Story

Infinite Plane Isekai:

The Overlord Goddess murdered us and now we fight Dragons with swords and magick

By J Carrell Jones

Episode 1

Adruqu touched Angel’s forehead. The surface was rough with tens of small flat hexagonal-shaped bumps tightly clustered, which covered her entire body. “Angel. It’s time to wake up.” Angel was lost in darkness. She heard a distant voice that sounded soft and inviting. The voice made her feel warm. “Angel, my love. It is time.” The voice was compelling. Angel fluttered her eyes open and saw a woman, dark skin, almond-shaped eyes, and white hair tied into a long ponytail. Adruqu smiled. “Morning, love. Welcome to your new life.” Angel sat up from the bed she was sleeping in. A bright light shone through a large window that was on her right. A wooden door, across the room, was in the middle of the wall on her left. Adruqu sat on the left side of the bed, her hand touching Angel’s right cheek. Angel lifted her hands up in front of her eyes. Her skin was white and covered in tiny flat hexagonal bumps. “I am –” “An Android, my love.” Angel touched her cheeks. There was a softness even though she could feel the flat bumps. She decided to call them ridges. “Who are you?” Adruqu smiled. “I’m your Goddess, and I brought you here to live.” Strange words Angel thought. “To live?” Adruqu nodded. “May I get out of bed?” Bed. Angel understood the word. Room. She understood that too. Air, light, sky, world. People. She was perhaps people. Adruqu grabbed Angel’s left hand and helped her out of bed. Angel stood for a moment. The caftan draped loosely over her body. People? “Am I people?” Adruqu’s laughter was soft. “You are people and you will help other people.” Angel let that seek in. Adruqu lightly tugged at Angel’s hand. “Follow me, dear. You have much to learn.” The two walked out the door.

Karen woke up in a large bed. The canopy overhead was black. She could see planets and stars projected onto it. Then she heard a voice. “Morning, Karen. How are you feeling, my love?” Karen remembered driving the truck into the ocean. The idea was to cool the small fusion generator before it overheated and went critical. Mary, her partner, was in the passenger seat. All seemed to have gone well. Adruqu cleared her throat. “Ms. Bechard.” Karen turned to the voice. Adruqu smiled. “How are you feeling?” Karen sat up. “I feel fine, I guess? Who are you?” “That is –” “-- Hey, did I die?” Adruqu laughed and clasped her hands together. “I knew you were a quick thinker. And, no, and yes. Call me Adruqu. I am your Goddess.” “Usually it’s yes and no, so something is off. And, my Goddess? Not God?” Nodding, Adruqu said, “Quite right. You did not die, however, you are about to be – hmmm – take a journey.” Karen pursed her lips and frowned. She sized up Adruqu’s fighting abilities. Better than hers. Looking around the room she spotted a door and thought about running but decided not to. “Okay,” Karen finally said, “I’ll bite. Explain please.” Adruqu guided Karen out of bed and through the door. “I’d like to explain everything to everyone at once. You can appreciate that?” Karen nodded and followed Adruqu down a long hallway. The walls looked painted metallic. Every couple of dozen steps they passed a door. After a dozen doors, Adruqu walked her into a large auditorium. She counted fast and came up with a thousand seats. Half had been filled with more people entering. An Adruqu led each person. Involuntarily, Karen paused. Adruqu said, “They are all me.” Karen noted that most of the other individuals stopped at about the same time and seemingly asked the same question, which seemingly received the same answer. Adruqu pointed to a seat next to a woman with long dark hair. Karen immediately recognized her. She was Mary.

Honute sat quietly next to his twin sister Honuti. He remembered facing Ferruk, the Middle Vizier, on top of Ra’s Temple. He was holding Akila hostage when he jumped off the roof with her. Rage enveloped him as he leaped after them. There was a bright light, then he woke up in a large bed. The Goddess spoke softly and said not to be afraid. He would be given a new life and all would be explained. Then she led him to the auditorium. It only took a few moments before he spotted his sister. Ayri and Akila sat next to him. Theoris spotted him and rushed over. Hypatia, his wife, came in after her. Honute gave a silent prayer to Thoth and asked for guidance when he saw Ferruk. The Goddess must have known. She walked him down a dozen rows and sat him by himself.

Sean was angry. The moment he heard Adruqu’s voice he knew she did something that was going to piss him off. ‘My Beloved’, she said. ‘Don’t be mad,’ she said. ‘Your words are very hateful,’ she cried. That’s when he stopped yelling at her. He counted to ten, took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled slowly. “Okay, I’m better.” Adruqu smiled. “Good, because all is not what you think. After I explain anything and you do not like what I say I’ll do whatever you ask of me, but please keep an open mind. Please?” Sean thought for a moment. The last thing he remembered was entering Johnson’s hangar deck at a ridiculous amount of speed. The dampening fields were supposed to siphon off the shuttle’s inertia. Did he and everyone die in a burst of elementary particles? He said, “Okay, explain.” And, she walked him through a long corridor into a large auditorium. She guided him to a row of seats where most of his Command staff sat. Dawn stood up. “Captain, you, too?” Collins, the Ship’s Chief Medical Officer, sat next to her. Everyone shifted over one seat to allow Sean to sit between Dawn, the First Officer of the GRID Ship Reginald L John, and Collins. Collins said, “Sean, what’s happening?” Sean huffed. “Adruqu told me she would explain everything to everyone in one shot. She won’t budge an inch.” Dawn nodded, “Said the same to me.” Sean looked around. The auditorium was nearly full. He counted to ten again as he watched the many Adruqus walk different people to empty seats. Like he and Johnson’s crew, there were other groups. He counted to ten again. Then Cookie, the ship’s head cook, walked in. That pissed him off. It took counting to fifty to make him calm down. ‘Adruqu, you bitch,’ Sean thought. ‘Now you’re getting personal.”

Angel stepped out onto the stage, walked up to the podium that was positioned at the left side of the stage, and pushed several buttons marked “lights”. The entire auditorium went dark and everyone stopped talking. Adruqu walked to the center of the stage and snapped her fingers. A spotlight appeared and for pure theatrics, she stepped into it. Adruqu took a deep breath and said, “Greetings all, and welcome to the Infinite Plane.” Murmurs. “Some of you know me, some know of me, some know about me, and some I am a complete mystery. I am the Overlord of a large region of space in the Milky Way galaxy. Earth is a part of that space.” Adruqu began to slowly walk across the stage. As she did the spotlight followed her. “I belong to an ancient race that has been around for over a million years. We have conquered death and we travel through time and other dimensions. Some of you may want to think of this place as Heaven. It is not.” Murmurs. “This is not Hell either,” Adruqu noted some disappointing expressions. “You are in a virtual or alternate reality. Right now, the actual you are going about their normal lives. You don’t know of this place and the real you never will. In a sense, this will be a second separate life. You will be born, without any memories of your past life, into a new world.” Angel pressed a button marked “Map” and behind Adruqu appeared an image of a dirty white flat plane that seemed to stretch forever. It was dotted with yellow and white orbs floating over pockets of mountainous flat-floor valleys. Adruqu continued. “This is the Infinite Plane, and I say Infinite in quotes. It is about 700,000 kilometers in diameter –” Murmurs. “-- and about 650 kilometers thick, which is pretty thin for such a large disc, but my people have managed to achieve the impossible in a short amount of time. Gravity is about the same as Earth. Even though the Plane is 7 times wider than the Sun it only weighs about 64 times more than the Earth. Again, my people make the impossible happen.” Adruqu paused. The auditorium was silent. She was impressed she had their attention, considering what she was saying. “The plane has about 500 regions. Most are at about the bronze age. Some entered the near industrial revolution age, while others are going through a Renaissance-like phase. There are a few at the prehistoric-stone age and only a handful in a Mesozoic-like Era. Recently, several steam and dieselpunk areas developed. Most regions are connected by vast and deep oceans. Others are isolated. All the regions, which range from 2000 to 8000 kilometers in diameter, are surrounded by huge tall ice walls or Mountain ridges. We decided to cluster 5 to 10 regions together at a time. So, it is possible for someone to travel from one region to another in a lifetime.” Murmurs. “Everyone in this auditorium will be born into a region where magick is possible. Think of it as an Isekai or Dungeons and Dragons come to life. We’ll spread you across a ten to 20-year span. There are a few who’ll be born a couple of hundred years in the past. When you die, you’ll be reincarnated – with or without your memories intact.” She smiled. The murmurs slowly turned into loud chatter. Adruqu waited a minute then she said softly, “Are you ready?” Her voice, soft, sounded in everyone's ears. She heard several, “Wait, what?” “Are you ready?” There was a pause. Then murmur. Adruqu snapped her fingers and all in attendance began their new life. They were denizens of the Infinite Plane now. World of Goddesses and Gods, magick, and technology. Good, bad, or indifferent. Live, die, reborn, repeat.