"I have been waiting for you, Emilia," the woman proclaims. Emilia...? How could she know...?

  Kristina looks around, almost like she's looking for an explanation. However, all she sees is black and white, except for herself and the unknown woman. "How do you... Who are you?"

  "I'm Aleafar, goddess of this world and pretty much the reason you are in it."

  "You, it was you... Thank you..."

  "Really? I mean, I'm glad, but aren't you sad that you won't be able to see your old friends again? You may have been a loner IRL, but you had plenty of in-game friends..."

  "I would have been separated from them either way, I died back on Earth, didn't I...?"

  "You did."

  "Don't get me wrong, I am sad about that, but at the same time getting isekai'd was one of my biggest fantasies, so I think I'm more happy than sad... Oh, right, isekai means-"

  "No need to explain, I have watched and read many isekai stories before creating this universe..."

  "I see... Wait, "before"?"

  "I will explain everything, but first," she gestures to an open door that just popped into existence beside her, "check out my crib." Crib...?

  As they enter, the sight astonishes Kristina. A single bedroom, with empty potato chip bags and energy drink cans all over the floor. A bed so messy you can only assume the person in charge of it has no idea how to make a bed, the only well taken care thing there is a body pillow with the image of a generic anime girl on it.

  Many game consoles from various generations lie around, but they all seem to be gathering dust. While a personal computer in the corner of the room seem to be way more used.

  "What is this room?" Kristina asks. I may have been a NEET back on Earth, but at least I was able to keep my living space somewhat clean. Even if it wasn't perfect sometimes, it never got this bad...

  "I said, it's my crib, it's where I live when I'm in my human form."

  "Alright, I get that, but why is it so..."

  "I could make the room clean and organized with the snap of my fingers, but that would take away it's charm..."

  Kristina can't help but let out a sigh. "Okay, then..." She definitely doesn't feel like a goddess, though she also doesn't seem to be lying. "So, you said that you would explain everything, I would appreciate if you started."

  "Alright, from the beginning... There was this Swedish game company which name rhymes with 'pseudodox' and they were working on their first VRMMORPG, Vera Phantasia. However, they were afraid that they wouldn't be able to meet the deadlines, so they did what anyone would do and summoned an eldritch god to do their work for them. It was me, they summoned me."

  "Eldritch...?"

  "Usually I would look like a mass of writhing tentacles with incomprehensible colors, but, soon after they summoned me, I learned of the most ideal form in existence, anime women. However, an anime woman would look uncanny in real life, so I settled for looking like a regular woman." Is she messing with me...?

  "So, what do you mean when you say you did their work for them?"

  "Well, they asked me to create an original fantasy world, so I studied some fantasy stories, mostly anime, that was how I found about the aforementioned ideal form." Kristina can't help but groan at Aleafar's words.

  "Alright... Why did you bring me to this world?"

  "I thought it was funny you died exactly at the game's anniversary, so I decided to snatch your soul before it could reach Earth's afterlife and take it to this world instead. I saved you so much by the way, Earth's afterlife is so damn boring."

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  There is an afterlife...? Emilia was an atheist who did not believe in any sort of life after death. And it was boring apparently...? I feel like my brain is gonna melt the more she talks.

  "Well, what about Kristina's memories? Did you make them?"

  "Yes and no. Those are all real, I quickly created a whole universe where your character and your NPCs were real. So, to summarize, there's basically 3 universes. This one, the basis for the game Vera Phantasia; The one I created based on your roleplaying; And Earth, the one you are originally from."

  "So you spent all of the trouble of guiding a world into becoming identical to what I was roleplaying just for this...?"

  "No, I just knew how to set up the big bang in a way so all of that would happen without my interference. Then I grabbed Kristina's mansion in that universe and placed it here, before putting you in her body."

  "I... Alright. Why didn't you just drop me at that universe though? Why this one?"

  "Eh, I felt you might be overwhelmed if you became a duchess immediately. Running a real duchy is way more complex than running one in-game."

  "I guess that might be true... What happened to Kristina's soul?"

  "Oh, that's simple, her soul is still there, it's just fused with yours. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that it's your soul that fused with hers? "

  "What...?"

  "And I temporally blocked Kristina memories and made it so they will gradually come back, so you wouldn't be overwhelmed by all her memories. However, I also added a function where if it becomes necessary for you to remember one of Kristina's memories, it will immediately come back, to avoid you getting, you know lost."

  "There's something though, without any flashback I simply knew how to control my mana and to cast spells..."

  "Oh, yeah, stuff like muscle memory I didn't feel like there was a need for me to block. In fact, blocking Kristina's muscle memory might've made it harder for you to adapt to your new body."

  "That does make some sense..."

  "And with the spots you left blank in Kristina's backstory, I made her more similar to you, so it would be easier for you to take her place."

  "Why did you go through all that trouble for me?"

  "Well... I was bored."

  "Eh...?

  "Also, nothing is really trouble for me, since, you know, I'm sorta omnipotent? It's kinda boring really, I have to put some restrictions on myself if I wanna have any fun, to be honest."

  "Huh..." I wonder what the 'boring' afterlife she mentioned actually looks like... Also, sorta omnipotent? What does it mean to be just 'sorta' omnipotent?

  "This body is actually special, as it allows me to experience time linearly. Usually time happens all at once, super boring, there's never any surprise. So, almost the first thing I did after coming into existence was to create a body like this, my first one was way more 'squid-like' than my current one though."

  "Wouldn't you just remember what would happen? Since you knew it before entering the body?"

  "No, no, I just block my memories of the future, just like I blocked Kristina's memories, it's quite simple actually."

  "Alright... Why did you wait for me to come to a church though? Why didn't you explain this to me before dropping me into this word?"

  "Yeah, I kinda didn't have time to do that, since, you know, I was stealing your soul and all. Didn't want to get caught, so I just merged you with Kristina's soul and threw you into this world as soon as I could."

  "What happens if you get caught...?"

  "I get a scolding and you are taken back to your world's afterlife, which, might I remind you, is very boring. There's no need to worry though, your soul is unrecognizable now that it's fused with Kristina's." I don't think that comforts me much...

  "I... see..."

  "Well, I think I have finished explaining basically everything, unless you have any questions?

  "It's all just so much to process... On top of that, I feel like I'm losing myself as more and more of Kristina's memories comes back. I don't know what to do."

  "I could stop Kristina memories from coming back, if that's what you would like." That's...

  "I... will think about it..."

  "When you come to a decision, you know where to find me," Aleafar says, before snapping her fingers.

  Suddenly, Kristina finds herself back in the church seat, as if nothing had happened. She reflects on her conversation with the goddess, as the priestess continues her sermon.

  So, Kristina is a real person... A real person based on my player character in Vera Phantasia... In a way, I have stolen someone else's body? I mean, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I forcibly became her "roommate" and put her temporarily to sleep?

  Either way, it's the goddess fault... Maybe there's a way to give Kristina back her body? Though the goddess said that our souls were fused, that doesn't sound like a easy thing to undo, and even if you could undo it, wouldn't that leave me without a body though? Then I would probably go back to being dead... And I... I want to live...

  Things would be so much easier if I could just ask Kristina what she thinks and if she's okay with us sharing bodies... What if she said no though, would I be able to respect her wishes even at great personal cost? Am I altruistic enough for that...?

  Should I... Would I accept the goddess offer? My current existential crisis comes from her memories, so if I were to accept then would that fix it? Wouldn't that mean, in a way, killing Kristina? Am I willing to do that for some peace of mind? Would I even get peace of mind after doing something like that...?

  "My lady, the sermon has ended," Ernst words snap Kristina back to reality. She notices all of the churchgoers getting up from their seats and heading for the exit.

  "Sorry, I got my stuck in my on thoughts," Kristina gets up from her chair.