After telling my admittedly good joke, the black abyss around me doesn't respond and doesn't try to devour me, so I take it as a small victory.
But without knowing where I am or what was happening, I can only look around, trying to see anything useful, but unfortunately, I can't see anything but darkness in all directions.
Ugh," I sigh before feeling my body—to my horror—disintegrate into glowing particles of blue light.
A while later, I stop my panic when I realize that, even though I don't have a body, I'm still more or less alive.
In any case, I end up being like a floating ball, so that's why I'm more or less alive.
And in exchange for losing my body, I gain the ability to see in this dark, or well, no longer so dark, void. A light illuminates the space around me, coming from my new form.
It honestly didn't seem fair, but what could I do but settle for my—admittedly limited—options?
Why, of course there are stars? Are those stars really stars? I ask, trying to distract myself from the fact that I'm simply disintegrating.
But why do they seem so close? The aforementioned stars, distant points of light of strange shapes, sizes, and colors, shone, filling my mind with strong emotions, and they didn't seem that far away.
More like they seemed a few hundred kilometers away, I think with slight amazement. While it's a gigantic distance, it doesn't seem unreachable. I think I can reach them if I try hard.
My mind starts to get foggy. Is this what being high feels like? Or am I having a panic attack? I wander, my mind slowly feeling like cotton candy the more I stare at the stars.
I stare at the various points of light and wander, or think I'm wandering, while my drugged-out mind makes the intelligent decision to search for a star instead of figuring out how to get out of here, so I start moving, not noticing that with each movement I leave a trail of light that slowly fades in my wake.
What color should I choose? I wander again, not noticing the blue light emanating from me, which begins to shine brighter, making my shape grow smaller.
I spin on my axis, searching for the right star for me while my mind becomes more and more confused.
I look up and see a red, sword-shaped star that made me feel furious, something I didn't like, so that star is quickly rejected and then ignored.
Shortly after, I see a green, tree-shaped star that made me feel healthy, as if I had tons of energy.
Next to the green star, I saw a large cluster of colorful stars that I didn't pay much attention to, because a glow at the edge of my vision made the decision for me.
The flash of light comes from a super-large, pretty purple star with a faint, almost beating heart shape that fills me with a strong sense of belonging, as if it's calling me.
The fact that it might be dangerous to cross the entire void to reach it is quickly ignored by my mind, dazzled by the beautiful color.
Eat a star, that's what the bottle said, and that star has to be the best option for me—I decide practically on the spot, as I watch the star blinking, practically seducing me in the distance.
Having made my decision, my confused self decides to head toward the star while selectively ignoring the small voice in my head that told me it wasn't a good idea.
Then, floating like a small, drifting ball, I try to make a beeline for the star with only my light and that of the stars to illuminate the path in the darkness of the void.
Later, an amount of time unknown to me, inevitably my light, or more likely my movements, caught some attention.
At first, I ignored the star following me, because it made me feel nauseous, and well, my mind wasn't very lucid at the time.
I just thought it was a particularly strange star that shone just like the ones on the horizon. This one in particular shone an almost yellowish white and didn't have a fixed shape like the others, so I decided to avoid it. But the moment my attention shifted from the approaching star, my mind flickered, and then the star was much closer.
(Spoiler alert: it wasn't a star.)
Stars are supposed to be masses of light originating from their core. I managed to think sometime along the way as the thing got closer and closer. "So why does it look so solid?"
I stood stupidly still as the thing got closer, close enough to notice the tentacles with eyes, tongues, and spines.
"Should I be running right now?" I whispered in a small voice as I slowly backed away. Obviously, the thing didn't like it, as it suddenly accelerated toward me.
"Shit," I screamed into the void as I floated as fast as possible, fearing for my life. This time, in a semi-straight line, every instinct I had telling me to escape as quickly as possible.
Something my mind, no matter how confused it was, more than agreed with, which is why my blue form continued moving as fast as possible toward my purple target, ignoring how my form was only half the size it had been when I started.
While the distant, vividly colored, impossible stars on the horizon seemed to judge me.
Shit, shit, shit! - I continue screaming in my mind as I feel a spiked tentacle lightly hitting my retreating form.
Aaaargh! - I scream as I feel the tentacle's spikes tear at my form and the thing's tongues lick the light left behind by my retreating form.
I narrowly avoid a very hot orange star. - Something tells me eating more than one star is a very bad idea. - And I already knew which one it wanted to eat.
However, I realize something obvious, something I should have thought of before: if I'm in space, what's stopping me from going up or down? So, taking that literally, I drop, but not before taking another blow from the thing and letting out another scream, I end up lightly touching an iridescent star.
[Omniverse Possession] - A beautiful sigh comes to mind; unfortunately, I can't pay attention to it.
Why, the star I touched began to enter my body, and you'd think it would be painful—you know, having a mass of unknown light enter you—but the truth is, it was painless, even though it was a strange feeling, like a balloon being inflated.
But the star's light entered me very quickly, and I felt like a full balloon.
Before the process was over, I felt the star's colors mixing with mine—and boy, wasn't it freaking weird to feel with colors—and then all the star's light entered me, and I could feel again.
I was no longer a ball of light, but a humanoid body made of energy with unknown proportions.
Once again, I didn't notice how my size more than doubled after eating the star.
But what I felt most was the star beneath my new skin, as if the star were living inside my body.
The best part of the experience was that whatever was making me feel confused left my system.
After the admittedly strange experience of having a mass of colorful energy inside what I now believe to be my soul, I realized I hadn't been seeing with my own eyes this whole time, since I didn't have eyes to use in my previous form.
So the first thing I did with my new body was open my eyes, only to regret it almost instantly as I saw my pursuer coming slowly toward me.
It wasn't white, as I had previously thought, because as soon as I blinked, it changed to a black color that was easily mistaken for the darkness surrounding us.
I blinked in confusion, and it quickly changed to an angry red color, but it still had the same eyes, spines, and teeth everywhere, giving me a headache just by looking at it. I had to look away and could only watch out of the corner of my eye as the thing was already trying to wrap its tentacles around me.
Thinking quickly, I dropped again, only to float upward at the last moment, dodging a blow as I emerged from its tentacles and running as far away from its reach as possible, looking for a way to escape until a flash caught my attention.
Bingo, I murmured happily, because in the distance I saw a truly massive gathering of points of light, so I headed towards it, hoping to hide within the cloud of light.
When I reached the pile of points of light, I realized they were actually very small stars, ranging from the size of marbles to the size of trucks. Hesitating for a moment, I dove into the pile of points, narrowly avoiding the scaly tentacles of my pursuer.
As I entered the star cluster, I moved quickly and carefully, taking care not to touch any point of light, but my tentacled pursuer kept following me as I moved cautiously. It simply passed through the stars as if they weren't there.
I ran almost a quarter of the way through the massive star cluster, only a quarter of my original size, before an extremely bright, distant light to the right caught my attention.
A memory came back to me with a shudder, and I began to run, redoubling my pace, far away in the opposite direction.
The thing, on the other hand, quickly floated off toward the light in the distance.
Don't worry, I'll shine a light on your path. I shake off the memory and, ignoring the new psychological terror, stop a while later, among a bank of black and white stars.
Without losing sight of where the thing went, I stay as still as possible, waiting in case it's a trap, but time passes, and the thing doesn't seem to return.
"I think I'm safe for now," I murmur and move from where I'd been hiding among the dwarf stars. I carefully inched toward the purple star before a loud CLICK from inside me caused the sensation beneath my skin to fade completely.
My blue light suddenly changed, turning an almost brilliant white hue from which flashes of various colors emerged.
But that moment of distraction cost me long enough for me to collide with another small star—I could only compare it to a beach ball—a silvery color, the only silver among the hundreds of small stars surrounding me in this part of the black and white cluster.
[Choice]," the beautiful voice whispered louder.
"Aaaargh." This time, instead of being painless, the star's presence was painful, almost like a lighter burn all over my body. I felt my light flicker a couple of times.
And something told me that if my light went out, something very bad would happen to me, so I gritted my teeth and managed to endure the sudden pain without making any more noise, for fear that more beings like the one following me would approach because of the noise.
Luckily, the pain was very brief. And if before I felt like an inflated balloon, this star made me feel like a balloon almost about to burst. But in the end, the new star managed to settle into my body with relative ease.
When the pain turned into a dull throb, I managed to float out of the cluster for fear of touching another star and exploding like a balloon.
As I left the cluster, I realized that the purple star was at the end of a point in the cluster, so I decided to follow the cluster in case I needed to hide again.
Some time later, certain that the thing wasn't following me, I took a moment to think, remembering the voice that spoke when the stars entered my soul.
When I collided with the stars, a voice whispered—I can remember when the pain that came with feeling like I was about to explode faded completely—I think when the first star entered me, it said [Omniversal possession]
The name is spoken without trying, as if I could never forget it, and at the same time, a new sensation appears in my head, like some kind of on/off switch—With some very interesting information.
The next thing I notice is that my light not only turned white with flashes, but my consistency went from being a genderless figure made of energy to a solid genderless figure made of hard light—Or something like that—
The second thing I notice is the accumulation of new knowledge in my brain.
My mind is clearing, and my fear is completely fading because now I know what's happening.
An essence, that's what I drank, and each star here is some kind of power that my essence allows me to choose and obtain—and which my new knowledge told me not to touch under any circumstances—but the reason the second star hurt is because you're literally only supposed to eat one, and I've already had two.
The number of stars has to do with the soul's tolerance for pain—I remember listening to the strange man at the bar as his eyes almost seemed to glow.
I pause for a moment to wonder if he was the one who put the bottle of essence in my refrigerator back at the apartment, but in the end, no matter what I gain here, it will be totally worth the pain—I decide, unable to help but laugh.
Why can I get out of here now? I understand that I could have left the moment I touched the first star, but another way out comes directly to mind. Why does the star that now resides within my soul [Omniversal possession] allow me to enter any universe?
It is undoubtedly an incredible power, and it is not limited to the real universe but includes the imaginary macro universe with everything that entails. My mind is filled with possibilities. I could go to any series, movie, or anime, and it is not limited to canon. I could go to any timeline. That in itself is incredible, but [Omniversal possession] is limited to entering a universe. If I want to stay there, I have to win it. To do so, I have to choose a [Possession] target and kill said target myself without help, and in doing so, I gain everything from it.
That includes their place in the world. This allows me to pass as a person born in that universe, and therefore I won't be considered an invader. The good thing is that if I want someone to accompany me, my companions won't be forced to kill anyone to remain in the universe. Apparently, as a "native of the universe," I'm inviting them, they can join me without any problems.
To be honest, I should be worried about planning to commit murder, or rather, multiple murders. I wasn't planning on stopping at just one world, after all; there are so many worlds I'd like to go to. But I really don't care enough to make the opportunity to go to any place and time worth it.
Something I should consider when leaving here. I decide resolutely as I contemplate the best universe for my first trip and think about the second option for arriving in a new world. The second option is Reincarnation, but the downside is that I could lose powers or abilities incompatible with the world.
But right now it doesn't matter, the most important thing now is to make a plan and for that I need to know what else I have [Choice] - I call upon the void and this time the pain is mild compared to before but the reward is just as good [Choice] allows me a power from a list randomly drawn from any universe I know.
I could leave now, I already have incredible power but if I leave I won't be able to come back here even with my ability - I stare at the large purple star in the distance.
It's smaller than the one [Omniversal Possession] gave me and it's larger than [Choice] but what catches her attention is that it is without a doubt much brighter than my two stars combined and if what my granted knowledge tells me is correct the brightness indicates compatibility with me.
But it's also true that I should leave. I'm only supposed to take one star, not two. And while I have lucidity, that's only because the star's energy cleared my mind. I don't know what a third star would do, but I doubt it's a good thing. Besides, being here isn't free.
I'm literally burning my soul to be here. The light around me is my soul being burned so I can move in this place. But I don't know what powers [Choice] will give me. And if it's a useless one, then I'll be pretty screwed.
The truth is, there's only one option, right? I've already made the damn journey here, so that's my damn star. I shout into the void, running towards the great dwelling, my light, although much larger. I immediately notice how my form is slowly getting smaller, but little by little, it does so.
I'm so close now - I grunt as I float the remaining distance to my star, what seems like hundreds of kilometers, and the star grows larger in my eyes the closer I get - Maybe a little too large -
As I run, I think about my first skill and my world, where I should go to make a more solid plan - and the flashes of color in my light slowly fade - Only for my thoughts to come to a screeching halt as I can't remember my house or my street or even the name of my city or the current year.
Shit, I curse, shaking my head rapidly as I continue on my way. I'll think about that when I get out of here. With my ability, I'll find a way to return sooner or later.
I need a low-ranking world to start, one I can use to grow in strength and power. Now, with that thought, I looked for the best places to go. Most anime are a no, almost instantly. I don't think Zeno-sama would like me to enter Dragon Ball. Another option would be Naruto, but I don't know if the sage of the six paths could do anything to me for entering his world. The same goes for DC and Marvel.
I need a world that gives me the time to learn how to fight. I think Demon Slayer would be a good option, along with maybe Jujutsu Kaisen.
I continued floating toward the purple star without a solid plan. I tried to be as alert as possible, but I didn't notice any tentacles, teeth, or tongues, so it seems my pursuer gave up. I thought as I looked around, ahead, and behind me in case someone was coming after me, but I didn't notice anything the entire way to the large dwelling.
By the time I reached my star, my soul had become significantly smaller, almost the size of a soccer ball, but I was already in front of the large dwelling.
The first thing I noticed about it was that it wasn't purple, but rather a magenta color.
The second thing I noticed was that this star was large, or rather immense, easily almost the size of the moon back home. That's why it took me so long to reach it. The star was much farther away than it seemed due to its large size.
The third thing is that unlike the other two stars I came into contact with, this one was by far the most solid.
Although looking at it up close it's obvious it's no ordinary star, it seems to be made of a bunch of semi-transparent magenta energy chains surrounding a solid core. Said chains are terribly intricate and very sharp, by the way, and they were in every direction I could see.
Well, here goes. I pause for a moment to think about what I plan to do. I'm going to jump to a star that will undoubtedly try to get into my soul, which feels like a balloon about to burst, and it's the size of the damn moon. I consider it for a moment.
"Well, I've always had a sweet tooth. The bottle said one, but what does it matter if I eat two more? After all, stars aren't friends, they're food," he joked before mindlessly leaping into the star's orbit. Unlike the other two, this one did have gravity. Almost instantly, my soul feels crushed and drawn toward the star just by its proximity.
"Aaaargh," I scream as my body is swiftly bound and severed by the chains, at a speed I simply couldn't comprehend, and then the mass of energy is pulled directly toward its core.
All I could feel was pain as the chains went from trapping my form to trying to enter my body, severing it in the process. My consciousness began to waver, and my light began to burn powerfully around me to protect me.
I'm not going to die here. I managed to roar, trying to escape the chains to get to the core faster. The chains tore pieces of me away, and my light turned into flames to feed on the chains faster and replenish the light of my soul. But my consciousness began to fail, slowly but surely. My vision blurred, and I slowly lost focus.
But thankfully, before I knew it, I was half-conscious in front of the solid core of the star, my body now a flickering flame, and the faint sensation of chains inside me, cutting me apart.
With a roar as my light turned from a faint ember to a blazing fire, I managed to place the star's core into my soul, close to where my heart would be in a physical body.
"I want out of here," I murmured as the core began to pulse inside me.
[Command recognized] - Something speaks in the distance in a slightly feminine voice - [Energy expenditure of the first trip completed]
Take me to Tokyo in the anime of - I can't finish before the pain makes me gasp, and soon after I lose consciousness completely.
[Request processed]
[Universal location not found, searching for alternatives]
[Host soul damaged]
[Host body incompatible with current soul form]
[Please specify new body details]
[Request unanswered]
[Randomized Body]
[Mutated soul compatible with manifested body]
[Possible trip, lucky traveler]
________________________________________
I'm sure losing consciousness at the last minute won't have disastrous consequences.
😅😅