Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"Let's talk about your situation," the interviewer said.

He sat down across from me, flipped through some papers, then looked up at me to start the real talk.

My situation? What situation?

In a normal interview, this question would be pretty standard. But right now, it felt super weird.

Actually, since I realized where I was, I started remembering more details about this interview from before I got sent to another world.

I remembered all the questions in the interview were just for show. After I answered, they'd just tell me to go home and wait for news.

But this time was different. Unlike when the Light God controlled my mind before, I remembered everything, including crashing into the nuke high in the sky!

So I realized right away that this place probably wasn't real.

"Where is this? Who are you?" I finally got the courage to ask what I was thinking. This was totally different from how I remembered things going.

But the interviewer just smiled, like he wasn't surprised. He answered:

"Everything here is a random scene picked from your memories. In terms you can understand, your soul is temporarily separated in a higher dimension. I'm the one you were trying to find before you lost consciousness..."

So he's the "Lord" Cyra always talked about?

I couldn't believe I was actually meeting the legendary "God"! I felt nervous, of course. This was a huge discovery! I proved God exists, and I'm not even a believer?

But unlike Cyra, I never really believed in God. Would he give me a hard time because of that? That was something to worry about after actually meeting God.

"What about them?" I finally calmed down a bit. I had lots of questions, but I was so nervous I didn't know where to start. So I just pointed at the open door, where over 10 "people waiting for interviews" were in the hallway.

In my real memory, there weren't that many people waiting for the next interview. And they were all staring at me the whole time. I realized they weren't just fake NPCs - they clearly had their own minds.

"They're like me - beings from higher dimensions that you wanted to find out about. We're not just one individual, but many separate beings. But only I need to handle this meeting with you, so they're just watching."

His answer confused me a bit. Did he mean there's not just one "god", but a whole race of them?

It made me think of the 12 Greek gods, a bunch of gods ruling over humans from above. Their relationships were super messy.

"Cyra said Raydwin's soul is with you guys, right?" That was the first question I could think to ask.

"That's right. Raydwin is special - his sacrifice was necessary for history. After that, we'll give him a chance to join us. It's a reward for his brave act!" The interviewer nodded.

"What? Join you?"

I couldn't believe my ears! From what I understood, Raydwin just blew himself up and got to become a god? So many people sacrifice themselves - why does he get special treatment?

Just because of some "historical necessity"?

"That's right! Strictly speaking, he's joining us." I didn't hear wrong - he gave the same short answer again.

"So I got killed by the nuke? Are you giving me this chance too?"

Since there was a precedent, I couldn't help thinking about my own situation and asking to make sure.

I didn't know if it was good or bad. At first, I just wanted them to save my life. But now they're talking about making me a god?

It was too big a jump... I wasn't ready for this at all!

"You're not dead. Actually, you're much stronger than you think. An eight-winged angel's body can't be easily destroyed by a nuke! And after you understood how water energy works, you're close to leveling up. The strategic nuke just knocked you out - your life wasn't in danger. We're granting your wish while you're unconscious. Your soul will return to your body soon."

The interviewer's answer shot down my wild guess. Good thing I was just overthinking.

"I don't get it. Why do you guys always hide what you're doing? Never mind other people, but what about your believers? Like Cyra - why don't you help her when she's in danger? Why don't you answer her prayers?"

I finally got the courage to ask the biggest question I had about God. It was also my biggest complaint about so-called gods.

"First, we need to be clear - we're not the 'God' you're thinking of. We're definitely not 'Yawee'! We're totally different from those made-up wish-granters. We're not all-knowing or all-powerful. In our dimension, we have lots of problems and unknown things to explore and fix. You can even think of us as just another kind of life form."

The interviewer's answer was way beyond what I expected. Seeing I was still confused, he explained more:

"For the lower dimension world - the real world where your body is - we have to follow one absolute rule: Unless it affects our own safety, we absolutely can't interfere with anything in the lower dimension world!"

"Huh?" I was totally lost again. In just a few seconds, I got way too much information. Now he's saying they're not gods, but what are they then?

"If you need a name for us, you can call us the 'Holy Ones'!"

Before I could ask, the interviewer answered my little question. Looks like in this soul communication world, they can see all my thoughts clearly. I can't hide anything.

The interviewer, who was one of these "Holy Ones", kept talking:

"We always try not to interfere with your world. But sometimes we have to, or some of us break the rules. So we do have some influence in your world. The name 'Holy Ones' was given by some lower dimension beings who are spiritually closer to us. We prefer this name because it doesn't get mixed up with those made-up beings in people's heads."

If I'm not mistaken, the "lower dimension beings who are spiritually closer to them" probably means angels.

Only souls can reach higher dimensions. Angels and some light magicians can use light elements to communicate with souls easily. At a certain level, they might be able to talk to higher dimension beings, like Elara.

So it makes sense that stories about the "Holy Ones" are so rare. First, they can get mixed up with other beliefs. Second, not many people can find out they exist.

But even though they call themselves "Holy Ones", my first impression was still that they're like the Light God Beluto - a higher-level spirit being. I don't know why, but I just had that feeling.

The interviewer noticed my worry and kindly explained:

"We're different from the Light God you're worried about. Beluto's mind is in a dimension similar to ours, but he can only control light element. In theory, we can control any element, any type of energy, and time and space. That's because the dimension we exist in is kind of like energy itself..."

Suddenly, his voice was cut off.

One of the "interview candidates" watching stood up and said seriously:

"You're going too far! Don't forget our rule about not interfering too much with the lower world! This meeting is allowed, but we can't let her know too much. That's the rule - no one can break it!"

"It's not that serious. Even if I say too much, we can just erase those memories, right?"

The interviewer seemed a bit hurt by the scolding, but he stopped talking.

To be honest, hearing that they could just erase my memories made me feel pretty scared.

But I was facing beings way more powerful than me. I didn't dare question or fight back at all.

Even so, the interviewer's unexpected behavior showed me how they're different from what people usually imagine gods to be. They seemed to have some "human" traits and could make mistakes.

Too bad I don't know if this part of my memory will be deleted too...