Chapter 1: Volume 1 - The New World - Prologue
AN: As you could have guessed by synopsis; no Rimuru. I wanted to get out of the way from the start so readers know at least the basics of what to expect. I will take some creative liberties with the story but try to keep them similar to originals. Characters from Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken will have the same names solely for convenience and familiarity. So the answer to the question why something is different than in novels of both series in most cases is I intentionally made the change. Additionally it has come to my attention that for some readers it's a deal breaker, so I will warn everyone beforehand. Momonga is not the only player that arrives. There also will be Bukubukuchagama and Peroroncino.
The current update schedule is a chapter every 5 days. For those who wish to read a bit ahead of what is published here, I will give my discord link https://discord. gg/WmGKVU3XG2.
A shard of consciousness drifted around the aether of eternity. A small part of what once was the great creator. The world he created long ago was in peril. If nothing had been done, it would meet its end, eventually. A solution was needed. The small shard, as powerful as it was, didn't fully understand its own actions.
How could it, with no ego or greater self? No deeper understanding about its own actions was left, just a desire to complete what was once started and a memory of life and world once nourished and cared for.
A soul or person is pulled from one world and delivered to another. The one that needed to be saved. The Shard endlessly floated around, sending the catches through the aether, guiding them, protecting them.
At their destination, another shard awaited. This one had the name 'The Voice of the World'. One who adapted the other-worlders to their new home. Many came, many lived, and many died, each bringing a minor change and a small hope of the world's salvation.
It has performed its duty ever since the greater whole was shattered. Star King Dragon Veldanava, that was the name the being, once whole, had. The little shard still remembered it. It couldn't recall much more, only its task and what once was its name.
Now the nameless part performed its endless task without a complaint. The task was all that mattered. A small part of the original omniscience and omnipotence remained, just enough to prepare targets for the travel between worlds.
It could rearrange the matter and soul to give the traveling souls alternative forms and abilities when necessary.
Sometimes it would take souls with a deep desire for a different life or pick targets for summoners that tried to bring other-worlders to the target world. In the end, it didn't matter how and why the souls got transferred, only that they did and brought the changes to the world left unbalanced.
Shard observes candidate after a candidate. A teenage girl covering from her pursuers hoping for an escape. A man dying on the street with a stab wound in his back. An old man on his deathbed dreaming of adventure and heroism. But the prime deciding aspect was a certain amount of desire to live in another world and bring changes into it.
Maybe another timeline had the target it sought. A certain point in existence from which many desired to escape. A desperate dying world.
A man sitting hunched over, looking at a monitor, replying to countless emails. Desire to leave all of it behind burnt like a thousand suns within him. This was the next candidate the shard was looking for.
The man reaches for a cup next to him and flinches as he drinks the unpleasant-looking drink, not pulling his gaze away from the work. Creatures not of this world are constantly in the background of his mind.
Many around him were filled with the same desire to escape, but there was something particular about this candidate. With a few deciding calculations, a decision is made.
'Target has been acquired. Preparing the transportation sequence. The estimated optimal time for transportation is ninety-seven hours.'
A tunnel between worlds now had to be made as the little shard made calculations for optimal connection points and required energy while the man, none the wiser, slaved away in his dead-end job hoping for a different life.
Edited by Edgy.