“I figured I would be meeting with you eventually since I’m going through this whole reincarnation thing.” Matthew replied in a steady voice unlike his first encounter with the last deity on this god forsaken world. A slight chuckle escaped his lips, as he recalled how flabbergasted he was originally.

The goddess in question responded with a smirk of her own. If she were step foot into any piece of land, men and elves alike would be waging wars over her beauty. Sporting skin as white as ivory, and her long golden hair radiated a golden divine aura that stuck to her skin. Where there should be eyes, one would be met with hollow sockets that were filled with a golden light.

“My memory failed to reimagine your beauty, but what brings you here to my soul Rebecca?” Matt was certainly enraptured by her appearance, but he understood her visitation meant more serious matters.

“As you already noticed the history of your world and your memories don’t align together. To put it simply, I recreated the world using my divine power.” This gave Matt more questions than answers, and the biggest question in his mind…

“But wh-” Before he could finish his sentence he was cut off by Rebecca.

“Please don’t interrupt me Matthew. I don’t have much time with my limited amount of divine power. Save your questions till the end after I finish explaining everything.” Taking his silence as signal to continue, Goddess Rebecca released a profound sigh.

“We failed Matthew. Yes you all killed the Demon King and its army, however the Old Gods were more thorough in their preparations than I expected.” To hear that all the effort and struggle he went through was for nothing was heart wrenching.

“If I let the old world continue on its current course, the Demon King would’ve been reborn stronger than ever. Humanity was too devastated to mount any sort of defensive measures, which would’ve led to their demise.” Matthew sported a grim look on his face, as he realized just how fractured the world could’ve been after the Great War.

“As the Guardian Goddess of Humanity, it’s my utmost duty to defend your species as a whole from extinction. Remaking the world, and reverting the Demon King back has taken a large toll on my divine power.”

“I won’t be able to assist you for a decade or two after I’m finished talking with you Matthew. It’ll be up to you to defend the mortal realm from the onslaught of the demon army. I know I’m asking a lot, but with all of your regrets I hope you’d consider this a second chance. It’s not like I will be leaving you empty handed after all.” As she finished her last sentence, Rebecca’s smile returned to her face.

“I’ve already contacted the current pope of my church about the current situation, and he should be contacting you within the coming years. My final gift for you, will be granting you access to some of my power.”

“This doesn’t make sense Rebecca, I thought you needed to restore your pool of divine power. Wouldn’t using some of your abilities just diminish the supply?” Although Matthew would appreciate the ability to use her holy arts, he’d much rather be able to communicate with her in case anything important came up.

“You would provide a negligible difference due to the amount I’d be restoring and how many can even use my abilities anyways.” A sudden frown appeared on her face.

“It looks like my time is up, but I just wanted to let you know that all your friends sent you warm wishes.” Matthew visibly shook at that last statement. It has been at least ten years since he has seen some of them, and others even longer.

“Tell them I’m glad they’re finally feeling a sense of peace up there…” A look of melancholy appeared on his face but he quickly shook it away.

“Goodbye and good luck my chosen.” Rebecca disappearance wasn’t as grand as her earlier entrance. She simply vanished, and as Matthew watched the sky slowly repair itself he felt a connection to something larger. Much larger than anything he’s ever felt before.

The ocean in his soul suddenly started getting warmer, and as he looked down he noticed the clear blue ocean turned into a resplendent gold in color. It felt relaxing just to be enveloped in it, and so Matt let himself slowly sink.

***

After an unknown amount of time Matthew woke up in his bath. He reexamined his body and saw the same prepubescent body. The connection to what he assumed was divine power was still there too.

Recalling the conversation he had with Rebecca, Matthew realized he was all alone in this. Sure there’s the pope and the church backing him up now, but from what Matt has learned from his past experiences he can’t disregard the power of politics.

One man can only do so much by themselves, but many can do that and much more. The biggest problem in this world is infighting. Matthew has no knowledge of what’s going on in the elven territory, but the division between the Dragon Dynasty and Griffon Kingdom will be crippling in the oncoming war.

What the world needed was a hero, but what exactly defined someone as a hero? Matt thought about the other six heroes, and how they acted before and during the Great War. Although all seven heroes were chosen by Rebecca, it didn’t mean they were all sunshine and rainbows. The type of hero Matt was looking for was a symbol of hope. They would be able to unite everyone together under one banner to fight the demon army.

Only one man out of the group of seven represented the word hope more than any other.

“Eric…” the word escaped his lips as a whisper. The man was a real inspiration, he was charismatic and a competent leader. The most important thing however, was that he had a large amount of renown which gave his feats and abilities credibility.

Before he was coined with the title of hero, Matthew was a simple mercenary living a day by day struggle. Due to an unfortunate incident Matthew could hardly afford to get a decent paying job. Even after his strength was revealed and he participated in the campaign, he still couldn’t escape criticism and doubt.

What Matthew needed to do was develop a solid reputation based on his developing strength, while maintaining a decent social standing. If he didn’t have this conversation with Rebecca, he may have just bided his time in the shadows. Now he couldn’t afford to not be in the spotlight.

“Rebecca may have been right when she said this could be my second chance.” Matthew mused to himself. He finally got out of the bath and got ready to train some more. It was the only thing he could do at this point after all.