Ascension to Divinity

Chapter 2: Revelation & Third Rebirth

Nel's consciousness returned once more, and he instinctively tried to open his eyes. But nothing happened. Panic set in as he tried to speak but found he couldn't. After several attempts, he came to the terrifying realization that he didn't have a body. He was just a disembodied consciousness floating in the void.

"What am I?" Nel pondered. "Am I a ghost, a soul, or something else entirely?" He thought for a long time but couldn't find any answers. Eventually, he resigned himself to waiting for his consciousness to fade once more.

Time passed, or he felt time passed, but he was not sure how much time pass if time was really passing. Eventually, time lost all meaning, and Nel's frustration grew with each passing moment. The more he waited in that loneliness the more frustrated he felt. Soon he started to think that he was being punished for something.

“Why am I in this state? Did I commit some sort of crime to have to go through this torture? Why not just end my suffering by erasing my consciousness, at least I won’t be feeling this loneliness?” Reaching the end he was screaming in his consciousness.

As the loneliness ate away at him, Nel became convinced that there was a reason for his suffering. He was sure that a powerful being was behind it all, but he didn't know who or why. His reason for coming to this conclusion was that he was reborn in a world where there were literal “Gods” and “Devils”, and then he was once more born as a goblin. If in his life as Vineet, someone had had about this then he would have just said “Sure, gods existed.”, not because he knew for a fact that they existed, but because of his upbringing he always felt that there was a higher power.

But now that higher power seemed nothing more than a being that had more power than him and can decide his fate. He vowed that if he ever got the chance to meet that being and had enough power himself, he would make that “Mighty Being” suffer as much as he was suffering right now.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Nel felt a strange sensation. It was as if he had a physical form, and he could feel his surroundings. He opened his eyes and was surprised to find that he actually had eyes. But what he saw next left him speechless for the third time in his existence. The first was his second life, while the second was his abrupt third life as a goblin.

He wasn’t happy but stunned instead. He only had seen galaxies in tv or movies, but right now he was witnessing multiple galaxies. It was even more astonishing than he ever imagined.

For a while, he was dazed in the view, but soon snapped out of it, and the first thing he did was to check his body. This current “Body” looked like his first life Vineet’s but was somewhat transparent. He could move his body and had the sensation of touch, though it was somewhat weird. He then vigilantly started to look around.

Suddenly he felt like something was behind him and he abruptly turned back but saw nothing. But for some reason, he kept feeling like there was someone or something, or some being was looking at him. He tried to move forward but for some reason, he felt like no matter how much he moved forward he wasn’t moving even a centimeter.

He stopped moving and just stared in front with a dead gaze, without even uttering a single word.

After an unknown amount of time, he heard a majestic voice: “If you want to ask anything then this is your only chance. You have one hour left in terms of the “Earth” that you used to live till your next reincarnation. I will try to answer as much as I can.”

Nel was dazed by the view in front of him. He blinked several times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. The first thing he did was to check his body. It looked like his first life Vineet’s, but it was somewhat transparent. He could move his body and had the sensation of touch, though it felt weird. He looked around, taking in the strange surroundings. The air seemed to be stagnant, and he was floating in space.

Suddenly, he felt like something was behind him. He whirled around but saw nothing. However, he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was watching him. He tried to move forward, but no matter how much he walked, he wasn't getting anywhere. He stopped moving and just stared in front with a dead gaze, without even uttering a single word.

After an unknown amount of time, he heard a majestic voice that seemed to come from in front: "If you want to ask anything, then this is your only chance. You have one hour left until your next reincarnation. I will try to answer as much as I can."

As soon as the voice faded, a shimmering, translucent silhouette of a humanoid-type being appeared in front of him. The being had three brightly glowing balls that seemed to be its eyes. It was of similar height to him, and the more Nel looked at it, the more he felt a calming aura exuding from it, removing his rage, frustration, and despair.

As this happened, Nel remembered the torture he had gone through, and his negative emotions started to grow. He took a deep breath, unsure if it would have any effect on him, and asked with a chilling tone: "Why?"

The being asked back in a perplexed tone: "What 'Why'? I don't understand what you mean. Just ask me what you want to know."

Nel's anger rose, but he managed to keep his cool: "Sure, I'll make it even clearer for you. Why did you leave my consciousness awake in that torturing state for such a long time? I was going insane; all I wanted was to fall back asleep. So, let me ask again, why? What did I ever do to you to torture me like that?"

In the end, Nel screamed with all his might. All he wanted was an answer to his question. But instead, the being let out a rather disappointed sigh and spoke to Nel: "Oh, that. I didn't think you would mind staying awake, so when I noticed you regained consciousness after 2,396 Earth years, I let you be.”

The being paused for a bit and said as if it still didn’t understand Nel’s meaning by asking that question and spoke again: “For such an insignificant thing, you are screaming like this... I'm very disappointed in you!" 

Nel's anger flared up: “You’re disappointed in me? You’re fucking disappointed in ME!? Who the fuck are you to be disappointed in me.” he shouted. His fists clenched and he struggled to control his rage. All he wanted to do was punch the being in front of him but couldn’t so he screamed at it.

The being remained calm and said: "I didn't torture you. I simply let you rest until it was time for you to be reincarnated."

Nel's fury peaked. "Don't you dare lie to me! I was trapped in that void for over two thousand years, and you did nothing to help me. I have no idea about who or what you are, but your words have confirmed one thing for me that you do have the power to put me back to sleep, but you didn't. You left me there, alone and desperate for release. Do you have any idea how that felt? All I wanted was to escape that void and loneliness and nothing more. But you fucker just left me there. Hahahaha!” In the end, he was laughing in anger.

The being in front of Nel was now truly perplexed, ‘Why is this soul so indecisive? It starts screaming, then talk’s calmly, and is now laughing. Well, it has nothing to do with me. I just have to answer its question and after the time is up send it away.’

The being's expression remained unchanged as it calmly spoke again: "I understand that you are upset, but there is no need for this aggression. Let me say it again, I did not torture you, I just let you rest till your time to be reincarnated came. If you don’t even understand this much, then I don’t know how to elaborate on it further for you. By the way, you still have forty minutes left before you are reincarnated.”

Nel knew that no matter how he tried to ask, the being in front of him did not think that what he did was wrong. Maybe time had no meaning for it at all. But that did not mean it was the same for Nel and was not okay with it. But right now he had an even more pressing matter. Now that he managed to calm his thoughts a bit he knew that he was going to be reincarnated again. And judging from what’s happening right now, it was not a simple reincarnation like his previous two.

Nel scoffed at the being's words. But instead of continuing on this pointless rant he took a deep breath and spoke with a sarcastic tone: "You expect me to find peace and clarity in forty minutes after two thousand years of torment? You have no idea what it was like for me. But fine, just tell me why am I being told in advance this time that I’m being reincarnated? Do I have to accomplish some kind of task for you? If so then you can forget about it and shove it up your ass!”

“Hmm… I think you are trying to insult me. But why? I’m here to tell you that you will be reincarnated again, and you don’t seem to be happy. This is the first for me.” The being was even more perplexed.

Nel facepalmed hard. He realized that he and the being were on totally different levels, and the being didn't even understand that he was mocking it. But soon his rage started going up, cause this stupid being let him be tortured for such a long time, he even started to think that he should just attack it, but, he then remembered that he couldn’t even move, how would he even attack.

Dejected, he just asked in a dead tone: “What’s the point of it, can’t it be done without you telling me about it?”

“Oh that, well there was a mix-up. The time that you were…” the being stopped and tried to recall something and then after a bit continued: “Your life in which you were called “Vineet”, you were supposed to die and your uncle was supposed to survive in the accident where your family died. After your death, you were supposed to be born in a different world without your memories, and everything was supposed to keep going as it had been before. But instead, you survived and your uncle died. This could have resulted in a catastrophe, but you were identified soon, and were removed from ‘Earth’.”

Nel listened carefully finally understanding the reason for his death. He started memorizing everything because he felt like it was not the whole picture. Because if it was just this much then there was no need for his two reincarnations with his previous life’s memories. He waited and soon the being continued.

“Initially you were supposed to be removed and reincarnated as soon as possible, but because the process of tracking you down took longer than expected, thighs were already starting to go out of order in a few worlds. To avoid any further complications you were reincarnated, but instead of being born without your memories, you were born with your memories. You were not supposed to die so soon in that life as well and should have lived for more than two thousand years. But instead of being saved you ended up dying and everything once again was going to turn bad.”

The being took a pause again letting all this information sink into Nel's mind, and after a bit continued: “To prevent any further complications you were reborn into a goblin that was going to die as soon as it was born. Goblins generally don’t have souls, so it was perfect. After that, you just had to wait for 2,396 Earth years to be reincarnated so you won’t impact anything. But due to going through all these unexpected turns your memories cannot be removed this time.”

“And, everything will be okay?” Nel was dumbfounded. If this was the case then why did he have to suffer for this long because of this incompetent being? Why didn’t it talk once to him in all this time? Everything would have been solved if this being just been talked to him.

As Nel was thinking all of this the being once again spoke: “It’s time now.” the three what seemed to be its eyes glowed and before Nel could say anything saw a blinding light. And just as his vision got a bit clear he saw the sky as if he was lying on the ground.

“FUCK YOU…” Nel was still frustrated so he screamed with all his might.