminal was necessarily a "bad guy", plus I didn't want to actually hurt a fellow human being no matter how rude, selfish, or evil they were, hell from the information that I was getting from the blue screens it seemed this place is basically a fantasy world. So i think it would be more accurate to say I didn't want to hurt my fellow Humanoids. Yet i was terrified it might be necessary at some point, I don't think a goddess would use her, from what I knew limited power pool to summon what is akin to a honest to god's superhero. Because the sugarplum fairys had run out of choclate frosting for the pasrtry festival and they needed a brave hero to go find more. that gave me the indication that the world was currently not all sunshine, cupcakes, and rainbows.

This train of thought was also just barely holding back the worst part of all this, the thing I was trying to think positively about my situation so I could stay away from that train of thought, I had died. my soul had been evicted from it's meat puppet and for a singular blip in time there I somehow psychically knew that I was about to go to the whatever constitutes a afterlife in my universe. I had now left behind everything that I knew and cared about, with the possibility of never seeing my family, friends, wife, children, or any of them ever again, my daughter Hope would be growing up without her father. I was struggling to hold in tears, i had cried for myself enough in the cell that i died in, but i just felt like such a fucking failure right now, i had a habit of blaming myself for everything bad that happens to me or the ones i cared about. Somewhere along the line i had convinced myself that if everything wasn't perfect that i needed to do more, that if life was not completely idyllic, then there's was something i could do to make it better. My wife told me that i had a Hero complex, i knew that it wasn't healthy and probably not true, that sometimes the situation is out of your control and there's really sometimes nothing you can do besides take the bad times with grace, But logic did nothing to wash away irrational guilt.

A cynical part of my mind asked the question of, what if this Goddess, this Valencia isn't all she's cracked up to be? What if she forces me to kill people she considers evil but i don't without my consent? was i even free to do what i pleased in this world? did taking these powers and this deal make me some kind of slave to a greater power? however well intentioned it might be. They do say that the path to hell is paved to good intentions after all. As i was ruminating over these questions i was suddenly very startled as i suddenly heard a person clearing their throat behind me, which made me jump a little bit as i had been alone on this hill for days, as i whipped around i saw what seemed to be the stereotypical charicture of a suave gentleman, a tall, dark, and handsome man with black hair and beard that was a little too perfectly trimmed and styled. there was also three more things that were very off about him, most noticeable was that instead of having pupils and white around those pupils, he quite literally had stars in his eyes. It was like when i looked into his eyes i was seeing a galaxy through a telescope, all the majesty and enormity of an entire star system contained within one being's eyes. While that was the most eye catching feature no pun intended, the fact that he was about 8 feet tall, built like a brick shithouse and had a United States postal service outfit on was no less eye catching. "Well if your nice and finished with staring at me, i would first say that i have no intention of harming you, i am a friend of a friend so to speak, and i come bearing a message"

"And Who might you be? My mom always told me to not talk to strangers, especially ones that are 8 feet tall and probably have supernatural powers" The man smirked and snorted at my joking, despite that it was delivered in a rather heated and annoyed tone, raising a eyebrow at me in an Oh really? Kind of motion and then began speaking once again.

"Well if you would give me the honor of getting acquainted with Her Grace's latest champion, my name is Acquazel'teliss Modaliaris but to mortals the Language of the divine is overly complicated even when butchered so mortals can comprehend, so you may just call me Quaz, if that's alright with you of course."

"Alright Quaz, i'm not really in the mood to drink tea and eat crumpets right now, so could you tell me what Divine Magigger What's Her Face sent you to me for? because i'm currently very busy having a mental breakdown as my life falls apart." The slight smile on his face fell away, but not because of the jab at his Goddess, as he actually a bit chuckled at that, but his smile fell as i offhandedly mentioned that i was partially losing my mind currently.

"Yes, well your current mental state is actually one of the things i was sent for by the great Divine Magiggier What's Her Face as you called her, would like to assuage some of your concerns and help you transition into this world as smoothly as possible, sadly she could not reach you personally because of some of the rather unfortunate circumstance and dire straits The Queen of Stars is in currently, she has decided that i am the next best thing she can manage in a reasonable time period."

"So what? are you here to pat me on the back on tell me it's all gonna be alright? That i should go whack some serial killer to death with and big stick to make myself feel better? Well i'll tell you when thing, if you expect me to be Her champion and make me do things i don't want to, y'all will have a hell of a time trying to get me to do anything more then bite the hand that feeds me" I was angry, no that's an understatement, I was pissed, I was on the verge of tears early and then this british accent sounding motherfucker comes out of nowhere to give me a pat on the back and kiss my fucking boo's boo's goodbye? hell no, all that happened was that i had died and come back to life and then been asked by someone i've never met before to save the world, what the hell did they expect besides me being angry?

"Actually sir i did not come here to console you and tell you that everything is going to be fine, because that my good man would be a lie, and a servant of Valencia never lies" I was momentarily thrown off by my rant by the startling amount of intensity and conviction put into those words, you can say the words that you never lie, but i have never met a good enough lier to hear someone put that amount of belief into their words and not actually mean it. The man seemed to take my pausing as permission to continue and pressed on.

"I will not tell you your situation is all fine sir because it is not alright, you have died unfairly before your time at the age of 27, right about the prime of your life. You are no longer in even the same universe as your family, friends, wife, and child and on top of that you have no idea what my Boss even expects from you when you were transported here with no further explanation. I would say that you have every right to be upset and angry, there are few situations were being upset would be a more appropriate reaction. I am simply here to deliver a handwritten note from Her Grace, that hopefully will assuage some of the hardship you are going through right now. and please before you break into another rant just take the note." I looked at the mans face for any sign of duplicity or deceit, and found none, the last words of that sentence sounded rather pleading instead of frustrated and angry like i had expected. Maybe i was letting paranoia and stress get to me, letting it cloud my judgement and rationality, so i swallowed my anger and pride for now "alright, you said you have a message from God for for me, well then let's have it"

"*sigh*.. thank you sir, i promise you won't regret this" he reached into the postman's bag at his side, reaching into it and having his arm go into it to about mid bicep, before he rectracted it and pulled out an honest to god letter from a goddess in a mundane white envelope. "yes i know it's rather mundane for a goddess to deliver a message in a white envelope, but Her Grace isn't really one for theatrics, anyways here you are sir."he pushed the white envelope into my hands and then stepped back, staring at me expectantly waiting for me to read it. With tentative hands i unsealed the envelope pulling out a sheet of standard lined paper, in big blocky letters was written.

Dear Gabriel Norris

I want to start this letter off with a simply saying how immeasurably sorry i am for taking advantage of the prayer you sent to bring you here, and once again apologize for not bringing you to me personally to bring you up to speed first on the why's and how's of you being in this place, in this time. I hope to be able to make it up to you someday, I brought you here because to be honest, the state of Aeternis is in shambles, entire empires being comsumed from within by petty greed and politics, demons and monsters so horrible that flaying the skin of entire villages of people is just another walk in the park, and the virulent disease that is the followers of the gods of evil spreading unchecked through the land as my power and influence wanes. I won't lie to you champion, most all of my other followers have either been swayed by the corrupting powers of the dark gods or been slain by their insidious power. But the reason why i believe you can do what my other champions could not is simply because you Gabriel Norris, have 4x more potential for power than even my strongest champions before you, I was simply blown away by the amount of potential karmic power that you have in that soul of yours, if you would give the honor of gushing over how amazing you are, I would estimate that by the durability and resilience of your soul you have lived at least a couple million lives and been reincarnated into a few dozen different universes. and to collect the amount of karmic potential you have, you would have to have been at least as kind as you were in your last life for all of them, every single one. So when the world and the people i so love and cherish are being torn apart by the grasp of horrible beings like Ko'Mek-Tar God of Hate, and you have the potential power to save all that I hold dear, i could not let the opportunity pass. I have pulled all aces up my sleeve that i had left to bring you here and get that karma point max allowance to 100,000 Gabriel. Make no mistake you are a special kind of person, but even with all that i have riding on you, and how much I need to rely on you now, I want to let you know that i will not force you to do anything for me or anyone else, you are free to do whatever you please in this world without my interference. But I beg of you to help this world become a better place, You have asked for an opportunity and potential to help those around you and I have given it to you, so please don't let it pass you by. While you are off galavanting through my world, i will make sure to do right by you as well, I will do all i can within the divine power invested in me to protect all those of the Norris family line back on earth, as well as protecting any close friends you had. Though the more good and love, happiness, and life you spread throughout the land the stronger i become, and therefore the better i can protect your family, remember Norris, whatever happens, i'm rooting for you.

Love, Valencia XOXO

My hands shook as i slowly folded the letter and put it in the pockets of my jeans that had come with me to this world, The thought that i had a literal god playing guardian angel to my friends and family was a mountainous weight lifted off my back. The idea that Hope and my wife Yennefer could be in danger back in a country that was slowly becoming more and more like a tyrannical dictatorship made me feel like Atlas carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. to know that they were in good hands, i nearly burst into tears right then and there, I restrained myself as i realized that Quaz was still standing about 6 feet away from me waiting patiently, when i looked toward him he simply nodded towards me and spoke with his semi british accent "I hope that My Lady has managed to at least take away some of your doubts and worries" he said with a sad, knowing smile crossing his face. "So my good sir, before i leave i want to ask you a question of my own... that is if you don't mind of course?"

"Yeah i guess it's only fair since i was so hostile to you at first, having your life ruined tends to have that effect on people" While i still wasn't exactly feeling like i was riding a unicorn down candy mountain, the letter had calmed my turbulent emotions from a raging hurricane into some minor flooding. So i looked toward Qauz, and nodded at him to continue.

"Thank you sir, it's a question that i wanted to ask after you read the letter as i hoped it would make you more acimable. After the Worldsoul finishes communing, and you are released out to the world at large, what do you plan to do? i mean i know Her Grace practically begged you in that letter to help her, but you are still under no obligation to do so, and it is not our place to force you to do anything. So what are your plans?"

I paused as i seriously considered his question, in a moment of desperation i might have prayed to the universe for the ability to help others but was that really what i wanted? when i wasn't delirious from dehydration and hunger? when i wasn't about to die? "I.. I don't honestly know yet, while i do want to help people still, i really don't know this whole hero business, while i can't stand the thought of other people being harmed by the actions of greedy and selfish men, and having honest to god monsters running around. I also never really was one for fighting outside of VR games, causing people actual pain is anathema to me and i even avoided VR worlds where causing pain to other players was a thing you could do like the plague. But if this world is really that grimdark and horrible as Valencia said it is right now, i'm not sure i have much of a choice. I guess for now i'll have to see for myself just how bad it is, and if i decide that it is bad enough that the happiness of innocents outweighs the lives of evil men and women, then so be it."

Quaz looked back at me grinning like he was thinking of a joke no one else knew, and then began laughing uncontrollably, it was a rather beautiful noise that sounds like there was musical instruments playing along to the beat of his laugh as it came out "That is an excellent answer, that was spoken like a true paladin, i remember i met an acolyte that gave me a very similar answer to a very similar question and he went on to become the head paladin of a entire order of them, If that's any indication i think you'll do just fine here my friend.... Oh! i nearly forgot, I swear sometimes i think the goddess spends all her power in creating us as tall, extremely muscular, and handsome men and just completely ignores our brains on purpose, the deviant. Ah here you are sir, a gift from the goddess as a extra bit of apology for stranding you from your homeland, i believe that was the last of the things i needed to give you. I thank you for your patronage and hope you enjoyed your time with Her Grace's postal service, good day to you sir" He shoved a large pink hand mirror into my hand's without further explanation and just like that he took a letter opener out of one of his pockets and it's blade seemingly disappeared as he thrust it forward he then moved the handle downwards in a practiced motion while starting the cut slightly above his head height, A cut in reality opened up and expanded into a cerulean blue portal which the large british sounding man stepped through and the portal shut closed behind him as the ethereal cerulean shimmered around him.

And just like that i was alone on the hilltop once again, with a letter and a pink hand mirror both from a goddess, to show for it. I looked towards the hand mirror, i sincerely doubted it was normal in any fashion, I couldn't fathom why Valencia, a literal goddess would go out of there way to give me a pink hand mirror for shits and giggles. After a short inspection of the object I found a red button on the back with arrows pointing to it, despite my natural inclination to avoid pressing big red buttons I was at this point out of fucks to give. I tapped the thing and turned the mirror back over to the reflective side trying to discern any special properties. I nearly dropped the goddamn mirror in shock and awe, there inside the mirror as if i was looking at someone through a high resolution camera in real time, was my daughter hope sleeping soundly in bed exactly how i remembered her. 5 years old, pale skin like her mother, light freckles and black hair, with a heart shaped face, big puppy dog eyes, and delicate features. I could no longer hold back the overwhelming flood of emotions that the letter had pushed back, I fell down on my knees and began to sob quietly, and as the tears ripped their way from my eyes, and trickled down my face into the grass, I thanked whoever the hell this goddess was, and promised myself that i would do whatever i could to help her. "Thank you with all my heart, for letting me see my child again, Thank you."