《Ruby》


 Im Dead

    I''m Dead.


    I don''t know how and when I died. I only remember my Name and that I have roughly 37 years'' worth of memories.


    So, if I can''t remember how or when I died, how do I know that I''m dead?


    Simple, God told me. From one Moment to the next, I just knew that I was dead and that God had told me. But who or what is God?


    God is me and everyone else who died. God is an amalgamation of Souls, all temporarily bound together by their Desire to be with each other and understood. From afar It looks like a Massive Swarm of Bees. Some are faster, some slower, some are as bright as a distant Star, while others are like dim reflections. ManySouls are floating around in this expanse of Nothingness who aren''t jet part of God, had just arrived, were leaving, or never wanted to be part of God to begin with.


    Where are the Soulsleaving to? Why didn''t all Souls wish to be part of God?


    Again, when these questions appeared in my Mind, they were immediately answered. The Fleeting Souls were leaving to begin their new Life. They were about to reincarnate and were waiting for the following Life to be born. Some of you might wonder why your Soul chose your Life? Wasn''t it filled with Misery?


    But they weren''t able to choose. By joining God''s embrace, they were stripped of their Desire, Memories, and Knowledge until only the Desire to live was left. They no longer cared about Misery and suffering. They just wanted to live. That was also the reason why some had yet to join.


    They were afraid to lose their Memories to lose themselves.


    But God wouldn''t force them to Join. Regardless of what God would do, they would lose their Desire, Memories, and Knowledge over Time. They would fade into Nothingness, never to be remembered. But God also couldn''t force them. Even the most minor and most insignificant Soul can choose not to join. This deeply Pained God as well. I could feel it. All Souls were born from God. God considers all of them part of itself, as Family. God hoped they would eventually join them so the Souls would stop being lonely. They could show God their memories so they would not be forgotten. After being stripped of themselves, their desire to live would become so strong that they could reincarnate and be reborn.


    But what do I want to do?


    I did not want to lose Myself like the lonely Souls. Nor do I want to give up my Memories. I dread the decisions I would make. But I do not hate or fear God. Because hating God would be like hating and fearing everyone. We were all God at one point in our Lives and would all return one Day.


    I would hate and fear Myself.


    Would I become like the Souls who never join, forever floating through Nothingness?


    This isn''t what I desire. But what is my Desire?


    I desire to begin a new life with my memories and hold onto my wish that I could not fulfill in my last life. I may find a way to achieve my Wish in this new Life. Thinking of my Wish excited me, and my Soul flickered in a small Light. When the Light ended, God told me the actual Strength of Desire. So, what is Desire? And in what way is it different from craving your favorite Food or wanting Money, a new Car, or... other things?


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Simple Desire isn''t different from a simple want, need, or craving. It is just a difference in Strength. And in this Place in the Realm of God, a strong Desire can change everything. If your Desire is strong enough, you could even become God or be more significant than God. But that is a challenging Feat.


    A Soul has to be solely focused on their desire to achieve it. Some of you might think that is easy, but only a select few Soul have achieved their goal. Many stop halfway and take stopgaps when fulfilling their Desire, or they take too long and lose too much of themselves to fulfill their Desire the way they intended.


    They become corrupted.


    This process leads to creating what most Humans would call a Demon. Due to their Desire being fulfilled in a flawed way, Demons are often very Unstable. Not only emotionally, due to losing a lot of themselves, such as their reasoning and empathy, but also magically. This results in them vanishing into Nothingness in just a few days when they are reborn on Planets, which don''t have a lot of Magic Power.


    But why are Demons and Magic believed to be fairy tales or folklore on Earth?


    Earth is a World with an abysmal amount of Magic Power. It is so tiny that soul-bearing creatures can''t even use Magic. And if you can''t use it, you can''t find or build things to detectit.


    Because of all those reasons, most Souls, even those who haven''t decided yet, eventually join God''s Embrace. Because the other options are too risky. God even allows souls to postpone their Process of reincarnation until they meet certain souls, such as friends, lovers, and family members. Sounds like a good deal, right?


    Well, maybe for most, but not for me. Sure, I love my Family and would love to meet them again, but there is Nothing I want to tell them. Does that sound weird to you? Well... okay, I''m embarrassed. Since I haven''t achieved anything really, I died at the Age of 37, with no kids, and as a Virgin, I felt Defeated. They had achieved so much more at such a young age, and I had Nothing. I just had An Apartment that ate half of my shitty salary, which had become more of a Mancave than much else.


    I had a few Suicidal thoughts, but after some time, I started to value my Life. Simply because all of us only had one, and I wanted to see as much as possible.


    And a bit ofSpite.


    I don''t want to join God for all those reasons and a few othersI won''t mention. At most, I would like to leave a message that I Loved them. Without them, I would have likely died much earlier.


    And with all those things out of the way, I simply focused on my Desire.


    Simply, My Ass!


    It took ages until my Desire began to grow. The more my Desire grew, the more I shone in a brighter and brighter light. But this would take too long. I would have faded away before even coming close to my Desire.


    With Time, I learned more and more through the Information that other souls and God had told me. I even learned about the origin of God and the origin of souls. The first Soul did not know where it came from, nor did it care. It only cared about one thing: not to be alone anymore. Why did the first Soul feel lonely even though it has never seen or met anyone or anything? It did not know the answer to all those questions. They just desired to have someone to share their thoughts and their loneliness. They wished to be... Together. And then, one day, another Soul was born through this Desire.


    Finally, it was not alone anymore. This is how God was created. The first Soul, through Nothing but their Desire. With Time, the first two Souls created more and more Souls until even that Process became almost second nature to them. The first Soul desired someone just like them, which explains why they have the same abilities. It also desired to share Information with the second Soul and to remember. It wanted to have a conversation. And just through the Desire for closure, the Desire to talk with someone God was created.


    That puts things into perspective.


    So, Essentially, I''m trying to become a God right now just through the Power of my Desire. How can all the Lonely Souls even believe they could do it? It is beyond me. But perhaps they are just as crazy and stubborn as I am.


    And with that, I waited, and I desired more and more. The Light of my Soul was almost all gone. I was about to fade away as if I never existed. And then, finally, right before it was too late against all Odds, I had a Breakthrough.


    A Massive Wave of Incandescent Light flooded the Realm of God and enveloped everything in it. For a Second, God''s entire Realm was filled with blinding white Light, and after it faded away, I was gone.

 A kind Welcoming

    So, how did my breakthrough go?


    Well, it went... how should I say... as expected.


    I didn''t have a real breakthrough, I think. I just understood how to achieve my goal by cutting some Corners.


    After I understood that I would vanish before I could accomplish my Desire, I began to make compromises.


    Yes, I did not become a god or demigod as I intended. In the end, I had to settle for Demon Hood. But don''t worry, there seems to be enough magic around to sustain myself.


    With that, I got almost all the downsides from being a demon covered. I hope that there isn''t any priest nearby...


    As for my appearance, I have chosen Human. It is, after all, the Race I''m most familiar with, and it is also widespread in most Realms.


    My current Sex is Female because I have been a Man in my previous Life. And so, I was simply curious.


    I had to make a few concessions with shape changing. I can only turn into other Humans right now. And even that seem to take ages. Sadly, all the different races are off the Table right now. For some reason, I''m also incapable of changing my hair and eye color.


    The only Genes I have acquired so far are Human because I had them in the first Place. For the other Humanoid Races and Animals, I would need DNA Samples and Magic Power. By becoming a Demon, most of the magic Power I absorb from the environment is constantly drained to sustain my existence. Because of that, it takes me an entire Month (30 Days) to fully absorb and integrate the Sample. Only then can I change it into a new form.


    I also had to Limit my Elemental Attributes. Right now, I only have access to non-attribution Magic, which every living thing gets by default, and healing/death magic. Healing and Death Magic are, weirdly enough, the same thing. The Attribute is just the Talent to manipulate Vitality and to call Apon Souls.


    Healing Magic creates Vitality with Magic and Infuses it in Others. In contrast, Death Magic drains the Vitality from Others to gain Magic Power. Healing Magic can recall Souls from Beyond the Grave. Death Magic can trick Souls by manipulating the Vitality signature of foreign Corpses. After that Process, they would then force the Soul into a very one-sided Magical Contract to enslave them.


    To gain Access to the Other Elemental Attributes I will have to train my spellcasting a lot. What would take a normal Human 10 years of intense study, would take me at least 20 years because I had to settle for a very low Magic Affinity.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Just like in Games it is nice to Lose oneself in new Abilities, but Ehm... where am I?


    I''m standing Completely Naked on a small grassy Hill. The Grass almost goes up to my Hips, and all around the Hill is just a Sea of Fog.


    The more I look around and concentrate, the more I can see. Beyond the mist in the Distant two large Fortresses reach into the sky, each about 6 Km away, a plain foggy field between them.


    I shiver. There is almost no noise, just the wind that plays with my Hair. I get Goosebumps. Before I can decide where to go, the Fog slowly begins to clear as the Sun rises. Hidden beneath the Fog is a trampled Battlefield and bloody remains.


    Here and there are Bones, broken Armor, weapons and broken shields half sunken in the Mud. Some are new, and some have long begun to rust. I gasp, take a step back and fall on my butt. I look in Horror at the Carnage in Front of me. I have never witnessed such a sight. Disturbed by my gasp and sudden Movement, a flock of crows rises and obscures my Vision.


    Under the Crows was the fresh Corpse of a Man. The crows have already taken his eyes, but his Face remains frozen in fear.


    I scream.


    Most likely attracted by my voice, I soon hear the sound of Footsteps. First, they were in front of me, then joined by Footsteps from the Right and left. I began to run. No matter who they were: Soldiers, Mercenaries, Marauders, or Undead. They were not the first ones I would like to meet Completely Naked, as a Woman, with no Status, no Money, or Understanding of the Language. The only thing I could imagine them to do would result in me being assaulted, raped and or killed. The Footsteps quickened. Soon, the ones from the right and left overtook me, and I was surrounded. I could hear something swinging and flying through the air. I halted, unsure where to go, when a rope flew towards me. I dodged the first one, but because of that, I stumbled on the other two. They pulled me in a different direction. Then I could hear Heavy Footsteps approaching.


    The three men were in Uniform and armed, though the Man and their equipment had seen better days.


    The first One was short, while the other two looked almost identical: Siblings, Twins Maybe. All of them had a poorly-shaven beard and a look of confusion.


    They were pointing at me. Then they began to argue. They couldn''t decide who would talk to me first. Finally, although slowly, the small and chubby Man approached me first. He began to ask me a few questions, I assumed. But how does one answer a question they don''t even understand? I could not answer his questions, and so I did the only thing I could think of.


    "Ruby"


    ¡°SoH ¡äIv?¡± I couldn''t understand him, so I repeated my Name while pointing at myself.


    "Ruby"


    "Ruby?" he said while pointing at me. I nodded.


    The Man seemed to understand this very cryptic Conversation. So, nodding, pointing, and shaking one''s Head are the same in this Realm. Quickly after that, dispite my protest, they bound me with Ropes and brought me to three Horses they had hidden a few hundred meters away. And, of course, the short one couldn''t help himself from a few pats and grabs. Even though I had seen it coming, I was still furious and disappointed. Whenever he tried his luck, I would curse and scream at him, but he would keep going and start laughing.


    When he brought me to his horse, I could see that the horse had blankets on it. He did not give me any.


    So, when they lifted and fastened me onto the back of a horse-like luggage, I spit in the little ones'' Face. He slapped me so hard that I could not hold back my tears.


    His Head turned as red as a Tomato while he cleaned the Spit from his Face.


    The two others seemed a bit uncomfortable but said nothing.

 Janus

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

 Welcome

Stolen story; please report.

 Godsend

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.