Chapter 2 - The Beginning(1/2)

In a White Room, a woman with a body composed of galaxies stood in the center, observing from her room all the void itself. Her name was Qienta, the Ancestors of all Gods and Mortals, she had the task to watch endlessly as billions and billions of souls, exited from their universes, came in the void and then simply devoured by the void itself as the process of reincarnation started.

This was actually her existence and, as she was always bored to only watch void and universes as decades passed and even more souls died and reincarnated, because, there was something imprinted in her mind the moment she saw life for the first time, other than her task, she clearly remembers that the void, could actually be avoided if you had enough will not to reincarnate.

But this could only happen if the soul was strong enough to rationalize the fact that the void could be fought by the d.e.s.i.r.e to not die.

Deciding it was better to continue to observe instead of think about this topic, Qienta immediately posed her eyes on multiple universes to watch on the mortals but, after only two seconds, something strange occurred in a void relatively distant from her but, as she had eyes literally everywhere, she saw a soul that, instead of being consumed by the void, was only looking in the void with a sad expression on his face. Near enough to actually see him, she started to inspect the soul and saw something unbelievable.

The void around the soul just ignored it like the soul actually had 'permission' to stay in the void instead of being reincarnated. Although the possibility of someone being able to remain in the void for some milliseconds was 0.000001%, she simply was shocked to the core by the soul 'in front' of her.

Deciding to talk with the ego of the soul, even if normally it was impossible, the fact that the void was ignoring him was all that she needed to know to act out of her character as she connected herself with the mortal immediately and sent her thoughts to him.

'Mortal, what is your purpose for exiting the cycle of reincarnation?'

At her words, the ego looked at her and replied instantly

'My parents... I don't wish...them…to see me...'

Qienta, softened her look a bit as she didn't know why she had a fierce expression before and, as it wasn't actually something he was at fault for, nor it was something prohibited on the Eternal Rules, she decided to speak a bit with the mortal in front of her as she never had a conversation before...

When Qienta was thinking about what to ask, she saw another unbelievable thing as the ego, actually managed to talk without her consent

"So… Who are you?"

Qienta, was looking at him, and she tried to analyze all of his body, but she didn't found anything strange in him, he hadn't any power, almost even lower than a normal citizen in other universes. At this display of 'will', Qienta felt her lower body strangely aching but, as if the foreign act of her body wasn't that unfamiliar because she saw how reproduction worked, she felt like nobody in all existence would even make her feel something like this and, as the display of "heat" in her body was something she never had, she decided to just talk with the mortal in front of her.

'I'm Qienta, the Ancestors of all Gods and Mortals in all Universes. I am the Sovereign of souls. Child, can you tell this goddess your name?'

As the change in her behavior shocked the soul, it eventually decided to respond her question

"I am Ethan Hyogumi, goddess Qienta, can you tell me where we are and why i am here? I know that i died from someone but..."

As the matters in her mind didn't matter at all, she replied

'I don't know how, when and where you died because i wasn't watching that universe where you come out from a few millions of years but, in the future, i will closely observe it. To answer your question, you are here because originally you should have already been in the phase of pre-reincarnation but, as you defy all common sense, the surrounding void is ignoring you and allowing you to exist at will, we are currently in the void of your universe.

We need to discuss what will you do because we can't simply stay here for all eternity, even if i wished you could as i am always been lonely since the start of All.'

Ethan didn't understand what the 'All' was, but, heard that she was alone for all eternity impacted his mind a bit as he said

"Now that i'm here, is it possible to keep you company?"

At his words, Qienta looked at him as if he was stupid and, for the first time in her long existence, she laughed at him. This resulted in Ethan furrowing his brows as he said

"... Why are you laughing, did i say something funny?"

Qienta couldn't help but shake her head and started laughing lightly again as she answered

'I literally said to you moments ago that all the souls will be reincarnated and you wish to be with this goddess for all eternity? Doesn't it sound boring to stay with me for eons of years just watching souls and mortals?'

"Yes, it could be boring but i believe that i could help you somewhat reducing that loneliness… Now that i died, i don't really have another purpose and, if i get reincarnated, i would just lose all my memories and it wouldn't even be Me anymore. So i prefer stay with a goddess like you than re-starting that hell of a life."

Hearing his words, Qienta looked at him another time and, seeing the seriousness in his words, she gave up and decided to compromise…

"... Fine, but you can't stay here for all Eternity, i will let you stay for a year, and, i can actually compromise the 'erase' of your memories, at the condition that you reincarnate in a universe different from the one you were previously".

At her words, Ethan was surprised but, immediately asked

"I want to stay with you for the year then... after that, could i be reincarnated with the world of Danmachi?"

Qienta, still staring at him from the start, now had a happy expression on her face as she stated

"Danmachi... Oh, yes i know that world, it's possible for you to reincarnate in its universe but, without a guide, your soul would probably casually go in another world and i can't simply leave this space so, i will bind in your mind something like a second soul that will act as a guide to you and a tool that will help you in the long run."

Ethan, immediately associated that second soul as the 'system' novels would always have and, instead of being happy that he now had a "Second Soul" bound to him, he actually implored her

"Please, Qienta, could you help the soul be sentient for him or her self? i don't want to use a soul as a tool. I would want a true companion for me..."

After that, she explained a rather sad truth.

'Though your soul will not lose the memories of your previous life as a pact between you and me, i can't do absolutely nothing about the memories that we are building in this void so…you will forget about me the moment you step out in the Danmachi world.'

Even if they didn't know each other for even a blink in her long existence, Qienta felt that he would be the only person in all of her long eternity that she would be able to talk to, so, even if their time was to be counted on her fingers, she decided to talk with him about many things and, possibly, get to know him the most.

As soon as he heard her thoughts, Ethan showed a sad expression to the goddess because his impression of her was rather high. Not only she was conceding him so many things, but at the root of it, she didn't ask anything for her own gaining as, Ethan felt all that she wanted to do was talk with him before he would inevitably fade from this space to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

"... Isn't there a way for me to keep the memories of you? I read all the Light novels, read all the manga and watched all the seasons of Danmachi but, you weren't there so, after i will be here, i would like to build a statue of you in my future home to send a prayer to you every day."

Thought he wasn't sure how a God worked, he wanted to at least do so for all the infinite kindness she was showing him, but Qienta actually came up with a solutions seconds after.

"Yes, there is a way but... that will need me to completely seal your memories of this void and sent them with you and your bound soul the moment you started the reincarnation progress. I'm sure the second soul would actually recover them faster than you but i can't be sure because i never actually used my abilities on someone."

She decided to ignore for the 3rd time the warmth in her heart but, that wasn't something that couldn't be seen by other as Ethan clearly saw the galaxy shown in the body of the Goddess move around chaotically...

"I understand, please do it when the time will come as i want to remember if you someday, even in the far future when i will be some old man in the verge of dying again".

At this, Qienta laughed again, causing Ethan to blush, even if it couldn't be seen on his face as he stated again…

"You like to tease me huh..."

Qienta, Stopped laughing after a bit with a sigh as she stated

"The second soul was directly created by me and, even if now is dormant in you, i set it up to awaken from a year and 10 seconds from now, as you can probably see in the upper right of your eyes, but from the moment it will awake, you will be instantly immune to aging. It wasn't actually my fault either because everything i create related to souls is a form of immortality, you will eventually receive my Blessing and, with that Blessing you will have the same origin as the second soul i bounded to you, creating a perfect equation that could be integrated in the universe of Danmachi without any issue."

Ethan, expected a little this outcome but, now that a Goddess was confirming him he "casually" obtained immortality, he felt immediately sad because his poor counterpart with wiped memories wouldn't actually know a lot of things. He felt that, if one day he could obtain these memories back, he would slap himself so hard to create a scar on his own face.

"Wait…i understand 1 years of dormant…but why 10 seconds?"

"Try to think for a moment, you will feel like not even a second passed from the moment you died and the moment your memories will be wiped out, the 10 seconds will be needed to help you rationalize the situation as i saw that earlier you didn't seem that scared of being basically 'dead'"

Ethan, this time understood that she will likely not be present when he will be reincarnated, but she will do that probably at a distance he couldn't even imagine right now, so, now that they had a year, he wanted to actually come to know Qienta better and, if she wanted to, he would tell her all of his past...

----

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things but I advise you to read the story further before seeing them otherwise you'll get spoilers!)

(Alternate Titles: "Author-san today is in super-releasing mode", "Ethan will have her climax hard...i gave him one year of time for accomplish this mission.", "Qienta, the true waifu of this novel")