The next thing I knew, I was walking toward a calm, lemon-yellow light.
I looked down at my feet. They were bare. And I should have been covered in blood from coughing it up, even if it wasn’t very visible on my gray clothes, but I was in a pure white, thigh-length dress.
I also noticed that the legs peeking out from under my dress were tiny...and so were my hands. Did I reincarnate again? Give me a break...
I toddled forward with tiny steps, and an impossibly large magic force drifted toward me from the front. There were countless strong magic presences, but it was strange...
I’m not afraid at all. Because...I’m already dead?
How long has it been? A long time?
I felt heartbreakingly sad...but when I tried to turn back, my vision was blurred and blotted out.
Hey... I recognize one of those magic presences!
It was calm, like a tranquil lake... I broke into a smile and dashed forward.
“Kilama!” I hopped up onto her long, white-scaled neck and latched on like a bug.
Kilama curled her long tail forward to support my small body from behind. She was as kind as I remembered.
“You’re as lovely as you ever were, Sere.” Kilama tilted her long neck, smiled gently, and rubbed her cheek against my head. Her chin hair tickled me.
“So, this child is Louda’s beloved...”
I heard a calm voice like a young man’s in my head. I lifted my head to see a pure white tiger as big as the elephants in my past life looking at me. His gray eyes were warm and looked at me with a sort of nostalgia... Oh, I know!
“Magan...?”
“You are correct.”
This was Lou’s father. Out of sheer happiness, I jumped off Kilama and ran over to Magan, burying my face in his fur (which was thicker than Lou’s) to have my fill of fluff. He smelled exactly like Lou—like a refreshing breeze on a snowy mountain.
Magan was taken aback at first, but he quickly resigned (?) himself and let me sit on his back as he began to walk. My vantage point was higher than when I sat on Lou. It was fun. I felt like I’d become younger not just in body, but in mind and behavior; I wanted to be indulged. I figured it was okay since he was allowing it.
Kilama and Magan... Does that mean this is the afterlife?
“Not quite. We’re gods, so our vessels may have died, but not our beings.”
Ooh, they can read my mind. That makes things easier.
“Why am I little now?”
“It’s more efficient.”
Efficient... Lou said the same thing. Do holy beasts really like efficiency?
Kilama slithered along beside us and helped explain. A tree overflowing with light came into view.
A god was enshrined at the base of the giant tree, which had round leaves and golden apple-like fruits growing on its branches.
The god was shining gold. Once my eyes got used to the light, its shape reminded me of a deer or a horse. Its body shone with a faint iridescent green, like the source of life itself. A golden mane covered its back, and its two golden horns towered into the sky. Its yellow-gold eyes seemed to see into the past and future...
It’s...a kirin...
Magan gently lowered me to the ground and settled down to the left (my right) of the kirin. Kilama sat at its right (my left). The kirin seemed rather small compared to the two holy beasts at its sides, but its apparent size meant nothing. It emanated a stronger force than I’d ever felt before.
I knelt down and assumed the most deferential knight position, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do as a tiny kid.
“This is the goddess’s garden. The god you see here is our originator, the moon goddess herself. She requested you,” Kilama quietly informed me.
Whoa... I was picturing a human form, since she was called a goddess. So, this kirin is the highest god of this world and the one who conceived my beloved Lou...
“Lift your face.”
Each word she spoke in her indescribably grand voice struck me with awe.
“Come closer.”
I directly approached the goddess without a second thought.
Her legs were cloaked in a haze, so I couldn’t see her hooves. As soon as I came close enough to notice that, my legs stopped moving. I knelt again.
“I see I’ve caused you pain once again, Serephione...”
She poked my head with her nose. A powerful energy surged into my body, numbing me.
Once again...?
I slowly lifted my face to see her golden eyes just before me. In her eyes, I saw my past life in Wild Rose reflected as if I were viewing a screen. It was me, bloodying myself in battle, being betrayed, condemned, and dying alone.
The goddess knows everything...so is it okay if I ask her? Is that allowed here?
“Would you tell me more?”
Ding... Ring... The faint sound of bells, quiet enough not to be distracting, came from somewhere.
“A god of a faraway world made a request of me. He wanted a soul that had met an unfortunate end to be reborn in my world. I felt a deep sympathy for this soul as well, and I took it in.”
I noticed that Magan was now curled up behind me, nestling me into his stomach with his tail. I sank into his fur.
Can I relax like this while I listen to the goddess speak? Magan gently groomed my hair. Apparently, it was okay to stay like that.
“However, that soul failed to integrate into our world. Our world could not have been called peaceful, but it was stable...and this soul stirred up trouble by applying the rules and logic of his world to ours, destroying our order.”
Is this other world Earth? That would mean...
“Is the soul you took in Maribelle?”
The goddess blinked to answer me.
“She behaved without consideration for others, perhaps due to psychological damage she acquired in the other god’s world. Lacking respect for this world’s long history, she became the queen of a kingdom, destroying it and leading the world to ruin. Since she was under the protection of this other god, the people had no ability to resist.”
That means a god from Earth was backing her up so she could use her Autopilot and charm skills...
“There was nothing I could do about her. A promise once made between two gods is irrevocable. Yet my world was in ruin because of a foreign soul I had allowed in... Just before everything collapsed, I reluctantly reset the timeline.”
“Reset the timeline?”
She turned back time to redo everything?!