I woke to a blinding light that pulled me from my delirious state and into full consciousness. The light seemed to come from in front of me, but aside from that, my surroundings were non-existent, not black, but something I couldn’t quite comprehend, as if nothing was there, no light, no dark, just nothing. I tried to turn my head, to look at my surroundings, but found I couldn’t move, rather, there was nothing to move, I had no physical body.

“Greetings, I am Lilah, goddess of science.”

The light flickered in response to the voice, which was feminine, and seemed to filled the space around me. The voice was calm, and collected, sounding like a parent trying to calm their child. The light shifted, as if readjusting itself but still maintaining it’s current brilliance which my eyes never seemed to adjust to. Though now that I thought about it, I may not have eyes, or the capability to adjust, so it was only natural.

“Do you know your name?”

The question sounded calm and disinterested, but retained a certain dignity that could only come from a goddess. I considered my answer, thinking back as far as I could, but found nothing. I remember what my anatomy was like, but no specific features, I recalled words, but none that seemed familiar, so I thought harder, trying to force my mind, or whatever I had, to bring back memories, but to no avail, I had forgotten everything.

I tried to respond, but no sound came out, and the silence continued on as the light waved and flicked back and forth looking like the sun shining through water. The light brightened, dimmed slowly, and I thought I may have heard a sigh lightly pass me by.

“You will be able to recall that with time.”

The light grew vertically, and I was barely make out the figure of a person, though I couldn’t tell any specific features, I was certain it was humanoid.

“As for now, I will relay your circumstances.”

The light suddenly pulsed, and changed color, casting an image on my surroundings and creating an image, a ball with an odd design, a mixture of blue, green, and white that seemed to overlap each other, and a shadow covering about a third of the left side painting a beautiful picture.

“You were from a planet called Earth, you, along with the others of your kind were known, collectively, as humans.”

The image suddenly pulsed, and rapidly approached, showing the world in more detail until the image of a man, dressed with an odd assortment of leaves and vines, with the occasional wooden tool tucked in various places, stood. He was surrounded by a forest, filled with wildlife that I couldn’t identify, dashing back and forth, completing various tasks as they disappeared out of my line of sight, some up trees, some off into the distance, while some stayed on the ground and scampered off to my left or right.

“Humans, Earth, and all the beings on it are of my creation, and therefore based solely on science, surviving without any assistance from magic.”

The image faded, and was replaced by a small village made up of wood cabins, standing in a field, with humans dressed in assorted clothing made from the raw natural materials around them, moving around the village. The sun was bright, and unhindered by any clouds, so I guessed many of the humans were inside the cabins, seeking shelter in the shade.

“Long ago, when your world was still a newborn one, I allowed humans to roam about without any limitations, and explore their world with unbound freedom. That’s when I saw the true nature of humans for the first time.”

Fire enveloped the entire image, surrounding me while flickering back and forth, casting shadows on the burnt ground that was barely visible through the flames. Two figures appeared, facing each other, though only their silhouettes were visible, the intent to kill was obvious from the way they moved.

“Humans are filled with greed, seeking to benefit themselves, while making the weak pay the price, which slowly built a hierarchy based on combat ability.”

The two figures dashed at each other, before turning into black mist, and fading away to reveal another figure who emerged, bending the flames around him to his will.

“The world of man was divided into four clans, each with a chief that acted with sovereign power.”

Three more figures emerged from behind the first, each standing while exerting authority and power.

“It was then a prayer reached my ears, a cry for help from a small child who was being surrounded by several men with malicious intentions.”

The flames and the four men disappeared, and were replaced by four different figures, lean and tall, standing over a small child, who was crying in fear of the men.

“In my anger, I killed the men, and handicapped all of humanity, taking away any excess abilities that they could survive without.”

The men disappeared, turning into dust before the child.

“However, these creatures are still my creations, and I allowed them to continue from then on leaving the greatest gift of all in tact. Their free will. Their nature didn’t change, and I could not change it without taking the one thing that makes them living beings away, so I left them to do as they pleased on that planet, letting my greatest masterpieces distort themselves while I turned away.”

Sadness was now audible in the voice’s tone, and I couldn’t help but feel the weight of the goddess’s words press down on me. The image of the child stood, and began to grow, and age, all the while changing it’s surroundings, clothing, and looks as time flashed by in a moment.

“Humans kept up their war for power, sometimes raging and enveloping the entire world, while other times fighting it with words and underhanded tricks, all the while studying and growing, building empires using science to it’s maximum potential, before discovering something new and opening a whole new world to explore.”

The aging child stopped, and stood, wearing a suit and tie, no longer a child but a grown man. He was standing in the middle of a road, large, metal vehicles rushing back and forth, passing him by as if he wasn’t there. Buildings were visible in the background, though indistinguishable from one another, creating a dull, grey atmosphere that suited his weary face.

“Currency is key in this world. If you don’t have money, you will suffer and be looked down on as less than human by many. In this world you ran out of money, and borrowed some, but was unable to pay it back which resulted in your death.”

The images faded, and the white light returned to normal along with the empty surroundings.

“In life you were not perfect. You didn’t do everything right, in fact, you did almost everything wrong, but there was one thing that remained constant throughout your life: you are incorruptible. Though you often did things wrong, you only did things you considered right, whether it was accepted or not by your peers and never caved to any sort of pressure you were under. You are not the kindest person, nor the smartest, or weakest, or strongest. You did not accomplish anything remarkable in your past life, saving no one’s life and ended up dying due to your thick-headedness. That’s what I need right now.”

The light grew slightly brighter, and I think I saw a shadow pass across the light, but just for a moment before it was gone.

“I made a bet with the god of magic, Mystic. A bet on whether or not one of my creations in it’s prime could survive on a world that functioned almost solely on magic.”

The light grew brighter, almost as if it were approaching me, eventually blocking out the nothingness around me while the flickering became imperceivable.

“All you need to do is survive. You don’t need to worry though, I have returned all the gifts I took from your kind, along with body from your previous life, so you shouldn’t have much trouble in trying to survive. You will be able to move things without touching them, freeze things, burn things, teleport, fly, with a single thought. Your strength and agility will be incomparable to your previous life, giving you the ability to dodge or damage almost anything they throw at you with just your physical abilities alone. You will be able to read emotions just by being near someone, though you can’t read thoughts, you can almost tell exactly what someone is thinking solely based on their emotion. In this world you will not only be able to survive, you will be able to roam, and do as you please, which is why I needed someone like you, someone that was incorruptible, to preserve this world.”

The light overwhelmed me, everything turning solid white, with the exception of a faint shadow shifting back in forth directly above me.

“In this world there are no other humans, only creatures of magic, but most will be weaker than you, so be careful not to harm anything you don’t want to when you exert your strength. You are now, in both mind and body, indomitable.”

The light began to fade, and the scenery around me materialized slowly. When I came to my senses, I saw I was under a tree, the trunk running up to my right, breaking off into branches, each with light peeking out from behind the leaves as they swayed lightly with the wind, which I could feel brush past my face. I have a body again, and not only that, I could feel, and move it. My head was lying down on something hard, probably a root, so I shifted my head a little, allowing me to see a deep blue sky with a couple of birds flapping nonchalantly in the distance. Something shifted to my left, and I felt the air around me shift in response.

“Ah! You’re awake! Thank god, for a while I thought you died!”

A face appeared over me, looking down at me with curious green eyes that seemed genuinely relieved. A small nose sat below the eyes, and a slender mouth below that, long, straight blond hair fell down around me and the person in front of me, but at the moment, I could only focus on one feature that stuck out from the others: pointed ears.

“Say something! Can you move alright? Don’t worry, I know healing magic!”

The person in front of me became a little distressed after seeing the look on my face, which was likely revealing my surprise. The person began chanting something, and an ethereal golden light began to emit from various parts of my body, but I was still focused on the ears, watching them with wide eyes.

“Are you... an elf?”

“Yay! I fixed him!”

The elf brushed her hair back, revealing once again the ear that had caught my attention with a bright smile, celebrating her “victory”. I didn’t want to assume her gender, but there is no way a man exists that is this beautiful, however I still haven’t seen her(?) body yet, so I can’t know for sure.

“What do you mean? Of course I’m an elf, can’t you see my ears?”

She turned her head and pulled back her blond hair to reveal a long, pointed ear, confirming her species. She quickly turned her head back, letting her hair fall down, and brush against my face. I noticed her face hadn’t moved away from mine since I woke up, and to be honest, her staring was beginning to make me uncomfortable.

“Is there something wrong?”

I asked, trying to figure out what her curious eyes were so interested in while sliding back slightly to escape the penetrating gaze. She cocked her head to the side, and squinted at me with eyes that seemed to be trying to pry free any secret I might be holding on to.

“What are you?”