‘Ellie…’

A warm current filled my heart. I longed for my brother and his benevolent remarks and smiling face whenever I came up with new theories about stories he hadn’t even read. He had been so busy recently. 

‘I hope he doesn’t neglect his studies to come here…’

When I thought about my brother, I felt his warm hug completely enveloping me. He had taken up exercising shortly before he enrolled in University, and now he was like a big bear. Reliable, lovable… I really didn’t deserve him.

Unconsciously, a big smile spread across my face. When I crossed the street to the wide sidewalk, a man approached me from the side and tapped on my shoulder.

Alarmed, I spun around and accidentally hit the man in the side. The unknown man writhed in half. 

“You really have a way to greet people.” He said, laughing and doubling up with pain.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” I apologized, bowed, and walked on.

Right now, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to strangers.

“Wait, wait!” He slid in front of me.

“Do you have a moment?”

“No, not exactly.” I shook my head. I had to go home to meet my beloved brother.

“Oh, come on, just two minutes.”

I stopped. Two minutes wouldn’t make a difference to Ellie, right? The man interpreted the temporary pause as an agreement to stay.

“Cool, cool! My name is Noah. What's your name?”

“Yu Anya.”

“Yua Nya?”

“… Anya.”

“Hi, Anya, nice to meet you!” He said and forwarded his hand for a shake. 

‘Why are you pretending to be friendly?’ I rolled my eyes internally.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you, too.”

“May I ask how old you are?”

“24,” I answered truthfully.

“That’s amazing! Look, we collect data for the BN institute from contractors with gods. With your strength, you surely are a contractor, right?”

“… No.”

I wasn’t, right? After all, the gods in the messages were trying to win me over.

“Oh, you want to keep it a secret? That's fine, of course, too. Can you come over here, please? It takes only a moment.”

He walked over to a white plastic table with a parasol on top. A small black box stood on the table.

“May I touch your hand?”

I furrowed, unsure of what he was going to do. “Okay.”

He placed my hand on the box and waited for a moment. The box made a sound like a too-hot running PC from the 90s, then it beeped. 

“Beep!”

“Thank you, Anya, that’s all.” Noah smiled and let my hand go.

“What is the result?” I asked.

Noah looked at the black device and shouted, “You actually have a score of 10!” Hereafter, he immediately put his hand on his mouth and looked around.

“A ten?!” I exclaimed, carried by his contagious enthusiasm. Then I continued much calmer, “… Is that good?”

He nodded. “It’s the highest score in the last two days! You’re in a contract with a very strong and generous god, right? Ah! Don’t worry, the data we collect is anonymous, so nobody will know.” He smiled again and then waved goodbye.

“It was very nice meeting you today. Maybe we will see each other again. Have a good day!”

“Yeah...”

I was a bit perplexed. Was I really in a contract with a god? While being ignorant about it? What was the score even for?

I shook my head and decided that I should answer these questions at another time. My brother would arrive at my small one-room apartment in circa an hour, and I wanted it to look at least half-presentable.

This time when I arrived at the bus stop, I continued walking. It would take 45 minutes to walk from here. However, at least it was a reliable estimate. When I drove to work earlier, the bus had almost taken 40 minutes as well to get from my street to here, and who knew how long it would take now that it was in the middle of the day.

The houses I passed were old. Some of them had reached the ripe age of 100 years or even older. Pretty frescos adorned the balustrades and balconies with patterns of angels and various animals.

I remembered Ellie mentioned one time he wanted to live in such an apartment, extended above a big street in the city.

Who could hold it against him? The arched handrails with the colorful flower boxes partook of royalty, which you only imagined on nobles two hundred years ago.

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

Who is contacting me again?

“Root for error.” 

The list unfolded in front of my eyes.

[root for error. Summarized list]

[God, ‘True Form of the Fire Spirit’ tries to send a message.*]

[see all roots for errors(30)]

I clicked on the star.

[*True Form of the Fire Spirit, “When you choose me as a contractor, I will immediately transfer one of my strongest skills to you.”]

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

[God Wisp, ‘Dragon Anima’ tries to send a message.*]

[*Dragon Anima, “I offer you information about the future if you let me enter your dream space.”]

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

“Di-rring!”

[God, ‘True Form of the Fire Spirit’ tries to send a message.*]

[*True Form of the Fire Spirit: “Dragon Anima, you are offering an unfair deal!”]

[*God, ‘True Form of the Fire Spirit’ requests a direct and secure connection with you.]

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

“Di-rring!”

[God, ‘True Form of the Fire Spirit’ tries to send a message.*]

The various windows updated automatically. Only the messages from the error list, I had to open manually.

[*True Form of the Fire Spirit, “A secure connection will not invade your dream space and private information, but I can send you messages without obstacles. It is very convenient.”]

That would be a pleasant alternative to the constant errors. 

“Can you see and hear me at any time?” I asked into the void on a side street. Was this like some sort of Trueman Show for the gods?

[Your position and acts cannot be hidden from high existences.] the system window showed up.

“Is there any downside to a direct connection?”

“Di-rring!”

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

[Error! Error fixed!]

[God, ‘True Form of the Fire Spirit’ tries to send a message.*]

[God, ‘Divine Descent’ tries to send a message.*]

[*True Form of the Fire Spirit, “There is no direct downside. But it could be seen as preferential treatment to others. There shouldn’t be any problem with making a direct connection with me, though.”]

[*Divine Descent, “I think you are very arrogant, Fire Spirit. I request you let the matter go.”]

“Are you using me right now to fight indirectly right now?” I asked. I couldn’t stand it. This looked an awful lot like my parents arguing back then, with me standing between them.

“Please resolve that among yourselves.”

“Dragon Anima, I don’t know how to give access to my dream space, so can I make a different deal to get this information about the future?”

Whatever a dream space is… I better not out myself as clueless. If these were actual gods, the dangers were unimaginable if I came up as incompetent. I did not know yet, how good they actually were.

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

[God Wisp, ‘Dragon Anima’ tries to send a message.*]

[*Dragon Anima, “If it’s like that, how about you make a direct connection with me first? We can figure out a potential contract later if it fits.”]

I nodded. That sounded fair. I wouldn’t really lose on anything that way.

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

[God Wisp, ‘Dragon Anima’ requests a “secure connection”.*]

I clicked on the star and got two options again.

“Di-rring!”

[Would you like to connect permanently to the God Wisp ‘Dragon Anima’?]

[Caution! A “secure connection” cannot be undone. Your firewall will no longer hold off any messages from ‘Dragon Anima’.]

[Would you like to proceed?]

[☐ Proceed] [​​☐ Cancel]

That made me hesitate. “How can I guarantee the information is true, that you will give me?”

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

[God Wisp, ‘Dragon Anima’ tries to send a message.*]

[*Dragon Anima, “I swear on the order of the world that I’m telling the truth!”]

“Di-rring!”

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

[Error! Error fixed!]

[God, ‘Saint of the Weakest Sword’ tries to send a message.*]

[God, ‘Divine Descent’ tries to send a message.*]

[*Saint of the Weakest Sword, “You can trust them. An oath on the order of the world is reliable.”]

[*Divine Descent, “No one can go against the order of the world. Even I or the Fire Spirit wouldn't. Anyway, I advise you to not connect to anyone, especially a god wisp. They are not even a full god.”]

I took a deep breath. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing here. Information of the future… Was it worth a dispute among gods?

[Would you like to proceed?]

[☐ Proceed] [​​☐ Cancel]

“Proceed.”

“Di-rring!”

[Secure connection to ‘Dragon Anima’ established.]

[Would you like to send a private message to the God Wisp ‘Dragon Anima’?]

[Send message] [​​Cancel]

“Send a message to ‘Dragon Anima’, what is the information?”

An out-of-place voice drew my attention. “Please turn left.” My phone’s artificial voice said. I had turned on the navigation to ensure I arrived home on time the moment I started reading the countless messages on the green, floating screen.

“Di-rring!”

[Dragon Anima, “Do you remember the time freeze and awakening in the other world? Something similar will happen again in 4 minutes.”]

I halted abruptly. “What?!”

“Di-rring!”

[Dragon Anima, “3 minutes 40 seconds.”]

The anima couldn’t lie, because of the oath to the Order of the World. That's what the gods said at least. But… didn’t that mean, I would once again be in a highly dangerous situation?

I looked up and down the modern skyscraper with its polished glass windows in front of me. 

Then, panicking, I unlocked my phone as fast as I could and pressed the call button.

“Beeep. Beeep. Beeep.”

‘Come on, pick up!’ While it was beeping, I quickly opened the messenger and typed a message. Then I looked around to find something that might help me in a potential life-and-death situation.

I spotted a shop for kitchenware with a broken window. Without thinking twice, I ran across the street. A car honked, but I ignored it.

In the store, I grabbed a few knives from the shelf. Should I pay? Frantically, I tried to get to the counter. Before I reached it, the world froze.

Everything turned gray.

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Then my mind went black.