"Are you awake?" A soft, gentle voice appears in his mind.
The soul opens his eyes and notices that he is now standing in the middle of a never-ending white landscape.
'Weird. I don't remember falling asleep' He thought to himself, as the situation felt so surreal.
"Fufufu, you aren't dreaming."
He jumped, or what felt like it, from the chuckle. He's now noticing her, who is wearing a silver cloak and is 180cm tall. Her hair is pitch black, yet glimmers with microscopic stars.
"Good... Morning?" He spoke slowly, mesmerised by her eyes, her bright purple eyes with a 4-point star pupil.
"Good Morning to you, too." She smiled gently as she stood there, seemingly the only being in this white void.
"As of right now, I would have to apologise to you for this situation." She sighed with pity.
"I... don't get what you mean?"
"Understandable, as I had to erase your memory of your death so you wouldn't go insane." She sighed again.
"It wasn't a painless death, either..." Her tone seemed motherly and saddened, easing him down.
"Death... What do you me-" She interrupted him.
"Can you remember your name?"
"My name? What type of question is that? It's obviously... Huh? Wait... Ho-"
"I'm sorry." She apologises again
"The war, which was supposed to be space locked away from the mortal plane, affected you. The sole victim." He stares at her dazed, shocked by the knowledge he learned.
"So I saved you from being nulled." She gently walked toward him and cupped his soul, which was currently a formless ball.
"I... have no body?" She nodded softly as he started to realise that he was no longer in a human body, just a formless ball…
"Your body was already nulled, so all I could do for you was to shelter your soul and cut off the infected part"
"..." He doesn't know what to say, but she is willingly patient enough to wait for him to pull his thoughts together.
"What... did you mean by... nulled?" He spoke in confusion and was tired.
"A horrible effect, it appears from the effect of their energy. We, divines, are able to combat it; a mortal like you isn't able to... And thus succumbed to pain worse than the 9 layers of hell combined."
"..."
"Thank you." He spoke out to her, which surprised her as she was expecting him to yell and insult her, but he didn't.
"Why did you thank me? You died because of our war"
"But you saved me either way." He was unable to smile, but she could sense thankfulness and acceptance from his soul.
'I like this mortal already...' She thought to herself
She smiled gently. "I saved you to give you a choice. To be reincarnated in a world of your liking, or to be accepted in heaven. Though I implore you to pick the reincarnation." Smiling wider at the soul.
"Then... reincarnation, please..."
"Right! Since you're going there, do you have any reference for the life you want to live?"
"I... don't know... I worked hard all my life, only for it to disappear in an instant..." He glanced at her eyes, which seemed as old as the universe itself.
"Can I live a peaceful life... where I can laze and enjoy myself?"
"Hmm~ Got it, you aren't against demi-humans, right?"
"Wha?"
"Oh, right, you don't have them on your mortal planet. So humans with beast feature"
"Like cosplay? I don't really mind, since I quite like fluffiness and cuteness..."
The Goddess nodded as if agreeing with his sentiment.
"Want to be a cat demi-human or a fox demi-human. Both tend to laze around, but the fox tends to be mischievous and have more fun messing with people." Her four-point star pupil is shining brightly, as if she is excited.
"Is the fox... more fluffy than the cat?" She squealed in happiness as she nodded.
"Yes, they are! If they take good care of their fur and tail, it's a delight! Fufufufu!"
"Alright... I'll pick the fox one" He smiled at her excitement, making him believe that this must be the better option.
"Oh, I like you even more now! I should get Inari to bless you, too! Oh, I'll give you special support too! Your world called it a system, right?"
"Haha! You're like a kid," He laughed, finally feeling the weight off his tired soul.
"Oh, shush!" She bantered back, happy that her plan of healing his soul is working to an extent.
"I'll give you a special system along with a status screen... Also, a few unique skills, too! Can't have you dying early on me! Oh Oh! I should find your perfect mate over there! Mhh... I'll align some stars to make it work. Fufufufu, you will enjoy your life! I promise you!" Pointing at the soul with a wide, proud smirk.
"I'll be looking toward it." He smile back
"I hope you can become a goddess too," She spoke eagerly, which confused him.
"Goddess? But I'm a guy?"
"Yeah.. about that... You're going to be a female, since... that is the only way I could give you a peaceful life where you can laze as a kitsune... Sorry, fate," She shrugged.
"Huh?"
"Don't worry about it, you'll forget about your gender when you reincarnate"
"Wha-"
"Goodnight!" She snapped her finger, and the consciousness of the soul dimmed.
Her happy, excited expression slowly disappears.
"Sorry, but you can't reincarnate right away. I'll have to nudge fate in that world... especially of two people to be together and have a child, a vessel for you... So you can reincarnate and be lazy... until then, enjoy your dream"
She gently pressed her lips on top of the formless ball, granting her blessing upon the soul.
"19 years... huh..." She smiled softly
"That's how long it would take for fate to be aligned, for this mortal reincarnation... I should start working on the system... And play with Inari! I wonder if her tail has gotten even more fluffier, fufufufu"